STL Ocarina Serves Up A Double Friendly (And Mildly Undead) Reminder…

Posted on October 11, 2014 by geelw

Ah, I knew I’d forgotten something was happening this weekend besides people getting sick at (from and of) Comic-Con. Season five of AMC’s The Walking Dead kicks off on Sunday, which means I get to camp out in front of the TV and probably see that premiere episode twice if it’s really good. Yeah, I’ll have to sit through Talking Dead if I do that (okay, it’s not a bad post-show watch, but it can be if the guests are nuts), but that’s a small price to pay.

Anyway, STL Ocarina made me chuckle with this pretty neat rendition of the show’s theme. That’s reminder one. Reminder two is yeah, you probably need a nice musical gift for someone this year for the holidays or some other occasion, so you should think of STL if you’re in need of a nicely quirky yet fully awesome surprise. And hey, if you DO decide to go the ocarina route and do so before October 12, 2014, feel free to get a little discount thanks to STL’s Fall Sale! Save 15% by entering this coupon code: fall2014. As noted, this deal is only valid through 10/12/2014. Okay, that’s my plug of the day (and I only plug stuff I like!) – go do some kind of impulse shopping!

Hikari Friday Time! Skeletor and Astro Boy Looking for Good Homes!

Posted on October 10, 2014 by geelw

It’s finally Friday and you know what what means, right? Yep, the Funko freebie parade continues! This week’s giveaway consists of two more limited edition Hikari Sofubi figures you KNOW you want to try to win. And if you don’t win them, guess what? You can still buy them at one of two locations. Yeah, usually, it’s one location (your favorite Funko emporium, usually a decent comic shop or some other retailer who has a Funko section), but one of these is another Entertainment Earth exclusive that can only be obtained via pre-order or hoping it’s still in stock when it drops into that online shop for sale.

Anyway, behold the Metallic Skeletor Hikari Sofubi Figure!

Isn’t he cute? Well, actually… he’s kind of cranky because metallic fur shorts kind of chafe him (ouch!). But he’s SKELETOR, dangit! He can handle a bit of chafing! Lucky winner gets #1 of 2000! Meanwhile, waiting in the wings is Metallic Mix Astro Boy Hikari Sofubi Figure (smile, kid – you’re up!):

As noted above, he’s an Entertainment Earth exclusive limited to 1000 pieces. Well, 999 pieces because Funko is giving someone the first one off the line! Okay, you know the drill by now, right? Go to one of Funko’s social spots:

http://www.facebook.com/OriginalFunko
http://www.twitter.com/OriginalFunko
Instagram @OriginalFunko

Follow the rules and you’re all set to (possibly) be one of two lucky winners! Now that’s you’re thrilled to death, go enter NOW and keep those fingers crossed. If you lose out this week, you can buy Skeletor this month at wherever you buy your other Funko stuff and Astro Boy is available to pre-order now at Entertainment Earth for its November release. As always, if you enter this giveaway, good luck!

ALIEN 35th Anniversary Blu-Ray/DVD: If You’re NEW to This Flick, It’s A Must-Buy…

Posted on October 5, 2014 by geelw

Hmmmm. I’m not sure I need another version of ALIEN for my library, but this 35th anniversary limited edition features a a reprint of the excellent Alien: The Illustrated Story comic and all-new, collectible art cards along with the 1979 original cut and 2001 director’s cut of the film. As this is one of my favorite films of any genre, I’ll probably cave in and pick this up at some point once there’s a price drop just to add it to the other sets I have here.

Yeah, Fox is pretty much jabbing us in the wallet with this one, but the price isn’t bad if you shop around and at least the new extras are different and worth checking out if you have to have EVERY bit of memorabilia. Between this and Alien Isolation arriving on the same day, I have the feeling that a whole new set of fans will be made for this absolute classic sci-fi/horror hybrid. The cranky older fans who think this one’s a double dip with a few bonuses surely won’t be buying this re-re-re-re-release, if my poking around on a few film boards is any indication. Those geezers are just too smug to see that somewhere in the world, someone STILL hasn’t seen ALIEN and yeah, they might be wanting to get this because it’ll be their first time experiencing this still near-perfect film…

MEDICOM & Bear Model’s Swamp Thing Sofubi Gets Me Seeing Green All Over…

Posted on October 3, 2014 by geelw

As big a fan of DC Comics’ Swamp Thing as I am, I tend to only stick to reading the comics and doing the occasional bit of fan art when I have the time to tinker around with assorted art materials. Anyway, news of this limited edition figure popped into my inbox very early this morning (I happened to be up and working on an emergency proofreading job for a friend) and I allllllmost reconsidered making space somewhere for it before I came to my senses and realized that I really have no room for anything this nice and large.

The first over-sized DC Sofubi from MEDICOM and Bear Models stands just over 10 inches tall and weighs a hefty 24 ounces. hey, for tat size, 24 ounces IS hefty! Boxed, it’s a bit taller and a tiny bit heavier, of course 9and if I had one, it would stay in that box, folks!). Anyway, only 300 of these exist, they’re $99.99 ($50 off the retail price!) and they’re only available through GoHastings’ web store, so go grab one if you want a nice looking collectible for your shelf. Or MY shelf if you decide you want to get me something cool that will make me knock a hole in a wall here to store it in…

IDW’s Marvel Covers Artist’s Edition: The Next (& Least Expensive) Best Thing To Owning The Originals

Posted on October 3, 2014 by geelw

If you owned just one of the pieces of cover art found in this latest must-buy Artist’s Edition, you’d probably be able to buy up every copy of the book directly from IDW and hand them out as really awesome holiday or other surprise gifts. Thankfully, you don’t own any of this artwork or it wouldn’t have made it into the book at all, right? Anyway, this excellent 144-page tome of Marvel Comics history (scanned and printed full size) will only set you back $100, which is a STEAL if you love comic art and want to see plenty of key covers from the 60’s onward. If you happen to want to buy me a copy of this tome o’ joy, I wouldn’t stop you at all either, you know. Just don’t tell me you’re doing that, though – I like surprises on occasion…

The Twilight Zone: The 5th Dimension Box Set: Throwback Thursday Gets The Ultimate Gift!

Posted on October 2, 2014 by geelw

55 years ago to-day, The Twilight Zone premiered on CBS and while it only ran for five years (1959-1964), it’s still one of the most memorable anthology series to this day. There was a revival in the 80’s that ran from 1985-1989, and while it wasn’t as great as the original series, there were a number of excellent episodes in that reboot that come to mind as worth tracking down. According to USA Today, the fine folks at Image Entertainment have decided to collect every episode from both series along with a wealth of special features and is going to release a very limited edition 41 DVD set called The Twilight Zone: The 5th Dimension on November 11, 2014.

Only 7500 of these must-have sets will be made and while that $349.98 price tag may seem steep to some of you who think anything old and in black and white isn’t worth that kind of money, old fogeys like me who grew up in the Zone are breaking out our knives and are getting ready to fight it out with other fans and collectors just to get our grubby mitts on this collection. I’d imagine the chances of Image shooting one of these over for review are absolute zero, I’d trade one of Alicia’s robot arms (from The Lonely), a bar of gold (from The Rip Van Winkle Caper), a family-sized can of chicken (from Two) or a Kanamit cookbook (from To Serve Man) for one of those babies. Okay, all I REA::Y have is an old tin can here, but I hear it’s quite magical once kicked around a few times…

STM Wants To Keep Your iPhone 6 Non-Bendy – Let Them, I Say…

Posted on September 26, 2014 by geelw

Eh, you’d figure Apple would give a nice sturdy case away for free with that new expensive phone they sell, but we’ve been “trained” to pay out the nose for something protective that SHOULD come in that box. Yeah, yeah, I know people like to have variety in their first or third-party phone protection solutions, and in the words of one Apple-head I know who lemmings up for each new model “They’d probably just give you something cheap you’d want to throw away” (ouch!). But if you have to buy a case for that new every-phone, let me be the first to say STM will never steer you wrong. Their new Harbour case for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus has a hardshell frame and soft rubberized lining along with a hinged base that doubles as a handy stand, allowing for easy removal. At a mere $24.99, it’s a must if you like your tech less bendy when it’s not supposed to budge. Yeah, you know what to do, right? I thought so.

IDW Gets All Throwback With Its November Lineup…

Posted on September 6, 2014 by geelw

The clever folks at IDW Publishing have wisely figured out that just about any modern professional comic that’s been hand-drawn the old fashioned way just looks more interesting because it’s really intriguing for comic art and illustration fans to see each artist’s technique and style before all that hard work is buried under modern computer coloring. This November, they’ll be issuing a bunch of comics with these “throwback” original art covers, so keep an eyeball out for the following titles:

Borderlands #5
Edward Scissorhands #2
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #208
Godzilla: Rulers of Earth #18
Judge Dredd #25
The Maxx: Maxximized #13
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #25
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters #2
Transformers: Drift: Empire of Stone #1
The X-Files: Season 10 #18
V-Wars #7
Winterworld #5

As for me, I’m all about the classic stuff, so if anything, I’m closer to drooling over the absolutely gorgeous Enemy Ace Artist’s Edition, as well as some of the other Joe Kubert Artists Editions, Tarzan of the Apes and TOR. There are a couple of other Artist’s Edition books I’m drooling over, but I’ll stop here before my wallet gets the idea and throws itself into my screen a few too many times…

Pley Goes Live: So, Wait… You Can Rent LEGO Sets Now?

Posted on September 3, 2014 by geelw

Yeah, my face probably looked like the little girl on the left of that picture I swiped from the Pley.com website as I read the email I got from the company’s PR person. Yes indeed, you can actually sign up to get an account there and if you’re approved, you’ll get genuine LEGO sets to play with in the mail (well, at home or wherever you get it sent to – playing with your unopened mail is probably some sort of crime) and send back once your done. The mind boggles! Pley even (*gasp*) SANITIZES the pieces so you’ve no need to worry about getting a box full of already stuck together with peanut butter and banana sammich parts to pull apart and put back together.

Anyway, subscriptions range from $15 to $39 per month, so if you’re big into all things LEGO and have not a lot of space for all those sets you want or you just like the idea of fun stuff popping up in the mail that you KNOW you’ll enjoy, well… stop reading this post and go Pley around already!

IDW’s John Buscema’s Artist’s Edition: This October Surprise Is A Must-Buy For Silver Age Fans

Posted on September 2, 2014 by geelw

Three words: Oh Hell Yeah. This 12 x 17 Artist’s Edition is a MUST for anyone into John Buscema’s art at its best (at least in my opinion). This collection isn’t the COMPLETE run of his on The Silver Surfer, just issues 5, 6 and 8 for your perusal. Nevertheless, this scanned and printed actual-size from the original art limited edition should sell out quickly at comic shops and online retailers that carry it. Sure, these over-sized collections are expensive, but this one’s WELL worth the price, folks. Buy two if you can and make sure one has my name on it when you’re wrapping up that gift!