F For Fake

Liked this one quite a bit, though I agree, I enjoyed the first one more, as it was a more traditional "whodunnit". Still very entertaining, and the kind of movie I'd like more of from mainstream Hollywood: beautiful people in exotic locations telling original stories. It's what Hollywood was built on, and it's nice to be reminded of it from time to time. No more superheroes, or cartoons, or any of that junk. Even a trifle like this does the soul some good when the standard offerings are so poor. I'll watch as many Benoit Blanc mysteries as they want to make. Craig seems to be having a blast. Also, had to rewind Kate Hudson's bikini entrance and rewatch a couple of times. Homina.

The body may be dead, but the spirit of hucksterism never dies! As long as there's a dollar out there his estate doesn't have its fingers on, his soul can never rest!

Very cool, love it!

Finally caught this last week. It was late, the wife was asleep, I wanted to watch something but didn't want to have to engage my brain too much. Thought this would fit the bill. It wasn't catastrophically terrible, but it was thoroughly mediocre. Considered turning it off a few times, but soldiered on. The store brand T2 knockoff relationship with the kid made for a great deal of eye-rolling. Otherwise, the movie resembled one long video game cut-scene. I am also sick to death of big slo-mo action moments in these cape movies. Drives me bonkers. Oh well. I will say that Dr. Fate looked very cool, and even though it was like a bit out of an Injustice game, I thought the way they portrayed his powers was kind of nifty. It's a shame what's happened to Pierce Brosnan's career. Regardless, "cool Dr. Fate power scenes" do not a movie make. There's no "there", there. I've seen worse, but that's hardly a rave review. Black Adam makes me Black Sad-am.

This was especially true of his 2007 series, lots of time shenanigans in that one. I actually enjoyed that series quite a bit.

My ME was received Nov 15th, and has been sitting at Scheduled for Grading nearly as long.

It's certainly an interesting thread to bring back from the grave. I was worried that Stan's corpse had shambled out of the tomb and was touching butts or something.

I never had an original AT-AT, would have been nice. I had a few of the POTF2 AT-ATs, as there was a time when KB Toys was clearancing tons of SW stuff. I had a closet packed with vehicles, including a few Falcon's, a couple of Queen Amidala Starships, and several sealed cases of figures. They're still not worth much, but I do wish I'd held onto them, as they're certainly worth more now than whatever it was I eventually got out of them. I'm sure I've told my Flagg story before: parents were never, ever going to go for that when I was a kid. I don't think it was the money as much as the size. When I was about 19/20, I worked at a comic shop, and they were just starting to carry vintage toys. There really hadn't been much of a market for Joes and Transformers at that point, as it was the mid-90's. We got a Flagg in at the store, including the box. It was missing a few smaller pieces, (fantail, Keel Haul's pistol, battery cover for the microphone) but was otherwise all there. The box was rough, held together with duct tact, but again, it was there. I paid about $25 for it. I had to move back home for a year following a long personal story I won't get into here, so eventually the Flagg ended up back at my parents' house anyway! I held onto it for a few years, but when I was ready to move back out on my own again, I sold it to my best friend, who cleaned it up, completed it, put new stickers on it, and brought it all back to life. it went to California with him for 11 years, and came back when he moved back home. Now he lives a few blocks away from me, and still has it, so I can still go visit my Flagg whenever I want! I do think I'll get another one some day, probably when we get our next house. Market being what it is, that will probably be a few more years, but one day it will happen!

Came up well short in 2022, so I'm trying to get ahead of the game. Started off New Year's Day reading some comics! Alien V2 (2022) 1-4 - Still not loving the Marvel Alien books, but they are improving. Biggest boost is that Salvador Larroca and his ugly photoshopped "art" are finally gone, and that's a big help. Tales of the Human Target 1 Human Target 7,8,9 - Still loving everything about the Human Target book. Tickles my nostalgia as a JLI fan, engages my brain as an adult comic fan, and dazzles my eyes with the gorgeous work by Greg Smallwood. Feels tailor-made for me. Hellboy in Love 1,2 Hellboy and the BPRD 1957 Falling Sky Young Hellboy: Assault on Castle Death 1-3 Leonide the Vampyr- I'm always down for anything in the Mignola-verse. Of course, none of them have the same power as Mike working on his own stuff, but these various one-shots and minis help slake the thirst until he formally returns. I may be forgetting something, but that's most of it. 15 books in 2023 SO FAR!

Sure, what the heck. The last one wasn't catastrophic, may as well try again!

The censored version has one altered image, and two missing pages. As the Major lands on a boat (from the air), you can see two nekkid gals diddling about, in the original. In the US/DH version, the girls are redrawn as lounging in bikinis. After that, there are two pages of explicit girl-girl sex in the original. These two pages are completely missing from the US/DH version. To my knowledge, the uncensored version was never published in the US, but I may be wrong, as I haven't paid attention for 20 years or more. I used to have an import of the original manga tpb, that had the explicit pages intact. While I do understand the desire to have the original, uncensored versions of all stories, the truth is that the omitted sequence doesn't affect the story whatsoever, and frankly, is kind of jarring, as it doesn't fit the tone of the rest of the story at all. And I say that as a bona fide perv!

I totally get it. I'd been looking for a couple of years now for a decent one at a price I wanted to pay. Every year I go to both of the local GI Joe shows, and every year they're always at least $50, if I can find them, which is just more than I wanted to pay. At the toy mall I found this one at, one booth had one for $52, another had one for $75. We finally found this booth that had two for $30 each, and figured it wasn't going to get any better than that. he's not perfect, but he'll suffice! Now I need one more for my Cobra Bunker. The hunt continues!

Thanks! A few years ago I decided I'd try to recreate the box art with the figures when possible. I've mostly been sticking with smaller pieces, like the Battle Stations. I've had this CAT for a few years, and it's been needing a Crimson Guard to complete the look, but I was picky about price. Glad to finally have one in there!

You're absolutely right, great concept and great potential. I also think it's a terrific character design. The simple two-color costume, the goggles, Skeets, it's just a cool, sleek look that has been mostly intact for almost 40 years now.

Happy New Year to Mike for watching over the asylum, and also to my fellow inmates! Still the best time-killer at work that a comic lovin' kid could ask for!

For what it's worth, I love Booster Gold. The Justice League International series from the 80's is my favorite superhero comic, and Booster was a huge part of that. His solo series wasn't nearly as fun, but there's still some nostalgia there. Dan Jurgens continues to work at DC, and apparently has some editorial pull, as he continues to work on books, and Booster continues to make appearances. He may not be an A-lister, but DC has bothered to carry him along for pretty much every line-wide revamp. He had a solo series in the 00's, starred in JLI in the New 52, had starring roles in 52 (the series) and high profile minis like Heroes in Crisis and most recently The Human Target, as well as last year's Blue & Gold miniseries with Blue Beetle. He's been an action figure several times over, having appeared in Justice League Unlimited, Batman Brave and Bold, etc. Again, not an A-lister, but definitely a character that DC has put some time into, with a devoted fanbase. There was a series rumored to be coming to SyFy Channel for many years, but I think that's dead, right? Anyway, yeah, I'm a longtime hardcore Booster fan, and I'm not the only one. We're out here!

Good luck! I threw my hat in the ring, don't expect to win it, though!

On second thought, I DID get one more toy for X-Mas, this Goo Jitsy Reverse Flash, from the missus. I brought him to work to serve as a stress ball, and I have to level with you, the desire to chew on him like taffy is very strong. He looks like a Starburst. I want to bite him! I won't do it, but I WANT to.

Happy New Year, everybody! Signing on for the first time since Christmas, enjoyed a nice little break from work and the internet as well. Back in the office today. Bah. Went out on my annual toy run with my best bud, and didn't turn up much. I DID finally grab a Crimson Guard at a price I wanted to pay. I need two, one for my CAT display, and one for my Cobra Bunker display, but I just refuse to pay $50-75 for one of these suckers when they're just going to sit in a tank. Went to a toy mall, and found two at $30 each. I got one, my bud got the other. Legs are a little loose, but he can stand, and the face mask had a little wear to the paint. A little touch-up with the Sharpie, and now he's in his tank where he belongs. I'm satisfied with the price, and can mark him off the list. Oddly, the only toy I got for Christmas was Legacy Metroplex, and I haven't had a chance to open him up yet, so pics will come whenever that day arrives. I also got a line on some G1 Transformers, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. Cross yr fingers, I can pull it off!

It really wasn't too bad, putting it together. The instructions were actually really helpful, unlike, say, an IKEA manual. Everything was clearly labeled, and I didn't really run into any issues. If it had been a tall cabinet, I may have needed some help getting it together, but since this one sits a little lower to the ground, it wasn't much trouble. Just time consuming. That was a late night!

Tried to cram in some seasonal reading before the year ends. the DC Rebirth Holiday trade was a bit of a snooze, very hit or miss. The apocalypse-themed DC Holiday Nightmares was more my cup of tea. Fairly dark, not exactly heartwarming, but the stories definitely more interesting. And finally had to pack in this Archie digest, offering up several stories reaching back 8 decades! I like digests and this is a fat little book, but to keep it cheap ($9.99 cover, which means I got it for about $6) the paper is like kleenex! Oh well, you get what you pay for. This brings my 2022 total to 449, an embarrassing sum. I will be a better comic reader in 2023, so help me!

Yes, he's a straight re-deco of Siege Astrotrain, who also included the launch pad. The only real difference (aside from paint) is the new head sculpt.

yeah, at first I thought maybe someone had slit it open to steal the contents, but everything appears to be present, and also I don't think these ever hit store shelves, as they sold out in pre-order, so I guess it's just a freak thing. Oh well. Luckily I am primarily an opener with new toys, so it's not the end of the world, but suffice to say I wasn't impressed, Wal-Mart!

Galaxy Shuttle arrived from Walmart this weekend. They put this thing in a box big enough to hold four of five of them, so it bashed around in there for a while, and came out with a big gash down the side, and the accessories completely wriggled free from their ties. Bummer. Doesn't look to be damaged otherwise. I would return it for a replacement, but it's long sold out now, so I guess it is what it is.

Aw man, that stings, I completely missed out on this. Bummer. Things have been so busy lately with the holidays, that looks like one sweet sale. Hope you got some goodies!