Marvel Legends - Villains!!

The collection grows larger! I'm now at 9 Marvel Legends figures and counting:

Here they are in order of appearance :

-Thor (Giant-Man series)

-Beta Ray Bill (MODOK series)

-The Thing (Fantastic Four Wal-Mart Boxed Set)

-Loki (Onslaught series)

-Luke Cage (aka Power Man)(Mojo series)

-Sasquatch (Apocalypse series)

-Movie Spider Man (Sandman series)

-Green Goblin (Sinister Six Boxed Set)

-Kingpin (Face-Off series 1)

I also just got a 6`` Wonder Woman from the DC Classics series, but we`ll speak no further of her right now (she deserves her own post).

This post is all about the villains! Starting with:

The Green Goblin

Though he was never my favorite Marvel Comics bad guy, he`s the one that I probably knew first from his appearances in the 60`s animated Spider-Man series. Reruns of the show were on every weekday at lunchtime when I was a young kid in the 70`s. I remember that the Green Goblin creeped me out for the longest time way back then. I loved that show, and I loved the Goblin episodes the most. I also really liked the Fifth Dimension one with the crazy psychedelic landscapes and stuff, but Gobby was the best.

I don`t really have much to tell you about the Green Goblin that you wouldn`t already know or be able to deduce from the picture on the left - he`s bad, he has a definitive Halloween look going on complete with pumpkin bombs, and he flies through the air on a mechanical bat-shaped glider. His real name is Norman Osborn, and he doses himself with `Goblin-Gas`to make himself super-strong (and super psychotic). They summed him up pretty well in the 2002 Spider-Man movie, even though they changed the way he looked slightly. I guess he is a little bit silly-looking to begin with, but give the guy a break, he`s straight out of the 60`s.

This particular Green Goblin figure comes from the Sinister Six boxed set, and he`s supposed to come with a pumpkin bomb and a glider, but I bought him loose from a local store and only got the glider. With the selection of other toy accessories I have at my disposal, I don`t think this is a major problem. When it comes time to start photographing him, I`m sure he`ll be pre-occupied with other stuff. He`s well sculpted and painted, and he`s got lots of articulation points, but my one complaint is that his fingers aren`t jointed at all like many other Marvel Legends figs. Still, he looks awesome, and it`ll be nice to have more than just one bad guy around.

In fact, here`s another one :

The Kingpin

Man, that`s one big dude...

The Kingpin, alias Wilson Fisk, is the top crimeboss in Marvel comics. He`s a long-time foe of both Spider-Man and Daredevil and has harassed just about every other hero or superteam at some point or another in his 40 year career. He`s a scary guy, but sometimes he can be a reasonable man. He`s gotta be pushing 7 ft tall and even though he looks fat, it`s supposed to be all muscle under his trademark white suit. He`s not superhumanly strong, but unless you are, you wouldn`t mess with him.

You might remember Kingpin from the 90`s Spider-man animated series. He was on that show quite a bit (I didn`t really watch it all that much myself). Or perhaps you remember him from the 2003 Daredevil movie (which many people would like to forget), where he was portrayed by Michael Clark Duncan. I thought that the black Kingpin was a fresh change to the character, but other die-hard comic fans might disagree.

His figure comes from the Face Off Twin Pack, where he came with Daredevil in the same box. Again, I bought this one loose, so I only got him complete with the cane. I wish he came with a cigar, since he was always smoking one in the comics, but I suppose Marvel and Hasbro didn`t want to get nailed for promoting tobacco use. Plus, given the scale of these figures, it would be incredibly small and impossible not to lose. Guess I`ll have to roll my own when it comes time to take photos. Another thing that I don`t like about this figure is that because of his shape and bulkiness, you can`t get him to properly sit down on a chair or even on the floor without his legs sticking way out. You`d think I guy that looks like that would have no trouble sitting on his butt all day...

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I do have a few shots I`ve done with these figures. Hope you like them:

GOBLIN JIG

`Brother from another mother!`

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As you can tell, I really don`t get out much.

Take care. Til next time,

May the Force be with you...

Everything's Coming Up Milhouse

Things have been good for me lately....very good. I'm surrounded by awesome people, I have a good job, I've got lots of toys (as many as any 38 year-old could ask for) and lots of freedom to do the things I want to do. I've got great kids, a decent car that works (but soon to be replaced), a modest comic collection, a big yard, a cool house (soon to undergo some improvements), a fridge and freezer full of food and a cat that greets me at the door (who ever said cats don't do that?). 

Two weeks ago, I got a raise.  Five days ago, I won a modest jackpot at the casino on my third spin on the slot machine. Three days ago, I got a handful of new action figures, some new cologne and a big stack of comics. Two days ago, my wife and I just booked our trip to Cuba -  leaving on my birthday, no less. You could say I'm in a pretty good mood.

I must have sat on a really large stack of horseshoes without knowing it, or accidentally eaten some four-leaf clovers or something. I feel inspired to write about absolutely everything, but it seems I'm so busy doing all these things and enjoying my life so much right now that it's hard to sit back and just reflect on everything. I guess I should just ride the wave rather than analyze it to death.

So that, right there, is my excuse for not blogging as much as I should - as if anyone were reading this anyway (..............hello?.............). I do have a lot to talk about (never really been a big problem for me) and I hope to get to it all eventually. I will continue to produce "The Sordid Life of Action Figures" feature, and I am hoping to change the format somewhat to make it more like an actual comic book with voice bubbles and full-page spreads in PDF format. I have new acion figures that I'd like to review/introduce before I add them into my stories.  I also plan on blogging about the trip to Cuba, both before and after we go. I want to spend a little time promoting my wedding photography, as well as pump up my sales in my Ebay store. I have much writing, and even more thinking to do.

So that's pretty much it for today. I just wanted to check in and let you know what's been going on, and what to expect from this blog in the future.  Remember; while there's such a thing as too much of a good thing, there's no such thing as having too many good things. (And I mean "things" in the esoteric sense, not just in terms of material goods.) 

Here's wishing good luck and good things for all of you!

May the Force be with you...