The Most Amazing (and Hard to Get) Toys and Collectibles at San Diego Comic- Con 2. There’s just one week left till San Diego Comic- Con returns to blast us in the face with awesome pop culture spectacle, cosplay, and fantastic, expensive goodies. Here’s the very best toys and collectibles at this year’s show that we can’t wait to line up forever for (or, more likely, pay even more for on e. Bay afterwards). Revolution Comic Crossover Preview Mega- Set(Hasbro, $1. Justice League: Throne of Atlantis Blu-ray (DC Universe Animated Original Movie #22) (2015): Starring Sean Astin, Rosario Dawson and Nathan Fillion. In the aftermath.Includes an overview, awards, reviews, a cast list, plot summary, quotes, trivia, and other information. Toymakers often rely heavily on nostalgia to move pricey SDCC- exclusives, but this year Hasbro raises the bar with a box set featuring a hall of fame of awesome . Based on the new IDW Comics series Revolution, the Revolution Comic Crossover Preview Mega- Set includes Transformers’ Jetfire, G. I. Joe’s Roadblock, M. A. S. K.’s Matt Tracker, Visionaries’ Leoric, Rom the Spaceknight’s Rom and a Dire Wraith, and a team of Micronauts rounding up the 1. Justice League Cyborg Origins Figure(Mattel, $2. Mattel kicks off the Justice League toyline a little early this year, with a Comic- Con exclusive based around Cyborg. The 6- inch figure comes in a cuboid packaging designed to look like the Mother Box that helped the grievously wounded Victor Stone transform into the cybernetic hero he is—and it even lights up and plays sounds at the press of a button. The Star Wars: Rebels season 3 Blu-ray and DVD release date is revealed along with the list of bonus features and extras that will be included. HARDCORE HENRY is one of the most unflinchingly original wild-rides to hit the big screen in a long time: You remember nothing. Mainly because. The Internet Movie Database includes cast and crew credits, plot outline, user comments, and ratings. Big Figs Hildebrandt Darth Vader(Jakks Pacific, Price Unconfirmed) Jakks Pacific’s 2. Each set will cost you $4. Marvel set will only be available on July 2. DC Comics set can only be snagged on July 2. DC Super Hero Girls Wonder Woman and Cheetah Dolls(Mattel, $4. Diana and Cheetah might be deadly foes in DC’s comics, but in the world of DC Super Hero Girls, they’re merely high school rivals. This 1. 2- inch special doll set features Diana kitted out in her full superhero gear, including a shield, her lasso of truth, and a cape, while Cheetah simply gets her mobile phone, presumably so she can send catty texts to her friends about what a loser Diana is. Transformers: The Last Knight Voyager Class Optimus Prime(Hasbro, $5. When the addition of Anthony Hopkins can’t bring moviegoers back to your long- running franchise, maybe it’s time to stop making Transformers movies? Just don’t stop making those wonderful Transformers toys, like this Voyager Class Optimus Prime based on his appearance in The Last Knight. Hasbro’s even sweetening the deal by including an authentic piece of screen- used truck tire with a limited number of the figures. Mezco One: 1. 2 Miles Morales(Mezco, $8. Mezco’s line of fabric- clothed, 1: 1. Miles Morales, the Ultimate Spider- Man. Like Peter before him, Miles comes with various hands to pose him mid- thwip, as well as extra strands of webbing. Playmates Usagi Yojimbo(Nickelodeon, $3. In a few weeks, Nick’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon will see Stan Sakai’s legendary Rabbit Ronin cross over with the Turtles, so to celebrate Playmates is releasing a brand new figure of the character. The 5- inch Usagi comes with alternate heads, his trusty swords, and a flag depicting the Samurai’s emblem—and two classic comics from 1. Leonardo Meets Usagi Yojimbo in Turtle Soup and Rabbit Stew” and “The Treaty”, which depicted early crossovers between the animal warriors. Marvel Legends Battle for Asgard Set(Hasbro, $1. This year’s Marvel Legends box set is a veritably Thor- some collection of Asgardian heroes and villains ahead of Thor: Ragnarok’s arrival later this year. As well as the comic book versions of the Odinson himself, Bor, Malekith, and Ulik the troll, the set also features the first ever chance to get Jane Foster’s Thor in action figure form, ahead of her solo debut in Thor: Ragnarok’s Marvel Legends wave this fall. Saga The Will and Lying Cat(Skybound, $5. Saga returns to Comic- Con with another amazing figure set! After Alana and Marko wowed us last year, this year it’s the turn of everyone’s favorite bounty hunter The Will, and the spirit of 2. Lying Cat. Lying cat even comes with a “Lying!” speech bubble, so this is hands down one of our favorite toys of the Con. Transformers Primitive Optimus Prime(Hasbro, $5. Outside of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, we’re not going to be pretend to be big skateboarding fans. But when Paul Rodriguez’s Primitive brand gives Optimus Prime an amazing black and gold facelift, we’re completely sold. The figure comes in a skateboarding shoe- inspired box, and comes with a hoverboard- riding Titan Master figure adorably named Shreddicus Maximus. Marvel Legends A- Force Set(Toys R’ Us, $1. During Secret Wars Marvel forged the A- Force, an all- ladies team of Avengers that kicked ass and took names; now they’re the stars of their own figure set. Not only is this collection filled with badass Marvel ladies like She- Hulk and Lady Sif, and even new characters like Singularity, it’s also secretly a Nextwave reunion, with monster hunter Elsa Bloodstone and the first female Captain Marvel, Monica Rambeau, getting amazing action figures for the very first time. Voltron Legendary Metal Defender Lions(Playmates, Price Unconfirmed) Forming Voltron has never been shinier than it has with this diecast release of Playmate’s Voltron lions. Based on the excellent Netflix show, each of the lions features metallic diecast pieces, and can form into an 8- inch Voltron to show them all off in their glittery splendour. So Many Goddamned Funko Pops(Funko, Assorted) If you, like the rest of us, had thought Funko had run out of things to Pop- ify, think again. There are sixty six exclusives in San Diego this year, covering just about anything you could imagine. Want a holographic Supreme Leader Snoke from The Force Awakens? Tony Stark from Spider- Man: Homecoming carrying an Iron Man helmet? The Power Rangers Megazord? Aragon and Arwen from Lord of the Rings? Westworld Hosts? Harry Potter’s Luna Lovegood? Wonder Woman’s Ares? THEY NEVER END. 1. Inch Marvel Legends Daredevil(Hasbro, $6. The bumper- sized versions of the Marvel Legends figures continue with a deluxe version of the Man Without Fear. Including exclusive box art from Marvel’s Joe Quesada, Daredevil comes with his trusty weapons, alternate hands, and an alternate bloodied, bandaged unmasked head to depict one of the many times Matt Murdock had the shit kicked out of him. Hot Wheels Spider- Man Spider- Mobile and Deadpool Dead- Buggy(Mattel, $1. Why does a superhero who can swing between buildings and sore above one of the most grid- locked cities in the world need a vehicle? Because kids love buying toys, and Marvel loves making a profit. Continuing on that theme, Mattel is bringing back Spider- Man’s most confusing accessory with a 1: 6. Hot Wheels version of the Spider- Mobile, but every fifth one will randomly be a Deadpool- customized variant featuring the Dead- Buggy—a vehicle that makes slightly more sense. Hot Wheels Justice League Batmobile(Mattel, $2. For the upcoming Justice League movie it seems like Batman has decided the best use for the Batmobile’s passenger seat is to simply swap it for a gigantic rail- mounted cannon. Hot Wheel has recreated his upgraded ride in a 1: 6. The Walking Dead Shiva Force Boxset(Skybound Entertainment and Mc. Farlane Toys, $1. Taking inspiration from Hasbro’s G. I. Joe action figure packaging in the . An alternate version, featuring blood- soaked graphics, will also be available, but only 1,0. Dragon Stars Super Saiyan Goku(Bandai America, $3. Bandai is debuting its line of super- articulated Dragon Ball figures—the first line of its kind in years—in a big way, with a super fancy edition of Goku, powered up to his Super Saiyan form. The 6. 5- inch figure comes with extra hands to pose him readying his various attacks. NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Box Set(NECA, $2. If you were always disappointed that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toys looked nothing like the cartoon you obsessed over on Saturday mornings as a kid, NECA’s new box set will feel more familiar with designs and paint jobs that make the figures look like animated characters. The $2. 00 price tag is hard to swallow, but in addition to the four heroes in a half shell and about a million weapons and accessories, the box set also includes Shredder, Krang, and a pair of Foot Soldiers so you can recreate any episode of the animated series. NECA Predator Jungle Briefing Dutch Figure(NECA, $3. What does an action hero look like on casual Fridays? NECA’s 7- inch Predator Jungle Briefing Dutch figure puts Schwarzenegger’s character in casual cargo pants, a polo shirt, and a five o’clock shadow. All that’s missing is a cup of awful break room coffee in one hand, and a jelly donut in the other. Availability will be limited to 3,0. Arnold wearing slacks.? Well, now you can recreate it with this funky stylized vinyl toy, done up in the painterly style of an icon of the art world. Star Wars Black Series Luke Skywalker and Sandspeeder(Hasbro, $9. The collector- focused 6- inch Star Wars line has occasionally dipped its toes into the realms of vehicles—like a massively expensive, in- scale TIE Fighter from The Force Awakens—but its newest set aims at something at a smaller scale. Done to celebrate Star Wars’ 4. Luke’s Sandspeeder (a normal version is coming later this year) has a unique weathered paint affect, a pop- up hood to show the vehicles innards, and a poncho for Luke. Mega Construx Destiny Ghost(Mega Bloks, $3. Mega Bloks’ Destiny line has delivered some surprisingly great sets based on the scifi shooter, but this model opts to instead go less for a playset and more for a great scaled recreation from the game—in this case, one of the “Iron Song” shells for your AI traveling companion, Ghost. Destiny fans will also appreciate the packaging, designed to look like a legendary engram from the game, only this time it has something cool in it instead of the 4. Comic Book Push Puppets(Entertainment Earth, $9 each) Entertainment Earth has gone all- in on retro, wooden toys at Comic- Con this year. As you can probably guess, last week’s episode of Game of Thrones—and its increasing dominance over the pop culture landscape—has filled the ol’ postman’s stolen mailbag to the brim. There are a few spoilers for last week’s episode, but more importantly, an answer to a question we should have been asking ourselves since the first episode: Should we want Daenerys and Jon Snow to fuck? Aunt, Man. Aaron W.: So I’ve been struggling with this question a lot: Is it ok to . So the aunt/nephew dynamic is an absolute deal breaker to modern audiences, but maybe wouldn’t be the worst thing in Westeros? Lots of reasons it would be good, but one BIG reason it is unacceptable. Thoughts? Shipping is. I’ve seen worse than aunt and nephew. And the show is definitely presenting them as future romantic partners/fuckbuddies, which makes it as legitimate as these things get. Their familial relationship may freak you out, but that’s sort of the point. GRRM wants to show a medieval, feudal- type era with all the awfulness most fantasies skip over. The relentless sexism, the rape and torture, the horror that regular people could and did experience constantly as the result of what the nobility chose to do—you can absolutely complain about how omnipresent it is in his stories and/or how it’s portrayed, but it’s not inaccurate to the source material of that reality. And one part of that reality is medieval (and certainly ancient) nobility’s tendency toward incest, especially between uncles and nieces—to the point where its got its own name, avunculate marriage. As you said, the books/show have already shown that Targaryens have been more than willing to marry within the family in order to keep their bloodline pure, so there’s a precedent for Jon and Dany starting a relationship. And since we’re talking about an aunt and nephew here (since Jon is the son of Dany’s deceased brother Rhaegar) and not uncle/niece, a Jon/Dany hook- up would. I am far more skeptical that Jon would be cool with sleeping with his aunt, given the rest of Westeros isn’t nearly as cool with incest (hence Cersei and Jaime’s hiding of their sexual relationship—well, until Cersei took the throne and decided that yes, in fact, as queen she gets to have sex with anyone she wants, and everyone else has to deal with it. Or be tortured and killed). But Jon’s problem is easily solved by keeping his parentage from him until after Ice and Fire have fucked each other. In fact, I suspect Bran is keeping/will keep the truth of Jon’s parentage from everyone until after Daenerys gets pregnant for that very reason. The Three- Eyed Raven knows this has to happen, so mum’s the word for now Or GRRM—or the show, for that matter, since we know it’s diverging from GRRM’s plan in major ways—could just throw a curveball and have Dany marry Gendry, the closest thing King Robert had to a legitimate heir, combining the Targaryen and Baratheon lines to create a progeny whose claim to the throne is unassailable throughout Westeros. Actually, that’s a pretty good idea! He’s way at the bottom . No way Bronn can hold his breath long enough to get down there, cut all the straps to all the pieces of the armor, pull them off, and then also pull him to safety before they both drown. I’m not going to say it’s unrealistic, since Jaime was pushed into the water to avoid a dragon, but the point of Game of Thrones is that it has fantasy elements but it’s still realistic in the basic laws of physics. So isn’t Jaime getting rescued impossible? You bring up a good point about fantasy, in that the best fantasy has a set of rules, even if the audience doesn’t know them, and doesn’t break them. Someone suddenly having a “hoist person out of lake” spell to save Jaime would be dumb. Tyrion running down the hell and begging Dany to have Drogon fish the dude who was about to kill her out of the lake is more realistic for Go. T, but implausible in terms of Dany’s character and the time it would take for Tyrion to get down to Dany and ask for her to save his brother. So that leaves Bronn. Here’s one thing we all need to make our peace with first, right now: Game of Thrones the TV show has begun playing fast and loose with strict reality in favor of presenting the most exciting story possible. This is how armies and fleets are moving gargantuan distances in- between and sometimes even during episodes. It’s why Tyrion can pick out Jaime from half a mile away amid a battlefield full of smoke and destruction. It’s why Cersei and her allies can suddenly kick ass or all of Highgarden’s gold can get into King’s Landing with a mutter and a handwave. There are only nine episodes left, total, as of the time this mailbag hits the nerdernet. The show doesn’t have any time to waste. Yes, part of the reason the books are so good is because they were sprawling and complicated in the way life is, and yes, the show is 1. I also, as I mentioned in my recap this week, think it doesn’t make any narrative sense for Bronn to push Jaime out of the way of a giant cone of dragon breath into a lake, only to have him immediately drown—if Weiss and Benioff are going to kill the character, having Jaime get turned into cinders by Drogon is a much, much cooler death. So I think the show will forgo realism (I mean, how was that lake at the side of that road a full 3. Bronn will cut Jaime out of his armor and drag him to the surface (because Jaime is the one who’s going to give him a castle, after all), and the Lannister will probably live to fight another day. And I also think he’ll be the one to perform those (book spoilers) valonqar duties, and obviously, he can’t do that if he’s dead. Last time I looked, I didn’t see any friendly priests of R’hllor nearby. Where to even begin? Ser Barristan would have been the most solid member of Daenerys’ Queensguard due to military and combat experience, but his relationship to Rhaegar is most interesting. When Dany tells Jon that everyone loves doing what they’re best at, Jon disagrees. Ser Barristan once told Dany a similar story about her brother Rhaegar preferring singing in the street to killing. I also imagine Ser Barristan recognizing the late prince’s resemblance in Jon’s face, posture, or personality. Although Jon is very much Ned Stark in code and hair color, there would be a few opportunities for the show to make that connection. Are there any dead characters that would’ve enhanced the current story we have without breaking the series? Barristan had to die because he had too many answers. He knew Rhaegar well, and he likely knew what Rhaegar was doing when he kidnapped Lyanna, or at the very least he knew whether Lyanna was kidnapped or went with him willingly. Even though we know the result of their union was Jon Snow, the reason why Rhaegar kidnapped her, thus starting a chain of events that killed most of his family and ended their dynasty, is such an integral mystery that it’s going to need to be saved until the very end of the series. Barristan may well have had those answers. The show could get away with not acknowledging this for a bit, while he hadn’t been in Daenerys’ service for long and wasn’t completely trusted. When Dany realized that Barristan knew her family pretty intimately, and was beginning to ask questions about them—well, that’s when he had to go. Barristan literally died in the same episode he began to tell stories Rhaegar (“Sons of the Harpy,” episode five). So yes, Barristan would added a great deal to the proceedings, but would have added too much, too soon. My pick would be either Oberyn or Doran Martell, if only so one of them could make the Dorne storyline worth a damn. It would be cool so see Dorne have a major role to play in the great war other than serving as Cersei fodder. If a good Dorne storyline is off the table, I have to go Stannis, actually. Seeing him somehow bend the knee to Jon Snow and becoming part of the fight against the White Walkers would be really satisfying on a lot of levels, I think. But those are just mine—add and explain yours in the comments. Runnin’ Through My Veins. Sarah M.: Was the Scorpion spear poisoned? Is Drogon The Dragon going to die? I’m of two minds about this, although both of my reasons why are purely metatextual instead of having anything to do with the logic inside the show. Because inside the show, Cersei and Qyburn—both of whom really want these dragons dead and already have poison on their minds—should absolutely have poisoned the giant ballista bolt in an attempt to make it lethal even if it only caused a flesh wound. Now, would the poison work on the dragon? Is it powerful enough? Isn’t dragon blood probably hardcore enough to stop it? The reason I don’t think the spear was poisoned is because the show didn’t tell us it was poisoned. Certainly Game of Thrones has been content to present mysteries to the viewers that don’t get solved until later, but I don’t think the show or the showrunners want to or feel they can waste anymore time on anything that doesn’t hurtle us to the finale. Remember, at the time this mailbag is being published, there are only nine more episodes. There’s no time to be coy. Also, can you imagine how much more tense that battle would have been if we had known the spear was poisoned and Dany didn’t? That would have been very effective. The reason I think it might be poisoned is because it would take Drogon off the board for a while, which would even the odds between Dany and Cersei, and then for a chunk of the fight with the White Walkers. It’s the Justice League/Superman policy—you have to somehow keep Superman occupied until the very end, because otherwise he’d just beat the bad guy in the first five minutes. My call: Drogon is poisoned, like his namesake. But instead of just wasting away, he uses his final strength to crawl out of his cave and deliver a final, crushing blow to the White Walkers, which proves fatal to both them and the dragon. A sad Dany goes home and discovers a pile of dragon eggs where Drogon had been laying. BOOM. Miles Away.
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