Upping My Game

You thought I was done adding to the Easter stuff, well the Dollar Tree proved you wrong. I stopped in there the other day, and found several things that I could probably use to take my decorations up another notch. For example, this bunny head, it fits perfectly on a twelve inch figure.

I love goofy looking things like this.

I also thought I might be able to put these felt rabbit faces over some of my figures.

There has to be more figures I can put them on, but it's more challenging than I thought it could be. Because of the ears, there has to be a lot of space above their heads for it to fit. Not a lot of those anymore since I got the Wall of Voodoo all built.

Ah, but here's one more spot.

The other thing I got was a bunch of Easter egg decorations that I could put into some of the slots in the dividers.

 

Now, I guess I have an Easter egg hunt on my shelves.

So, there's still a few more things I got from the dollar store that I might be able to incorporate into the displays. We'll see what I can do. I may bug you with another post still before Easter arrives.

I challenge Marshal Latham to do a 30-Day Carnivore Challenge with me

Marshal Latham and I are going to do a 30-Day Carnivore Challenge, and we're making it a competition for some extra motivation. I need something, because I'm having a terrible time getting back on track after I had Covid in January. Here we go!

Top O' The Mornin' To Ye

I saw these at Walmart today. I don't know if they were on sale or not. Maybe I could have gotten it cheap.

What do you think, should I start a new holiday collection to display in March? Rish suggested I could add Banshee and Siryn and Black Tom Cassidy. Do they make a Lucky the Leprechaun toy? If they don't they should!

Swapping A Head For A Backpack?

There was this Fortnite guy that I saw at Ross called Raptor (Glow). He was alright, but what jumped out at me was that he had a jack-o-lantern for his backpack...or back bling as they say on Fortnite. :rollseyes:

I never bought it, because it wasn't enough for a guy to have a pumpkin backpack to make the Halloween shelf in my den. But then, days after I passed on it, I realized that I could probably replace the head with the backpack, and he'd be awesome.

So, when I saw him at Ross today, I bought him and went to work.

I popped the head off, drilled out the bottom of the backpack, and now it's perfect.

What do you think? A pretty nice improvement, right? It's not that the old head was even bad. I even really like the eyes on it. They're really creepy. But when it's a jack-o-lantern, then it's something else. Also, the pumpkin as a backpack looked really stupid.

Now I'm hoping to run into more of these guys and make a whole troop of them. I don't think that's going to happen though. I haven't seen another one in a while.

Painting Update

I spent a little more time today, painting on my Fourth of July specialty armor that I mentioned a few weeks ago. It's getting better, but still needs more coats, I think. Still not a solid red in some spots. That dark grey color is hard to cover over.

While I was at it, I got out an old Fortnite figure that I was trying to repaint into a Fourth of July-themed guy a few years ago. I really kind of butchered that one, but I sanded his face, and I'm going to see if I can repair the damage, plus finish it the rest of the way.

I like the way the new red looks a lot more than the old dark one that I had on it before. I haven't even started painting on the white yet. This guy still needs a lot of work, I suppose.

Speaking of work, I added some more to my plate, because I found this Fortnite guy at Ross, and I thought he could be great standing beside this guy as part of the Freedom Avengers...or Liberty and Justice League...anyway, I thought some judiciously applied red, white and blue could make this guy really cool.

I could make the yellow white, leave the red...maybe add some more of it here and there...and put some large swaths of blue, and this guy could be pretty neat, right?

You Got A Deal

There's these Fortnite astronaut-looking figures that they put out a little while ago. For some reason, I think they're really cool, and I'd love to get them, but I don't really have a reason to get them.

Where would I put them? I guess maybe they could fit in with Star Wars guys or possibly Guardians of the Galaxy, but only if there was some large display, like maybe the cantina or Jabba's palace that they could be background extras in.

Also, they come in a two pack, and it costs $50, which is way above what I usually pay for things. It has to be a pretty special thing for me to splurge that big. Maybe if it was on sale or something...

Well, guess what I found yesterday:

That's right, the astronaut couple is on sale for 70% off. Now that's a deal I just can't pass up.

Now that I own them, though, what could I do with them. Well, the first thing I did for fun was pop their heads off, and see how all the heads in my spare head container looked wearing an astronaut's suit. Then I had it. I know what I could do with these two.

 

 

You guessed it, they're going on my Halloween shelves come October.

Unfortunately, on the female body the skull head is too big to fit the dome over top of it. Siona has a tiny head. Then again, she doesn't need to breath anymore, she's dead. I guess It looks fine if I leave it off.

I think I want to do multiple black washes on them to really grunge the suits up and make them look like they've been neglected long enough to house a skeleton inside. I suppose some additional weathering wouldn't hurt either. I'm excited to see how they turn out.

What's So Civil About This Warrior Anyway?

My wife made an eBay account once, years ago, to buy something for...someone, I can't remember, might have been me, but I don't think it was. She got that Christmas present, and then promptly forgot that she'd ever created the account.

However, she never unclicked that box that says "Yes, send me a shit ton of spam emails all of the time, at least one a day please!" So, we've been getting spam from eBay to the email she used for the account ever since.

Recently, however, those spam emails included an offer for $10 off of any purchase that we made using the eBay app. I ignored those for a long time, but then I realized that I could get a figure for almost free if I used it.

I tried to log in, had to do the forgot password thing, and at last got through and ordered me a figure that only cost $15. So, I was charged $5 for it. It came today. This is the Civil Warrior figure, and you know what I'll be doing with it around the Fourth of July.

More Skullies

I don't know what the deal is recently, but Ross has been kicking ass. They have something I want almost every time I go.

Today, there wasn't much traffic on the way to work, and I arrived about fifteen minutes early. Since I had a little bit of time, I decided to stop in at the Ross that's across the street from my station. Another wave of Marvel Legends has landed on their shelves, and I found this guy scowling back at me when I arrived at the toy section.

Crossbones makes a great addition to my Skull Face Squad that I've been building up since I picked up that Midas Rex guy in January.

He's going to look really good on the shelf come October. He looks pretty good posed on my dashboard too.

More Venomized

I've seen this thing around at local Rosses, and I was trying to decide if I wanted it for my Fourth of July decorations or not.

Of course I wound up getting it. You know me. What am I going to do, not buy a toy? It's a good thing that I shop at Ross mostly, so I pay about half for everything I buy.

Anyway, I thought it might be cool to have this guy holding a US flag like the others, but this time the flag has symbiote climbing over it, turning it black. I think I could just get a piece of black paper to be the symbiote. I'll probably have to smear some hot glue...or regular glue would probably work too...across it to give it some texture.

It could look pretty darn cool.

A New Idea

I have this old Halo Master Chief twelve inch figure that I bought a long time ago in an attempt to create a kitbashed hybrid figure. I made a Cheap Toy Hunting video about it back when I was doing my toy channel on YouTube.

The other day, I was looking at the headless body that was sitting in the bottom of one of my toy boxes...

And I got an idea. I'm not really a Halo fan. I've never played the game or anything. But maybe I could modify this guy.

I have a twelve inch scale Spider-man, Iron Man, and Captain America that all came with unmasked heads. What if I put one of those heads onto this guy, and painted him up red, white, and blue a la Iron Patriot? Then I could put him up on the shelves around the Fourth of July, and he'd look really cool.

Then I remembered that I've seen these twelve inch Halo guys at Five Below. I could get one for each of the three heads, and make the Freedom Force...or the Liberty Lads...OK, it needs some work still.

I thought I'd get one of each style that they had at Five Below, so that each guy had unique armor, but when I got there, they only had the blue one left.

It would have to do. I got two, and I thought I'd either paint them differently...or not. But the heads would be different, at least.

I can just see these guys all star-spangled and striped, holding big American flags on the shelf. I think it's gonna look pretty good, what do you think?

More Easter

It didn't really shift the balance of the Easter decorations much, but I got these bunny shaped erasers at the dollar store, and I think they look great when added into my toy displays. There's these ones that have hands big enough to hold the bunnies.

Then there's these ones that can't really hold it, but I nestled it in there just right so it looks like they're lovingly holding stuffed bunnies.

Then there's these others that I just added them to the display standing on their own.

It's barely a change at all in each and every display, but it still adds that extra pop that makes me love them all the more.

Oh, I almost forgot. I added another bunny to one of the displays, but it wasn't one of these white erasers. Instead, I found the backpack that goes with the Night Hare. It wasn't worth putting it on his back, because you wouldn't see it, but I put it in his hand, and it looks really cool like that. He's showing you his little stuffed bunny.

I also had to update one other display. I don't know if you remember this picture:

That's a real egg shell. I blew out the white and the yolk and posed it with the Sentinel. He was a rooster taking his duty to guard the eggs to the next level.

Well, I messed around with things a little too much, adjusting his arm and fixing his pose. Today the egg toppled off the shelf and shattered on the ground. I had to redo the whole display with the plastic eggs that I have instead.

He's protecting more eggs this time, at least.

Delusions of Grandeur: BoBF - "In the Name of Honor"

I was on the Delusions of Grandeur podcast with Marshal Latham and Rish Outfield again recently. We talked about the finale of the Book of Boba Fett show and what we liked and disliked about the whole thing.

Check it out if you dare:

King of the Frost

Jeez, I've spent a lot of money on toys lately. I don't feel too bad, because I got most of them from Ross at clearance-type prices, but I probably need to dial it back a little. It just seems to be a weird moment when everything that's been hanging around for a while has suddenly started showing up on Ross' shelves.

Well, I took it up a notch today. I'm surprised that I did this, because I almost never do, but check out what I got today:

Yeah, that is going to make the Christmas display cool, right? It's the Endless Winter Batman (a Batman wearing a long parka!) and the Frost King.

Frost King was the big baddie from a recent DC Comics crossover event. I tried to read it, so that I could at least say I know the story that he comes from, but it wasn't all that good, and it didn't keep me entertained. 

Frost King is also what they call in the toy industry a build-a-figure. You get a portion of the figure packed in with each figure in a wave of toys, and if you buy them all, you can assemble the whole build-a-figure. 

In my life, I have only done this twice. One of them, I eventually sold on eBay, the other is one of my prize possessions:

Thing is, it costs a lot to get all the figures in one wave, so I don't do it, because I can't afford it. But I was just too tempted with the Frost King.

At least with this guy, the whole wave was only four figures, instead of the six or eight that it is with Marvel Legends.

I bought all four of the figures, and I'm going to sell three of the four on eBay to make as much of the money that I wasted back.

It'll be so fun come Christmas time. I've got a Santa Claus action figure on order, and I think I will make him doing battle with the Frost King. I think it could look pretty rad. Can't wait.

I set him up in front of my computer monitor with a nice winter shot behind him and took a few pictures. I needed a light on him though, but I didn't want to go all out and do a full on photo shoot, so I left the lights in the closet. These shots aren't bad, right?

A Toy Fiesta

Fortnite four inch figures have these things they call Loot Piñatas. I guess llamas are kind of a thing in Fortnite and also piñatas, I don't know. Maybe I should try playing the game someday.

Anyway, they're piñatas filled with crap for your action figures like guns and backpacks and even building supplies, because I guess building forts is also a thing in Fortnite?

Anyway, I saw one at Ross that came with a figure that I would like to have, so I thought I'd give it a shot, and I bought it.

I've had an Ice Dragon for a while that McFarlane toys made for its seven inch line of Fortnite guys, but I thought it might be cooler with a four inch guy instead of a seven inch one. The dragon would look much larger. So, I gave it a shot.

I do like it a lot. I have a Mythic Legions figure on order that I was planning to put on the dragon's back, but now it might have some competition. 

I never wanted the dragon to have a Fortnite figure on its back, because I don't play Fortnite. I thought it would be cooler if it was a mix of toy lines, and therefore its own thing. But this might stick around. We'll see.

Also, one of the things the piñata came with were the pieces to build a clock tower. I put it together and was pretty impressed. It's really big.

That's my Marvel Legends Hulkbuster next to it to give you some idea of scale. Hulkbuster has to be about ten inches tall. The clock tower is almost two feet tall. Seems to me, with some small amount of weathering, it could look really cool, and be a nice addition to some sort of diorama.

It's definitely made for four inch scale though. Here's a six inch Venom inside it, and he just doesn't fit.

I think I probably won't keep the tower. I'll probably see if I can sell it on eBay. It's really cool, and somebody who would use it for something should have it, since I don't really have a place for it.

Like Woody taught us, toys need to be played with.

Accented

Today, I was talking with a stranger, and he asked me where I was from. He said he could hear an accent in my voice. I don’t think that’s ever happened to me before.

Then again, the way I speak is quite different from most everybody else around me. If the way they speak is considered standard, then I guess I do have an accent.

Are Manners Still A Thing?

Grr!

Is there a memo that I didn’t get? 

I keep running into people who watch videos, listen to music, etc. on their phones in crowded public places without headphones. Is that cool now? Are we all good with that now?

Power Droid

At work, we're doing a story about delivery robots at a college campus, and, when I look at this picture, I can't help but wonder if anyone has ever thought to have these robots drive around going, "gonk, gonk," as they make their way to their deliveries.

Specialty Armor 2: Live Free or Die Specialty

Wait, I guess that was part four. It should be Specialty Armor 2: Specialty Armor Harder, but that doesn't fit the post as well.

I found a Marvel Legends Iron man at Ross called Atmosphere Armor. He looks like this:

I decided to take it and convert it to a sort of Iron Patriot suit that I could put up at Fourth of July time. I took all of the black (or very dark grey) sections, and painted them red. It's gonna take several more coats, because black is the hardest color to paint over, but here's where I'm at so far:

I think it looks pretty darn cool. It'll look great when its done, I hope.

Specialty Armor

I got this Iron Man at Ross for half off, and I thought I'd convert it into an all new Iron Man armor. He has stealth armor and Hulkbuster armor and so on. What about Christmas armor?

First coat is done. What do you think? Should the face be green or should it stay gold? I'm leaning toward leaving it gold, but I'm seeking a second opinion.

I want to somehow turn the arc reactor in his chest into a snowman. I could just paint it on, but I feel like it needs a raised plastic circle for the other balls of the snowman to make it match. I don't know, maybe I just need to paint it, and not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

I think it also needs a Santa hat to finish off the look. I've seen them on sale on Amazon, and not even that expensive.

Problem is that it's a total crap shoot as to whether they will fit or not. There's no useful description as to the size on any listing that I've found. I'm just going to have to buy them, and hope that they're not massively too big.