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Pulling Out the Past: Mechwarrior Dark Age ‘Mechs

Posted on July 12, 2021 by Walt

A little over a week ago, I hauled a bunch of stuff out of a storage closet in the basement to get at my old Mechwarrior: Dark Age miniatures.

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Based on the state of the plastic bins I had them in, I probably hadn’t had any of these OUT of the bins since 2006 at THE most recent.

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But with a recent re-interest in Battletech, I was eager to get these out and see what ‘Mechs I had beyond the Spider (Dragon’s Blood faction) and the Atlas. (These I absolutely specifically recalled as my favorite/most memorable!) I remember being at a panel at Origins in 2002(?) with a couple friends and getting to see prototypes of these, and it was the Atlas that most impressed me.

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Once the game actually came out, there were four of us in particular getting the game–the two friends I’d gone to the convention with, and another friend we’d made that school year; and it became "tradition" for us all to meet up on Fridays after we got out of class for the week and go to the game store for a booster (or more) and then back to the dorms to play.

I recall the four of us largely "claimed" a faction (mine was Dragon’s Blood) and we’d try to trade favorably to each other to beef up the respective factions, while also maintaining other faction(s).

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I had bins labeled for Dragon’s Blood, Spirit Cats, Bannson’s Raiders, and Misc. So with possibly-faulty memory, I must’ve had the Spirit Cats and Raiders as "secondary" factions. I do recall the Atlas was NOT "my" faction, but as a "unique" and the one that had most ‘sold’ me at all, was an absolute "keeper" for me!

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I also remember one weekend late my senior year coming across a stash of cash I’d tucked into a graphic novel and thought I’d lost…which put me in position to–along with the other guys–splurge big-time on boosters as we all bought about 10 boosters apiece!

Plenty of nostalgia there, combined with having bought the Beginner Box last year, and a few weeks ago hunting down a copy of the main A Game of Armored Combat box, as well as several of the current-edition "print-on-demand" editions of Battletech novels. I completed reading D.R.T. a few days ago…the first actual novel I think I managed to read/complete since sometime in 2019! (A shameful fact given how many books I used to read regularly…albeit less shameful in that at least I’m reading…if only comics!)

Battletech definitely seems to be a new "phase"/mini-obsession for me. And "recent mini-obsessions" is a topic I may cover specifically soon, detailing a bit more…though some may be repetitive of this post.

Time will tell, though!

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Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, showing off the shelves | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

DND Icons of the Realm Adult Red Dragon

Posted on March 10, 2021 by Walt

I’ve long been a sucker for giant-sized "miniatures." Heroclix Galactus back in the day. vehicles and such in Mage Knight. And even miniatures in general, whether D&D, Mage Knight, Heroclix, Warmachine, Warhammer(/40k), etc.

A year or two back, I bought a (used) box of the D&D game Attack Wing or such (the D&D version of the one Star Wars game)…just for the DRAGONS.

So when I recently learned of an upcoming giant-sized dragon–the Adult Red Dragon–from the Dungeons & Dragons Icons of the Realms line, I was all for it.

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The box wound up being significantly larger than I’d expected! But that also made the figure itself larger than I expected…and i’d been a BIT worried about its pose with the wings, whether they’d make the overall figure seem too "skinny" or be opened out and adding depth and "size."

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I needn’t have worried overly much. This thing is huge.

Appropriately enough, I had a "nano mini-fig" D&D mini handy to pose with the dragon.

While still surely out of scale, it at least shows what a couple-inches-tall figure looks like dwarfed by the dragon!

And in the background you can see a Heroclix Sentinel, as well as the lower part of The Spectre.

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Here’s another angle with the figures isolated on a different shelf…

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And another angle to create the illusion of a greater difference of size!

This is probably my favorite of my dragon "minis" thus far–though the Mage Knight dragons have a lot of nostalgia for me, and are still cool artifacts from the past for me and NOT something I’ll be looking to part with anytime soon.

But all the more for the price I paid–my math was broken, so it wound up even cheaper than I’d mentally budgeted despite having the discount %percentage correct–this is an amazing figure, and I’m really looking forward to the Adult Blue Dragon now, and even considering other Adult _____ Dragons. A definite "grail" piece, though, would be the Mage Knight Apocalypse Dragon…but that was a limited-edition thing 16-17 years ago, let alone now!

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Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, showing off the shelves, The Toy Chronicles | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Showing off a Refreshed Shelf

Posted on September 18, 2017 by Walt

Awhile back, an accident with my display cabinet resulted in basically every last thing inside it knocked over…and until this past weekend, I’d not bothered to go through and clear everything out to set up the display again from scratch.

The thing in shambles was really grating on my nerves, just knowing it was in shambles and all, so I finally took the time to get stuff set up again, and rearrange slightly (as well as add several new acquisitions). I also had to remove a "Mopeez" plush that refused to remain upright.

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I think this is my favorite shelf in the cabinet (though the shelf above it has a much more personal element, with a bunch of Warmachine minis I painted myself seven years ago). This has the bulk of my Robin collection, though several Robins (including the Mopeez) don’t work inside the cabinet.

And I won’t even try to cram my Superman collection in, as that has outgrown an entire crammed top of a bookcase!

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These are on the TOP of the display cabinet. Three more Robins, the tallest Supermen in my collection, and so on. As far as scale–the standing Robin is one of those 12" figures. The Superman in the back is around 20" or so!

The much larger size of most of these make it not very practical to try to contain them inside the cabinet…and the two standing Supermen and standing Robin flat-out won’t fit standing up inside. The giant-size Dorbz Robin and the two bust banks are large enough that it’s not really practical to cram inside, either, as so little would reasonably fit that way.

Filed under: 2017 Non-Review Posts, 2017 Posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 7 Comments »

Sonic, Archie, and Mini Metal Figures

Posted on July 5, 2017 by Walt

I’m not sure how widespread the store is, but there are several instances of Ollie’s in northern Ohio. They’re a "closeouts" store with remaindered stock and whatnot that varies depending on when you’re actually there. For me, often the greatest finds are books, comics, and occasionally toys.

On a recent visit, I noticed a stack of graphic novels I’d seen before, and figured their stock had waned considerably since the last time I’d ben there.

Then I noticed a bunch of new "comics packs" for kids that looked interesting–a couple of them had volumes of Sonic Archives included.

After looking at a bunch, I found two packs that had stuff I wanted, and got them for $5 each–with 5 "comics" in each pack, that meant they were functionally $1 books.

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What most had my attention for actually purchasing was the $10 Archie books included, plus each pack had two of the Sonic books. (Each pack had a Garfield comic and a Sonic comic in addition, but are functionally throw-away for my interest).

Each of these Sonic Archives digests would have been $8 buying them new, and the Archie books $10 each. $10 got me all 6 books–a $52 "value."

I read a couple stories from the Archie Comics Super Special before I realized I’d started…so much for just flipping through! I guess the Archie/Valerie (of Josie and the Pussycats) romance was particularly interesting given Riverdale.

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And a Walmart I was in had these Nano Metalfigs for 97 cents (think Hotwheels pricing!) and I got a kick out of them. They had a couple different Batman figures but I didn’t care for the design, especially without companion Superman, Wonder Woman, etc. pieces.

The Spider-Man and Hulkbuster Iron Man are cool enough that I snagged them.

Then, since they had all 3 of the kids, got Harry, Ron, and Hermione from the Harry Potter group.

These would totally be at home in a $1 store, and I’d totally get more if there was more selection!

Then again, I don’t exactly "need" even more miniature figures/figurines to take up shelf space. But these would also likely be handy as boardgame piece substitutes and such, and I am a sucker for such miniatures…

Filed under: 2017 Non-Review Posts, 2017 Posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Unexpected TMNT

Posted on January 16, 2017 by Walt

Over the weekend, I’d stopped in at a Books A Million with a  friend. While there, I spotted a TMNT Mini Mates pack that I’ve somewhat had an eye on for probably a year or so (quite awhile, anyway). This time, though, it had a 50%-off sticker on it!

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While the full price was way more than I wanted to spend–even on something supposedly Comic Con exclusive–at half price, it’s FAR more reasonable.

Add to that the fact that I had a $10 card on me, and a BAM membership, and I walked out for 56 cents out of pocket!

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Of course, my OCD has kicked in a bit, and any savings is going to be offset by the fact that I now want to match this set with the Toys R Us exclusive TMNT Mega Bloks black-and-white figures.

I did stop in at a Toys R Us looking for those, and while I didn’t find what I was looking for, I was quite surprised to discover that there were a LOT more TMNT stuff from Mega Bloks than I’d been aware of, primarily gauging stuff by Walmart and Target (both of whom seem to be clearancing out the entire line, what little they’d actually carried!).

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While I’ve typically NOT been a huge fan of the classic cartoon version of Baxter Stockman–for a number of reasons–something to the mini figure grabbed my attention, and hit the right bit of nostalgia for me; so I went ahead and bought this; not so much for any accessories but just for the character itself.

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Apparently Mega Bloks also did the van (the "Party Wagon") as well as a $250 Technodrome; I never even realized these were out there!

Sadly, it seems like perhaps the line is dying, with "everyone" clearancing out the earlier sets from the beginning of 2016 and some of the summer Movie stuff. I don’t know if it’s to make room for more new stuff, or if Mega Bloks has "lost" the license already, or what.

My hope is that they’re just clearing way for some new, awesome stuff for 2017, though!

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Chloe the cat was not impressed with Baxter-Fly. However, when I tried to remove him from her presence, she tried to bite me. Lil’ Miss Attitude… (but I adore this kitty!)

Filed under: 2017 Non-Review Posts, 2017 Posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Toy Chronicles | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Many More Mighty Minis!

Posted on January 13, 2017 by Walt

Hokay, cheesy post titles aside…

I have yet to see any episodes of Justice League Action…heck, I have yet to even attempt to set a DVR to even attempt to catch any attempt at an episode…but that’s a story for some other post.

I was pleasantly amused recently to see something about a new line of Mighty Minis showing up in stores, and feeling like they were colorful again (after the somber, dark, muted colors I picture with Batman v Superman).

So when I came across ’em myself…I gave in and bought a couple. And then a couple more.

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My first purchase yielded me a Robin, which I was very pleased has the "classic" stylized "R" I associate with the Tim Drake Robin (rather than the Damian Wayne version or the generic one with Dick Grayson). Said purchase also yielded a generic Lex Luthor that I’m very annoyed about…the mini I least wanted out of the ENTIRE WAVE of these.

The second purchase yielded the Batman, Flash, and one of the two remaining that I most wanted: Blue Beetle! That leaves Firestorm, and (yes, I know my math…) then Superman, cuz hey…Superman.

These join some from last year:

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…Though I mostly like the newer ones better. The main reason is probably that they’re less bulky. It was last year’s Robin that caught my attention and led to me buying any at all.

Perhaps duplicates, but I’d’ve sworn I had more than these, but after moving last summer and clearing out a desk of 9 years’ stuff when I was laid off..who knows? I also had several of the BvS ones, but none turned up in time to have their photo taken for this post.

These Mighty Minis (whatever the assortment/wave) are "blind pack" things–you buy a sealed packet (reminds me of some sorta fruit gummies) with no idea which of the eight to twelve minis it contains until you open it.

They come unassembled, further confounding the "cherry picker" unless there’s one particular character that’s especially bulky…or you at least narrow it down to "has a cape" or "doesn’t have a cape." The packets also come with a folded paper insert providing a checklist of what possibilities there are.

In this case, it shows this first wave as well as "spoiling" the upcoming second wave.

With Robin and Flash new versions, I’d be interested in the Green Arrow in the next wave, as well as The Atom and Wonder Woman (to hopefully go with Batman and Superman from this one).

While a bit pricy for their size, that’s kinda relative considering the price of figures only about twice the size. While two or three of these could almost buy one non-blind-pack figure…unless one is buying multiple packs at a time, these are relatively inexpensive and easy enough to "toss on the pile" when buying a load of groceries and other actual essentials.

These are a bit bigger than Heroclix minis…and there are farrrrr fewer per wave, which makes them much more accessible, rather than something people are gonna ascribe $70+ value to in the secondary market. These are what they are, and outside of perhaps paying a bit more to know I’m not "just" getting a duplicate (at present, I now have a 63% chance of getting a duplicate rather than not!) I can’t see these seriously going for much money; I still have seen some of the first wave of last year’s minis in stores like Five Below as well as Walmart and Target; and wouldn’t be surprised if Toys R Us still had them.

Final thought: where the heck are the Pokemon blind-pack toys?!? If ever a property was worthy of blind-pack miniatures and such, it’s that…

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Filed under: 2017 Non-Review Posts, 2017 Posts | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

New Year, New Toys…ish.

Posted on January 10, 2017 by Walt

Facebook marketing works, when done correctly. Like, say, having a Page, that I’ve Liked, and putting content out (particularly of stuff I might be interested in buying), and mentioning prices that aren’t otherwise visible.

Plus, I’m a sucker for photos that essentially allow me to browse a store’s stock at my leisure without being there.

So when I saw a post in my newsfeed from a local shop on Saturday, since I saw it via the app on my phone, I was able to view the photo, and ZOOM IN to look at stuff!

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While none of the slightly larger statues/busts really appealed to me (especially for the prices, even being on sale!) the DC figurines caught my attention, and I saw several that appealed to me. So I figured ok, I had to dig my car out from under two days of snow anyway, might as well reward myself for the effort with a brief trip to the shop (plus parking at a couple of Pokestops to restart streaks in Pokemon Go).

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While they’d not grabbed my attention in the photo, on looking at them in person, the JLA pewter figures looked pretty cool…particularly the Kyle Rayner Green Lantern. Though it’s cool as-is…the thought’s dawned on me that it could be primed and painted…which could be an interesting project sometime!

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The figurine that most grabbed my attention from the initial Facebook photo, though, was Booster Gold! And since he was still there, I got him! I was pleasantly surprised at the weight of these…being so used to action figures and such, pewter/lead/metal figurines are a relatively new thing for me, in terms of DC/comic/super-hero figurines like this!

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I saw/recognized Supergirl in the photo, and seeing that that figurine was still there, I decided to get it as well…though I neglected to pay it much attention (said attention had been grabbed by Booster Gold!).

And getting it home, I realize I’m not very happy with it…the character is not really a version I like, and projecting the weirdness (to me) of a young/mid-teen girl being made to look "sexy" and I’m an adult male more than twice the character’s supposed age!

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I realized that what really got me was the cape–I love the gold trim, as well as the yellow S on the back! So this is the view that I like for the character, and I think it was reflected enough in the display case that it’s what had most grabbed my attention.

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So I start out the new year with metal figurines…a bit more "upscale" than 3.75" action figures or "adult collector" figures, basically miniature statues. They are static–no re-posing them to interact with other figures or such. But for the price, at least, quite appealing, and I could easily see getting several more…assuming they’re still there after a new paycheck!

Filed under: 2017 Non-Review Posts, 2017 Posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Star Wars Angry Birds: Rise of the Telepods

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Walt

darthmaulpig01I’ve been seeing all the licensed Angry Birds stuff for ages–ESPECIALLY the Angry Birds Star Wars stuff. More recently I’d been seeing these Telepods ones…apparently a sub-brand. On closer look, apparently they’re minis that have a digital code so you can “scan” them into an app; essentially “unlocking” the character at a specific time of your own choosing.

I’ve already been amassing a small collection of Angry Birds on my desk at work…some of the “eraser puzzles,” a stress-ball, a couple Mash-‘Ems, a clearanced plushie, even a giant magnet. So when I decided to check these out, they seemed a natural addition…with the added bonus that they’ll affect gameplay in the new Star Wars Angry Birds app.

Surely a ‘phase’ for me, but for now, I’m enjoying increasing my arsenal of these little guys, and mainly (presently) looking to find the Boba Fett Pig.

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Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

More Dalek Acquisitions

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Walt

Tonight while hanging out with a friend, we visited the local Books-a-Million. She also being a fan of the good Doctor, we both bought a couple of the micro figures.

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Already having a blue Dalek and getting another, I swapped it with her since she managed to get two Amy minis. I wound up with two red Daleks and Amy Pond outta the deal…and totally loving these figures!

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I now have four of these little Daleks…quite cool in and of themselves. But along with the minis, I also have a larger plush talking Dalek, whose home for the foreseeable future is going to be my desk at work.

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The large talking Dalek has 3 phrases: “Exterminate! Exterminate!” / “You would make a good Dalek…” / “You are an enemy of the Daleks! You must be destroyed!”

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , | 2 Comments »

A week of no comics

Posted on October 3, 2010 by Walt

I honestly don’t offhand recall the last time this happened.

Oh, there were new comics this week–except for that week last December that Diamond took a break, there’ve been new comics out every week as far back as I can recall while being aware of the direct market system.

But this past week (September 29, to be exact) the only comic I would’ve been picking up was the new issue of The Savage Dragon. And as I didn’t plan to review it for cxPulp.com (formerly comixtreme.com), and it’d be the only issue I’d be buying, and it’s a “rent paycheck week” where my budget’s rather tight…I decided to do something I haven’t done in ages.

I skipped the weekly comic shop trip.

It’s a bit easier, as the issue is on my pull list, so will be waiting for me next time I do go to the shop.

But what I also find interesting is that part of me is hoping the coming week will be another such week. Wondering if I have it in me to skip two weeks.

Part of it is made easier by the fact that over the past couple months, I’ve taken up miniatures painting, with a focus on WARMACHINE from Privateer Press. I don’t know how into the game itself I’m going to get, but after GenCon 2010, I made a pretty quick and hefty investment into paints, supplies, and so on, and got right into priming my miniatures, and then about a month ago and after a “practice” generic Reaper miniature (Death Knight), I began painting my first WARMACHINE miniature–a Khadoran Iron Fang Pikeman.

This weekend, I finished my 6th, 7th, and 8th Pikemen, which completes my first generic “unit” for a miniatures game.

I also–in essentially one sitting (with breaks for nature’s call, brunch, and a cat who decided he wanted to see what was holding so much of my attention) painted a character mini–the Butcher of Khardov.

Perhaps I’ll post some photos soon.

And depending on what’s shipping this week…maybe it’ll be worth going to the comic store?

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