My Star Trek Original Series Autographs

This week's assignment for the League of Extraordinary Bloggers is a familiar one to me: Star Trek. Instead of taking the obvious route and posting a review of Star Trek Into Darkness (which was awesome by the way, but we'll discuss that later), I thought I'd talk a bit about my collection of Star Trek autographs. Being a Trekkie for 25+ years, I have collected my fair share of autographs from Star Trek conventions. So, in honor of Into Darkness continuing the Trek reboot, this post will be about those autographs I have of actors from The Original Series and the Original Series movies.

Toy Pix: Brachiosaurus

Walking past the artsy-fartsy downtown shops recently, I was stopped dead in my tracks by this Brachiosaurus staring at me out of a store window. With its head stretching up 2 feet in the air, this sauropod is an imposing plastic beast to say the least. I thought he'd be perfect to display on the top of my cubicle's bookcase at work so I picked him up. Let's take a look!

Book Review: Spillover by David Quammen

There are many layers to the onion of my dorkishness, and one of those is a fondness for science books. The sensationalist cover of Spillover by David Quammen caught my eye but it’s the Amazon description that compelled me to read it: “We hear news reports of Ebola, SARS, AIDS, and something called Hendra killing horses and people in Australia—but those reports miss the big truth that such phenomena are part of a single pattern. The bugs that transmit these diseases share one thing: they originate in wild animals and pass to humans by a process called spillover.” Zoonotic diseases (those transmitted from animals to humans) are big players in the news today as it seems like we have a new bird flu scare every other week. So what’s the big deal? Why are people freaking out over these diseases? Spillover seemed like it could help explain what's going on.

Artwork: Armorvor Infection, Gator and Lion

 

If you haven't checked out my deviantArt page in a while, you might want to take a gander. I've uploaded some of my artwork from the recent Armorvor releases from TGB Customs. Enjoy! And for more on TGB Customs at C2E2, check out TGB Customs blog!

 

Toy Review: Twin Blades Batman and Mallet Smasher Joker... plus, a Rant about action figures as collectibles

I've been putting off collecting the Power Attack Batman figures for way too long. But the line is so... generic. Usually, Batman figures are representative of Batman in some other medium, like a cartoon, movie, or comic book. But with Power Attack, Mattel decided to throw caution to the wind and design a generic Batman line with no attachments to anything else, an affordable toyline that appeals to kids rather than collectors. And because Power Attack doesn't represent Batman from any cartoon, comic, or movie, I wasn't interested. But recently I've discovered that...

Toy Pix: The Purple Posse - Transformers Classics Megatron, Syclowave, Ooze Scoopin' Donnie, Neo Nebula Armorvor, Geronimo

I usually keep my most recent toy purchases displayed prominently on my computer desk so I can appreciate them for a while before they're banished to the display shelf (or worse, tossed into the storage bins). It just so happens that two of my newest figures were Glyos Syclowave and Ooze Scoopin' Donnie... two figures that usually would never be displayed together, but since they were on my computer desk, I chanced to notice that they were pretty well color-coordinated. Given the fun I had with the red action figures pic that accompanied the post about Microman Robotman Ace, I thought I'd go back to that idea with this Purple Posse featuring Transformers Classics Megatron, Glyos Syclowave, Ooze Scoopin' Donnie, Neo Nebula Armorvor, and purple MUSCLE #184, Geronimo. Click through for detail pics of each figure!

Toy Review: Dreadnought Enterprise D from All Good Things (Diamond Select)

In the Star Trek: The Next Generation finale All Good Things, the Enterprise D of an alternate future receives some considerable upgrades, transforming it into a beefed-up Galaxy-class vessel. Strangely enough, I don't think that this version of the Next Generation Enterprise has an official moniker. Star Trek Online identifies it as the "Dreadnought Enterprise" (presumably after the three-nacelled Federation-class concept ship identified as a Dreadnought type vessel in the Starfleet Technical Manual), so I guess that's as good a name as any.