Random Happenstance

Have I done one of these lazy hodgepodge Friday posts in a while? Feels like I haven't, and I have to get next week's strip ready, and at least two weeks of Bastards of the Universe. New BotU strips go up at Poe Ghostal's Points of Articulation every so often...I really oughta ask Poe if he wants to do a regular day for 'em, but then again I kinda like them slotted in as needed. If you don't go there all the time anyway, you should.

For example, Poe just posted that Mattel's Masters of the Universe Classics schedule changed: Vikor has moved up to January. Now, I haven't bought a single one of the updated Masters figures, but I really wanted Vikor, since he's basically Conan. For some, Vikor looks more Conan than the Conan I use, the ToyBiz Legendary Heroes version.

I had the bright idea of taking the day off (which I didn't get, another flaw in my plan) to order Vikor, which would be something in itself; since Mattel's website is...'reviled' may be too strong. There have been problems, we'll say. So, I kinda have a vague idea how it works, but it would be informative to see how well a newbie can get a figure.

More after the break!


Got Howard Chaykin's Batman/Catwoman: Follow the Money the other day, and of course, it's great. Where it fits in Batman continuity...ah, who cares?

Then I took an afternoon to re-read an old favorite, that I'm not positive how I got, since it's dated from before my birth: Sir MacHinery, from Tom McGowen. I don't know why I look these up on Amazon, since the prices were a bit surprising. Also, I figured it would've been reprinted at some point in the last forty years.

When ancient demons begin to return, a band of brownies need a brave knight to free Merlin to help them. But in the modern world, knights are hard to come by. In a Scottish castle, they find what they think is a tiny knight, but is instead the life's work of an American inventor: a robot, the first of his kind. Misreading a packing crate, the brownies give him his name: Sir MacHinery.

It's a kids' book, but well written, and charming. And if you've been reading comics for a while, if you read Kurt Busiek and George Perez's first few issues of Avengers, when the heroes were stuck in Morgan le Fey's medieval fantasy, Machine Man's name became, you guessed it, Sir MacHinery. I'd bet a quarter Busiek read that as a kid. Man, it probably should've been an animated film at some point, too; especially since I'd love to have a MacHinery figure.

Topless Robot had a linkup to a Tron/Willy Wonka mashup, but I liked this one better.

Yeah, I enjoyed that entirely too much. Have a good weekend!