Muppets Most Wanted

I hadn't really planned on writing about this movie. I absolutely loved it, and just kind of assumed everyone else did too. A 1000+ word story about how much everybody in the whole world enjoyed something in exactly the same way I did doesn't sound like gripping material to me. But I got one of the songs stuck in my head, and to get it out of there I Googled it for another listen. Imagine my surprise when the first hit was a negative review. Go ahead and imagine, I'll wait. After I got over this initial surprise I stopped in on IMDB, and was even more surprised to discover that there were actually a bunch of negative reviews. Some of them pretty scathing. Upon reading a few of them I became indignant, and the result of that indignation is now here for your reading pleasure. I'm here to provide counterpoint to those reviews, and to tell you why this is a great movie.

Fundraising Week: Toy Review – RoboCop ED-209 from NECA

As I outlined in last week’s desperate plea for money, Needless Things needs your help.

It’s getting even more expensive to run this website and has gotten to the point where I quite frankly can’t justify paying what the various servers and hosts want. So in the post linked above I explained the situation and asked if you folks could help out by buying merch from here:

Needless Things on Storenvy

Straight-up donating dollars here:

Or just by sharing these fundraising posts all over the internet.

And here’s a thing I’m going to try:

The Needless Things Mystery Box!

It could be toys, comics, books, t-shirts I’ve worn once or never (that have been laundered! Or not if you’re weird!), or any one of a number of weird tchotchkes laying around the Phantom Zone. There will be a Needless Things sticker (or three) in every box.

Fundraising Week – The Best Toy Reviews

As I outlined in last week’s desperate plea for money, Needless Things needs your help.

It’s getting even more expensive to run this website and has gotten to the point where I quite frankly can’t justify paying what the various servers and hosts want. So in the post linked above I explained the situation and asked if you folks could help out by buying merch from here:

Needless Things on Storenvy

Straight-up donating dollars here:

Or just by sharing these fundraising posts all over the internet.

And here’s a thing I’m going to try:

The Needless Things Mystery Box!

It could be toys, comics, books, t-shirts I’ve worn once or never (that have been laundered! Or not if you’re weird!), or any one of a number of weird tchotchkes laying around the Phantom Zone. There will be a Needless Things sticker (or three) in every box.

Fundraising Week: Toy Review – Giant Size Godzilla from JAKKS Pacific

Change of plans, Phantomaniacs.

Today’s post was going to be a list of favorite toy reviews from the past six years of Needless Things (and MySpace). That was before I got this new 43” Godzilla from JAKKS Pacific. Without giving the whole review away, I was so excited about this thing that I didn’t want to wait to review it. So I posed the question last night on Facebook of whether I should do this or the toys post and everybody said I should do this. I agree.

BUT FIRST!

I have some business to take care of. I am still begging for money – more so now than before due a new development. We have a $700 Emergency Room bill to pay (thanks, “Affordable” Care Act!) and $2400 worth of tree removing scheduled to happen so that our house doesn’t end up looking like Godzilla visited. THINGS ARE NOT LOOKING UP.

Fundraising Week: Movies & TV!

As I outlined in last week’s desperate plea for money, Needless Things needs your help.

It’s getting even more expensive to run this website and has gotten to the point where I quite frankly can’t justify paying what the various servers and hosts want. So in the post linked above I explained the situation and asked if you folks could help out by buying merch from here:

Needless Things on Storenvy

Straight-up donating dollars here:

 

Or just by sharing these fundraising posts all over the internet.

And here’s a thing I’m going to try:

The Needless Things Mystery Box!

It could be toys, comics, books, t-shirts I’ve worn once or never (that have been laundered! Or not if you’re weird!), or any one of a number of weird tchotchkes laying around the Phantom Zone. There will be a Needless Things sticker (or three) in every box.

Finally, each Mystery Box will include a M.U.S.C.L.E decoration put together by me! That's right – I used my own two hands and a pair of needle nose pliers to screw an eyelet into each and every one.

WOW! What a bunch of work that was!

Simply go to needlessthings.storenvy.com and order yourself one (or more!) Mystery Box! Believe me – I have a ton of cool stuff just sitting around the Phantom Zone.

Finally, if you are band or have a website or sell some kind of service or something; I am selling ad space on Needless Things. For twenty bucks you get one of the attractive buttons on the right sidebar for one year. ONE WHOLE YEAR! That means every person that sees me at a con, wrestling event, or live podcast that decides to check out the site will see YOUR ad. They will be positioned first-come, first-serve; so get your request in now to be closer to the top. OR you can pay a little more and get preferred placement.

To arrange for an ad, e-mail me at the address in my Facebook badge in the sidebar, or simply message me on Facebook.

I’m going to try mentioning this every day this week and see what happens. If I don’t raise the funds needed to keep things going… well, I don’t know. I love writing for the site and I love doing the podcasts even more, but it might be nice to have all that time and money. Doing this is essentially a second full time job that doesn’t pay me anything. Quite the opposite, as a matter of fact.

But what I really want is to be able to afford better hosting so that I can do more. More episodes of the podcast. More con reports. More everything. If I can raise enough I might even buy a new camera. But I kind of doubt that's going to happen. If you guys enjoy Needless Things and would like more, do one or all of the things above.

In order to show you what you’ll be getting, I will be spending the whole week running down my favorite Needless Things posts from the past several years. Each day will feature a different category of posts so you can see just how many things we do here.

Vintage Troublemaker: Indiana Jones & The Close Encounters of the E.T. Kind

First things first, Phantomaniacs - I still need your help to keep Needless Things running; mostly the podcast. You can read all about it here. Or you can go to Storenvy and buy stuff:

Or just gimme some money via PayPal:

Help me keep bringing you excellent original content and the best and brightest of the nerd world!

And now, on with the show.

Toy Review Batman: Arkham Origins Deathstroke from DC Collectibles

First things first, Phantomaniacs - I still need your help to keep Needless Things running; mostly the podcast. You can read all about it here. Or you can go to Storenvy and buy stuff:

Or just gimme some money via PayPal:

Help me keep bringing you excellent original content and the best and brightest of the nerd world!

And now, on with the show.

Toy Review - Game of Thrones Legacy Jon Snow from Funko

I’ll go ahead and get this out of the way – this figure has not, as of yet, broken.

This makes me happy.

Help Needless Things!

Good morning, Phantomaniacs!

Today I am here to do something I am very uncomfortable doing - I'm going to ask for money. Not a lot of money, just some. Whatever you might be willing to spare or think that the toy reviews, movie reviews, con recaps, and various other original content that is provided on Needless Things five days a week might be worth.

Sheamus’ St. Patrick’s Day Adventure!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, Phantomaniacs!

I was inspired to do this post Saturday morning when I got to work. That was pretty much the worst possible time to be inspired to do anything because not only was I going to be stuck at work for the next two days, but I was utterly delirious from lack of sleep.

New Partner - The Collectionary

I've recently been in touch with some folks that are attempting a massive undertaking - they want to provide a resource for collectors to visit to learn about the various things that we might... er, collect. They got in touch with me because of one of my Ninja Turtles reviews. Naturally I thought it was spam, because I get a lot of spam. But every once in a while something sounds like it might almost possibly be legit, so I'll respond just to see if maybe it could be something beneficial.

Toy Review - LEGO Star Wars Microfighters Millennium Falcon by R.T. Ewell

Lego Star Wars (Microfighters) Review

Product #: 75030

Millennium Falcon

94 Pieces

$9.99

Build Time: 25 Minutes

On February 21, 2014 I made a surprise run to good ole Walmart. Per the norm, I headed back to the toy section which is a must stop every time I make my way there no matter what I going there for. I hit the LEGO aisle which over the past year has become my toy collection focal point. Well I hit the little brick jackpot. They had just restocked with a lot of products I had never seen before. I mean I had my choice of virtually anything that was out right now. I tend to be a minifigure guy but have started collecting some of the sets. If it looks cool, I'll buy it, I don't have to stick to a certain line which is the exact opposite of what my OCDs tell me to do. Among a few other LEGO sets I picked up, I couldn't resist Han Solo and his flying ship.

Toy Review – Game of Thrones Legacy – The Hound from Funko

It appears that Funko is doing things right.

Here’s the deal – I’ve gone over Funko’s impressive entry into the action figure business. I would imagine most of you are familiar with the quality control issues that have been popping up with their first line; the Game of Thrones Legacy figures. People have complained about joints stuck by paint, fragile joints, and construction issues. I am going to address those things now because the first two figures I have reviewed from the line – Daenerys Targaryen and today’s subject, The Hound – have suffered from severe problems.

Toy Review – Marvel Legends Infinite Series Superior Spider-Man

I gave the whole spiel about Marvel Legends in last week’s review of Captain America, but today I’m going to talk a little more about the Spidey side of the line and Superior Spider-Man specifically.

Say that five times fast.

Needless Things Podcast Episode 21: The Gorda

I’ve known James T. Warbington for about two decades now and I find myself hard-pressed to describe him. He’s a punk rocker, an entrepreneur, a musician, a director, a redneck, an arranger of things, a wrestlemaniac, a mentor, and one of the most unselfish people I’ve ever met.

And he writes like a loud insane person.

Best Cartoon Ever (of the Month) - Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures by Kalan

Most excellent greetings fellow tubular 'toon enthusiasts! - widdly air guitar- Are you ready to join me on a truly non-bogus journey- er, well, I mean a most Excellent Adventure through time? Those two most triumphantly radical dudes, Bill S. Preston, Esq. and Ted “Theodore” Logan (and of course Rufus) are back in CBS/Fox Kids' gnarly 1990-1991 animated series Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures. I'm way stoked to introduce you to this most non-heinous edition of Best Cartoon Ever (of the Month).

Toy Review – Nightstorm (aka Scarab) Predator from NECA

I don’t examine NECA’s Predator releases too closely prior to their release because I know I will have the luxury of examining them at retail whenever they come out. It seems like local Toys R Us stores get around two shipments and I have yet to have a problem getting the figures I want (from this line, anyway – Pacific Rim is another story).

Comic Book Wednesday – Previews March 2014

I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, but it isn’t always convenient for me to spend a whole lot of time looking at Previews and taking pictures of the comics, toys, and weird Japanese dolls within. This month it was, so this is the initial installment of what I would like to be an ongoing series but that probably won’t be.

Toy Review – Marvel Legends Infinite Series Marvel NOW! Captain America

Towards the end of last year I had pretty much given up on Hasbro’s Marvel Legends.

Again.

Movie Review - RoboCop

I realize this isn’t the most timely review. This and a couple of other movie reviews have just taken me a long time to get around to.

 

You guys know me – I am not one to poo-poo remakes out of hand. I was excited about the RoboCop remake. I was even more excited after I saw the initial trailer:

The idea that they were trying to do something different with the new one appealed to me. I liked the idea that Murphy still knew who he was and the different spin on corporate America. I thought there was a great opportunity for updating the ideas that the original had tried to get across. Plus, modern filmmaking techniques would allow for an even more epic scope than the original.