Check out this auction.

Maybe not as cool as a 3-D miniature, but a piece of motion picture history nonetheless. Perfect for Mother's Day.

I picked up Grafitti Designs' Hellboy action figure a while back and was pretty happy with it. The sculpt does a pretty good job of capturing Mike Mignola's artwork and the size lends itself to my 6" scale figures from DC Direct and Marvel Legends.



Now Mezco is offering Hellboy figures from the movie, and while they look positively stunning, they're in the 8" scale. That makes MisterPL a little sad (wishing they were in the 6" or 3 3/4" scale myself), but that Hellboy's a big dude anyway, so what the heck. I probably won't be able to resist.

Has anyone found these at retail yet? And if so where?

ToyFare has another online poll up, this one asking which toy line was the best of the year. Their nominees are:

- DC Direct
- G.I. Joe vs. Cobra
- Gundam
- Masters of the Universe
- Minimates
- Muppets
- Marvel Legends
- Star Wars
- Transformers
- Other (write-in)

GO VOTE! It's the thing to do!

Mezco's Cryptozoology line is finally out. I snagged Bigfoot at TRU yesterday but left the Jersey Devil on the pegs. At $8.99, they're a little pricey for such small figures (3 3/4" scale maybe), but I could not resist having my very own Sasquatch.

The articulation is good, with points at the knees, hips, elbows, and double-jointed shoulders (CommTech Stormie style). No neck articulation since his "mane" is sculpted from his sideburns to his shoulders. It's just one big piece of rubbery material that allows for the shoulder articulation and hides it at the same time. My only concern is how long it will take to dry rot.

Anyone customizers who want to try a Concept Art Chewbacca or supplement their Wookiee army ranks will want to check out Bigfoot.

Now I'm on the lookout for Mothman for my Cantina cameo collection.  

Going on toy runs as often as we do, I'm sure we all share similar experiences and run into the same kinds of situations. From finding a decent parking space to struggling with customer service, being a mass market consumer can be trying.

Still, I do my best to be nice. I return carts to the store on the way in, or put them in the "corral" when I'm done. Sometimes I'll even do it for a complete stranger, especially if they're elderly or preoccupied with a small child.

I tidy up the pegs and shelves from time to time, picking up after the last motherless band of kids who weren't taught any better or adults who think it's someone else's job to clean up their mess.

I help other shoppers pick toys, whether I'm directing them to the right aisle or offering advice on what to buy.

I'm friendly to the cashiers whether they like it or not. Most do, the rest are indifferent, but not once have I ever gotten chastised for smiling or using the name on an employee's tag when I bid them a good day.

Over the last few weeks, desperately searching for 2003 Star Wars product, I've had plenty of opportunity to finger someone in the parking lot for driving against traffic or speeding through pedestrian crosswalks. There are always the stereotypical idiot shoppers, a cigarette in one hand, the cell phone in the other as the SUV magically drives itself. Then there are the people who are too lazy to push a cart to the corral 5 feet away, and their counterparts who will walk past carts left in parking spaces on their way into a store and gripe to customer service that there aren't any inside.

Collecting has its challenges, but shopping takes the cake. EVERYBODY shops, especially around the holidays. Freaks who spends 11 and a half months in a van down by the river come out of the woodwork, their lack of shopping etiquette painfully apparent. I'm always running into people who simply should not shop, period. They don't have the patience, the personality, even the aroma to be in a retail environment longer than a minute. It's clear that they hate the very idea of shopping and seem determined to make everyone's experience as miserable as their own.

I give those people the most smiles, almost to the point of laughing right at them. Fish out of water.

I have to say though that despite these little hurdles, my shopping Karma is pretty good. In fact I've got a surplus of it, not just from my actions but from my inactions:

- I didn't honk my horn at the guy in the van driving on the wrong side at a snail's pace.

- I didn't flip off that soccer mom behind me who seemed insistant that turning left on red was perfectly acceptable.

- I didn't make rude comments to the apathetic cashier who was obviously destined for a career as a hairstyle model more than retail management.

Yup. My shopping Karma is lookin' good. How's yours?

Rick McCallum has said that Anakin will not only receive the "Darth Vader" monniker in Episode III, but he'll learn what it means. Let the speculation begin!

I think it's safe to assume that "Darth" is simply an abbreviated form of "Dark Lord of the Sith." But what about "Vader?"

I'm guessing Palpatine will tell Anakin "Vader" is from an ancient Sith dialect meaning "survivor." Personally I think it means "gullible tool" or simply "slave for life" considering the poor guy's never been without a master.

Any other ideas?

[Read with melodic tone]

Soooomeooooone's a shaaaaapeshifter.  

Why bother exposing Zam Wesell as a shapeshifter in Episode II? Clearly she never used her abilities onscreen to disguise herself as anyone else, not even to escape her Jedi pursuers. I can think of only two reasons:

A) She replaced someone prior to her demise, an act that will be revealed in a flashback.

2) George was setting up the precedent of shapeshifters in the Star Wars Universe so that a curve ball in Episode III would be easier for fans to accept.

I'm guessing (okay, HOPING) that George actually had enough foresight to plan ahead and will be exposing someone - past or present - as a shape-shifter in league with the Sith. It would play well with the whole theme of duplicity that runs rampant through the Saga. But who this time? Sifo-Dyas? Jango Fett? Qui-Gon? Padme?

Other ideas?