Retro Toy Review: Al Negator and Dead-Eye Duck (Bucky O'Hare)

The Bucky O'Hare set I won on eBay that included Bucky and Blinky also included Al Negator and Dead-Eye Duck. Dead-Eye is one of my favorite characters from the original Bucky O'Hare comics, a scrappy little four-armed duck with a healthy distrust for Jenny's witchcraft. Al Negator wasn't in the graphic novel that I read, but I did see him on a few episodes of the cartoon. In the cartoon, he's a bounty-hunter type, but I wish I could see what Michael Golden (artist of the Bucky comic) and Larry Hama (writer) would have done with the character.

Toy Review: MOTUC Optikk

OPTIKK. A character whose very name instills in collectors everywhere an overarching sense of: Whaaa...? Optikk was part of the New Adventures of He-Man line from '89, a line that re-imagined the well-known barbarian into a cheesy space man. As you might imagine, the line was quickly forgotten by most, and is kept alive on life-support today only because of the fascination of MOTU collectors for oddities. Why Mattel decided to mine that line for MOTUC characters is anyone's guess, but for the first New Adventures character, they picked its coolest and most distinctive dude: Optikk.

Fan Art: Creature in Space & Monstor

I thought that these recent illustrations for TGB Customs go pretty well together both thematically and stylistically. Creature in Space was a Glyos-compatible head with a classic sea monster theme (for shots of the figure, check out TGB Customs Blog). For an added touch of coolness, the head also included a bubble helmet! I wanted this header card to be kind of like those awesome horror comics from the 70's, so I added some high-contrast lighting to the creature to mimic that comic-booky drama. And since the monster head resembled the classic movie monsters from the 50's, I opted for a "silver screen" sort of background.

Retro Toy Review: Bucky O'Hare and Blinky

At last year's Baltimore Comic Con, I noticed a stack of Bucky O'Hare graphic novels on Neal Adams' table. I was surprised to see the connection between Bucky and Neal (who produced the comic), so I picked up a copy. It turns out that Neal wasn't the only comic book "superstar" involved in the production of Bucky O'Hare: the first few issues featured Larry Hama (of GI Joe fame) as writer and Michael Golden (Micronauts) as artist. Golden's work in the comic is so amazing that I needed some plastic momentos of the characters, so I picked up an eBay lot of figures from the vintage Bucky O'Hare line. In this first review, we'll take a gander at Bucky and his android Blinky.

Fan Art: Glyos Infection

When Marty (TheGodBeast) wanted to do his own Glyos exclusive, he contacted me to do the artwork for the header card. His idea was certainly a cool one: he would team up with Onell Designs to produce an exclusive clear red Pheyden packaged with Marty's own bug-themed heads and arm attachments. I loved the idea so much that I jumped at the chance to do the artwork.

Retro Toy Review: Generations "Admiral" Kirk and Captain Picard

1994 was a bittersweet year. Sadly, Star Trek: The Next Generation was going off the air, but at least it was headed for a new frontier: the cinema! I still remember donning my Starfleet uniform and going to the theater to see Star Trek: Generations, featuring Captain Picard and Captain Kirk saving the galaxy side by side! I was surprised at how quickly they cranked out the movie: All Good Things (the TNG finale) aired in May 1994, and Generations was released in November. Of course, that meant that its production was so rushed that the movie barely keeps itself from bursting apart like a warp core breech, but at the time, I was just happy to see my favorite crew on the big screen.

Toy Pix: Glyos Infection Wave

When I do illustration work for a toy designer, I often request a sample of the toy as payment. Marty (TheGodBeast) recently produced a wave of Glyos-compatible attachments with a bug theme, and luckily for me, he chose me to do the artwork for the header card. (I'll post the header art and the story behind it later this week.) So that meant that I got a shipment of awesome arthropodal attachments! I know I'm a bit biased about these guys since I was involved in the production, but when I got these things, I was ecstatic at the level of sheer awesome evident in the sculpts. Here are three of my favorite configurations of the attachments.

Toy Pix: War Machine Burger King Kid's Meal Toy

I really dig the robot suits from the new Iron Man movie, but I haven't been impressed enough with the figures I've seen so far to warrant a purchase. However, my wife and I were in Burger King today which features Kid's Meals with Iron Man 2 toys, so I decided to pick one up on a whim.

Retro Toy Review: Chrome Dome (Playmates TMNT)

I've been on a vintage TMNT buying spree for the past year. It's a great line to collect: cheap enough to be collectible for those of us on a tight budget, but varied enough to include really interesting figures, like Chrome Dome. I don't remember him from the cartoon, but I have an odd fascination with shiny action figures, so his inclusion in my collection was inevitable. Let's see how this dude holds up.