McFarlane Gets My Money

 

I don't know exactly what happened at McFarlane Toys, but for some reason they stopped packing in any kind firearms with figures that should have them. Which was kinda of a bummer for collectors of  DC Multiverse and Mortal Kombat figures, and raised the need to have to track down weapons in the correct scale to arm the characters. Three characters that hit me the hardest for being "incomplete" was Commando Spawn, Grifter, and Peacemaker, so when I got an e-mail saying an exclusive weapons pack was coming from the offical McFarlane store website I immediately pre-ordered it. As soon as I got the confirmation the perfectly named Munitions Pack was shipping out I ordered the three figures offline, and amazingly they all showed up at the same time.

Truly blown away by Commando Spawn, it's not just the previous released Spawn with a different head and added straps, he is almost completely new molding. The only reused parts of the cape, gauntlet, and cone boot are on a completely new body which is molded to look like skin tight hi-tech body armor with new spiked strapped left arm and lower leg, scarfed head, and wrapped hands. He comes packed with the same Necroplasm flames that came with Malefik Spawn, which if you read the early Spawn comics goes against the idea of this incarnation cause when Spawn goes "Commando" it's because he conserving he limited Necroplasm power, and falls back on his military training, and weapon expertise.

I'm sure I've mentioned on this blog that I am a huge Jim Lee fan, and by that extension fan of his Image Comics super-hero team WildC.A.T.S, so I was stoked when they revealed a 7-inch highly detailed and highly articulated figure of Grifter as he currently appearing in DC Comics. Please, please, please let this be the beginning getting the rest of the modern versions of the WildC.A.T.S team, please Todd. He comes with a sword and a knife, which isn't outside his skill set cause he is trained in the Coda martial arts and melee combat, but definitely looks much better with the modified 9MM Beretta handguns from the weapons pack.  

I love James Gunn's The Suicide Squad, and really enjoy John Cena as Peacemaker, and his solo show on HBO Max was the most insane, hilarious, and messed up comic-based extravaganza since The Boys to hit streaming. So color me surprised, and extremely disappointed along with the majority of all collectors that his action figure did not come with his signature gun, but instead a sword he maybe used in one quick scene in the film, but thanks to the weapons pack he now has his extended Desert Eagle with silencer which is movie accurate, I just wish the silencer was removable. Now I need to get Bloodsport to stand next to him, and fingers crossed for a Vigilante figure soon.

So with McFarlane's excellent offerings in DC Multiverse, and the resurgence of Spawn thanks to the milestone 300th issue which reignited the character's popularity in pop culture, and demand for new collectibles, Todd has been getting my money far more then any of the other toy companies as of late. In the latest comics not only are old variations of Hellspawns for across the centuries and multiverse coming together in the pages with the current Al Simmons Spawn, but also new Spawn variations are coming out of the woodwork, so now we have an actual team made of the various Hellspawn called The Scorched. As a huge Spawn fan who grew up playing with the original 90's Todd Toys Spawn figures, to once again be going to the store and searching for new modern renditions of characters like Ninja Spawn and She-Spawn is pure weaponized nostalgia hook, line, and sinker for me.

The Redeemer a.k.a. Anti-Spawn is my favorite Spawn villain, as much as I love the new winged version, I really hope one day we get the old purple cape first appearance as a modern figure, maybe in the future as a repaint/running change of Redeemer III a.k.a Reaper from The Scorched team. you can't have Spawn's rouges gallery without The Clown, and this hefty and craftily detailed figure scarringly portrays the menacing demon from McFarlane's artwork. My fingers are crossed and wish list in my head for villains like Chapel, Tremor, and The Curse to be expertly brought to fruition as the line continues.

 

Azrael was my very first DC Multiverse figure, and to date he is still my absolute favorite of them all, and in that picture is two of only three Jean-Paul Valley Azrael figures made, which boggles my mind for a Batman ally. Pretty sure Deathstroke was my second ever from the line, now he is betterly armed with the MP5 from the weapons pack, and sword from Grifter. The properly faced and colored Batman Beyond was on my hunt list for awhile, and was so glad to finally find him at the last convention I went to, just wish he came with a show accurate Batarang.

LVL Up Expo 2022

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa yeah, an all video game convention (mostly), my first LVL Up Expo, and sure not to be my last. Had a awesome time hunting, and found alot of great stuff and great deals.

 For the original Nintedo Entertainment System, got four off my want list. 1942 by Capcom, probably my all time favorite bullet hell shooter that started my love for the genre. Had to get Double Dragon III to complete the trilogy, and Pinball, and Alpha Mission are both checks for Nintendo Black Box and SNK sub-sets respectively. 

Surprisingly my only Super Nintendo grab was the near the top of my list of long time wants; Spawn: The Video Game. Snagged two excellent titles to increase my small but slowly growing Sega Genesis library, Toxic Crusaders, beat'em-up based the 90's cartoon, and VR Troopers, a fighting game of Saban's failed 2nd attempt at adapting Sentai footage. Sega CD doesn't have a huge catalog of games, and many of those aren't exactly great must haves, but I felt AH3 Thunderstrike was worthy of being a fun playable title, bringing my total number of Sega CD games to 2.

Nintendo 64 was a system I skipped out on in favor of the original Playstation, so now I'm trying to grow my collection of 64 cartridges as quickly as possible to catch up with my other much larger libraries, which is now up to 36. The two N64 acquisitions being Bust-A-Move 2, love me some puzzle games, and my most expensive purchase of the day for a single game being Gauntlet Legends, a super clean copy I got for the current going loose price.

Another small lot I'm always trying to add more to is the Gamecube, and I managed to get two system exclusive Star Wars greats, the Rogue Squadron sequels of Rogue Leader and Rebel Strike. Manage to re-acquire Colony Wars: Vengeance, and Star Trek: Invasion, two PS1 3D space shooters I use to have, but stupidly traded in long ago. Last buy of the convention on the way out was the cool PS2 shooting game Vampire Night, now really need a Gun-Con 2.

I picked up a couple toys and a couple t-shirts at the convention, but then after I went to a mall and found some more of each at a Hot Topic and a toy store called The Pop Shack. Ninja Spawn and The Curse for my growing re-collecting of 90's Spawn figures. Found an exclusive Lord Drakkon Funko Pop for a great price, and the Eaglemoss die-cast D-7 Klingon Cruiser was clearance for only $10 bucks.

 Street Fighter and S.T.A.R.S. was from a vendor at the convention. Then the Peacemaker Dove of Peace symbol and Ecto-1 shirts were on the clearance rack at Hot Topic. Finally acquired The Bad Batch for only $5 at the Five Below store.

 

So other then video game hunting, my #1 reason for really going to this expo was to meet Johnny Young Bosch, popular actor and voice actor, who I first saw, and always know him as Adam Park the 2nd Black Mighy Morphin' Power Ranger. I told him how I didn't realize my favorite voice actor of such great anime characters of Vash from Trigun, and Ichigo from Bleach was also the Power Ranger from my childhood, he got a good laugh out of that. For those keeping track, he brings me up to five actors from Mighty Morphin Powr Rangers.

Then the cherry on top of a super awesome day was a mind-blowing find of all finds, I never thought I'd ever lay my hands on. At my very last stop of the day at a Wal-Mart I finally came across the NECA Ninja Turtles movie figure two-packs. Now I can start getting the other beautifully detailed allies and villains I have been denying myself 'til I the Turtles in hand first.