Review: Custom 'The Hurt Locker' Sgt William James 12" Figure

As Luke and I have learnt over the last year, collecting Hot Toys is a dangerous business. You're dropping $200+ here there and everywhere in frenzied excitement to get tiny replicas of your favourite characters. There's a sense of overwhelming euphoria every time one of those chunky boxes turns up in the mail. And then...the buzz starts to wear off. You see custom dolls that other people have made. Some are bad, but some are very good. You start to think 'Huh, how good would it be to have something that unique?' You may have already seen Luke's post about his custom casual Tony Stark, now it's time to join me on MY journey as I piece together my very own custom; Sgt William James from 2008's The Hurt Locker.

More under the cut!

My Custom Tony Stark Gets Better Head!

If you’re a regular reader then you may have been following (enduring?) the saga of my quest to put together a custom 1/6th scale Tony Stark, decked out in his casual outfit from the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier scenes in The Avengers. I grabbed a regular Hot Toys TrueType body and found custom clothes on eBay, and my intent was to use the unmasked head from my recently acquired Iron Man Mark VII. But alas, disaster struck when the neck joint was incompatible and the Robert Downey Jr. likeness was a little less than satisfactory!

How did I solve this ridiculously trivial first world problem?! I returned to eBay and sought out the assistance in the dark tunnels of the customiser underworld! How does a custom head stack up against an official Hot Toy? The results might surprise you...

More images and explanation... after the jump!

Review: Hot Toys TrueType Regular Body! Plus Surprise Stark! Sort of.

What’s this that I have from Hong Kong today? Why it’s the new Hot Toys Truetype regular body, i.e. a naked, headless, 12 inch man. What is it for? How will it prove essential to my eerily expanding high end Hot Toys collection? And what does billionaire industrialist Tony Stark have to do with all this?

I’m going to answer all these highly pertinent questions and more... after the jump!

Playmobil Figures Series 2 and 3: Randomization and Customization

The Playmobil Figures (actually called Fi?ures) series 2 is out in stores now. I managed to pick up a few packages at my local Five Below for about $3.00 each. 

 
These continue with a similar feel of iconic character types as the Lego mini figure series does, but at the same time they really branch out on their own... into some seriously bizarre territory.

Click through the jump for a deeper look at what Playmobil is up to. I have images of the figures I received, the other crazy/awesome/strange Series 2 figures, the upcoming Series 3 figures, and some ups and downs of Playmobil customization. 

Vote For O.M.F.G. Figures Series 2!

I've already talked at length about October Toy's brilliant O.M.F.G. figures, a tribute to the bizarre flesh-coloured mini-mutant M.U.S.C.L.E figures of the eighties. After a successful Kickstarter project, series one brought us memorable characters like The Phantom Shithouse and the Crawdad Kid. Well, the good news is that now the good folks at October have compiled over 400 design submissions for a second series and you get to vote for which ones you think should be included.

All the action is happening on the October Toys Forum in the voting thread here, and this link where you can see all of the submissions (VERY image heavy).

But now I have to make this all about me, right? So here are the five that I am voting for, starting with...

To see my remaining four choices, join me after the jump!

Interview with Lego Minifigure Customizer Jamie Spencer (a/k/a Morgan190)

Last week, we featured Morgan190's custom Halloween Lego Advent Calendar (which is still going strong. This week there was Blaze Pixie, Bring Your Cthulhu to Work Day, and The Purple People Eater). 

At the time, I/we didn't know much about Morgan190, so I scheduled an interview with him. I wanted to know about his background with Lego, minifigs, and also about his creative process. In between the questions, I'm showing some of the best work from his flickr page. His minifigures are really top of the line (as well as non-conventional, as he uses many non-Lego parts), and the post production elements that he adds really helps his figures stand out above the rest.

Click through the jump for my interview with Jamie Spencer a/k/a Morgan190.

New York Comic Con Report from our Intrepid Reporter!

None of the regular Fruitless Pursuits team got anywhere near New York Comic Con, largely due to lack of funds/time/interest, vast oceans, restraining orders, and an electronic monitoring anklet. Lucky for us, though, we have an agent in the field - our intrepid reporter Travis was in attendance and he has generously reported back on the mayhem that was NYCC 2011 this past weekend!

Hideous potato-headed podracer Ben Quadrinaros on a vintage card? Finally! Sign me up for a thousand!

For some valuable insights, plus exclusive photos of upcoming collectibles, be sure to join us after the jump for an uncensored, unbridled, no-holds-barred account of comic con chaos!

Halloween Advent 2011 - Lego Figure Calendar by Morgan190

I don't know much about Morgan190 besides the following.

-He also goes by Morgan19
-His name is not Morgan (it's Jamie)
-He makes some of the best custom Lego minifigures I've ever seen.

Check out the highlights from his 2011 Halloween Advent Calendar below, and follow the rest of the month here on his Flickr account. While you are there, make sure you look around. There are almost 1000 images (mostly Lego). The historical figure collection is pretty amazing, and his Dark Helmet blows my contest-winning Spaceballs Winnebago out of this Solar System.

More highlights after the jump.

The Amazing Anatomical Pop Culture Sculpture of Jason Freeny!

Here's what we know about Jason Freeny: He's an artist. He's awesome. And we should visit his site, worship, and purchase from him. He's also literally pulling apart some of our favourite pop culture icons to see what makes them tick.

The Staypuft Marshmallow Man is full of delicious marshmallows, right? No. He actually has a skeleton and internal organs. Which makes it all the more tragic when he dies in a fire:

Join me after the jump to see a few more of my favourites, and learn a little bit more about the man!

Plush Star Wars Image Gallery: Stitch Wars Strikes Back!

Today marks the beginning of a massive week of events for Star Wars, so brace yourself for some heavy coverage! This week alone, all six movies will make their debut on Blu-ray (along with 40+ hours of additional content), Lego Star Wars: The Padawan Menace will also make its debut on Blu-ray (and DVD) in the states, Clone Wars Series 4: Battlelines will debut with a special double-episode, and we'll be running our first in-depth interview with a special Star Wars guest! And I'm sure there's plenty more where that came from (and if you're not a Star Wars fan, don't worry, we'll have a lot of other new stuff too!).

Boutique and gallery Bear and Bird in South Florida, are currently exhibiting a group show of hand-made Star Wars inspired plush items. It will run from August 12th - September 25th. A price list is now available but items are selling very fast!

By Deadly Sweet Dolls.

If you're not in Florida, then don't fret, because the Bear and Bird Flickr has a full gallery of items on show, which I can't preview for you here, but it's well worth a look. Check it!  (This is the same show that J. previewed back when we had our ugly AT-AT debate!)

Custom Muppet Dunnys! Plus a Classic Lion-EmO!

We've already pretty much established that we love Muppets and we love Kid Robot's Dunny figures. So if both of these things were to combine there would be such an immediate swelling of love in our collective rib-cage that a black-magic using Mola Ram-type gentleman would be required to tear our heart out of our chest before it explodes.

Well, such a thing has finally happened! Jared Cain (real name Nikejerk) has customised three unsuspecting Dunnys into the core members of legendary felt band The Electric Mayhem (minus Animal, but seriously, who gives a crap about him). Check it out:

I'm not afraid to mention that Janice's huge lips make me feel a little tingly.

I saw these via toycutter, who really have you covered in terms of showcasing custom figures. And Nikejerk also turned a Dunny into another character that's quite dear to me right now, but join me after the jump to see it, because if I clutter up the front page, the other contributors will beat me.

What's Out? Week of 24th of August 2011

Get out those wallets, piggy banks and coin purses!
Here's where I look at the Diamond shipping list and see what's coming out this week.

Metal Mondays: Let's Talk About Metal Head from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

Think Metal Monday I'm banging my head sideways and thinking laterally! I'm bursting to talk about a very different kind of Metal Head, first introduced in an episode of the 1989 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon! You remember him don't you? He's a robot ninja turtle created by the nefarious tentacle-brain asshole Krang, for some obscure, nonsensical reason!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Robot Aahfuhgeddaboutit...

What's Metal Head all about anyway? What's his deal? What makes him tick? Should we tolerate, deride or celebrate him? I'll tell you exactly what to think and feel after the jump!

What's Out? Week of 17th of August

It's new comics day! I'm here to tell you what is available this week by looking at Diamond's shipping list (it's not just comics). I have comments, maybe some suggestions and a lot of questions!

Bootleg Buddha Fett!

Since my first purchase from Suckadelic I've been pretty fascinated by designer bootleg toys. I am enchanted by the idea of rogue artists mashing together existing things into brazen Frankenstein creations that reinterpret all the things we love. I had plenty of mainstream toys as a kid but had a real affinity for those obscure oddball  figures you'd occasionally stumble across at the back of some store - creatures that were presented with no name or explanation and allowed your own imagination to fill in all the blanks. I would love to make my own toys! I need to learn how to make a mold and cast in resin or something.

Killer Bootlegs don't have an online store as yet but I was charmed by their recent misappropriation Buddha Fett, which they've cast in a variety of colours:

And if you go to their facebook page you'll see a lot of other equally outlandish experiments:

That's Beastman's head in the spacesuit there and I would totally buy that Wookiewok!

Clogging Up the Servers 2: Hot Toys SDCC Batman Pre-Order About to Go LIVE.

Hong Kong toy company Hot Toys make uber-realistic, creepily accurate action figures with real pores and follow-you eyes. Their high-quality coupled with their exclusivity has caused much collector longing and hand-wringing, and has scored Hot Toys all the huge, popular licenses (like Batman, the Marvel movies, and now Star Wars). I own the Scarlett Johanssen from Iron Man 2 and The Comedian from Watchmen and they are so realistic that he ACTUALLY GOT HER PREGNANT.

So when this incredibly kickass and over-accessorised Christian the Maniac Bale from Batman Begins...

... was released as a limited exclusive at the recent San Diego Comic Con, collectors went batshit insane and climbed all over each other and shrieked like hellish banshees to get their meaty paws on them. Needless to say (but I'll say it anyway) they sold-out quickly and were soon appearing for upwards of US$600 on ebay!

But if you weren't there, or were there but ended up with nothing but a torn shirt and a tear-stained face, then you DO have a very limited second chance. TONIGHT. Find out more and see more amazing pics after the bat-jump!

Spy Vs. Spy 50th Anniversary Toy Project

To celebrate 50 years of Spy Vs. Spy, artists were sent blank Spy figures to customise. The results are being posted daily on the Mad blog.