Sunday 20 May 2012

The Mighty Chewbacca


 It took me long enough, but for the first time since probably the early 90's, I have a Chewbacca! I've gotta say that I love the face and sculpt on this guy, the more I look at it the more I like. While I'm still needing a decent Han I figured I'd take Chewie back to his Kashyyyk roots...


Friday 18 May 2012

Bunker Command


Lieutenant Renz and the troops of Tempest Force had killed nearly 300 Ewoks and other such life-forms on Endor's Sanctuary Moon since the construction of the shield generator, and the sport had started to become tiresome. 'If only', thought Renz, 'the locals would fight back with a bit more spirit...'

Thursday 17 May 2012

Darth Vader


Darth Vader (TAC) is my most recently acquired modern loose figure. I gotta say that given the sculpt, posability and sheer fun of this guy, it's a wonder that I didn't get into the super-articulated figures sooner. Whilst I still work out the best way to light photographs the detail might not quite come across, but rest assured, it's there!

There's another reason why this figure is so good - remember the POTF2 Darth Vader with removable helmet? Well, that seems to come as standard now:


Look at that scarred mug and tell me Obi-Wan isn't badass...

Monday 14 May 2012

Bad Dad!


In a sterling week I obtained new (well, recent) and super-articulated versions of Darth Vader and Chewbacca for less than six English pounds. Result! This means I've been cracking out my Death Star backdrop, and I now have a pretty spectacular ANH themed display going on on my shelf. Expect pictures soon, but in the meantime here's the dark lord of the Sith (remember when that title meant something mysterious and cool rather than being all goofy and explainable?), doing what he does best on completed Death Stars - killing old Jedi who're on suicide missions...

Tuesday 1 May 2012

The New Hope!

On Sunday I went shopping at my local discount store, where my girlfriend spotted an ROTS re-issue of the 'all new likeness' Princess Leia, packaged with a plastic cup, for the paltry price of £4. After purchasing and opening said figure, I knew it was finally time to open my ANH Blu-Ray Commemorative Pack.

I was not disappointed.


The sculpting and posability on these figures is second to none, especially for a seasoned (former) POTF2 collector as myself. Luke looks like Luke, Ben Kenobi is incredibly accurate and the Sandtrooper is the boss, completely. Even the R2-D2, which I thought would be the weakest of the four, has a nifty action feature whereby you twist his dome and his sensor pops out; and that's on top of a superb sculpt and crisp, clean paint apps. I don't think there's any going back now...


Given the increase to my ANH principal cast, it meant I was finally able to better utilise my Death Star walls, and get my own version of that classic promo shot...


The Leia and Han are nice place fillers, but they really pale in comparrison (literally with the Han, he's from the Jabba pack and his skin is almost green). Time to upgrade the POTF2s, no?

Finally, sorry it's been a while between posts, but college work, film-making and other projects have taken over. My comic/writing/film-making blog is now up and running at http://dopemeat.wordpress.com; take a look if you have a spare couple of minutes!

Friday 17 February 2012

Wolverine Redux

I probably don't self-censor enough, and sometimes post pics that I'm not really happy with. I guess that's the growing pains of learning a new skill, but it's still not a great advert for the blog when the first picture is out of focus and, well, not that good. So, with standards in mind, I've revisited Wolverine for these shots:
 

The base is from a McFarlane Toys Lost figure, but it seems to work fine as Logan's hunting ground. I guess this means the Marvel theme is well and truly continuing!


And, hopefully, that's the front page looking a bit better for the time being... :D

Tuesday 31 January 2012

Smoulder

I was in a Transformer buying mood some months ago, and it just so happened the Powercore Combiners were on sale at TRU. I knew for balance to my collection I needed a Decepticon, and deliberated long and hard before going for this guy. I was most certainly impressed!


This is more or less the anti-Inferno/Optimus (depending on your particular generation). A fire truck seems like a pretty strange choice for a Decepticon, but he pulls it off well. In fact, the facial sculpt is so well done, as are the colour applications, that in robot mode there's no doubt whose side Smoulder is on. Well, other than he bears a passing resemblance to Perceptor, but nevermind.

Now, what's really awesome about Smoulder is the addition of his weapon, 'Chopster'. Reminiscent of the original Targetmasters, Smoulder's axe is a mini-Transformer and character in his own right! Double cool for a discout price. Furthest more, whilst I'm unable to show it off (due to not having Bombshock), in another nod to Transformers of yore, Smoulder can combine as the central piece with another lot of combiners to form an entirely new gestalt! I've seen pictures; it looks like G1 Bruticus, it looks awesome, and it is on my wishlist.


There you have it folks. Evil fire engines? They're pretty hot right now :D

Monday 30 January 2012

Wheeljack Strikes Back

The first of my modern TF purchases, I proudly present the irresistable Alternators Wheeljack!


For me, this was the ultimate series of Transformers - Generation 1 characters who transformed from accurate scale replicas of existing cars into bulky, ass-kicking robots with multiple weapons. Wheeljack, whilst never one of my favourites originally, really shone in his new incarnation as a Mustang muscle car, complete with go-faster stripes, an energon sword and an engine block that turns into a gun. Sheer design genius!

  

G1 Soundwave never stood a chance...

Sunday 22 January 2012

The Dinobot Coast


For more realistic Dinobot action than the Swoop shot below, these Grimlock pics were taken, quite appropriately, on a trip to the Jurassic Coast last year. I think the King fit in rather well...

Tuesday 17 January 2012

The New Leader of the Decepticons!

Well, new in 1986...


I had the original Galvatron, and was always disappointed in how different he looked from his animated appearance. The same was true of Ultra Magnus, but Galvatron was just... grey. To the point of looking unhealthy. Or, like a knock-off Megatron. It didn't take away from his playability; the size did that, about the only other TF he could fight in my collection was Skorponok. Either way, the original was an underwhelming figure. Jump forward two decades, and we have this!


It's strange to be a hangup about a toy, but finally he's purple. The headsculpt has the menacing three-pronged crown, and of course, his right arm carries the massive cannon. Furthermore, the figure fits into scale with the new TFs perfectly; big enough in size and sculpt to be menacing, small enough to fit into a display without dominating. Add to that the great articulation, and we have the ultimate... Wha'd he say his name was, anyway? Galvatron!


"Long live Galvatron! Long live Galvatron!"

Friday 13 January 2012

Happy New Year!

Welcome to the Mos Espa Collection, 2012 (+13 days). The viewing figures for the site have actually been immense over the last two months, for whatever reason, so I figured you may like to read a post that isn't merely holding station for images... So, new acquisitions!


I guess this is the New Hope collection. Well, minus a Han, Chewie, Leia, C-3PO, Stormtrooper and all those other irrelevant characters :D... These and my OTC Dagobah set are the only non-POTF2 modern figures I have, and the temptation to open these is huge. But! The Vader is unpunched and sealed in a starcase. I don't exactly know what that means for it as a collectible, but it does look nice, and, let's face it, the packaging is one of the biggest draws of the Vintage Collection (if you know of any significance about ol' Darth being packaged like this, please let me know in the comments).



So, I think this might be the first time in my life I'll buy two of a figure to keep one carded. To make that argument ten times harder than it would be though, check out this review of the Vintage Collection Darth Vader over at Chase Variant, a rather excellent toy review blog I came across recently.



The Episode IV Blu-Ray pack is a different prospect. As much as I'd love to open the package and start populating a Jundland Wastes display, as well as framing the nifty mini-poster, this set was bought before I'd properly consulted my finances post-student loan installment. As such, these are staying boxed until I get part-time work, or else I'll have to sell them on to eat come April! Sad times... But a nice looking set all the same.

And finally, because this wouldn't be a Mos Espa collection blog post without an action figure shot...


You may have seen this on my Flickr. Photographing vintage figures isn't going to be a new direction for me, but this guy is in honour of my upcoming weekend catching up with old friends and playing X-Wing vs TIE Fighter until the small hours of Sunday morning. Being geeky may be, y'know, geeky, but it's also incredibly fun :D

Wednesday 7 December 2011

RS PIC POST***

Hello, I need a URL to post my pictures from for a message board, and doing it here is far easier than setting up a whole 'nother new account. Anyway, more Dagobah box pics!




Sunday 17 October 2010

Yoda!

Back again! I wasn't too happy with the way the previous Luke and Yoda shots turned out, so in a fit of Sunday inspiration I grabbed the figures and marched down to the park.


I much prefer this over the older one here. The tree and background looks good, and I got lucky with the lighting, and got there just as the sun had pretty much set. Also, as proof that the POTF2 Yoda figure does have legs...


One day I'll expand on it to have a swamp filthy X-Wing flying over his head whilst the John Williams score plays as loud as humanly possible over the top...

Tuesday 8 June 2010

Slight Change of Tack... DINOBOT ATTACK!

As my obsessions shift every now and again, I find it hard to stick to one particular theme. And so, on a different note (but from the same album), I present... The Dinobots!

Transformers Animated Dinobots Swoop Grimlock Snarl

I had no choice but to start with Swoop, as he's my favourite; in fact, when I was a kid I made up a song about him. I still remember the words, but they will never be published. The G1 Swoop was impossible to find when it was out (edit: this may explain why) and I never had it, so when the Emcat got me the Transformers Animated Grimlock for Christmas, it didn't take me long to make amends...

Transformers Animated Dinobots Grimlock Snarl

Snarl used to be called Slag, and it's a name he's going to keep in my collection. Since the Dinobots were reduced in number for the animated line, I can understand why the moniker Snarl was used instead - it's cooler sounding, and potentially less offensive to us sensitive Brits... Don't get me wrong though, if Sludge and Slag/Snarl/whatever they call him are also re-designed/released, I'll be all over them.

Monday 5 April 2010

Eyes Of Evil


My enduring memories of seeing Return Of The Jedi for the first time are of Endor, specifically the speeder bike chase and the Ewok tree village. However, given how young I must've been when that happened, I'm amazed I didn't have anything from Jabba's Palace seared into my brain, Bib Fortuna in particular. The red eyes, the tailed head, clawed fingers and creepy way he touches up R2 - although I guess he loses his air of maelovence when we encounter Jabba, and realise ol' Bib's actually a weak-minded fool...

This is the second picture I've got up here with Boba Fett relegated to the background - I think he'll have to take centre stage at some point.

Monday 29 March 2010

It's Cold Outside


One of the reasons I love the POTF2 line, besides the enormous nostalgia and younger wish fulfilment (see the Dewback post), is that you can get most of this line really pretty cheap - such as this Luke my girlfriend picked up for me from a clearance store where he was hanging out in the window with Han Solo and Count Dooku. And then there's charity shops, and car boots... It's almost enough to make me give up my eBay account. But not quite.

Nice and Easy...


The Special Editions were the defining cinematic experience of my youth, even more so than Jurrasic Park. Having had the theatrical versions on VHS, I was as excited as I would've been on blue Smarties about the new and updated content. Case in point - Jabba checking on Han in Mos Eisley. Not a bad scene, makes Greedo's appearance (and demise) a little more unnecessary, but then at the end, we get Boba Fett doing a final sweep and stare into the camera. Geek rejoice!


Friday 19 March 2010

Dewback!


It's been a long time coming, I've finally got the POTF Dewback I wanted since they were released! The Tatooine collection is definitely taking shape, it'll be nice to get a little set together - the results will, I'm sure, find their way up here...


On another happy note, it turns out my girlfriend's phone camera has a far better auto focus and zoom than either of our digital cameras, making shots like the Sandtrooper above possible. Result!

Thursday 11 March 2010

The Streets of Mos Eisley


The streets of a Tattoine spaceport isn't the place to be for two droids, what with all those Jawas lurking around...

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