SDCC 2013 Toy (Not Really Toys) Haul - Part 5!

I'm not into Superman that much (although I've been giving his comics more of a chance) and I don't collect record albums, but I just couldn't pass these $2-a-piece beauties...

What is it with Supes letting kids ride on his back in the '70s?

It's Dork Horde Give Away Time!

I know that I'm supposed to do a Top 5 Friday post today, but I'm so stoked about being beck to blogging on the reg that I thought it was time to kick things off with a bang. And there's no better way to do that than to have a give-away!

Thanks to Honorary Horde Member, Matt K. from back in North Carolina, we got a solid pile of killer goods to give out. So, first off, big thanks to Matt!

So here's how it's gonna go down; The first 6 (that's right, I said 6) Horde Members that say "Me!" or "I want one!' or "Count me in!" or whatever in the comments section of this post will get their very own Hot Wheels Batman Live Batmobile!

Not familiar with Batman Live? Check out BatmanLive.com

And if that's not awesome enough, the first 2 commenters will not only get the above mentioned Batmobile but also a Hot Wheels Dark Knight Rises The Bat!

That's right, kiddies! Just chime in and you win! Good luck to you all!

FOR THE HORDE!!!

My First Funko Pop Custom!

One of the best aspects of my new job is the massively creative environment I'm in, being surrounded by some of the greatest designers in the toy world. One way that this manifests is through custom Pop! figures. They are all talented customizers and have inspired me to get in on it on the action. Now, I'm not exactly an experienced toy customizer, but I've always wanted to do it and now I seem to have found the nudge I needed to dive right in.

After throwing some ideas around, we all decided to team up and take a Pop! Batman figure and customize it any way we wanted. Sort of a group exhibition sort of thing, with the possibility of selling them as a set online. Apparently, there is a healthy collective of custom Funko collectors out there, so we wanted to see [if we could put together a set that would really wow them.

That remains to be seen.

But here's my first attempt at customizing a Pop! Batman, and I decided to zombify the poor Dark Knight.

Here's how it went down...

First thing I need to do was to obtain the right parts. Originally, I was just going to do a bsimple repaint, maybe mess up Bats with some gashes and melty spots. But I was inspired by our new Walking Dead Bicycle Girl figure and one look at her told me I had the rotting dead parts that I needed.

So, one Batman, one Walking Dead zombie and a spare head from a Mars Attacks figure (graciously provided by a co-worker) and I was ready to go...

First up, a little boiling. This breaks apart the glued-on piece very nicely and makes the plastic very soft and pliable, making it easier to cut through and whatnot.

Next, a lot of cutting and gluing. For me, this was the hard part. It took a lot of trial and error to get the pieces cut to the right size and the glue I bought was just making me angry.

 Eventually, I got the basics of the figure together...

I cut out some sections of the head and added some brains on the inside and "exposed" and ear and added the lower face section to give Bats a grody zombie mouth. I even gave him some gross zombie hands.

 

Then, all that was left was to paint it! I'm not super skilled at painting toys, so I worry it looks a little ham-fisted and amateurish, but I had fun and I'm sure I'll get better in the future with enough practice.

A little blood, some icky green mold and a little graveyard mud around the feet and feel like we got ourselves a Walking Dead Batman! Gods forbid if Rick Grimes and the gang run into this little biter in the woods. Still, Dark Knight Detective or not, one shot to the brain is all it takes.

That's if they see him coming...

"Grrruuuuuurrrhhhhh!!!"

Anyway, there it is, my first, but certainly lot last, Funko Pop! custom figure. Hope you all dig it. Get it? See what I did there?

Holy CRAP! I Totally Forgot About the Batmobile Give-Away!

I can't believe I totally spaced and forgot to announce the winners of the Batmobile give-away that I posted back on Memorial Day. I was supposed to announce the winners this past Monday. But I'm a total dork and forgot.

Sorry! Anyhoodle, without further adoodle, the winners, chosen through the very highly scientific method of numbering the contestants 1 through 5 and then rolling a six sided die (6 not counting, natch), the winners are...

Dan from The Toy Museum!

and

Jon K from Jon's Random Acts of Geekery!

Congrats, gents! Email me your snail mail addresses and I'll get those sweet Matchbox Batmobiles out to you this weekend (if I remember, which I will sincerely try to do).

More Dork Horde give-aways coming soon! FOR THE HORDE!!!

Dork Horde Labor Day Give-Away!

Happy Labor Day! It's time for a Give-Away!

Thanks to honorary Hordyte (and my old high school homie) Matt K., we've got a couple of extra Matchbox Batmobiles to give away!

This give away is eligible to HORDE MEMBERS ONLY! Looking to add one of these sweet 1:64 scale rides to your collection? Just speak up in the comments section below and your name will be added to the list. Next Monday, I'll randomly pick two names for the winners!

May the best Hordyte win!

FOR THE HORDE!!!

Batmobile Extravaganza!

Thanks to my good homie back in N.C., Matt K., who I went to high school with and once pulled me out of a pile of kicking skinheads in a punk club back in '92, and the guy who coined the phrase "dork horde" on my Facebook page (thus making him an honorary member), for picking up this killer collection of Hot Wheels Batmobiles!

I imagine that these were released to cash in on the movie opening, and he had to hit a few different stores to find them all (they're getting scalped pretty hard), but he managed to find most of them (#3 The 1966 Batmobile and #4 The Batcopter are eluding us) and sent them on to me.

The funny thing is that I have most of these cars already in one version or another, but it's the sweet packaging that makes me all excited. So much so, that I think this will be one of those rare cases where I keep the toy in the package, because I think these will make a gorgeous display as they are.

Anyway, check them out...

First up is The Batman Batmobile! A car I already have, but just look at that badass backing card! I know that this version of animated Batman is not everyone's favorite, but I actually liked the design a lot.

Next we have The Brave and the Bold version, which is probably my all-time favorite Batman cartoon, and definitely one of my favorite Batmobiles...

Next we have the "Affinity Batmobile", which just confuses the hell outta me. I have this one in the original dark blue, and for years thought it was from that last crappy Schumacher Batman movie (quite frankly, I didn't pay a lot of attention to that drivel), but I guess not. This must be an original DC design, right? If anyone knows, hook me up with the info. Anyway, the black version of this car, with those red windows is friggin epic!

Here we see the Arkham Asylum Batmobile. Holy... crap. What an awesome car. Again, I have the original release of this (loose, of course), so I'm stoked to have a version still sealed in the package with that awesome artwork on the backing card.

This one sort of makes me laugh a little. I don't think that Hot Wheels released the original "Crooze" car as a Batmobile. So this smacks of a quick jet black repaint combined with some straight-from-the-style-guide artwork on the packaging. Don't get me wrong, it's got coolness dripping off its fenders. But I know a toy company trick when I see one.

Next we have what I guess is some sort of deformed 1989 Tim Burton Batmobile. I can't lie, I sort of wish that they made a more faithful version of the one in the movie, and I can't imagine why they felt the need to make it with huge from wheels and douchebag-armband-tattoo-style "tribal" graphics on the side. Not to sound ungrateful, I'm hella thrilled to have it in the collection, just confused about how it came to be.

And finally, Matt K. was a real bro and included one of the new Matchbox Batmobiles that seem to be hitting shelves lately. This one is killer on many levels. First, it's from Matchbox (which, correct me if I'm wrong, they've never released a Batmobile before, right?). Second, it's rendered in a bizarre, yet cool, sparkle blue with red trim. And third, I don't think I've ever seen this mold before! I may be wrong on that. But it's new to me.

Anyway, thanks a ton to Matt K. back in N.C. for hooking a brother up! This is going to make such a bitchin' display.

The Dark Knight Hot Wheels 5 Pack!

Only a week after I stood in front of the actual Tumbler from the Dark Knight, I stumbled across this gorgeous 1:64 scale beauty, perfect for my movie and TV toy vehicle collection! And it was just a bit of a bonus that it came with a few other vehicle that one would see racing through the streets of Gotham City.

I just had to have this sweet ride to add to my Batmobile collection. Look at that sleek, matte black menace to criminals!, Granted, the Tumbler is not exactly my favorite Batmobile, but it is an important slice of silver screen Batman history. My only quibble with the toy is the yellow windows. Gloss black or smoked windows would have been better, in my opinion. But again, that's a small nit pick.

In the I Would Have Loved This As a Kid category, this Gotham City PD patrol car is actually pretty sweet. When I was a kid, I always loved my Metropilis PD patrol car from Ertl (or was it Corgi?), and of course, I had to have no less than three Hazzard County Sheriff's cars.

One of my favorites from this set is this Gotham City armored transport vehicle. The chrome on it is spectacular! And besides, you need something for the Joker to rob, right?

Speaking of the Joker, the set comes with this sort of "Joker Jalopy". While it's cool, it's not based on anything from movies or TV that the Joker ever drove. Basically, when a company releases a set like this, it's going to contain a few repaints to save on tooling costs and whatnot. It's cool, but I'm not doing cartwheels over it.

And while we're talking about underwhelming vehicles, if this repainted helicopter was a robot, it would be named Lame-a-Tron 5000. There's nothing about this chopper that screams "Batman". It looks like a big mechanical bee. Still, I suppose that the folks at Hot Wheels had a slot to fill and they filled it.

Overall, this set is killer! Like I said, I only really wanted the Tumbler (I don't think it was ever released individually, but someone correct me on that if I'm wrong), and at a whopping $4.49, you can't beat it.

I'm seriously fighting the urge to get down on the kitchen floor right now and have a harrowing chase with the Joker Jalopy trying to run the armored car off the road, a hapless GCPD patrol car giving chase, and coming up fast from behind, and gaining rapidly, is the one and only Batman.

"Bat Fink" Sketch

Working on a new possible project for my company, by boss asked me to sketch up a quick "Batman meets Rat Fink" drawing. It was just nice to pout some actual ink on actual paper again. Just thought I'd share. I really hope something comes of this project.

The SDCC Batmobile Display from Warner Brothers

One of the best things I saw the entire weekend was the Warner brothers display out on the lawn outside of the convention center (just in front of the Marriot) of all 6 movie Batmobiles (the '66 Batmobile was technically in a movie, you know). It was surreal standing in front of them. it was like I could just jump in any one of them and drive it away, and don't think I didn't think about it. Even my two least favorite Batmobiles (the Batman & Robin and Batman Forever ones) were pretty impressive in person.

Although I have to say that I feel a little cheated by the 'new" Batmobile. It's basically the same Tumbler from the other two Nolan Batman films, just painted all sandy camouflage style. Sort of lame. Also, the 1966 (my personal favorite) looked a little odd with the neon orange highlights, instead of the usual red. Not that that would have stopped me from totally stealing it.

Still, bat-awesomeness times a gazillion. Check it...