"Phoning It In."

What happened to Deadpool's face? Will Nightcrawler ever see the end of Breaking Bad? For that matter, will I? Continued next week! This one may go on for the rest of the month, barring anything big coming up.

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"Best Intern Ever."

Still sort of out? Looking like Thursday we'll be back to our usual schedule. Regular strip tomorrow, the start of a new Nightcrawler and Deadpool serial!
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Go look up "defenestration." I'll wait.

Still out! Be back tomorrow!
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"And now, Grizzlor's Lament."

More out than usual, so have a good weekend!
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All alone in the night, and the toy shelves.

Although it seems like the sort of thing I'd watch from the get-go, I didn't catch Babylon 5 until, I think, well into the third season or so. Which was fine: I'm pretty sure the earlier episodes were being rerun at the time, so I could catch up. I know I liked the Shadow War storyline quite a bit, but then I moved midway through the fifth and final season, and wouldn't see the rest of the series for some years. I haven't seen the six (made for TV) films either, although I may still have a CD soundtrack for Thirdspace. (From a store I worked at that went under, and I'm a terrible packrat, OK?) I liked the spin-off Crusade although I think it was dead before I even got to see it; and I think I've read perhaps four Babylon 5 comics.

So of course I should get some Babylon 5 figures. From 1997 and WB Toys, just picked up Commander Susan Ivanova and Marcus Cole.

For whatever reason, I recall B5 as being a very plot-driven show; with more intrigue and alliances and backstabbing than its Star Trek counterpoint, Deep Space 9. (And I love DS9!) I haven't seen it in ages, so I'm not sure if it has aged well at all; and I seem to recall series creator J. Michael Straczynski--who wrote most of the episodes, including the entire third season--didn't get the best of treatment from Warner Brothers, which owns the rights. Which then seemed somewhat problematic, when Straczynski went to work again for WB on Before Watchmen and said Alan Moore shouldn't complain.

Commander Susan Ivanova (played by Claudia Christian) was the second-in-command of the Babylon 5 station, for the four years she was on the show. She was snarky, fatalistic, Russian, and had terrible luck dating. Marcus Cole (played by Jason Carter) was a Ranger, which was originally a Minbari warrior group that expanded to other races during their war with the alien Shadows. Cole sacrificed himself, using an alien execution machine to transfer his life-force to the dying Ivanova: somewhat problematically, Christian said she wasn't notified in time or asked to come back and didn't appear in the fifth and final season; so the show lost two regulars for the price of one. (Christian did appear in the final episode, but only because "Sleeping in Light" was filmed earlier, then pushed back.)

We are talking more about the source material and whatnot, than the figures themselves, aren't we? Partly because the figures haven't aged well, yeah. Minimal articulation. Soft-if-passable sculpts and paint. No accessories--for the figures to use, at any rate. Ivanova has a sculpted holster and pistol that is both unremovable and doesn't seem situated right for her to draw it. So they aren't great figures, but to be fair how many figures from the 90's really still hold up? OK, don't make a list or anything.

Still, even though I knew the figures themselves weren't going to be great, I still wanted them for their pack-ins. The first couple of series of Babylon 5 figures each came with a ship: Captain Sheridan came with the titular space station, for example. The last wave came with patches instead, and I'm not sure if they were as popular; but some figures came with rather nondescript and unmemorable ships, while cooler ones were missed. Ivanova came with the Starfury, the X-Wing fighter looking ships. They are pretty cool, although in early episodes they went to great lengths to have them fly in zero gravity somewhat realistically; I believe TV Tropes points out eventually the Furies zip around like an X-Wing or Viper or similar space fighter. I'm pretty sure this Starfury is bigger than the Micro Machines one as well, since it's bigger than the MM X-Wing there.

Marcus came with the White Star--or a White Star, since it was a class of ships rather than a singular model. I misremembered them as being built with human and Minbari technology; they were Minbari and Vorlon, the most advanced of the aliens in the series. Maybe the humans put in a tape deck or something. The White Star first appeared in the episode "Matters of Honor," the first of the third season, aired November 6, 1995. Somewhat coincidentally, on Deep Space 9's third season premiere, "The Search," the Defiant is introduced: both B5 and DS9 had been about space stations, and both were adding ships to open up locations.

For little reason other than superficial similarities, the White Star reminds me of the Andromeda Ascendant from Andromeda--a show I remember more fondly than Babylon 5, even though I'm positive it wasn't as good. (I think Andromeda may have squandered more potential, really.) But I would've loved to get six-inch (or so) figures from that show, if they had come with ships. Or if the Farscape figures had come with ships! Or the Battlestar: Galactica ones. I can't think of any other lines that came with a figure and a miniature ship like this one, but it's an idea I wouldn't mind seeing come back.



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Some year, I'll end up with 52 Batman figures.

If you had told me, at the start of this year, that I would be buying seven Batman figures before the year was up; I probably would've laughed. And yet, here we are.


A couple of these probably aren't from this year, but we've got Adam West '66 Batman, Red Rain Vampire Batman, The Dark Knight Returns Batman, New 52 Batman, the Keaton/Burton style repaint from the Imperiex wave, Planet X Batman, and a gray one from the Blast and Battle Batcave.

ADAM WEST BATMAN: Dear god! ...what horrible, nightmare world are you from?
VAMPIRE BATMAN: I was turned into a vampire, to defeat Dracula--

ADAM WEST BATMAN: No, not you!
DARK KNIGHT BATMAN: Sure, punk, I got old, but I never quit--

ADAM WEST BATMAN: No, not you! HIM!
VAMPIRE BATMAN: I have no soul, yet that seems preferable to--THAT!
DARK KNIGHT BATMAN: Good lord! Are you from a universe with NO hope?

NEW 52 BATMAN: Yeah, yeah. I don't like it any better than you do.

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A bad use of page space, a better one, and a Transformers product that should be available in multiple scales.

There are pros and cons to picking up a ton of books from the quarter bins. (Or, more often nowadays, dollar bins!) Sometimes, you try something you might've missed before...and it leaves you completely cold, like Jonathan Hickman's Avengers. Just tried over a half-dozen issues, and was surprised to find it meh. And I was really looking forward to someone other than Bendis writing Avengers, too.

On the other hand, I've picked up a couple random issues of Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye, and found it surprisingly enjoyable! A brief note, though: that series has run about 20-some issues and an annual, probably with two or three covers a piece, and yet none of them are on the GCD? Shouldn't you have an intern for that or something? C'mon, IDW, More Than Meets the Eye deserves a little more hype than that.

One of the nice things about this book, is there's a brief "Story So Far" recap on the inside front cover, and a "Meet the Crew" page with brief descriptions of sixteen of the book's characters. It's more economical than the two or three pages Avengers devotes to a recap using panels from previous issues, a diagram of the team, and a title/credits page! I don't get how Avengers--this scan is from #8--can get away with 19 pages of story for $3.99, plus a digital download code and AR bonus whatever. This issue of MTMTE has 22 story pages, same price.

In issue #18, the Autobots' ship the Lost Light is under attack by unidentified assailants, Rodimus Prime is captured by "Chief Justice" Tyrest, Ratchet loses a guessing game, and Rodimus meets a prisoner that he's met before...this is part two of the five-part "Remain in Light," and I think I'm going to have to throw down for the rest. And Swerve pulls a piece that should be made with his action figure:

Hell, they should make full-size versions for kids, too. The description "Big Grip for Little Hands" would kind of explain why a lot of Transformers weapons are oddly sized...

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Sometimes, when I have a bad morning at work, the only reasonable thing to do is to buy a toy on my lunch break, from the Wal-Mart a block away. Although, judging from the mountains of toys on my desk, apparently I'm miserable at my job, and possibly have been for the last thirty-five years. But let's put aside that gloomy thought, and check out a fun trio of recent pickups!

Fisher-Price's Imaginext line has apparently been around since 2002, and many action figure fans are probably familiar with their DC Superheroes figures--yeah, looking up, a cheery Superman and Batman are waving from the shelf by my desk now! Recently, Imaginext got into the blind-bag game, with their first series of ten figures. With a modicrum of ahem, bag fondling, (ew, don't say it like that!) you can fairly easily find the characters you want. In my case, it was the Spy with Jetpack, and the Robot!

Just handling a bag I could feel the throttle-handle of the jetpack, and the robot's clamp-like hand, respectively. The robot and the spy have six points of articulation: neck, both shoulders and wrists, and the legs. The legs move together, so they can either stand or sit. The paint is pretty good for the scale, and the sculpt is chunky and kid-friendly, and fun. The robot has some nice details like the clamps, while the spy has an archly raised eyebrow and is wearing the hell out of that suit. Both have two accessories: the robot has a gun and a tool-disc with a hammer, drill, screwdriver, and wrench. The spy has the aforementioned jetpack and grappling-hook gun--you know, if you have one of those, do you need the other? Well, maybe. The jetpack, tool-disc, and the spy and the robot themselves, all have the Imaginext small-i logo on them.

Next, we've got the Hasbro Rescue Bots Optimus Prime: $2.99 at Target, and he is not blind-bagged. So, if you want an Optimus, you can pretty much just buy one! This may not be a new figure: I think these Rescue-Bots were previously released in two-packs with human characters from that cartoon. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think anyone, ever, has bought a Transformers figure of any kind and been "Yay, I got a human!"

Like the Imaginext figures, Optimus moves at the neck, shoulders, wrists, and the same both-leg hinge. He has the slightly modified Rescue Bots Autobots badge, and a circular saw in place of his left hand. I kind of like both of those, since I figure if Optimus didn't have to deal with Megatron and the Decepticons on a regular basis, Optimus would be perfectly happy to stay at home, maybe making birdhouses and getting the occasional cat out of a tree.

These aren't super-articulated or anything, but a lot of fun. And a good way to cheer up a grim afternoon at work!

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"Double Date."

I didn't find Chief Carnivus in the Big Lots Masters of the Universe Classics sales recently; but got a good deal on him on eBay. That could be the last one for a while, since it looks like the supply is drying up, for the time being anyway. He looks very Thundercats reminiscent, especially the red orb on the sword.



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I'd probably read the Walking Dead vs. Trypticon. It'd only be a one-shot, sure...

As is often the case, if I can get a trade for the price of the average single issue these days; I sure as hell am going with the trade. And if it's surprisingly enjoyable, so much the better. Like today's book! From IDW, the Transformers: Best of UK: City of Fear, written by Simon Furman, with art by Dan Reed, Jeff Anderson, Robin Smith, and others.

These are reprints of Marvel UK's Transformer serials, and the bulk of this one is really one story, with Ultra Magnus and the Autobots trying to stop a mad scientist from trying to activate Megatron's ancient engines for moving the planet Cybertron, which would in all likelihood blow it up instead. Also, Transformer zombies. Well, reanimated bodies, at any rate. It's not as big a deal as all that, since the massive Decepticon Trypticon is called in for backup.

There's also a two-parter with Galvatron versus the Seacons, as part of a feint for leadership of the Decepticons; and another two-parter with Ultra Magnus in a gladitorial arena. The latter is pretty standard, sure; but Furman always did a pretty good job with elevating a tie-in commercial for action figures into readable adventure tales. I may be wrong, though, but I think the UK artists always took a little more leeway in the facial expressions of the robotic characters, making them emote a little more than either the animated series or the American books.
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"Throwing the Gauntlet."

I know I've read Grant Morrison's JLA: Earth 2 and occasional other appearances here and there like the animated Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, but I lose track of the Crime Syndicate's powers and characterization. Like, I guess Power Ring is a coward now, with a ring that runs on fear? Of course, today's strip is based on Ultraman snorting Kryptonite in the first issue of Forever Evil: I'm not sure if that gives Ultraman new super-powers, or just gets him super-high, or both. (I can't remember where, but I'm almost positive Ultraman has been defeated somewhere, by simply giving him too much Kryptonite at once, overloading him with powers...)

My version of Hyperion continues to be a bit of a blowhard--and really reminds me of classic Marvel Hercules, a loudmouth who still had the muscle to back his talk up, usually--who isn't all that impressed with the DC characters he and his Squadron Supreme are based on. He talks a big game, but since his Batman-analog Nighthawk was killed off years ago, the Squadron may have a harder time with the Syndicate than they'd admit.



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An action figure remembered as fondly as the movie it came from! Which is...hmm.

The general online hate for Marvel's 2003 Daredevil movie has always baffled me, at least a little. It's not a great movie, to be sure, but the response has been a little too vehement, a little too much like kids trying to be cool by tearing something they once liked down. The film was fairly successful at the time, but I think the backlash against Ben Affleck transferred over to it; and I'm not positive why there was backlash against Affleck, either. I'm not a big fan, but his public persona always seemed nice enough; it's not like he beat his wife or ate a baby or something.

The general online hate for the Marvel Legends Series 3 Movie Daredevil is somewhat less baffling. He was the first movie-style figure added to the comic book-style line, and M-DD doesn't have anywhere near the range of articulation that Marvel Legends was already known for. The ML Thing figure from the prior wave has more articulation! Most noticeably, the torso is a solid unarticulated piece, the hips are a t-joint, and the shoulders are cut joints. Eventually the pendulum of public opinion would swing on Marvel Legends as well, and some considered them over-articulated, but Movie Daredevil doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the line.

Wow, he could really use mid-bicep swivels, too. The sculpt and the paint aren't bad at all, although I think there is a version with painted "stubble" that may or may not look right. The hands and the ankles are both very nice--good range, really holds a pose--but that just gives the overall effect of putting racing tires on a Pacer: you aren't getting the best use out of them. I do like the ankles, but I suspect they have more range of motion than a person actually wearing those boots would have.

(An aside: since this figure has a paint rub on its nose, I was wondering, if you somehow knocked out Daredevil and then drew all over his face with a Sharpie, would he be able to feel it when he woke up? Actually, I think DD could probably smell it. And either way, he would beat your ass sideways later...)

DD's costume seems very, very influenced by the leather outfits of the X-Men movies. Lines and panels for little apparent reason, but thankfully without the overly pronounced texturing of recent movie outfits like Amazing Spider-Man, Man of Steel, or even Star Trek. Some might find it odd his neck is uncovered; but that actually strikes me as less odd than the Batman cowls where he can't turn his neck.

Ah, yes, Batman: With the announcement of Affleck being cast as Bats in the upcoming Superman-Batman movie, I half-expected some industrious customizer to have used pieces from Movie DD for an Affleck-Batman. I was also a little surprised to have two of these: one probably belonged to my Oldest son, and Marvel Legends then were cheaper than a Big Mac meal with large fries and a drink now.

I don't know if you can see it in the pictures, but one of the Daredevils there seems...longer; while the other one seems just slightly more squat. Both are recognizable enough as Affleck, though. Shop it around if you need one, as DD or for a custom, it's still available on the cheap!

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