Raving Toy Maniac

TSR was an old school member of this community and when he realized I was looking for a ML Fantomex, gave me a link to buy one online at Amazon for $19.99 (that for some reason eluded me in my search) and made me a deal for his minus the BAF part so I was able to satisfy both my MOC and loose needs.

Meanwhile, I haven't corresponded with Todd in years. This is what it's all about.

Todd, if you're here...Thanks again buddy!

I've always loved The Avengers..but when Civil War hot and the lineup changed, I really think it took on a whole new, fresh dynamic. Reading those TPB's, I really enjoy the dynamic between Spidey, Clint, Cage and Moon Knight. Adding in Bucky Cap and Wolverine and as the Leader types with hardcore field experience to offset Spidey's refusal to kill and the Cage/Jessica's baby were a perfect ying & yang. I actually like that era of Avengers better than the old school style with Cap, Thor and Stark.

X-Force (forget which universe they belong to..maybe Ultimates?) with Deadpool, Fantomex, Wolverine and Psylocke is also pretty awesome. The balance between battle hardened Logan, insanely witty Deadpool and suave but deadly Fantomex makes for a great read.

While I am never usually a fan of change when it comes to my favorite characters and books, I think Marvel has done an outstanding job in creating a whole new dynamic with these titles and teams. They've done something that I feel DC has fallen short with, in taking existing characters and making them fresh and exciting again.

As I've been trying to weed out the weakest part of my collection this past 6 months, it really has become evident that I truly like more obscure characters and B Types than I even realized.

I'm standing back looking at my shelves and think I have amassed the largest collection of B characters in North America:

-Apocalypse has his own section, which includes Cable, Mr. Sinister, BAF, ML & MU

-Azrael has his own section with multiple versions of his DCSH and DCUC AzBats costumes and a space for the upcoming Knightsend version of the red & gold AzBat armor

-Darth Maul has an entire shelf, with both Hot Toys & Sideshow 1/6, the Infiltrator, a bust, various 3 3/4" figures. I realize now I own 4 of the TPM Vintage figure alone

-Captain America has his own shelf as well..with Bucky Cap standing with his ML (both versions), 2012 ML and MU figures in the forefront. Buck has become one of my all time favs ever.

-Cobra Commander has an entire shelf with 1/6, 3 3/4" of all eras, busts, a statue and more.

-The same goes for Storm Shadow.

-My wrestling collection is dominated by Ric Flair

Really happened.

I wanted to get back in the habit of posting my reviews here at the Buzz, but I figured I'd create a central thread instead of clogging up our shiny new forum with multiple threads for each one.

I did a review of the brand new 20th Anniversary Sonic the Hedgehog Collectors Pack. It comes with 3.5 figures of Classic Sonic, Amy Rose, Tails and Super Sonic. This is the first time these figures have been available in a box set. The best part is this set will be limited in production, and not available to big box stores. Check out the YouTube toy review. Coming shortly is the Team Chaotix Box Set with Vector, Espio and the long awaited Charmy the Bee.

- Matt

Click Here to watch the toy review

Target completed the spring reset yesterday. This is what I found:

4 pegs crammed full of Avengers figures. I looked through them, but I'm just not interesed as a result of missing articulation. I will have to pick-up IM MKVI, the Quinjet, & Cap's tank eventually, but I will wait for a sale.

4 pegs of G.I. JOES! Unfortunately 4 pegs comprised of 2 Arctic Destros & 1 Renegades CC.

4 pegs of MU Psyclocke/Thor/Shadowland DD/white Iron Fist wave. I grabbed the best looking Psylocke & left the rest.

Picked up the only Voyager Megatron from Transformers: Prime. Bought Wheeljack & Soundwave a couple of weeks ago & have been pleased w/them so I hope I enjoy Megs. I'm still burned about the "First Edition" figures though. I'm defintely going to cherry pick this line.

Only 1 peg for ML, but it was the variant case so I bought the Commander Rodgers I needed. Left variant Ghost Rider & Iron Man behind.

I also snagged a Captain America Justice Jet & 6" Titanium Man on clearance.

Specifically deluxe Arcee & Starscream & Voyager Optimus & Bulkhead?

My New Year's Resolution was to put together an in-depth toy review for every single day of the coming year. I started writing toy reviews on the RTM Toybuzz years and years ago, so I always post the full-text of anything that I review here on Toymania for discussion. You're welcome to click through the links over to my blog site to check out the prettied-up versions with the full photo galleries, but the whole reviews themselves will always be posted right here!

3/22/2012 EDIT: Google is being a royal pain and penalizing me for having duplicate content posted on my site as well as here. For the moment, I'll just be posting the links, grades, overall summaries, and some pictures until I figure out how to get around that. Bear with me!

Sometimes I get the reviews perfect, sometimes I make mistakes, but I also put my best effort in. Feel free to chime in and request reviews of different products, praise me, or yell at me for messing up or being too harsh! Any and all feedback is much appreciated, and please let me know if there's anything different you guys want to see!

Seriously hasbro? I have a hard time justifying buying the tformers prime stuff when there are better versions made. Why make two versions!