The Silver Surfer and the Last Airbender

 

May the Force be with you...

Disgruntled She-Hulk

May the Force be with you...

A Day in the Life of Jean-Luc Picard

Blatantly Subliminal Advertising

(Buy comics! They're great!)

That time has come again - time to unload some comics, games, toys and other cool stuff. Just so you know in advance, this post is cleverly designed to subliminally persuade you to buy my comics and action figures at the upcoming Victoria's Ultimate Hobby and Toy Fair , April 1st @ the Pearkes Arena in Victoria BC, presented by Cherry Bomb Toys. I'm afraid resistance is futile against this particular Jedi mind trick.

(Cherry Bomb Toys is awesome!)

Rebel Alliance Canada lives again!! In case you haven't figured it out - Rebel Alliance Canada is pretty much just me - Andy. An 'Alliance of One', as it were.

(Andy of Rebel Alliance Canada is the coolest guy you will ever meet.)

I had the pleasure of selling at the last toy show in Victoria in  September, and this time around promises to be even better! It turns out that selling comics and stuff and going to conventions is just as much fun here on Vancouver Island as it was in Winnipeg. The faces may have changed, but there seems to be no shortage of sci-fi/comic geeks like myself out here. In fact, some of y'all put me to shame! Anyone reading this that is not able to make it to the show for geographical reasons (because you're like, in Winnipeg or the UK or something), I can forgive you. For those of you who live on Vancouver Island, you'd better have a damn good excuse for not being there!

(You want to buy as many toys and comics as you can... from Rebel Alliance Canada...)

In any case, here's a small sampling of some of the stuff that will be for sale at the show. After the show, whatever is left over is likely to end up on ebay, and I'm sure I'll let you know about that too...

(You want to buy every item on this page - from me.)

 Let's see... I've got some Silver Age DC's...

(Although not nearly as cool as Marvel Comics, DC Comics are still pretty bitchin'.)

I have a schwack-load of Savage Sword of Conan magazines...
(Conan is awesome - even nailed to a tree, he's still awesome. You wish you could be Conan.)

 

(Alliance of One is the best blog you have ever read.)

 

The Tantive IV

(You are a true Star Wars fan... you know what the Tantive IV is. You don't have one yet.)

  Godzillas to spare...

(Godzilla is the coolest rubber monster to ever walk the earth... You love Godzilla.)

 Tons of carded SW figs

(You will never have enough Star Wars figures - you need multiples of your favorites)

 

(He-Man Rules!)

 

 (You need a Pinnochio figure to complete your Shrek collection.)

 

(No price is too high to pay for your very own Captain Picard figure...)

 A staggering amount of loose figures... including but not limited to Marvel Legends, MacFarlane Toys, Star Wars, Masters of the Universe, Transformers, Muppets, Star Trek, McDonald's Happy Meal toys, etc, etc... 

(You wish you owned every McDonalds Happy Meal toy from every movie you've ever liked. You will buy them at the Toy Fair. From me.)

Over 1000 great comics - Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Image and more - Silver Age to Current - tons of blowout $1 comics...
(Rebel Alliance Canada has the best comics at the best prices anywhere. Marvel is still better than DC.)

Heroclix figures at $1 a pop...
(You want to play Heroclix - with figures you will buy from me.)

More Conan magazines and comics... I have so much Conan stuff right now that I think I'll be remembered as 'the Conan Guy'.
(You will bring a bag large enough to hold the 20+ lbs of awesome comics and toys you will buy from Rebel Alliance Canada. You especially love Conan the Barbarian.)

 I will have prints of my homemade comic Everyday Heroes for sale - autographed for free if you like...
(Everyday Heroes is the awesomest of all the awesome things available from Rebel Alliance Canada.)

But of course, there's lots of comics of all kinds... and toys of all kinds.
(The Avengers is coming to theaters very soon. You need to stock up on Avengers, Hulk, Iron Man and Captain America comics so you'll know what's going on. You will purchase said comics from me.)

Instead of my listing everything for you, I think you'd get a better idea of what you can find available from Rebel Alliance Canada when you arrive at my table in the Pearkes Arena, April 1st at Victoria's Ultimate Hobby & Toy Fair.

(Ultimate Hobby & Toy Fair April 1st in Victoria. No moment in your life will ever be better than this day.)

You are coming, right? The hypnosis should have kicked in by now... 

May the Force be with you... 

(Sucker.)

DAD'S X-MAS LIST 2011

Christmas is for kids - we know that. Let's just say hypothetically that Dad is still a big kid too. Shouldn't he be able to write a list to Santa Claus?  Seems only fair to me... I know December 25th is only like 4 or 5 days away, but there's still time to get me something! Below are listed a few of my major wants.

I did this same thing a couple of years ago (Dad's Christmas List! - Nov. 2009), and looking back I'd have to say that although those things on that list did not come to me that particular X-mas, many of said things (or things like them) did come to me within the following year (2010). Let's take a look at the results of that wish list:

 I drive the exact car pictured in that post, only in a slightly different color. It has an awesome stereo, drives great, hauls lots of stuff and is surprisingly good on gas. Car - check.

 Instead of vacationing in Puerto Vallarta, my wife and I instead spent a week in Cuba (a truly beautiful country which you can see photos of here,...... here, ...... and here. ). I imagine it was as fun and interesting as Mexico would have been, and might still be in the future. Vacation - check.

I've bought and sold hundreds of different comic books since that last post, so that was an easy one... same with toys.  Comics and Action Figures - check and check.

Only thing missing is the Bass Guitar that I wanted. Turns out I don't really want that so much anymore. I have been playing guitar far more than bass in the last two years, and I actually sold my bass amp when I moved to BC. This leads to the #1 spot on the list this year. So, without further ado:


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#1 - Fender Stratocaster (or Strat copy)
For some reason, I never really liked the look of these guitars so much, or the lack of a humbucking pickup on the standard Stratocaster (used to be a hardcore metal guy), so I never bothered to really pick one up to try it out for any length of time. One came to my attention just recently at a great price and packaged deal, so I thought I'd finally give the legendary Strat a fair shot. Right off the bat, I was really impressed with the feel of the neck and the weight of the instrument... even impressed by the depths of tone possible from the single-coil pickups played through the teeny little practice amp that comes with it.

Now, I haven't owned an electric guitar in about 13 years or so... and my musical tastes now lean a little less towards heavy, crunching power chords and a lot more towards the soulful, melodic and transcendent. That might sound flaky, but it really just means I've gotten old...

I think at my current age, I'd look pretty stupid on stage with a Flying V- or Destroyer-type guitar. And getting back into it after so long, I think I should go with a tried and true classic...

#2 - A Boat
I am a prairie boy no longer... I now live on an island dotted with lakes and surrounded by the ocean and other smaller islands... water is everywhere, and I feel a driving need to get out onto it. I don't need anything fancy in terms of size or speed... in fact, I'd rather not have to get a new vehicle just to haul it around. A small aluminum fishing boat, or mayhaps a canoe might best serve my purposes... fishing, photography, exploration, whatever. I am a novice boater (Mrs. Puff, where are you now?), so I can't jump into something that would require a ton of maintenance or repairs. Just want to jump in and go, basically...

Oh, and if I could get it cheap, that would be great too.

#3 - Winnipeg
Yeah, that's right... I want the whole city of Winnipeg for X-Mas. ...  No, I don't think so... I used to live there. If I could own a whole city, I'd pick a different one, I think. Nevertheless, I find myself often missing my hometown and I intend to go back there to visit someday soon. Very soon in fact. I won't make it there for this X-Mas obviously, but more than likely in the Spring of 2012 (before the Mayan Prophecy kills us all later in the year). Given the option, I would prefer to drive, but for practical reasons, it's more likely that we would fly there on our next visit.

I want to go hang out at all the places I used to hang out at, and hopefully hang out with all the people I used to hang out with at those places... Basically, I just want to hang out in Winnipeg... How cool is that? Pretty good X-Mas wish, dontcha think?

#4 - Mjolnir
"Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor." Well, I can tell you, I'm a pretty big fan and I've owned or read almost every issue of The Mighty Thor (not to mention games, cartoons, toys and action figures) so I think I'm pretty much the worthiest guy I know.

Who wouldn't want the powers of flight, weather control, dimensional travel, lightning bolts, super-strength and the means to smite thine enemy where they needst be smitten! Sign me up! I just hope I get instant hair extensions and a little winged cap when I pick it up...

I guess if, for some unforeseen reason, the real Mjolnir is not available, I'd settle for a cool-looking replica that I can wield... and secretly pretend I possess the power of Thor.

#5 - Comics and Action Figures
Last time, this was two entries. I won't waste your time this year. I just put this in here to remind you that I need more comics and more action figures. If I had a pile of comic books stacked to the moon, that still wouldn't be enough for me. Same goes for toys. Just look at previous blog posts to see what I mean. I will continue to amass more and more and more comics and action figures whether you like it or not. You can't stop me.

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(Quick disclaimer: none of the photos in this blog post were taken by me. I'm not making any money here, so relax. No need to sue me for stealing your photo - everyone's stealing mine too.)

If you are actually reading this and thinking of getting me anything on this list for Christmas, #5 would be your safest bet. A boat is way too hard to wrap and it's pretty hard to get to Asgard in the wintertime (what with the Odinsleep going on and all...)

Take care, and a Happy Holiday Season to all of you across the Universe -


May the Force be with you...

Captain America vs Pearl Jam

Yes - movie time again. Not like you really need to read my reviews, because you've probably already seen these films anyway... I'm usually pretty late with the review and most of my friends have long since seen the movie I'm talking about.

But y'know... the fact of the matter is, you actually do need to read this. My opinion is just so incredibly valuable that you simply have to read what I thought about a movie in order to fully understand it and form your own opinion, right? (Yeah right...)
These particular reviews are pretty important to me, and I'll explain why as I get into them. Let's just say that I was rather anxious to see both movies, and if you know me personally, you'd understand why. If you don't know me personally, you'd probably be better off not knowing me at all... I'm a pretty strange cat.

That, plus I don't need any online stalkers - thanks anyway.

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CAPTAIN AMERICA:

The First Avenger

Just like Green Lantern, Captain America, at least to me, has always been a sort of 'second string' comic book hero. I never really cared much about him. Ease up, Cap fans... before y'all get fixin' to lynch me, hear me out. Yes, he truly was one of the first Marvel Comics characters to see the light of day, having been around since, what, the 30s? 40s? And yes, he is definitely a major player in the Marvel Universe and is involved in every major event - the Marvel Civil War, the Secret Wars, key member of the Avengers... yadda yadda... But he ain't no Spider-Man, or Hulk, or even Wolverine. In fact, for a superhero, he's not really all that 'super'. Dude got some skills, granted, but he can't shoot webs or fly or lift a 747. I have actually found most Captain America comics to be quite dull to read compared to the rest of the Marvel line. And his costume, even in the comics, has always looked pretty silly to me.

Still, being such a huge Marvel fan, he's always been around whether I liked it or not, and I know stuff about him even without really wanting to. I felt a little bit obligated to see this movie. Marvel has rarely let me down for movies before (ok, there's a few stinkers in their collection) and given the quality of the movie adaptation of Thor, it couldn't be all that bad. I knew it would be another lead-in to The Avengers, which by now I truly cannot wait to see. This movie is like the last piece of the puzzle that we need to set up the main event. I figured that Captain America:The First Avenger would be okay and I could suffer through it just because... but I actually really enjoyed it, even more so than the aforementioned film about the fellow with the ring and the green spandex.

The movie was exciting, to be sure, full of action and cool stunt and fx sequences - even though it did lack some of the superheroey pizazz of some of the previous Marvel movies. (Did I spell pizazz right, Stan?) The Red Skull, played by Hugo (Elrond) Weaving, was a pretty neat villain - kind of like a juiced-up Uber-Nazi, but supposedly even more evil than that square-moustached guy. Of course, little scrawny Steve Rogers, recently juiced-up as well on the super-secret Super Soldier Serum, is the only one who can stop the Red Skull from succeeding in his insidious plot to blow up everything. There's a lot of acrobatic fighting, plenty of gun play and bombs going off, and enough shield-slinging action to keep even the most die hard Cap fan satisfied.

And I have to admit that I kind of like how they reworked his costume. It actually doesn't look as dorky as I was dreading. The Red Skull looked rather cool and menacing as well. Overall, the acting was good, and I think Chris Evans did a great job in the title role. Captain America has always seemed pretty square to me; a real goody two-shoes. He still came off that way in the film, but at least we are given good reasons for it all. For one thing, it appears as though Cap remains a virgin until the end of the movie - the 90 Year-old Virgin!

All (lame) jokes aside, you`d like this movie if you`re a fan of comic book movies, Marvel Comics, or action films in general. Not quite as good as Thor, but had a lot going for it and I can say that it was much, much better than I was expecting. Truly enjoyable.

Bring on The Avengers!!

A-

ps - Since I threw out all those links to info on other Marvel Characters, it`s only fair that I do the same for Captain America, since it is his movie after all...

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PEARL JAM TWENTY

What can I say - I LOVE Pearl Jam. Every album, from Ten to Backspacer, is unique and awesome. I am listening to their music right now as I write this. I can't go more than 24 hours without listening to Pearl Jam or I get the shakes. I want the songs Corduroy and Given to Fly to be played at my funeral.

 (Remember that, family. In case you're thinking of planning it out in advance, you should also have The Empire Strikes Back playing on a big screen somewhere, and there should be readings from various issues of The Mighty Thor, Uncanny X-Men and The Lord of the Rings. Oh yeah, and rather than being buried or cremated, I want to be frozen in carbonite and hung on the wall like Han Solo.) 

Anyway, back to Pearl Jam... I knew before I watched it that I was going to LOVE this movie, and of course I did. In my totally biased opinion, I can say that this is the best 'rockumentary' made to date. PJ has always been a little bit of an enigma of a band; not very visible in the media overall, although they've had a bunch of huge hits over the years and a bit of controversy here and there... but it's their subtle masterpieces and humble determination that have always affected me. This movie sheds a good amount of light on the guys that I've heard literally a thousand different songs from in live and studio recordings and loved each and every one, but never really known much about as people. After seeing PJ20 (that's what the cool kids call it), I think I have even more respect for them. Sure, I guess no band is going to let a producer make a film about them and make them look anything but awesome, but I've seen a few rockumentaries (there's that word again) that can't cover up the fact that bands like Guns n' Roses and Motley Crue really are just a bunch of douchebags. All of the members of Pearl Jam just seem to me like a group of ordinary guys who like to play music and are really (really) good at it, and have managed to keep doing it their own way for twenty straight years without being gigantic in-your-face rock stars. With the talent they have, they could be, but they're even better because they are not.

OK, I'm getting pretty preachy about my favorite band, but if you ever want to know the reason why I like PJ so much, just sit down and listen to their music. I highly recommend the albums No Code, Vitalogy and the self-titled Pearl Jam. Or any album, or any song... or you could see this movie to get you started, I guess...

Pearl Jam Twenty is awesome. Pearl Jam is awesome. Cameron Crowe (the guy who made the movie) is awesome for making it. If you want to be awesome too, you'd better see this... then go out and get the entire PJ catalog. You want to be awesome, don't you?

A++

Yeah, you heard me... double plus for extra-extra-awesome.

...and since Captain America got one, Pearl Jam deserves a Wikipedia link too, as well as a link to their official website, pearljam.com.

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So I guess if this truly were some sort of competition between Captain America and Pearl Jam, there's a pretty clear winner. As talented as he is, Cap's just not rock star material...

May the Force be with you...

Missed the boat...

So, I meant to give some 'web attention' to Victoria's Ultimate Toy and Hobby Show where I had a table last Sunday at the Pearkes Arena (Victoria BC, of course), selling comics toys and what have you. Anyway, turns out that I was so busy getting stuff together for the show that I didn't get the time to blog about it and show off some of the stuff that I had for sale (like I did for my last two excursions as Rebel Alliance Canada). Looking back at those previous posts, I must admit that they were pretty cheesy anyway, so you sure didn't miss anything.

The day went pretty well, all considered, and my thanks again to Cherry Bomb Toys in Victoria BC for putting this awesome event together and giving me the chance to be part of it. There were vendors selling all sorts of great toys, games, comics, books and collectibles there, and they had a cool charity carnival going on as well. Attendence seemed pretty good to me, just about as good as at the last trade show I sold stuff at in Winnipeg.

Now, if only I wasn`t a such dumbass for staying out late drinking at Irish Times Pub the night before, thereby sleeping in and missing the first two hours of the show... but that`s another story.  I dropped the ball again for not taking a single photograph when I was there. If only I could post photos of all the cool toys and stuff that I saw! There was everything from Sith to Smurfs and Jedi to G.I. for sale at at least one booth or another. I think that I myself brought a pretty good load of stuff to the show (over 1000 comics, 100+ loose toys, 50+ books and about a dozen carded figures) - but man-o-man - some of the other vendors there truly put me to shame... Let's not forget that, at least at this point in time, Rebel Alliance Canada is still an Alliance of One.


So, since I don't have any photos of said Toy Show, and I do so like to post photos on my blog, here are some random shots of other things. You may have seen them (or similar ones) here and there before, but hey, I gotta pick up the slack somehow. I can't blog once a month and then have nothing for y'all to look at. I'd be letting you down, and I'd be failing myself as a somewhat professional photomatographer.

So there you go...

Howard's New Ride

MVP - Most Valuable Predator

Lone Rebel

Yeah, not a whole lot here, but I am a busy guy. Sorry. Seen a lot of movies lately, so next time will probably be movie reviews. Hope thats OK. See ya.

May the Force be with you...