Presently, I’m upstairs at my writing desk with the ceiling fan going and a window cracked open with enough that I can hear the ice cream truck’s repeating tune of Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer” growing threateningly closer by the second.
It’s summertime, it’s convention season, the mall I spent time at as a kid (and worked at in college) is closing this weekend, and I’ll be squarely in the middle of my 40s in about a week.
Thankfully, there’s a bunch of dumbass new convention exclusives to write about this week to cover up the fact that the newest toy I bought is a bidet.
Let’s get to it.
Marvel Legends Series Death’s Head
Death’s Head is one of those characters that really you really only vibe with if you grew up reading Marvel UK stuff. The character originated over there but sporadically popped up in a few Marvel books I was reading during the ’80s. I wasn’t exposed to the character enough for it to make sense to me and their unique way of speaking drove me up the goddamn wall.
That said, I adore the fact that the packaging on this figure borrows heavily from the Marvel trading cards of the ’90s. If Marvel Legends were to adopt this aesthetic across the whole line I may just jump back into collecting those full time.
Transformers Legacy United: Voyager Class Fractured Friendship 2-Pack
Yeah, it’s another Optimus Prime Orion Pax and Megatron BUT these two are the prequel versions! Borrowing heavily from the IDW lore (RIP, but Skybound has been dope so far), these two appear as they did when they were BFFs. To answer your questions, “No, Megatron doesn’t turn into a gun. Yes, Optimus Prime Orion Pax turns into a red and blue truck.”
G.I. Joe Classified Series #130 Cobra Commander (Once a Man)
The Classified Series is more in Josh’s wheelhouse since I bought my obligatory Snake Eyes 4-5 years ago when the line launched and never looked back. I’m aware they’ve been turning in some solid work and have felt like I’ve been missing out just a little bit
This yassified, Classified Cobra Commander appears as he did in GI Joe: The Movie after he got gassed with crazy spores and started to de-evolve into some kind of snake-man. Then he teams up with a recently blinded Roadblock to escape CC’s hometown of Cobra-La. It gets weirder from there.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Mirage Comics)
I may have mentioned once or twice that TMNT is turning the big 4-0 this year and there has been a firehose strength torrent of new figures to celebrate the occasion.
Impress your friends with this historic set of NECA action figures! We are shell-a-brating 40 years of turtle power with these 7-inch scale action figures based on the original drawings that started it all from TMNT co-creators Eastman & Laird! This radical action figure 2-pack includes extra hands, alternate heads, and all the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ signature weapons.
In the interest of keeping it real with you, this is the convention exclusive I was ready to go all-in on and when the link to purchase went live the other day I clicked on it to see what the good word was. $70 USD is a little steep but I’ll never know if I would have pulled the trigger on it because they went on sale at 12 PM and by the time I got there at 12:04 they had already sold out.
Maybe they’ll pop up for sale again or maybe they’ll get a wide release at a national retailer but for now I’ll just have to be satisfied with the scores of TMNT figures I already have.
