Words to warm a father's heart.....

Well folks, my work here on earth may just be done.

Walking through the shops this weekend hand in hand with my eldest, Miss Seven, this proud papa's heart nearly burst with joy when she stopped, gazed meaningfully into my eyes, and asked a detailed question about the properties of Krypton.

My enthusiastic answers triggered a lengthy discussion that went on throughout the day's duties, and ended in a web search on all forms of K and the various effects of each form. We found this very useful chart which helped us on our way. I believe that Miss Seven is planning to take this to school for news later in the week.

While Mrs AFB bemoans the loss of a daughter to the "dark side", I'm sleeping easy in the knowledge that the family tradition is going to live on.......

Oops! Supergirl does a Britney

Elsewhere at NYCC, an array of the DCU's finest put in dutiful appearances for the premiere of the INFINITE HEROES line. Players like Flash's great friends the Weather Wizard and Professor Zoom were particularly excited to make their long-awaited debuts in plastic.

Their shining moment was dramatically upstaged, however, when Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, took her place at the back of the podium. A stunned hush filled the auditorium as heroes, villains and the paparazzi alike quickly realized two things: firstly, Supergirl was wearing no underpants, and secondly, she is clearly a fan of the Hollywood wax. (Look it up boys, this is a family blog)

The clearly disoriented Zor-el was quickly ushered out of the press conference, but not before her cousin's regular foe Bizarro could shout: "Bizarro hate Naked Girl! Bizarro never want to look at Naked Girl again!", creating an even bigger stir.

At press time no-one from Zor-el's camp would comment. It was understood that she was being seen to by her cousin Superman, close friend Wonder Girl and Dr Phil McGaw.

Custodial arrangements for Comet the Super Horse and Streaky the Super Cat were unclear at this stage.

Mattel...... you got some 'splaining to do......!

Dont'cha hate it when stuff like this happens? I mean, how embarrassing for Mattel that they've taken a bunch of parts which are CLEARLY leftover bits of a Teen Titans Go! Cyborg and shown it at NYCC as a Metallo BAF for the DCUC line! (Many thanks to Action Figure Insider for the pic of Mattel's big boo-boo.)

I bet Bandai is pissed about this!!


Hopefully they'll rectify the mistake soon and show us the real Metallo. Oh, and the Classic Black Lightning and Riddler variants, which are coming, aren't they??

I mean, these are the guys that "get us", isn't that what everyone's saying? These are the guys that understand collectors.

... and so they give us Batman Beyond?


(leaves space for effect - yes, we are getting fricking Batman Beyond, not to mention Black-suited Superman and - oh yay - The Eradicator.......)


Yep, they "get us" so much that "Classic" seems to mean classic characters in crappy Modern Age costumes. It means that we get two regular (one of which is a mort Batman villain) and one variant female character (in a costume she wore, what, for one issue?) in five waves.

Yes, Mattel "gets us" so much that in five waves they couldn't throw in one character that DCD has never done.

Instead, we get Batman Beyond.

Come on Mattel - give Bandai back its Cyborg bits and make a REAL Metallo that looks like something we don't have to Google to recognise. Make the Modern Age stuff the variant when it's crap like Black Lightning's new outfit, and don't tell us what's "possible", just do it.

Looking forward to this being cleared up promptly!

Black Canary 1:6 Scale: Score!

Well, the first item on my Christmas list has already been decided! The fourth female in DCD's 1:6 scale and personally most awaited female character: Black Canary!

Although I'm sure its inclusion will please some collectors, I'm not sure why they chose to put the mask on her for the main solicit shot. Good to see it comes off and she looks great underneath it. Better yet, this figure comes with an interchangeable head so that we can have her in scream mode if desired!

I'm also very happy with the decision to go with sculpted hair vs. rooted. And to imagine I was actually considering buying Barbie as Black Canary if this hadn't come along!!!!

Disappointments: personally I'd prefer a BA version with a blue costume. The hand / wrist joins look a bit clunky - it makes her look like she's wearing a flesh coloured skivvy. The angle that he knee joint is sticking out yet makes me wonder if posing is going to be a problem with the fishnet stockings. At least her costume will cover up any of those horrible mid-limb cuts they insist on including with these.

This solicit couldn't come at a better time for me, as I was just beginning to wonder if the 13" range was running out of steam with only villains on the immediate horizons. I haven't been collecting the bad guys because I do have a mortgage, and because I've been disappointed with the MA versions of classics like Bizarro and Joker (those teeth!) that have been solicited.

For the true Black Canary fanatic such as myself, December will be a bumper month from DCD as we'll be getting her in the JLI as well as in the magnificent 13" range.

The shopping list has begun!!!!!

Latest and Greatest Customs

I don't know how I did it, but I managed to miss March completely! The start of the year is always crazy for me - hopefully things will settle down now. Anyway, the purchases and posts are backing up so I'll get straight to business:

My Legion and JSA Collections have marched further forward with the latest efforts from my favourite customisers.

On the Legion front, Jackknight92 has finished off the Silver Age Legion proper with Shadow Lass and Nemesis Kid, and helped me start on the Subs with Polar Boy and Night Girl. Here they are, along with a fairly pathetic attempt at a group shot. Once I get some stands that allow me to put some levels in, I should be able to do better.

I am so thankful to Jack for all the care he has put in to creating these for me.

Moving from the Modern Age JSA Customs that the amazing Lars has been doing for me, I thought I should really try to get the original JSA sorted out, so I commissioned these two amazing guys: Mr Terrific and the Star Spangled Kid. Here they are, along with the Hawkman from the latest Reactivated Wave.

I hope you agree they are pretty amazing!