Hello hive-heads! 3B here checking in and letting you know I'm still buzzing around. It's been nearly a month since my last post and that's just way too long to be away. "Where have you been?", you ask? Well, I went on vacation for about a week in mid-June (Marco Island is really nice, by the way) and it seems like I've had a non-stop barrage of errands and personal commitments to take care of. In that time my review of Diamond Dallas Page has been stewing in "DRAFT" mode, halfway done and there's a whole new pile of toys waiting for a review!
The real issue is that we've had to go back to our old building at work and we don't have the luxury of wi-fi there, so my usual "writing schedule" has been severely affected. Hopefully we'll be returning to the new facility in the coming week and I'll be able to catch up on my backlog quickly. I'm going to try to get that DDP review up before then for the benefit of those who are thinking of buying him, but I make no promises!
The real story today is we're only a few days away from San Diego Comic Con 2012 and it promises to be a big one! This year I'm most excited about the film reveals with upcoming films like Guillermo Del Toro's Pacific Rim, Iron Man 3 and the Superman sequel/reboot/prequel/whateverthehellyouwantacallit Man of Steel.
But the blog's not called 3B's "Movie" Hive so I'd be remiss to say I'm not super excited for the toy reveals this year. I find my toy collecting at a crossroads... I'm pretty much done with my ideal, "classics" Transformers collection save for a few characters that haven't been updated and a few I plan to customize. WWE Legends is all but dead because I don't see them continuing on Matty Collector. The good news is that the "flashback" figures in the Elite line seem to be successful, so here's hoping we continue to get our legendary grapplers through that avenue.
The extreme poor service I've received from Digital River has pretty much guaranteed that I will avoid ANY subs on Matty.com next year including Club Infinite Earths. Unfortunately no amount of fan rallying will change that for me this year. Mattel will have to present a line-up that truly blows my socks off, but I don't see it happening. I'm STILL waiting for the first figure, Jay Garrick, already sold of Atrocitus and my Metron arrived with a paint chip on his nose. And next month I get to pay $30+ for Rocket Red, which no one is going to buy off of me.
Voltron will be completed after this year and truth be told, I regret signing up for that sub. I've never subscribed to MotUC and don't plan to. In fact, even my casual cherry-picking of the line has slowed done to just a couple of figures this year and those purchases were a reissued figure and a gift for a friend.
I thought I wanted to jump back into Marvel Legends with their return, but I skipped the first wave and after completing Arnim Zola I pretty much sold off half of the figures. Instead my attention has turned towards the 3.75" scale Marvel Universe and has even expanded to the G.I. Joe franchise, which I swore off years ago (along with Transformers and look how THAT turned out), with the excellent 30th Anniversary and Retaliation releases.
With that said, you may now be asking, "so are there any SDCC-exclusives you're looking to pick up this year?" Well, the answer is "HELL. F*CK. YES!"
Interestingly all the exclusives I want this year are made by Hasbro, chief among them is the Marvel Universe Super Helicarrier. I thought the retail version showed off at Toy Fair was "okay", but when Hasbro announced the Super version, I fell in love with it! I have no idea how hard it will be to order one from HasbroToyShop.com, but I'm going to give it my best shot. I did vow to skip it if I cannot buy it for retail (plus shipping) because money is tight right now and I can't justify spending $200 or more on this.
The other item is the G.I. Joe/Transformers crossover set of Destro and a Shockwave-inspired redeco of the new Cobra HISS Tank. I've picked up two of the Retaliation HISSs already and am really digging them, so Cyclopean version with a "Money Bags" Destro and "Constructicon" B.A.T. trooper is very appealing to me. Again, don't know how hard it will be to order one from HTS, but I'm going to try!
Anyway, that's all for now, I'll leave you to your ponderings and reiterate that I am alive and well (just a little worn out), but very excited for the next couple of weeks. SDCC will give us plenty to think about over the next year and in just a little over a week we'll have our chance to see the epic conclusion to Christopher Nolan's Batman series.
In anticipation of the new film, my girlfriend and I started rewatching the previous films with Batman Begins last week, Batman: Gotham Night this past Saturday and The Dark Knight scheduled for this week, all leading up to our already reserved viewing of The Dark Knight Rises at the over 21-only, ritzy, CineBistro theater here in Miami.
'Bye for now!
3B
