From The Spider-Man Collection:Spider-Man Yahtzee

One of my goals this year is to show off pieces of my various collections that I haven't shown off before. Before, my pick ups would get in the way of showing off pieces, but now that my pick ups are going to be slowed down a bit, I fell now is the time to show some off.

One of my favorite collections I own is my Spider-Man collection. He's my favorite hero and the largest I own. It's also the most unique. I have different Spider-Man pieces from comic books to action figures to cups to cards to sketches. Today's piece is one that I think is very cool.

I had my eye on this game for a while and, lucky for me, I got it for Christmas from my buddy, George.

Right away, I loved this as soon as I set my eyes on it. The container that is shaped like Spider-Man's head looks like it jumped out of a comic book page drawn by the legendary John Romita. I also loved that Parker Brothers used the vintage Spider-Man lettering right over the Spidey's head.

On either side of the box your getting pretty much the picture of Spider-Man, although they are turned around. Still, love the vintage sweetness that was used on the box.

Top of the box has another classic Spidey drawing. Looks like he has his clothes webbed up on his back as his Spidey Sense is going off. He probably senses how much I love this box.

As soon as you open the box, you see this on top. You get some score sheets, instructions and a pencil. I definitely need those instructions as I have never played Yahtzee in my life.

As you can see, the Spidey container is protected within the plastic bubble that is sealed into the cardboard backing. With the container, you also get a set of 5 dice (or is it die?). On the dice, we get pictures of the Green Goblin, Doc Ock, Venom, Carnage and the Kingpin.

Unfortunately, the only way to get to the container and dice is to break open the plastic and cardboard and I do not know how to play, I opted to keep this intact. It just looks too cool to break open. Plus, I know that this will look awesome on the shelf among the other Spidey goodies I own.

Over the next few weeks, I am going to be showcasing different pieces of my Spidey collection. I am very proud of how many different pieces I have in it and I am always looking to add to the collection. Spider-Man was the first super hero that I noticed and became a fan of, so I will always collect Spider-man merchandise. Hopefully, I can soon display all my Spidey stuff and really show off how cool it is. Until then, I will just show off the collection, piece by piece.

Adam West Joins The House Of Swag

A couple of months ago, I had decided not to pick up the NECA 1966 Batman figure for various reasons, but the main reason was I was going to spend all my dough on the Hot Toys 1966 Batman figure. I have never owned a Hot Toys figure and was frothing at the mouth over owning the figure and making it the first of what was to be a few Hot Toys I would pick up.

But, a few things happened along the way to it's release. I lost my job and I am still currently out of work. I can't right now justify paying over $200.00 for the figure. It stinks, but such is life. If it's meant that I will own that figure, then I will. But it's not looking like I will anytime soon. So, I was to be out of both the NECA and Hot Toys 1966 Batman figures.

Thank God for Entertainment Earth. The toy company runs sales on a weekly basis and recently had the NECA 1966 Batman for half off the retail price. It was too good a deal to pass up, so I jumped on it and I am glad I did. When the package arrived and I opened it up I was pleasantly surprised at the figure.

Here's how the packaging looked when I opened up the box.

Love the packaging. Just screams 1966 Batman. Not only do you get some shots of the figure its self, but thanks to a clear cellophane window, you get to see the figure in all it's bad ass glory.

Once you pull Batman out of the box, you see that he is very, and may I add VERY, securely fastened to the backing board by what it seems like 20 plastic ties. As pleased that I am that the figure was well protected to inside the box, it was a real pain in the Bazooka Joe to untie him from the backing. I swear, us geeks are never happy with anything. Imagine my complaining had he not been tied down.

Anyway, not only do we have Batman tied down, but we also see the accessories that come with the figure secured in plastic that slid into the backing board securely.

So, out of the box, I can tell you he looks fantastic. I was initially concerned by the abs on this figure. It's not a solid piece like it is on the NECA 1989 Batman figure and I cannot understand why. But, you get used to it and it doesn't really bother your after awhile.

This picture doesn't do the figure justice. The likeness to Adam on this figure is pretty damn close, if not dead on to how he looks in the cowl on the TV show. I love the drawn on eyebrows, the blue cowl with black face plate and blue nose. Great facial sculpt as well. It looks like you could pull off the cowl and get another face under there. It doesn't look painted on like with other figures.

There you see the ab sculpt I was talking about. I'm guessing that there is an "ab crunch" to this figure that the 1989 Batman doesn't have. I have to try it out.

The Bat emblem is painted onto the figure and looks great. The paint job here is fantastic as well. The grey of the bat suit to the blue on his trunks and gloves. No messed up paint job on this figure. I also love the sculpting of the gauntlets on the gloves.

The first problem I encountered with the figure was the joints. They were extremely stiff out of the package. the legs on my Batman was pushed back so far that Adam looked like he was thrusting himself out. Not exactly something I wanted to see. To be honest, at times when I was scared to screw around with the figure too much for fear I might break it. That hinders the ability to pose this figure. Maybe the joints loosen up a bit after a while. Frankly, I hope it does. I would like to maybe put this figure in some sort of pose other than just having it stand on my shelf with his arms at his sides.

I love the cape. The fabric just looks so cool on this figure. You can have it hanging off his shoulders or in the Batman "Bat" pose I have him posed in the above picture. It's a pose he dose in a few episodes in the TV series. Once I have the shoulder joints working better, I will try to lift those arms up a bit higher.

Not only can you make Batman's head go side to side, it can go up and down too. As for the rest of his body, he can bend at the elbows, knees, wrists and toes. He can swivel his hips like Elvis as well as his shoulders, wrists, thighs, forearms and ankles. This can make for great posing, but I do have a fear of rubbing off some of the paint at those spots with too much swiveling.

Here's something that I thought was really cool. The belt buckle opens to reveal the communicator behind it. Very cool. The rest of the belt is made of molded plastic. I'm not sure if the belt is removable.

Those toys, where does he get those wonderful toys? Yes, Batman comes with some accessories. He comes with 2 pairs of hands, 2 Batarangs; one folds and can be put into a pouch which hooks onto the utility belt, some string that goes through the Batarangs and can be used as the bat rope, a bat communicator and a piece of plastic that has something to do with the utility belt. To be honest, I haven't bothered to find out what it is.

 Batman is bringing justice to Gotham City.... 4 Horseman style!

The hands are an easy swap. Just pull off the already existing hand until it literally pops out and just push in the one you want into the socket. The accessories will fit nice and snug into the hands.

You have to be very careful with the accessories. I can see that these can get lost really easily. They are small and unless your going to use them when you display the figure, I would put them someplace where you will not lose them. I think Batman would be pissed if he didn't have his Batarang when he really needed it. 2 accessories I really would have loved to have had with this figure would have been the Bat Shield and the bomb from the movie, but I understand that the bomb will come with the Hot Toys figure.

The back of the figure is painted just as well as the front is. The painters did not take any shortcuts with this figure which shows me that they take their work seriously. The belt, as I suspected is one piece that is not removable. I guess if you really wanted to take the belt off, I suppose there is a way, but why would you want to?

NECA did an awesome job with this Batman figure. They nailed everything right with it and it's going to make a great addition to my Batman collection. Just a bit of advice, if you pick up this figure, make sure you get a stand for it. This figure is made of hard plastic and is a bit too heavy to stand on it's own. It will fall over it there isn't a stand holding it up. That's something else NECA should have included. Maybe a '66 Batman inspired stand will be something that they release in the future or maybe a customizer can come up with one. Regardless, if you, like me, can't afford the Hot Toys '66 Batman, this is an excellent option for those who really want an Adam West Batman figure in their collection. If you can get him on sale, even better.

I Don't Only Collect Sports Bobbleheads

Over the past few years, Funko has become one my favorite companies. It's well documented on this blog my love for the Pop Vinyl line. In my opinion, they are one of the funnest lines to collect. But that is not the only line that Funko produces that I have become a huge fan of.

Before there was Pop, there was Wacky Wobblers. These are bobbleheads that, much like POP, are made of just about any character or famous person you can think of. I was introduced to them when my buddy gave me a set of Monkees Wacky Wobblers for my birthday one year. I was floored by the set and I have them on display in my bobblehead 3 shelf bookcase. Although I cherished them and was impressed by the likeness on the bobbles, those were the only Wacky Wobblers I owned for quite a while.

Then a couple of years ago, My buddy, George and I went into a Big Lots store up in Poughkeepsie that we go to every now and then. We went into the toy aisle and I found these bad boys.

I was ecstatic, to say the least. I had wanted to grab some of these when they were first released, but held off on picking any up. Now, I see a whole shelf of them and they were only 5 bucks a piece. I had a hard time deciding and had to leave Wolverine and Vision behind, but I am happy with the ones I did pick up.

Of the four, I definitely would say that Captain America is my favorite. I love that this bobble is sculpted to look like he just came out of the comics. Captain America is in my top 5 favorite heroes, so picking this up was a no brainer for me.

This one is also going to be the one that I may actually keep in it's box. I love the Jack Kirby style art that is all over the box as well as the iconic lettering.  I doubt I will be getting rid of this box anytime soon.

I loved the Incredible Hulk. I loved that Edward Norton tried to capture the style of the 1970's T.V. series, right down to the equipment that Banner used when he was exposed to the gamma rays. It's a shame he and Marvel had a falling out and he didn't do the Avengers. Then again, if Norton is in it then we get no Ruffalo and Ruffalo was awesome as Banner/The Hulk.

The only thing I would have done differently was make The Hulk a lighter shade of green, like in the comic books. He has that Philadelphia Eagles green going and I'm not sure I'm a fan of it.

Of course, I had to get Iron Man when I saw him. These two Wacky Wobblers are from the first movie, so I was pleased that I could get them at such a good price.

I love this Mark I Wacky Wobbler. I snatched this as soon as I saw it on the shelf.

And let's take a look at them out of their boxes.

These maybe made of plastic, but I would say that they are pretty bad ass nonetheless. I think I actually like the Mark I Wobbler a little better than his Mark IV brother. I'm almost sure this is the Mark IV suit.

Nice detailing on the back.

Wow, Cap looks even better out of the box than I thought. I do wish Hulk was a bit bigger, but what are you going to do?

I actually forgot that Cap had a star on his back as well. It almost looks like Cap has got the height advantage over Hulk. Just slightly though.

I had them in their boxes ever since I bought them and they look even better out of the box than I thought. These maybe made of plastic, but Funko didn't skimp on the attention to detail when they made these Wobblers. From the chain mail on Captain America's costume to the screws in the back of the Mark I Iron Man, I think Funko did a heck of a job on these. The paint, which has been an issue with the more recent Funko releases, is flawless on these figures. If I was in charge, I would put these in front of the painters as an example of how to produce a great paint job on Wobblers.

There are a few more Wacky Wobblers I need to pick up. The Spider-Man Wacky Wobbler has been on my must have list for quite a while and I think I will be crossing it off my list sooner than later. What I love about Funko is they give you options of other cool items to add to your collection. Be it bobbleheads or Pop Vinyls or even blind box Mystery Minis, you really can't go wrong when you add a Funko product into your collection.

A Return To The League With My Latest Obsession!

After a bit of a hiatus, The League of Extraordinary Bloggers has returned to the masses. This is something I have enjoyed being a part of and I am glad that our fearless leader, Brian has decided to bring it back for us to yammer on about a wide variety of whatever topic he comes up with.

This week's topic: My Latest Obsession.

That is a tough topic for me because I have a ton of obsessions. I am obsessed with my girlfriend. I'm obsessed with my Yankees and Batman and Spider-Man. I'm obsessed with bettering myself. But, for this blog, I will stick with something "pop culturey" . And, to everyone's surprise, it will NOT be about Batman or Spider-Man (Get off the floor George. You read that right!). No, no. It will be about a T.V. series that I am late to the party on.

Yes, I am officially obsessed with CW's Arrow.

I have not been this into a T.V. series in years. In fact, I cannot even remember the last show I was obsessed with. Agents Of  S.H.E.I.L.D. comes close as I have not missed an episode yet, but I don't think that Agents is as good a show as Arrow is. And to be honest with you all, I had absolutely zero interest in Arrow to begin with. In fact, I missed the entire first season of the show. Being that I am not a huge Green Arrow fan or a fan of the CW Network, I never turned the show on.

That just goes to show you how stupid I can be sometimes.

An assist goes to my buddy George. One day while we were out and about, he asked if I had seen the show and I told him I had not. He suggested I check it out. He praised the show, saying it's what "Batman Begins" is to Batman, this show is to the Green Arrow. Still, I resisted in watching it. I let the first season pass and let the second season start and still had not watched the show.

Fast forward to November of 2013. I suddenly found myself with a ton of free time on my hands. One day, I turned on my Netflix account and saw that Arrow was now on there. Now, I'm the kind of dude that likes to have something to watch while I eat. It just so happened I had my lunch sitting on my lap and I was looking for something to watch while I inhaled my cold cut combo from Subway. So, I popped in the first episode and watched it. Then the second and then the third episode. When I contemplated about watching a fourth, that's when I knew I was hooked.

Damn You CW Network!!!!!!

I got sucked in by the wonderful writing, the great direction and the terrific casting of Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, the billionaire playboy who was shipwrecked and stranded on an island for 5 years. When he is rescued, he is determined to right the wrongs his deceased father made him promise to correct before his death. The cast rest of the cast is just as good. Katie Cassidy (Yes, the daughter of David Cassidy) plays Laurel, Oliver's ex-girlfriend who got her heart torn apart by him, Colin Donnell plays Tommy, Oliver's best friend, David Ramsey plays John Diggle, Oliver's bodyguard, Willa Holland plays Oliver's sister Thea. The cast is rounded out by Paul Blackthorne, Susanna Thompson, Emily Bett Rickards, Colton Haynes and John Barrowman.

I don't want to give too much away in case there are people, like me, who has yet to see the series, but trust me when I say that once you watch the show you will get hooked. Is it a show based on a comic book character, yes but I would also say that it's a well written drama as well. The show also has a bunch of twists and turns to keep even a non comic book fan into the show. Plus, for the comic book geeks, they throw DC characters into the show such as Deadshot, Huntress, Deathstroke and Merlyn. Is the series very faithful to the comics? Of course not, but what Hollywood production, be it film or television, is faithful to the source material. Not a lot, but it shouldn't keep you from enjoying a well written and acted show like Arrow is.

So, if you haven't checked out Arrow and get the opportunity to do so, I say watch it and enjoy the heck out of it. The show was renewed for a third season, so you have time to watch season one if you have Netflix or have the means to pick up a copy if Season One, take a weekend and sit back and enjoy the ride to Sterling City.

Check out some of my fellow League members obsessions:

https://jathniel-velazquez.squarespace.com/journal/3/10/2014/my-latest-obsession-welcome-back-to-the-league

http://thedustyshelf.weebly.com/the-league.html

http://monstercafesaltillo.blogspot.mx/2014/03/league-assignment-my-latest-obsession.html

http://coolandcollected.com/binge-watching/

http://fortuneandglorydays.blogspot.com/2014/03/league-of-extraordinary-bloggers-im.html