Todd McFarlane's Spawn

Todd McFarlane's Spawn

Ultra Detailed action figure

Todd McFarlane's Spawn is one of the most popular comic book characters outside of the characters created by the big two (DC and Marvel) in the american superhero comics industry. It's popularity has spawned a movie, an animated T.V. Series, and a revolutionary toyline. The origins of this character can be tied to the emergence of the superstar comic book artists driven fan base during the early 90's (which prior to that time, comic book sales rely more on the characters than the creative teams). The early 90's saw the mutiny of Marvel's top comic book artists to form their own comic book company which they called Image Comics. Todd McFarlane was one of them. He got his big break with Marvel Comics doing art chores for Spiderman. When he formed Image Comics, his first character contribution was Spawn. Spawn would be his ticket to fame as it's popularity opened up a lot of merchandising opportunities, chief of them, is the growing action figure toy collectibles demand. McFarlane would revolutionized the action figure industry by producing highly detailed action figures that were never seen before during it's time. Starting with his very own Spawn, his toy company would nab key licenses on movie, music (like my previous post The Beatles), sports, and other pop culture figures which grew his business from comics to action figures. But despite all of his success and current endeavors apart from Spawn, it will still go back to the character that started it all, SPAWN

The Hellspawn

Character Bio: Spawn was a creation of a being from hell called Malebolgia. Before he became Spawn, he was a mortal called Al Simmons. Simmons worked for the C.I.A. as a covert mercenary before he was killed during a mission by a fellow mercenary. Because of his past transgressions as an assassin, Simmons was sent to hell where he tried to make a deal with the devil. Malebolgia wanted to make Simmons a Hellspawn (Hell's soldiers) and had him lead the rest of his fellow Hellspawns in a war. Simmons agreed to be turned into a Hellspawn but under one condition, he wanted to see his wife for one last time. He would get his wish  and was sent back to Earth but Malebolgia had already turned him into a Hellspawn with little memory of his past mortal life. He would see his wife for one last time but was broken to see that she had already remarried and bore a daughter with his new husband. He was emotionally shattered and was torn between fulfilling his part of the bargain or not. This marks the start of his adventure as he became an anti-hero targeting criminal elements. Spawn's existence is some sort of a cliche. Though he was created by a demon to lead an impending war, his actions to rebel against his creators would cause him to be hunted down by the demon's minions themselves. Complicating matters, the realm of Heaven would also send their Battle Angels to hunt him down and end his existence. Spawn battles for survival as he tries to stay alive from the attacks of Heaven's soldiers while finding ways to return to Hell to fight against evil.

Powers and Abilities: Spawn's core powers comes from the necroplasm that makes up his body. This substance grants him superhuman strength, speed, agility, endurance, and healing. This substance also grants him the necro-magic, which gives him flight, teleportation powers, phasing, resurrecting the dead, and necro-energy blasts. He also can summon the energies of evil men and dark animals to enhance his powers. His suit is a symbiote that he can mentally control to make himself shape shift to any form that he wants. He also carries a vast variety of military arsenal, being a soldier in his previous life. 

Weaknesses: Although Spawn is an immortal, he can still be easily killed when he is struck by a weapon that comes from heaven or from his own necro power. He also looses his immortality when he reaches places that are beyond the influence of hell.      

Spawn ready to do battle

Spawn 3: Ultra Action Figure

The Action Figure: The first series of Spawn action figures (though highly detailed) was more in line with the popular 90's action figures of it's time. But  as time progressed, sculpting details became the top priority, sacrificing the articulation of the figures. Majority of the Spawn action figures released by then were more statue like than toys that you can actually play with. It features close to none or limited articulation, thus limiting the figure's playability factor. It took a rival toy company by Marvel Comics called Toybiz thru it's action figure toyline Marvel Legends to up the competition. McFarlane toys would release a highly detailed and highly articulated Spawn action figure which they dubbed as the 10th Anniversary Spawn action figure in honor of the character's 10th year in existence. I don't own that figure because it is quite too pricey for my budget. But what I have instead is the SPAWN 3: Ultra Action Figure. This figure is the second best highly articulated Spawn action figure that was ever released. I think this was McFarlane's first attempt to create a highly detailed action figure with a decent amount of articulation. I got it at a very good price. The figure's sculpting details is quite amazing. It features articulation on the neck (swivel), shoulders (swivel), elbow (pivot), Wrists (swivel), hips (swivel), and knee (pivot). 

Spreading the wings

Green glowing eyes

 The cape also has a springing action. Press the skull sculpted belt buckle and the cape springs up like a wing. This makes the figure look intimidating when displayed together with other 6 inch action figures. The cape has some holes on it, and it's shape makes it look like a bat wing. The figure also come with an axe, a Bat and an Owl (both not pictured). The figure's green eyes also lights up if you raise his right arm. The figure's tons of gimmicks makes it a very neat figure. My only qualm for this figure is that the plastics used is not as sturdy as I think. But the details are really good. Of course, I think the 10th anniversary figure still is the best Spawn Action Figure ever created, and although there are other impressive Spawn figures released in this line, in terms of overall sculpt and playability, this figure ranks second to the 10th anniversary one. The price that I got it for makes this figure even worthwhile. Sad thing though is that this figure might be displayed by it's lonesome in my display shelf as Image action figures aren't as many as DC and Marvel's and is hard to track down nowadays. But finding a Savage Dragon (Erik Larsen), Shadow Hawk (Jim Valentino), Wild C.A.T.S. (Jim Lee), Wetworks (Whilce Portacio), Youngblood (Rob Liefeld) and Cyberforce (Mark Silvestri) might help this Spawn find it's rightful place in my display shelf (the names mentioned are the other rebel artists and their respective creations that joined Todd Mcfarlane in creating the Image Comics imprint).  

Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Superman v.s. Metallo Game

Box Front Cover Art

Box Back Cover Art

I managed to find this Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Superman v.s. Metallo toy during one of my toy hunts earlier this year. Being a huge Superman Toy/Comics Collector, I couldn't let this item pass by. I used to see this toy in toy catalogues and wondered if I would ever get to own one. Well, here it is now. For those of you who are not familiar with Rock 'Em Sock 'Em toys, I'll try to give a little backgrounder. Rock 'Em Sock 'Em toys were originally designed by Marvin Glass and Associates and manufactured by Marx Toys in the year 1964. It is a popular two player game that featured two dueling robot boxers who are mechanically controlled by the players. The objective of the game is to have one player beat the other by having his controlled robot knock the head off of the other player's robot. Back in the day, this game was quite popular to the extent that it became a pop culture phenomenon. Various toy companies released different versions and variations of the robot boxers with some utilizing popular characters in place of the robots. One such company is Mattel. Being the manufacturing toy company to be given exclusive rights for Superman toy related merchandise, Mattel's version utilizes Superman and his foe Metallo in place of the Robot Boxers. Based on the artwork, this item seemed to have been released Post Superman's death because Superman sports the mullet hair in the box art. I'm wondering why they chose Metallo as his sparring foe in this toy when they could have opted for Doomsday (the creature that killed Superman) instead. 

Superman v.s. Metallo

The toy composes two figures (Superman and Brainiac) atop of some sort of a building which serves as the base for the two figures. The figures stands approximately at Seven Inches.

The Final Battle

Each figure is connected to a steering handle with two red colored push buttons that would activate the figure's punching action. The handle serves as the steering device to control the movement of the figure. The steering handle is colored according to the figure's dominant colors (Metallo's metallic colors and Superman's Blue Suit) with Superman's steering handle sporting the "S" Shield.

Top View

The base used for the figures also sports the names of the fighters. To win the game, the players must hit the chest of the opposing figure to activate a device that would cause the figures' head to tilt/pop up.

Superman

Brainiac

The Superman and Brainiac figures looks good in this toy. Superman is nicely detailed and it reminds me of the art of Jon Bogdanove (the Superman Art used in the Box artwork for this toy). Metallo meanwhile sports nicely detailed robotic details. The figures moves at the head, shoulder, and elbow. All key components in order for the figure to simulate punching actions. Superman also comes with a cloth cape (which is actually better than plastic capes). The length of the arms are kinda long though. But I guess Mattel had to design it that way in order for the activating devices to work. I actually had fun playing this with my 2 year old son (though he still lacks the strength to be able to push the punching buttons). He loves pressing the chest and see the head of Superman tilt upwards and Metallo's head pop up. I guess that's it for now. I'm still digging my storage boxes to see what other Superhero toy games I could find and share here. Stay Tuned!

The Crow

Brandon Lee as The Crow

The Crow was the last film that Brandon Lee (Bruce Lee's son) would shoot before a freak accident during the filming of this movie killed him. There was irony surrounding Brandon's death, a case of art imitating death, because Brandon was supposed to marry his fiancee a week after he died. With The Crow's narrative, it was a story about a person coming back to life to seek vengeance for the death of both him and his fiancee. The Crow was originally a graphic novel that was written by James O' Barr as a way of dealing with the death of his fiancee at the hands of a drunk driver. It became an underground success in the Graphic Novel industry and would later be released in the mainstream market. Numerous graphic novels would then be released after the initial title proved to be a success. This would later on catch the attention of movie producers. Fresh off the heels of the successful Rapid Fire movie, Brandon Lee was signed on to star on the film thereafter. Brandon's movie (despite going through rewrites to fit in Brandon's body double) became an overnight success that it spawned 3 sequels and a T.V. series. I've seen each one of those sequels and the T.V. series, but still nothing compares to the work of Brandon during the first movie.

Eric Draven

The Crow was a movie that actually borders on graphic violence as it was based upon the Graphic Novel with the same level of violence. The initial plot of the movie was quite disturbing considering the death of Brandon that a lot of the crew decided to not continue the film after Brandon's death. It was eventually toned down when they decided to finish the film. The producers instead made it more gothic and accessible to the mainstream audience. The movie proved to be a huge success. The three sequels that followed however had excessive violence and was not as successfully accepted as the first. Thankfully though the sequels did not tarnish Brandon's work as The Crow, as those three had different protagonists who became The Crow. The succeeding movies featured Vincent Perez as Ashe Corven (The Crow: City of Angels), Eric Mabius as Alex Corvis (The Crow: Salvation), and Edward Furlong as Jimmy Cuervo (The Crow: Wicked Prayer). There was also a short lived (though positively accepted by the fans) 22 episode T.V. series that was headlined by B-Movies action star Mark Dacascos. The T.V. series was a direct continuation of Brandon's version of the crow with Mark Dacascos playing the role of Eric Draven. Brandon's version though is still the best of them all because the movie's plot was heavily based on the original story of The Crow. And most of all, because it was played by a credible star like Brandon Lee.

The Crow, a walking dead seeking vengeance

Brandon played the role of Eric Draven, a rock musician who was about to marry his fiancee Shelly Webster on the day after Halloween before they were brutally murdered by thugs and drug addicts. Stabbed and bleeding near to death, he could only watch paralyzed as the thugs abused his girlfriend. They both died eventually. Because of his great love for Shelly, even in death, Eric's thirst for vengeance was so great that a magical crow would resurrect him from the dead a year after his death to give him a chance to avenge his death and that of his fiancee. This magical crow would grant Eric invulnerability as long as it is kept safe from harm. He would one by one stalk the thugs involved in his and his fiancee's death and brutally killed them. Leaving marks that shapes like a crow. This would be taken noticed by Top-Dollar, a local crime boss who eventually would reveal that he had a hand in the murders of Eric and Shelly. He rounds up his men on another crime spree, this time targeting The Crow by abducting the only other person closest to him, a kid name Sarah. The climax of the movie had Eric saving Sarah and fights against Top-Dollar where he successfully completes his revenge by killing him. This would eventually set his soul free and have it return to join Shelly in the afterlife.    

Reflections of the crow

A short lived T.V. series was then made as a follow up to Brandon's The Crow character. This time, Eric Draven was played by Mark Dacascos. The T.V. series expounded on Eric's exploits as The Crow. In the T.V. series, The Crow's return was not only for vengeance's sake, but also for his own personal redemption. The succeeding sequels on the other hand are not on par with the original movie. It was at best for Direct-to-video release. The sequels also do not feature Eric Draven as The Crow. It had different protagonists but had the same common situations before they were resurrected by The Crow. I won't be tackling on their stories though. The Crow as a character to this very day continues to enjoy a cult following and to my knowledge, a remake of the first movie is in development. But Brandon's The Crow will continue to be the definitive Crow of this generation. In my opinion, it would be so hard to top off what Brandon did to this character. He totally owned The Crow. The circumstance of his death will forever draw a connection to this character. His legend will forever be etched with The Crow.

More Photos:

NECA The Crow Reflections Box Set

Back print of the box

Eric Draven and The Crow unleashed

Eric Draven's Reflection as The Crow

The Crow's Reflection as Eric Draven

The Masquerade Mask that would inspire the face paint of The Crow

I have come to seek vengeance

Without The Crow's power, I can beat you

But the Crow is immortal

Stare at the eyes that seeks vengeance

You go down and fall asleep...

Because vengeance is mine

The toy review for this entry is a continuation of my previous review of the Brandon Lee/Eric Draven action figure. As i've said in the previous entry, the reason why I bought this Box Set was because of the Brandon Lee figure. I treated the Crow figure as the bonus. But what a bonus it is. The Crow action figure features superbly detailed sculpts. It's actually a thing of a beauty as you watch it's intricate details washed over the body by a mix of cloth, leather, duct tape, and twine. The trench coat is made of a semi rubbery plastic that compliments the figure really well. This figure shares the same articulation as the Eric Draven figure. It features articulations on the neck (swivel), shoulders (swivel), wrists (swivel), waist (swivel), hips (swivel) and ankles (swivel). Fittingly, the figure comes with a Crow accessory, which is also nicely done. The dressing table is also packed with minutely detailed paraphernalia such as candles, make up kit, and other items that Eric used during his appearance's transformation into The Crow. This figure, though out of place in my collection, is actually quite good to have. Though this figure is not really in line with my toy collecting interest (I stay away from haunting figures), it's a definite keeper for me because it compliments my Brandon Lee collection.  

A look at my Toy Collection Display Cabinet

A view of my New Toy Collection Display Cabinet

After 2 weeks of painstakingly displaying my collections in their new display cabinet, I'm finally (almost) done. The easiest part was essentially unboxing/unpacking them from their large containers as seen here. The hardest part was displaying them. Now when it comes with my toy collections, I'm a very meticulous hack as I make it a point that no figures' parts should stick with another. I have this Obsessive Compulsive Disorder belief that if the figures would rub on each other, and under the warm climate of a tropical country like the Philippines, the paint apps of the figures would smear/smudge on each other. So I always made sure that all the figures will have spaces between them. That two weeks was also spent on planning as to how to display my action figure collections in a certain theme or grouping. I wanted my display to tell a story. I could have opted for a diorama like display but space constraints prevented me from doing such. What I opted to do instead is to present them in a way where there will be some sort of a cohesive theme. And the largest and most noticeable theme is that it's DC and Marvel all over again occupying the extreme opposite sides of the cabinet with Japanese and American pop culture icons standing in between them. Join me below as I take you a tour to my Toy Collection Display Cabinet.   

DC Direct, DCSH, and DCUC

Top Most Left Corner: Among all of my collections, hands down my favorite are the six inch ones from DC and Marvel. I put both of these on the extreme corners of my cabinet. The six inch DC action figures from Mattel's DCSH/DCUC and DC Direct/Collectibles occupies the top most left corner. They are separated into five layers with the top most layer housing an assortment of Super Villains of the DC Universe. Half of those are from Superman's Rogue Gallery while the other half are the main arch enemies of the other DC Superheroes. The second layer houses the Bat Family (Batman and his allies), Teen Titans/Young Justice, and Justice Society of America. For me it's a natural grouping for Batman to be standing side by side with the Teen Titans and Young Justice teams because Batman basically mentors Robin, the leader of the aforementioned teams. Justice Society of America (JSA) is also put on this layer because in the latter incarnations of the team in the comic books, the older JSA helped mentor the newer JSA members. The third layer meanwhile houses the Justice League of America (JLA) and the Green Lantern Corps (GL Corps). I put both of these teams together in one layer because majority of the GL Corps (the human ones that is) were also JLA members. Human Green Lanterns such as Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner, John Stewart, and Guy Gardner were members of the Justice League in one time or another. The so called big seven (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter) of the JLA teams is also placed front and center. Martian Manhunter is partly covered because his role as one of the team's big seven diminished when the New 52 reboot happened. In fact, he was replaced entirely by Cyborg, a mainstay of the Teen Titans teams before the New 52 reboot. The fourth layer on the other hand displays the Superman family. As a huge Superman fan, I had to devote a special layer for my Superman collections. The fourth layer comprises the different Superman related characters as seen in the comic books. Prominently displayed on the left side are the Daily Planet staff while on the extreme right are the Reign of the Supermen characters that appeared after the Death of Superman. Of course you can also see two Supermen standing in front, the Classic costume and the New 52 costume. This helps transition into the last layer where I displayed an all exclusive Superman action figures that highlights some of the key incarnations of Superman by different artists or eras. In this layer, you could see the first appearance of Superman in the comic books down to the latest incarnation that he sports in the New 52 Universe. As of now, I'm trying to complete all of the DC Direct releases of Superman because I'm such a huge fan of DC Direct action figures that are artist centric. Noticeably missing here is the DC Direct Superfriends Superman, MAD Superman, and Dark Side Superman, among others. That wraps up the upper left corner of the shelf.    
  

Vintage DCs and Movie Masters

Lower Left Corner: The last layer of the top most shelf also transitions to the smaller scaled (five inch below) Superman action figure collections that I have which is housed in the first layer of the lower left corner of the shelf. The reason why I separated them from the six inch ones because basically they are vintage toys of the 80's to the 90's mixed with the more recent releases that were geared towards the kids. Among these are the more rare ones like fast food toys and other kiddie toys. This layer still has a lot more spaces left and I still might toy hunt on more Superman toys that would fit in this category. The second layer meanwhile houses the grittier DC Superhero Movies action figure collections. Prominently displayed in this layer are the action figure sets from Chris Nolan's Batman: Dark Knight Trilogy, Martin Campbell's Green Lantern, Bryan Singer's Superman Returns, WB's Smallville, Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, and Snyder's Watchmen. I also managed to sneak in a custom Christopher Reeve Superman in this layer. Since neither Mattel nor DC Direct had released a six inch version of Richard Donner's classic Superman movie, I took it upon myself to customize one. I'm also contemplating on completing the older Batman movies from Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher, but space constraints might prevent me from doing such. Moving on to the third layer, I opted to display the vintage Kenner/Hasbro Total Justice toy line from the 90's. I Absolutely love this toy line back when I was a kid because of the ultra sculpt detail it sports, way advanced during its time. It is also joined with other Kenner made DC action figures, namely the Man of Steel toy line. I also managed to sneak in a Justice League fast food toy collection set from Jollibee. This transitions to the fourth layer which houses the various animated incarnations of the Justice League in toy form. Of course on the center is the highly popular Vintage DC Super Powers toy line that were derived from the Super friends TV show. Displayed on the left most corner is the more recent Justice League Unlimited toy line which was derived from the highly successful Justice League animated series of the 2000s. This animated series in my opinion is the best animated series ever (yes it trumps Batman and X-Men the animated series). Joining them on the display is the Batman centric animated series that replaced the Justice League animated series. This Batman centric animated series is simply called The Batman and featured the Justice League in its last season. This animated series was also cancelled and replaced by a more kid friendly Batman centric animated series that involves a rotation of DC characters that served as Batman's guest stars. This newer animated series is called Batman the Brave and the Bold and I've made it a point to try to collect some key Justice League members that I could find in this toy line. Lastly, this layer is joined by the Young Justice animated series toy line, the most recent animated series from DC Comics. The last layer meanwhile houses the Masters of the Universe toy line and the Thundercats toy line. You might wonder what both of these toy lines had to do in a generally DC Comics part of the cabinet. Well, Masters of the Universe have been for the most part assigned by Mattel (the toy line's owner and current makers of DC Comics related action figures) to DC Comics for their resurgence in comic book form. Thundercats on the other hand in the mid 2000s was also assigned to Wildstorm comics (DC's sister company) when it came to producing comic books. So basically both of these properties were in one point or another a part of the DC Comics stable. I also decided to join both together because of their almost similar theme (sword wielding strongmen and both are 80s cartoon series). It does not help that when I was a kid, I always wondered who would win in a fight, He-Man from the Masters of the Universe or Lion-O from Thundercats. So merging them together in one shelf was only natural for me. This wraps up my left most corner of my display cabinet.

Hot Toys and Japanese live action series

Top Center Cabinet: I made use of the center cabinet to house the bigger action figures in my collections. By bigger I mean those who are scaled at 10 inch and higher. The top most layer of the center cabinet houses my one and only Hot Toys collection. And that Hot Toys is none other than the Christopher Reeve Superman. I have always been a fan of Superman ever since I saw the 1978 Superman movie which was starred by Christopher Reeve. Though Hot Toys are quite pricey for someone like me, I managed to turn a blind eye on its price just for this once. This is perhaps the holy grail in all of my collections. The Hot Toys Superman is joined by a cheaper 12 inch Superman Returns action figure/doll. I intentionally purchased this so that I could have him join the Hot Toys Superman since they are similarly scaled. Hidden at the back of this figure is my very first Superman toy that I owned since I was a kid. I also included in this layer the 10 inch version of the Justice League Unlimited Superman and a complimenting scaled Krypto the Superdog as well as the Kryptonian Battle Suit from the Kenner Man of Steel toy line. A Movie Masters Man of Steel Superman also stands there for the meantime as I contemplate if I should get a Hot Toys Henry Cavill Superman from the recent Man of Steel movie. The second layer on the other hand is devoted to Japanese pop culture icons such as Super Sentais (Power Rangers),  Rider series (Kamen Rider), Kaiju (Ultraman), Tokusatsu (Ryukendo/Shaider), and Mechas (Voltron) among others. Growing up, I've been a fan of Japanese live action series such as Bio-Man, Shaider, Ultraman, Power Rangers, and Kamen Rider. So I made it a point to collect some of the characters that I watched as a kid. I got them more for nostalgias sake.      

Anime and Basketball action figures

Lower Center Cabinet: The first layer of the lower center cabinet is a continuation of my Japanese pop culture related theme. This time, I focused on anime (Japanese for cartoons) like Dragon Ball. This is actually a work in progress layer as at this moment I temporarily displayed a Real Steel Rock em' Sock em' play set. I'm not quite a fan of anime except for Dragon Ball Z, Slam Dunk, and Samurai X. I'm a confessed Dragon Ball junkie and lately my toy hunting is spent mostly on completing the key Dragon Ball Z characters. Samurai X is also on my radar, I'm just waiting for a good deal to fall on my lap. The second layer is devoted to vintage Basketball figures from the Kenner Starting Line Up toy line and Space Jam. I'm a huge fan of Michael Jordan, and I have been collecting Michael Jordan memorabilia ranging from trading cards, shoes, to action figures. For the vintage basketball action figures, my focus was to collect all of Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls' main nemesis during their 6 championship title run. The bottom shelf meanwhile houses the more recent McFarlane NBA action figures. For this particular toy line, I focused on collecting Chicago Bulls action figures and the more recent NBA Superstars with championship titles such as Shaquille O' Neal and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat. I also collected some of the more popular NBA Superstars of the 90's like Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, and Charles Barkley among others. Basically the whole display cabinet is still a work in progress and I might change the contents over time. I'm still planning to collect a couple of Wrestling action figures that I might display here. I've also kept some of my Star Trek and Transformers action figures in storage while I'm still contemplating if I should put them in this display cabinet or if I should just sell them.  

Marvel Legends and Marvel Select

Top Most Right Corner: Since I'm a more outspoken DC fanboy, not many may have known that I'm also a keen follower of the Marvel Universe. And if my love for DC is well represented in 6 inch form through DCUC and DC Direct, my love for Marvel had brought me to collect their own 6 inch toy lines. Marvel's Marvel Legends and Marvel Select stands on the extreme right corner of my Display Cabinet. You could actually see from a distance that the extreme opposite corners of my Display Cabinet is devoted to two of these competing comic book companies. The first layer houses the Marvel Super Villains. I only cherry picked on the key arch enemies of the Marvel Superheroes and left out the more obscure ones. The second layer is devoted to the Fantastic Four and various Marvel Superheroes that are neither a member of the Avengers or the X-Men (except for multiple figures like Captain America, Iron Man, and Wolverine). Meanwhile, the third layer houses the Avengers. Majority of my Marvel collections are from the Toybiz Marvel Legends as I find them better compared to Hasbro's Marvel Legends. The last layer on the other hand houses the X-Men and their fellow mutants. And if you noticed, I chose to complete the X-Men movie versions first before going to the non movie characters. I've always hated Toybiz and Hasbro's uneven release. They are constantly releasing X-Men action figures sporting their costumes from different eras, eliminating the chances of having them displayed together with the same eras. The movie version at least gives the key X-Men characters a uniform look. So basically, I completed the X-Men movie action figure series first before venturing into the other characters that did not appear in the movie. So majority of the 6 inch X-Men action figure collection that I have does not actually represent the comic book versions. The comic book versions however will be represented in the lower corner.

Vintage Marvels, TMNT, and some G.I. Joes

Lower Right Corner: If I owned a number of vintage DC action figures from the 90's, I also own a number (albeit smaller) of vintage Marvel Superheroes action figures from the 90's. Though not as wide as DC's, I managed to collect a few vintage Marvel Superheroes from the 90's. The first layer houses the vintage 90's Avengers action figures, Sam Raimi's Spiderman movie trilogy, as well as the more recent kid friendly Avengers and Spiderman movie mighty battler toys. I opted these instead of the more pricey Marvel Legends movie action figures because these are great toys for my son because of their playability. When he's not playing with them, I usually store them in my display cabinet to balance my DC Superhero movies action figure collection. The second layer houses the vintage 90's X-Men action figure that I had since I was a kid. One can clearly see that I'm a huge X-Men fan because of the sheer number of these vintage X-Men toys that I managed to accumulate when I was still a kid. These toy line went into popularity right behind the strength of the 90's X-Men animated series, one of the best animated series of my time. So while my 6 inch X-Men collection are mostly the live action movie versions, these vintage ones represents the comic book versions. I think it's a good balance in my collection as I have both the movie and the comic book versions well represented in my display cabinet.  The third and fourth layer meanwhile houses the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT), one of my favorite toys when I was a kid. I'm a kid of the 90's, and I'm sure those who grew up in the 90's in one point or another owned a TMNT toy. The third layer houses the different versions of the TMNT. This ranges from the vintage TMNT, 2003 TMNT, CGI Movie TMNT, NECA Eastman and Laird TMNT, and the recent TMNT classics by Playmates. The fourth layer houses the allies and villains from the vintage TMNT toy line as well as the recent Nick Toons TMNT deluxe battle sound fx action figures. I opted for these battle sound figures in favor of the  basic ones because of its playability. My son enjoys all the noises that these Turtles (and Shredder) makes while he's playing with them. And finally, the last layer is an odd mix of Western and Eastern pop culture icons that I find very nostalgic. The left side is composed of the Western gun wielding action stars like the vintage Rambo action figures from Coleco and the 80's G.I. Joe cartoon series. On the right side, I displayed the Eastern Martial Arts action stars like Bruce Lee, Brandon Lee, and the cast of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I also included in this layer the vintage Street Fighter action figures that was produced by the makers of the G.I. Joe toy line. So basically, the front row is composed of the G.I. Joe scaled action figures like the G.I. Joes, Robocop, Rambo, A-Team, Indiana Jones, and the Street Fighters. While the back row is composed of the 7 to 8 inch action figures of Rambo and the Force of Freedom, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Bruce Lee and Brandon Lee. And as usual, all of my comic books are stored in the compartments below the showcase cabinet.

So this wraps up my blog entry for today. Hope you guys enjoyed the little tour that I gave. Will be reviewing all of my toy collections in this blog whenever I could find time. It just sank in to me just now that it feels daunting to remove all of these action figures from their display and one by one do a review on them. But we'll see. See you in my next entry.

Man of Steel leaked Teaser Trailer

Official Teaser Poster

I'm supposed to be looking forward for the last installment of Chris Nolan's Batman Trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. But something bigger is going to motivate me to watch the movie the earliest that I can. This blog entry is even supposed to be about Batman but he will have to step aside even though I might be running out of time to make a blog entry that will be recapping the last two Batman movies before The Dark Knight Rises. The reason? The new Superman movie's trailer debut. Simply called Man of Steel, this new Superman movie is being produced under the guiding hands of Chris Nolan. Directed by Zack Snyder (of 300 and Watchmen fame) and starred by Henry Cavill (remember the movie Immortals?) this new Superman movie promises to bring the action that no other Superman movie has ever done before. And it's about time that they maximize the current technological advances to film making in ensuring that this new Superman movie will reinvigorate the franchise and Superman's standing as the greatest Superhero of all time. In the movie, Cavill will be joined by an All Star cast of veteran actors that would truly shape him as the rightful Superman for this generation. Joining him are Amy Adams, who will be playing Lois Lane, Russell Crowe (remember the movie Gladiator? or the  2010 Robin Hood?) as Superman's Kryptonian father Jor El, Kevin Costner (remember the 90's Robin Hood? or the Bodyguard?) as Superman's adoptive father Jonathan Kent, Diane Lane (Unfaithful) as Superman's adoptive mother Martha Kent, Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix's Morpheus) as Perry White (well he's supposed to be white in the comics), and Michael Shannon and Antje Traue as Zod and Ursa respectively.

Henry Cavill as the new Superman

I actually initially is hesitant of this movie because Superman's costume is taking a cue on the NU 52 (DC Comics Reboot) costume, but what gives, right now I just want to see a new Superman movie. Nolan and Snyder better deliver the goods this time because Nolan's Batman trilogy is coming to it's end and DC needs a new Superhero to save them from Marvel's box office onslaught with the success of their Avengers movie and other movie tie ins to the Avengers. Heck Superman might even be outnumbered next year because Marvel has already announced their new movies (Iron Man 3, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Thor: The Dark World, Ant Man, and The Guardians of the Galaxy) out next year which they are saying as a preparation to the Avengers Phase 2 movie. I am hoping that Superman would not be outgunned and perhaps would even lead the way for DC to come out with more of their movies and the eventual Justice League movie. Nolan has expressed that he is not going to helm the rumored upcoming Justice League movie but has said that Man of Steel might just be the movie that would finally lead the Justice League movie to be realized. I am hoping that indeed Man of Steel would do just that. Superman has been the butt of jokes for far too long, I pray that Man of Steel would finally bring Superman back the respect that he rightfully deserves. Man of Steel will also not only going to be about action, but Nolan has also said that they hope to bring Superman to the audience and make the general public once again remember why Superman is the greatest hero of all time.

Man of Steel?

This blog entry won't be complete without an Action Figure feature. So here I am with the closest figure that I could get that would represent the new Man of Steel movie while I wait for the official Movie Merchandise. This figure here is actually from the much maligned Superman Return's movie which was starred by Brandon Routh. What made me bought this figure is that it has the Man of Steel's costume colors. The new movie does not have the blue hues of Superman, but instead it has a grayish blue hue to it. This figure caught my attention because of it's close resemblance to Man of Steel, well except for the red trunks. Man of Steel is going to be sporting the Red trunkless Superman of the New 52 universe which I don't really like. I'm still a huge fan of the classic Superman costume with the red trunks on. But there's a reason why they went with this costume. And some photos would show that Jor El will be wearing a similar costume in Krypton. So this costume comes from Krypton, not sewed by Ma Kent. This figure sports a pissed off Superman head sculpt and does not hold any close resemblance to Brandon Routh. If any, this figure would rightfully represent Henry Cavill's Man of Steel because I believe his version will be more tougher and angrier than Routh's. And as evidenced by his movie Immortals, Cavill can very much play a mean Superman that is ready to kick some asses. (more photos below as well as the movie's costume).

 

Bryan Singer's Superman Returns and Man of Steel

The Man of Steel official costume

More Photos here:

http://idlehands1.blogspot.com/2012/06/mega-ultra-super-suit-from-man-of-steel.html

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/07/12/comic-con-take-a-closer-look-at-the-man-of-steel-costume

(UPDATE) Saw this on you tube, a combined video of the SDCC Video Trailer and the Official Video Trailer released in cinemas.

Below is a description of the Man of Steel trailer written by Luis & Ivan Jaime...
(Taken from www.supermanhomepage.com)

It opens with a wheat field on a farm.
We then see a toy wagon flipped over in the grass.
A butterfly on the chain of a swing, it flutters its wings.
Cut to a shot of a man, walking alone on a snow-covered road. We see him from the back, walking towards the hills.
We see a young boy, running through a field of grass from the farm we saw earlier. He wears a red cape, tucked into the back of his white T-shirt.


Cut to a scene with a bearded Clark Kent sitting on the steps of a house on a cloudy day. A dog runs up to him, and he scratches the back of its head.


We are then back at the farm. We see the boy with the cape, we don't see his head. What we see is his torso, with his two fists firmly planted on his waist, in a signature pose that we are ALL very familiar with.
In the background, we hear what sounds like a combination of Jor-El and Johnathan Kent: "What if a child dreams of becoming something other than what society had intended? What if a child aspired to something greater?"
The scene changes to Clark being brought to a barn. A dusty sheet is pulled to reveal an intergalactic vessel that had been hidden there for years.
Clark holds a metal "S" shield, in the new design from the movie, in his hand.
Next we go to a completely different setting. We are no longer in a farm, but in a city.
We hear a woman's voice in the background: "My son was in the bus." It cuts to a teenage Clark, saving children from a school bus that had fallen off a bridge and crashed in the water. Clark is swimming to the bus, and he rips the door off. "He saw what Clark did."
Jonathan Kent's voice is then heard saying: "People are afraid of what they don't understand."
Jor-El is now seen standing before Clark. "It's not from this world Clark." Jor-El pulls opens his cloak to reveal the Superman suit's "S" Shield. "Take you're freedom. It's my conscience. Where I come from."
We now see Superman in his suit, long red cape flapping in the wind behind him. The first shot of him in the suit is from a distance, the second shows him walking across a snowy plain.
We hear Jonathan Kent's voice: "You have to decide what kind of man you want to grow up to be Clark. Whoever that man is, he's going to change the world."
When then see a series of brief glimpses:
We see a glimpse of Superman flying.
A glimpse of him catching someone falling off a building.
A quick glimpse of Amy Adams as Lois Lane.
A glimpse of Superman being led down a hallway by police, with his hands behind his back, while in his Superman suit.
We catch a glimpse of Clark inside an elevator. The doors are closing, and right before we can no longer see his face, he removes his glasses from his face.
He hear Clark's voice: "My father believed, if the world found out who I really was, they'd reject me. He was convinced that the world wasn't ready." We see Lois approaching Superman as if they are about to kiss. "What do you think?"
There's a glimpse of a shirtless Clark, with his whole body on fire.
And finally, we see Superman being thrown into a giant bank vault. The same vault from his first promotional image. It looks like he's been thrown.
It finishes with a giant "S" shield, rotating on an axis, until you see the new "S" shield in all its glory. Followed by: "SUMMER 2013".

Story:
In the pantheon of superheroes, Superman is the most recognized and revered character of all time. Clark Kent/Kal-El (Henry Cavill) is a young twenty-something journalist who feels alienated by powers beyond his imagination. Transported years ago to Earth from Krypton, a highly advanced, distant planet, Clark struggles with the ultimate question 'Why am I here?' Shaped by the values of his adoptive parents Martha (Lane) and Jonathan Kent (Costner), Clark discovers having extraordinary abilities means making difficult decisions. When the world is in dire need of stability, an even greater threat emerges. Clark must become a Man of Steel, to protect the people he loves and shine as the world's beacon of hope - Superman.