Books: The Making of Star Trek

The Making of Star Trek was a great little book, circa 1968, that researched the production of the original Trek series. It's a pretty obsessive book, covering virtually every facet of the show from the production history, to the prop designs, to the creation of the characters and storylines, to the translation of the scripts to the screen. I imagine that in those pre-Internet days this book was an invaluable resource to Trekkies. In fact, it still has quite a few surprises even today.

Retro Toy Review: Chief Engineer Michaelangelo & Chief Medical Officer Raphael (Star Trek TMNT)

In one of the weirdest amalgamations in the history of action figures, Playmates Toys merged two of its most popular licenses, Star Trek: The Original Series and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, to capitalize on the expansive fan bases that both enjoyed during the early 90's. Leonardo donned Captain Kirk's uniform, Donatello became Spock, Raph merged with Doctor McCoy, and Mike adopted Scotty's persona. Being a huge fan of both TMNT and Trek, I had to pick these up, so I recently scored Raph and Mikey MOC. Are they as awesome as the sum of their properties, or abominations that need to be euthanized?

Movie Review: Kick-Ass

I've been burned at the theater a few times recently, and burned bad. Avatar, Clash of the Titans, Transformers 2... all very popular movies, all of which I hate. But Kick-Ass is one of my most anticipated movies of 2010, so I ventured forth from the cocoon I erected around my brain that protects me from the psychological turmoil of crap movies to give it a chance... despite the fact that Roger Ebert calls the movie "morally reprehensible". Does it really deserve Ebert's scathing review?

Toy Pix: Glyos Haul - Glyaxia Wave

Here we see my latest Glyos shipment from the Glyaxia wave! This wave had a bunch of cool colorways from the Rilleco Rising storyline featured in the Glyaxia Passcode game. Despite the weird release time of 5:00AM, I somehow managed to get almost all the figures I wanted (with the sole exception of Stealth Armodoc). Let's check them out.

Toy Review: DC Universe Classics Iron

Man, how long has it been since I last reviewed a DC Universe Classics figure? Oh yeah... last June. I bought into the DCUC line big-time at the beginning but three things killed it for me: Mattel's incessant reuse of parts led to a toyline that was way too homogenous; any figure I liked was nearly impossible to find; and the build-a-figures ticked me off because they're the coolest of all, but they're entirely unavailable to those of us who don't want to pay for a whole wave in order to build a "free" figure. I had all but written the line off... until I happened across Iron. I dig the Metal Men, so I thought I'd give him a shot.

Fan Art: Clear Red Pheyden Infection Card + Wallpaper

This illustration of a clear red Pheyden trading card was intended for TGB's Arthrogod/Glyos Infection Wave. I wanted to play up the robotic aspects of the Pheyden suit in the card, so I thought that "filling-in" the "in-between" spaces would really bring the illustration to life.

Toy Tribute: Esoqq vs. Nausicaan (Playmates Star Trek: The Next Generation)

I've always thought that Esoqq and Nausicaan from the Playmates Star Trek: The Next Generation line are interesting "companion" figures. Both are weird aliens, both have very similar body shapes and hair length, and both have very similar weaponry. If I were a kid, I would have thought them brothers or something. But given their similarities, it was inevitable that they should clash with one eliminatating the other, like matter destroying anti-matter. Now it's time to decide, once and for all, which is the coolest Star Trek alien in these here parts.

Books: Able Team - Final Run

I haven't covered any books on the Dork Dimension yet, but this find bears special attention. That's right, this is the Able Team. Written during the height of the militaristic trend that dominated pop culture in the 80's, the Able Team was a series of books expounding upon the adventures of the "fiercest covert action squad in the world".

Movie Review: Clash of the Titans (2010)

I wouldn't say that I'm a student of mythology, but I do think myths are a whole lot of fun. I loved the Odyssey, Gilgamesh was crazy-awesome, and I'm working on the Aeneid right now. So when I first saw the trailer for the new Clash of the Titans movie, I was a bit trepidacious. Sure, myths are all kinds of cool, but does Hollywood really understand why?

Retro Toy Review: Toon Don (Playmates TMNT)

Being a huge fan of the Mirage TMNT comics, I always loved the gritty comic-inspired design of Playmates' original wave of figures from 1988. But even though I appreciated the Mirage styling, the figures weren't particularly representative of the classic cartoon. Finally, in 1992 (4 years later!) Playmates released the Toon Turtles. Are they the "cartoony" Turtles that I so desperately need for my collection? Let's check out Toon Don to find out.

Fan Art: Muckburger

This was my entry for the Little Rubber Guys Fan Art Challenge #24. The theme of the challenge was to design a logo for your favorite figure, so I chose one of my favorite figures of all time, Muckman, hocking his delicious Muckburgers!