Flash Friday: Flash Tots

Happy Flash Friday everyone! Today we are going back to the land of fast food toys. You may have already heard that Sonic is giving away plush tater tots dressed like superheroes in their kid’s meals. You didn’t misread that, plush tater tots dressed like superheroes. I was very lucky that my wife went to Sonic the first day of the promotion and had the workers digging through the boxes for a Flash Tot.

So here we have the Flash tot. The design of it seems to be based on the Justice League cartoon. The ear wings and the Flash symbol are very similar to the designs used in that show. It doesn’t show up extremely well in the picture, but the body is actually textured with tiny rough patches, to make it better resemble a tater tot. The Flash Tot has legs but no arms. Actually all of the tots are set up that way. It’s a strange design choice but very cute.

The plush tots are pretty tiny, I’ve used my Kapow! Flash for a sense of scale here. This probably works to their advantage though, I’m pretty sure part of the charm is the size. The rest of the line is pretty Superman centric. There is Clark Kent, Superman, Supergirl, and the only villain in the line Bizzaro. Tots not belonging to the Super-family are Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Hawkgirl, Aquaman, and Plastic Man. Look out though, because there is also a pack of trading cards.

There isn’t a whole lot you can say about a plush tater tot dressed like the Flash, so this week’s Flash Friday is a pretty short one. Have a great weekend everyone.

Flash Friday: The Deadbeats

Happy Flash Friday everyone! I haven’t been talking very much about Flashpoint (DC's current event) even though I’m enjoying most of what I am reading. I’ve mainly been staying away from discussing it because eventually you have to bring up that once Flashpoint is over, most of what we know about the Flash is over too. While I’m interested to see what Flash’s creative team does I’m still unhappy about the announced changes. The more I’ve been thinking about it though, the more I understand the changes. You see if Flashpoint ended and things went back to exactly how they were before the event we’d eventually have to deal with the fact that Barry and Iris Allen are deadbeats.

To explain what I mean I’m going to have to lay down some Flash History 101. In their 1968 first appearance Don and Dawn Allen were the descendants of Barry Allen. No problems there, the family history is nice and vague and it works. Then DC’s original reboot event (Crisis on Infinite Earths) happened. Don and Dawn were now tied much closer to the Flash mythos; they were actually Barry and Iris’ children! There are a lot of shifting timelines as to exactly when in the future they lived, but we aren't about to go into any of that today.

I know it isn’t a surprise to long time Flash readers but let me continue the history lesson a little bit longer. In the early 80s Barry Allen snapped Professor Zoom’s neck while trying to stop him from marrying Fiona Webb (who Barry was about to marry). This leads to a very long trial process where Barry is eventually acquitted and he finds out that Iris isn’t dead and has been living in the future. I know, I know. Just stay with me here. Barry goes off with Iris where they live in the future. They are there long enough for Iris to become pregnant with twins. While she is pregnant Barry is pulled into the events of Crisis and dies.

Whew, that’s a lot of crazy. I can actually get back to the point I was trying to make now though. Barry Allen is brought back into present day due to events like Final Crisis and Flash Rebirth. Now that he is back alive he and Iris settle into Central City. Barry gets his old police job back and Iris is back to being a reporter. And now we’ve come full circle to my original point. Barry and Iris are hiding out in the present while they have kids to raise in the future timeline.

I have to wonder who is actually watching the kids. Does an older version of Iris eventually go back to the future? Are they left with robo-nannys or something? Why doesn’t Barry want to see his own children? We’ll never get an answer to these questions now since the universe is changing. But when we finally get to that last issue of Flashpoint I’m going to be reading it very closely, maybe Barry didn’t want kids at all. Maybe he is going to shape the new universe so he won’t be getting his wages garnished for future child support.

That’s enough time travel crazy for one day I think. Check back next week’s Flash Friday where we are going to be mixing Flash Friday with another regular column here at That F’ing Monkey.

Flash Friday: Professor Zoom

Happy Flash Friday! As I posted earlier this week, all my plans on redoing my Flash display fell through when I found out the Detolf cases at Ikea are out of stock. Luckily there are still plenty of Flash related topics out there to talk about, including the Eaglemoss Professor Zoom figurine that arrived on my doorstep Wednesday evening. The Eaglemoss Gorilla Grodd I talked about recently had been out for a long time, Zoom on the other hand is one of their newest releases.

Incase you’re unfamiliar with Eaglemoss figures they are made of lead and hand painted. Zoom is no where near as heavy as Grodd was, but he still has some heft. When you pick him up you know you aren’t picking up plastic. The lightning pointer in his hand makes it very obvious he was sculpted after Flash Rebirth. It’s too bad for Eaglemoss that he hasn’t really used it since that series. The magazine he came with was extremely up to date too. It didn’t cover Flashpoint, but it did cover his most recent origin issue.

Ignoring the pointer for a moment, his pose is a pretty dramatic one. When you put him next to the Eaglemoss Wally you can also see that he is just a bit larger. I thought it was just the pose, but even the head on the Zoom figure is larger. You really have to study them side by side to notice it though. There is also a tiny bit of sculpting on the back of Zoom’s foot to make it look like he just rushed up at super speed.

At this point the Eaglemoss Flash collection consists of Jay, Wally, Captain Cold, Gorilla Grodd, and now Professor Zoom. I won’t lie; I’m a big fan of the line. A Captain Boomerang is scheduled to be released in January.  The current rumor is that the series is going to end with its 100th release. Hopefully that isn’t the case, I can think of a lot more characters I’d like to see them tackle. The above picture was me hitting the button on the camera by mistake, but even with the blurriness it looked too evil not to include.

Oh yeah, it looks like we’ll be getting a new Flash related Action League two pack. This one will be Professor Zoom and Flash. I can’t wait. Until then…Kapow.

Flash Friday: Grodd

Happy Flash Friday everyone! Writing about the Flash every Friday can be a strange experience. Sometimes I’ll have two or three weeks planned in advance, while other times I’m scrambling to come up with a topic at the last minute. Today’s Flash Friday has been planned since last Saturday. I went to an anniversary sale at my local comic shop and came home with today’s topic, Gorilla Grodd.

More specifically it is the Eaglemoss Gorilla Grodd lead figurine. I’ve talked about how much I like the Eaglemoss figures in the past when I talked about their Wally, Jay, and Captain Cold figures. Although Grodd is new to me, he has been available for a long time. So what took me so long to pick him up? The standard figures from Eaglemoss usually only run about 15 dollars, Grodd is a deluxe figure and costs double that amount.

So the price had kept me away from the figure, but that is only because I’ve only seen it in pictures. The first time I picked Grodd up my opinion had changed. Eaglemoss figures are made of lead and Grodd uses up a lot of lead. He has some heft to him, I believe he weighs in around 3 pounds. There is no reason why something being heavier makes it seem like a better deal, but in my mind it did.

Like the other Eaglemoss figures, Grodd comes with a magazine detailing his history. The quality of these always surprises me. Grodd’s magazine talks about his origins and summarizes the big stories he’s been in. In addition to highlighting the big Grodd story arcs they also devote a couple pages to the other famous primates in the DC Universe. Anytime Sam Simeon shows up I’m a happy monkey.

So even though I was able to pick up Grodd at a discount, I do believe he is worth his full price tag. If you collect the Eaglemoss figures but have been holding off on the big ones, I say go for it. And just because I haven’t done it in awhile….KAPOW!

Flash Friday: Imaginext

Happy Flash Friday! I ended last week’s Flash Friday with a mention that Target was not packing the Flash, Hawkman, and a DVD in with the Imaginext Green Lantern jet. After spending two days talking about the DC Super Friends cartoon on the DVD, I figured I was pretty much done with the topic. You see I had pulled out the DVD, but everything else had still been left in the package. It’s been a busy week and I just didn’t really have much time to really look at it. Once I got him out of package I knew I had to write about him, even if it wasn’t a very long article.

We’ll get the “which Flash is it” portion out of the way before we go any further. This little guy is sporting dark red, white eye lens, a more V styled lightning belt, and the simplified lighting design. Considering his behavior in the DC Super Friends cartoon I’m going to say you could safely call this Wally. There are no bio cards or anything with the packaging though, so honestly you could call him what ever you wanted.

The thing that surprised me about the Imaginext Flash is the amount of articulation it has. The shoulders are done with ball joints so the arms have an impressive range of motion. Both legs seem to be made of one piece, so kicking up one leg raises up the other. Besides that he also has articulation at the neck and wrists. Not that this is a Hawkman review or anything, but he wasn’t articulated at the wrist; I just thought that was interesting.

As a Flash fan the other thing that stuck me as odd was the way the belt is applied. I’ve got a ton of different Flash figures and I don’t think any of them have a belt that stops at the hips. My picture doesn’t really do it justice here, it stops the lightning from really being a belt and is more like a piece of decoration hanging out on his waist. It goes just far enough around that you can’t tell if you are looking at it head on.

That’s it. I told you it’d be a short one. I’d find something else to add to this, but my life outside of That F’ing Monkey has been kicking my ass this week so I haven’t had a lot of time. You didn’t see it affect the site much because I had some things written in advance. Oh yeah, I almost forgot....Kapow!

Flash Friday: Little Mates

It's Flash Friday!  Remember all that muck up two weeks ago with the review that never happened?  It's happening today!  There was a huge mix up between me and the post office, but everything is fixed now.  Really the whole thing was quite embarassing.  Getting back to the review though, today is all about Little Mates.

Little Mates were created by a company called Silver Line and distributed as a newspaper promotion in Spain. Silver Line has been around for over twenty years doing things like fast food promotions. You can find out more about the Little Mates and Silver Line and their website, here. The first wave of figures is pretty impressive too. Of course you have Batman and Superman, but you also have Hawkwoman and Martian Manhunter. Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Robin, Joker, Harely Quinn, Green Lantern, and the Flash round out the line. So it is certainly Bat heavy, but since this is targeted at the mass market that isn’t surprising.

The website is pretty nicely put together too. If the link sends you to the Spanish version there is a button to switch it over to English. There are games, downloads, and character profiles. The Flash profile is pretty detailed considering this is a website that has coloring book pages you can print out. The costume matches up with it being Barry Allen. So they got that right, the home town is dead on too. This thing even mentions the Speed Force. The get Barry and Wally mixed up when mentioning that moving through objects causes them to explode, but otherwise I was surprised how good the information was.

Enough about the website; how is the figure? The sculpt is very similar to Kid Robot’s Munnys; just much smaller. You get zero points of articulation.  He's got some weight to him though.  Not sure what he is made of but it feels like the same kind of rubbery plastic they used to make Smurfs out of.  He is very stable though, even in his running pose he hasn't fallen over once.  And he is tiny.  At two inches even the Action League tower over him.  Well maybe not tower, but they are taller.  The paint app is very clean on mine, there isn't any overlap or anything.

I’m really impressed with the little details. For such a small figure they got a lot of things right. His eyes are blue. We’ve talked about how important eye color is to Flash fans before. Even more surprising is that most the characters in the line just have black circles for eyes, so it must have been a conscious decision to go with the blue. You also get little wings on his boots. Easily this detail could have been overlooked, but they look fantastic on him. Sure, at that size they are just tiny bumps, but they are there.  For such a tiny guy he is impressive.

So what will this run you? Well unless you are in Spain, you’re going to have to go the Ebay route. I got mine for 13, your luck may vary. So a little pricy, but considering it is exclusive to another country it isn’t too bad. Add in shipping and well, I probably paid too much, but I’m happy the little guy is going to be joining my other Flash figures.

Saturday News Roundup

Saturday is the last day in my work week, so you know it is a good day for me. There are a ton of things we’re going to briefly cover. Some news stories that broke this week, some reminders of what cool things are on TV this weekend, and a bit of Mass Effect news.

All-Star Weekend
Starting off with hockey news, the Superskills competition is this Saturday night at 7pm. The actual All-Star game is on Sunday at 4pm. Team Lidstrom and Team Staal drafted their players last night and you can see the full roster list here. While I love watching the Superskills competition, the All-Star game itself has been boring for a while. The new setup is pretty cool and has me interested again. Also the first big presentation of the Guardian Project is going to happen. Will it be awesome, terrible, or somewhere in between? So terrible it is awesome will also be accepted as a possible answer. Next week Brandon and I will start our reviews of each Guardian. Expect a Division a week.

Bane
Bane has been all over the news lately with the new Batman casting news. When written intelligently and not just as a mindless bruiser, Bane is my favorite Batman villain. I’m not sure exactly why I love him; it might be the luchador mask. Anyway, I had missed all the previews of the latest Young Justice cartoon so I had no idea he was going to be showing up. I was very happy the way they portrayed him. He was smart, manipulative, and strong. He was voiced by Danny Trejo. So freaking amazing.



There is lots more after the jump, check it out.

Flash Friday: Retro Review Part 1

A chance visit to the Toys R Us last night had me finding a peg filled with the newest wave of Retro-Action DC Super Heroes. Normally that area is filled with Retro-Action Lex Luthors and Sinestros; so I was pretty surprised to see they had ordered new stock. Now here is where this toy review is going to be a little different from the others I’ve done and why this is only Part 1. I haven’t opened them yet. Shock and horror, I know!

I normally champion the idea of releasing toys from their plastic prisons; the amazing packaging on these guys has stopped me though. Well at least slowed me down, will open them. A few details about the line before I get too far ahead of myself; this is the third series in the line of figures that are designed to resemble the old Mego “World’s Greatest Superheroes” figures that ran from 1972-1983. It isn’t just the figure design either; the packaging looks like it could have been pulled off the shelf in the 70s.

The front of the packaging has pictures of Flash, Captain Cold, Wonder Woman, and “Shazam”. Captain Marvel is a little strange here; not just because they used his catchphrase and not his name, I understand most non-comic readers identify him as Shazam. The big red cheese isn’t even in this line; he is in the fourth series. Cheetah is the other figure in the third series and she’s been left off the front.

The back of the packaging does make up for that at least. Cheetah is seen in an action shot as she squares off against Wonder Woman. Now there isn’t normally a blinding light coming from her crotch; that is just me forgetting to turn the flash off my camera. That would be one fucked up action feature to include in a toy though. Cheetah, now with light up crotch! Anyway, in the next month or so the quality of the toy pictures here should get better, I’m going to try to buy or rig up a light box. I’m not a photo person by any stretch of the imagination, so if you have advice for me in that regard, please drop it in the comments.

Back to the packaging! Not only does the design look like the figures I remember as a kid, they went so far as to weather the packaging. Seriously, look at that paint job. Was it water damage? Normal wear and tear? Such a simple thing, but it really impressed me. You could believe that this has been sitting in someone’s attic for years. It sucks that there is no way to free your figures without damaging such a cool package. They are coming out of the package, I just haven’t figured out how I’m going to do it. So next week Part 2 of the review will probably mention what I did and have some more pictures of the figures themselves. Come back next week and check them out!

Hey it’s the orange knight from Castle Crashers, what is he doing here? Kapow! If you enjoy seeing Action League Flash punch other toys, check out my other articles this week. There is a Kapow at the end of every one of them.

Beer List Thoughts

With my beer list behind me I have been thinking about the trip it was and the things I”ve learned about my own personal tastes in beer. Everyone’s tastes are different and I try to take that into account when I say that I like or dislike something. I knew going into this that I did not like IPAs. After having like 10 pale, IPA, or double IPAs; that fact is now more firmly entrenched then ever.

It was not all a bad thing though. If it wasn’t for the beer list I might have never tried Session Lager and Session Black. Those tiny little bottles got me through the last Star Wars Celebration; I had filled my backpack full of them. Sure I clanked a bit while walking around, but I was always refreshed. And I got to spend the day mistaking it for Red Stripe. It is rare when I don’t have one of the two Session beers in my fridge now.

Brooklyn Lager, Brooklyn Brown? I love you. Throw the Winter Ale in there too. I’m not picky, I want you all. Seriously, the other highlight to my list is the Brooklyn brewery. Every time I see a new type of beer from them that I haven’t tried, it is an instant buy. I’ve yet to be disappointed. In fact the bar just got in a Brooklyn Chocolate Stout and I had a glass of it last night. It was very nice.

These were not the only beers I liked, some of the other ales and stouts were quite tasty, but they were the ones that really stayed with me. I think more then anything though the list really helped me get out of my comfort zone and I’m willing to try just about any beer once. This picture sucks, but my camera phone has no flash and the bar is dark.  The mug says Ken.O!

Since the beer list was a kind of journey, I’m looking to take another booze journey. I’m thinking of putting together a group to go “Drinking Around the World” over at Epcot. If you are in the area and want to go with me, leave a comment or drop me an email. I’m thinking late February (maybe the 26th). The entire trip will be documented for a Hangover Thursday. You’d have to supply your own ticket and buy your own booze; F’ing Monkey doesn’t have an expense account or anything.

Hey Domo....Kapow!

Playing for Change, Peace through Music

I’m going to take the site off the rails here for a moment. For a website that’s mantra is Comics, Games, Booze I sneak in a lot of articles about music. My secret shame is how utterly inept it comes to playing music. I’ve got no rhythm. Regardless of that, music is very important to me. I watched a documentary last night called Playing for Change; I’d be lying if I didn’t say it moved me.

It started with Producer Mark Johnson. He was in a subway one day and two Monks were playing guitar and singing. It was one of those amazing moments where everyone stopped, listened, and shared the experience. That music connected people regardless of race, religion, or social class was the driving force. So Mark Johnson and Enzo Buono began traveling the world with cameras and recording equipment. 100 musicians and ten years, we have Playing for Change.

Recording vocals and instruments through separate channels they were able to take musicians from all over the world and have them contribute to the same song. “Stand by Me” is the one they are most famous for. Most of the artists are street performers and the recording took them to areas that had been devastated by poverty or natural disasters. In South Africa they asked one of the performers how they could help; he told them they needed a music school. And so the Playing for Change non-profit organization was created.

So now there is a documentary, CDs, tours, and a charity behind this. As of this writing, The Playing for Change charity has paid for 7 music programs, 600 students, and 130 jobs. On their website you can pick up the CD and the documentary bundled together, I highly recommend it. They come sepereately too, but if you're going to pick it up you will want both.  You can also go to the charity’s website and donate or find other ways to get involved with the group.

I’ve spent a lot of time telling you if it was worth it to drop 10, 20, or 60+ bucks on toys and books. Now I’m telling you donations at the Playing for Change Foundation start at 5 dollars go up from there.

http://www.playingforchange.com/

http://playingforchange.org/

Okay, back to my normal nonsense….Kapow!!

Exclusive Dragon Age 2 DLC? Morrigan Disapproves -10

Get ready for the blood splatter, today is going to be Dragon Age centric. We’ll start out with some downloadable content talk and then after the jump there will be a review of one of the new action figures that just hit the stores. Today the downloadable extras got another item to add to the list. Buy a copy of Dead Space 2; get a set of armor for Dragon Age 2 based on Dead Space’s Isaac. It looks like a pretty cool set of armor but I haven’t gotten into Dead Space so that will probably be the first of the extras I miss out on. Some of the add-ons are no longer available and some won’t be available until the Facebook game starts up.

 Here is a run down of the items announced so far.

• Hindsight, a belt you can sign up for on the Dragon Age 2 website
• Staff of Parthalan, you had to sign up for the news letter
• Sebastian Vael, character included in the Signature Edition
• Apostate’s Courage, staff included in the Signature Edition
• Seeker’s Bulwark, shield included in the Signature Edition
• Adder of Aniva, bow included in the Signature Edition
• Might of Sten, sword included in the Signature Edition
• The Irons, belt include in pre-orders placed through the EA Store
• Fadeshear Sword, sword included in any pre-order
• Lion of Orlais Shield, shield included in any pre-order
• The Black Emporium, a store, summon-able mabari hound, a appearance changing mirror included in every new game
• Air of Confidence, ring obtained through playing Dragon Age Legends on Facebook
• Dura’s Blue Flame, amulet obtained through playing Dragon Age Legends on Facebook
• Evra’s Might, ring obtained through playing Dragon Age Legends on Facebook
• Evra’s Trophy Belt, obtained through playing Dragon Age Legends on Facebook
• Ivo Family Crest, amulet obtained through playing Dragon Age Legends on Facebook

 Holy crap that is a lot of stuff! Anyway, we’re only getting started. Follow the jump for the toy review.