Movie Masters The Dark Knight Went down to Vivocity to visit a camera shop to redeem some freebies, but went there a bit too late, and they were closed. So decided to pop in the Toys R Us there, and surprised to find another Gotham City Thug with a mask that I do not have. And the cool thing is this is the mask the Joker wore at the Bank heist. Previous haul.
Transformers Custom Picked up another cool custom by FansProject, the people who gave us the TFX-01 City Commander. This is a gas/petrol can/container that can transform into a big gun, suitable for Bineltechs/Alternators. It was created for Optimus Prime SRT-10. The Matrix of Leadership fits nicely into the figure.
Macross And finally haul the 1/60 Destroid Tomahawk back, and surprisingly in a smaller and compact packaging. Thanks to Yamato for being environment friendly by reducing the unnecessary large empty spaces in their previous packaging. I think all other Japanese companies should follow suit.
While hunting high and low for the latest Spider-man figures, I came across these 2 Movie Master Gotham City Thug from The Dark Knight movie. Even though I did not find what I was really looking for, I still managed to find something else I was looking for.
The figures are the same, and the only difference is the mask. There are actually 5 versions, and I only managed to find 2 on the shelves. (Picture from Fwoosh)
Guess I will never find the rest, as these were only available in the first waves if I am not mistaken. They must have been some old stock left behind some storeroom. Also did not see the Fear Toxin Batman and Unmask Batman chase figures as well.
Anyway, the only minus point about these figures are they do not come with any accessories.
Transformers Movie Finally, was able to hunt down this piece at Comics Connections, at the island wide discounted price of S$16.90.
Batman The Dark Knight With a tip off from SGCollect, I made a call in the morning to TRU United Squares and luckily there were still some left on the shelves. When I collected in the afternoon, none was there, but still have Batman Begins Batman and Scarecrow. Even though the price for this Movie Masters line is ridiculously high at S$39.90, Joker is still being snapped up.
Star Wars Got this sometime back from Carrefour, but kept it in the office. But later all department stores are also selling at the discounted price of S$29.90. I guess it was to clear the 30th Anniversary crap before the Clone Wars crap start to flood the shelves.
Indian Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Looks like clearance is the new trend these days with department stores. Months after the movie has completed its run, all Indy 4 merchandise are on clearance. This is still going for S$15. The likeness of Harrison Ford is way off, but the horse looks nice.
Even though the show was about 2.5 hours, it did not seem that long. The pace was good, with action from the very start and nicely placed throughout the movie. And you get excited to see what will happen next.
As most would have said, the late Heath Ledger did steal the whole show.
I was surprised to see quite a number of actors (at least those I recognized) in this movie. Chin Han, the Singaporean actor had quite a big role in this film, even though Edison Chen was in the news. He only had a few seconds in the film, and you can't even see his face clearly. His interaction is only with Morgan Freeman, while Chin Han interacted with the major actors.
I think most of the actors pulled off this movie very well.
The interaction between Batman and Joker really setup their whole relationship.
I like Gary Oldman's narration at the end of the movie.
Batman did not utilize his utility belt this time round though.
I am not sure how they will top this movie if they are ever going to make another sequel.
The only 2 complaints is not about the movie, but the cinema. The film was too dark, so I could not clearly see some of the night scenes. The audio was also not good, as I could not hear the dialogue very well. So for most part of the film, I was not sure where the whole plot was going.
I was there on the 2nd day of the convention where they screened Batman Gotham Knight. Though I did not win any tickets, and did not had a chance to sit through the entire screening (of all the 6 shorts by the way), I managed to catch some bits and pieces.
The first chapter "Have I Got a Story For You" itself below my mind away. It was animated by Studio 4ºC. You can tell straight away from the distinct style of animation. The animation alone sold me to get the DVD when it is released.
The other 2 Japanese studios are Production I.G. and Madhouse, both renowned for their superb animation.
The plots are darker, and so is the mood of the animation. The characters are animated in the usual Japanese styles, so they do not look like any of the Western counterparts. This is quite refreshing.
Go get the DVD when it is released !
In case you could not see the preview, here is a sneak peak clip from youtube.
The Batman Not sure who is this character, because I missed out most of the episodes after season 1.
Marvel Legends Spider-Man Movie BAF The only figure I wanted from this series was Venom, but the TRU only had these 2, a normal (rehash) super articulated Spider-man from the second movie, (re-hash) Doc Ock with bendy arms from the second movie and a black Spider-man package. Yes, package. The figure was missing. This series never made it to retail locally.
Last Order comic #9 exclusive Gally My instincts told me that I should be able to find this figure at Kinokuniya, and I was right. Attempts to get this figure from Japan via the usual channels and the local Kinokuniya turned out in vain.
Malaysia boleh !!
Ryukendo I just love monkeys. This is a repaint and retool figure of the previous one, with added chromed parts.
Transformers Movie
Got these magnet heads. I have yet to determine if these are 1/6th scale. If they fit, might just kitbash something.
Thanks to my sister, who helped me secure these 2 pieces from Metro.
Transformers Henkei Kudos to TakaraTomy to give us a purple Astrotrain, as opposed to the white version from Hasbro. Checkout pictures here by shaun.
Ben 10 Battle pose Ghost Freak. This figure is better than the first one.
Revoltech The Kuro comes with new facial expressions.
Comics Thing vs Hulk with art by Jae Lee (cheap sale !), and 30 Days of Nights: Beyond Barrow with art by Bill Sienkiewicz.
After discovering the local libraries are stocking up on comic graphic novels and collections, I am able to read some of the comics which I would normally not buy. They have quite a good range, depending on the location of the local library. I was surprised to see collections like Absolute Dark Knight and Cover to Cover hardcover editions.
Other Realms is a collection of 2 stories that ran in Legends of the Dark Knight # 35-36, 76-78. The art for this first story, Destiny, is by Bo Hampton, which I did not really like. The second, The Sleeping, is by his brother, Scott Hampton. Scott Hampton draws a very good Batman. He is one of the few in my opinion that draws a good Batman. I really like the cover for Issue # 77. It has a Simon Bisley feel to it.
Having heard about the computer generated movie, I checked out the comic strip to see what the hype was about. I really liked the comic, as it has a Calvin and Hobbes feel to it. And even though the art style seems a bit rough, the artists Mike Fry and T. Lewis captures the expressions of the characters very well. Checkout the daily strips here.
Marvel SuperHero Squad - cute little super-deformed characters from the Marvel universe. The Fantastic Four is the latest series, while the Avengers is from an older series. S$10 each from local Toys R Us.
Thanks to my nephew for picking these up at the local department store. He's a great kid, and being a good uncle does payoff (I think I have to get him the Ben10 action figures). The Batman Shadowtek Man-bat (a repaint) and DC Superheroes Black SuperGirl.
As I devote more of my disposable income towards toys, I have almost given up on collecting comics. At one time, I was buying toys and comics (including Hong Kong comics, translated manga - yeah, it's a crazy time), and the toll was too much. So I decide to cut back (note, not give up) on the comics. I still like the art in comics, so I buy very selectively, only if a certain artist is doing certain mainstream characters.
I keep myself informed by visiting sites like Comics Continuum and NEWSarama. They are pretty informative sites.
DC Comics had just released some preview of their comics arriving in Feb 2007, and Batman #663 caught my attention, because it is drawn by John Van Fleet. I like JVF's style, and he mixes a lot of black and 1-3 colour tones to bring out the mood, and this complements well with his Batman stuff, which usually is set in a dark mood.
Coming back to Batman #663, it seems that he is using a different style/approach, going for a more realistic or illustrative direction, and less of a comic book feel. It's a nice change, and it is good to see him doing some comic work.
This brings me to another comic book which I saw solicited. It's The Tick's 20th Anniversary Special Edition. Honestly speaking, I do not know much about The Tick, besides being popular in the 90s, having its own animated and live-action TV series and an unsuccessful toy line. Anyway, the only thing I was interested in this issue is the cover artist. It is painted by none other than Simon Bisley, the versatile artist from UK. His work is the catalyst that started my foray into the comics arena. His painted and line work is absolutely gorgeous. His style has evolved throughout the years - from his early days drawing for Fleetway's ABC Warriors, Judge Dread, painted Slaine, to DC's Lobo, Batman, dozens of comics covers, and collaborations with his friend Kevin Eastman, including Melting Pot and TMNT (yes, them turtles in half shell). His best works were with writers Keith Giffen and Alan Grant. These guys are hilarious. Check out the DC's Lobo, and you know what I mean.
The sad thing is these artists use the comic medium as a spring board, to propel them into the spotlight, and then move on to more commerical work, like music covers, commerical illustrations, game designs, and so on. Artists like Dave Mckean (Sandman, Batman: Arkham Asylum), Kent Williams (Meltdown, Blood Ties, The Fountain). Maybe the amount of money in comics is not fantastic to sustain a reasonable standard of living. Some also could have move on to achieve their personal goals (eg Dave Mckean making a movie Mirror Mask out of his work with Neil Gaiman). So I guess seeing them them making an appearance on and off is good enough, and hopefully they have not totally abandon this industry.
The sister usually bring her boys over the weekends when they have the time or in the neighbourhood to catch up with the family. I was fiddling with TheBatman animated figure, trying to see if there was any way to make the cape cover the figure in those cool comic poses. Not much success with this one.
But after some effort, I thought this is nice, although the cape was too short. By the way, the cape is held behind by a pin.
And the boys, being the boys they are, also wanted a piece of the action. So they lined up the toys they had brought along and requested for a photoshot.
They are mostly Pokemon figures from those gashapon machines, with a rubber snake and Rockman figure thrown in for the fun of it.
