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Messages - speedermike

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16
Watto's Junk Yard / Fangbone! on TV!
« on: January 2, 2014, 05:02 PM »
For those who of you who know my work, my Fangbone! graphic novels were optioned last year and I have spent much of this year working on a pilot for Disney XD. 



If you follow this link you can vote on the voices being used in the show.

http://www.disneyxd.ca/fangbone/

There will be more here soon.---MIke

17
Collections / Display Problem/Solution?
« on: January 2, 2014, 04:50 PM »
OK, so here's the problem.  My studio is in an attic and the walls are sloped.  I have some nice figure shelves from my previous house but can't use them.  I would really like to start displaying my figures again. 





So I had this idea that if I use a rack type system, and have the figures held in by some sort of string, I could hang the whole piece on the wall. Like so...





This was my first prototype.  That's clear picture hanging wire.  If I can get out in the next day or so, I need to get some clear elastic.  I'm not sure how this will look, but I have to try something...

18
The Vintage Collection / Re: The Future of Star Wars Collecting?
« on: December 12, 2013, 03:30 PM »
Kids love Star Wars, but they want SW Lego.

As much as I love 3 /34 figures, I don't blame them for loving the Lego figs.  They have vehicles and playsets. They fit in the vehicles, they hold their weapons, and there's big selection at any one time.  They are, closer to the Kenner line than the Black Series will ever be.

19
The Black Series 3.75" / Re: Amazon Droid Factory Multi-Pack
« on: December 12, 2013, 03:26 PM »
I was going to pass on this, because I really only wanted Dooku's pilot and the BAD figure, but for 14.99 I couldn't say no.  While this is good news for us, it's bad for the line in general  However, if that wave had been 5 new sculpts and one resculpt.  I would have bought it at full value.

20
The Black Series 6" Figures / Re: 6" Black Series - 2013 Wave 1
« on: August 18, 2013, 10:27 PM »
I can't do it.  I just can't do it.

Last week I found the 6 inch R2.  I thought he was alright, but very flawed, but I remained excited about finding the other figures.  Yesterday I bought them at the Times Square TRU.  I went home on the bus, and while riding, I lost some enthusiasm towards these.  When I got home I opened the Sandtrooper and I just...kinda had this big pit in my stomach.  I wasn't happy. I left the others boxed and did some stuff around the house.  Later in the night I had decided that I really have no interest in these, and re-boxed the Sandtrooper.  Then it struck me what was bothering me, re-boxing the figure was so easy because it was a collectable, and not a toy.  All my life I have collected SW toys.  I don't like things made specifically to collect.

While I think the sculpts on these are great, there's very little style to them. They just look "real." As an illustrator, I don't hold the ability to make something look real in high regard.  I like it when an artist uses his or her own personality and puts it into something to male it great.  And I also like it when technical limitations cuase sculpters to strip down a design.  For instance, I like the new 5 POA figures because of their simplicity.  I think they are clever and fun. 

I also feel that the 6 inch figures are aiming at a market that I don't click with.  These are fans and collectors who love SW, but also don't want to possibly be seen as childish for their collecting habits.  They want their toys "cool."  (I hope I am not offending anyone here.)  It's almost as if they are ashamed that they collect toys, so they collect things that are slightly more "adult," but then, to me, they are not really toys.  They are collectables.  And I like toys.

I'm going to return these to TRU soon, and I feel good doing so.  I was really looking forward to this line, but my love of the smaller figures, and their toy attributes is too strong. 

21
The Black Series 6" Figures / Re: 6" Black Series - 2013 Wave 1
« on: August 14, 2013, 05:18 PM »
I have yet to see any 6 inch figures in the stores.  However, I have heard people comparing them to NECA.  I really hope that's not true.  I bought some Pacific Rim figures in the toystore for my boys, and the things started falling apart in a week.  I hope Hasbro can make a sturdier product.

22
The Black Series 6" Figures / Re: 6" Black Series - 2013 Wave 1
« on: August 14, 2013, 11:25 AM »
50% gain in height = 100% price increase.  :'(

I might grab more if the price drops, but otherwise, I think I'll grab those I feel are the iconic SW figures.

But here's the thing, when you double the size of a 3D object, you double the height, and the width, and the depth. (I learned this on Mythbusters!) I think, if my math is correct, actually four times the plastic used on a small figure would be used on this size figure.  So at 20 dollars, it's actually a deal. 

23
I picked up the single carded figures last night.  Oddly, the paint jobs don't seem as crop as the Mission Series stuff.

The only real disappointment is that R4 has no clicking done.  I can live without a third leg, but I miss the clickity-click.

24
The Black Series 6" Figures / Re: 6" Black Series - 2013 Wave 1
« on: August 6, 2013, 05:02 PM »
Ugh...I've been looking for these endlessly.  Wasted hours yesterday going from Target to Target.  Was like the old days when I just couldn't wait to find something.

25
The Black Series 3.75" / Re: The Black Series 3.75" - 2013 Wave 1
« on: August 6, 2013, 04:57 PM »
I saw most of these yesterday, and for the first time since 1995, I just kind of shrugged at new figs on new cards.  It was seriously a downer.  I want Padme, and maybe Luke, but I just can not buy more of the same.  It breaks my heart to be so blah about the whole thing, but Hasbro, you finally lost me.

I have been looking for the 6 inch figures though.  No luck.

26
I found these tonight as well in a TRU.. (No BOGO...)  I really, really like them.  Anikin, Jango, and the Clones are fantastic, and I swear these are some of the most crisp paint jobs I've seen in a while.

The Battle Droids are, well Battle Droids.  I wish the had sculpted them a bit bulkier.

Anyway, I'm totally into these, as I think they will be the closest we ever come to true "vintage" type prequel figures.  Yes, I like articulation, and I like having the characters be able to hold their weapons with 2 hands, but these are aesthetically very pleasing.  I can't wait until the OT guys hit in the winter.

27
I agree.  I was very happy to get new figures in 95, and accepted the buffness as just a product of the times.  However, it was pretty obvious that Kenner/Hasbro had judged the market wrong because those buff sculpts quickly became more realistically proportioned. 

Water under the bridge...

28
The analogy of the iPad back in college instead of a spiral notebook doesn't actually work, because the iPad technology didn't exist.  The thing about these current figures, and people wishing that this is what they should have looked like in 1995, is that kenner/Hasbro was capable of making theses back then.  What they did was make poor aesthetic choices (buff builds, causal accuracy, odd stances).  In the creative arts, there is a huge difference between what one is capable of, and what one chooses to make.  In 1995, they chose poorly.

I'm in the camp that Hasbro could have made these exact figures in 1995, and we would have gone totally ape****.

I'm liking these for what they are.  I am missing deep character choices, and background characters, but these, to me, del fresher than the current Black Series.

29
The Black Series 6" Figures / Re: 6" Black Series - 2013 Wave 1
« on: July 3, 2013, 11:04 AM »
I'm not sure if anyone has seen the production photos of R2.  It's really lacking in detail an paint.  I'm getting very torn about this line.  When it was first announced, I was 100% in, but after seeing some product I am not too sure.  Here's the thing, for 20.00 I expect something "better" than what I get for 10.00.  Not just bigger.  I juts don't know if these are worth 20.00.  When Sideshow announced that they were making 12 inch SW, I was all in.  But then I saw that the human faces were sometimes lacking.  For 130-150.00 I expect top notch work.

I think that's maybe why I like the small figures. I accept the flaws and shortcoming because there's only so much that can be done for 10.00.

Who knows.  I might flip out and love the 6 inch figures in the store.

30
Watto's Junk Yard / Re: Star Trek
« on: May 28, 2013, 10:39 PM »
I am amazed that the "How did Luke beat Vader?  argument is still going on.  I swear I talked about this 10 years ago on this site.  Luke beat Vader for a few reasons...

1.  He had to, and he believed in himself.  Ok.  This is cheesy, but has an underdog team ever beat a undefeated team?  Yes.  Things happen in real life that are unexplainable.

2.  It's a movie, not a video game or RPG.  Meaning, yes, Vader is technically more powerful, but Luke won.  (See reason #1)

3.  Luke was fighting for his life.  People can do amazing things under stress.  Again, look at real life, not games.

Ugh...I could go on and on...

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