FPcast! The Fruitless Pursuits Podcast for October 7th! Smaugasboard!

This week Luke and Jacinta talk about the mighty voice of dragon Smaug, Edgar Wright's Antman, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Halloween specials, GTA V Online, Hawkeye collection Little Hits, and we get really sweary and offensive at the end. Whack it in your head!

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Thank Gif It's Friday!

Did you know that Google image search now has an advanced option where you can select "animated"? Now our Friday Gif leeching potential is UNLIMITED!  Happy Friday, Gifsters! Does that news make you feel like this?...

Source

Review: The Avengers Collectible Figure 8-Pack!

I’m always looking for the opportunity to add to my creepy Black Widow collection, so when this 8-pack of “collectible” Avengers figures popped up, featuring sculpts and poses inspired by some instantly recognisable promo art, I was powerless to resist. This humble yet mysterious box contains eight 2 inch (or thereabouts) figures for the meagre sum of $10 - $15. There has to be something of merit lurking within there, right? Right? Or is this a Lost Ark of the Covenant scenario where all we’ll reveal is face-melting disappointment?

Join me after the jump where I am going to crack one of these open so that you probably don’t have to!

Raiding the Avengers Wardrobe

You may remember Luke's post from a while ago about his Black Widow costume collector cards, featuring little snippets of Scarlett Johansson's costumes from Iron Man 2 and The Avengers (probably the bits that touched her butt, but I guess we'll never truly know). I'm sure that you, like me, thought 'Oh, Luke. That's so weird. Why would you want to own something that probably touched ScarJo's butt? Stop being weird Luke. You weirdo'.

As I am a curious beast, I thought I'd have a little look on eBay to see what other costume parts were available (not that I'd buy any of course, because as we've already established, that's WEIRD). It was less than five minutes before I was hitting Buy It Now like a crazy fangirl. A crazy WEIRD fangirl.

I mean, how did I ever live without a card featuring a picture of Jeremy Renner awkwardly grimacing and containing a piece of Hawkeye's uniform? I DON'T KNOW. Sadly, this was the first of many as I quickly spiralled out of control, caught in a memorabilia-buying frenzy. Sigh. Join me after the cut for the rest of my Hall of Shame.

Review: Hot Toys Hawkeye - The Avengers!

We are being overrun by pop culture archers. Whether it's Katniss Everdeen, the Green Arrow or Princess Merida, the world is reminding us how awesome it is to stab somebody from a distance. How else would you explain ace archer Hawkeye managing to wheedle his way into The Avengers, a team that features a laser robot, a raging radioactive monster, and an actual God.

We can celebrate his shifty achievement with the extremely freshly released and highly sought after Hot Toys Hawkeye 1/6th scale collectible figure, the second to be assembled after Nick Fury who I reviewed earlier this year.

How does this eerie, life-like - yet tiny - Jeremy Renner stack up? See a whole lot more pictures... after the jump!

Review: Hasbro The Avengers 3 3/4 inch Hawkeye and Nick Fury!

We’d be remiss to not occasionally check in on The Avengers, an insanely entertaining film that I had mixed feelings about initially but have grown to adore over time. (Here in Australia we’ve had the Bluray for over a month). The merchandise might be slowing down but there’s still a few things up for grabs if you have a keen eye.

After previously acquiring Black Widow, I have happened upon the equally-hard-to-find Hasbro 3 3/4 inch figures of arrow-slinger Hawkeye and depth-perceptionless superhero-wrangler Nick Fury. How do they shape up?

Join me after the jump where I will reveal all!

Review: The Avengers Squinkies! WTF is a Squinky?

What is a Squinky? Nobody knows! Science is baffled! But when I saw that there was a set of movie The Avengers themed Squinkies I knew that I must buy them and science be damned! Besides, I needed the oddball Black Widow to add to my rapidly expanding collection.

So I may not have too many answers on the true nature of science/nature/God-defying Squinkies (I can tell you that they are small, and squishy, but you can’t eat them as they are made of a substance yet uncategorised by man) but I will open them up and let you see them with your own skeptical eyes.

Flubber? I think perhaps they are made of Flubber. To unravel this mystery... join me after the jump!

Hot Toys The Amazing Spider-Man Available for Pre-Order! Plus More!

It's always exciting when the master artisans at Hot Toys descend from the heavens to reveal their newest product, and this time it's a 1/6th scale Spider-Man collectible figure capturing his golden-eyed appearance in next week's movie reboot The Amazing Spider-Man:

The incredible detail you'd expect is present as always, and it looks like he's quite flexible despite the figure-hugging costume. I certainly prefer it aesthetically to the Tobey Macguire version.

Our good friends at Sideshow Collectibles have him available for pre-order right now. Reserve yours here. He'll be $204.99 once available.

Join me after the jump for some more pics, plus a couple of other high-end items freshly revealed by Sideshow!

Avengers Assemble! Hot Toys Captain America Pre-Order.

Although I ragged on his on-screen costume in my Avengers review, this upcoming 6th scale Captain America from Hot Toys looks pretty incredible. All jazz ballet jibes aside I have to concede that this is an amazingly crafted figure, and anyone managing to actually collect all of the team members is going to have a very impressive (and expensive) display on their hands. I have the Hot Toys Batman Begins Bruce Wayne/Batman and can attest to the quality, detail and uncanny shrunken likenesses. Admittedly I won't be rushing out to get Cap, but I think I'll be very tempted to grab Black Widow when her pre-order is up for grabs shortly.

I imagine that these will be popular (especially once the movie opens in the US) so if you're going to take the plunge then you probably should  check out more images and pre-order him at Sideshow Collectibles:

Hot Toys Movie Masterpiece Series Captain America Sixth Scale Figure - The Avengers

They also have limited stock of the First Avenger World War II version as well:
Hot Toys Movie Masterpiece Series Captain America 12-inch Figure - Captain America: The First Avenger

Join me after the jump if you need a reminder of what the equally amazing Hawkeye and Nick Fury pieces will look like.

Entertainment Weekly Cover Showcases 3rd Runner Up in Avengers Photoshop Competition!

Okay, so this playfully pasted Avengers group shot on the cover of Entertainment Weekly isn't exactly breaking news, but my commentary is new! And, hey, sometimes you need a little time to reflect!

So feast your hungry eyes on this sextet of super-powered heads:

And then join me after the jump for some further thoughts!...

The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Perverts

Unless you have been living under a rock (or have no interest in the movie) you've probably seen photos of the 'on location' filming for the Avengers that took place in New York a couple of weeks ago. Being the good fangirl pop culture enthusiast that I am, I thought it was really my duty to scour the internets for photos of boys (and one girl) in superhero costumes, being like, totally cute. After a while, I started to notice a trend. Head below the cut for a whooooole lot of photos.