Monday Skull Rattling: Come Across the Rainbow Bridge and Be My Friend

I think I’ve discovered the secret of how other people maintain content on their websites without actually posting anything: covering stuff that other people have already posted.

With that in mind I thought today I might do the same thing in the spirit of self-interest.

San Francisco with Venus setting in the background. Or Saturn. Depends on who you ask it seems.

-First off, I’d like to recommend everyone follow @Astro_Ron if you’re on Twitter. Better known as Astronaut Ron Garan, he flew on the Discovery before its recent retirement and has now returned to the International Space Station on Expedition 27. What he doing up there? Why he’s sending Twitpics of Earth like this one here or the view of San Francisco seen above. I know a lot of people debate the usefulness of the Space Program (and the ISS in particular) but you can't deny that the pictures aren't beautiful. 

This is from Finland!

 -So last week Capcom decided it’s had enough of dwelling in what I would call “polite obscurity” following a massive slowdown after RE 5 that wasn’t broken until recently with MvC3. “Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City” was announced, with a surprising move into the realm of FPS for the franchise. Apparently you’re playing as (and with) a team of commandos who work for the Umbrella Corporation, all of whom take their visual cues from Hunk. I've seen the game described as a fusion of SOCOM and Left 4 Dead, which admittedly makes me anxious in light of the co-op elements of RE5 basically extinguishing the single players impact. One thing to note: one of the missions is apparently to kill Leon and Rockfort Island (of Code Veronica fame) is one of the locations. You can get a surprising amount of details here including stuff I hadn't heard on the first pass around. [Source: NeoGAF]

-Want to see something that burned one of my neurons with pure frustration? Well look no further than lucky dog Jeff Parker’s Guest Review of the Hot Toys figure of Friend from 20^th Century Boys! Made for Hot Toys' 10th Anniversary exhibition in Tokyo, he joins a Michael Jackson figure in the outfit from "Beat it" and a special set of the Scarecrow and hallucination Batman from Batman Begins. Hopefully one of those two is enough to make you guys jealous since I'm still bitter about not having one figure from Hot Toys ever.

Naoki Urasawa’s great manga receives a figure I’ll never be able to have and I most definitely want to share my misery with you, even if you have no experience with the man or his works. Fun fact: one time around campus I saw a girl wearing a t-shirt with Friend’s symbol on it but I was in a car and couldn’t stop to talk to her. Where did you go local girl with excellent taste?! [Source: Michael Crawford's Review of the week]

-You guys may remember a few weeks back when we last had Poe Ghostal on that he was talking about a surprise figure on his website. Well the secret is out because today he posted pictures of his very own Poe Ghostal Minimate! Head over there for the scoop as I don't want to steal any of his thunder [Source: Poe Ghostal's Points of Articulation]

None of the Thor posters have been amazing but this is one of the better ones

-So the first reviews of Thor are coming in and most of them seem pretty favorable if not enthusiastic. So far no one's screaming about how much the movie shoves the upcoming Avengers film in our faces the way they were with Iron Man 2. Maybe they've gotten over it as SHIELD is all over the movie from the trailers (and promotional campaign) and Hawkeye apparently has a role substantial enough that my clueless boss at work knew who I was talking about when asked. Anyway, full reviews are here, here and here from some of the fortunate bastards that got to see it already. [Sources: IGN, Hitfix and Comic Book Resources]

A connection only made by how they both appeared in the last batch of episodes for Batman: The Animated Series

-As a side note, it's been a thrilling week for me in toys which you'd already be aware of if you're following us on Twitter (@Orccacast for those of you who aren't and WHY AREN'T YOU?). I found all of DCUC 16 in the space of about 2 days just before I was about to order them online. By this point I figured they were going to be like Wave 8 and never appear at retail so I was doubly pleased to find them with an amazing price point of $10.99 apiece at Kroger. I think that makes this the cheapest wave since the first and that's only because Wave 1 only had 5 figures. It's a better wave than I thought it would be and I'm pleased to see they fixed the springy chest attachment on Mercury. I also finally found a Jedi Luke from the new VOTC collection after falling asleep at the wheel long enough for him to mostly disappear. He's just as great as everyone said he is 4 months ago.

Mercury is saying "You don't see any dust on the mantle. NONE!"

So that's all I've got for you today. Hopefully this was an enriching experience, even if you just learned that I'll talk to any girl wearing a 20th Century Boys t-shirt. Have fun with the rest of your day while I sit here and try to organize my demented thoughts to finish what I was working on.

Hasty-ass picture post: Green Lantern Classics wave 2

 

As you can see, I'm no great photographer. I thought it would be nice for everyone to get a look at these though, as the first reports of them appearing just showed up yesterday.

In short:

-Stel: Probably my favorite BAF they've done

-Sodam Yat: Pretty good for mostly reuse

-Carol Ferris: New buck is great but arms are still very thing. Pay close attention to her eyes when buying

-Lantern 3-pack: Below average value but B'dg is the last note anyone need play on the character

-Change-o Green Lanterns: Naut Kel Loi's fishbowl makes his head a pain to switch but he looks great. Medphyll looks good but less exciting visually.

-Change-o Red Lanterns: Nite-lik looks awesome though his head has difficulty holding poses and there's no symbol underneath his chest piece, forcing you to buy both carded variations (or two carded Skallox's I guess)

-G'hu: $15 for Stel's arm was a little steep.

You can see more exciting commentary in the forums at Poe Ghostal's page!

Review: DCUC 15 Sinestro Corps Batman and OMAC

So the spectacular K-mart DCUC sale has come and gone and that coupon is no longer valid. Hopefully some of you guys out there who were interested were able to at least snag a Martian Manhunter or Jack Knight. Today I’m going to look at the misfits of wave 15, the ones that you either already knew you wanted or didn’t when the wave was announced. That’s right, Sinestro Corps Batman and OMAC

It's not a foreground thing: OMAC's head is really that big

Sculpt/Design:

Both of these guys make use of Mattel’s beloved buck system: SC Batman is just the normal Batman figure with new forearms, right hand, and lower torso (or in the words of the common folk, crotch). At least I think it's new; the only 'new' quality about it is the belt and that could be a reuse from other Sinestro Corps members. Plus, as I'm sure you've noticed, there's a newly sculpted head. What a head too, as Batman’s obviously not relying on his yellow ring to frighten people; he’s banking on his pissed off expression. 

Do you smell that smell? Batman's smelled that smell and he's obviously not happy because it's the stench of crime

OMAC on the other hand has a fairly normal expression. He’s the Sinestro body with new boots, gauntlets, belt as well as a new head. With that giant Mohawk you’re not going to be mistaking Buddy Blank here for any other character, especially since it’s weirdly oversized. I’m not sure if that was intentional or not; perhaps Brother Eye increased his cerebral capacity requiring a cephalic upgrade as well.

OMAC's a little shorter then Plas but that huge noggin' and Mohawk make up for it

There’s not a ton to say here; they both look like they should and the scale seems appropriate. OMAC may be a little on the small side since he uses the still slightly shrunk Sinestro body but his Mohawk makes up for it. There don’t seem to be any details missed on the two; some may have wanted a raised ‘Eye’ emblem on Buddy but I don’t know if that’s accurate or not.

This is the only way I could get Batman to stand for this picture

Paint/Quality Control:

The paintwork on these guys had to be good because there’s not a lot of spaces Mattel could hide a screw-up. The pointy Sinestro Corps starburst is pretty solid on Batman here though you may want to look through a few before picking one out; not all of them were great but none were grotesque either. Don’t worry, if these have hit your area you’ll have tons to pick from as I’m pretty sure he’s half of every case; my K-mart had at least 20. Mine was among the better I’ve seen but the center of the Sinestro starburst shifts a little as it runs down the points of articulation. OMAC hasn’t fared as well but that could be because I’ve only seen 2 of him in person. The one I got was mostly fine but the other had orange paint flakes around his emblem and some slop on his gauntlets.

One area these two definitely falter is in quality control; there aren’t any outrageous problems but Batman has a slightly bent leg due to his positioning in the package. This was fixed by boiling it but I hate having to do things like this. I’ve still got a Black Adam with a wonky partially rotted left knee from where the clear bands holding him in his blister ate away at the joint. Besides that, as I’m sure some of you have heard by this point, the Corps symbol on his chest and arm band point in different directions.

Not the clearest picture but I try.

That’s right, the armband is upside down. We should be glad that it wasn’t the chest symbol but I still think this earns a hearty Gawd DAMMIT Mattel from me. While you could say this is a paint issue I think the fact that there was a reference for the symbol’s orientation less than 3 inches away on Batman’s chest is what puts it here.

GAWDDAMMIT MATTEL!!

Batman’s not alone in his issues: OMAC came out of his blister completely bowlegged. His feet wouldn’t sit flat on the ground and after boiling, they’re still having a little trouble staying level. He also had a stuck wrist joint though I was able to work it in after freezing. Buddy’s right elbow was warped a little as well which continues a strange trend in this wave. Also, his right wrist is bizarrely loose but not enough to spin around on its own. Those problems together give him something of a bum right arm.

OMAC's strangely short looking lower legs

Articulation:

Both these guys have:

-Ball-jointed necks and shoulders

-Cut elbows, knees and ankles

-Swivel waists, biceps, wrists and thighs

-Ab crunch

That’s the standard for DCUC but it should be noted that OMAC has a great neck joint. Lately, that joint has had a pretty limited range of movement though Mattel has said they’re looking into it. Batman’s neck retains the small range so it’s hard to say how successful they’ve been in that effort. All the joints are tight, excusing Buddy’s right arm. That’s a real mercy on these two as with loose ankles they wouldn’t have the chance of a ‘Heroic Age’ comic launch to ever stand properly.

Accessories:

We get one real accessory this time, not including the BAF Validus part and the goofy little pin-back buttons. SC Batman has got a Batarang construct which attaches to his right fist so that it appears to be flying out of his ring. Its cast in a weird off-yellow color though as opposed to the bright neon of other constructs like this. Kind of like those are lemonade and the Batarang’s a frozen lemon bar. It does clip on easily and holds well so it’s got that much going for it. Personally, I don’t think I’ll ever use it but it’s good that they thought of it.

Yeah that's right. It's the color of a frozen Lemon Bar and NOTHING else

Rather than putting them below this time, I’ll mention that Bruce has got the Validus torso and OMAC one of the arms.

Overall:

These are two of the weaker figures in the wave when standing next to the truly excellent Martian Manhunter and Raven. OMAC’s wonky arm and Batman’s symbol goof-up put them in time-out but the bent legs are what sends them home for the day. I wasn’t particularly excited about either of these guys as character choices since OMAC has no home other then “pseudo-obscure Kirby characters” and Batman is apparently from a comic that’s not been published yet. Still, they both stand out visually though Bruce may end up blending into the Sinestro Corps over time. I wasn’t planning on getting either of them originally, hoping to find people who didn’t want their Validus parts, but I can’t say I regret getting either of them. OMAC’s growing on me especially though both of them kind of have that lost puppy quality because of their bent legs. I think if not for that, OMAC fans really couldn’t have asked for more. I have to give a little value to SC Batman for being a more interesting variant then the 29^th mathematical permutation of Capsule/Pouch, Black/Blue, Big Bat/Small Bat and Oval/No Oval. If you have any interest in these guys pick them up; just be very careful about looking at their knees inside of the blister card.

SC Batman: **1/2

OMAC:  **1/2

You got something to say about my ears?

Review: DCUC Martian Manhunter and Raven

Yay! I mentioned it a few episodes ago on Lantern Corpsner and my power to make wishes a reality like that little kid in the episode 'It's a good Life' on the Twilight Zone, once again manifested itself at just the right time and DCUC 15 finally showed up!

I can't lie: I got overexcited and opened J'onn in the car before taking any pictures

I've been haunting our local Kmart for the past few weeks in hope of finding this wave and in a rare act of distribution competency Mattel managed to make these appear in our area. I mentioned wanting Martian Manhunter specifically on the show a few weeks ago so I was lucky to grab both him and Raven a few days ago, using the $5 off coupon circulating at the moment (this was before I was aware of the sale that let me complete the rest of Validus yesterday for a mere $2.92 a figure). So you knew it'd come to this at some point: an actual review. I'm not going to lie, I'm not the world's best photographer but maybe I can make up for the less than satisfactory quality of the pictures with the odd dick joke here and there

ARE

YOU

NOT

ENTERTAINED!?

Sculpt/Design:

I have to say that the Horseman really knocked these two out of the park. They've captured the look of J'onn better than any other figure I've seen, including the much lauded original DC Direct figure. No faint praise considering that version is, almost a decade later, still considered one of the best figures to come out of the house that Georg built. From the arch of beetle-brow to tips of his buccaneer boots there's no problems to be had with the aesthetic of this figure at all.

Well, maybe one problem.

Apparently there was a mix-up at the factory with Mr. J'onzz's biceps. Some are coming with the intended large biceps, some with smaller biceps and some with a mix of the two. When buying J'onn originally I was only aware of the mixed sizes and ended up getting one with the pair of small biceps. Hence the gorgeous pictorial above. See? Educational as well as funny! The easiest way to spot the correct large ones is that they have veins so keep that in mind when you're trying to differentiate them without multiple Martians to compare.

Honestly, the small biceps don't bug me as much as the idea of the small biceps does. If the internet had left me unaware of the problem, I would have never noticed otherwise. The problem is repeated with Jemm though honestly I don't know how ripped he needs to look anyway. In fact, I suspect he was intended to have the smaller biceps in the first place. Since him and J'onn are based off the same buck, I think the small arms were meant to help set the two apart and the factory got confused with two sets of arms on similar figures. As it stands, Hawkman is more ripped then J'onn. I suspect Carter's arms are actually meant to be shared by him though. I don't have a large bicep from these to take that from, it's merely a guess. I've also heard of the ball shoulders having slight variations in that some are veined and some are not.

I promise he's not actually these colors, my novice photos just make him look that way

Anyway, J'onn here's been a long time coming and they really knocked him out of the park. His costume is translated beautifully and he's got a great head sculpt. It's just the right mix of pissed-off while still seeming approachable. He could be glowering at some criminals robbing the local orphanage or just beginning to smile since the poor schmucks have no clue what they're in for. Another good thing to point out is that in a tender mercy, he's in scale. This is something DCUC struggles with sometimes (The Teen Titans and their zany heights come to mind) so it's good to see that J'onn is appropriately taller than his Justice League brethren. That comes courtesy of his big boots though some have said they've given the illusion of overly long calves.

Her cape's the only thing in this wave taller than J'onn

Raven fares just as well. In fact, she's a front runner for best female figure in the whole line so far. Only poor, peg warming Powergirl comes close to the quality shown here. Raven (who I desperately wish had a "real" name so I could refer to her by something else) has some beautifully expressive hands at the tip of the normally very thin DCUC female arms. While I wish there was a little more variation in the females as far as sculpt goes, if all of them were more like my favorite Teen Titan here, I'd have little to complain about. There's a beautiful face underneath that hood, and I'd love to see a non-cowled version in the future (I love me some goofy variants; plus maybe they can pack her with a decent attempt at Starfire). Her simple costume came out great and I'm glad to see that they totally splurged on her cape which they'll never get another use out of again, excluding 'White Raven'.

Paint/Quality Control:

Wow, this is an excellent pair of figures for this. Our favorite Martian detective is mostly cast in his green color but any paint lines are clear and for once there's no slop. Raven fares just as well with the fine details of her face coming off just as great as the mostly painted details of her costume. Even her gloves, with the exposed thumb and finger, look great. You may have to look through a few but there are not many problems to find here. Great colors and fine, fine details for the two of them making them both stand out as great figures on your shelf. No stuck joints and a full range of motion make these two pretty much perfect as far as quality control goes though J'onn has a slight, slight bend to his right arm. Bicep confusion aside these two turned out great in a small showing of mercy after the wave 13 goofs. I know, it seems like we're Indiana Jones robbing that Fertility Idol at the beginning of 'Raiders', but the giant ball hasn't started to roll down to crush us yet. That comes with the other figures in the wave!

J'onn's huge brows are so well done, they're too much for me to photograph well

It's hard to find an angle that Raven doesn't look great from

Articulation:

There's not anything new here though both of these guys have pretty much all the range of motion you could want:

-Ball-jointed necks and shoulders

-Cut elbows, knees and ankles

-Swivel waists, biceps, wrists and thighs

-Ab crunch

They look great together, so much that I really want a comic where they team up now

Even with her thin (or is delicate more polite?) arms, Raven's got great motion and both of them have tight joints so they have no trouble holding poses.

Overall:

Of all the figures in this wave, these are the two you can't go wrong with. Admittedly I put them together because they're who I happened to buy first but it doesn't hurt that they're both highly desired characters that have finally made it into the line. Though the Teen Titans barely match each other scale-wise, Raven can at least hang out with Cyborg (likely still hanging out at your local Target for those who missed him) and I'm praying they get around to a redo of Starfire. Martian Manhunter is the figure to help finish out the Justice League and though we still need Perez Zatanna and Elongated Man, J'onn's a big mark in the win corner for those who've been waiting. Points go to his bio for reminding me of a power I'd forgotten he'd had in the form of 'Martian Vision'. It's funny seeing them all laid out, it really leads credence to that bit in 'JLA: Earth-2' where J'onn smacks up Ultraman around Washington D.C., telling him he's got all the powers of Superman plus telepathy.

Raven gets a leg and J'onn here gets a severed, screaming head plus a disembodied crotch. I can't wait to buy a ton of MM for Toys for Tots, no joke.

They both come with parts of Validus, making the Jim Shooter villain the line's first Legion of Superheroes character. Also they come with buttons but Raven's is the first in a long time to have a decent image on it (art by George Perez doesn't hurt that's for sure). They're showing up at Kmart first so check there especially in light of the sale running through Sunday (and the coupon found here). While you're there, why not pick up Sinestro Corps Batman and Golden Pharaoh so we can preemptively keep them from clogging shelves from now until wave 18? I swear that Batman must be 3 or 4 to a case since I counted around 20 at my first discovery of this wave (to 7 Golden Pharaohs, 2 Ravens, 2 J'onns, 1 OMAC, 1 Jemm, and 6 Jack Knights). Remember, you need him since he's got the Validus torso!

Gy-gor's reenacting the ultimate fate of Morgan Katarn, not Hamlet

Stay tuned as I'll get to the others soon (though maybe I won't be so fast to get to OMAC and SC Batman). For now, look for these as they're definitely the best of the wave!

Episode #32: Creepy Guy Behind The Camera

The ORCCA crew dives into as many random topics as possible this week! We go from Transformers, to Zack Snyder, to Amy Jo Johnston.  We scry the Mattel offices for another exciting session of "Ask Matty" and Lantern Corps-ner lets us put a pretty little bow on the events of the past few weeks. Plus: Judge Joe Brown!