Supreme Hype Job

The image of a caped invulnerable strongman is almost always associated with the Superman. Granted the Man of Steel’s power set of super strength, invulnerability and flight is a bit generic, so it’s not a big surprise that a number of similar “supermen” have been created by other comic book publishers through the years. Oh well, they say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

The Best Of 2019 part 2

As we embark on a new year, it’s always a good exercise to look back at the previous one and take note of all the blessings we received in the past 365 days. And for toy collectors like myself, that means taking stock of all the new toys that 2019 brought in to add to our shelves. As always, there were quite a lot of new additions and it was quite the task to come up with my top ten purchases of the year. But I managed. So let’s get on with the main event shall we?

The Best Of 2019 part 1

And just like that, another year has come and gone. And it is finally time to revisit my list one more time to set in stone my definitive top ten favorite toy purchases of the year 2019.

Ending The Year With A Salacious Tale

Back in 2014, Hasbro released the two versions of the intergalactic galactic crime lord Jabba the Hutt in their 6” Black Series line. The standard retail version that was just Jabba in a box, and an exclusive SDCC version that came with extra accessories. Anyway, sometime later that year I actually came across the SDCC exclusive version in ToysRus during a trip to Hong Kong. But I didn’t bother getting it since at the time I wasn’t all in on the Black Series line. This was a decision I would end up regretting a whole lot years later.

Some Canadian Plastic Goodness Eh

Despite debuting in the pages of the X-Men, having a strong connection to Wolverine and an original comic run of over 100 issues, Alpha Flight isn’t really considered by many as a premier superhero team in the Marvel Universe. Which is a tough break for us few but very loyal Alpha Flight fans, especially toy collectors like myself. For the longest time, having a perfect plastic representation of my Canadian heroes has been nothing but a pipe dream.

Remembering The North

Way back when I was in high school, I was going through the first issue of the Marvel Universe Handbook Book of the Dead series and one character immediately caught my attention. His name was Guardian and I thought that his simple red and white costume based on the Canadian flag looked pretty cool. So I proceeded to read his entry and that is how I recall being officially introduced to Canada’s premiere superhero team Alpha Flight.

The Best Of 2019: Third Quarter part 2

So now it’s time for the main event as we close out the third quarter of 2019. Despite a good number of honorary mentions in my last post, none of them were quite good enough to crack my ongoing top ten list. But as I mentioned before, August was a big month for me in terms of new acquisitions. As a result, there are quite a lot of changes for the current top ten of the year.

The Best Of 2019: Third Quarter part 1

So it’s that time of year again to revisit my ongoing list of top ten toys for 2019. I know I’ve said it before, but this time I really mean it when I say this quarter, specifically the month of August yielded the biggest toy haul for me in quite some time. It was really the perfect storm as a combination of preorders I was expecting in July arrived late and even more pre orders that I was expecting in October arrived early. So with so many new arrivals, there will definitely be changes in my ongoing top ten list for this quarter.

Gang Hang Style

With Jabba’s throne and carbonite chamber environment done, I set off to do the final elements of my Hutt palace diorama which were comprised of the main arched back wall, the steps on both sides of the throne and a main background piece to add a little more depth and cohesion to all the separate elements of the display.

A Smuggler On Ice

Next to his throne, possibly one of the most important elements of a Jabba’s palace diorama would have to be the carbonite chamber environment. This was the place were Jabba hung one of his most prized trophies for all to see, the frozen body of the smuggler who had been a constant thorn in his side, Han Solo.

A Throne Fit For A Slug

In 2014, Hasbro released literally the biggest figure up to that point for their Black Series line, one of the most notorious crime lords in the Star Wars galaxy, Jabba the Hutt. At the time of his release, I wasn’t completely all in on the line and was quite happy merely cherry picking my favorites. Although many would consider him a major character from the original trilogy, I wasn’t that big of a fan so he was an easy pass for me.