Mini Ghost Busting

[Minimates: I guess you could call Gozer's bust a mini-bust]

It really is a Ghostbusters revival period going on - it's pretty clear that alot of franchises from the past are making a coming in the '09 with merchandise to boot.

Take of example the ever-lovely stylings of Art Asylum Design & Sculpts' Minimates: collectors are snapping these little babies up as if they were Temburong crocodiles and the Minimates were members of a corporate team-building expedition wading through the river. In short, Minimates are doing really well for themselves.

Match that together with the times of retro-years coming back (see: G. I. Joe, Transformers, etc.), and you've a whole bunch of new merchandise to spending all that bonus money on.

Diamond Select and Art Asylum relive the classics with a line-up of two waves so far on this debuting Ghostbusters line. Wave One includes; Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Egon Spengler, Louis Tully as Gozer's dog and the possessed Dana Barrett.

The second Ghostbusters Minimates release features the rest of the Ghostbusters team plus two of the most dangerous paranormal beings you'll ever meet! They also come complete with removable Minimate proton packs, neutrino wands and ghost traps, this set includes Dr. Ray Stantz, Winston Zeddemore, the all-powerful Gozer and the infamous Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man!

More things for your cat to swallow by accident.

PS: I thought the Gozer possessed female was super-hot

Each Minimate set ranges in price but they average out at USD14 (or around BND33). Wave Two was just released this month.

Mapping Eternia

[Eternia: on 5 dollars a day]
Written by GL

Fun game: click and download the above map, print in full color, fly to Hong Kong, and start asking directions from passing strangers.

Keep it real retro fans.

Staying Puft

[Stay-Puft: it's all about classic]
Written by GL

Did I not say that everything retro is making a come-back, everything from Transformers to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; and now it's time for Ghostbusters.

The good fellow as Diamond Select have just released the above. That's right, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is back for more in the form of this 8-inch vinyl piggy bank. Now you can keep your loose change in one of the starring characters of the Ghostbusters movie. Keep your mony protected inside one of the most destructive other-worldly apparitions ever to capture our imaginations.

The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man bank is set for release in Summer of this year and retail price is going for USD$18 (or BND$25). Don't cross the streams.

It's A Prowl Bust

[Prowl Bust: a bust of Prowl]
Written by GL

That's right. If you didn't already know, it's a bust of one of the coolest colored, designed and painted Transformers ever, Prowl. And it looks to be a fine, fine, fine addition to anyone's work desk, bust collection or as a kicky centerpiece for when the in-laws come in to question the validity of your relationship with their daughter.

But I'm going on a tangent.

The Exclusive Prowl bust stands 6” tall, and is limited to only 500 pieces. Prowl is posed atop a tiered base bearing the Autobot emblem. The coolest thing about this is that Prowl’s color scheme is based around his police markings. He’s symmetrically configured so that the headlights are aligned in the front, the wheels turned behind the shoulder plates, and the doors folded outwards to be like wings.

Prowl is equipped with shoulder-mounted rockets, and is armed with a rifle to give that threatening yet charming appeal.

A little background: Prowl was among the first wave of Autobot casualties in Transformers: The Movie. Joined by Brawn, Ratchet and Ironhide, Prowl was aboard a shuttle destined for Earth; this shuttle was destroyed by Megatron. Prowl was destroyed after suffering a direct blast from Scavenger.

Honor his memory by purchasing this from any good online reseller. Estimated going cost is about USD$65 (or roungly BND$90) and is currently in stock.

Classic Come To Life

[Watchmen: who watches them?]
Written by GL

First Transformers, then G.I. Joe and more to come. Among those already planned or done is the vintage landmark graphic novel Watchmen.

I placed the above promotional photo purely so that you, dear retro fan, would look at it in awe of how far we've come. Remember the days when you'd just wish for an X-Men movie to be released?

It's a classic time !

Are You The Key Master?

[A New Remix: who you gonna call?]
Written by GL

Ah, it's call coming back. Everything retro-classic is making a come back and it's a fine era to be alive to see it all.

The events of the game occur during 1991, two years after the events in Ghostbusters II. Players portray a new recruit hired to test Egon Spengler and Ray Stantz's new equipment, during a recent rise of paranormal activity. This paranormal activity begins to occur as the city is about to unveil a Gozer exhibit. The team is thus called to investigate. Along the way, you'll encounter several old baddies from the films, such as the library ghost, Vigo, Slimer, Gozer, and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, as well as many mini bosses.

Atari will be releasing the game in June 2009 to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the first film's movie release. At the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show, Sony confirmed that the game will be released on June 16th in the US and June 19th in Europe, alongside home video re-releases of the Ghostbusters films.

Re-issue heaven !

Trakker Jumps Joe

[Matt Trakker: it's not Photoshop]

Written by GL

Believe it or not, because I didn't when I first saw it, but the awesome leader of the M.A.S.K. team of do-gooders has been moved and absorbed into the 25th Anniversary G.I. Joe line !

The 25th Anniversary collection was the best overall toyline of 2007, with excellent sculpts, awesome articulation, and cool accessories.

Specialist Trakker leads a secret unit which develops ordinary-looking vehicles that convert into advanced combat vehicles. Joining forces with the G.I. Joe team, the Mobile Armored Strike Kommand (M.A.S.K.) team battles V.E.N.O.M. (Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem). The new spin on things is that V.E.N.O.M. was a unit formed by Cobra to construct its own converting vehicles. Specialist Trakker uses his next-gen technological devices to preserve peace throughout the world and stop the corrupt forces that are using the same technology to control the world.

Created by Kenner, M.A.S.K. was basically (some-say) a rip-off of competitor Hasbro's G.I. Joe and Transformers (read: figures and changing vehicles).

Obviously the original story had no connection to either G.I. Joe or Cobra, but otherwise the stuff on his filecard is still retro accurate: single father Matt Trakker was the multi-millionaire philanthropist whose money and technology kept the M.A.S.K. team going. Miles Mayhem really did steal half the M.A.S.K. masks, and used them to perform mercenary work, leading Trakker to assemble a team to counter him.

[Matt & Matt: you make the comparison]

Matt never had a codename (no one in M.A.S.K. did), which is why this figure is identified only as Specialist Trakker. Of course, they could have named him Thunderhawk (after his flying Camaro) or Spectrum (after his mask). Just calling him 'specialist' shows that this new Trakker's work is as an independant support role.

The figure's suit has been painted to look alot like the old M.A.S.K. figure: the gray of his flight suit, the flight harness, etc. It doesn't quite match the old toy, but it is fairly similar to the animation model.

[The new Spectrum: the Hasbro remix]

Matt also wears a helmet and it shares some stylistic elements with the original Spectrum mask, however, there has been no word on whether it can still fire a sonic blast or allow the wearer to see different visual spectrums.

He comes with a nice plain machine gun and a five-piece helicopter backpack that seems like Inspector Gadget run through a car compactor. In all honesty, with the green painting (seen in the photo), it looks darn close to Condor.

[Matt In Flight: so much for stealth coloring]

General consensus over the figure shows that there are some fans out there who think putting Matt Trakker in the G.I. Joe line is a show; some feel is a con to real Joe fans. Either way, the fact of the matter is Hasbro acquired a lot of licenses and original properties when it bought Kenner, and it's good to see they're willing to give all retro characters a chance.

Dark Storm Coming

[Visionaries: you know it!]
Written by GL

It's time to cycle back through all that good stuff that be used to love. Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light was a true classic cartoon that just didn't last very long, sad enough to say. The show had a pretty solid premise, the characters were memorable, if not over-cliched to the fight between good and evil, and the action figures were pure class.

So, you had the Spectral Knights on one side of the fence, and the Darkling Lords on the other. And the circle of life continued on for just about a season.

[Darkling Lords: the 1987 line-up]

Being on the side of evil was never a good thing; you always had to face defeat, your morals were alway shoddy, you never got any good-natured chicks on your side and your boss was always usually an abusive dunce. This scenario was never any different for the Darkling Lords.

Rewarded for his cunning and ability to scale walls effortlessly (no arguing how that would make you a good head baddie), Darkstorm was the leader of the Darkling Lords.

[Darkstorm: wondering who un-tied his shoe laces]

Even before receiving his totem powers, he commanded the allegiance of Reekon and Mortredd; two of the in-waiting lackeys. In the pilot episode of the show, Darkstorm moved on to gain the further allegiance of the other members of his would-be Darkling Lords when finding them caught in a trap during the quest to Merklynn's shrine. In all his charm, Darkstorm made all those trapped swear loyalty to him in exchange for helping to freeing them. Because, if anything is right in this world, it's best to always kick people when they're down.

His bad mamma-jamma is so bad in fact that he even managed, in episode 7 to overthrow the great wizard Merklynn and assume the throne of Iron Mountain. Darkstorm is, without a doubt, a central character in every one of the shows - with his devious plot-brewing and dastardly schemes.

[Original Backcard: I miss these things]

He bears the totem of the mollusk and his power staff holds the Power of Decay. The cartoon showed he also had a secondary power to reverse his own Decay, a talent that is not commonly found in the other Visionaries collective.

To instigate the Power of Decay, one merely needed to recite: "By what creeps, what crawls, by what does not, Let all that grows recede and rot!" To reverse it (when you're in a good mood), utter: "Power of rot, obscuring truth, What once was old restore to youth!" On one note, this power to rot any substance was usually used by Darkstorm to wear down the armour of his foes.

[Original Action Figure: I had this !]

Release along with everyone else in in the 1987 action figure line, Darkstorm comes packed with his Decay power staff and a twin-bladed hand axe - all must-haves for the aspiring abusive head baddie.

Bring on the decay !

Know Your Joe Roots

[Joe History: pay attenshun you scum-sucking maggots]
Written by GL

Taken straight out of the offical 1982 catalog of G.I. Joe, which happens to be the very first catalog of the line to be released, is the above history pamphlet that came with nearly all of the figure and accessories.

It is just a small slice of retro collectible information that was released as testament to the level of detail and heart that went into toys back then.

The Centurion Mantra

[The Centurions: collectible x-treme]
Written by GL

I logged on to the internet a minute ago and went to on a total Centurions blow-out. It's just something that caught me at just the right moment. I mean, how could you deny how awesome the concept, creativity and selling-capability of the cartoons and action figure lines were.

The below is for you to memorize for the coming week - to repeat as and when need; during corporate presentations, appraisal hearings, even useful in encrypted e-mails to heads of departments.

"In the near future, Doc Terror and his cyborg companion Hacker unleash their forces to conquer Earth!

Only one force can stop this evil - a handful of brave men. In specially created exoframes, they can be transported anywhere, to fuse with incredible assault weapon systems. Beamed down from the space station Skyvault - becoming Man and Machine. PowerXTreme!

Max Ray - brilliant sea operations commander! Jake Rockwell - rugged land operations specialist! Ace McCloud - daring air operations expert!

Whatever the challenge, they are ready!

The Centurions!"

So, the next time the Board Of Directors asks your take on how you see the organization in the long term, take a page out of Classic Articulation and drop these bombing lines to amaze all.

Then pack up your gear and go home.

Still Cool-tle To Be Turtle

[20th Anniversary: your first look]
Written by GL

Ain't that a thing of beauty ! Now, you know you're getting old when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are actually celebrating their 20th Anniversary ! But the great thing is, classic freaks such as myself can appreciate the gravity of how awesome these re-issues really are.

If you take a close look, you'll notice that almost everything (even down to the packaging) reflects the original release of the TMNT figure. This is just the first wave of the original TV issue and it features the super-main line up of; April, Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael, Splinter and Bebop and Rocksteady.

This is purely the coolest action figure re-release since the Transformers Masterpiece line.

This line is currently in stock at all good figure re-sellers and is going for about US$79.99 (or roughly BND$110). Gotta have ! Just gotta !