I Want A New Toy

This guy showed up a while back, but I lazed out on writing about him. I mentioned back in February that I was going to pre-order which I hate to do. When it comes to ordering things I revert back into a five year old and check the ship date with such regularity you would swear I had OCD.


His official title is Subject 805: Tactical Containment Unit Operator. I don't know what that is, but it looks cool on paper. He's from Sideshow Collectibles, and part of their original The Dead line.
If you're not familiar with Sideshow you should check them out. They make figures for a lot of licensed products and you'll probably see something you like.


Now, I have a lot of toys, but the pride of my collection are my 1/6th scale (12") military figures. I don't think I ever grew out of my original GI Joe phase as they were my faves as a child. There are several companies producing these such as Dragon and Blue Box. They are made to be as historically accurate as possible down to the slightest detail. Weapons may be metal with moving parts and removable clips. Buckles snaps and belts all work. Even the zippers are scaled down in size to make sense with the uniforms. All in all, they are true collectors pieces.

It looks like Sideshow Toys is giving this fanboy what he wants by creating an army of undead to battle the army I've been amassing over the years.



First thing you'll notice on 805 is the face sculpt. Sideshow did an amazing job. It is obvious that 805 is loosely based on Dr. Tongue, one of the first zombies seen in George Romeros Day of the Dead. The skin color is perfect, and the face wound is particularly gruesome. The darker red on the inside of the tongue suggests bruising from biting down on it too much.





805 is missing his left hand, and if there is anyplace I could pick nits, this is it. The arm is locked at an angle, I would have preferred it pose able. At least ship the figure with an optional arm.






The uniform is basic blood spattered BDUs and a tactical vest. 805 ships with a radio headset, machine gun and a stand with The Dead logo printed on it. Other items in the box are paper documents which are impractical and shouldn't be unpacked.

The figure is solid though as are all Sideshow figures and short of the left arm, can hold a variety of realistic poses.
I'm pretty pleased with 805 since it combines my favorite toy type with my favorite subject, zombies.


I have a pre-order in for Subject 1025: The Babysitter as well. I'm also going to try for a Comic Con Babysitter exclusive, but I'm not to hopeful as those sell out fast.

Of course while it's great to have a zombie figure, this could lead to complications.

No sooner do I get him on my shelf........

Get it off! Get it off!!

Ahhh!

Take it down!

Fire at will!

Kapow

Don't you die on me!

You did all you could.

Holy crap he's alive!

Grrrr, Arrggh!

Something tells me I'm going to have a lot more zombies before too long.


If anyone knows photoshop and would like to gore these up, feel free.
Let me know if you do

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Home Again, Home Again.....

Hey All,

I had a great time visiting the family this past weekend. Grandmas health isn't the greatest and that worries me, but I'm trying not to focus on that.
After running all over the city on Saturday, we hit everyplace from Forbidden Planet to Toy Tokyo, I went with my brother and his son to see Forbidden Kingdom the new Jackie Chan/Jet Li joint. It wasn't what I expected, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Sunday, I got about two hours to run around the show floor of the New York Comic Con. The place was sensory overload, and that's an understatement.
I didn't get to catch any big announcements or check out any panels, but I did get to see plenty of toy prototypes from Watchmen to The Spirit to Stargate. There is a ton of stuff hitting the shelves this summer and fall. I fear for my paycheck.

I was really excited to see the Night of the Living Dead figures. The film recently reached it's 40th anniversary and we will see a Graveyard Zombie (Bill Heinzman) from the beginning of the film, (the one that walks like Elvis Costello) Ben, (Duane Jones) Barbara, (Judith O'Dea) and Karen Cooper (Kyra Schon) complete with garden spade. The figures look great and I'm definitely pre-ordering.



Another thrill was catching the beta of Metal Gear Solid online. I didn't get any time to actually play since the line was pretty long, but what I saw looked great and gives me high hopes for the game when it is released later this year.

Of course, I couldn't walk out of there without at least one purchase. I couldn't resist this little guy. His name is Nate and he was sculpted by the incredibly talented Clayburn Moore. In case you couldn't tell he's based on Charlie Adlards art for Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead series. Clayburn himself was there and he signed the back of the pedestal for me. If you're not familiar with his work, go check his site out.
I can maybe make a ball with Sculpty, but it goes downhill from there.


I just want to shout out a thanks to my pals Spencer and Matt from Team 8 Press for finding space for me, and Patrick of Velocity Comics and Jesse Bausch of Strange Detective Tales (Oddgod Press) for helping to get me in, otherwise I would have never seen this:

Dear Santa, I've Been A Bad Boy......

I love toys, (no, not that kind you cheeky monkey! Ok, but only if there's a safety word.) and I have dozens packed away at home since I have no more shelf space. What can I say, some people like little ceramic figurines, or balls of colored glass (ouch) but I'm all about poseable plastic in the shapes of superheroes, and the military and monsters....oh how I love the monsters. While I often get melancholy over the toys I've lost moving or through other means, I had a "life size" Spike from Gremlins, and an original Alien with the pop out mouth and many many more, I still do get excited over some really cool item. (Note to self: dig out your Sin City Marv in the electric chair that laughs when you fry him.)
So I got really pumped when Hasbro posted pictures of their upcoming Cloverfield Monster. Here are the bullet points from the Hasbro site:

• 70 points of articulation and incredible life-like detail
• Authentic sound
• 14" tall
• 10 parasites
• Two interchangeable heads
• Statue of Liberty head accessory
• Special collector’s edition packaging

The only negative for me is the $99. projected price tag, but hey, I could get caught up in the moment of wanting to see Cloverfield raze Lego town to the ground. Hmmmm, maybe I'll reshoot Cloverfield in "Startling Legovision." While there's no official release date, there is a projected shipping date of 9/30 and Hasbro is taking pre-orders through their website here.

Now before I leave you with images of Cloverfield dancing in your heads, I have something else to show you. (no, not that you cheeky monkey)
These items are definite pre-orders for me. I'm sorry to say I missed the first three in The Dead series from Sideshow Collectibles, and may need to hunt them down on Ebay. I absolutely will not let these escape my greedy little clutches. They may actually push my decision to get a custom head sculpt done by Andgor Toy Company over the edge so I could lead my own army of zombie hunters across my shelves.
I think these would compliment any childs toy box as well as keep Buzz LightYear and those noisy Pokemon critters in check.