For
some odd reason I feel it necessary to share my thoughts on the new
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. Possibly because there’s a lot
of hate online that I feel is, at this stage, unwarranted. I posted
the second trailer for the movie on Facebook the other day, and while
the comments in my own post were mostly positive, I saw a post
elsewhere (and if this person saw mine and decided to start their own
complaining post I appreciate that) that was a whole bunch of people
that absolutely hate this movie. Most of whom have presumably not
seen it yet.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Turtles in the Bay – Thoughts On the New Ninja Turtles Movie
Labels:
movies,
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,
TMNT

Friday, June 27, 2014
Toy Commentary - Masters of the Universe Classics 2015
A
few days ago the following message was posted on MattyCollector.com.
This was following the release of the above ominous image on Matty’s
Facebook page.
This
post does not specifically describe 2015 as the final year of Masters
of the Universe Classics. It does, however, outline some interesting
things about the 2015 Club Eternia subscription, which goes on sale
starting today. My reactions are notated in purple.
Labels:
action figures,
Masters of the Universe,
masters of the universe classics,
mattel,
MattyCollector.com,
toys

Thursday, June 26, 2014
Video Games Aren't Funny?!?
I recently read an article on bbc.com
asking if video games can ever be funny. It suggests that while video
games have yet to be funny, that some may be emerging in the near
future. While I might agree that historically video games might not
have been chock full o’ jokes, there are indeed some extremely
funny games out there already. Sure there are a lot of very serious
shot ‘em ups and RPGs in the world of gaming, but games are as
diverse as the people who play them. Gamers aren’t all super
intense dudes out for blood or adorable little children playing
pretty pony salon, and games have to appeal to different groups to
grab an audience. They’re about entertainment, and some of us are
greatly entertained by humor. Don't get me wrong, I love a serious
zombie killing or intense RPG, but I'm just not always in the mood.
Sometimes I want to kill, sometimes I want to chill, and sometimes I
want a good laugh. While movies and TV offer plenty of that it's nice
to interact with the jokes in a game now and then. It can also
lighten up what could otherwise be some pretty serious story telling.
There have been a lot of games that tried and failed to be funny, but
there are also many that have succeeded. To prove my point here’s a
list of some of the best. In order of my favorites, of course…
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
A Wrestling Fan's Best Friend by R.T. Ewell
The
WWE Network has been a long time coming. Two years ago WWE was
running ads for it including original programming on their flagship
show Monday Night Raw. In fact, all of their shows were soon flooded
with ads talking about how the network was about a year away from
being available on your local cable and satellite providers. Well,
the time came and went and surprise, surprise - no WWE Network.
Apparently
it was a tough sell. I mean it was promised to be 24/7 programming of
nonstop wrestling. In case you haven't noticed, the wrestling
business doesn't have the following it used to. Back in the mid to
late 90s explosion I'm sure it could have been easier to convince
the big wigs that this was a good idea.
So
earlier this year WWE held a live press conference (I believe on YouTube) and the buzz was that it was concerning the network. Well,
the buzz was correct. WWE announced that the WWE Network was just a
few months away but the news that followed surprised many including
me.
Labels:
R.T. Ewell,
wrestling,
wwe

Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Needless Things Podcast Episode 26: LEGO Master Builder Chris Steininger
Everything
really is awesome.
Today's
Needless Things Podcast continues my special LEGO coverage that is
leading up to this weekend's LEGO KidsFest at the Cobb Galleria Centre. I had the opportunity to talk to somebody that I consider to
be a true superhero of the toy industry – LEGO Master Builder Chris
Steninger.
Labels:
interviews,
LEGO,
LEGO KidsFest,
Needless Things Podcast,
The LEGO Movie

Monday, June 23, 2014
LEGO® KidsFest Atlanta, Georgia
Award-winning
interactive event makes its Georgia premiere
June
27 - 29, 2014
Okay,
Phantomaniacs – time for something I have never done before.
If
you’ve been following Needless Things for any amount of time, you
know that I’ve never done any kind of press release stuff.
Partially because it’s not really my thing, but mostly because I
can’t seem to convince anybody to give me anything for free. I did
a little bit for Dragon Con last year despite the fact that I had
already paid for my badge and feel like I do more than enough by way
of coverage for those guys anyway; but I’ve never done anything for
a major corporate entity.
Until
today!
Labels:
events,
LEGO,
LEGO KidsFest,
life the universe and everything

Friday, June 20, 2014
Best Cartoon Ever (of the Month) - Beetlejuice by Kalan
Greetings Ghouls
and Goblins! I know it's been more than a month since we last
gathered for cartoony goodness, but give a ghoul a break, I've been
working and making a surprisingly successful attempt at a social
life! That doesn't mean I've forgotten about you nor have I abandoned
my love of all things animated. I've been watching cartoons that
don't meet the criteria for this article – like a pallet cleanser
of sorts.... for my brain. Thanks to the rather persistent nagging of
everyone Phavorite Phantom and a renewed enthusiasm for cartoony
reviewing, HERE WE GO AGAIN!
Labels:
Beetlejuice,
Best Cartoon Ever (of the Month),
Kalan

Thursday, June 19, 2014
Saturday Morning Fever By R.T. Ewell
If you are over the age of 30(ish),
when I mention Saturday mornings you will automatically think of one
thing. Cartoons. That's right, years and years ago, cartoons
dominated almost all of the networks for most of the morning. Being
that I am of the ripe old age of thirty six, I will be talking about
my experience from roughly about 1984 till 1993.
Labels:
cartoons,
nostalgia,
R.T. Ewell,
Saturday Morning Cartoons,
the 80s

Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Heroes Convention 2014 Preview
I went into last year’s
Heroes Con with absolutely no idea of what I was going to do or who I
was going to talk to and ended up getting a number of fantastic
interviews. I did lose one of those interviews, but this year I have
an actual digital recorder instead of a phone app, so hopefully that
won’t be an issue.
What might be an issue is
once again having to overcome my desire to not bother people. It’s
a powerful thing, you guys.
This year is going to be
different because rather than staying at the lovely Westin we are
spending Thursday night at the Hilton and staying with friends that
live nearby – hopefully very nearby – Friday and Saturday night.
This will save us a good bit of money; possibly even enough to cover
that Imperial Shuttle I bought at Wizard World.
Oddly, this should free
me up to investigate some of the nightlife that occurs at Heroes.
Since we treat this as our family Con we always have Lil’
Troublemaker with us and that limits our ability to go out at night.
But now I know I will at least have Friday night to see what’s
happening in the Charlotte superhero scene. Of course, here’s the
thing about that – I have no idea what’s going on. Unlike Dragon
Con, the Heroes evening activities are unrelated to the con. So you
can’t just go to the website and see what’s happening. And I
don’t really have any connections in Charlotte so I’m going to
have to figure out how to find out where things are going on.
Labels:
conventions,
heroes con

Tuesday, June 17, 2014
I Want New Playsets
The
other day I wrote a thing about playsets that was supposed to be sort
of nostalgic and fun. I mentioned some favorite playsets from my
childhood. The plan was to lead into a list of playsets that I would
want to see now. Instead, I tapered off into a depressing
reminiscence of my parents and old toys. I never made it to the new
playsets thing because I had to stop writing before I threw myself
off a cliff.
But
today I will stay on track! I am older and wiser and won’t spend
any more time looking at the past! Unless I need to do a post on old
toys or something.

Monday, June 16, 2014
Vintage Troublemaker: Year 34
New logo by Belligerent Monkey! |
This
was originally posted on May 11, 2009 – the day after my
thirty-third birthday. I am reposting it now because I just did a thing about Star Trek
and next week I’m going to be reviewing the Masters of the Universe
Classics version of the character Blade from the 1987 Masters
movie.
I
made the decision to clean this article up and re-post it while I was
writing the introductory paragraph for Blade. I was going to say some
things about the Masters
motion picture and then remembered I had already said some things
about it and that I was mostly right that time.
This
was basically just a recap of my birthday weekend. Five years ago I
used to celebrate my birthday by watching movies with friends and
stuff instead of just being at my shitty job all weekend. HAHAHA NO –
I’m not bitter at all!
So
I had this weekend that was so awesome and full of dorkery that I was
compelled to write about it. I think it’s a fun piece. I have
cleaned up my grammar – which was not as good in 2009 – and added
in some pictures and stuff. Also, I stand by most of these reviews.
My opinions haven’t changed on any of them. Except GI
Joe
– I’ll explain when I get to that. Enjoy!
Labels:
gi joe,
Masters of the Universe,
Star Trek,
tales from the troublemaker,
transformers,
vintage troublemaker

Friday, June 13, 2014
Dragon Con 2014: Saturday Night’s Alright (for Phantoming)
I
just got some very important, game-changing news and I’m sharing it
here first because you guys deserve that for being loyal readers.
Labels:
Dragon Con,
Dragon Con 2014,
Le Sexoflex

Thursday, June 12, 2014
Toy Review – Doctor Who Captain Jack Harkness by Underground Toys/Character Options
I think
pretty much everybody loves Captain Jack Harkness. Certainly Captain
Jack does.
Jack
Harkness is probably one of the best things to happen to Doctor Who
since the return in 2005. He’s a proactive character that very much
has his own agenda and is not beholden to the Doctor, but at the same
time when he shows up the story doesn’t switch to focus on him. He
enhances the show without taking the spotlight away from the title
character. And thanks to the natural charm and ability of John
Barrowman, Harkness very much feels like a character that has a life
of his own; even before he got his own spinoff series in Torchwood.
This
figure is specifically from Doctor
Who, so I’m not going to
discuss Torchwood
here.
Labels:
action figures,
doctor who,
underground toys

Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Ancient Toys of Yesteryear: Star Trek by Playmates
***NOTE:
This is part retrospective, part review, and part opinion piece. This
is by no means a comprehensive look at Playmates Toys’ Star Trek
line. It is, however, a lot longer than I originally intended.***
I’m
on a huge Star Trek kick right now. These things happen to me
occasionally – when one of my secondary loves will take front and
center for reasons that may or may not be clear.
Before
any Trekkies that might be reading this stand up and go sputtering
out of the room (or just click away from the page), let me explain
that whole “secondary” thing:
I
fucking
love
Star Trek. The original series is sacred to me in a way that not many
things in the media are. I think the sixties Batman TV show is the
only other thing that occupies the same sort of place in my heart.
Those two shows were in syndication when I was a small child and were
the first television programs that I would say I was devoted to. The
Monkees
is probably up there as well, but for obvious reasons does not have
the same staying power as Star
Trek and
Batman.
Labels:
Ancient Toys of Yesteryear,
Playmates Toys,
Playsets,
retrospectives,
Star Trek,
Star Trek: The Next Generation

Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Needless Things Podcast Episode 25: Tim Clarke
Labels:
80s Toys,
Boglins,
Designer Toys,
Fraggle Rock,
Needless Things Podcast,
puppets,
Sectaurs,
The Dark Crystal,
Tim Clarke

Monday, June 9, 2014
Maleficent Review
Tis’ the
season for big blockbuster movies featuring lots of CGI. So rather
than go see X-Men: Days of Future Past yet again, last week we
decided to go and see Maleficent. I like fairies and shit like that, and I
figured Angelina Jolie would make a pretty good evil bitch. There are
lots of fairies, and Angelina certainly is evil, but there’s also
plenty of stupid to go around.
Friday, June 6, 2014
Toy Review – Star Wars: The 6” Black Series #06 Boba Fett
Boba
Fett is my favorite. Definitely from Star Wars, maybe from
everything. I’d have to seriously consider that one.
People
either hate Boba Fett because they feel like a character with roughly
14 seconds of screen time across six hours’ worth of movies doesn’t
deserve love, or they love him because… well, lots of different
reasons.
Labels:
action figures,
boba fett,
hasbro,
star wars,
Star Wars Black

Thursday, June 5, 2014
The Walking Dead Escape Atlanta 2014
This
post is actually a continuation of Tuesday’s Wizard World Atlanta
recap. You don’t have
to read that if you haven’t already, but you might as well. It’s
where I tell you how Jonathan of WrestlingWithPopCulture.com
got me a media pass for The Walking Dead Escape at Phillips Arena
last Saturday.
The
first I ever heard of the Walking Dead Escape was before 2013’s San
Diego Comic Con. I wanted to say that G4 did a report on it, but I’m
pretty sure G4 was already dead by then – and my heart still aches
with the loss of X-Play
and Attack
of the Show;
though the latter died long before it went off the air. I saw a
report about it being a presentation from Skybound – Robert
Kirkman’s publishing imprint under Image Comics. This is important
because it means that the attraction is based on the comic book and
not AMC’s television series. This is reflected in the art related
to the event as well as the font used on the event’s promotional
materials and merchandise.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Comic Book Wednesday – Previews June 2014: DAMMIT!
If
you don’t know, Previews
is the catalogue that Diamond Comic Distributors use to offer the
products they distribute to comic book stores around the country.
This is where you can view and order (through your favorite Local
Comic Book Shop) comic books, trade paperback collections, t-shirts,
books, media, and toys and other collectibles from hundreds of
different vendors that deal in geek-oriented merchandise. The genius
part is that you actually have to pay for your copy of Previews
for the privilege of ordering other things to pay for. It’s like
the Ren Fest except without the horse poo smell.
So
every month a new edition of Previews
is sent out to comic book stores. Contained in the pages within are
products that might be currently available or could be released
anytime in the next year; but typically about two months away. Or
sometimes never. I’ve ordered lots
of things that have just never come in. Without getting into the
specific politics of Diamond, let me just say that they aren’t
quite
a monopoly and also aren’t quite
the worst distributor anybody has ever dealt with in the history of
the universe.
But
I’m not here to discuss that. I’m here to discuss a few of the
weird and/or wonderful items offered in this month’s edition.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Wizard World Atlanta 2014
I
had a busy and awesome weekend.
I
knew that I would be attending Wizard World Atlanta on Saturday. I
didn’t attend the show a couple of years ago, but I didn’t hear
anything good about it. This year’s production looked a little more
interesting and appeared to be put together more professionally. As a
member of the media I was intrigued by the idea of attending a big
media convention and reporting on the differences between it and my
beloved fan cons. It would be an opportunity to provide the
Phantomaniacs with an engrossing article about the success (or lack
thereof) of Wizard’s transition from influential publishing entity
to traveling media convention.
Also,
Karen Gillan was going to be there.

Monday, June 2, 2014
Toy Review – Batman: Arkham Origins Deadshot from DC Collectibles
The
other night we downloaded the new “Cold, Cold Heart” level for
Batman: Arkham Origins.
It’s pretty fun, though it has the same lazy design as the main
game. Rather than creating innovative and thoughtful challenges they
just throw a bunch of generic, too-powerful bad guys at you. It’s
still fun, but there’s just that feeling of cheap difficulty rather
than genuine challenge so far.
The new
designs in the game, however, are fantastic. There’s a new Batsuit
and a new (old) Mr. Freeze design that demand
the action figure treatment. They are both dynamic and intricate
designs that will look great in plastic.
As
opposed to today’s puffy-jacketed, generic villain.
Labels:
action figures,
Arkham Origins,
batman,
DC Collectibles

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