Raging Nerdgasm #366 - Funko Gremlins figures (Emerald City Comics)

Raging Nerdgasm #365 - eVolve Goliath from Funko

Raging Nerdgasm #359 - Drac-Cutie Monster Cutie from Friendprices

Raging Nerdgasm #358 - Custom painted art toys Lamour Supreme and Radioa...

Raging Nerdgasm #364 - Crawdaddy by Daniel Yu

Raging Nerdgasm #362 - Jaws Reaction figures

Raging Nerdgasm #363 - Beetlejuice transforming crypt

Raging Nerdgasm opens an old ass toy - The Frankenstein from Tales From ...

Arkham Anarchy or how Jared Leto's Suicide Squad Joker "Broke the Internet"

As predicted, on or before the Joker's 75th anniversary, Zack Snyder previewed the first officially sanctioned image of Jared Leto as the Joker from the upcoming Suicide Squad movie. Naturally, since it wasn't the purple-suited, pale skinned psychopath we're all so used to....the internet collectively freaked out. Nerds everywhere were up in arms, comic book store owners claimed it was the "end of days". somewhere in Columbus, OH a man made toast in a toaster; it was very much like any other day when a teaser image gets leaked to the internet. But why? Why freak out about a movie that hasn't even been filmed yet?

Who knows to be honest. But, I'm easy to get on board with a new design. This isn't your daddy's Joker, a Caesar Romero with an unshaven mustache in heavy white make up parading around in a magenta suit. This isn't your childhood Joker, whether that is the older and energetic sociopath Jack Nicholson or the slick animated Crown Prince of Crime voiced by the irreplaceable Mark Hamill. This isn't even the disheveled criminal mastermind that the late Heath Ledger brought to life before his untimely demise. This is a different Joker for a new world. A meaner, unhinged, physically fit criminal who looks like he's spent a decent amount of time behind bars from the looks of the tattoos and the lean muscle structure.

At first, admittedly, I was apprehensive. A tattooed Joker? With a mouth full of dirty, metal capped teeth? Is he a Juggalo? Is he an other worldly mixture of Eminem, Marilyn Manson, and Paul Wall? What would that album sound like? Maybe the tattoos are just for an upcoming photo shoot and won't be worked into the movie? What's up with the one rubber glove? Is someone getting their prostate checked? I was filled with questions, but this is how I learned to give in and end up loving the design.

I don't want to see a Joker I already know. Unless it's Jack Nicholson reprising his role as an older Joker I don't need to see Jack Napier or Joe Chill or the unnamed Red Hood become the dapper criminal clown. Just like every damn reiteration of Spiderman, Superman, and Batman doesn't need to tell me his origin again. I'm not five and even a five year old knows how these heroes became the costumed vigilantes they love. You are wasting valuable time in an action movie showing me everyone's parents tragic deaths. Move on! I want to see something I don't know. That's what made Heath Ledger's Joker an enigma, you didn't get a back story. He showed up, fucked shit up, and left a trail of death and destruction in only the way a real psychotic could. He had a different "back story" every time he was going to stab someone with the "How'd I get these scars" explanation, but that was mostly to mess with his intended victims. To draw the attention off the blade and for him to get the full enjoyment of seeing someone's eyes as he drove the knife in for the kill.

That and he burned Mr Lao alive. Pretty much everyone forgot about that.

People freaked out about pretty much every casting decision in a super hero movie since there was such a thing as sneak preview images. All the way back to Starlog magazines (there, I did it, I dated myself) people have been getting the "butt hurt feels" when teaser images got released. I used to think it was worse than before till someone who owned a comic book store explained that it's really no different, social media has given everyone a soapbox to stand on and issue an ALL CAPS RAGE. I already have a predisposition to like things people don't like, something about being a fan in a smaller group than 1 fan in 1 million. I like this design, I think Jared Leto will do the cinematic universe proper justice with a spot-on Joker that more accurately represents the world we live in now. This is a Joker who is going to be taking on the Suicide Squad or joining them in arms.....or both because the Joker plays by his own rules. Everyone in the movie is supposed to be imprisoned and offered clemency for their crimes in exchange for participation.

The design:

Massive amount of tattoos: while it intrigues me it's also confusing. You might think if the Joker has been locked up for many years, that might explain the tattoos. But the Joker is too dangerous to be out in the general population and wouldn't be able to get any prison ink. Anyways, trying to explain it set aside, I like the addition of the tattoos. I'm not sure I'm thrilled by the "damaged" tattoo on the forehead. It's a little distracting but I can hang.

Physique: Lean muscular build. If he's in jail, not much to do outside of eat your 3 hot meals and sleep in a cot. Might as well hit the gym or the exercise yard. He's looking physically fit and ready to brawl. Able to hold his own for sure.

Teeth: dental work definitely done. If you've read any of the more modern comic books with a Batman vs Joker fight, the clown prince is usually shy a few teeth by the end. So, it's definitely showing we are dealing with a Joker that's been around the block. I'm great with this, the teeth look kind of nasty and unkept.

One purple glove: right hand. Certainly the hand that he would be using a knife in, wouldn't want to get any blood or bodily fluids on him. Might make for an interesting nervous tick having him be a little bit of a OCD like Howie Mandel.

pinky ring: not sure. Can't zoom in and focus on the ring enough to make out if it's got a unique design. Anyways, should end up being interesting when they explain it.

Pale skin / green hair: if it isn't broke, don't fix it.

and for a little fun

Suckerman : a review 23 years in the making!

   





I will be the first to say that I have very few wants that go unanswered. It's the result of a lifetime having to budget myself and using my hobby to feed my hobby by selling lesser pieces for something more desirable. I often do hit walls where certain toys are just either not worth the price tag to me or just simply having eyes bigger than my wallet; sometimes you just have to let go of the desire to have a 4 foot tall Gamera in your living room. I've nearly had my hands on everything I ever wanted by having a really good working relationship with other sellers and collectors, mainly because I understand everyone needs to make money and not being afraid to put money on the table for something I really want. But there's been one piece that's eluded me for years, just because it's importance slipped further and further down my want list. I happily added him to the collection this month for $15.

Suckerman was released by Mattel in 1978 to combat the influx of space and alien themed toys brought on by the Star Wars craze. Granted Mattel was riding the wave of their imported Shogun Warriors, but was dabbling in some house brand characters to lead their sales. In this time they created unique boys toys like Grey-Gory the Vampire Bat and Krusher but they needed an alien to spearhead an outerspace line up. Aptly named Suckerman, his rubery, lanky body is covered in 26 suction cups, giving him the uncanny ability to stick to nearly any smooth surface with ease. Sadly though, Suckerman was the only character in the line. He was released in a rainbow of different colors, hardest to find in black and glow in the dark but easier to find in other colors.

(you can tell it's Mattel!)

With Mattel's history being a predominantly girl brand company they had some success in the late 60s with a little line known as Major Matt Mason, which would have been perfect for a reboot in the late 70s but Mattel opted for something fresh. It was a cool idea, the package encouraged you to throw him against the wall and watch him in action and the sculpting was really decent; you could tell they had a lot of faith in Suckerman not failing them at retail. The more I look at him, to me he screams 60s sci-fi with his scaly skin and fanged bat-like head. Suckerman's legacy at Mattel wasn't as illustrious as say He-Man but it's still a worthy footnote in toy history, he just had the rotten luck of being created in the wrong decade.

In person, Suckerman lives up to the hype I created in my head over this toy. I can imagine being much younger I would have had a ball with it. As an adult, I mostly use it to creep my wife out by sticking him to the wall in the shower or to the bedroom ceiling fan, which is equally fulfilling to my inner child. Suckerman looks great next to the toys of that era like Stretch Armstrong, Grey-Gory, Krusher, Micronauts, and assorted Mego and other 8 inch figure lines of the era. The only problem I've encounted so far is properly displaying Suckerman. He doesn't stand on his own and the suction cup gives out after a little while, so I'm stuck on how to display him.

The Complicated life of Tom Khayos

The complicated life of Tom Khayos is a collection of writings I'll be releasing in no particular order. It mainly is to explain how I became me and it will always involve toys, comics, video games and other nonsense.

The Complicated life of Tom Khayos

                                         The Ballad of Frankenstein Snake Eyes

To tell you the story of Frankenstein Snake Eyes, I have to give you some background on my life. My knowledge of the toy world wasn't divine intuition, it was cultivated by some key people in my life. My mother and grandmother were very integral in my background as a toy collector and dealer. I would be brought to doll shows as a young child and roam around with them and scout out good finds and when they were set up selling dolls, I could be found under the table taking a nap in between my scouting trips. Both my mother and grandmother taught me how to identify dolls, clothing, accessories and other collectibles as well as know the difference between reproductions and originals. 

But there was three other people who taught me just as much as my immediate family members did, those three I considered close enough that I would call them family. One of those three is my friend Doug, a man who has been buying and selling toys longer than I've been alive. I met Doug formally in my late teens and he helped me refine my skills as a negotiator and helped me become more savvy when tracking down collections to buy and sell. With his help, I learned just about every trick in the book in the toy world and the convention circuit. With the knowledge I gained from him I consider myself one of the most knowledgeable individuals in the collectible toy industry.  

The other two on my short list of honing my skills and cultivating my knowledge of toys and collectibles was my mom’s friends Dena and Helen. Both of them collectors in their own right, I got to know them through their collectibles shop Re-Play Toys. Being young, I looked up to both of them. “This is what I want to do when I grow up!” I thought.Over the years, I grew up hanging around the store pretty much every free moment I had. After school, on the weekends and during the summer I could be found helping out, cleaning, assembling, pricing and selling toys that were brought in and bought by the store. Both ladies were very sweet and treated me very well and I still consider them family to this day and have spent lots of time with them and their families over the years. I learned a lot at the store and still look back fondly at that time in my life. While I may not be doing what I said I wanted to do all those years ago, I’m still involved in the toy world and it probably wouldn't be that way if they hadn't helped fuel my passion for this field.

And the moment this has all been leading to: The story behind Frankenstein Snake Eyes

Recently, Dena had passed away. It was rough on my mother and I, we hadn't had a family member or someone we considered a family member die since my grandmother’s passing in 2003 and Helen and Dena’s father passing in 2005. Dena had a big impact on my life, she encouraged me to learn more about what was sold in the store and always rewarded my hard work both on store projects and school work. I’d sit around the store with my nose in a collectibles book or Toy Shop magazine and use my recently gained knowledge to piece together dozens of GI Joes, Star Wars figures and vehicles and boxes of loose Transformers. I feel it’s important not to mourn someone’s passing but celebrate their life the way they would have wanted to have been remembered so I dedicated a weekend worth of toy hunting at the flea market to her and went for lunch with my mom to Dena’s favorite restaurant, a little Italian restaurant known as Gino’s. The funeral and wake came and went, the family had their moment of grieving behind them and so came the task of cleaning out Dena’s house. 

Re-Play Toys had been closed for nearly 12 years and Dena had decided to take her business online through eBay. I had no idea how business went or even if the title of Re-Play Toys was still being used in any capacity. Dena’s sister Helen still bought and sold toys, collectibles and other nicknacks online but had branched out under her own name online and as I mentioned before I still do conventions and occasionally sell online under my own name but had kind of lost track of what Dena was doing or if she was still involved in the business. I feel kind of bad in a way, like many of you I have grown apart from some of my friends and family.

What was left at her house was distributed among family and friends that it would mean the most to. What I received was something I hadn't seen in nearly over a decade, Frankenstein Snake Eyes. What I received brought back so many good memories, to the average person it just looks like a cobbled together figure just kind of slapped together but to me it’s a prized possession. The kind of thing I’d run into a burning building to save. I felt it needed to be shared in the only way I felt it could be described, a lengthy blog posting involving a bit of my personal history and a kind of a last tribute to a friend/ family member now gone.

No one knows the story behind Frankenstein Snake Eyes. I was under the impression that I had created it out of a pile of leftovers from a GI Joe collection but I found out that I was mistaken. Then I thought possibly Dena had made it during a slow day at the store out of the store’s random pieces box but no one could verify that either. For all I know, Frankie could have showed up this way in a collection but his origin remains a mystery. I had memories of Frankie hanging out at the register at Re-Play Toys and remembering Dena was quite attached to it. People offered money on numerous occasions and even I asked if my day’s work could be paid for with Frankenstein Snake Eyes, but all offers were turned down. No matter wherever it came from, it was very special to her and I felt very honored to inherit this legendary figure. 

The only thing I’d like to do with the figure is make a vehicle and do a throwback package to put it all in. Let’s face it, most of the cool GI Joe figures came as a pack in with the vehicles in the line. The feel I get from the toy is Frankenstein would command a fairly impressive vehicle that looks  like something out of Mad Max, not so much the missiles and machine guns but something with some muscle and armor. Something along the lines of a modified dump truck with a shovel or cow catcher on the front with armored or spiked hub caps. And then package it up in a classic style box, I feel it would be a fitting tribute to the toy.

And here I sit with this epic figure, still admiring it like I did all those years ago. An heirloom piece of local toy history from what I gather. I wouldn't change anything about it’s scratched paint job, loose joints or anything else about it; it’s this way for a reason and I’d only fix it if it became broken for some reason. I happen to be significantly younger than a good portion of the local toy collectors in the Tampa area but they all remember the rag tag unofficial mascot of Re-Play Toys hanging out by the register, holding on to the business cards or hanging off of the cup full of pens. Just commenting on it to my small group of friends who are toy collectors brought up a lot of nostalgic moments with them as well. They all remembered how cool the store was and how nice Dena and her sister Helen were to anyone who came in the shop. It had traveled from their original shop at the Floriland Mall Flea Market to their shop off of Busch boulevard to Dena’s house and finally into my possession. I’ll really cherish it for the rest of my life and it will always remind me of one of the key people in my life who helped me develop the deep appreciation I have for toys and their history.


**written June 2012

GI Joe Retaliation : Blind Master figure review

Off the bat I'm going to admit I have not seen this movie all the way through. I can't get through it, I walked out of the movie in the theater out of boredom. Out of what I have seen in the movie that I like is the Cobra flag going up over the White House and the RZA as the Blind Master. I would have never bet on them making a figure of the Blind Master, not unless it was a convention exclusive. The figure might as well have been an exclusive because it's not that easy to find. Apparently this figure has been out since October and I just stumbled onto it just this last week. After seeing him loose in someone's collection made me want this figure even more, I nearly bought it off eBay just to avoid searching for it.

I lucked into the figure at Toys R Us on an impromptu trip this week out of total boredom. The likeness is fairly good for the line, looks like RZA from his role in the GI Joe movie. I've always been hard on Hasbro's head sculpts on 3 3/4 inch figures but some of their figures from 30 years ago have better likenesses than the current figures on the shelf. I hate to use a number scale but this is a solid 8 out of 10 on the likeness. The figure reuses a lot of GI Joe figure pieces, which is most obvious on the Blind Master's hip where you find a gun holster. You may think it's a small thing but once I noticed it I couldn't do anything but just stare at it. Glaring mistakes are hard for me to overlook sometimes, I get all hung up. The accessories are abundant; bamboo cane that splits into a sword, the nine ring sword, a flute, a mask, a hat that doubles as a shield (and has positional blades) and a ring / Frisbee that looks like something from Master of the Flying Guillotine.

Overall, I'm satisfied with the figure. I think I'm more satisfied in the novelty of it being a figure of the RZA than it being a good GI Joe figure. This line kind of suffered that, at least in my opinion. The Joe Colton figure was an awesome 3 3/4 inch Bruce Willis figure but it was a mediocre GI Joe figure. If you like the Wu Tang Clan this is a treat to pick up and add to your collection. I've had 3 friends come over and see this and buy one online just on impulse.

5 more random action figures

Star Trek TNG Antican

The Antican was from the earlier seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Y'know, back when they were still feeling out the direction of the show and before the make up and effects got better. According to the Star Trek wiki the Anticans are a sentient humanoid-canine species from the planet Antica who like to eat their meat still alive and kicking. Think rape-cannibals. Anyways, their prey of choice were the Selay; a reptilian humanoid species resembling cobra people for lack of better terms. The Antican, Selay, Q and the Feringi were tail enders to the failing Galoob Star Trek series and usually command big bucks in good condition. Unless you are a nut and have to have him I would suggest living without him unless you get him for a few bucks, he's far from being the most interesting toy you don't own.


Slo Mo from Space Precinct

                                                                                                                                                               
                                                      
Oh yeah, that breakout BBC series known as Space Precinct. Right? It played in the US if your market was lucky enough to slip it into a late night/early morning time slot. Those time slots that play just before the channel signs off for the night or they start playing the 700 Club or infomercials isn't exactly the way to coax people into falling in love with a fairly imaginative hour long tv series. Created and written by Gerry Anderson ( creative mind behind Thunderbirds, Stingray and Captain Scarlet), this live action police drama seemed childish on the surface with silly characters like Slo Mo and brightly designed alien species  (using a lot of great make up techniques and puppetry) but had lots of adult undertones and story lines. Needless to say it lasted a year even though rating highly in Europe, the series capped off with 24 episodes and was Gerry Anderson's biggest budgeted production.

Slo Mo was more than likely in every episode if memory serves me right. Kind of a comic relief mixture of C3P0 and R2D2 to offset some of the tension I bought Slo Mo just because I thought he'd look cool in the background of a Jawa Sandcrawler or some other scene I dreamed of building but never got around to. Now he just haunts a random bin full of miscellanous toys where I'll probably throw him next to the Antican if I decide either deserves to be displayed.



Macho Man LJN thumb wrestler

Nothing quite like cornholing a bearded man in pink underwear and making him fight another mostly naked man with a thumb up his ass. While I really like LJN's WWF figures I've always had this strange issue with the thumb wrestlers. That and they are incredibly hard to display.


Imperial Space fighters

  

Here goes my love/hate for bendy figures. Imperial did a few straight bootlegs of other popular space branded toys and made them bendies. This is a green Star Wars Storm Trooper, let that sink in for a minute.

Harem Xena

I never was a big fan of the Xena series but then again I wasn't a fan of the Hercules series till it was off the air and I was much older. Even the times I sat down trying to watch the series with an open mind, I lost interest within minutes. You could almost time me; 7 minutes in and I was done, just like clockwork. I bought this figure to eventually customize into a Slave Leia 6 inch figure but I think I got bored one day and shot it with an airsoft gun. They're making a 6 inch Slave Leia and I probably won't buy it anyways because I'm just not that into Star Wars anymore.

Cloverfield monster by Hasbro Direct Sales

Cloverfield, released back in January of 2008, was a shitty sci-fi monster movie that could have been so much better. Shot al'a Blair Witch style, a group of friends are present to witness first hand (with their handy-cam) the destruction of New York by an beast of unknown origins. Shakey cam movies belong in the trash, they are a nauseating display of what can be done when you barely have enough money to distribute the film let alone produce it. Anyways, the film follows this group of friends as their farewell party for their buddy gets rudely interrupted by a disembodied head of the Statue of Liberty. Lots of mayhem ensues, people die, billions of dollars in property damage is done and the United States government decides to nuke New York four years prior to the Avengers movie. Outside of the shakey cam I was OK with most of the movie up to the point of nuking New York, I'm fairly sure there's rules against dropping nukes on US soil. The movie had the potential to be great with a great director, SFX company and production company on board with a heck of a monster design. Why they went in the direction they did will forever be a mystery to me.

2008 was a strange year for me personally. I abruptly ended a job that I had been working for over a decade, spent a good portion of the year unemployed, lost some friends, broke up with a long term girlfriend, made new friends and sold off a portion of my collection to get by. I know plenty of people who sell part of their collection when times are tough but when I look at having to part with things I like, I look at it as maybe a good time to simplify my life and just sell off everything outside of a few key pieces. That summer I blew through about half of my collection by setting up at shows. I made good money and paid bills that would have gone unpaid but the feeling of being responsible didn't help the fact that I lost some cool things in the process. Things can be replaced and this is how that story goes.

                                  (more pictures of this and more toys on our Flickr account)

I had earlier in 2008 ordered the Cloverfield monster from Hasbro's online shop. This was rare for me because #1) it was expensive #2) I didn't even like the movie that much #3) it was a pre-order. I rare;y if never do a pre-order for more than $30, there's something about someone having control of over $100 of my money without any warning whatsoever. Anyways, in between all my personal tragedies, this behemoth shows up at my front door and suddenly my bank account is damn near empty. I had totally forgotten about the $150 pre-order and I spent a good eight hours just furious with myself and wondering how I could quickly put the money back in my account. Luckily, I guess they just barely produced enough to cover pre-orders and demand was high enough I cleared a decent profit a month later. I felt bad letting go of it, especially seeing other people review the toy online but you can't pay your rent or electric with a toy.

                      

                 

Several years later I got the chance to replace my dearly departed Cloverfield monster. Not only did I get to replace my Cloverfield but I got it at a cheaper price than I had paid three years earlier. This is one strange monster, I mean for a movie I can't stand it's a beautiful piece for anyone who enjoys giant city-stomping monster movies. It's seriously massive, near 15 inches tall and very wide with a huge arm span. It's very unique in design, while writing this I tried to look for artist renderings of the creature to see what source material they used since the movie is very vague as to the dimensions. The sculpt is very dynamic and they thought enough ahead of time to include an exchangeable head; one calm and another one enraged and caught in the middle of a roar. The articulation is plentiful but it's the first generation of ratcheting joints so there is sometimes a little bit of slippage after you get the desired pose.



There's only really two downsides to the figure. One is the decapitated head of the Statue of Liberty. I know it's more than likely a cost cutting measure but it's so small that it really throws the scale of the figure way off, and obscures it even more from the movie. The head of the statue in relation to the hand of the monster literally makes this monster big enough to have swallowed 30 of them with room to spare. The other thing is the nondescript lice that comes with the calm head. It was an interesting trick giving the head a trap door to put the few lice they give you in there but it lacks a way to deploy them without decapitating the monster. I know it's not a kid's toy but I'm playing with it and I find this to be a serious flaw and I don't like it. All in all, it's a great display piece that hasn't lost any value since I bought it. It's still a highly desirable piece that doesn't show up that often in auctions.