Raging Nerdgasm #362 - Jaws Reaction figures

Raging Nerdgasm #363 - Beetlejuice transforming crypt

RNG Anime Review: Wolf Children

By:Ana Khayos

It’s been over a year since my husband and I gave up cable and been dipping neck deep into the world of online streaming. So far we have been getting our moneys worth with Netflix, but recently I’ve been exploring the world of Amazon Prime with some of my friends.

Tonight was movie night.  I prepared the dinner while my friends browsed for something to watch.  When I came back from the kitchen there was this amazing trailer playing for a movie called Wolf Children.  The trailer clearly stated that it was by the director who did Summer Wars, which was just amazing, so I was hooked and was excited to see it.  Neat less to say that it was worth the 3 day rental for $3.99 on Amazon Prime.

The Story

The movie focuses on the narrator's mother Hana who fell in love with a Wolf Man (werewolf).  She proceeds to tell her mothers love story, and the tragedy that leads her to become a single mother who had to raise two unusual young children who are also Wolf People by the name of Yuki and Ame. Everybody knows that being a married, widowed, or a single mother is a tough job especially since there’s no book to tell you how to really raise your kids.  Now imaging raising wolf cubs/kids by someone who is now raising children by herself and has no experience with wild animals. 

The movie does a wonderful job in converting a difficult and normal situation for a mother with young children to be even more difficult when she is trying to hide her childrens unique condition.  Simple things like having a young child being sick becomes a question between taking the child to the pediatrician or the vet. 

All in all, the entire movie echoes around one question “When you grow up, do you want to be human or wolf?”.  The mother sacrifices everything to make sure her two wolf kids have the chance and freedom to make up their minds when it comes to this important question in their unique lives.  Hana drops her studies, gives up her life in the city, moves to the country and learns to live a simple frugal life of secrecy while learning how to live off the land like other local farmers.  The movie will have moments that bring you joy and other moments that just make you cry because of how close you can relate to the main protagonist challenging situation. Is just a phenomenal story.

About the Movie

The film was produced by Studio Chizu (known for Wolf Children), and Madhouse Studios how has a very long portfolio of animated films including The Animatrix (short), Batman : Gotham Knight (short) , Death Note, Metropolis, Millenium Actress, Paprika, Paranoia Agent, Perfect Blue, Summer Wars, and Vampire Hunter D just to name a fraction of their well known work.   

The story was created by Mamoru Hosoda who also co wrote the screenplay and directed the film Wolf Children. You might recognize some of his work as director in several productions for animated tv episodes, movie, animated intros and shorts such as Summer Wars, Samurai Champloo, One Piece, Superflat Monogram (short), and Digimon : Digital Monsters . He also has credentials as a writer, a worker in the animation departments, and art department in other several productions such as Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, Girl Revolution Utena, and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

Mr Hosoda life experienced in the animation industry is well reflected in the quality of his work.  In 2012 the movie itself was released in 34 different countries and territories, and it was second highest grossing film in Japan on it’s day view weekend July 21-22, 2012 beating Pixar’s film Brave who was released in Japan that same weekend. On it’s opening weekend the movie grossed better than his previous movie Summer Wars (1.6 billion Yen) with an astonishing 4.2 billion yen making Wolf Children the 5th highest grossing movie in Japan of 2012.  Since it’s released the movie has won several awards internationally captivating audiences all over the world.

Conclusion...

I would love to learn more about the actual production of the film being an animation junkie my self.  All in all I give this movie at 10 out of 10 especially if you are an older adult in your childbearing years (late 20’s to 30’s).  You will find a lot in common with Hana and the challenges she faces to provide for her family. Sorry... if you are looking for explosions, action scenes, giant robots and scary blood thirsty monsters this movie might not be for you.  If you would like to see a good solid story about human capability, perseverance, sacrifice, family, love and complex relationships between several characters this movie is for you.   Love it. I must buy a disk copy for my collection in my bookshelf.

South Park's Satan from Mezco

(I've decided to start this blog with Saddam stroking a rubber phallus, yes it is very necessary.) 

With South Park's many seasons, there are many memorable characters but almost none more memorable than Satan. We were introduced very early in the series to Jesus, who had given up on his pilgrimage to travel the world and free mankind of their sins and took a prime time slot on Park County Public Access and occasionally fight Santa Claus in an officially sanctioned boxing match for supremacy over the Christmas holidays. Satan on the other hand was introduced to us as lord of the underworld, master of all sinners and......subservient boyfriend to Saddam Hussein? BRILLIANT! I mean say what you will about Trey Parker and Matt Stone, but those men are geniuses. They honestly said that the show doesn't pull it's punches when it comes to religion, and that goes for all religions equally. Throughout the show's run (and might I add it's still running and just as funny as ever), Saddam and Satan have had their share of lover's quarrels eventually leading to the demise of Saddam. But it's OK, he suffers a fate worse than death......being dragged off by a group of rabbid Mormons.

(suck on that)

Mezco's line of South Park figures are great, but limited places to buy them leaves fans feeling left out. It's not till recent history that Toys R Us decided in a bold move to start carrying them in their physical stores, which has led Mezco to do a general re-issue of the line. The first thing to know is the figures aren't in any particular scale. Satan here stands roughly 6 inches tall at the top of the horns but then again so does most of the adult characters in the line ( ie- Chef, Mrs Cartman, Officer Barbrady). In the cartoon, Satan towers over every character and probably should have been a deluxe figure but I'm sure budget constraints as well as limited retail support led to the size problem I'm left with here. To be honest, Satan is the only figure I own from the South Park line and I wouldn't own it today if I hadn't seen it on the counter of a smoke shop at the flea market that was selling McFarlane Toys and other adult collectibles.

(Is it just me or does Satan has some big ol' John Goodman sized bitch tits? Just look at them, I dare you not to!)

The figure isn't bad at all outside of the size issue. The matte paint on the figure really harkens back to the construction paper style of the show. The dark lord is only articulated at a pivot joint at the shoulders which is fine since most visuals from the show are of him from the waist up. The sculpt of the figure is perfect, not a single flaw I can tell. The sculpt is identical to the visuals of the show. I'm not sure if Mezco is planning a re-issue of this figure at the moment, so I would suggest tracking it down on eBay or at your local collectible toy or comic book store if you're interested.

Super Sized Death Squad Commander from Gentle Giant

I have been on the fence about the new large scale Kenner Star Wars figures from Gentle Giant. Mostly because of the hefty price tag that accompanies them. At near $80 a figure, who can afford to buy the whole set or bleed it out at one figure a month? Granted, they are a nice and showy piece of Star Wars memorabilia but I wouldn't pay more than $50 a figure. Then comes the daunting task of finding prime display space for the figures or storing them to avoid damage. Needless to say, I had avoided even getting into the collection until I found out about the website THWIPSTER.COM

(selling the hype, one crummy cardboard display at a time)

THWIPSTER.COM is a discount website that has a constantly revolving supply of discounted toys, comics and other related merchandise. The prices are incredible and shipping is cheap, if you don't shop them you should really start. I noticed one day I had missed out on getting a great price on the Obi Wan Kenobi from this set, by the time I had moved money around from one account to another it had sold out and never got restocked. But, since they got in one at an amazing price I figured only a matter of time before another one would grace their page. Two days later they'd restocked, but with the Death Squad Commander. While this isn't exactly my idea of how I wanted to test drive this line, it was an inexpensive venture that I knew I'd be able to get more that my money back if I decided it wasn't my thing.

(the fake excitement is just as grating now as it was 30 years ago)

Cheap shipping equals weeks of waiting for your product. While I don't mind, part of me wanted to know if I made the right decision. When it finally got to my door and I opened the box, I was immediately hooked. The figure is on a very well done oversized reproduction card with resealable bubble. The outer bubble is made of a sturdy plastic and the card itself is printed on a semi-gloss heavy card stock. Inside the bubble, the figure is snugly encased in it's own custom tray and secured with twist ties. While in the package, the figure can be either stood up on a shelf or hung on the wall from the already punched pegholes.

Once out of the package, the first thing noticed is the figure is completely hollow. This is why I don't think the figures are worth much more than $50 a piece. Overall, the quality of the figure is top notch. Really well painted, no flaws I noticed on mine at least. Tight joints that will hold their pose while displayed on a shelf or lightly played with. The only complaint I had was the gun; to me it just looked too chunky, like they got the scale wrong but I could be mistaken. While holding it, you forget you've got a 12 inch figure. The size is very pleasing, I mean the commander's helmet is almost the size of an infant's cereal bowl.

(give 'ems a kiss love)

Final opinion on the line, get the characters you like and don't buy the whole set unless you get a good deal. Shop websites for daily deals like THWIPSTER.COM and TOY SALE BOAT on facebook.

Powered Aboras from Ultraman by Bandai

Ultraman has had such a colorful array of evil monsters to battle over the years. Some of them range from the totally believable to the extremely bizarre and everywhere in between. Over the years his villains have gone through amazing overhauls where their physical appearance and abilities have been augmented with technology and magical powers. As the Ultraman saga has evolved over the last several decades, so has he and his opponents. Aboras is one of those many characters

(a shot of the original costume. Lots of reused elements)

(not only a battle of the behemoths, but in a stadium no less) 

Often being mistaken for a blue Godzilla-like creature by those not aware of it, this creature has been around since some of the most early incarnations of the saga. In the Ultraman Powered story, Aboras is one of two ancient devil beasts (or kaiju) sealed away in a magical sarcophagus' long ago in an attempt to save the world from their terror. His arch-nemesis is Banila, a red bipedal monster with almost matched skills. When both tombs were “accidentally” unearthed, both of these titans decided to battle it out until only one was left standing. In the first incarnation, Aboras won and was destroyed shortly after by Ultraman. The second time around Aboras seemed to be victorious but Banila reformed and both were destroyed by Ultraman and the WINR by using a combination of high frequency sound to stun them and a Mega Spectrum Ray to vaporize them.

(new and improved)

Aboras' reintroduction into the Ultraman saga was met with a complete upgrade. Because of budget constraints, Aboras was an altered Red King costume painted blue and a new head. The Powered version has a really cool tyrannosaurus rex look with a tadpole-like tail while keeping the more elongated arms and horn on his head. The figure captures every aspect of the redesign, especially capturing every single bumpy scale along the body. It's a really substantial toy and feels really good in your hand. He's not really oversized to any degree, just big considering the fact he's a friggin' mutant T-Rex. The figure fits in well with the rest of the series and (from what I can tell) is in scale. 

Queen Alien from Aliens by Kenner

The 1990's was a great time for boys toys, boys toys based on PG-13 and R rated properties. One series stood out for most visually interesting concepts and the most absolutely nuts premise , Aliens from Kenner Toys. The premise for the Aliens figure line was that if a facehugger could mate with it, then you'd have a new species of xenomorph. And by mate I mean make sweet love to it's mouth-hole. After the facehugger is done laying his eggs in your abdomen( I say his because even though it lays eggs, he still made you his bitch during the process), the hatch lings gestate and feed on your internal organs until it blows through your ribcage like a shotgun blast. This usually renders the host animal dead and the xenomorph will eventually mature into a bipedal humanoid/cockroach hybrid. I'm guessing they were banking on the hopes that if the facehugger had other animals to select for hosts, the end result would be a hybrid of the xenomorph and the host.

(they come in flying too?)

(the production quality of the live action was on par with Photon, not too shabby for 30seconds)

(best one ever made, buy one now if you don't own it)

(the topic of discussion today)

This gave us such memorable creations such as (I'm hamming it up, but you know this by now) gorilla aliens, crab aliens, scorpion aliens, mantis aliens, dog aliens, snake aliens, bull aliens and rhino aliens. In some of those cases, I want to see a National Geographic TV special as to how some of these monstrosities come into existence. And no, just because the Alien was dubbed a King or a Queen doesn't mean the facehugger made sweet love to a queen or king's tonsils.....necessarily. It's a hive system, like ants or bees function. Anyways, over the series' shelf life only 3 versions of the queen alien were made; a flying queen, a movie accurate one that came with the hive playset and the basic assortment Queen Alien.

(simple xenomorph from Aliens)

(behold, the horrors created by the hands of toy designers making an R rated movie fun for kids)

(TV raised your sorry ass better than your own parents)

The basic assortment came on a large blister card and retailed for roughly $10. The figure has 10 points of articulation, stood 7 inches tall and had two action features; swinging tail action (by pressing a button on the hip) and secondary mouth attack (by pressing a soft rubber cushion on the back of the head, under the crest). The detail on the figure was a notch above what you might expect for Kenner, but sadly some of the more basic Aliens had better sculpts. Impressive to me was the swivel articulation added to the Queen's 3^rd set of hands located in the center of it's chest. The figure also came with a pretty much useless queen chestburster, which was a long dark hunk of plastic that looked like HR Gieger's walking cane. I know the Alien from the movies is traditionally black and glistening but this figure could have benefited from some dry brushing. Honestly if I don't have the lights on in my display case, she blends into the background. There's a small amount silvery gray pigment mixed into the black plastic used to make it, but it does nothing to really highlight the figure. And simply, the figure looks absolutely nothing like any of the Queen Aliens portrayed in any of the eight or so movies across the Aliens or Predator saga.

(give 'ems a kiss, muah muah)

GOBOTS GO BOTS GO!

GOBOTS have always gotten a bad rap in the toy world. I loved them as a child because Transformers were crazy expensive. Sure, the GOBOTS cartoon was really lame and the whole cast looked like a 6 year old named them (Spay-C, Spoons, Royal-T, Cy-Kill, Leader-1) but you could get about 3 for the price of one Transformer. I've got a ton of them as a child and the Rock Lords were my favorite line they made. Say what you will, I will always be a GOBOTS fan.....but in my toy box the GOBOTS and Transformers fought side by side in glorious battles that even saw special guest appearances by He-Man. At the Yancy Street Comic Con I was able to not only further my collection of GOBOTS but also further my knowledge of the line.

GOBOTS just never got the due respect that should have been given to them. Always dubbed the "poor kids" Transformers, most people went for the more recognizable transforming robots of the 80's. Truth of the matter is GOBOTS predate Transformers by a couple of years in America and outlasted about 30 other 80's toy lines that had some serious marketing muscle behind them. But why? How'd they last so long and why does everyone think they sucked so bad?

                                  (the opening always made the show look so cool)

GOBOTS were made by the powerhouse behind all those great metal toys both you and your parents played with as a kid, TONKA. Tonka and their Japanese toy making friends at Bandai brought us some absolutely amazing robots that actually looked like the real cars they were trying to imitate. The transformations were simple though, sometimes 3 folds would get you from robot to vehicle and back again. Which is great if you have a very stupid kid but if you have a kid that needs tons of stimulation, they'd gravitate towards Transformers and their Rubik's cube-esque complex transformations. Another down side the figures had was lack of backstory on any of the characters. The figure packages were void of the TECH SPECS Transformers got us use to and the cartoon was really, really dumbed down. So you mainly bought a toy just because it looked good and not because you had an emotional attachment to the character. For kids, being emotionally attached to a main character is a big deal. How many of you remember crying like a little bitch when Optimus Prime died in front of your eyes.

                                  (relive the pain, care of your friends here at Raging Nerdgasm)

Fun Facts- 

1)Head writer for Challenge of the GOBOTS was none other than Kelly Ward. Ward, who was also an associate story editor for the series and the voice of a couple secondary characters went on to become a voice director for Legion of Superheroes and the Watchmen motion comic. Oh, he also played Putzie in the movie Grease (the only blonde member of the T-Birds).

2) GOBOTS were more than "mighty robots", they were cyborgs. Their story (from the cartoon series) said they were humanoid aliens from the planet Gobotron until an asteroid collided with their planet forcing the survivors to seek refuge in mechanical bodies (mainly their brains). What made them choose bodies that transformed into limos and motorcycles? Wouldn't you?

3) GOBOTS had reoccurring main female characters, not just one like Transformers. (Paradron medics don't count)

4) In Japan, GOBOTS was Machine Robo DX and in Europe it was known as Robo Machines. Robo Machines had a long-running cartoon strip in the UK magazine Eagle comics where in the first issue a scientist creates Cy-Kill, Cy-Kill attempts to assassinate the president of Robotron then flees to Earth and then starts slaughtering British civilians in the village of Cholkham. So Cy-Kill is actually a total badass, but only in Europe and Japan.

                                                          (suck my lazers bitch)

My wife spotted this gem at the Anime Fix booth, a GOBOTS model kit. I'm not only a collector of the GOBOTS but I'm also a registered member of the GOBOTS fan club out of France and this model kit was something I'd never seen or heard of before. I picked it up for $10, which I thought was steep but the model was still sealed in it's original cellophane and it really intrigued me. After getting it home I researched it further to find out Monogram made several GOBOTS models including Leader-1, Cy-Kill, Spay-C and Royal-T along with Buggyman here. Heck, I even found out that Monogram also produced a Turbo Teen. (Which I still say is the most disturbing 1980's cartoon next to Galaxy High and Punky Brewster.)

The box is bright and showy and boasts you can make a 3 inch tall robot with pull back motorized action when completed. Unfortunately the model is molded in red plastic instead of the blue that's pictured all over the front and sides (damn, small print will be the death of me.). Based on it being still sealed and being in great condition from 1984, I won't be opening this piece for the moment. It was well worth the money I spent on it and now I have a new local shop to check for mechas and other interesting toys. I'll be adding Anime Fix in St Pete, FL to my list of awesome shops to visit.

Ultraman monster Gan-Q by Bandai

Sofubi- the mostly Japanese style of vinyl action figures.

I have been a sofubi collector since the early 1990's when Ultraman and Power Rangers came to American TV. I collected it before I knew it was called sofubi. For my 9^th birthday I got all the the Ultraman figures based on the US TV show along with the Super Nintendo game. This was my entry into Kaiju culture, and I wanted more. A year later, my mom found out she had a friend who went to Japan and became a female professional wrestler but came back to the US when her career was put on hold while she raised a family. When she returned to the states, she brought suitcases upon suitcases full of just about anything you can think of from Japan to sell at my Aunt's collectible shop. From what she brought back in her suitcases, I went home with gashapon toys to 15 inch tall figures of Godzilla, Ultraman and so much more. This was a little slice of heaven until the hunger grew again.

Until I got established on eBay in the late 90's, I just didn't feel comfortable buying from Japan. Plus, I didn't have a credit or debit card which was the payment of choice when doing overseas purchases. Every year, I added a couple of pieces to my collection. Whether buying from eBay or going to Mega Con, Dragon Con or Metro Con; I was getting an education in Kaiju and sofubi.

1/ They retire pieces then reissue them in alternate colors. A reissue could be a funky, psycadelic color or just something as simple as trading dark grey highlights for light grey highlights.

2/Bootlegs are plentiful, so be wary of claims to be an “original”. Look for trademarks and maker's marks on the figure. Check the composition of the figure, if it's too stiff it will be (more than likely) a bootleg.

3/Retired pieces go for a small fortune, bring extra cash if you plan on buying something special. While a current character will cost you $10 to $15, a retired piece could go for 3 times the original price or more.

My sofubi collection is very important to me, it's a type of collection that very few people attempt. I think they are very unique and represent a world that most toy collectors don't even know about. Through attaining what I think is a very healthy representation of sofubi, I've made friends with collectors and sellers a whole 7,000+ miles away. One of the more interesting pieces I've bought in the last 3 years was Gan-Q, a monster from the Ultraman TV series. Gan Q is an inter-dimensional joking monster that first premiered in Ultraman Gaia episode 5 in 1998. It later appeared in episode 30 of the same series and in episodes 5 and 6 of Ultra Galaxy Monster Battle (revived by a medieval wizard and no I’m not making this up) . In both shows he can launch replicas of his own eyes and can fire energy balls from them and the eyes on his body.

Gan-Q is your average 5-7 inch vinyl Ultraman figure. Jointed at the shoulder and waist, the figure is more for standing there and looking good than dynamic action poses. The figure looks just like the character from the show; which is a characteristic I like about sofubi toys; they don't get cheap on the sculpted details. The only downside is the figure could benefit from some extra paint applications, a few of Gan-Q's eyes aren't painted in on his backside but this is to be expected. The rear half or quarter of most sofubi figures are void of any decoration other than what was sculpted. 

Masterpiece Collection 1940's era Batman 8 inch doll by Hasbro

Nanananananananana Bat-find!

This is what I was seriously interested in at the 3 for $10 bin when I visited the Yancy Street Comic Con, a Batman doll from the Masterpiece edition book from roughly 2003. Even at $5 for him, he would have been a total steal considering how long I looked for it. I grabbed him and 2 carded figures and went about my business at the show, not even 5 minutes in the building and I'm already out $10 and have a bag full of toys. This definitely set the pace for the rest of the show.

The Masterpiece edition sets were popular but comic book nerds with the deepest pockets deemed the sets too expensive and they ended up on clearance shelves within a year. Each Masterpiece was impressively packaged in a sturdy, heavy gauge cardboard box trimmed in glossy read and yellow with a picture of the character in their golden age outfit; lifted right out of the comic book's pages. They made 3 masterpiece edition books; Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Each book was a kind of chronicle of the character since their creation to current canon. Each book came with a keepsake piece; Superman came with a statue of him in his golden age outfit, Wonder Woman came with a barely poseable doll clothed in her golden age attire and Batman came with a really neat and sought after doll that was fully poseable in a cloth outfit with a cape that could hold any shape you bent it into.

(mine came without the book, just for reference only)

The figure is very well done with a nice range of articulation, similar to a Mego doll. The outfit is not removable. The figure is actually sewn into the costume, so be careful not to spill anything on him (if you are prone to having Cheeto fingers, you might want to invest in a Tide detergent stick). The  boots are actually part of the body, along with the cowl and gloves. The belt is a really strong yellow but feels a little too big compared to the scale of the figure, same goes with the batarang (which confuses me because it's not a toy meant for children, but I could see it eventually getting into a child's hands. But still, give the collectors what they want.). Best aspect of the figure is the ribbed cape. Each rib is bendable and holds whatever pose you give it so your Batman can be frozen in whatever cool action shot you'd like.

I also really dig the clear plastic cocoon it came in.