3B's Toy Hive

Originally I planned to review my three Elite 21 figures in the same week, but that fell apart for reasons discussed in yesterday's LoEB post along with a couple of other reviews that popped up on the fly.
That's okay, though, because good things come to those who wait and today's review is the 200th featured on Hive! What better figure to review than one from my favoriate action figure line, Mattel's WWE Elite Collection?

Today I'm looking at everyone's favorite fiesty little nerd-goddess, AJ Lee, finally arriving in her ring gear. Sure, it's not her current ring gear, but it's a cool look, nonetheless. Let's jump into it!

June's been a hectic month for me and I don't mean just on the Hive. It started out busy with plenty of post during the first half of the month, but the combination of having my soon-to-be-5-year-old daughter at home during my weekday off days, a mid-June out-of-town trip and home remodeling derailed my momentum. I'm taking advantage of a seemingly slow Saturday morning at work to type up a new post for the League of Extraordinary Bloggers.

This week's assignment:

Summer Vacation.

Victim: WWE Elite 21 Cody Rhodes
Douchery: figure replaced with "Flex Force" Rey Mysterio
Found at: Toys R Us

This one was pretty surprising to me because Elite 21 hadn't been stocked at this particular store before. That day they had almost the whole set, even a Y2J, but this douche didn't feel like paying full price for Cody, which by-the-way is one of the nicest figures in the wave, and replaced him with one of those gimmicked FF figures.

Looks just like Rhodes, doesn't it.

Last Friday night I attended the WWE Live! event in Fort Lauderdale (technically Sunrise), FL with my daughter and girlfriend who have never been to a live wrestling show. I've been to several WWE events (and a few TNA shows) over the past fifteen years including four or five Monday Night RAW shows and Armageddon 2002, but this was the first "house show" I'd been to and wasn't sure what to expect. I was prepared for a toned down stage and theatrics, but didn't know how the show would work as a non-televised program.

Over at BattleGrip this week Phil Reed is celebrating Batman with multiple daily posts ranging from toy reviews to vintage commercials all of which are focused on the caped crusader. I contacted Phil about joining in on the fun after watching a commercial for the old Legends of Batman toyline by Kenner.

Battlegrip and a few other websites have a good handle on several modern Batman toys, so I thought it would be cool to review an vintage Bat-toy. With that said here's a look at the Batmobile from the LoB series.

The prodigal son returns!... Again. Last week I kicked off my reviews of the Man of Steel Movie Masters line with Jor-El, this week we're taking a look at the titular hero, Superman!

MoS takes a pretty drastic turn in the design department from previous live-action incarnations of Superman, very similar to, but decidedly better than the current comic design of Kal-El. We're only a little over a week away from Man of Steel being released in theaters and I have to admit that in the last couple of months I've become very excited to see what Zack Snyder does with the franshise.

After the success of Batman Begins in 2005 hopes were high for Bryan Singer's 2006 film, Superman Returns, only to be squashed by a rather mundane outing for the last son of Krypton. Hence the reason I tried not to get too excited about MoS this year. However, I have to admit it seems like it will be the Superman film modern audiences have been yearning for.

For now, let our hunger be satiated with the first Superman figure released in conjunction with the new movie.

This week's assignment for the League of Extraordinary Bloggers gives me an oppurtunity to bring back a classic treat from my childhood that I long to have! The assignment:

Bring it back! What product or media property would you like to see revived, and how would you imagine it being different today.

I know just the thing!

When Mattel debuted their WWE Legends series in the Summer of 2010 there were a lot of names that quickly popped into my head for future releases. Savage. Warrior. Hart. Beefcake. In fact, after the announcement of the first couple of waves, I sat down and scribbled out the Superstars I wanted on my shelf. Somewhere in the top 10 was Honky Tonk Man. Seriously.

Nevermind the fact he is "The Greatest Intercontinental Champions of All Time", his gimmick was fantastic! Like a lot of those larger than life personas during the Golden Era of WWE, he translated well into action figure form and made him a popular with kids. At long last Mattel has tackled the Elvis-inspired blue suede Superstar (although not in "Legends" packaging) via the current "Flashback" pipeline running through the Elite series since wave 12.

Hop into his pink cadillac and see how this cool, cocky, bad grappler turned out!

Happy Saturday everybody! I've decided to change up the schedule [what schedule? - Ed.] a bit and start posting The Honeypot on Saturdays, allowing it to appear at the top of the post list through weekend and probably Monday, too. Because of a recent change in my schedule at work I usually end up photographing my hauls on Thursday nights now, so it makes sense to get the 'pot posted on the weekends. Moving on...

This time around we find DC-related toys making a comeback at the Hive after a significant hiatus. Check it out!