Pre-Order Alert: Hot Toys 1/6 Scale Vision MMS
Well, I was born yesterday.
One of the biggest highlights of the record-breaking Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron is the introduction of the new characters in the film! Originally planned to be the perfect “evolution” for Ultron, the Avengers was able to retrieve the android Vision and made him a valuable ally for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to stop Ultron from eradicating mankind!
Today, Hot Toys and Sideshow Collectibles have put up for pre-order the humanoid hero that many fans have been waiting for – the 1/6th scale Vision Collectible Figure!
The movie-accurate Vision Collectible Figure is specially crafted based on his image in Avengers: Age of Ultron. It features a newly developed head sculpt with detailed texture and Mind Stone, specially tailored costume and cape, Thor’s hammer Mjölnir, and a specially designed figure stand.
Your Avengers: Age of Ultron collection wouldn’t be complete without the addition of this powerful android!
Hot Toys – MMS296 – Avengers: Age of Ultron: 1/6th scale Vision Collectible Figure
~ Movie Masterpiece Series ~
The 1/6th scale Vision Collectible Figure specially features:
– Authentic and detailed likeness of Vision in Avengers: Age of Ultron
– Newly developed head sculpt with movie-accurate facial features, detailed skin texture, and the Mind Stone
– Specially applied metallic red-violet skin tone to reflect Vision’s distinctive appearance
– Approximately 31.5 cm tall
– Body with over 30 points of articulations
– Eight (8) pieces of interchangeable palms including:
– One (1) pair of fists
– One (1) pair of relaxed palms
– One (1) pair of open palms
– One (1) pair of palms for holding Mjölnir
– Each piece of head sculpt is specially hand-painted
Costume:
– One (1) teal colored full body suit with texture and red-violet colored highlights
– One (1) yellow colored cape with patterns and red-violet highlights
– One (1) pair of red-violet and gold colored gauntlets
– One (1) pair of red-violet and gold colored boots
Weapon:
– One (1) Mjölnir
Accessory:
– Specially-designed figure stand with Vision nameplate and the movie logo
Artists:
– Head Sculpted by Kojun
– Head Painted by JC. Hong
– Head Art Directed by JC. Hong
Release date: Q4, 2015 – Q1, 2016
So head to Sideshow Collectibles and get your Vision now!
News: New Images of Guardians of the Galaxy Hasbro Legends Leaked!
Marvelicious Toys has just come across new boxed images of the Entertainment Earth exclusive Guardians of the Galaxy Marvel Legends set!
Featuring Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot (both in giant and potted versions), these comic-accurate likenesses appear to come loaded with accessories, including swappable heads for Gamora, interchangable hands for Drax, and much more as shown in the images below.
These sets are still up for pre-order now at Entertainment Earth.
New Podcast – Star Wars Action News Episode 450: Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2015 Coverage Part 3 – Floor Tour & Wrap Up
Note: This podcast discusses details of The Force Awakens obtained from the second trailer and the props shown at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim.
It’s May 4th, the day fans designated “Star Wars day” and has been quickly co-opted by every Star Wars licensee to discount the items that don’t sell! But here is welcome relief from a deluge of 10% off codes — a new episode of Star Wars Action News!
In this, our final episode from Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2015, Marjorie and Arnie record right from the show floor. Join them for booth tours of Sideshow, eFX Collectibles, the Celebration official store, and more!
Plus join Arnie as he talks action figures with the Hasbro Star Wars brand team. You submitted your questions and Arnie asks them!
With a group of fans giving their reactions to the new Force Awakens trailer moments after it was shown, and a recap on the convention as a whole, it’s all in this episode of Star Wars Action News!
Arnie C: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN450.MP3
New Podcast – Star Wars Action News Episode 449: Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2015 Coverage Part 2 – Sunday Podcast All-Stars Live Show
Note: This podcast discusses details of The Force Awakens obtained from the second trailer and the props shown at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim.
Toys, panels, autographs, swap meets, trading, exclusive reveals and more — Star Wars Celebration Anaheim had so much to do that no one podcast can contain it all. So in this episode we get four!
Marjorie, Berent, and Arnie from Star Wars Action News, Matt Fox from This Week in Star Wars, Jason Luttrull and Ryan Beise from Galaxy of Toys, and Amy Sjoberg from Star Wars Collecting Cosmos came together for the biggest podcast of the convention!
Join the gang as they discuss Star Wars collecting at Celebration, The Force Awakens, and so much more!
If you missed Celebration this show will make you feel like you were there! If you attended the con, relive the experience, all with this mega-packed podcast!
Watch now, and then join us in a few days for even more coverage of Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2015!
Arnie C: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN449.MP3
New Podcast – Star Wars Action News Episode 448: Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2015 Coverage Part 1 – Saturday Live Show
Note: This podcast discusses details of The Force Awakens obtained from the second trailer and the props shown at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim.
The seventh Star Wars Celebration convention was an explosion of fandom held in Anaheim, CA. With new trailers and teasers shown for the next two Star Wars films, a gaggle of celebrities, and tens of thousands of fans, the event captivated fans worldwide!
Now in the first part of Star Wars Action News’ coverage of the convention comes this recording of the Live Podcast recorded Saturday afternoon at Celebration! Marjorie and Arnie are joined by Star Wars Action News team members Daryl and Andrew to discuss the reveals, the exclusives, the lines, and more!
Watch now, and then join us in a few days for even more coverage of Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2015!
Arnie C: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN448.MP3
Pre-Order Alert: Hot Toys Ultron Mark I MMS Figure
You’re all puppets, tangled in strings…strings.
The much anticipated Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron will soon hit theaters worldwide, Hot Toys is excited to continue the waves of highly detailed and movie accurate collectible figures from this super blockbuster. In addition to the return of Earth’s mightiest heroes in the sequel, the titular villain Ultron has been a widely discussed character among fans!
Today, Hot Toys and Sideshow have put up for pre-order the Artificial Intelligence that has gone rogue and threaten human existence in the latest movie – the 1/6th scale Ultron Mark I scale Collectible Figure!
The movie-accurate Collectible Figure is specially crafted based on the image of Ultron Mark I in Avengers: Age of Ultron. It features a newly developedasymmetrical body with complicated mechanical details and cable wires throughout different parts, LED light-up eyes, mouth, and chest reactor, a damaged Iron Legion as an accessory, and a specially designed figure stand!
Expand your Avengers: Age of Ultron collection with this menacing villain!
The 1/6th scale Ultron Mark I Collectible Figure features:
– Authentic and detailed likeness of Ultron Mark I in Avengers: Age of Ultron
– Movie-accurate sculpture with complicated mechanical details and cable wires throughout body
– Newly developed asymmetrical body with over 24 points of articulations
– Approximately 32.5 cm tall
– Metallic red, white, blue, and dark grey colored painting on armor with distressed effects
– LED light-up eyes, mouth and chest reactor (white light, battery operated)
– One (1) right palm with articulated fingers
Accessories:
– One (1) damaged Iron Legion
Head to SideshowCollectibles and order this metal menace now!
New Podcast – Star Wars Action News Episode 447: Celebration SWAG-ger
In 3 days the world’s largest Star Wars party begins — Star Wars Celebration Anaheim! With attendance projected to be the largest of any Star Wars convention and overnights already planned for the J.J. Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy panel, it’s the single largest collection of Star Wars fans and collectors–and that means plenty of exclusives! From Kotobukiya to Gentle Giant to the official Celebration store–listen as Marjorie and Arnie run down the must buys!
But not all the collectibles are for sale–some are just given away! Yes, more than the official exclusives this seems to be the celebration of Star Wars SWAG! Patches, pins, buttons, toys, Star Tots, and so much more is just waiting to join your collection! The Star Wars Action News hosts discuss this–and preview the Star Wars Action News Celebration Anaheim SWAG–in this week’s episode!
With a store report by Johnathan, a discussion of the digital download releases of the Star Wars saga, and Jerry with a neo-Vintage Viewpoint, it’s plenty to keep you entertained in line while you wait to get in the con! So download this episode of Star Wars Action News now!
Arnie C: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN447.MP3
Pre-Order Alert: Hot Toys 20-Inch Iron Man Mark 43 – From Avengers: Age of Ultron
Tony Stark is working on something big…
After many years of creating the best 1/6th scale, 12-inch, figures based on Marvel Movies, now Hot Toys delivers their first figure in a larger 1/4 scale–Iron Man Mk XLIII. Standing 20-inches tall, this figure has over 40 points of articulation, interchangeable heads with LED light-up function, LEG-lit eyes, chest, and back, plus LED shine-through on the sides of his chest, forearms, and the backs of his legs.
It also has removable armor pieces, interchangeable forearm rocket armor, and 3 pairs of changeable hands.
With the hype over Avengers: Age of Ultron this piece may truly fly–out of stock, so pre-order yours now at Sideshow Collectibles!
New Podcast – Star Wars Action News Episode 446: Hot Toys — Out of the Shadows
Star Wars Celebration is just 2 weeks away–have you gotten in line yet? Star Wars Action News hosts Marjorie and Arnie will be there running the Collector’s Social Area, part of the official Celebration Collector’s Track of events! On this week’s podcast, they run down the exclusives announced so far for the convention, and tell you about the one event no Star Wars collector should miss–the Swap Meet Saturday night at 7pm.
Also on this week’s show Andrew joins the hosts to look at the first figure in a new line of Star Wars figures: Hot Toys’ Shadow Trooper. After many years of creating the single best figure line for Marvel movie fans Hot Toys has now come to the Galaxy Far, Far Away. They’ve put seven figures up for pre-order already, but the first to ship was the black-armored trooper. Watch this week’s show to see how this figure ranks, and if you have to add it to your collection!
All this and more in this week’s Star Wars Action News!
Arnie C: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN446.MP3
Pre-Order Alert: Hot Toys EXCLUSIVE Iron Man Mark VII – Stealth Edition
Years ago at San Diego Comic-Con Hot Toys showed the Iron Man — Stealth Armor. Years passed with no word on if this armor was continued or cancelled. Hot Toys delved into their House Party Protocol of armors but still no word on the more comic-based blue and black Stealth armor. Until now. Now it’s a MOVIE PROMO EDITION collectible figure, only be available exclusively in selected markets during upcoming promotion events period in different countries… but you can order it now at Sideshow Collectibles!
The Mark VII (Stealth Mode Version) Collectible Figure is highly detailed featuring multiple layers and various shades of metallic and matte black color with digital camouflage design, translucent black chest armor and articulated flaps on back of legs, Stark Industries decals at various parts of the armor, LED light-up functions, interchangeable armor parts, and a specially designed dynamic figure stand.
This stylish stealth mode version Mark VII collectible figure will be a great addition to your Iron Man collection!
The 1/6th scale Mark VII (Stealth Mode Version) Collectible Figure features:
- – Authentic and detailed likeness of Mark VII in stealth mode
- – Specially applied multiple layers and shades of metallic and matte black-colored painting with digital camouflage design on armor
- – Translucent black removable chest armor and articulated flaps on back of legs
- – Approximately 30 cm tall
- – Over 30 points of articulations
- – LED-lighted eyes and circle-shaped Arc Reactor on chest (white light, battery operated)
- – Stark Industries decals on various parts of the armor
- – One (1) pair of interchangeable forearm rockets
- – One (1) pair of interchangeable wrist guards for posing with repulsor firing palms
- – Three (3) pairs of interchangeable palms including:
- – One (1) pair with movable fingers and light-up repulsors (white light, battery operated)
- – One (1) pair of fists
- – One (1) pair of repulsor firing palms with light-up function (white light, battery operated)
- – Two (2) sets of interchangeable shoulder armors (normal & missile styles)
- – Articulations on waist armor which allow flexible movement
- – Fully deployable air flaps on the back of the armor
Accessory:
- – Specially designed dynamic figure stand with Mark VII nameplate and movie logo
The Avengers Movie Promo Series Iron Man sold out in ONE NIGHT, so don’t wait–don’t let the weekend pass without getting your order in today! (And if it’s waitlisted, get on that waitslist–the sooner you sign up the better your chances!)
Good Luck!
Pre-Order Alert: Hot Toys’ Hawkeye from Avengers: Age of Ultron
Take aim on Hot Toys’ newest 1/6 Scale Avengers MMS figure — Clint Barton, a.k.a. Hawkeye.
The release of Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron is coming closer and closer! Fans are all pumped to see the Earth’s mightiest heroes assembling again to save the world from the menacing artificial intelligence Ultron! Following last week’s pre-order of Black Widow, Hot Toys is thrilled to present the widely-anticipated 1/6th scale Hawkeye Collectible Figure!
The only previous Hawkeye Hot Toys figure was made for the original Avengers film, and while it took a while to sell out that figure now sells for over $400 on eBay! This is a chance for fans of the Hawk to finally get this Jeremy Renner likeness at a reasonable price!
The movie-accurate Hawkeye Collectible Figure is specially crafted based on the image of Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye in Avengers: Age of Ultron, featuring a newly developed head sculpt, new outfit, improved articulations for action poses, freshly designed bow and arrows, and a specially designed figure stand.
Expand your Avengers: Age of Ultron collection with this extraordinary marksman!
Hot Toys – MMS289 – Avengers: Age of Ultron 1/6th scale Hawkeye Collectible Figure Features:
- – Authentic and detailed likeness of Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye in Avengers: Age of Ultron
- – Approximately 30 cm tall
- – Body with over 30 points of articulations
- – Movie-accurate facial features with detailed wrinkles and skin texture
- – Six (6) pieces of interchangeable palms with finger tabs on left palms including:
- – One (1) pair of relaxed palms
- – One (1) right palm for holding bow
- – Three (3) left palms of different styles for holding arrow
- – Each piece of head sculpt is specially hand-painted
Costume:
- – One (1) dark burgundy long sleeves top
- – One (1) black and dark burgundy long jacket with straps and guards
- – One (1) pair of navy blue pants with belts on waist and straps on thighs
- – One (1) pair of black boots
Weapons:
- – One (1) fully-opened purple and black colored bow
- – One (1) folded purple and black colored bow
- – One (1) speed loader with nine (9) arrows
- – Thirteen (13) individual arrows and nine (9) interchangeable arrowheads of different styles
Accessories:
- – One (1) quiver
- – One (1) pair of arrow speed loaders
- – One (1) pair of sunglasses
- – Specially-designed figure stand with Hawkeye nameplate and the movie logo
Artists:
- – Head Sculpted by So Young, Lee
- – Head Painted by JC. Hong
- – Head Art Directed by JC. Hong
This figure is due to ship later this year, so place your order now at Sideshow Collectibles!
Star Wars Episode VII: The Toys Awaken
Star Wars Action News forum member Niklab wrote in with an interesting find–the Target DCPI information for loads of Star Wars: The Force Awakens toys!
He has broken down the toys into categories based on descriptions, and you can find the item stock number, Target price, and more below!
Some observations:
1) The good news is Star Wars figures will continue to be in 3.75-inch scale! After Hasbro experimented with 2.5-inch figures for Guardians of the Galaxy and the current Avengers: Age of Ultron toy lines, Star Wars fans feared Hasbro may follow suit with the Episode VII line. But there are no signs of 2.5-inch toys and, in fact, there are even vehicle assortments in the 3.75-inch scale!
2) The 6-inch toy line will continue, which seemed a given with Hasbro’s push for that new scale of collector-oriented figure. Still, it is nice to have confirmation.
3) Though we will have 3.75-inch figures, odds are collectors spoiled by the super-articulated figures released between 2005 and 2013 will be disappointed. The Black Series 3.75-inch line has a MSRP of $9.99 and many Target stores sell them at $12.99 or above. To see these new 3.75-inch figures priced at $7.99 indicates they will likely have greatly reduced articulation (though perhaps more than 4 points, as these are more expensive than the current “Mission Series” figures).
From role-play toys to Micro Machines and Die Cast vehicles, there will be something for everyone to collect–and likely too much for any one person to afford!
Read on for all the details!
3.75″ FIGURE SYSTEM
3.75″ BASIC FIGURES
087-06-3658 SW E7 3.75 Single Fig
3.75″ SYSTEM VEHICLES
087-06-3662 E7 Class 1 Vehicle
087-06-3663 E7 Class 1 Dlx Vehicle
087-06-3664 Class II Vehicle
6″ FIGURE SYSTEM
087-06-3670 Black Series 6″
087-06-3696 SW Black series 6in Fig 2. 39.99$
12″ HERO SERIES FIGURE SYSTEM
087-06-3681 SW EP 7 Hero Series fig. 9.99$
087-06-3694 SW E7 Hero Series Fig 6. 49.99$
HERO MASHERS
087-06-3675 SW Hero Mashers.
087-06-3676 SW Hero Mashers Dlx. 14.99$
ROLE PLAY
087-06-3644 SW Extendable Lightsaber
087-06-3645 SW E7 Mask asst
087-06-3646 SW Villain Extendable Lightsaber 12.99$
087-06-3647 SW Nerf Foam Lightsaber
087-06-3648 SW Electronic Lightsaber
087-06-3649 SW Villain Electronic (mask) 34.99$
087-06-3650 SW Villain Dlx Lightsaber
087-06-3651 SW Alien Electronic Mask 29.99$
087-06-3652 SW Darth Vader Voice changing Helmet 34.99$
087-06-3653 SW Signature Lightsaber
087-06-3654 SW E7 Ammo Refill
087-06-3655 SW Villain Trooper Whit 12.99$
087-06-3656 SW Sidekick Alien Blaster 24.99$
087-06-3657 SW Villain Trooper Whit 39.99$
087-06-3672 Toy constrc SW 2
087-06-3674 SW EP II Yoda Lightsaber.
087-06-3695 SW choose yr destiny lightsaber. 49.99$
087-06-3697 SW E7 Darth Vader Lightsaber. 44.99$
MICRO MACHINES
087-06-3684 SW vehicle blind bag. 2.49$
087-06-3685 SW vehicle 3 pack.
087-06-3686 SW MM Dlx vehicle asst. 9.99$
087-06-3688 SW E7 MM Battle Set.
ASSORTED / UNIDENTIFIED
3659 – 3661 had no information, only prices.
3677-3680 no info
087-06-3668 Black Series Die Cast
087-06-3689 SW Collectable
087-06-3692 SW E7 RC Lead Hero Droid. 79.99$
087-06-3693 Furby E7 Sidekick Alien.
New Podcast – Star Wars Action News Episode 445: Maximize Your Fun at Celebration With a Bottle of Water and a Plan
In less than one month the world’s largest Star Wars party takes place in Anaheim — Star Wars Celebration! There will be celebrities, exclusives, panels, vendors and more! There will also be lines, standing and waiting, rooms filled before you get in, and bottles of soda for almost $5 each.
On this week’s Star Wars Action News Marjorie and Arnie help you prepare to get the most out of Celebration! At Celebration 5 and 6 they presented their panel A Bottle of Water and a Plan and now they bring it to the podcast so everyone can have the best time at Celebration!
And for this special show they are joined by other convention veterans, Jerry, Daryl, and Chris! All the panelists have been at multiple Star Wars Celebrations, as well as a combined hundreds of other conventions including San Diego Comic-Con! They even recorded this at Indiana Comic-Con this weekend! Save your feet with their tips!
Plus find out about the Star Wars Celebration Collectors’ Swap Meet, special exclusive Celebration patches and pins, and more! It’s all in this pre-Celebration episode of Star Wars Action News!
Arnie C: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN445.MP3
Pre-Order Alert: Sideshow Darth Vader Premium Format Figure
Sideshow Collectibles has put up for pre-order their latest 1/4 scale Premium Format Figure in the Star Wars line — Darth Vader.
Inspired by one of the most climactic duels in cinematic history, Darth Vader descends the steps of a Death Star themed base. With his light-up crimson lightsaber at the ready, the commanding villain is prepared to engage in mortal combat and claim victory for the Galactic Empire. Every detail of the Sith Lords costume, from his iconic helmet to his sweeping black cape, have been faithfully recreated as seen on screen in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
The figure stands 26.5-inches high with the giant base, and is the first time in nearly 10 years that Sideshow has offered the most iconic of all Star Wars characters. So place your order now at Sideshow Collectibles!
New Podcast – Star Wars Action News Episode 444: Keep Feeling Fabrikation
At Toy Fair International last week Funko was one of the few companies with lots of new Star Wars toys and collectibles on display. A rising Force in Star Wars collections, Funko has cornered the market on “cute” Star Wars figures. Last year they expanded that line to include Star Wars Fabrikations. They’re part action figure, part plushie, and all adorable. On this week’s Star Wars Action News Marjorie and Arnie look at three figures in this line: Boba Fett, Chewbacca, and Yoda!
For more high end Star Wars collectors, the first Star Wars figure from Hot Toys is shipping soon–the Shadow Stormtrooper! To prepare, listen to a review of that other Hot Toys Star Wars figure–the Bespin Luke Skywalker. Done as part of Sideshow’s 1/6 scale figure line, this version of Luke was a partnership with Hot Toys and shows what fans can expect from the new company.
With a review of the new Star Wars novel Heir to the Jedi, a review of the Disney Store exclusive Empire Strikes Back figure set, Star Wars Celebration Anaheim announcements, and more, it’s all in this week’s Star Wars Action News show!
We want you to join our team! We have openings currently for video editors, audio editors, and photo editors! Find out all the details
Arnie C: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN444.MP3
New Podcast – Star Wars Action News Episode 443: Toy Fair 2015 Part 2 – Kotobukiya, Funko, and More from the Javits Center
Want to lift X-Wing starfighters with the power of your mind? Or proudly display figures showing Darth Vader as a feudal samurai? What about having a rubbery vinyl toy of a Wampa with blood spilled down his front? From new Celebration Anaheim exclusives to toys that boggle the mind, all that and more was revealed in New York City’s Javits Center during Toy Fair International 2015!
On this episode of Star Wars Action News join Marjorie and Arnie for a virtual tour around the booths of Toy Fair featuring Statues, Role Playing Games, toys, housewares and more! Find out about the funky new Funko collectibles including a rainbow Bossk! Then hear an exclusive interview with Kotobukiya’s Dan Lujan to find out about upcoming statues, including the fate of the female Stormtrooper Bishoujo.
The Force Awakens in 2012, but not for 10 more months, so find out all the Star Wars goodies coming before then in this Star Wars Action News show!
We want you to join our team! We have openings currently for video editors, audio editors, and photo editors! Find out all the details
Arnie C: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN443.MP3
New Podcast – Star Wars Action News Episode 442: Toy Fair 2015 Part 1 – Hasbro, Jakks Pacific, and LEGO
Star Wars Celebration, San Diego Comic-Con, New York Comic-Con…when it comes to toy news they all pale compared to New York Toy Fair International. The show is where toy manufacturers reveal most of the toys that will ship throughout the year. The show is for the toy makers to sell to wholesalers and retailers, but press is let in and for collectors it becomes a preview of the year’s new Star Wars toys!
On the first part of the Star Wars Action News report from Toy Fair find out about all the announcements from some of the biggest Star Wars toy manufacturers–LEGO, Hasbro, and Jakks Pacific! With an exclusive interview with Hasbro’s Star Wars brand team and more, it’s all in this episode!
And check back next week for more interviews and news from Toy Fair!
We want you to join our team! We have openings currently for video editors, audio editors, and photo editors! Find out all the details
Arnie C: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN442.MP3
Pre-Order Alert: Hot Toys Avengers: Age of Ultron – Ultron Prime 1/6 Scale MMS Figure
There are no strings on me.
Up for pre-order now is the next sixth-scale Avengers: Age of Ultron figure from Hot Toys — Ultron Prime
Since the first official release of Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer, the film’s titular villain Ultron’s menacing appearance and memorable speech has grabbed many fans’ attention and left wondering how the Earth’s mightiest heroes can stand up against this highly dangerous robot and its large army.
With the epic blockbuster just few short months away from hitting theatres worldwide, Hot Toys is very excited to “show you something beautiful” today, the 1/6th scale Ultron Prime Collectible Figure, that many fans and collectors have eagerly awaited to see!
The movie-accurate Collectible Figure is specially crafted based on the image of Ultron Prime in Avengers: Age of Ultron. It stands approximately 41 cm tall, featuring a newly developed head sculpt and body with mechanical details, LED light-up head and upper body, and a specially designed Avengers: Age of Ultron logo figure base with LED light-up function!
This threatening villain will have great presence in your Avengers: Age of Ultron collection!
The 1/6th scale Ultron Prime Collectible Figure specially features:
– Authentic and detailed likeness of Ultron Prime in Avengers: Age of Ultron
– Movie-accurate sculpture with mechanical details
– Silver colored painting on armor
– LED light-up head sculpt and upper body (red light, battery operated)
– Approximately 41 cm tall
– Newly developed body with over 30 points of articulations
– One (1) pair of palms with movable fingers
Accessory:
– Specially-designed Avengers: Age of Ultron figure stand with LED light-up function (red light, battery operated)
So get your order placed now with Sideshow Collectibles — no strings attached!
Pre-Order Alert: Hot Toys Artist Mix Figures – Hulkbuster Iron Man, Captain America, Ultron, and More
The new Hot Toys’ collectible figure line, Artist Mix Figures, are now available for pre-order at Sideshow Collectibles!
As the name suggests, Hot Toys will collaborate with different artists and designers from various spectrums to re-imagine movie characters in a special art form with unique style.
To kick-off the Artist Mix Collection, Hot Toys is joining hands with famous Japanese toy artist Touma and introducing a number of Artist Mix Figures based on one of the biggest movies of 2015 – Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron!
This first series includes Iron Man Mark XLIII, Captain America, Hulkbuster, Ultron Prime, and two versions of Ultron Sentry!- Version A and Version B
In celebrating the launch of this new collectible series, a deluxe set will be available that includes the powerful Hulkbuster and Mark XLIII (Battle Damaged Version) which is exclusive to this figures set.
Each Artist Mix Figure has a bobble-head and stands approximately 14cm, or 5.5 inches, tall (Hulkbuster stands approximately 20cm, or 11.8 inches, tall) and perfectly combines the movie characters’ designs with Touma’s distinctive art style!
Touma is a Japanese toys character designer. He started his career at a video game company 10 years ago. In 2001, he established his own workshop and started to become a figurine artist. He had his solo exhibitions and autograph sessions not only in Japan, but also in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and America. He collaborated with many major brands such as MONSTER HUNTER, STAR WARS, TRANSFORMERS, AVP, GODZILLA, POWER RANGERS, and more.
Recently, Touma and his 3D animation partner Shiroma collaborated with Hot Toys for the first time to ignite the Artist Mix Collection series to further expand the diversity of mini figures collection. The series is based on the 2015 Marvel Studios blockbuster, Avengers: Age of Ultron, which perfectly blends the iconic characters with Touma’s unique design style.
These Artist Mix Figures will look great on your shelves or desk, so don’t miss the chance to expand your Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron collection!
**Prototype shown, final product may be slightly different
**Product details could be subjected to change without further notice
New Podcast – Star Wars Action News Episode 440: 2014 Year in Review Part 2 and 2015 in Preview
The Star Wars Action News Year-End shows conclude with this second part of the team’s roundtable discussion!
Arnie and Marjorie are joined by Steve “The Gingerprince”, Johnathan, Curtis, Daryl, Brock, Jay and Andrew to look back at the high-end collectibles that Force-d them to open their wallets! From Gentle Giant mini-busts to Sideshow Premium Format Figures and the new, high end sixth scale figure line from Hot Toys, it’s all discussed in this show!
Then the team puts 2014 to bed and looks forward to what 2015 Awakens. With the first new live-action Star Wars film in a decade coming this December, Rebels on television, and a new continuity for novels and comics, join them to hear what is in store!
We want you to join our team! We have openings currently for video editors, audio editors, and photo editors! Find out all the details in our forums!
Arnie C: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN440.MP3
New Podcast – Star Wars Action News Episode 439: 2014 Year in Review Part 1 – Hasbro Star Wars Toys
For Star Wars fans 2014 came in with a whimper but went out with a bang! From a year that started with few Star Wars figures to be found in either the 4 or 6-inch scales, it ended with Expanded Universe 6-Inch figures, new lines of 3.75-inch figures, and Star Wars fans everywhere trying to “get to da Chopper!”
Now in the first part of the Star Wars Action News year in review, the Star Wars Action News team looks back at 2014 from the point of view of a toy collector. Marjorie and Arnie are joined by several other collectors to rate the best and worst of Star Wars collecting this year!
We want you to join our team! We have openings currently for video editors, audio editors, and photo editors! Find out all the details in our forums!
Arnie C: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN439.MP3
Pre-Order Alert: Hot Toys Avengers: Age of Ultron Iron Man Mk XLIII
Hot Toys’ Movie Masterpiece Series Die Cast Iron Man Mk XLIII from the upcoming movie Avengers: Age of Ultron is now up for pre-order at Sideshow Collectibles, including the exclusive edition with a bonus helmet!
Age of Ultron is still almost five months away from its theatrical release, but fan excitement is high after the trailer premiered in October. As such Hot Toys seems to be accelerating their pre-order schedule. With the original Avengers film, as well as Thor: The Dark World, Iron Man 3, and Guardians of the Galaxy Hot Toys offered pre-orders in the weeks leading up to the film’s release. For Ultron, they are offering the first pre-order almost six months ahead of time.
Such a lead can be cause for concern. With the film still in production and CG work being performed the final look of characters can change from concept to screen. There is a chance, however slim, that figures designed this early could differ significantly from the final on-screen version.
However there is a benefit as well–the figure will be released the same year as the film. This Iron Man Mk XLIII figure is scheduled for release the third quarter of 2015–only 3 to 5 months after the film opened (compared to the first Iron Man 3 figures which shipped more than a year after the film’s release).
As for this first pre-order, it is the newest Iron Man armor, the Mk XLIII (43 for the roman numeral impaired). Not only is this armor a return to the classic mostly-red armor color, it is also a made of die cast metal. (For a hands-on review of Hot Toys’ die cast Iron Patriot and the quality Hot Toys puts into their die cast figures watch Marvelicious Toys Issue 119).
The movie-accurate Mark XLIII Collectible Figure is highly detailed and specially crafted based on the image of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Mark XLIII in Avengers: Age of Ultron, featuring a newly painted Tony Stark helmeted head sculpt, metallic red, gold and silver armor with weathered effects, LED light-up functions, and a specially designed diorama base with a damaged Ultron Mark I. A special edition will be available for selected markets which includes a LED lighted battle damaged helmet as a Sideshow Collectibles exclusive bonus accessory.
The figure comes with a Tony Stark head as well as a LED light-up helmeted head, 3 pairs of hands, interchangeable forearm armor and wrist guards, LED chest and hands, and more features. Plus the figure has over 36 points of articulation, not even counting the deployed air flaps at the back of the armor.
Most exciting is the figure’s base, which includes a battle damaged Ultron Mark I (meaning that Ultron and Stark will be competing in who has the most outfit changes in Avengers 2).
Pre-order this amazing collectible figure to kick-off your Avengers: Age of Ultron collection!
Pre-Order Alert: Hot Toys Quarter-Scale Boba Fett Figure
The ultimate bounty from Hot Toys is now available for Pre-Order – their Quarter Scale Return of the Jedi Boba Fett Figure.
In July Hot Toys announced they had obtained the rights to sell figures based on the Star Wars films. The only releases so far had been in their 1/6 scale (12-inch) Movie Masterpiece Series line. Boba Fett is the first release in their quarter-scale (18-inch) line of figures, bringing a level of quality, articulation, and accessories never before seen in Star Wars figures of this scale.
In terms of size, this figure matches a Sideshow Collectibles Premium Format Figure, or figures in Diamond Select Toys’ (now cancelled) quarter-scale figure line. But while the Sideshow “figure” is really a statue, and the Diamond Select Toys’ figure was a toy that did not attempt realistic likenesses and high articulation, Hot Toys is bringing the detail of their Movie Masterpiece figures to this giant size.
Standing nearly 18-inches tall (45cm to be exact), this Boba Fett figure has a helmet with an articulated rangefinder and extremely detailed Mandolorian armor designed to match the bounty hunter’s appearance in Return of the Jedi. Underneath that armor you’ll find over 30 points of articulation allowing a huge variety of poses. And more, you get seven interchangable hands for different gestures, and a huge number of accessories including two blaster rifles (regular and damaged), a survival knife, an anti-security blade, and more! Plus if you get the Special Edition (exclusively through Sideshow Collectibles) you also get a blaster sidearm with holster which Boba Fett has in Star Wars: Episode V Empire Strikes Back.
Don’t miss the chance to add the fearsome bounty hunter to your prized collection!
Find out all the details and pre-order now at Sideshow Collectibles!
New Podcast – Star Wars Action News Episode 438: Tarkin ‘Bout Toys
It’s been a long time since Star Wars action figure collectors could shop exclusively at their local brick-and-mortar stores to get the figures they wanted. Since the release of Hasbro’s The Vintage Collection in 2010 store supplies have been scarce. Now, however, that seems ready to change! Across the country collectors are finding new Black Series figures in both 3.75-inch and 6-inch lines, plus new Rebels and Mission Series figures too! On this episode of Star Wars Action News you can listen to find out which stores to hit to score full waves of new figures.
Also on this week’s show, Arnie and Marjorie discuss Hot Toys’ first exclusive release in their Star Wars Movie Masterpiece Series–the Shadow Stormtrooper. A repaint of their basic Stormtrooper figure, this release sold out in just a few hours at Sideshow Collectibles. What’s the fuss all about? Listen to find out!
With a review of James Lucino’s new Star Wars novel Tarkin and Jerry looking back on books of yesteryear, and ThinkGeek plushes too, you’ll find all this and more in this Episode of Star Wars Action News!
We want you to join our team! We have openings currently for video editors, audio editors, and photo editors! Find out all the details in our forums!
Arnie C: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN438.MP3
New Podcast: Episode 437: Black Friday Deals and 2014 Holiday Gift Guide
Want to know where to save big on Star Wars LEGOs, Blu Rays, and more this weekend? Then join Marjorie and Arnie for the 2014 Black Friday (and Thursday) shopping guide! While the Star Wars bargains are few, there are some choice items for those brave enough to face the lines and the crowds. Listen to this episode to find out what!
Then keep listening for the Star Wars Action News annual holiday gift guide! This year has gift ideas ranging from $3.00 to over $7,0000! No matter if you’re buying for young or old, man or woman, listen to find what to get the Star Wars collector who seems to already have everything!
And don’t forget to sign up for the Star Wars Action Sithmas Gift Exchange! Sign-ups end December 2nd. Get and give some Star Wars joy this season by joining this Secret Santa gift exchange! All the details are at http://www.swactionnews.com/Sithmas/
All this and more in this Episode of Star Wars Action News!
: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN437.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 436: Plastic Galaxy: The Story of Star Wars Toys
George Lucas’ 1977 space fantasy Star Wars changed the way American audiences consumed films. More, though, it also changed the landscape for movie merchandising, with more money being made on toys, games, and collectibles than on the movies themselves. Now the documentary Plastic Galaxy looks back at the first generation of Star Wars toys, released between 1977 and 1985 from Kenner. Does this film capture the childhood magic of Star Wars figures, and can the documentary appeal to anyone not already obsessed with little plastic Stormtroopers? Find out in this special Now Playing/Star Wars Action News crossover podcast hosted by Marjorie, Arnie, and Jerry!
: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN436.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Thor 3, Avengers 3 and 4 Announced by Marvel Studios
In a move worthy of Apple, Marvel Studios held a presentation today unveiling its third phase of films based on the characters from Marvel Comics.
While several expected titles were told, many surprises were there as well.
With this announcement, the current slate of movies from Marvel Studios are:
May 1, 2015
Avengers: Age of Ultron. Director: Joss Whedon.
Starring: Robert Downey, Jrl, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, James Spader, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Paul Bettany, Don Cheadle, Hayley Atwell, Andy Serkis
View the trailer below:
July 27, 2015
Ant-Man
Director: Peyton Reed
Starring: Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly
May 6, 2016
Captain America: Civil War
Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Starring: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Chadwick Boseman
November 4, 2016
Doctor Strange
Director: Scott Derrickson
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch (rumored)
May 5, 2017
Guardians of the Galaxy
Director: James Gunn
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper (all rumored)
July 28, 2017
Thor: Ragnarok
Director: ???
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston (rumored)
November 3, 2017
Black Panther
Director: ???
Starring: Chadwick Boseman
May 4, 2018
Avengers: Infinity War Part 1
Director: ???
Starring: ???
July 6, 2018
Captain Marvel
Director: ???
Starring: ???
November 2, 2018
Inhumans
Director: ???
Starring: ???
May 4, 2018
Avengers: Infinity War Part 2
Director: ???
Starring: ???
These titles bring back many established heroes while bringing in new ones and meeting the call for diversity among superhero films (a female-led film and a superhero film starring a black man). Conspicuous by their absence are any additional Iron Man films, as well as any films featuring popular Avengers heroes Hulk or Black Widow.
How do you feel about this line-up of movies over the next five years? Let us know in the comments below!
New Podcast: Episode 435: It’s the Yoda Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!
Halloween is this week and the costumes and decorations have started to go on sale! On this week’s Star Wars Action News hosts Marjorie and Arnie discuss the hard-to-find collectibles that combine Trick-or-Treating with the Galaxy Far, Far Away!
Also on this week’s show–reviews of two new 6-inch figures! First they look at the Hasbro Black Series Biker Scout with Speeder Bike, the first vehicle in the new, larger scale. Does it live up to the preview shown at SDCC?
And then the first Walgreens exclusive Hasbro Star Wars figure–Boba Fett in Prototype Armor. How does this compare to the original outfit, and is it worth the (bounty) hunt?
With Johnathan joining for an On The Pegs segment and a look at the latest offerings from Gentle Giant and Sideshow, it’s all on this new episode of Star Wars Action News!
We want you to join our team! We have openings currently for video editors, audio editors, and photo editors! Find out all the details in our forums!
: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN435.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
Marvel Movie Pre-Order Alerts: Hot Toys Wolverine and Hikari Sofubi Groot
Fans of movies based on Marvel Comics characters have several pre-orders hitting today!
First, from the film X-Men: Days of Future Past Hot Toys and Sideshow Collectibles bring Wolverine! This figure has over 30 points of articulation, 3 pairs of swappable hands (with and without claws!), and an outfit representing Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in the dystopian future shown at the film’s opening. It stands just under 12-inches tall, and comes with a specialized Wolverine display base.
Now, it’s no secret that licensees have issues making toys and collectibles based on 20th Century Fox’s X-Men and Fantastic Four films. The last X-Men film to receive a big marketing push was X-Men Origins: Wolverine back in 2009. In 2011, covering New York Toy Fair for Marvelicious Toys, I interviewed one of the Marvel reps at Hasbro’s presentation. I was shocked at a lack of toys for that summer’s X-Men: First Class and I asked about that. I was told that Marvel would be marketing their X-Men: First Class comic books, not the movies. Indeed, in the past five years it has been hard to find any toys or statues based on the X-Men movies; only the comics. Only Diamond Select, with their Minimates lines, has covered all the Marvel movies regardless of studio.
In 2012 Hot Toys announced a licensing agreement for figures based on X-Men: First Class and Magneto and Charles Xavier figures were shown at various Hot Toys exhibits, but they never were released. It is more than likely pressure from Marvel has caused those figures to be indefinitely delayed, if not altogether cancelled.
Yet Hot Toys has persevered in releasing X-Men movie toys…if only Wolverine figures. Their first was from X-Men Origins: Wolverine released in 2009. That figure shot up in value and even had some high-quality bootlegs sold on eBay. As such, in 2012 Hot Toys made another Wolverine figure from X-Men III: The Last Stand. Then last year Hot Toys made another version of this character, showing his appearance in The Wolverine (still available to order, at a deep discount, from Sideshow Collectibles). This Days of Future Past Wolverine is the 4th version of this character.
Despite how much I really want Hot Toys to finally release the other X-Men figures (specifically the yellow-and-blue clad X-Men from First Class) Wolverine is the most popular X-Man. Each version of this figure has been distinct, and showing a likeness of Hugh Jackman appropriate to that film. This is an older Jackman likeness, and the future outfit is far different from any we’ve gotten before.
At $250 the figure is a bit more expensive than I’d like–with no large diorama pieces, excessive accessories, or swappable heads I’d prefer to see this around $200 like The Wolverine version, but it’s still a great version of the character.
I have it ordered already, both for the figure it is, plus I’m hoping that by “voting with my dollars” Hot Toys and Marvel realize high-end figures based on the X-Men films are profitable enough to continue beyond Wolverine.
(as an aside, X-Men: Days of Future Past came out on DVD and Blu-Ray this week, and the collector’s edition is almost half off at Amazon!)
If you prefer Marvel Studios’ own films, such as Guardians of the Galaxy, a new collectible is available for you as well! From Funko comes the Entertainment Earth exclusive Hikari Premium Sofubi Vinyl Figure of Groot!
While that’s a lot of adjectives, Funko’s Hikari Premium Sofubi Vinyl Figures are 11-inch soft vinyl figures. This one is limited to 5,000 pieces and only available from Entertainment Earth.
Funko is known for having several variants for each of their Sofubi figures, from color changes to translucent glittery versions. Several variants of the Groot Hikari Vinyl Figure were displayed at New York Comic-Con, but this Entertainment Earth version seems to be the most movie-accurate. You can order it now at EE.
And for Hikari collectors, Barnes and Noble just put up their exclusive black-and-white version of the Spider-Man figure, called “Dangerous Spider-Man” for $71. That is not a pre-order; mine has shipped already.
New Podcast: Episode 433: Collecting Nirvana in Aberdeen
Marjorie & Arnie are back from a trip across the American west, and of course they did some Star Wars shopping while there! Visiting with the members of SARLACC in Seattle, they visited several stores–including one of the oddest Star Wars toy shops out there. Watch to see a Star Wars shop unlike any other!
Also on this week’s show, new toys are showing up in stores! With the impending premiere of Rebels on Disney XD stores are stocking up with tons of new Star Wars merchandise from chairs to Christmas ornaments to even a few new action figures! Listen to find out what’s hitting, as well as a brief review of the Toys R Us exclusive Jedi Reveal Rebels figure 3-pack.
But the biggest news last week was a new sixth-scale Star Wars figure line from high end Hong Kong company Hot Toys! Through Sideshow Collectibles, the first two figures have gone up for pre-order–Han Solo and Chewbacca. Join Arnie, who has over 50 Hot Toys in his collection, to hear his impressions of these new Star Wars collectibles!
With a look at the Disney Store original trilogy figure sets, Halloween themed Star Wars collectibles, a review of the Star Wars Lootcrate and more, it’s all in this new Star Wars Action News podcast!
And for our next show we want your input! What is your Star Wars collectible holy grail? A screen-used prop? A carded Vlix? A replacement for the stuffed Ewok you used to own? Let us know in our voicemail at 415-508-JEDI and your call may be used on our next show!
We want you to join our team! We have openings currently for video editors, audio editors, and photo editors! Find out all the details in our forums!
: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN433.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
The 40 Year-Old-Critic: Avatar (2009)
In The 40-Year-Old Critic, Venganza Media creator and host Arnie Carvalho recalls a memorable film for each year of his life. This series appears daily on the Venganza Media Gazette.
Avatar is the highest grossing film of all time. Audiences loved the film, as did most critics. Yet in 2009 the film failed to excite me, my review was controversial, and to this day Avatar continues to give me a headache. To this day I also remember the buildup to that film’s release… and the aftermath.
I had heard rumblings about Avatar for years. James Cameron’s last theatrical film had been Titanic in 1997 — then the top-grossing film of all time — and after that massive success the director dropped out of the spotlight, focusing his time on a few IMAX documentaries. It seemed quite possible in my mind that Cameron might not ever make a film again, and with each passing year I paid less attention to the rumors that swirled about his next project.
It wasn’t until San Diego Comic-Con in 2009 that Avatar truly grabbed my attention. Signs showcasing the blue Na’vi aliens were everywhere, and all the buzz at the convention was about 20th Century Fox’s panel and the Avatar footage they would show.
My curiosity was piqued. I was a fan of Cameron’s films in the 80s and early 90s; the two Terminator films and Aliens are among some of my favorite movies. I was less thrilled with The Abyss and True Lies, and Titanic was the breaking point. The film was way too long in all respects, and while I thought it was competently made I never cared for it. As such, I wanted to see what the man who made Terminator 2 would do, but his later works prevented me from being excited.
As I wasn’t passionate for Avatar I never even thought it should be reviewed on Now Playing Podcast. That idea came from my co-host Stuart.
My memory is slightly fuzzy, but as I recall Avatar was the first film Stuart ever championed to review on the show.
Before 2009 Stuart had reviewed two only two movies for Now Playing. In 2008 I asked him to review Star Wars: The Clone Wars. I knew that compilation of episodes that Warner Bros. laughingly called a “film” was an atrocity that made The Phantom Menace look like The Maltese Falcon by comparison. Yet due to my primary podcast, Star Wars Action News, I didn’t want to eviscerate the film myself for fear of alienating any Star Wars fans excited for Clone Wars. Stuart had been writing reviews for another website for some time, and as he was one of my few friends who was not a fan of Star Wars, I felt he’d be perfect for the job.
Later that same year Stuart came to visit and we ended up seeing the Clive Barker film The Midnight Meat Train. Marjorie suggested we record a Now Playing review and I was shocked how much fun I had. Stuart’s knowledge of film plus my own horror fandom made that easily one of my favorite “early episodes” we recorded. But it was a one-off recording; there were no plans for there ever to be another. Still, I wanted to talk more horror with Stuart.
But Now Playing was not a priority for me in 2007 or 2008. During those years the show had languished; lack of regular content caused downloads to drop from the thousands to the tens. Several efforts to reignite the show had not caught on with listeners, but I enjoyed having an outlet to discuss movies when so inclined.
Things started to turn around in January 2009 when I was inspired to return to Now Playing to review the rebooted Friday the 13th, and it wasn’t enough to just do that one movie — I wanted to review the entire Friday the 13th series. And I wanted Stuart to join us.
He was hesitant. He didn’t love the franchise and wasn’t entirely sure what would be involved. Still, he agreed. Even with the lower caliber Friday entries, the recording sessions were fun. More, the audience was responding, and we started getting thousands of listeners again. As such, near the end of the Friday the 13th Retrospective we decided to continue going with Star Trek.
Things snowballed, and by late 2009 Stuart had been on dozens of shows discussing The Terminator, Halloween and more. Yet it seemed he was going along with the group. Even though there were series where he strongly liked early installments, the new releases didn’t excite him. The theatrical weekend-of-release recordings left him cold.
Zoe Saldana in blue. She’d later go green for Marvel.
Until Avatar. After a long series of Halloween movie reviews Stuart wanted to do a one-off review for Cameron’s newest film.
Now it was my turn to resist.
I was hesitant for a number of reasons. First, Now Playing had tried for years to do weekend-of-release reviews, but it was the retrospective series’ that really clicked with listeners. Even in 2009 Marjorie and I had done a couple one-off reviews, but they didn’t reach a wide audience.
More, I was the editor for weekend-of-release recordings. Those shows take a bigger time commitment than any other. It’s easy to be a host on a series that doesn’t excite you — two hours of watching, two hours of recording, and you’re done. As the editor I’d have to spend another dozen hours, or more, editing and polishing the show. It’s hard to commit that amount of time for a film in which I had only mild interest.
But Stuart had been agreeable, reviewing some schlocky horror along the way. And he had already signed on for 2010’s Nightmare on Elm Street retrospective, a series I was ecstatic about. Now Playing scheduling is all about negotiation, so I agreed not only to Avatar but also to his idea of a Martin Scorsese/Leonardo DiCaprio team-up retrospective that would kick off 2010.
Plus Stuart followed film development and studio tracking far more than I did, and he knew how big Avatar would be.
Not to say I was totally resistant. More than wanting to be a team player and “give one up” for Stuart, as the film’s marketing started to hit I was curious. As I recall though, that curiosity was more muted, and it never reached a Spider-Man 3 level where I’d have been moved to podcast about the movie. But I did get swept up in the hype enough to give Avatar the “full Now Playing treatment” — special opening and closing credits.
In many ways Stuart was right. I never would have predicted Avatar would be the biggest film ever. That Cameron’s work could best even Titanic seemed unreal to me, yet it happened. And Stuart was also right that our review would get a lot of downloads; there was interest in the movie, and so it followed that our downloads were the highest we’d gotten for a one-off review at that time.
But I had to be honest in my review of the film, and I didn’t like it very much. Avatar was made by the James Cameron who directed Titanic, not the Cameron who directed The Terminator. The story was unoriginal and propagated the story trope of an indigenous people needing a white, male savior. The movie wasn’t terrible, but it was overly long and I never found myself enthralled with the world of Pandora. It seemed Cameron had spent too much time making documentaries and forgot how to tell a story.
But the technology impressed the living hell out of me. Cameron, at his best, is a filmmaker of tight, exciting action movies, but even when he’s not at his best he pushes the envelope of filmmaking. The Abyss, Terminator 2, and Titanic all represented giant leaps in computer-generated effects. With Avatar, Cameron not only used computer imagery, but he also advanced 3-D technology to a level I’d not seen outside of theme parks.
In 2009, 3-D films were still a novelty to me. Growing up after the boom of 3-D in the 50s I only got to see two films in that format: Jaws 3-D and Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (which only had the climax in 3-D). Yet the idea of being immersed in a film was exciting, so I went to see the Terminator show at Universal Studios with its amazing 3-D effects, I went to a museum to see the IMAX 3-D documentary Space Station, and I even went to see Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over in 2003 despite never having seen the first two Spy Kids films.
A screenshot of the film’s groundbreaking effects.
Slowly, 3-D films were returning, propelled by digital projection technologies. I had to travel hours to digital theaters to see such films as My Bloody Valentine 3D and The Final Destination just for the effects. They were good; gimmicky, but fun.
Yet none could hold a candle to Avatar, which not only had eye-popping effects but added depth to the frame. The 3-D was at times attention-grabbing, but at other times subtle. For the first time I saw how this new technique could really aid films in drawing viewers into the story.
That was what I thought leaving the theater in 2009. For this article I revisited Avatar on video (albeit in 2-D), and listened to the archived Now Playing Podcast review. I stand by everything I say; the movie was really impressive to look at, but also horribly dull.
The film ended up with one “Recommend” from Stuart. Marjorie — who had also co-hosted the Terminator reviews and thus was the natural choice to co-host more Cameron reviews — sided with me, and we gave two “Not Recommends.”
Reviews are a funny thing, no matter what you say, it pisses someone off. Every Now Playing host has received vitriol-filled e-mails, tweets, reviews, and more from listeners who disagree with their opinions. Rarely is this feedback constructive, filled with counter-arguments that support an opposing view. Usually the e-mails feel like notes from a kindergarten student, tantamount to saying, “You are a doodie-head,” though with many more four-letter words and, in some special cases, threats of physical violence.
Sometimes liking a film can be cause for this type of reaction, but it’s more common with negative reviews. No matter what title is being discussed, somewhere that film has an ardent fan whose feelings are hurt by having their film criticized. Superman IV, Halloween III, even Star Trek V, they all have their supporters.
While we received a few nasty-grams for our negative reviews of the Friday the 13th reboot, Rob Zombie’s Halloween II, and even 2009’s Star Trek, nothing prepared me for the backlash I would receive for giving Avatar a mild “Not Recommend.” The attacks came from all sources, but primarily nasty e-mails. Listeners not only said they were never listening to our show again, they wanted to be sure I knew it, and not just from watching server traffic. They wanted to make noise as they (supposedly) walked out the door.
Our audience only continued to increase throughout 2010, but the scathing, often personal, attacks let me realize that by putting myself out there and expressing my thoughts I was really opening myself up for a lot of negativity.
While that trend has continued — each host speaking unpopular truths — I’m happy to report the positive feedback from listeners far outweighs the negative, but in the midst of Avatar-gate there were times it didn’t feel that way.
Yet, for all the attacks I received in 2009 for giving Avatar a red arrow, I have to wonder; is there still the love for this film? It truthfully feels like that movie was a flash in a pan. I see the disc on Walmart movie racks, but I know of no one who regularly re-watches the movie. It’s not in rotation on cable, network, or pay television. I see no Na’vi cosplay at conventions, and rarely does Avatar show up on lists I read of favorite or best films.
Will we see these two on screen again?
If you still love, or even strongly like, Avatar, please let me know in the comments below. For while the studio talks of two, and now three, sequels in concurrent production, I simply don’t see the demand from the fan base. Actually, I don’t even see the fan base existing at all.
So in that regard I feel vindicated. Unlike Titanic, which was inescapable for many years after its release, Avatar seems forgotten.
But I am not above issuing a correction when due, and I did say something in our 2009 review that history has proven untrue. I stated Avatar was the best looking film I’d ever seen, with the greatest 3-D effects to date, and I stand by those thoughts. I continued, though, that the next year we’d see films with even better CGI visuals, and even greater 3-D, and in that I was dead wrong. Cameron is more than an artist, he’s a technician. He has both the will, and (thanks to his track record) the studio support, to linger in development and ensure the films he makes always reach new heights. Yet here we are, five years later, and no film has bested Avatar‘s use of 3-D in film. Cameron’s work is still my high watermark against which I measure all other 3-D.
More, it seems no filmmaker is even trying to achieve that result. Technical difficulties have kept many directors away from filming in 3-D. Joss Whedon had intended to shoot 2012’s The Avengers in 3-D, but while filming the Thor stinger scene he encountered numerous production delays caused by the cameras. As such, he abandoned the medium and chose to shoot in 2-D.
Disney then post-converted The Avengers to 3-D for theaters.
And that may be Avatar’s longest lasting, and worst, outgrowth — the 3-D cash grab. It was not just by popularity that Avatar became the world’s top-grossing film, much of that was due to inflated ticket prices. The general cost of movie tickets has been steadily rising for decades, but premium surcharges put on IMAX presentations and 3-D films boosted Avatar to even greater heights. Studios wanted to continue to reap those rewards. It took a year for studios to implement the change, but by 2011 almost every major motion picture released was in 3-D — the majority post-converted in order to make more money through higher ticket prices.
Recently it seems that audiences are wising up to this gimmick and realizing that, especially with post-conversion 3-D films, the effects are not worth the extra cost. Many articles I’ve read point to a decline in 3-D film popularity. But to this day, every time I go to theaters and pay a 3-D surcharge, and every time I leave the theater with an eye-strain headache due to a piss-poor 3-D post-conversion job, I know that is truly Avatar‘s legacy.
Perhaps Cameron will succeed in bringing Avatar back to the screens. Hopefully the story will be more original, and tighter. More importantly, maybe they will change Avatar‘s place in film history from “the film that popularized 3-D” to “the sci-fi fantasy saga of the 21st Century.”
Or perhaps I’ll give more negative reviews to dull films.
Time will tell.
But then again, perhaps the true, best legacy of Avatar was expanding Now Playing’s boundaries. It’s not often that we do one-off reviews, but Stuart’s correct insistence that we review Cameron’s 2009 epic exposed our show to new listeners and helped expand even the type of film we review. For that, I am grateful.
Tomorrow — 2010!
Arnie is a movie critic for Now Playing Podcast, a book reviewer for the Books & Nachos podcast, and co-host of the collecting podcasts Star Wars Action News and Marvelicious Toys. You can follow him on Twitter @thearniec
The 40 Year-Old-Critic: Iron Man (2008)
In The 40-Year-Old Critic, Venganza Media creator and host Arnie Carvalho recalls a memorable film for each year of his life. This series appears daily on the Venganza Media Gazette.
We truly live in the golden age of Marvel movies. In the past six years Marvel Studios (and now Disney) have set the standard for comic-based films, and racked up some of the highest-grossing hits of all time.
This year, the company proved how golden it really is with Guardians of the Galaxy, a film featuring a talking raccoon and his friend, the tree. On paper, that’s laughable. This movie shouldn’t have worked; the concept is so far removed from The Avengers that it conjures up memories of Howard the Duck (who even made a cameo).
But as I sit here typing this, Guardians has the designation of being 2014’s top grossing picture in the U.S.
It’s a wild success story that no one could have predicted — certainly I didn’t — back in 2008 when Marvel Studios released its first film: Iron Man.
As I detailed in my reviews of Superman and Spider-Man 3, I was a Marvel Comics fan in my teen years. At my peak I had several thousand comic books; long boxes stuffed with popular titles like Spider-Man, X-Men, and The Incredible Hulk, as well as Darkhawk, Ravage 2099, and Fantastic Four. Conspicuous perhaps by his absence, I didn’t own a single issue of Iron Man.
The character did make appearances in many comics I owned. Massive crossovers such as Secret Wars prominently featured the Armored Avenger. Yet none of those appearances made me feel like picking up an Iron Man comic. A businessman who pretends to be his own bodyguard in a suit of armor? The concept sounded pretty cheesy. The suit’s design, a garish red and yellow, also was a turnoff. He could fly. He could shoot lasers from his hands. And? Why would I want to read about that?
More, why would I want to see a movie about that?
The arm-chair studio moguls online and in magazines like Entertainment Weekly seemed to agree with me. Phrases like “B-list superhero (at best)” were used to describe Iron Man. It is hard to believe now, but just seven short years ago Iron Man had virtually no name recognition among the common public. Marvel had sold the movie rights to many its most well-known superheroes, including Spider-Man, Hulk, Wolverine and the X-Men, and those characters had gone on to star in their own pictures. Even other B-listers like Daredevil, Blade, and Ghost Rider had been picked up by other studios. What did Marvel have left?
They had Captain America, a man out-of-time goody-two-shoes. They had Thor, a Norse god that may have been even less well-known in his comic incarnation than Iron Man. They had The Incredible Hulk, who had a good history but a recent box-office disappointment thanks to Ang Lee’s Hulk. And they had Iron Man.
Yet Marvel had a vision. More, they had a plan. They didn’t release one film in 2008, they released two. They let it be known immediately that they were going to do on screen what they had done in their comics: create a shared universe where characters would cross over. The end game was announced before Iron Man was in theaters, Marvel wanted to assemble The Avengers.
I thought it was crazy talk. While, thanks to Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings it had become more common to have sequels in production, or even entirely filmed, before the first film was released. Even those seemed risky though, with pundits noting Lord of the Rings could have bankrupted New Line Cinema. Yet here Marvel Studios was going this route for its first features.
Iron Man didn’t excite me, but Marvel’s strategy sure got my attention. It was audacious, it was bold, and it was risky. I admired them before I ever saw a frame of the film.
Even crazier — they hired Robert Downey, Jr. to play Iron Man/Tony Stark. If you’ll recall, in the late 90s and early 2000s, Downey had a fairly toxic reputation in Hollywood. His well-publicized battle with addiction and his prison stints had branded him as unreliable. Worse, he was uninsurable — no company would put up a bond for the actor lest he again be arrested and his filmed scenes became unusable.
Casting Robert Downey, Jr. was a risk, now where would Marvel be without him?
Despite his off-screen troubles, I had always been a fan of Downey. While I’d seen him in Weird Science and Back to School he first really caught my eye as someone to watch in The Pick-Up Artist, a film in which Downey is the only redeeming quality. I followed him for many years with Less Than Zero, Chances Are, Air America, hell I even watched Soapdish because he was in it. But two roles really defined Downey for me: his 1992 Oscar-nominated lead in Chaplin, and his role as a tabloid TV reporter in Natural Born Killers. But the more public his personal troubles became the more I felt he was an actor on the decline. I was really saddened by this — the man could act! From Two Girls and a Guy to U.S. Marshals to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, I’d always been captivated by him.
That he was the star of Iron Man had me both worried and excited. On the one hand it seemed like on-the-nose casting — if I knew one thing about the Tony Stark character in comics it was that he was an alcoholic; if most people knew Downey for only one thing it was for his substance abuse problems.
The trailers with the rocking Black Sabbath track, Downey’s quick quips, the great action, and the effects — the film looked better than I expected; better than it deserved to look. Plus, rumors spread like wildfire that the film would include a cameo by Samuel L. Jackson as S.H.I.E.L.D. boss Nick Fury. By the time Iron Man was released, my curiosity was piqued.
Still, I was more interested in the second of Marvel’s one-two summer punch: The Incredible Hulk. I was a Hulk fan, he was the hero with name recognition; plus it had Edward Norton, an actor I believed was every bit as talented as Downey. But until Hulk came out I thought Iron Man could help me pass the time.
My expectations were low, but I was still there opening night to see Iron Man. I even drove 90 minutes to the closest new-fangled digital projector in the area.
The film, in short, rocked. I never expected to have so much fun in a superhero film. Movies like Blade, X-Men, and Batman Begins had seemed to say there was only one way to make a comic book movie, and that’s deadly serious. Iron Man eschewed that attitude with the flippant irreverence I’d expect from its main character. The movie did have its serious scenes, but the majority of the picture was filled with a kinetic energy and a constant sense of fun. I walked into the theater not getting Iron Man’s appeal; I walked out an Iron Man fan.
This was bolstered by Downey’s now-iconic performance. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. His jokes, his charisma, he owned this film. His line, “I am Iron Man,” was 100 percent accurate, for I couldn’t imagine this movie without him. Given the wide range of roles I’ve seen Downey portray I am hesitant to call this his best performance ever, but it is my favorite (with his 2008 follow-up Tropic Thunder a very close second).
Iron Man even brought Now Playing Podcast out of a brief retirement in 2008, and we followed up that short review with an even more extensive breakdown of the film for our Avengers Retrospective Series in 2012.
Yet, despite my love of the movie, I still thought Marvel’s overall strategy was ill-formed. Iron Man did well, Hulk did not. More, the only superhero film people seemed to remember from 2008 was Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight — a film that was more than a blockbuster, it was a cultural touchstone.
In 2008 it really seemed Marvel had lost the battle. More, they had no movies planned for 2009. Iron Man was a big enough hit to keep the wheels turning for Iron Man 2 in 2010 but I never thought Marvel could go the distance. Avengers seemed like a pipe dream.
Again, I bet wrong. Iron Man 2 built on the brand in 2010, and the following year saw two more Marvel films, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger. Both did respectable business, but neither broke the $200 million domestic mark to be qualified as a blockbuster. They didn’t need to; Marvel was playing the long game, they were building a brand.
It paid off — big time. The Avengers took the world by storm. It almost seemed a rematch of Marvel versus DC as, that same year, Nolan returned with The Dark Knight Rises. Iron Man once again faced Batman, but this time Stark brought his friends and when 2012 ended it was The Avengers that had become the benchmark for comic book movies. Sorry, Batman.
Iron Man. He’s poseable!
Marvel Studios’ brazen gambit paid off in spades. Not only has the company become an unstoppable movie juggernaut, they have expanded their cinematic universe to weekly network television, to four different Netflix series’, and even drawn plans for up to three movies per year in the future.
Other studios now desperately try to ape Marvel’s success. After trying for 20 years to get Batman and Superman on screen together, next year finally brings us Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, with a list of superheroes that include Wonder Woman, Cyborg, and — according to rumor — Aquaman, the Flash, and others. DC is now playing catch-up to Marvel.
Even other studios with Marvel properties have tried to follow this formula, though to less success. The same year The Avengers was released Sony tried to build its own multi-chapter story with The Amazing Spider-Man. This year they announced that a Spidey universe of films is coming, including two spin-offs featuring villains — Sony is now grasping for whatever characters to which they hold rights. At 20th Century Fox, studio executives also bet big-time on their X-Men franchise, bringing back original director Bryan Singer to revitalize the series. The Marvel Studios tactic of ending each film with a “stinger” to tease the next picture is now so commonplace, audience members are afraid to leave the theater before the end credits are finished.
Yes, for the past 6 years movies have been following Marvel Studios’ formula. It all started with a big gamble that paid off: Iron Man.
As for me, Iron Man opened a door that had been cracked the year before with Spider-Man 3. The Marvel movies were really an exciting property to follow. My dormant comic fandom was back with a vengeance. Marjorie, knowing my love of Iron Man, bought me my first high-end Marvel collectibles: a Hot Toys “Mech Test” Tony Stark figure, as well as a Kotobukiya Iron Man statue. The door was opened and before long the podcast Marvelicious Toys was launched as a companion piece to Star Wars Action News, focusing specifically on Marvel collecting.
More, Marvel Studios’ films had me wanting to build up to The Avengers. Now Playing Podcast had been following, almost exclusively, the retrospective format in 2009 and 2010, but after seeing Iron Man 2 I pitched to co-hosts Stuart and Jakob the craziest, biggest retrospective yet: every Marvel movie ever. Up until then our series’ had all been of manageable length of a dozen films or less. It took a year of discussion. First, Stuart thought we should only do the six Marvel Studios films. Then he thought we should do the major franchises. Finally he agreed to all theatrical films, and we had started Now Playing’s Complete Marvel Movie Retrospective. Over time I was even able to find a back door — several 1970s TV movies had aired in theaters in foreign countries.
It put Now Playing on a path to greater success, as described in my review of Howard the Duck — our first review in that very long series.
Yet while I still ride the high Iron Man gave me in 2008, bolstered regularly by a new “fix” from Marvel Studios, I do wonder how long this will last. Movies are defined by trends; after Star Wars every studio fast-tracked their space films, but by the mid-80’s those had become passé; after Gremlins any script with tiny attackers, from Ghoulies to Critters was given the green light. The cases of Hollywood me-too-ism are legion, but they all have one thing in common: they end when the next big thing comes along.
I often ruminate on what that next trend will be, and when audiences will tire of the serialized cinema storytelling and prefer movies that provide a singular experience with no “to be continued…” at the end. I have no doubt that day will come, but I think we’re in for many more years of the Marvel Age of cinema before we get there.
Tomorrow — 2009!
Arnie is a movie critic for Now Playing Podcast, a book reviewer for the Books & Nachos podcast, and co-host of the collecting podcasts Star Wars Action News and Marvelicious Toys. You can follow him on Twitter @thearniec
The 40 Year-Old-Critic: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
In The 40-Year-Old Critic, Venganza Media creator and host Arnie Carvalho recalls a memorable film for each year of his life. This series appears daily on the Venganza Media Gazette.
Star Wars’ greatest legacy may not be the (now endless) sequels, or the billions of dollars in box office revenue, or even the tens of billions of ancillary revenue the franchise has generated for Lucasfilm (now Disney). No, the longest lasting impact of Star Wars may be the people inspired by that film saga to go on and create themselves.
Filmmakers as varied as Jon Favreau, Damon Lindelof, and Eli Roth have all cited Star Wars as an important inspiration to their works, as have numerous authors, artists, game designers, and more.
In 2005 Star Wars inspired me as well… to become a podcaster.
By the time Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith was released I was pretty far-gone in terms of my fandom. Any lull I had experienced from 2000 to 2002 was long gone. My 2-bedroom townhouse had become a virtual Star Wars shrine with toys, prop replicas, and other various bric-a-brac on display in every room. As much due to my collection as it was a desire to build equity, Marjorie and I eventually left the rental property behind and moved into a home specifically selected for its ability to handle and display my Star Wars collection.
I had gotten three Star Wars tattoos since Attack of the Clones was released, including a Yoda that was based on the art in Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars micro TV series that bridged the story between Episode II and III. I was the ultimate Star Wars consumer — if it had a Star Wars logo I either bought it or put it on a long list to buy. I even, much to the amusement of the Target clerk and the embarrassment of my wife, bought a pair of Star Wars underwear intended for small children. To outsiders it was an undergarment, but to me it was a collectible.
The birth of Darth Vader was the moment fans had waited 28 years for.
The excitement grew as we drew close to Revenge of the Sith’s May 2005 release date. The premiere was May 19 at 12 a.m., and I took the day off of work to sit outside the theater trying to get the best seats. Though I arrived at 10 a.m., I was not the first in line.
Coming off the high of the Star Wars Celebration III convention we attended in April, Marjorie and I had prepared line party events, including trivia, prizes, and music. I rolled up in my convertible with two 12-inch subwoofers in the trunk and blasted dance mixes of Star Wars themes. It was a party, and a blast.
I did have to leave the party for a couple hours to teach class — which I did wearing a Darth Maul tie.
What about the movie? It was far from an afterthought in all the festivities, it was the main event. The conventions, the toys, the party, they were all ways to express our fandom and excitement for the upcoming release. But when I sat in that theater the early morning hours of May 19 I was enthralled. Instantly I knew this was the best of the Star Wars prequels, by a long shot. It was the first of the new trilogy to have emotional weight. Plus it had great action, exciting new characters, and even succeeded in besting The Phantom Menace by having the best lightsaber fight of the entire series. I had high expectations for Episode III and the film lived up to them.
The CGI visuals in Revenge of the Sith were striking and stunning.
I lived on a euphoric high for weeks after seeing Revenge of the Sith. I went several times in local theaters, not out of a sense of obligation as I did with Phantom Menace but because I wanted to enjoy the film again. Then Marjorie and I drove to Chicago to see the film digitally with Stuart, my Now Playing Podcast co-host and longtime friend.
My Star Wars collecting went to even greater heights. Every day during our lunch hour Marjorie and I would go on a toy run, visiting one or more stores looking for new Star Wars toys.
Weeks passed, though, and while my fandom never wavered the anticipation turned into a feeling of melancholia. I had been looking forward to the Star Wars prequels since they were first officially announced in 1993 (in, of all things, a Star Wars screensaver). For twelve years I’d always had the next Star Wars film to which I could look forward. With the prequels done I wondered if I would ever again experience that level of anticipation.
To continue to experience fandom in new ways I read more Star Wars novels and comics, and visited websites and online forums. There I saw repeated mentions of something called a “podcast.”
Still a better ending than Christopher Lee got in the Lord of the Rings series.
Being a tech head and, at that time, a college professor of Computer Science, I had heard of podcasting. I never understood the appeal; I was no fan of talk radio. More, I didn’t have an iPod, preferring the Creative Labs Nomad player. Yet now I saw there were podcasts discussing Star Wars, so I listened, and was excited. In my daily life I knew no Star Wars fans other than Marjorie, but on these shows were fans just like me, and they spent hours each week talking about nothing except Star Wars! Even more impressive, the Canadian podcast Star Wars En Direct even had Star Wars authors on the show to discuss their books.
I not only listened to the new podcasts, I went back and consumed the archives of many of these shows. Yet one thing frustrated me; while there were podcasts about Star Wars books, movies, and comics, none existed to talk about Star Wars collecting. Slowly the idea dawned on me… I should do my own.
I had a background in audio production. My desire to entertain, inspired by Pump Up the Volume, had sent me to study Mass Media Communications as an undergraduate. I was a radio DJ, and in my spare time experimented with digital audio, including rudimentary audio editing. As time went on I experimented in other computer multimedia, including video editing. I had the basic skills to do it, and just a few hours of research showed me all the technologies I would need to make it happen.
I also had my own website. My career goal had been to become a video game designer, and to build my resume I created a site reviewing PC games new and old.
So on Sunday, August 28, 2005, a little more than three months since Revenge of the Sith had visited theaters, I was inspired to create my own Star Wars podcast. I will never forget the conversation I had with Marjorie that Sunday morning.
“What plans do we have today?” I asked.
“Nothing,” she replied. It was a rare day that we had no obligations.
“Do you want to help me make a podcast?”
“Sure.” Then, after a moment, she asked “What’s a podcast?”
Palpatine’s slow corruption of Anakin Skywalker was a highlight.
Within a few hours I had dug some old microphones out of a tote in my closet, installed the necessary audio editing software, and we were off. I didn’t know if anyone would listen, though I hoped they would. No matter what, though, I knew we’d always have the designation of having done it first.
That day Star Wars Action News was born.
I eventually learned that people did listen. I had reached out to several of the Star Wars websites and podcasts I’d read as a fan, and they actually posted about our show. I received immediate feedback, and that first week we had more than 50 downloads. The very next weekend I was at Best Buy to purchase better microphones and take some of that feedback to improve the show.
Tens of listeners became hundreds. Hundreds became thousands. Our show was a success. And while it was not earning money, I had finally found an outlet for my dream of entertaining people. Sure, I worked days at a bank, nights at a college, but on weekends I was a Star Wars commentator and collector.
That one podcast led to another… and another… and another. Marjorie and I have since traveled the country as invited Star Wars experts to speak at conventions. We have taken the mentality of throwing a Star Wars line party and grown it — at the last Star Wars Celebration we threw a party for almost 500 listeners and friends. Plus every year at San Diego Comic-Con we host the Star Wars Fan Breakfast for a sold-out crowd.
Most importantly, though, new friendships were formed. Marjorie and I met people near and far thanks to the reach of our Star Wars podcast. Now I had friends with whom I could chat about the saga, in addition to the regular show discussing my collecting.
And, of course, you’re probably reading this specifically because of Star Wars Action News. After all, without Star Wars Action News there’d be no Now Playing Podcast, the movie review show Marjorie and I started in 2007 and, with years of nurturing and attention, has grown to have an audience that even exceeds that of our cardinal show.
Darth Maul take note: lightsaber fights mean more when there’s a background between the characters.
These days it’s common for me to say “My life is weird.” I think this when I attend press events to interview the stars and directors of Leprechaun: Origins. The thought crosses my mind when I’m having a normal day at work and a piece of fan mail appears on my phone. I say it out loud when I see lines of people anxiously waiting to get into an event I’m hosting, just as I was anxious to see Star Wars in theaters. I’ve had the tremendous fortune to do things, meet people, and go places that many only dream of. I don’t take any of that for granted, but I always acknowledge that it’s a path I was inspired to take because of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
Tomorrow — 2006!
Arnie is a movie critic for Now Playing Podcast, a book reviewer for the Books & Nachos podcast, and co-host of the collecting podcasts Star Wars Action News and Marvelicious Toys. You can follow him on Twitter @thearniec
New Podcast: Episode 432: A New Dawn for Star Wars Fiction
Last Spring it was announced that the Star Wars canon was taking a new direction. To pave way for the upcoming Episode VII as well as the Rebels TV series the previous Star Wars “Expanded Universe” was reclassified as Star Wars Legends, wiping the slate clean for a new era of Star Wars stories. That begins today with the release of A New Dawn, the Star Wars Rebels tie-in novel by John Jackson Miller. In this episode of Star Wars Action News Brock joins us with a review of this first novel in a new age of Star Wars fiction.
Also on this week’s show, Marjorie and Arnie review Hasbro’s 4th wave of Black Series 3.75-inch figures. From Dagobah Luke to Yoda to Toryn Farr, watch the video to see hands-on reviews of these collector-oriented figures!
With reports from Wizard World Chicago and GenCon, eating fresh with Rebels, and much more, it’s all in this episode of Star Wars Action News!
We want you to join our team! We have openings currently for video editors, audio editors, and photo editors! Find out all the details in our forums!
: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN432.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
The 40 Year-Old-Critic: Attack of the Clones (2002)
In The 40-Year-Old Critic, Venganza Media creator and host Arnie Carvalho recalls a memorable film for each year of his life. This series appears daily on the Venganza Media Gazette.
A week ago, while attending Wizard World Chicago, I had a debate with a Now Playing Podcast listener who claimed Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones was the worst movie in the Star Wars saga. I strongly disagreed.
Not to say I think any of the Star Wars films are bad, per se. I have three tattoos taken from the series. I host Star Wars Action News, a biweekly podcast about Star Wars collecting. I am a devoted Star Wars fan — but I’m also a discerning Star Wars fan that can recognize that those Ewok TV movies are horrible and also distinguish differences in quality among the six films in the saga.
To me, Attack of the Clones was a much needed course correction for the Star Wars prequel trilogy.
To say Episode I: The Phantom Menace left me cold would be a literal truth, as I sat out one night in the freezing rain to get tickets. But it’s also metaphorically true. Perhaps it was how I binged on that first prequel film, seeing it seven times in three days. More, though, I think it was the movie itself. While it boasted the most exciting lightsaber fight in the series, the overall story was somewhat incomprehensible — I had to read various “expanded universe” novels to understand what the Trade Federation was trying to do, and I still think it was stretching. More, the film was completely devoid of humor. The first three Star Wars films had all been fun, with the cocky attitude of Han Solo (Harrison Ford) a centerpiece. Here that sardonic fun was replaced with a walking CGI fish creature stepping in crap.
This was the Star Wars prequel I’d dreamt of as a child. Phantom Menace did not deliver.
After The Phantom Menace I slowly found myself drifting away from Star Wars — a major lifestyle change. I had been reading Star Wars novels since 1993, played the video games constantly on my PC, and collected the toys obsessively since 1995. That all peaked with Phantom Menace’s release, when the Toys ‘R’ Us employees informed me that I’d spent the most money of anyone during their midnight toy release, and when I traveled 60 miles every Thursday to get the latest Kentucky Fried Chicken basket topper.
But in the summer of 1999 the glut of Episode I toys clogged shelves. With no new figures found, just the same ones that had been available for months, the thrill of collecting waned and I stopped bothering to look for the next wave of toys. More, I was let down by The Phantom Menace and didn’t wish to dwell on it. I pursued other interests, and stopped buying Star Wars books, toys, and games altogether. It was not a conscious break; when Phantom Menace was re-released in theaters in November of that same year — this time with proceeds going to charity — I saw it again. But that viewing solidified my feeling that my childhood was dead, it was time to move past Star Wars.
Reservoir Jedi
That stance lasted for a couple years. I even tried to sell my Star Wars collection, only to find that I wasn’t alone. A toy store in Chicago offered me 5 cents for brand new, mint figures — 1 percent of the retail price. He told me no one wanted Star Wars toys, new or old, and that he had a warehouse full of them that he couldn’t sell.
Also during that time my life changed a lot. I met Marjorie, we dated, and eventually moved in together. I also quit my low-paying job and returned to school full-time. We were living off her income and what savings I had put together. Times were tough, bills went unpaid, and there was no extra income to spend on toys. What movies we saw were mostly from the $1 rental bin, not full price theatrical fare.
Despite all this, when the first teaser trailer for Attack of the Clones was released I started to get excited. The trailer was attached to Harry Potter, and so Marjorie and I bought tickets just to see it in the theater. When it played… I was not thrilled. It looked like more of the same that we got in 1999 with Phantom Menace. We were so disappointed we actually left the theater without staying for Potter.
McGregor showed us Star Wars could be fun again.
For me, Star Wars was in a nosedive. But it did pull out, and I remember the moment perfectly. A secret trailer for Attack of the Clones named “Mystery” was released online. A friend came over and he, Marjorie, and I all gathered around my laptop to watch. Another tease, this one focused on an assassin out to get Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman). It showed action, it showed suspense, but best of all it showed humor! It seemed Lucas had realized how dull every character in Phantom Menace had been, and now the sarcastic wit was back courtesy of Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor).
I watched that trailer repeatedly. By the time the third trailer came, my break from Star Wars was over.
But there’s more than that — this film changed my entire life forever.
As mentioned, Marjorie and I were engaged. We knew we were going to get married, but I was hesitating because I was an unemployed graduate student. I had no money, and neither of our parents’ would pay for a wedding. As such, the engagement had no end date, and I hadn’t even scraped the money together for a proper ring. Instead I gave her a placeholder ring that took the last of my cash: $25.
Our excitement for Attack of the Clones grew together; she was as excited for the film as I (and she was nowhere near as hard on Phantom Menace). As such, Marjorie suggested, “What if we have a Star Wars wedding?”
Marjorie, Arnie, and their minister pose for a photo at the wedding.
The thought had occurred to me; I’m not very traditional to begin with, and I considered all weddings to be pomp and circumstance. A tuxedo means nothing to me, nor does a wedding dress to Marjorie. All wedding garb is a costume, so why not make it a Star Wars costume? Plus there was no better time to do it than surrounding the release of a new movie, so a date was set and the Carvalho Star Wars wedding was on.
Her parents were excited. My parents were mortified. We kept certain things traditional — we were married in a church and there were no full-on costumes (I had never heard of the 501st costuming club, if I had I surely would have invited them). As I was the unemployed one I did much of the planning, and I did borrow some money — since repaid — from my godparents to get Marjorie a proper diamond engagement ring; smaller than she deserved but what I could give.
But she had another crazy idea.
The Star Wars Celebration II convention was the weekend before our wedding. As planning had left us stressed, we decided to max out our last credit card and go. I was hesitant; I had gone to a couple conventions in the past but didn’t see the appeal. That said, I had gone only for a couple hours, never an entire weekend. This was a totally new experience, and when we arrived we were immersed in Star Wars. Men in realistic-looking Stormtrooper armor worked security, triggering a latent fear of the men in white. On top of that, celebrities were everywhere; we even had Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian) and other stars sign our wedding invitation!
Plus, there was new Attack of the Clones footage screened exclusively for convention attendees. We got to see a trailer that parodied Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, ending with Yoda, lightsaber lit, jumping around like a crazy frog.
I had been excited for Episode II, but now I was practically vibrating with anticipation. I wanted to see Yoda kick ass!
Marjorie and Arnie’s wedding invitation, signed by Star Wars celebrities.
Star Wars Celebration II was a magical weekend bested only by the next one, when Marjorie and I were married. Because of the Star Wars connection local media showed up, and once it hit the AP wire we were known around the country. Our honeymoon in New Orleans felt like a press tour as we woke up every morning at 5 a.m. to talk about our wedding on radio shows, and we were even taken to the local NBC affiliate to appear on MSNBC.
On that honeymoon we went to a midnight screening of Attack of the Clones, which turned out to be one of the worst theatrical experiences in my life. As it was told to me, the theater was showing the film on 16 screens, but had only 4 prints. They were trying to daisy chain the prints from projector to projector, and it didn’t work; the film simply ripped. They had to show the prints to 4 theaters, and the other 12 waited. Finally at 2:30 a.m. the movie started.
I was nervous, what if it was terrible? We were booked to go on MSNBC the next morning, and Marjorie and I had already rehearsed saying, “Loved it!” in unison — lest we look like fools, going on national television about a wedding to tie into a sucky film. The trailers looked good, but after The Phantom Menace I knew there was a risk.
I needn’t have worried. That next morning, when asked by Natalie Morales what we thought of the film, we were honest in expressing excitement. It truly was a return to the Star Wars I’d loved as a child.
The sheer enormity of the clone army excited me.
I’ve seen the movie dozens of times since 2002. Removed from the excitement of the release and the sentiment of our wedding I can clearly see it’s not a perfect film. If ranking the 6 live-action theatrical releases it would be second to last, Phantom Menace at the bottom. I felt the inclusion of Boba Fett as a child was unnecessary to the plot and some of the mysteries never made sense (though at the time I trusted, falsely, that Episode III would answer these questions). Still, the acting was far improved — Portman decided to use her skill this time, and McGregor was a joy throughout. The CGI effects were also better, with the huge battle at the end truly impressing and enthralling me. The lightsaber fight was exciting, and Yoda lived up to my expectations. It has flaws, but was certainly a step in the right direction.
Best of all, it ended with a wedding. Marjorie and I had both gone in spoiler-free and had no idea that we would be married only four days before Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) and Padme would also tie the knot. To have a Star Wars wedding tying into a new Star Wars film release was one thing, but to be that close to one that also involved a wedding seemed like kismet.
The wedding in Star Wars seemed perfectly timed for our Star Wars wedding.
Though I couldn’t buy Marjorie the ring she deserved, and though the wedding had to be done on a very tight budget, marrying her was the best decision in my life. We have not only shared a life, but we share Star Wars, both through our wedding and now through our podcasts. It would have happened anyway but, to quote Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally, “When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” Thanks to this movie, it started earlier and has given me more great days than I’d have had otherwise.
More, Attack of the Clones brought me back into the Star Wars fold. I saw it multiple times in theaters, including a trip to Chicago to see it on IMAX — my first IMAX viewing experience. It righted much of what The Phantom Menace wronged.
It brought me back into collecting, as well. New figures were on shelves, but I couldn’t afford them. I finally gave up looking for a dream job and, to pay the bills (and buy a few figures), I took another low-paying temp job. In another unexpected twist, that temp job grew quickly into the career I have today.
And, yes, for our 10th anniversary I finally gave her the ring I wish I could have given her in 2002.
My wife, my work, and my continued love of Star Wars can all be traced back to Attack of the Clones. For that I can forgive its few cinematic flaws and appreciate it for the fun space fantasy that it is.
Tomorrow — 2003!
Arnie is a movie critic for Now Playing Podcast, a book reviewer for the Books & Nachos podcast, and co-host of the collecting podcasts Star Wars Action News and Marvelicious Toys. You can follow him on Twitter @thearniec
The 40 Year-Old-Critic: Armageddon (1998)
In The 40-Year-Old Critic, Venganza Media creator and host Arnie Carvalho recalls a memorable film for each year of his life. This series appears daily on the Venganza Media Gazette.
How Arnie Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Asteroid
I’ve often referenced Armageddon on Now Playing Podcast, and, shockingly, those comparisons are usually favorable. This has led to many a raised eyebrow and gentle mocking — even from co-hosts who have never seen Michael Bay’s 1998 blockbuster (you know who you are).
So, though 1998 contained many movies that influenced me, from Bride of Chucky to Pi to Your Friends and Neighbors to Very Bad Things, I think I must take the opportunity to discuss Armageddon and explain how Bay changed my perception of action films.
If it helps you to relate to my position at all, I’ll admit that I was skeptical about the movie going in.
First, it was the second giant-rock-destroys-Earth movie of 1998 (it was a comet in Deep Impact). Believe it or not, this idea had been one that petrified me for nearly a decade.
In 1990 I read an article in the newspaper entitled “The Doomsday Rock” which described the likelihood that, eventually, a giant asteroid would collide with Earth and cause the extinction of the human race.
I had grown up with the fear of nuclear Armageddon ending our species, but by 1990 the Cold War was over and I could finally stop worrying. Now came an even bigger fear — at least nuclear war required two human beings to consciously kill everyone, but no one could control or stop a giant asteroid.
I kid you not; I didn’t sleep for days after reading that article. It became my biggest fear: death by asteroid. It’s a terror I’ve learned to live with, but every day I hope that NASA receives the funding it needs to track more of these objects in space; as even NASA’s chief Charles Bolden has said our only current hope is to “pray.”
While the concept was one that scared me, seeing two similar movies came out in the summer of 1998 seemed excessive. Deep Impact beat Armageddon to theaters by more than two months, and it was a deeply moving and touching film. By the time of Armageddon’s debut I thought we’d already seen all the giant rock movies we needed.
Before seeing Armageddon I could not imagine why an astronaut would need a gun. It’s one of the many improbable plot twists that I ended up going with.
Even more than that, Armageddon‘s pre-release press made the film sound absurd. While ostensibly a disaster film about a big asteroid, I read articles which mentioned scenes showcasing astronauts with handguns. In what world would a gun become instrumental when a giant rock is about to kill all life on Earth? Despite having Bruce Willis as the star, this wasn’t Die Hard; what role would guns play? The astronauts in Deep Impact didn’t need them.
Despite those reservations I still found myself in a packed theater during the film’s Fourth of July opening weekend.
I was drawn in by several factors, starting with director Michael Bay.
Bay had impressed me with Bad Boys, which I thought was the best buddy-cop film since Lethal Weapon, and it marked the first time I saw Will Smith as a movie star. Bay’s follow-up, The Rock, was loud and heavy on explosions, but had some great action scenes for Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage.
And, for the longest time, I thought Bay also directed Cage in Con Air, which was dumb fun. I was likely confused by the fact that Jerry Bruckheimer produced both films. So, despite Bay having no involvement in Con Air, it was still a factor in my seeing Armageddon.
A larger factor pulling me to the theater was the cast. I had been a devout fan of Willis since Moonlighting. I loved seeing him in film; it didn’t matter if it was Color of Night, North, Pulp Fiction, Nobody’s Fool, or even Hudson Hawk.
Next was Ben Affleck, an actor I knew from his work with Kevin Smith, plus his Oscar-winning screenplay for Good Will Hunting. This was his first big-budget epic, and as he was a friend of Smith’s I was rooting for his success.
Some familiar faces make up the heroic drilling team.
The rest of the cast — the ragtag group of asteroid drillers — was made up of some of Hollywood’s best 90s character actors, including Billy Bob Thornton, Steve Buscemi, Michael Clarke Duncan, Owen Wilson, and Keith David. I was even happy to see Ken Hudson Campbell, an actor I fondly remembered from his role as the “Animal” emotion in Herman’s Head.
While many of those stars would be launched to greater fame by Armageddon, even in 1998 I thought of this as a “dream team” of performers.
It was very lucky that I did know this cast, as I quickly realized that in Armageddon they were not characters, they were “types.” Affleck was the young hotshot, Buscemi the sardonic genius, Wilson the funny one, Duncan was the big guy who was soft on the inside, and Willis was the tough-as-nails, no-nonsense leader of the pack.
The baggage I brought with me from previous films helped me tremendously, as Armageddon wasn’t going to spend a lot of time developing new relationships or exploring character emotions. This movie was going to put the pedal to the metal and go, go, go.
It opens with a meteor shower demolishing New York City, and from that moment NASA is racing the clock to save humanity. The pace is so fast, Bay never stops the film to let the audience catch its collective breath.
Initially I was put-off by this; here was a movie exploring my deepest fear, yet the characters on screen never worried. They’re laughing, drinking, going to strip clubs and spending money like there’s no tomorrow — because there might not be. What a tonal shift from the dour Deep Impact. Even when we weren’t dealing with the asteroid directly, there were few scenes that didn’t involve a fight or a chase.
When we are introduced to Willis’ Harry Stamper he’s chasing Affleck through an oil-drilling platform, the older man shooting at the younger one. The reason for this homicidal rage? Affleck’s character, A.J., was caught sleeping with Harry’s daughter, Grace (Liv Tyler), and Harry hoped she would do better than a roughneck like her father.
It’s silly. It’s outrageous. It’s over-the-top. I wasn’t sure if I was going with it at all. My consternation only increased as the movie continued through the training montage and other silliness.
It wasn’t the concept of “only the best oil drillers in the world can save us” that put me off. That was standard fish-out-of-water storytelling. Think back to The Last Starfighter, where only a teenage video game player can win an interstellar war. Or in 48 Hours, where a cop needs a convict to catch a killer. Even in The Terminator a waitress had to fight alongside a warrior. This “you’re the only one, even though you’re unqualified” trope was one I’d grown up with, though never witnessed to this extreme.
My problem was I had no idea who these characters were. In a rare slow scene A.J. and Grace enjoy a final picnic, and some erotic animal cracker play, before his spaceflight. When asked if he thinks anyone else is doing that same thing at that time, A.J. responds, “I hope so. Otherwise, what the hell are we trying to save?”
It was a question that resonated with me — in a film full of cardboard characters, why did I care if everyone died?
It started to click, though, in another pre-spaceflight scene. Driller Chick (Will Patton) goes to see his ex and their son. The son doesn’t know his daddy, and a dropped line about a court order implies Chick hasn’t been the best father. But in this moment, at the end of the world, Chick wants to give his son a toy space shuttle. This was a character with very little screen time and no distinguishing characteristics, yet, out of the blue, suddenly he has a backstory: a son, and his own regret.
This is when I had my “eureka” moment. How many times have I seen this story of the estranged father who, just before a moment of heroism, reconnects with his child? Or vice versa? It’s a moment intended to endear us to the character and show an emotional connection, a reason for them to live, or motivation for them to sacrifice themselves.
Be it Nancy saying goodnight to her mother in A Nightmare on Elm Street, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s tender reconnection with Alyssa Milano in Commando, or even Willis’ own Die Hard where he leaves a message of regret for his wife and children, we’ve seen this time and time again. (We’d see an echo of it later in Armageddon between Harry and Grace as well).
The difference is that in those other films the moment is the climax of an emotional relationship, recognition of clarity and regret. But for Chick this is the first sign of characterization he’s given. Did we know he was a bad dad before this second? Did we care?
Through Chick’s sudden storyline I realized this wasn’t a film in the classic sense, it was a two-and-a-half hour music video. The vibe is the same — rollicking rock music (mostly classic rock by ZZ Top and Aerosmith) blared through the theater’s sound system while the characters underwent mental health evaluations and simulated spacewalks.
There were so many Aerosmith songs I wondered if the band (fronted by Liv Tyler’s father Steven) was chosen because Liv was in the movie, or if Liv was in the movie in exchange for Bay being able to raid Aerosmith’s catalog.
Even when the characters go to space and the rock music stops, the bombastic score takes over and keeps the vibe going. But more than just being driven by music, the storytelling methods in a short video and Armageddon are identical.
The special effects were state-of-the-art, lending a rare moment of credibility to this adventure.
In a five-minute song there is little time to create a unique character, so tropes and types must be utilized to tell a story.
In Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” I don’t need to know the gang members have families and loved ones, I can bring that to the story myself. In Aerosmith’s “Cryin’” video I don’t need to hear a word to understand Alicia Silverstone is a rebellious teen. I didn’t need to see the kid picked on in school to know he’s a geek in the video for The Offspring’s “Pretty Fly for a White Guy.”
Bay came from music videos, and he trusts the audience to be used to this shorthand storytelling and rapid cutting. This movie was aimed directly at those weaned on MTV. If we have already seen scads of movies that embody a trope, why recreate it?
That’s when it hit me; Bay wasn’t lazy, he was efficient! He trusts his audience to have seen movies with these characters in them before, and thus he can actually get away with just putting tropes in a scene and letting them have their action. Characters can be types instead of people, in a movie that isn’t really about the people anyway.
I already hear, in my own head, the counter of that — that movies should be about people, and that if we don’t care about the characters how can we be excited by the action. It’s an argument I’ve used myself when discussing some of Bay’s later Transformers films.
Yet, I do believe that there should be balance. If all movies were the same, a cinema would be a mighty dull place to visit. There should be room for different types of stories. While two 1998 films told the story of a calamitous collision that ends life on Earth, the way the stories were told make those films as different as night and day.
But, and I cannot stress this enough, what Bay is doing is a tightrope walk. It is a dangerous game to rely solely on hackneyed plots and character tropes. Here, he pulls it off, in large part due to an extraordinarily likable, talented cast that brings more to the screen than they were given on the page.
The director must be given credit here as well. The editing, camerawork, and special effects were all top-notch. Bay knew how to film a scene for maximum adrenaline, and the music made it feel like a party.
Bay’s go-to image for pride is a giant American flag. It’s not subtle, but there’s no denying it plays in the heartland.
Who knew the end of the world could be so fun?
The film does overstay its welcome, especially in the longer Criterion Collection Director’s Cut where Chick’s same story beat is repeated with Harry visiting his father in a nursing home. Yet, for all the crazy twists and turns the plot takes — and the obvious heartstring-tugging climax — Armageddon is a fun ride. I walked out of it knowing I enjoyed the movie, though I didn’t respect it very much.
As Bay has continued to make movies Armageddon has become harder to defend. With three abysmal Transformers films, plus Pearl Harbor, he’s too easy a target for us critics to hit. Transformers especially took the storytelling methods of Armageddon to their worst extreme, invoking tropes in ways that I didn’t give a damn about.
You can hear my detailed thoughts on those three awful films, plus the fourth not-too-bad one, in the Now Playing Podcast archives.
I may be mostly drawn to films that do provide insights into characters and comment on everyday life though on-screen events. But sometimes I just want escapist entertainment. Armageddon delivers that in spades.
Tomorrow — 1999!
Arnie is a movie critic for Now Playing Podcast, a book reviewer for the Books & Nachos podcast, and co-host of the collecting podcasts Star Wars Action News and Marvelicious Toys. You can follow him on Twitter @thearniec
New Podcast: Episode 431: Exclusive Showdown
The irony of San Diego Comic-Con is that while everyone rushes to buy the exclusives, there’s no time at the con to really look at them! Now Marjorie and Arnie are back home and have unpacked their SDCC shipment, and are ready to tell you if Hasbro’s 6-Inch Jabba the Hut exclusive, or the SDCC/Toys R Us exclusive Cantina Showdown set, was worth the trouble.
Also on this week’s show Steve the Gingerprince reports in from the London Film and Comic Con. With a not-too-surprising number of Star Wars guests (given where Episode VII is filming) and tons of toys, listen in to find out about that European event.
With Johnathan telling us what’s hitting stores, a look at the Star Wars Celebration pin set, and more, it’s all in this episode of Star Wars Action News!
We want you to join our team! We have openings currently for video editors, audio editors, and photo editors! Find out all the details in our forums!
: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN431.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
40 Year-Old-Critic: Howard the Duck (1986)
In The 40-Year-Old Critic, Venganza Media creator and host Arnie Carvalho recalls a memorable film for each year of his life. This series appears daily on the Venganza Media Gazette.
In 1986 I was obsessed with, and repulsed by, one film.
It starred a creature not entirely human, nor entirely animal.
The creature wanted to mate with its frizzy-haired, yet attractive, female co-star.
The film also featured a teleportation plot and a once-gentle scientist that slowly transforms into a beast.
That film was David Cronenberg’s remake of The Fly, and even its trailers scared the bejesus out of me. Those trailers ran before nearly every movie I watched. I was 11 years old, but still needed to leave the theater when I’d see The Fly approaching.
I was afraid. I was very afraid.
If I was writing this retrospective before 2011, this article would have focused on that film and how it pushed my adolescent boundaries into new territories.
But now I am going to write about Howard the Duck.
This is what I see in the ink blot…
Or, more accurately, I’m going to write about talking about Howard the Duck. I think I’ve said everything I needed to say about the notorious 1986 bomb three years ago when I reviewed it — alongside co-hosts Stuart and Jakob — for Now Playing Podcast. I discussed seeing the film in theaters, reading the novelization (which I reviewed as well, on the Marvelicious Toys podcast), and even seeing the Dark Overlord in a Rorschach Test. After more than two hours discussing Howard the Duck, what more could I have to say?
Plenty, it turns out. It was a complete accident, but Howard the Duck changed my life.
As I discussed on that show, I’d always had a kitschy fascination with George Lucas’ follow-up to Return of the Jedi. I knew people hated it, but didn’t understand why. It followed the Ghostbusters formula to a T: creatures from another plane come to Earth, wacky scientists try to determine the cause, and hilarity ensues. It even ends with one of the main characters transforming into an evil beast and the fate of the world determined by an animated laser battle between the heroes and giant, evil creatures.
“They let kids watch this film????”
I loved Ghostbusters, and I loved Howard the Duck even more — as Sigourney Weaver’s Dana never wore anything close to the slinky, sexy outfit that perfectly framed Lea Thompson’s Beverly.
Though it had been 25 years, I was excited by the chance to review Howard the Duck for Now Playing Podcast. Our movie review show was coming up on its 4th anniversary and it had always been a way for me to discuss films for which I had passion. Whether I loved a film or hated it, if I felt something then I wanted to talk about it.
Around this time the show was also finally starting to find some success. Our early, short-form reviews had downloads that measured in the teens. With our Friday the 13th Retrospective Series — something I envisioned as a quick one-off — downloads jumped from the teens to the thousands.
We continued to work hard and over the years our audience started to find us. We were still a small fish in a large sea, but we had grown from a dwarf puffer to at least a catfish.
This film was no vehicle for an intelligent, sensitive duck.
The success of our 2010 A Nightmare on Elm Street series emboldened me, and, that same year, Iron Man 2 inspired me. After seeing Iron Man, War Machine, Nick Fury, and Black Widow share the screen I could not contain my excitement for The Avengers. So I pitched to Stuart and Jakob the biggest retrospective series ever: all of the Marvel movies, in order, starting with Howard the Duck.
There was quite a bit of negotiation, wrangling, and reordering of movies; but between May 2010 and March 2011 we came to an accord and the Now Playing Marvel Movie Retrospective began.
It was our biggest series, or biggest gamble, and it all hinged on Howard.
Perhaps it was the buildup, but that show always seemed special. We were coming off the Philip K Dick Retrospective Series, which had been pushed to Spring 2011 after The Adjustment Bureau’s release date changed. Downloads were low on the Dick series and there were some production issues. By the time we hit The Adjustment Bureau morale behind-the-scenes was low.
All of that changed with Howard. To my memory, that was the first Now Playing review that, in its raw audio, went more than three hours. Over the course of two years I had allowed Now Playing’s runtime to grow, but only one show had ever gone more than 2 hours: the 2010 review of the A Nightmare on Elm Street remake.
I spent about 80 hours editing our Howard the Duck review, trying to hold to the editor’s axiom of “kill your darlings.” But I just couldn’t do it.
Even during my 11th pass on the Howard the Duck review I was still laughing out loud at the jokes.
Before I even finished the edit I knew that show was something special. I just prayed it would find an audience.
It did.
Maybe it was the press releases I had sent, maybe it was the social media promotion, but for the first time, Now Playing Podcast broke through iTunes’ Top 10 TV/Film audio podcast rankings. It took a few days after the show was released, but we had done it!
That spot increased our visibility, and the downloads multiplied exponentially. To go from the unsuccessful Dick series to the top of the iTunes charts was just incredible. Howard the Duck became iTunes’ 5th most downloaded episode in the aforementioned category.
Howard had a theatrical come-back this year, but this mangy fowl is NOT my Howard! The costume in 1986 looked better than this.
The success was so astounding I actually hesitated before releasing the next show. I knew our Man-Thing podcast was also pretty funny, but the newest show is always the most downloaded. Downloads of Howard were sure to decrease.
Still, we had a schedule, and so Man-Thing went out on time, and became iTunes’ No. 1 most downloaded TV/Film audio podcast. The following week we reviewed Kick-Ass and it grabbed the No. 1 slot, pushing Man-Thing into second place.
Stuart, Jakob, and I were stunned. It was unbelievable to look at the iTunes rankings and see Man-Thing at the top. I have since joked that more people listened to our review of Man-Thing than actually saw that damn film.
One thing we all agreed on — it was Howard the Duck that launched those shows to the top. Howard was a special show, combining serious film criticism with a terrific dose of humor, making fun of ourselves as well as the film, and we knew that was why listeners kept coming back to our show.
Now Playing has had its ups and downs since then. Some shows and retrospectives click more with audiences than others, and some shows I am more proud of than others. Still, it was with Howard the Duck that all the pieces fell into place and listeners responded.
For those reasons I will always love that duck.
I have stated at least twice on the podcast that I wish I could turn that “Red Arrow” grade for Howard into a “Green Arrow” on our site. I realize the film has its flaws — I still believe the second act drags — but I enjoy it anyway. I gave Howard the review I did not because I didn’t like the movie, but because I didn’t think others would find the same enjoyment. After all, our end rating is always a “recommendation” and not a “thumbs up.” When I give the “Green Arrow” I’m not saying, “I like this movie,” I’m saying, “I think you will like this movie.”
Well, I knew back then that I liked Howard the Duck in spite of the flaws.
That fondness has grown as, through Now Playing, I’ve become closely associated with that “fowl” creature. Stuart and Jakob were with me in the review, but I was Howard’s champion (and the one that saw the Dark Overlord in a Rorschach test). Over the past three years that special relationship with this childhood guilty pleasure has grown.
Original face casts of Jeffrey Jones used by the make-up department. They now adorn my wall.
I started collecting a few trinkets from the Howard the Duck film — the old trading cards, a candy cigar, a mini duck head that once held sugar treats. Then I got the Bowen statue, the Toy Biz figure. Finally, this year, I took the plunge — one of the Industrial Light and Magic creature shop workers was selling several Howard the Duck production pieces.
On my desk, a foot from me as I write, is a glass egg that Lucasfilm gave to crew and press back in 1986. Inside that egg is a single duck feather. The Howard the Duck logo on the front makes me smile, not because of that 1986 film about a duck trapped in a world he never made, but because of the podcast that I made that found its place in the world.
Tomorrow — 1987!
Arnie is a movie critic for Now Playing Podcast, a book reviewer for the Books & Nachos podcast, and co-host of the collecting podcasts Star Wars Action News and Marvelicious Toys. You can follow him on Twitter @thearniec
40 Year-Old-Critic: Return of the Jedi (1983)
In The 40-Year-Old Critic, Venganza Media creator and host Arnie Carvalho recalls a memorable film for each year of his life. This series appears daily on the Venganza Media Gazette.
Anticipation for a film can be like great sex.
The foreplay starts when the film is announced, giving fans a hint that something great is to come. The slow build of anticipation can be excitingly agonizing. News bits are teased like a nibble on your earlobe, pictures are released from the set — the brief flashes making moviegoers anxious for the full reveal — and quotes tease the mind with plot threads as vague as an erect nipple through a cotton blouse. Finally, it all climaxes on the opening weekend; and that first viewing can sometimes be even better than the build up, or it can be a frustrating experience as the film exposes itself as something lesser than the fantasy built up in your mind.
To properly hype a film is a delicate dance. Studio marketing teams must be careful not to show too much too quickly, while still ensuring the filmgoer remains not only interested, but almost intoxicated by the perfume of previews.
I learned all of this as an 8-year-old. The film that taught me this lesson was Return of the Jedi.
Arnie’s childhood soccer team was The Force to be reckoned with.
Up until the spring of 1983 moviegoing was always spurred by an adult in my life. Even when I picked the film we attended I chose by simply looking at the newspaper listings, with no knowledge of release dates or whether the film was leaving theaters soon.
I usually became aware of a film upon its release. As mentioned in yesterday’s E.T. article, I watched Siskel & Ebert At The Movies weekly to learn about new films, but until their review aired I knew nothing about new movies being made. I may have seen an ad or two on television or trailers before other movies started, but I was too young for any of that to grab my attention.
I was too young to plan.
But that started to change after The Empire Strikes Back, with its unresolved cliffhanger of an ending. Being only 5 years old when I first saw Empire, I couldn’t fathom waiting three years for a conclusion to a story. After all, that was more than half my lifetime!
Primarily due to the toys, Star Wars was a constant topic of playground conversation, and throughout first, second, and third grade rumors about the next Star Wars film spread through the grapevine like urban legend.
“George Lucas was going to make Return of the Jedi three years after Empire, just as Empire was three years after Star Wars!”
“Are you done yet???” Arnie’s sister builds his AT-AT on Christmas day, 1982.
“Then he’s planning to take a break for a few years, and release the next movie — Episode I — in 1989!”
To this day I don’t know how much of the “news” I heard about future Star Wars films was made up, how much came from news and magazines — passed down from parent to child — or how much I’ve learned since that has retroactively mingled in my imaginings.
What I do remember is the anticipation — for years — of that next Star Wars film.
I was not a child who dealt well with suspense. Commercial breaks were often agonizing torture, and season-finale cliffhangers would cause me physical pain — the need to know. But for three years I battled, wanting so badly to see what happened in the final Star Wars film.
Yet, despite all the anguish and all the talk about that third film it never felt real until late 1982 — six months before Return of the Jedi‘s release. When the trailers and magazine articles started, when toys started to hit shelves bearing the new, red Return of the Jedi logo, when bookstores had entire displays of Star Wars books promoting the upcoming film… that was when 8-year-old Arnie went insane.
It’s finally done!
Toys, books, and magazines were all purchased in anticipation of this film — surrogates I used to try and satiate my desires until the Jedi’s release. My godparents would placate me with a deal: If I did good in school that week, then on Saturday they would take me to buy one action figure.
ONE!?!?! But there were dozens on the store shelves, and so many more to come! I would watch Saturday morning cartoons and make lists of all the figures being released. I took a cardback and would X off each figure I owned as a way of marking time until I could have them all.
My parents, however, were not as indulgent regarding toys. They did however encourage me to read, and so I remember one Sunday going to the (now closed) local bookshop, The Book Emporium. There I saw a massive display of Star Wars novels, and a poster promoting the upcoming release of a Return of the Jedi novelization! That image of two hands clasping the blue lightsaber was burned into my brain, and to this day it is my iconic image of that film. I couldn’t bear it so I badgered my father to buy me all the Star Wars books, and I took my pleasures where I could — reading the novelizations of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back to fully re-experience those stories before seeing Return of the Jedi.
Arnie’s 1983 Birthday Cake
Finally, two weeks before the film was out, the novelization by James Kahn was in stores. I bought it the Saturday after it was released and tore into it. I couldn’t wait any longer for Return of the Jedi — the thirteen days until the film would be in theaters was agonizing. I had to have it now. I read like I’d never read before, page after page, excited for every new reveal.
It was a feeling like I was doing something naughty. There was forbidden knowledge in this book! I knew things no one else on the playground knew!
So excited was I about my insight into this upcoming movie that I would regale my sister Susan with anecdotes from the novel. Perhaps wanting me to have a pure movie experience (perhaps just wanting to shut me up), she introduced me to the concept of what we now call a “spoiler.”
She asked me if I was ruining the movie by knowing all about it before I saw it. Now, I wanted to see this movie more than I wanted air to breathe, so I promised her I would not read the last 50 pages. The film’s ending I would save for the screen.
But the waiting was killing me. Never before had I paid careful attention to a film’s opening date, but that year I knew Return of the Jedi would open on May 25. I had never been to an evening movie before — my parents always saved money by taking me to matinees — but Susan promised to take me opening night. My childhood best friend Stuart, now my co-host on Now Playing Podcast, also joined us.
We went early; Susan knowing that her brother wasn’t the only one anxious for Jedi. Still, the line was long at the Fox Theater in Springfield. It ran the full length of the strip mall, and for a half-hour we stood right outside the toy store where I practically drooled over the giant Star Wars toy display in the window.
Vader walked the line at our Return of the Jedi screening.
Walking down the line, working the crowd, was Darth Vader. I’d seen costumed characters before on stage shows, and sometimes superheroes would appear at that very same toy store. But those were scheduled appearances. I had no concept of cosplay, and I was somewhat frightened by this tall man carrying the Kenner lightsaber. Part of me knew he wasn’t the real Darth Vader, and part of me hoped he was indeed the Sith Lord come to terrorize my town.
When we got to the box office we were told there were only 3 tickets left for the film — all of us could get in, but we couldn’t sit together. My sister was flummoxed by this, as we were two children in her care for the night.
But I didn’t care who I sat by, or didn’t sit by, just get me in that theater! Sorry Stuart. Sorry Susan. I cared more about seeing Return of the Jedi than spending time with either of you!
That was another radical shift. Up until that point in my life, movies were always a social event. I couldn’t imagine watching a movie alone, and going to a cinema was always as much about time with friends and family as it was the film itself.
Not this time. This time Return of the Jedi and I had to be together. Now.
So in we went. I had an end-of-the-aisle seat next to a stranger. Before the lights dimmed I tried to look around and see where Stuart and Susan were seated, but the theater was large and soon I ceased to care. They never once entered my thoughts as I was transported at 0.5-past-lightspeed to a galaxy far, far away.
In 1983 there was no better birthday gift for Arnie than an Ewok village.
The film moved so fast and had so many vivid creature designs that I instantly forgot everything I had read in the book. On the page I had only my own imaginings, and a few photos in the middle of the novel, to aid in the visualization of the story. Now, with dancing Twi’leks, organ-playing muppets, and slithering Hutts the film consumed me whole — as the Rancor would to the Gamorrean guard. The Emperor, the red-robed Royal Guards, the speeder bikes, they enthralled me. But my favorite were the Ewoks. Some have claimed the fierce teddy bears were Lucas’ crass marketing attempt to appeal to children. It worked. I was hooked by these furry, man-eating creatures, and immediately every Ewok figure was at the top of my toy-buying list.
When the Death Star exploded, I didn’t care that it was a retread of the same climax Lucas had done six years earlier, the one I’d watched on VHS nearly every day after school. Evil was defeated. That was what mattered.
This film lived up to what I wanted at that age. It was love-at-first-viewing, and like any new romance the euphoria made me proclaim it the best movie I’d ever seen. I knew I had seen E.T. 12 times in theaters the year before, so I would not be satisfied until I’d seen Jedi 13 times and it could claim my record.
(At 17 viewings, counting the ‘97 rerelease and a convention screening, Jedi is to this day the movie I’ve seen most often theatrically.)
As an adult I feel Return of the Jedi, while still very good, is by far the weakest of the three original Star Wars films. The pacing is downright odd, with too much time spent rescuing Han Solo in a subplot far removed from the main action of the saga. Lucas had painted himself into a corner and it took a long side-trip to the Pit of Carkoon to fix it. Yoda’s death was convenient, Luke and Leia’s sibling relationship was contrived, and Han Solo was neutered.
“Obi-Wan, invite the creepy guy to join us, did you?”
Jedi was also the first Star Wars film where I felt Lucas was too ambitious and the technology was not able to realize his vision. From Imperial Walkers to Tauntauns to Landspeeders to Yoda, the effects wizards in Lucas’ employ had made it all work in his previous films. But in Jedi the seams were showing — quite literally in the case of the puppets in Jabba’s palace. From the shoddy matting of the Rancor to the poor articulation in the Ewok faces, this is the Star Wars film that looks the most fake.
Lucas would try to fix some of these technical issues in myriad re-releases, starting with the Special Edition in 1997. Each time Jedi got a little worse, right down to the creepy insertion of Hayden Christensen at the end, and Darth Vader’s lame battle cry of “Noooooo.”
Still, despite these issues, the core storyline of Vader’s redemption, a son’s determination to save his father, and the final battle between good and evil makes this a worthy entry in the Star Wars franchise.
But this experience — anticipating a film so hotly that I was near-obsessed — was euphoric. To this day few experiences in my life are as pleasurable as the anticipation for a great, exciting movie.
More birthday gifts from 1983
It was this level of hype I had for the remake of Friday the 13th that launched Now Playing Podcast’s first retrospective series. That same hype for The Avengers, more than one year before its release, instigated Now Playing’s Marvel Movie Retrospective.
As for future hype, I look at Star Wars Episode VII. I believed for 30 years that the Star Wars story ended with Return of the Jedi, but Lucas’ decision to retire — combined with Disney shareholders’ lust for profit — mean the story will continue. Part of me feels like this is a spinoff, a story based on characters created by George Lucas. Episode VII is in completely unnecessary, save for the Disney folks who watch it with dollar signs in their eyes.
But… it could be good. The recent reveal of an X-Wing is pulling at my nostalgic love for the original trilogy. Certainly all the marketers at Disney will try to seduce me. The images revealed, the first trailers, will all be Episode VII courting me, teasing me, trying to gain my interest and make me excited. Time will tell if Star Wars can still get me hot and bothered 32 years later.
But I’ll never forget my first, and as such Return of the Jedi will always be special.
Arnie is a movie critic for Now Playing Podcast, a book reviewer for the Books & Nachos podcast, and co-host of the collecting podcasts Star Wars Action News and Marvelicious Toys. You can follow him on Twitter @thearniec
Pre-Order Alert: Die Cast Iron Man Mark III Exclusive and Mark III Construction Version
Hot Toys collectors, your day just got a little bit cooler! Sideshow Collectibles has put up for pre-order two new versions of the Iron Man Mark III armor as seen in the first Iron Man movie!
First we have the Iron Man Mark III Armor. This is the iconic red-and-gold suit Tony Stark dons about halfway through the first film. Hot Toys has released this figure before, but collectors complained that the figure was a bit shorter than the later Hot Toys figures, and the face sculpt wasn’t as perfected. Now Hot Toys brings their latest technology to the figure–it’s made of die cast metal! You can hear (or watch) our review of Hot Toys’ amazing Iron Patriot die cast figure in Marvelicious Toys Issue 119 (and that figure is still available to order from Sideshow as well). By going die cast Hot Toys has taken their already astounding figures to the next level, so for many who even already own the Hot Toys Iron Man Mark III this upgrade is worth a purchase.
More, through Sideshow Collectibles, Hot Toys is offering an exclusive version of this figure that comes with an accessory you can’t get anywhere else: a 1/6 scale version of Tony Stark’s first arc reactor in the case as Pepper Potts gave him as a gift in that Iron Man film! It’s a neat accessory that is sure to make this item highly sought after on the secondary market.
More, you get a ton of accessories (pictured right) including a changeable Tony Stark head, LED eyes and chest RT, removable chest and torso armor, interchangeable forearm rockets, interchangeable shoulder guns, interchangeable countermeasure dispensers, 3 pairs of hands, and a light-up figure stand.
And for those Hot Toys collectors who like to make dioramas or environments, there’s a more unique Iron Man Mark III up for order today–the Iron Man Mark III Construction Version. Priced at only $149.99 this is about half the price of a normal Hot Toys Iron Man, which is fitting as it’s half an Iron Man! This item recreates the Mark III armor as shown undergoing repairs in Tony Stark’s workshop. With the chest plates off, shown hanging from chains with wires extending beneath, it’s an interesting accessory that your Tony Stark figure can tinker with!
So hurry and order the Die Cast Iron Man Mark III or the Iron Man Mark III Construction Version now from Sideshow Collectibles!
Hasbro SDCC Exclusives Now Available Online!
Update 3: Overnight the Infinity Gauntlet 3.75-inch Marvel set sold out, over 12 hours after being offered.
Update 2: The Jabba the Hutt set is now sold out, 1 hour after being put up for sale
Update: The Marvel Legends Galactus Engine Set is now sold out, about 25 minutes after being put up for sale.
Hasbro’s 2014 San Diego Comic-Con International exclusive toys are up for order now at Habro’s online store HasbroToyShop.com As we reported on Star Wars Action News and Marvelicious Toys’ social media sites, and will be detailed more in the forthcoming Comic-Con coverage videos and podcasts, Hasbro’s San Diego booth was the most chaotic it’s been in 9 years. Items like the Marvel Legends set and Jabba the Hutt sold out by 10:30 Saturday morning. Collectors and scalpers alike fought to get tickets and get in the line, and sometimes lining up as early as 5 a.m. was not enough to get the toys sought. Now they are on Hasbro Toy Shop.com but with the high demand for these limited-edition toys they will likely sell out in under an hour. So if you were looking for these toys, hurry to the site now and get yours! 
I AM GROOT! Pre-Order your Hot Toys Rocket Raccoon and/or Groot now!
I AM GROOT!
Hot Toys and Sideshow Collectibles has surprised us! Now there are a total of three Hot Toys 1/6 scale Movie Masterpiece Series figures up for pre-order today! Earlier we announced the Toy Fairs Exclusive Iron Man in Python Armor figure, and now available for pre-order are the Guardians of the Galaxy heroes Rocket Raccoon and Groot!
Rocket Raccoon is a smaller figure, and priced accordingly. Wearing his grey and orange space suit, he comes with 17 points of articulation, his big rifle from the film, 3 pairs of interchangeable hands, and a figure stand. At 1/6 scale he stands 16cm (just over 6-inches) tall.
Then there is Groot, the giant tree. As trees are not very nimble he has only 15 points of articulation…but he’s big, standing 39cm (well over 15-inches) tall! He also has 3 interchangeable pairs of hands.
But if you’re the type of collector (or just The Collector) who has to have both you can get even more! Sideshow’s exclusive figure 2-pack gives you both figures, plus you get 3 extra Groot accessories — 2 more pairs of hands, plus an alternate Groot face showing his angry expression.
These are up for order now, and as the Guardians gain heat they’re likely to be in high demand, so head to Sideshow and order your Rocket, Groot, or both now!
Pre-Order Alert: Hot Toys Toy Fair Exclusive Iron Man Mark XX (Python Armor)
Hot Toys is bringing the (house) party to you!
In the past the Hot Toys exclusive figures have been some of the hardest for US collectors to obtain, and drawn some of the highest prices on the secondary market. In the past Sideshow Collectibles used to make these items San Diego Comic-Con exclusives, but has since moved to their usual online ordering system (albeit with a lower edition size). Last year’s exclusive Midas Armor Iron Man was especially problematic for collectors.
Fortunately Sideshow has not left us hanging as long this year, as up for pre-order now is the Toy Fair exclusive Iron Man Mark XX — the Python Armor!
This 1/6 scale figure stands 12-inches tall, has over 36 points of articulation, LED lighted eyes and chest RT, and comes with 3 pairs of interchangeable hands, swap-out missile-launching shoulder blade armor, light shoulder blade armor, and detachable forearm rockets. Plus you get the circular figure base with a flexible pillar for “in flight” display.
The more I type the faster these are selling out so hurry to Sideshow and secure your order now! The Python will be flying to you in August!
Pre-Order Alert: eFX Collectibles Biker Scout Helmet and Pistol
Up for pre-order now from eFX Collectibles is their Legend Edition Scout Trooper Helmet & Pistol! This is described by eFX as “the most accurate reproduction of this incredible helmet produced to date.” The master molds for the helmet were made from the original master tools ILM used to make the helmets used for Return of the Jedi, and then an original ILM decal sheet was used to make the markings and symbols on the helmet. Finally the helmet is made in ABS, just like the on-screen prop helmets.
Additionally this helmet comes with a replica Biker Scout Pistol, cast from an original, screen-used prop!
The price is $899 and, limited to 500 pieces, this is sure to sell out fast. So if you want yours head to eFX’s web site now!
Pre-Order and Deal Alert: Marvel Movie Funko POP Vinyl Figures!
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A Funko Exclusive POP and Three Others at a Great Discount! |
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| Attention Funko POP Vinyl collectors! Today is a great day to pick up four new characters for your collection!
First and most important, earlier this week the Amazon Exclusive Unmasked Star Lord Guardians of the Galaxy POP was put up for pre-order. It sold out in just a number of hours making collectors fear having to pay a high price on the secondary market, but this morning it is back available for order! So if you want this exclusive POP do not hesitate, go and order it today! Plus today only Entertainment Earth is having a great sale on the POP Vinyls from Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Get Captain America, Black Widow, or Winter Soldier for only $6.50 each! This sale ends tonight, so snatch up the savings now!
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Pre-Order Alert: Sideshow Collectibles Jango Fett Sixth Scale Figure
He’s just a sixth-scale figure trying to make his way in the universe
It has been some time since Sideshow Collectibles put up for order a new Star Wars 12-inch scale figure. They previewed an upcoming sixth-scale Artoo Detoo, but then today they put up for pre-order a totally different figure: Jango Fett!
This villain from Attack of the Clones is loaded with accessories and detail. With a fully articulated body and a detailed flight suit including the “durasteel” Armored Vest, Thigh, Knee, Shin, and Boot armor, he also has a belt with pouches, a dual holster belt, left and right gaultnets, boots, a poncho, two Jetpacks, and more! Plus he comes with two Blaster Pistols and a Kamino Saber Dart! Also, the blasters and jet packs have flare attachments for a more action-oriented display.
And if you order the Sideshow Exclusive Edition today you get a swap-out head, showing Jango Fett unmasked, wearing his pilot’s head gear!
This figure is available for pre-order now for $219.99, and payment plans available as low as $73.33 per month, so head to Sideshow Collectibles and get yours now!
New Podcast: Episode 413: 2013 Year In Review Part 2 – Statues, Books, LEGO, and More!
Note: Star Wars Action News’ enhanced podcasts are now full HD video podcasts! Read all about it in Arnie’s blog post.
In 2013 Gentle Giant had the Admiral Ackbar Magnitude bust, Sideshow Collectibles had Premium Format Figures from The Force Unleashed and The Old Republic video games, and LEGO sold a Fury-Class Interceptor from The Old Republic. In short, for Star Wars collecting companies the universe expanded last year. In this episode of the Star Wars Action News podcast join Arnie, Marjorie, Nathan, Brock, Steve, and Jerry as they look back on the strange and interesting year where companies tried to find a footing marketing Star Wars while biding their time until Episode VII in 2015! We look back on the books, busts, statues, 1/6 scale figures, LEGO sets and so much more in this new video-enhanced Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN413.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 411: Get the 411 On Star Wars Discounts
Collecting Hasbro’s Star Wars toys is filled with highs and lows, and this holiday season it seems to be both at once! While the new 6-inch and 3.75-inch Black Series figures remain elusive, bargains abound on exclusive vehicles and figures. On this week’s podcast Marjorie and Arnie look at the discounts and tell you how to save the most money on the toys, and also discuss what these markdowns may mean for future exclusives. All that, plus a detailed review of Hasbro’s Black Series Wave 2, including Mara Jade, Pablo Jill, and more!
Also on this week’s show it’s a special focus on Star Wars trading cards. Jerry’s Vintage Viewpoint focuses on the rerelease of the Star Wars Radio Drama from Highbridge Audio, and looks at the new Topps trading card set based on the Radio Drama. Then Marjorie and Arnie talk to Topps sketch card artist Christian Slade about his work on the cards, as well as his new prints coming from Acme Archives on Dec 15th!
With a report from this weekend’s Toy Man Toy Show, a new sixth-scale Tauntaun, Imperial Probe Drones, and more, it’s all on this Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN411.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 410: Black Friday Deals and 2013 Holiday Gift Guide
Black Friday isn’t what it used to be…it’s not even Friday any more! With sales having started Thanksgiving Day and some stretching through the weekend and even to “Cyber Monday” bargain shoppers now have almost a full week of savings. Stay on target for Star Wars bargains with this episode of Star Wars Action News! Marjorie and Arnie run down the stores with Star Wars items on sale to let you know which bargains are worth fighting the crowds, and which you can sleep through!
Also on this episode is the annual Star Wars Action News holiday gift guide! With gift ideas for men, women, and children, and in all price ranges, listen to find what to get the Star Wars collector who seems to already have everything! The entire Star Wars Action News team has contributed ideas. From books to lightsabers, toys to statues, jewelry to original art, it’s all here in today’s podcast! Plus listen to win a set of Star Wars Radio Drama CD-sets from Star Wars Action news and Highbridge Audio!
And don’t forget to sign up for the Star Wars Action Sithmas Gift Exchange! Sign-ups end December 2nd. Get and give some Star Wars joy this season by joining this Secret Santa gift exchange! All the details are at http://www.swactionnews.com/Sithmas/
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN410.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 409: The Death Star Plans are NOT in the main computer–they’re in this book!
Star Wars Episode VII draws nearer! We now have a firm release date. On December 18, 2015 fans will finally see a cinematic vision of Star Wars post-Return of the Jedi, 32 years after Episode VI’s release. On this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast your hosts Marjorie and Arnie discuss this news and anticipate a holiday season full of Star Wars goodness!
And the 2013 holiday season is upon us! From new Christmas ornaments in stores to gift sets, decorations, and more, the hosts run down all the new Star Wars holiday items and where you can get them cheapest!
Also this week, Arnie talks with prolific Star Wars Author Ryder Windham about his newest book, the Death Star Owner’s Tehnical Manual. Ryder discusses his first Star Wars projects with Dark Horse and how he has come to write so many Star Wars junior novels and reference books.
With Steve providing a new UK report, Johnathan reviewing the K-Mart Exclusive Endor packs and Scanning Crew sets, a review of the new, more affordable, Star Wars Frames books, and so much more, it’s all in this week’s super-sized edition of the Star Wars Action News podcast!
And don’t forget to join in the Star Wars Action News holiday Sithmas exchange! Give and get an extra Star Wars gift this season by joining in this “Secret Santa” exchange with another Star Wars Action News listener. Head to swactionnews.com to see all the details and the sign-up form.
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN409.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 408: Look My Head Look So Big To Young Eyes?
New Hasbro product is hitting fast. Exclusives are shipping from Amazon, as well as showing up on store shelves at Toys R Us and KMart. Also from Hasbro Black Series Wave 2, both 6-inch and 3.75-inch, are shipping from online retailers. On this week’s Star Wars Action News hosts Marjorie and Arnie look at some of the new 6-inch figures, Slave Leia and Greedo, and run down the exclusives.
Also this past week came the eBook editions of J.W. Rinzler’s Making of Star Wars books. Enhanced with more photos and multimedia content, listen to find out if the new features make this worth a purchase, or re-purchase if you already own the hardcover editions.
With cranially-enhanced holiday decorations, a report from the Winter London Film & Comic Con, and more, it’s all on this episode of the Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN408.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 407: NYCC 2013
In just a few years New York Comic Con has grown to have attendance second only to the 40-year-old San Diego Comic-Con. This year had big name stars like Sylvester Stallone, Sigourney Weaver, and more signing autographs, perhaps the highest profile autograph stars at any convention. On this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast Marjorie and Arnie report on the Star Wars reveals from Kotobukiya, their exclusive Art-FX+ R2 unit, as well as the other Star Wars collectibles at the con.
But the biggest Star Wars reveals were not at the Javits Center. Hasbro had no presence at NYCC, but they held a private press event the Wednesday before the con and the Star Wars Action News hosts were there. Listen to find out what was revealed, and what wasn’t. Plus find out Hasbro’s answer to “what’s right with Mara Jade?” and news on the notorious Black Series bubble issue.
With an update on all the new toys hitting stores from Johnathan, as well as a Vintage Viewpoint looking back at the Kenner Ewok toys, it’s all on this episode of Star Wars Action News!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN407.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 406: Size DOES Matter
In 2007 the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars brought an onslaught of toys, collectibles, and commemorative items. But of all the 30th Anniversary items only one provided new insight into the Star Wars saga — J.W. Rinsler’s The Making of Star Wars. With that book’s success Rinzler followed up with The Making of The Empire Strikes Back for Episode V’s 30th anniversary in 2010. Now, Rinzler completes his trilogy with The Making of Return of the Jedi, and he may have saved the best for last. On this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast Brock gives a hands-on review of this impressive tome, which is in bookstores today!
Also on this week’s show, Marjorie and Arnie have the entire first wave of Hasbro’s 6-inch Black Series figures in hand. With X-Wing Luke Skwalker, R2-D2, Darth Maul, and a Sandtrooper, how does this new line of figures hold up? Listen to hear their review.
With some real (trick or) treats in Target’s Halloween section and a report from Project Comic-Con in St. Louis, it’s all in the new Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN406.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 405: John Jackson Miller and the Crazy Wizard
The latest Star Wars expanded universe novel is Kenobi, a standalone story telling of the Jedi’s arrival on Tatooine, including the locals and Tuskens with whom he tussles! The book is appeasing Star Wars fans worldwide, and now Arnie sits down with author John Jackson Miller to talk about this Western-inspired tale.
Also in this week’s episode Johnathan’s back with his On The Pegs segment and Steve provides a UK Report. It’s all on this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN405.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 404: ICE, ICE, Baby! Chilling with cool collectors.
What happens when over a hundred of the world’s most avid Star Wars collectors gather in one place over a long weekend? Fun, shopping and more! On this week’s Star Wars Action News Marjorie and Arnie report on the Labor Day Weekend International Collector’s Event, or ICE convention, put on by some of the Seattle Star Wars collectors. They toured two of the largest Star Wars collections in the world, went on toy runs en masse, got amazing exclusives, and watched an original 35mm print of Return of the Jedi–the 1983 version!Listen in as the hosts are joined by Gus Lopez, the hosts of the Galaxy of Toys podcast, Star Wars crafts expert Amy Sjoberg, and owner of the world’s largest private Star Wars collection Steve Sansweet. It’s all on this exclusive report podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN404.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 403: Crazy Train
Have you found the new Hasbro figures? All Hasbro’s new lines, Black Series 4-inch, Black Series 6-inch, Mission Series, and Saga Legends, are showing up across the US. New toys are a welcome relief to the modern Star Wars figure collector after many months with no new releases, and on this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast the coverage continues. Listen to this week’s podcast for a hands on review of the new 4-inch Black Series figures. Then vintage Star Wars collector Jerry takes a look at the Saga Legends figures and provides his views on their five points of articulation.
Also on this week’s show Arnie and Marjorie review Sideshow Collectibles’ new Shaak Ti The Force Unleashed Premium Format figure. They call it a “Premium Format” and it certainly comes with a premium price tag–is it worth it? Listen to their review, and then join in the discussion on Sideshow’s recent quality issues. From bad paint to shipping damage, reports are rampant regarding poor quality control on the Sideshow products. More, Sideshow’s Customer Service seems less than willing to make it right. Arnie provides his first-hand experiences on this week’s podcast.
With Brock reviewing John Jackson Miller’s new Star Wars novel Kenobi and a look at a Star Wars collectible that will shake your caboose, it’s all on this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
Action Figure Collectors; If you enjoy collecting action figures also check out Issue 94 of the Marvelicious Toys podcast where Arnie, Marjorie, and Justin talk to former Hasbro Senior Product Designer David Vonner about the evolution and future of action figure collecting. While Vonner worked on the Marvel line the information given applies to all action figures. You can hear this interview at Marvelicioustoys.com.
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN403.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 402: Separation Anxiety
New figures are on the pegs and Marjorie and Arnie are back in the Star Wars Action News studio ready to review them! On this week’s podcast the hosts look at new new Saga Legends figures from Hasbro. With limited articulation and smaller card backs these figures have divided collectors between those who demand more collector-oriented figures and those who find the limited pose-ability a throwback to vintage collecting. Hasbro claims they’re some of the best sculpts they’ve ever done. Listen to find out the final verdict!But with the new items shipping there seem to be new problems for collectors. The figures seem to have problem staying on the cards, and reports are widespread regarding shipping damage to the Amazon exclusive Slave I. Even those who received perfect Slave I vehicles may still have issues as many report manufacturing issues and missing parts with Boba Fett’s iconic ship. Marjorie and Arnie run down these disappointing details.With listener voicemails giving their thoughts on the toys, a review of the Star Wars chess set, and a Legend-ary Darth Maul collectible, it’s all on this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
We want your feedback! Please take a few minutes and take the Star Wars Action News listener poll and tell us what you’d like to hear on the show!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN402.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 401: The Empire Brings Sexy Back
This weekend was Wizard World Chicago 2013, and the Star Wars Action News crew were there, as were tons of Star Wars toys. From rare vintage Star Wars items from Hasbro and Palitoy to new Black Series figures in both scales! With a new show layout and big guests, listen to find out if you should attend the next Wizard World in your area!
But the biggest news of the week is Hasbro’s new Black Series figures! The new wave of 3.75-inch figures are hitting stores coast to coast. The hosts provide a carded review of these new figures and detail some problems that carded collectors may need to watch out for!
With Star Wars burlesque at Chicago’s Gorilla Tango Theater, disappointment at D23, and more, it’s all in this week’s Star Wars Action News!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN401.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 400: The Big 4-0-0 at CE2
It was the biggest Star Wars party of the year–STAR WARS CELEBRATION EUROPE 2! Six years after CE1 Celebration returned to Europe with a slew of celebrities, exclusives, and guests. With Episode VII announced anticipation couldn’t have been higher, and Star Wars Action News was there. Hosts Marjorie and Arnie made their first Celebration Eurotrip to take part in the Collecting Track and report on the events. Listen now to hear them, as well as Jerry, Steve, Daryl, and more as they bring Europe home to you on this milestone episode of Star Wars Action News!
We want your feedback! Please take a few minutes and take the Star Wars Action News listener poll and tell us what you’d like to hear on the show!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN400.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 399 Part II: SDCC 2013 — The Panels, The Toys, and More!
Note: Starting in May, 2013 with version 11.0.3 an Apple iTunes update changed the iTunes Miniplayer. This update changed what must be done to view enhanced podcast images in iTunes. To view these images:Start playing the podcast in iTunes. At the top of iTunes you will see the player bar with a small icon of the show cover art.In Windows hold down Ctrl and click the cover icon. In Mac hold down Command and click the cover icon. This will pop up a new window where you can see enhanced images. (if you just click on the icon it only shows a larger icon, no enhanced images).The world’s largest convention, San Diego Comic-Con International, is winding down but with all the news and reveals at the convention Star Wars fans have much to look forward to! Join the Star Wars Action News crew as they report on all the new collectible news from Hasbro, Gentle Giant, Kotobukiya, Diamond Select, Sideshow Collectibles, and so much more!We want your feedback! Please take a few minutes and take the Star Wars Action News listener poll and tell us what you’d like to hear on the show!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN399B.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 399 Part I: SDCC 2013 — Preview Night and The Black Series Line
Note: Starting in May, 2013 with version 11.0.3 an Apple iTunes update changed the iTunes Miniplayer. This update changed what must be done to view enhanced podcast images in iTunes. To view these images:
Start playing the podcast in iTunes. At the top of iTunes you will see the player bar with a small icon of the show cover art.
In Windows hold down Ctrl and click the cover icon. In Mac hold down Command and click the cover icon. This will pop up a new window where you can see enhanced images. (if you just click on the icon it only shows a larger icon, no enhanced images).
Today kicks of San Diego Comic-Con International 2013! On the first part of Star Wars Action News’ coverage join Marjorie and Arnie as they report on Preview Night, with a first-hand look at The Black Series figures in Hasbro’s display, including the new Black Series 6-inch Boba Fett and Han Solo in Carbonite!
Fans have been divided on the new 6-inch series, but Arnie has been excited for the detail and articulation. Now that the production figures are out, does the excitement last? Listen and find out!
We want your feedback! Please take a few minutes and take the Star Wars Action News listener poll and tell us what you’d like to hear on the show!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN399A.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 398: Troy Denning’s Crucible
Note: Starting in May, 2013 with version 11.0.3 an Apple iTunes update changed the iTunes Miniplayer. This update changed what must be done to view enhanced podcast images in iTunes. To view these images:Start playing the podcast in iTunes. At the top of iTunes you will see the player bar with a small icon of the show cover art.
In Windows hold down Ctrl and click the cover icon. In Mac hold down Command and click the cover icon. This will pop up a new window where you can see enhanced images. (if you just click on the icon it only shows a larger icon, no enhanced images).Released in stores today is Crucible, the new Star Wars novel from prolific author Troy Denning. Taking place after the events in the last two major story arcs Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi, this book focuses on Han, Luke, and Leia in what could be their final adventure (in this version of the expanded universe, anyway). On this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast Arnie sits down with Troy to discuss the impact of Episode VII on the existing Expanded Universe, his intents behind Crucible, and the Mortis trilogy’s impact on Apocalypse.With a San Diego Comic-Con schedule update, more CE2 news, and Johnathan On the Pegs, it’s all on this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN398.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 397: Look at the Size of That Thing!
Note: Starting in May, 2013 with version 11.0.3 an Apple iTunes update changed the iTunes Miniplayer. This update changed what must be done to view enhanced podcast images in iTunes. To view these images:Start playing the podcast in iTunes. At the top of iTunes you will see the player bar with a small icon of the show cover art.
In Windows hold down Ctrl and click the cover icon. In Mac hold down Command and click the cover icon. This will pop up a new window where you can see enhanced images. (if you just click on the icon it only shows a larger icon, no enhanced images).
In preparation of The Yoda Chronicles premiere on Cartoon Network LEGO revealed their largest model ever–a life-sized X-Wing. For Star Wars days at LEGOLand the X-Wing trekked across the country, and Star Wars Action News’ reporter Berent was on hand to see it and talk to the master builder behind it. How many bricks does it take to get to the center of a life-sized X-Wing? Listen to Berent’s interview to find out!
Also on this week’s show, Marjorie and Arnie look at the new San Diego Comic-Con exclusives announced by Gentle Giant and Petco, as well as the non-exclusive announcement from Sideshow Collectibles.
With a review of Gentle Giant’s C6 exclusive Clone Lieutenant statue, Brock reviewing Troy Denning’s new novel, and so much more, it’s all in this week’s Star Wars Action News!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN397.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 396: Orange, Black, and Silver
Note: Starting in May, 2013 with version 11.0.3 an Apple iTunes update changed the iTunes Miniplayer. This update changed what must be done to view enhanced podcast images in iTunes. To view these images:Start playing the podcast in iTunes. At the top of iTunes you will see the player bar with a small icon of the show cover art.
In Windows hold down Ctrl and click the cover icon. In Mac hold down Command and click the cover icon. This will pop up a new window where you can see enhanced images. (if you just click on the icon it only shows a larger icon, no enhanced images).The 3.75-inch Black Series is looming and new packaged shots are being released of the first wave of figures with Padme, Biggs, Luke, Vader, and more. But despite the eagerness of Star Wars collectors for new figures, fans are having a mixed reaction to the new packaging for these figures. On this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast hosts Marjorie and Arnie are joined by their Marvelicious Toys co-host Justin, a graphic designer and packaging expert, to examine Hasbro’s latest Star Wars designs. Also on this week’s show, Johnathan updates us what’s in stores and online, Steve the Gingerprince reports from Collectormania, and Arnie and Marjorie celebrate a new Ewok LEGO set. All that and more on this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!Plus on this week’s show is an update on Third Annual SDCC Star Wars Fan Breakfast! On Friday, July 19th, at 7:30 a.m. come to the Edgewater Grill at Seaport Village to talk Star Wars with friends! It’s walking distance from the convention center, and prizes will be given away from sponsors Hallmark, Uncle Milton, Diamond Select Toys, Kotobukiya, Random House Audio, and more! There is no cost to attend, just pay for what you order for breakfast! To attend, just RSVP by July 10th to fanbreakfast@swactionnews.com with how many people are in your party and we hope to see you in San Diego!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN396.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 395: Hasbro Flips Collectors the (Angry) Bird at SDCC
Note: Starting in May, 2013 with version 11.0.3 an Apple iTunes update changed the iTunes Miniplayer. This update changed what must be done to view enhanced podcast images in iTunes. To view these images:Start playing the podcast in iTunes. At the top of iTunes you will see the player bar with a small icon of the show cover art.
In Windows hold down Ctrl and click the cover icon. In Mac hold down Command and click the cover icon. This will pop up a new window where you can see enhanced images. (if you just click on the icon it only shows a larger icon, no enhanced images).
San Diego Comic-Con is just a month away and Star Wars collectible companies like Hasbro, Gentle Giant, Hallmark, and Diamond Select Toys have been revealing their 2013 convention exclusives! Listen to this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast to find out what people at the con will be fighting over, and those at home will be left to drool over. The hosts also discuss CE2 exclusives, including the announced CE2 art prints, and how international collectors may be able to get some of their money back on these great pieces.
Plus on this week’s show the Third Annual SDCC Star Wars Fan Breakfast is announced! On Friday, July 19th, at 7:30 a.m. come to the Edgewater Grill at Seaport Village to talk Star Wars with friends! It’s walking distance from the convention center, and prizes will be given away from sponsors Hallmark, Uncle Milton, Diamond Select Toys, Random House Audio, and more! There is no cost to attend, just pay for what you order for breakfast! To attend, just RSVP by July 10th to fanbreakfast@swactionnews.com with how many people are in your party and we hope to see you in San Diego!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN395.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 394: Size Matters Not, Unless It’s LEGO
This week in New York City LEGO revealed the largest Star Wars LEGO set ever–a life-sized X-Wing! Accompanied by a much more modestly sized Toys R Us Times Square exclusive set, and Yoda mini-figure, this spectacle was all to promote Wednesday’s premiere of The Yoda Chronicles on Cartoon Network. On this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast Marjorie and Arnie review some of the exclusive LEGO sets commemorating the premiere.
Also on this week’s show, new pre-orders from Sideshow Collectibles, a run down of new art available from Acme Archives, and a discussion of the first US site to have the 6-inch Black Series Star Wars figures up for preorder. All this and more on this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN394.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 393: We’ve Got the Need, The Need for Theed
Star Wars Action News hosts Marjorie and Arnie have reported many times on the Toy Man Toy Show in St. Louis, MO. Sunday, May 19th, was the most recent show and had Star Wars represented from all era, from 12-Back carded vintage figures to the most modern of Hasbro toys. Listen to find out if you should visit St. Louis for the next Toy Man show on July 14th!
Also on this week’s podcast, Brock reviews Dawn of the Jedi–Into the Void, Jerry continues looking back at Return of the Jedi toys from 30 years ago, Johnathan reviews the new Endor AT-AT, and Steve reports from Star Wars Fun Day in the UK!
With details on how to get the Endor AT-AT for 20% off and a bendy Artoo, it’s all on this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN393.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 392: Exclusively Inclusive
For many, the joys and pains of collecting can be summed up in one word–exclusive. A hard-to-obtain, limited piece can be the prize of a collection both as a rarity and as a memory of a trip. But obtaining these exclusives often is difficult for many either involving expensive trips or high premiums on the secondary market. But as the 2013 convention season commences new exclusives are being announced every week. Last week came news of Hasbro’s San Diego Comic-Con exclusive Han in Carbonite and Boba Fett Black Series 6-inch figures. Now on this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast Marjorie and Arnie look at exclusives announced for Star Wars Celebration Europe 2. From T-Shirts to posters to pins, the first round of exclusive merchandise offers some collectibles with a vintage style and others with a more modern and German flare. Join their discussion and start your shopping list now!
Also on this week’s show, a run-down on the Toys R Us exclusive Endor AT-AT, a report from the C2E2 Vintage Toy Auction, a review of Super 7’s exclusive Leia Story print, and more!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN392.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 391: Into the Void with Tim Lebbon
Tomorrow a new era in Star Wars Expanded Universe novels beings with the release of Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void. Written by Tim Lebbon and based on the Dark Horse comic series Dawn of the Jedi this book tells of Force users twenty-five thousand years before the battle of Yavin. It’s the first Star Wars novel set so early in the timeline, and also the first Star Wars novel by Lebbon. On this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast Arnie talks to Tim about the process of writing this novel and the themes throughout.
Also on this week’s show, Berent went to Disneyland and talked to artist Mike Kungl who was revealing new works. He talks about his upcoming prints from Acme Archives, works Lucasfilm rejected, and his latest Jabba art piece. Listen to find out about them and find out how to win one of Kungl’s Rebel Alliance–Defend and Protect prints!
With a Free Comic Book Day report from St. Louis, a con report from the UK, May the Fourth sales, and reports of Endor AT-AT spottings, it’s all on this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast.
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN391.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
DOUBLE FEATURES: Silent Running & Oblivion
Welcome to Double Features, my monthly column dedicated to reviewing a current theatrical release in tandem with a similar classic movie available on DVD. April finds me wondering if Oblivion, Tom Cruise’s new sci-fi effort, shares some DNA with Silent Running, a 1972 cult item that also features a lone astronaut going rogue to protect Earth’s diminishing natural resources from a destructive enemy.
Don’t let the G rating, Joan Baez folk songs, or soft-focus opening shots of bunnies and flowers mislead you. Silent Running – the directorial debut of special effects wiz Douglas Trumbull (2001: A Space Odyssey) – is a somber, adult look at future environmental crisis set entirely aboard a greenhouse space station orbiting a deforested Earth. Bruce Dern goes from docile hippie to psychotic eco-warrior when soulless corporate bosses order him to nuke the last living plant and animal specimens and return to a barren planet sustained by their synthetic amenities. We should be on the oppressed gardener’s side, but his insurrection grows too bloody and paranoid for even the most militant animal activist or macrobiotic foodie to endorse.
Perhaps the only empathetic “characters” in Silent Running are a trio of service robots nicknamed Huey, Dewey, and Louie – reprogrammed to be green-thumbed companions after Dern offs his snide human co-workers. Trumbell’s ingenious miniature droid suits are customized to fit double-amputee actors, who bring a humanizing motion to the walking appliances that’s cute even when they’re digging graves. This is the rare environmental message movie that actually celebrates the machine as nature’s ultimate salvation – a techie’s vision of utopia. It remains progressive today, even if much of the rest of Silent Running suffers from outdated concepts and a meandering plot.
Tom Cruise might hold Bruce Dern’s same custodial occupation on the wasteland of Oblivion, but he’s not going to settle for socializing with a bunch of spherical drones – he wants a hot wife! And not that redheaded nag from his arranged marriage (Andrea Riseborough)… anyone who’s seen Total Recall knows she has ulterior motives for pressing him to spurn Earth for a Saturn moon. No, Cruise dreams of Olga Kurylenko – an enigmatic woman who beckons from repressed memories long before they’re reunited at his secret log cabin tucked inside the last green valley.
The starkest contrast between Silent Running and Oblivion is that Cruise is less preoccupied with rescuing the planet’s ravaged flora and fauna than piecing together his former identity. It’s a self-obsessed journey told largely in cryptic exchanges with coy characters like Morgan Freeman. The mystery unfolds in your head, but never your heart. And once this stooge has finally figured out he’s supposed to be acting like Tom Cruise in a big-budget Hollywood fantasy, many will have grown impatient for some explosions and requisite action.
At best, Silent Running and Oblivion are gentle genre exercises I can only MILDLY RECOMMEND to hardcore science fiction fans thirsting for simple, self-contained stories. Their appeal lies primarily in their visuals. This is a Double Feature that’s easily wiped from the mind, clones of more iconic movies.
New Podcast: Episode 390: C2E2 with Jeffrey Brown
This past weekend was the C2E2 convention in Chicago, Illinois. In its fourth year, C2E2 has grown to fill an entire hall at McCormick Place. With no major stars like Val Kilmer and John Cusack to headline, the star wattage was a little bit dimmer, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t tons to do at the con. On this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast, hosts Arnie, Marjorie, and Johnathan are joined by Chris, Sarah, and Yakface.com’s Jayson live on the C2E2 floor! Listen as they run down their impressions of the convention, with tons of Star Wars collecting! From vintage finds to modern, high end and low end, plus custom items like coffee mugs and art, they discuss it all. Also this week, Arnie sits down with Darth Vader and Son author Jeffrey Brown to talk about that book, the recently released follow-up Vader’s Little Princess, and his upcoming Scholastic book Jedi Academy.With news from Sunday’s vintage toy auction, special collectibles for May the 4th, it’s all on this week’s Star Wars Action News!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN390.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 389: A Blueprint for Adventure
When the book Star Wars: The Blueprints by J. W. Rinzler was released in 2011 few could argue that it was not an impressive collection of schematics and a wealth of information about the construction of some of the most iconic creations in movie history. But also, few could afford the massive book. Now the book has been rereleased in a more shelf-friendly size and at a more affordable price. Listen to find out how this new release compares to the original, and if you should pick this up.
With Steve reviewing the Star Wars Steelbook releases and Johnathan discussing his latest Star Wars display, it’s all in this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
And be sure to look for Arnie, Marjorie, and Johnathan this weekend at C2E2! Stop them and get a free convention exclusive Star Wars Action News badge with a code that can be redeemed for an exclusive T-Shirt design! All thanks to our awesome graphic designer Chris!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN389.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 388: Animated Ewok Attack
Correction/Clarification: We have received definitive information that the Disney Build-A-Droid is not at Downtown Disneyland, only Downtown Disneyworld. At Disneyland the Build-A-Droid is available in-park only. We’re sorry for any confusion this may have caused.
Star Wars fandom in early 2013 is full of highs and lows. While Hasbro idles, awaiting the release of new product later this year, and Disney continues to restructure their new purchase by closing LucasArts, other Star Wars licensees continue on! On this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast, Marjorie and Arnie look at a couple of Star Wars collectible makers that offer exciting new products in this slow period of collecting.First up is Sideshow Collectibles, who’s 12-inch Commander Wolffe figure went up for preorder last week, and who’s Legendary Scale Darth Maul figure is in stock and ready to ship! Then we look at Gentle Giant, who just shipped their animated Ewok and Scout Trooper Maquette, and has for preorder two new jumbo figures and two new mini-busts!Plus we also look at one inventive collector who is keeping action figure collecting lively by offering 3-D items that bring your cantina diorama to life. It’s all on this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN388.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 387: It’s Not Easy Buying Green (Cards)
Gentle Giant’s Premiere Guild Memberships for 2013 started recently with two exclusive Premiere Guild Member mini-busts, a holographic Darth Vader and an Episode III Mace Windu. As they ponder their gift for 2013, Marjorie and Arnie look back this podcast at two mini-busts for PGM members in 2012, the Rebel Trooper from A New Hope and a white Republic Commando from the Expanded Universe.Also this podcast, Brock reviews the recent novel The Last Jedi, Javier reports in on green card figure finds in Mexico, and we report on a very cool, 2-week limited art print from J.K. Woodward. All this and more on this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN387.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
Punk Movie Review: Repo Man
Dust of your steel toe boots and dye your mohawk blue, once a month I’ll be talking about a different punk movie here on the Gazette…
Repo Man
Director: Alex Cox
Writer: Alex Cox
Starring: Harry Dean Stanton, Emilio Estevez, Tracey Walter
Studio: Universal Pictures
Release Date: March 2, 1984
Repo Man stars Emilio Estevez as loser punk Otto a year before he’d played the jock picking on the losers in The Breakfast Club. Otto spends his days stocking the shelves at a grocery store until he quits after being continually scolded by his boss. However, Otto finds a new job more in line with his punk ethics—stealing cars from yuppies as a repo man. He learns the life of a repo man is always intense. The film maintains the intensity with a plot that grows ever stranger; changing lanes from scathing criticism on materialism to Cold War era fears to a B-movie alien flick.
Harry Dean Stanton plays repo man Bud, who recruits Otto to the profession. He teaches Otto the Repo Code. A repo man shall never damage an automobile he repossesses. Neither commie nor Christian shall ride in their car. The rich will always be the first to default on their loans. These men living on the outskirts of society are the perfect vehicle for the film’s contemptuous humor. They are more philosophers than struggling proletariat. The comedy is in their zen-like attitude as they snort cocaine to stay awake during the early morning hours and firing bullets to scare off deadbeat car owners.
Los Angeles is the ideal backdrop for the story. It’s a city built for driving, with vast stretches of cold pale concrete highways. However, this L.A. is in shambles with abandoned roads where the few roaming the streets are able to swerve from lane to lane. The fear of Cold War nuclear holocaust takes on a sense of normality as characters casually discuss the neutron bomb and the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos. If L.A. is yet to be annihilated by the bomb, the city is already conquered by a material emptiness where its residents are so weary of existence they are willing to consume jars of sustenance merely labeled as “food” and “drink.”
Meanwhile, a lobotomized scientist roams the streets of L.A. in a 1964 Chevy Malibu with the stolen bodies of four dead aliens in the trunk. A shadowy government agency puts a $20,000 bounty on the car; resulting in a clash between rival repo men and UFO enthusiasts. Miller (Walter), a repo man who refuses to drive a car, theorizes these aliens had been transporting people back in time to populate the once empty earth. Steven Spielberg had introduced an alien savior that could heal with his touch in E.T. Writer and director Alex Cox further mashes aliens and the Bible with a sci-fi creation story, though with a farcical edge. Cox’s take is a throwback to the B-movies of the 50s, hinting that modern society is more a product of the entertainment industry than traditional religion.
Repo Man is like a fast-paced riff from one of the soundtrack’s many hardcore punk songs. The social commentary must uphold a blistering intensity. As ideas on modern materialism, Los Angeles’s identity, marginalized subcultures, and science fiction B-movies all slam together, there is the threat that at any moment the film can lose its energy and fray into a giant wall of sloppy, distorted noise. Surprisingly, it doesn’t. The film maintains a steady beat of sharp-tongued criticism and brash humor until the end; making it a constant on the set list of must-see cinema.
Recommend
Repo Man will be released on DVD and Blu-ray with a new high-definition restored transfer on April 16, 2013.
New Podcast: Episode 386: St. Louis is Wizard!
Wizard World conventions are a staple for sci-fi and comic book fans. Having produced their multi-city conventions for years in Philadelphia, Chicago, and many other cities, they now expand their reach deeper in the midwest this year with Wizard World St. Louis! Marjorie and Arnie were at the con meeting Star Wars fans, celebrities, and seeing what Star Wars collectibles were for sale! With the 2014 St. Louis convention already announced, should you save the date? Listen to Arnie & Marjorie’s report to find out!Also this week, Johnathan is back with a look at the 2013 Movie Heroes action figures, Jerry gives a Vintage Viewpoint from Endor, and Steve the Gingerprince reports in from the UK–with a chance for one lucky listener to win some of the 2013 Yoda carded Clone Wars figures not released in the USA!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN386.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 385: C-3PO Is Happy To See You
The stores are full of the same ol’, same ol’, not because there are no new Star Wars action figures but because the stores are so full of 2012 figures that Hasbro is only shipping the new 2013 figures to other countries. If you want the 2013 Yoda carded Clone Wars and Movie Heroes figures American Star Wars collectors need to buy from Canada or Germany at considerable expense in shipping and surcharges. Is it worth it? Marjorie and Arnie have the final wave of Clone Wars figures in hand from a Canadian seller, and review each figure on this week’s Star Wars Action News! Listen to find out if these repacks, repaints, and retools are worth your bounty.And speaking of bounty, on this week’s podcast is one bad bounty hunter — Bossk! Sideshow’s 12-inch Bossk figure is in stock and shipping now, and Star Wars Action News reviews the exclusive version on this week’s show. With interchangeable hands, feet, and head (with the exclusive version) listen to hear the hosts’ thoughts on this latest sixth-scale figure!With a vintage filled report from the Toy Man Toy Show in St. Louis, a way to get an exclusive T-Shirt design this weekend at Wizard World St. Louis, and more, it’s all in this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN385.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 384: Bishoujo and Jocasta Nu
With few new Hasbro Star Wars toys showing up in stores, Star Wars collectors and podcast hosts Marjorie and Arnie must look online to build their collection. On this week’s podcast, they review two new mail-order additions to their collection! First, they review the Brian’s Toys exclusive Jocasta Nu action figure from Hasbro. Then they look at the first statue in Kotobukiya’s new Star Wars Bishoujo line–Jaina Solo.Star Wars Action News segment host Nathan P. Butler has also kept busy collecting the variant covers for Dark Horse’s new Star Wars #1 comic book. How many covers are there and how far will Nathan go to get them all? Listen to this week’s podcast to find out!With a UK collecting report by Steve “The Gingerprince” and Johnathan giving tips on collecting the Yoda carded Clone Wars and Movie Heroes figures, it’s all on this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN384.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 383: A Wave-Full of Yakface
For fans of Star Wars 3.75-inch figures the news is bad. No new figures will be shipping for months, rumors of Target removing all Star Wars items from their toy aisles abound, and the last wave of Clone Wars figures can only be found in Germany and Canada. On this episode of Star Wars Action News, your hosts Marjorie and Arnie run down the state of collecting, and discuss how far they are willing to go in search of these new figures.But not all is bleak; new Star Wars novelty items are appearing in the holiday aisles of Toys R Us and Target. From pastel Vader heads to bunny-eared Stormtroopers, the hosts review the new product hitting shelves.With a discussion of the newest item in Sideshow’s Star Wars Mythos line of statues, bargain-priced Hasbro toys, and more, it’s all in this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN383.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 382: Toy Fair 2013 Part 3 – From the Toy Fair Floor
While Hasbro has held the biggest focus coming out of Toy Fair 2013, there were plenty of other companies presenting and revealing new Star Wars items for 2013. On this episode of Star Wars Action News, Marjorie and Arnie report on all the rest, from Kotobukiya with their lines of statues and Bishoujos to Uncle Milton’s science-based Star Wars items, from Fantasy Flight Games with their Star Wars card, mini, and role-playing games to Diamond Select with their bust banks. Plus LEGO with a slew of new sets for all price ranges! Hear it all in this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!Then when you’re done listening, let us know your thoughts! Leave us a voicemail at 415-508-JEDI or send an MP3 to show@swactionnews.com so we can record your reaction to all the Star Wars Toy Fair collecting news!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN382.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 381: Toy Fair 2013 Part 2 – Hasbro Star Wars Brand Presentation
Collector response to Hasbro’s reveals at Toy Fair 2013 were widely varied. Many collectors expressed disappointment at the reduced articulation in many of the figures, the cancellation of the Clone Wars animated figure style, and the reduction in the number of figures being released. Other collectors celebrated the high articulation found in the Black Series 3.75-inch figures, as well as the brand new line of 6-inch figures coming from Hasbro. But you’ve heard Marjorie & Arnie’s thoughts, now hear from Hasbro themselves as we present their entire Star Wars Brand Fan Media presentation! Hear as they discuss the overseas popularity of 12-inch figures, as well as the big reveal of the Star Wars 6-inch Black Series figures!Then when you’re done listening, let us know your thoughts! Leave us a voicemail at 415-508-JEDI or send an MP3 to show@swactionnews.com so we can record your reaction to all the Star Wars Toy Fair collecting news!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN381.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 380: Toy Fair 2013 Part 1 – Hasbro
Toy Fair 2013 is here and Star Wars Action News is your podcast source for Star Wars collecting news coverage! On this podcast, Marjorie and Arnie recap and review the Hasbro Fan Media presentation. From the Black Series 6-inch and 3.75-inch collector oriented figures to the new 5 points of articulation sporting Saga Legends figures, Angry Birds, Fighter Pods, and more. Forget the rumors you’ve heard, on this podcast you’ll hear first hand reactions to seeing the new 2013 product, as well as behind-the-scenes information such as how many 3.75-inch Black Series figures are scheduled for 2013, how The Phantom Menace 3-D hurt Star Wars collectors, and the status of the Vintage boxed Endor AT-AT in the states. All this and more in the first part of Star Wars Action News’ 2013 Toy Fair Coverage!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN380.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 379: Back in Black
Marjorie and Arnie are back, in black with the new Black Series of Star Wars figures coming from Hasbro! On this week’s podcast, the hosts of Star Wars Action News discuss Hasbro’s reveal of new, collector-oriented, highly articulated 6-inch Star Wars figures. Is this a lightspeed jump for figure collectors, or a desperate retread? Listen to find out their opinions!
With a discussion on JJ Abrams directing Episode VII, the “postponing” of the 3-D converted Episode II and III films, and Johnathan bringing a report from the Gurnee toy show, it’s all on this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN379.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 378: I’m a Shadow Boxer, Baby
For many collectors the question is not “do I buy it” but “how do I display it after it’s bought”. Those who follow Star Wars Action News on Facebook and Twitter have seen Jerry share some of his unique, inventive ways of displaying vintage Kenner dioramas, and now Jerry shares his methods with you on the podcast! If you want to hear a new method to display your Star Wars toys, this is a show not to miss!
Also this week, the gang’s all here! Nathan joins Arnie to look at Dark Horse’s Star Wars #1, Brock reviews Timothy Zahn’s novel scoundrels, and Johnathan and Steve share their latest Star Wars toy finds in the US and the UK. All this and more in this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN378.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 377: Read My Lips, No New Figures
Star Wars Action News is back with its first show of 2013. Join hosts Marjorie and Arnie as they discuss the big news revealed by Hasbro last week–the Droid Factory line of figures, slated for early 2013, has been cancelled. Where does this leave action figure collectors, and what will the long-term impact be to the line? Listen to find out their thoughts!
But despite no Droid Factory figures, new Star Wars toys are available online and in stores. In this week’s podcast Marjorie and Arnie review the four new mini-rig vehicles released by Hasbro for 2013, the 501st Legion Attack Dropship, the MTT Droid Fighter, the 501st Legion AT-RT, and Yoda’s Jedi Attack Fighter. Now coming with two figures, and a higher price point, listen to find out if you should hunt these for your collection.
With a Jar-Jar-tastic Christmas haul, a new Sideshow 1/6 scale figure, and much more, it’s all in this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN377.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 376: 2012 Year In Review Part III: Expanded Universe, High End, and Best of the Year!
In addition to all the toys collectors added to their shelves this year, it’s been an amazing year for Star Wars expanded universe fans! From a return to the X-Wing book series to the conclusion of the Fate of the Jedi series, books from the Old Republic to the New Republic, comics, Clone Wars, and so much more it was an expansive year for Star Wars fans. In this week’s Star Wars Action News, Nathan and Brock reflect on the year in Star Wars Expanded Universe, then the rest of the crew weigh in with their favorites. With high-end collecting in 2012, and their favorite collectibles of the year, it’s all in the last Star Wars Action News podcast of the year!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN376.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 375: 2012 Year In Review Part II: Hasbro and Toys
For Star Wars toy collectors 2012 has been exciting and frustrating in equal measure. Some of the best figures in the history of Star Wars were released, but most collectors had trouble finding them. Astromech fans had a dream come true with Disneyworld offering build-a-droid sets, and the frenzy for parts left many little droids without a third leg or a hat. Taking in all that was Star Wars toy collecting in 2012, Marjorie and Arnie are joined by other collectors reflecting on 2012 in this week’s second part of the Star Wars Action News year in review!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN375.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 374: 2012 Year In Review Part I: 3-D, Disney, and Celebration
It’s been a great year to be a Star Wars fan. The year started with Star Wars once again in theaters as The Phantom Menace kicked off the Star Wars 3-D conversions, the summer ended with a bang at Star Wars Celebration VI, and then the dreams of Star Wars fans worldwide came true when it was announced that there will be more Star Wars films, the first just 3 years away! Looking back at the year that was, listen to Star Wars Action News hosts Marjorie and Arnie are joined by a number of friends and show hosts to look back at what 2012 meant to Star Wars fans.
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN374.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 373: Toy Run For Tots
It’s the holiday season and for Star Wars Action News hosts its a time to reflect back on childhood, getting an AT-AT under the Christmas tree, holiday shopping for an Empire Strikes Back Yoda and more. But many children today won’t have memories like those, but organizations like Toys For Tots are there to help. On this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast, Marjorie and Arnie take you on a toy run unlike any they’ve recorded before, where they’re buying toys not for their own collection but to donate to a Toys For Tots that’s much in need. Listen, then donate some toys!Also on this week’s podcast, the Star Wars Action News crew join in with their own Star Wars collecting news. Johnathan reviews some of the final Vintage Collection figures, Brock gives a review of Annihilation–the latest Old Republic novel, and Steve the Gingerprince joins us with a UK report including some recent birthday gifts and new figure finds across the pod.With the last Toy Man Toy Show of 2012, some online Vintage Collection bargains, and more, it’s on this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN373.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 372: Repair or Repurchase?
Eventually it will happen to all collectibles: they break, yellow, decay, or degrade. The passage of time eventually will cause all collectibles to lose their mint condition. Ask not for who’s collectibles the bell tolls, it tolls for thine. On this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast, Marjorie and Arnie discuss what happened to one of their Star Wars holiday snow globes, and how it changed their entire view of the collecting hobby!
Also this week, several new items have started to ship, including the eFX Collectibles TIE Fighter scaled replica, the Hasbro four-figure 104TH Battalion “Wolf Pack” of figures, and Steve Sansweet’s Ultimate Action Figure Collection book. We discuss each of these releases, with a review of the four figures in Hasbro’s pack and an in-depth look at the latest book from Steve Sansweet detailing every Star Wars action figure released since 1978.
With a discounted Vintage boxed Millennium Falcon, some hard to find mini rig vehicles at retail, and crafty gift ideas, it’s all on this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN372.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 371: Black Friday Deals and 2012 Holiday Gift Guide
It’s Thanksgiving and once again Marjorie and Arnie are back with their special annual episode of Star Wars Action News running down all the Star Wars items on sale this weekend! From half-off vehicles and toys at Toys R Us to 8 figures for $25 at Wal-Mart, Dark Horse comics for under a dollar each, and so much more, listen to find out which stores you need to hit tomorrow (or tonight)!
And also in this episode the Star Wars Action News hosts look at all the items you can buy your Star Wars loving friend or family member for the holidays. All price ranges are covered from Hasbro action figures up to Gentle Giant’s newest statue and maquette releases. Listen to find their recommendations for hot holiday items, and a few things you may not have even known about!
Finally this week, Star Wars Action News has long been a supporter of Toys For Tots. Listen to this week’s episode to find out about a special eBay auction being run for a custom Death Trooper with all proceeds going to buy toys for a Toys For Tots donation! It’s all in this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN371.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 370: Clone Taper Caper
At Five Below stores across the country an unusual figure is showing up. It was first reported at Jedi Temple Archives.com and has been spotted by many collectors, including Arnie and Marjorie of Star Wars Action News. It’s a variant of the 212th Battalion Clone Trooper with a more detailed, more white helmet. But the odd thing is, the figure has seemingly been opened, then taped back shut. Have you found this new variant? Hear about the figure part swap on this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
Also on this week’s show, more finds at discounted prices, from other Star Wars collectibles at Five Below to hard-to-find exclusives at TJ Maxx, to value bundles at Toys R Us. Plus holiday items hitting store shelves, Lego sales, and a hint of Black Friday (or is that Thursday) sales next week!
With an X-Wing miniatures gameplay review by Darth Cheddar, Steve the Gingerprince updating us on his collecting, and a review of the Angry Birds iPhone game, it’s all on this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN370.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 369: A Mouse in the House
It’s been exactly one week since the news broke: Disney buys Lucasfilm, Episode VII in 2015. It’s a major change of course for a franchise that had long been declared dormant, and one that will have far-reaching impact on Star Wars collectors. On this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast, Marjorie and Arnie take your voicemails, giving podcast listeners the stage to share their excitement and their trepidation about this news. Plus updates on new Star Wars collectibles for sale online. All this and more on this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN369.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 368: BREAKING NEWS: Disney buys Lucasfilm; Announces Episodes 7, 8, and 9
Many Star Wars fans had to check their calendars today. Was it April Fools’ Day? Were the folks at Lucasfilm and Disney joining to play a Halloween prank on fans? But slowly the news set in — for over four billion dollars Disney has bought Lucasfilm, with the primary focus being the Star Wars franchise. More, they are immediately beginning preproduction on Star Wars Episode VII with a planned release in Summer, 2015.
It’s the single biggest surprise since Vader said “No, I am your father.” and now the Star Wars Action News team has gathered to gather the reaction from Star Wars fans and collectors. Join Marjorie, Arnie, Berent, Nathan, Jerry, Andrew, Jakob, and Steve the Gingerprince as they tell their initial reaction to the news, and what this means for their collecting.
Listen to this special episode of Star Wars Action News, then call us and share your thoughts on this major revelation for Star Wars. Leave us a voicemail at 415-508-JEDI
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN368.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 367: Bring on the Barge
For years many fans’ holy grail for the Star Wars 3.75-inch collection has been an original trilogy vehicle never realized in either vintage or modern era–Jabba’s Sail Barge. The scale and scope of such a vehicle has made it seemingly prohibitive, but at this year’s New York Comic-Con the Star Wars brand team mentioned that they could possibly do it. This has caused Star Wars fan sites, including Star Wars Action News, to unite like never before with the Bring on the Barge fan site petition. With the lofty goal of 10,000 signatures by Jan 31st this petition is to show Hasbro that there is a huge base of support in the community for a barge. On this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast, Marjorie and Arnie discuss the probability of such an item, and where it would fit in their collection. So listen to the show, head over and sign the petition, then come to the Star Wars Action News forums for their Poll of the Week and tell them how much you’d be willing to pay for the Barge.
Also on this week’s show, the Star Wars Angry Birds attack continues! The first reveal was Hasbro plush toys, but now large scale plushies and even adult Halloween costumes for Star Wars Angry Birds have been revealed!
With sales on Vintage Collection exclusives, a big Toys R Us exclusive with a bigger price tag, and a look at the Star Wars X-Wing Miniature game, it’s all on this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN367.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 366: NYCC Toy Hunter
New York Comic Con was a great time for Star Wars fans. From new toy reveals from Hasbro and their Angry Birds Star Wars to new collectible and product announcements from Hallmark, Kotobukiya, and more, and convention veteran Mitchell Hallock was on-hand to cover it all. Join us on Star Wars Action News this week to hear his recollection of the con, along with interviews with Kotobukiya, Hallmark, Comic Images, and a discussion of Star Wars toys with Toy Hunter Hembrough!
Also on this week’s show, Johnathan joins us to discuss his latest finds in store, on line, and a special vintage purchase.
With a Vinylmation contest winner and more, it’s all on this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN366.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 365: A New Star Wars Book Pops Up!
In 2007 Matthew Reinhart brought a new dimension to Star Wars books with Star Wars: A Pop Up Guide to the Galaxy, a book that helped redefine what a pop-up book could be for Star Wars fans. It quickly became a New York Times Bestseller and now Matthew is back with his follow up–Star Wars: A Galactic Pop-Up Adventure. General Grievous, Acklay, and more, this book has light up features, sounds, and so much more! And on this week’s Star Wars Action News, Matthew joins Arnie and Marjorie to discuss this new prequel era book for fans of all ages!
Also for fans of all ages, this past week Hasbro and Lucasfilm announced Star Wars Angry Birds, a videogame with toy tie-ins from Hasbro including an Early Angry Bird Kit! Some fans disdain this new license while others embrace it. Hear both sides of the discussion on this week’s podcast.
With new Hallmark Keepsake ornaments, a hands-on review of the new Hasbro Toys R Us exclusive Speeder Bike, your voicemails, news from New York Comic Con and more, it’s all on this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN365.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 364: Star Wars Action News Reads Day in Roseville
Last Saturday was the first annual Star Wars Reads Day, an event promoted by Del Rey and Lucasfilm to promote literacy in general, and the reading of Star Wars books in particular. Over 1,000 libraries and book stores across the country took part, with kits provided by Del Rey giving kids activities and crafts, and promoting Star Wars. Marjorie and Arnie of Star Wars Action News trekked to Roseville, MN for one of these events at Barnes & Noble with guests Troy Denning, John Jackson Miller, and Dan Wallace. On this episode of the podcast, they recap the events and share their hopes for next year’s event to make it even better!
And with Star Wars Reads day what better book is there than the Star Wars Essential Reader’s Companion to introduce new readers to the Star Wars Expanded Universe? Star Wars Action News Book Club Liaison Brock provides an in-depth review of this new book on this show.
With a recap of finds at the Toy Man Toy Show in St. Louis and the Fallcon convention in Roseville, new finds at Toys R Us, a die-cast C-3PO, and more, it’s on this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN364.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
New Podcast: Episode 363: Pablo Hidalgo’s Essential Companion
On October 6, 2012 is the first Star Wars Reads day. Across the country bookstores will be hosting events celebrating Star Wars books, both fiction and nonfiction. Many stores are having Star Wars authors speak and autograph books, including the Barnes and Noble in Roseville, MN where Star Wars Action News hosts Marjorie and Arnie will be going to see authors Troy Denning, Daniel Wallace, and John Jackson Miller.
With Star Wars Reads day being the biggest thing for Star Wars fans since Celebration VI, it is the perfect time for the release of Pablo Hidalgo’s Star Wars: The Essential Reader’s Companion. With Star Wars fiction predating the Star Wars films themselves, and with a constant stream of expanded universe novels coming for over twenty years, The Essential Reader’s Companion provides summaries, trivia, and artwork for over 100 Star Wars adult novels, plus many more junior novels and comics besides!
On this week’s Star Wars Action News podcast, Arnie sits down with Pablo to discuss the inception of this new book and how it can be used by Star Wars readers of all experience levels–from those who’ve just read their first novel to the experienced reader who’s consumed every book released!
And also on this week’s show, Star Wars fans and Disney fans alike go crazy for Disney’s Vinylmation figures. Exclusive to the Disney theme parks, the second series of Vinylmations was released in August, simultaneous with Star Wars Celebration VI. Events were held on both coasts, at Disney World in Orlando, and Disneyland in California, and Podcast Enhancer Berent’s significant other Carmilla attended Disneyland to get a set of these figures! On this week’s podcast, listen to hear their impressions of this new series, and how you can win a full set of these figures from Star Wars Action News!
Listen Now: http://www.swactionnews.com/Podcasts/SWAN363.MP3
Category: Movies & Television
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