Well I pulled the trigger on this monster of a Batmobile. A 24 inch Animated Series Batmobile. Its always been one of my favorite ones next to the 89 Batmobile. I bought a 2014 Chrysler 300 just because it reminds me of this Batmobile.
Diamond Select did an awesome job with this. The hatch slides open and the pit has a ton of detail. The lights are very bright and give a fun touch. It rolls well and I am sure my son will take this and play with it when I am not around to tell him no. I've wanted it for some time but never wanted to drop $80. Saw it in person at Grand Rapids Comic Con where a dude told me $90 and I said nope I'll find it for a cheaper. He said "I doubt it."

Later that night I found it on Amazon for $50! Brand New. Couldn't pass it up any longer. I need to buy some a of the great figures that they have released for it. The finish on it is a very flat black and will look dusty if you don't keep up on it. My brother did a comparison with the toy from our childhood and it night and day. I used to think the Toy was a amazing replica but it can't hold a candle to this thing.
I would love to see DS to a Ecto 1 with the lights and everything. They did a great job here and with the Knight Rider Kitt. Some people might say its to big but I think that makes it cool. Everyone who sees in my house always checks it out. If you are a BTAS fan then this is a must.
batman, toys, cool crap, comics,

Well this was my first comic con of any sort and I must say I really enjoyed it. I know Grand Rapids isn't the biggest CC in the world but it packed a lot of great stuff. The highlights to me was meeting three of the four TMNT from the original movie and going to their Q&A panel which was ran by Ben of Court of Nerds, meeting Kevin Eastmen who was sign FREE autographs and seeing the Red Ranger from afar. Not to mention all the vendors with toys and other goods I can't afford. I did pick up some cool NES posters for my down stairs(Zelda and BTTF).

My son had a great time but of course was overwhelmed  by some of the crowds. By noon you could barley get anywhere. It was packed! My only grip as it was just crazy busy. I did get to ask a question to the turtles in the panel and asked about what it was like going from such an intense gritty movie to TMNT 2 which is light and more aimed at kids. Leif Tilden(Don) basically said it was hard going from a movie with a goal and vision to a movie that was more "like a party". Also said TMNT 1990 was not a violet movie like a lot of parents labeled it and that a dark movie is ok. Life isn't always sun shine and flowers. A great panel.

Next year is suppose to be even bigger so I can't wait. Here is what I went home with.

Random Movie Thoughts

I decided to pick this up for $5 of amazon and give it a re-watch. I haven't watched it some time but this has to be the most underrated Batman,DC,Super hero movie ever! My mother took me to this on my birthday, the day it came out since I loved the show so much. I was one of the few who went. WB really botched this thing. At first it was suppose to be direct to VHS but then changed direction and went to the big screen and gave the team 8 months!! to get it out and boy did they. That is where the good decisions in the marketing come to an end. They pushed out a awful trailer, no good TV ads, very little toys. They just screwed it up. The movie cost 6 million to make and only made 5 million in the theaters. After home release it made money. The talent did its job but WB didn't do theirs.

I might move it up my top 10: Batman list. It has very little issues and has everything you could want in a Batman movie. Its better than BvS... Easily. I won't get into that right now.

-Love the BTAS style. Glad that team did this movie.

-The new Phantom character is great. It has a super natural moments and you never know how the tricks are pulled off.

-This movie has three hair raising moments. The first, The Phantom has a great line. "Your Angel of Death Awaits". Creepy.
-The way they wrap a origin story, love and the plot of the Phantom murdering old mob guys is pure genius and amazing editing and writing. It flows so well and well paced. If Snyder was given this it would have been a pure mess. Ok no more BvsS hating.

-Its a really dark kids movie. I mean brutal deaths of these mob bosses. Not to mention blood, cuts, guns and aggressive fighting. Not sure if its PG by today's standards.

-The voice acting of course is some of the best you'll see. Hamill's Joker is bare none one of the best Jokers ever. Conroy blows any other animated Batman out of the water and should be in the convo as best Bats in any movie. Stacy Keach is a creepy Phantom and we get Abe freaking Vigoda.

-With a bigger budget they got use a choir in some of the music. Just beautiful stuff that makes the scenes
-Hair raising scene number two. When Batman puts on the cowl for the first time and Alfred is scared of Bruce. The music along with the moment is one that sticks with you.

-The movie does have a great mix of serious tones,action and funny stuff(Joker's rocket pack) .

- The old mob guys death... Jesus.. PG my ass.

-Batman gets pretty beat up in the final act. Suit is ripped up, Joker loses a tooth, bloody nose... Again PG..OK.
-The twist of who the Phantom is again just great writing and they tie all the lose ends up. Motivation of the characters are clear and executed. Looking at you Snyder... OK I'll stop.

-Hair raising scene number 1, when Hamill gets to unleash his best Joker laugh and maybe the best in the history of cinema. All Hell as broke loose and fire is raining down. Joker is ready to take Batman with him and die. He lets out the Joker Laugh of all time.
If WB ever gives this thing a Blu-Ray release you have my money. Its sad its so discarded(like TMNT one). Yet Batman and Robin get Bluray releases... Makes no sense. Give me a BR in 1080p and cleaned up(it will never happen). Its amazing and if you haven't seen it than shame on you. If you love Batman and haven't watched it in a long time than watch it. I think it gets better with age. Cartoon or not this is Batman. If WB ever made this into a live action movie and just went scene by scene.. Mother of God.  

batman, movies, movie, comics, joker, RMT,

A while back I drew the sword of Omens at work. While it isn't perfect(or striaght, hey I'm not a artist) it did come out better than I expected. I let it sit in my closet for about a year not knowing what to do with it or if I should do anything with it.

Brings us to today, I was hanging this old crappy Euro Thundercats or CosmoCats! I thought, this isn't worth Jaga's dick. I should just use it as a back drop for my sword. I then started to clip away! I came away with this!
 I'm pretty excited about this. Came out great. It did take some patience but it paid off. My free handed Sword of Omens pops right off the comics. I like this so much I think I am going to pull this off with my four 1st print issues of the Dark Knight Returns. I have a pretty beat up trade book I can cut up. Just finding the right frame will be the tricky part. I'll post if it comes out well.


thundercats, 80s, comics, art, cartoons, me room

Back with the latest poster from 8bitfetish. I was going to go with The Legend of Zelda but changed my mind and decided to finish off the Turtle wall with the Original NES game. Now I know there is the Manhattan project but I never got into that one since the SNES had hit the scene at that point. I still think the cover art is great but I just don't connect with it.

I posted over at Crooked Ninja and I want to thank Crooked Ninja for letting me share my top 10 Turtle toys from my childhood! These toys were with out a doubt some of the best toys I had. They were easily more durable then Thundercats, The Real Ghostbusters and M.A.S.K(the main stuff I played with). I never had issues with legs coming off or vehicles falling apart. I still have half of my childhood Turtles. The other half was lost in our move as a kid. My son now plays with them and loves them. On to the countdown!

Turtle toys I always wanted but never got.
-The Shredder Mutant Module
-The Technodrome
-Krangs giant body

Oh and all this Turtle cover art is fantastic. I could do a top 10 just on that alone.

10.Mutagen Man

 I thought this dude was a cool toy. I remember filling him up with water and watching all his guts float around.. Along with a slice of pizza. He was sort of a mess but a unique figure.

9.Movie Foot Soldier
I liked these so much I had three of them. Way better then the hunched over cartoon foot that were "robots".

8.The Foot Cruiser

6.Pizza Thrower
I remember when I got this for Christmas I didn't even know what it really did. I remember turning it on and hearing that "hum" and thinking "This is..." I then shoot a pizza across the kitchen at my mom who is cooking Christmas dinner.. "AWESOME!!" It even says on the toy to not shoot at animals. First thing I did was seek revenge on Cuddles for popping my blimp! Shooting the foot was pretty great. It shot with a lot of velocity.

5.Turtle Sewer
Wow, what a great playset. I know the new one is as tall as a 6th grader but I like this one way more. I could never get enough of the man hole cover. I was always going in and out of it. The tubes were fun for hitting the foot down and then the swing! It made for a great fighting area. My mom even made little sleeping bags for all my turtles! I had the lair and all my turtles set up on a big table in a room that wasn't used. It was pretty great.

4.Super Shredder
This easily the best part of Turtles 2. It gave us Super Shredder who I thought was a bad ass when I was a kid. His figure was soooo much better then the old figure. The original Shredder is all sickly looking and has back problems. This guy could kick the crap Turtles. I have 2 of these guys. Since my brother ripped off the shoulder spikes and arms I got another. I also have one still sealed but its the re issued one not the one with the kick ass card.

3.Movie Turtles

I took some time to watch the new Documentary Turtle Power. Finally a TMNT doc on its history and fandom. Does it deliver? YES! Skip that pile of garbage at the theater and go buy this and watch it instead. You will be a much happier person. I can't state what a wonderful job they do here. I just wish it was sold on Blu-ray.

Comic history
They give you a inside look from the all the main people who were in on the original comic and how they got their comic to blow up. Having Peter Laird & Kevin Eastman tell this story was the only way to do it and the fact that they got these two guys to give full access with videos and a bunch of their original art just blew me away.
They lay the story and the history down with great home video footage that luckily Mirage Studios had the foresight to record and save on VHS. You see the excitement in the real moment as the turtles become bigger and bigger.

TV show and Toys
To have all the people who was involved in the cartoon and toy line is amazing. All voice actors and toy sculptures and getting to see early versions of some of the cartoon characters is great. You get plenty of insight on how big the show became and how the toys were just flying off the shelves.
Its a time in my life I remember very well. The Real Ghostbusters was my go to toys and then all of sudden out of no where came four green turtles and this amazing opening intro on the cartoon that grabbed you. I was all in and I became a 100% turtle nut. I was lucky enough that my parents bought me so many of these great toys and watching Turtles in the morning was all I look forward to. This doc brings all those great feeling back and seeing the voice actors is a real treat.

1990 Movie
Ok this was the part of the Doc I didn't expect to be so great but might be the best of all of it. The movie. Getting to hear how it all came together was awesome. From the tech side to the money side and how Jim Henson wasn't so sure he wanted his name on something so dark. I've said this many times but the DVD and the BR release of my favorite childhood movie sucks. Zero extras, no commentaries.. Deleted scenes? Nope. In this Doc we at least get a taste of that with interviews from all the people in on the movie and a few glimpses of deleted scenes and behind the scenes things.
I still feel this movie gets zero credit for a great comic book movie. It was ahead of its time and gets almost no respect. The DVD and BR we have now confirm that. In this Doc at least the move gets some proper light shed on how it all happened and its time in the spot light that it deserves.

The Rest of the doc
The end off the Doc does get a little of track in my mind. It jumps all over the place. Goes from the concert turtles to movies 2&3 but then jumps back to the recent comics and hits the games. Its all over the place. I understand there is so much Turtle stuff to cover but it loses some focus here. It doesn't mention the 2k3 turtles at all which hurts my turtle soul since its now my favorite version of the turtles in cartoon form. Like the movie, I am not sure if the 2k3 turtles will ever get their due since they weren't as big as the original show and the new Nick show.
It wraps up really quick with Peter Laird & Kevin Eastman and how they split up and don't really talk which is sad but they are really different people. All in all this Doc is amazing and even if the end is a bit muddled and rushed the bulk of it is a must for a TMNT fan. It deserves all the credit in the world and doubt any future TMNT Doc will top this.

What I love..
-Lots of Toy inside info
-How the comic got off the ground
-Home videos
-1990 movie extras and interviews
-Shows how crazy kids got for TMNT. It captures that time.

The "meh"..
-End of the doc jumps all over
-NO 2K3 Turtles
-Concert Turtles

tmnt, comics, doc, movies, cartoons,