Pirates of the Caribbean Disney park toys

"Ye be seekin' adventure and Salty old pirates, eh? Well, you come to the proper place." Before Johnny Depp single-handedly made Pirates cool again, the classic Disney attraction Pirates of the Caribbean stood on it's own as one of Disney's most beloved attractions. Celebrating this attraction, Disney released several figures based on the classic characters of this ride but you can't get these at any toy store. You gotta travel AAALLL the way to Disneyland or Walt Disney World to get these babies and on my last trip, I acquired a few of them.

These are the ones I got. The Helmsman, the Captain, and the Pillager. They made several others, but were sadly not at any of the stores when I got there. Here is how they were packaged. Sure, the packaging is different and bound to be noticed, but the crossbones on the side make them awfully bulky and take up more space in shelves and in shopping bags than needed. Once I got home from our trip, I was sure to tear these suckers out of their bulky little prisons.


All the figures come with a display base that is based on the scene they appear in on the ride. Yes children, long before Barbossa came into the ride, the ship was captained by this generic pirate known as... The Captain.

The figures also have decent articulation. More than I was expecting. The only one with the least bit of articulation issue came from the Captain and his long hair. This made it difficult to turn his head.

The only bad seed in this haul I would have to sadly say is the Helmsman. It's a pitty to. He looks awesome in the ride, is one of the most memorable figures in the ride, and looks pretty cool as an action figure, but he had the most problems of the three. First off, he had issues holding ANY of his accessories and keeping them held, and while the other figures had no problems with their bases, his was a wee bit flimsy. You have to attach the helm to the base and it sometimes comes off easily. But these were minor issues to be honest and it still displays great as you can see from this picture.

Did I mention that these have a LOT of accessories to play with? The Captain alone comes with his base, a sword, two pistols, a lantern, and a mug. The skeletons each have two swords, a rifle, a pistol, a dagger, and the Helsmman comes with an anchor. This does make it difficult to keep track of the accesories and years from now will probably lead to these figures with all of them costing big bucks.
Their price range is in $10 which alone I find very reasonable for everything you get. Especially considering you're buying these at Disney World, where soda is 2.50 a bottle and t-shirts are 40 bucks!! but I got the Captain and the Pillager half off. If ten bucks is reasonable, FIVE bucks is a steal!
All in all, these are excellent figures. If you're a Disney fan, a Pirates of the Caribbean fan, a general fan of pirate junk, and/or an action figure collector, I think you'll definitely enjoy these figures. Now excuse me while I go find the rest of these figures. (TO EBAY!!)

CAN'T WE SETTLE THIS OVER SOME RUM?

Halloween time

What better way to celebrate Halloween than with a ghost story told by Vincent Price?

Online Videos by Veoh.com
Happy Halloween :D

Deluxe Elizabeth Swan figure

Warning, this review may contain spoilers of POTC: At world's end. If you haven't seen it yet, you might want to skip this review

Now then, I think Yogurt the wise put it best when he said "Merchandising, where the REAL money from the movie is made." And unless you've been under a rock the past few years, you've no doubt noticed Disney's newest and quite possibly biggest cash cow, Pirates of the Caribbean. It's no surprise that due to the popularity of these movies based on the classic Disney ride, that toys would spring up for them. With two of my biggest interests in childhood (Disney and action figures) coming together, it was only natural that I'd just at this. My newest addition to my young POTC toy collect is the deluxe Elizabeth Swan set from the "At World's end" line.



Here she is in her box. It's the standard red package with the Pirates skull on the side and ship on the bottom. It's more vibrant and noticeable than the brown scheme the "Dead man's chest" line had, but mind you, the red package thing's been done.

Alright, before I continue my review, there's something I must get off my back.



Okay, I feel better now.



Out of the case, Elizabeth is excellently sculpted. Her outfit looks just like it does in the film, and her face is much prettier than the "Dead Man's Chest" version of her. Her um... chest size is more... realistic here than on the "Dead Man's Chest" version too. Yeah, I know 'Liz has a nice rack and all, but they were awfully optimistic on that other figure.

Her poseability is of the basic POTC toy. While not as poseable as a basic GI Joe, she IS more poseable than a basic Star Wars figure.



Elizabeth comes with three (count 'em three) swords. I like the two on the left best personally. They look more like the kind of swords a Singapore Pirate king would carry while the one on the right looks more like a standard pirate cutlass. I guess they figured each figure should come with one.



'Liz also comes with a globe. The globe has a kinda cool feature on it. When you put one of her swords in one of the many slots on the globe, it lights up. But it has to be the RIGHT slot.




OH YEAH! I'M GONNA BE KING OF THE PIRATES! Oh, wait. I made that joke already.



If you're a fan of the POTC movies and toy line, the deluxe Elizabeth Swan will make a nice addition to your collection.

Hot Topic Land Adventurer GI Joe

Before my time, (late 60s and 70s to be exact) GI Joe moved away from his military roots due to the Vietnam war causing a lack of people wanting to play with "war toy." In it's place, GI Joe became an adventurer. No longer was GI Joe fighting human enemies. With his "life-like hair and beard" and his "Kung-Fu grip," his journeys took him into fights against nature. Fighting unpredictable weather, taming wild tigers, hunting for Pygmy gorillas, and the harsh, unforgiving desert. Whether it was to recover a lost idol, a valuable mummy, to protect the animals from poachers, or because Joe was just bored, it was all up to child who owned him and his imagination. This era for GI Joe was known as the Adventure Team and from 1970-76, it became to be even more successful that the original GI Joe.
To commemorate this era, (and because history seems to be repeating itself) Hasbro has released an authentic replica of the original 1970s land adventurer GI Joe. The catch, you gotta find yourself a Hot Topic store because this was exclusive only to Hot Topic. Well, actually. I didn't go to the store, I ordered mine at HotTopic.com.



Once we got it out of THIS box, there was, you guessed it...



ANOTHER BOX!! This one however is done in the style of the original box from the 70s and is every much as part of the set as the toy itself.



Here's a better look of the box. A rather spitting image of the original i'd say.


'cept for the disclaimer on the box that these extra sets are for "historical depiction" so they aren't available. Pitty, I would SUUURE like to buy these *hint hint, Hasbro*



once out of his little cardboard prison and you've undone those pesky little plastic twist ties (Which I'm pretty sure didn't exist in the 70s* you're ready for some ADVENTURE!!



Now, I don't own a GI Joe that's actually from the 70s. *My budget wouldn't allow it* but from the photos and videos i've seen, this thing is pretty close to the original. His headsculpt is an excellent reproduction of the original although when comparing it to the photos of the original i've seen, this one looks a tad sleepy.



Okay, let's be honest. This is a reproduction of a toy made back in the 70s that mostly used the molds of a figure made in the 60s! So his articulation hasn't been revolutionary in toys since '64 when the very first GI Joe figures were produced and much more articulated toys have been made since *some in smaller scales* but that doesn't mean he lacks play value. They did something right here 'cause I can't stop playing with him.



GI Joe comes with a pistol *that looks awfully *James Bondish for a land adventurer. I would've given him a Revolver.* and a rarity for toys today...



A holster to put it in. OOOH! I'm serious here. I've seen very few toys made today that actually give kids a place to PUT the figure's weapon when he's not using it. Bravo on Hasbro's part.
Another thing that made the GI Joe adventurers unique from other toys even today is not just his "life-like hair and beard" which honestly, doesn't feel like the hair on your HEAD if you know what I mean ;p but how he holds his accessories.


KUNG-FU GRIP!!
Kung-Fu grip was introduced to GI Joe toys during the Adventure Team run and proved quite popular. It featured special rubbery hands and fingers that made it easier for Joe to hold his weapons and gear. So finally, GI Joe could actually HOLD that gun of his.



I don't think many toys today can hold their weapons THIS well. Here we are in the 21st century and I'm still wowed by toy technology made back in the 70s! As Goofy said once "Somethin' wrong here"



Here's a comparison shot of the only other repro Joe I own. (The Timeless Collection Secret Agent to be exact) and the first thing I noticed was that the Land Adventurer's skin seemed darker. Looks like the secret agent needs to get more sunshine.

All in all, this is an excellent figure. If I a guy who was born a good 6 years after the Adventure Team's heyday can get this much of a kick out of this toy, than someone actually FROM the Adventure Team era is going to absolutely love it. (They must too, I hear the toys are sold out in Hot Topic stores and Hasbro plans to make more for Wal-Mart next)
So, this is your friendly neighborhood toy collector saying Good adventuring!
Oh, and after his long trip from Hot Topic, GI Joe decided to take a trip to his favorite part of Disney World

my favorite web comics

I know, it's been a while since I last posted. What can I say? I have procrastination down to an art form. But I decided to come back by promoting some of my favorite web comics because web comics don't get a lot of promotion, yet they're often WAY funnier than what you can find in the newspapers.

SABRINA ONLINE
First we start with a fairly wide known comic but a little more free advertising wouldn't hurt it. Sabrina-Online is the story of a cute skunk girl who is not only a web designing computer geek, but a toy collector too! *The woman of my dreams* but when she's laid off from her previous job, she soon finds another only to find out that she's designing the website for a porn studio. She needs the money though and takes the job anyhow and hilarity ensues!!
www.sabrina-online.com

Peter IS the wolf
When a young were wolf gets it on with a human girl, he unknowingly has the girl turned INTO a werewolf. Now he has to take care of her, and keep the secret of the werewolf existence if he doesn't want his fellow werewolves killing him and her. The comic is funny, but not intended for youngsters. The author attempts to keep it safe by offering a sex free version of the comic, but it's still not for the little ones.
http://www.peteristhewolf.com/

Shortpacked
Finally, a comic strip about the REAL American heroes. Toy collectors. This comic is made for geeks, by geeks and often won't always make perfect sense if you're not "in the know" so naturally, I love it!!
http://www.shortpacked.com

Ozy and Millie
Ozy and Millie is about a young fox boy named Ozy and a young fox girl named Millie and their attempts to understand the world they live in. The boy is very cool, and collected, but the girl is... well... she likes to dance naked in the rain. This is a very intellgently funny comic. Something missing in current popular culture and worth a look.
http://www.ozyandmillie.org/

There you have it, the four must see web comics on the web and remember, my word is final and you're all entitled to MY opinion ;p

DC Superheros: Darksied & Lex Luthor

Because it's been a while, i'm going to review TWO toys this time. Both are from the DC Superheros line and are both AWESOME!
First is Lex Luthor. The greatest criminal mind of our time

in his box, Luthor already looks pretty cool. He's packaged the same way all the other DC Superhero toys have been. Orange box, comic book, ect.

Out of his box, he looks ready to terrorize Metropolis with his laser pistol and Kryptonite *Which I discovered actually fits in the pistol. Nice little touch there*
I get the feeling though, 20 years from now, if your Luthor still has it's Kryptonite, it'll proboly be worth some decent money. It's a tiny accesory and easy to lose.

The figure itself is beautifully sculpted. His face looks very menacing as any Lex Luthor figure should, and the details on his suit are excellent. It's by far better than DC Direct's version in my humble opinion.

you were good in your time Superman, but when it was time to cash in your chips, you never thought this... deseased maniac would be your banker. Yes, I know. I'm a geek and it'll be a while 'till I get laid -_-;

Next up is that ol' badass ruler of Apocolypse himself, DARKSIED!! I personally have always had trouble taking him seriously because the first time I saw him, was in an issue of Ambush Bug where he just gets deflated in the end. But, on with the toy

Darksied is one imposing son of a bitch! His body is very detailed and looks as to be made of rock.

He's also a BIG toy. Not as big as DC Directs, but personally I think that's a good thing.

Darksied comes with only one accessory. Some strange remote control. It either controls some powerful Doomsday weapon, or they've got some pretty funky TVs over at Apocolypse.
There you have it. Two awesome toys. Kinda hard to find ut definetly worth the search.

SUPERMAN'S SURROUNDED!! BIG TROUBLE FOR SUPES!!