League assignment- Comic books!

Wow!  A subject near and dear to my own heart.  Let's go back in time to 1980.  I had just met two friends who would change my life.  Brett Burchfield and Robby Trott.  They lived near each other right near Northwoods Elementary school while I lived down the hill.  I do not remember how we all first met but we did hang out a bit.  I was a child of the seventies mind you so I already had Megos etc.  Had NEVER read a comic book before.  I thought they were stupid.  I do not know WHAT gave me that idea...Anyways Robby Trott invited me over one day.  He had just begun to collect comics.  Amazing Spiderman.  Out of boredom I started leafing through his pile of comics.  The first one he had on top of the pile was this one.

Amazing Spiderman 210 the first appearance of Madame Web...I thought...Who is that old lady?  It didn't interest me in the slightest.  I kept on browsing...

This is the issue that caught my eye.  There was something about the Trapster that captivated me.  He was like Batman with two utility belts on his shoulders.  What was in those belts?  I had to know!  So I went to the comic book store, a 7-11 and bought my first Spidey issue...Issue 224.

Turns out this was a GREAT issue.  Very human story in it.  It was also the first issue of Roger Stern's run which many people say WAS THE Spiderman writer!  He is to me at least.  That issue was so good that I kept buying.  Next month was the Fool killer, then the black cat IMO a Catwoman knockoff...Then I was at the local drug store a few months later and found this...

Who was the Monster called the Juggernaut?  Why is Spidey holding Aunt May?  Oooppsss....That isn't Aunt May!  That is that old Madame Web from issue 210 that didn't interest me.  Little did I know that Juggernaut issue was one of Spidey's best issues ever made!  That and the two parter 230.  So I was in the thick of Spidey lore.  I started learning about other marvel heroes from a little book released the same year called Contest of Champions.  So Robby Trott and I played Marvel.  I played Colossus and he played Magneto and killed me right away.  It was such a magical time.  No worries.  A Dolly Madison pie in one hand and the latest adventures of Spidey in the other.  The Atari 2600 system was in full force back then and playing outside was wonderful.

 HAHA..A few months later issue 238 came out. 

 Robby, Brett and I were trying to guess who the Hobgoblin was!  We had no idea.   But then Dad lost the house in the commodities....We moved to another part of town and I never saw Robby nor  Brett again.  

I still collected comics.  Branched out into some DC.  Especially when the 1989 Batman movie came out.  Then in 1997 Roger Stern came back on the scene and claimed he never revealed who the Hobgoblin was.  Marvel came out with a three issue arc called Hobgoblin lives.  The third issue revealed who it was....When that third issue came out I drove to Robby's old house was because he had moved as well.  I sat down on the hill in the park where we used to play and in honor of him, I read it.  I will never forget that.  12 years later I finally found out! 

 I wonder if Robby is still around.  I know Brett is.  Found him on FB.  I want to say Thank you to Robby.  Thank you for sharing with me a love of comics that I kept with me for many years.  I spent years in search of them.  Comic book conventions etc. The annual DragonCon in Atlanta.  I just wish I had my comic collection again.  When my father died I sold all of them on Ebay.  I felt if I couldn't share my collection with Dad anymore then I shouldn't have it.  I know big mistake right?  But 10 years ago it felt like the right thing to do.  Boy was I wrong.  But really...I couldn't lug 10 long white boxes full of them to Mexico.  It would not have been practical.

There is me at Brett's birthday party.  Wonder where Robby is?  Well he was in a grade above us so maybe he couldn't come that day or something. 

Thanks Robby!

I just wish I could go back in time to that place.  It was such a great time in my life.  I am tempted to buy on Amazon Nothing can stop the Juggernaut.  In it, are collected those wonderful first Stern issues.  224-230.  It really should have added 231 and 232 as well as those are fantastic.  Made me also love Mr. Hyde to this day.

See what other leaguers say

http://nrmachine.blogspot.mx/2013/04/the-league-of-extrordinary-bloggers.html

http://toyriffic.blogspot.mx/2013/04/plastic-fantastic.html

http://myvintagetoybox.blogspot.mx/2013/04/league-of-extraordinary-bloggers-comic.html

New Toy Tuesday! My back is aching!

Like I said in a different post I picked up 4 model kits....This one is number two.

The waiters painted him very well.  He is another kit I had when Dad passed away.  So glad I have it again.  This is the Round 2 version which includes a glow version!  He is up above this guy with the blacklight in the display case at Monster Cafe.  So hunchback you now have a permeanent place in the monster cafe!

Now I am dying to get the new Moebius kits!  Dracula with victim, Bride and Franky, Creature and Julie Adams!  Not to mention the Forgotten Prisoner, The Mummy, Invisible Man, and Franky by the door.  Ughh...Wish they would stop making them so fast.

Limiting my buying habits.

I am all over the place.  So I have a little bit of alot.  I think it is time to focus myself.  Finish a collection...THEN move onto the next thing.  So as of this moment...It is going to be monster stuff.  My display cases in the cafe are looking a little slim and it is not being taken care of by getting Marvel Universe figures...So I have to save my pesos....for....

I think these kits are tremendous work by Moebius and Monarch.  These are going to be my next focus for awhile.  So sorry toy guys....The business of the cafe has to come first.  Hopefully I can get them pretty quick and then move onto other things.  But knowing the business of the cafe....They might take awhile.  We will see....

Benefits for foreigners living in Mexico

Being in Mexico...especially this city....is quite limiting on what one can collect as in relation to the U.S.  So I will cover some things that are easily attainable here.  I will not be covering knockoffs of figures because everyone knows that those are here.  Nor will I be covering Lucha Libre masks....Instead I will cover stuff made in the U.S. that makes it's way here to this city or services...This is from my point of view of course.  I have already talked about the bad things I didn't like by living here.  But this is a positive post.

1. The flavor of the month-  Which is to say if it is a huge U.S. movie and a huge U.S. toyline...Chances are pretty good you will find it here.  Even in Saltillo.  The figures are always a given.  The vehicles or playsets are a hit and miss though.  So Captain America, Avengers, Dark Knight Rises, Amazing Spiderman all had releases here.  THAT is a good thing.

2. Marvel universe-  They hit sometimes.  None of the series from 2012 are even on the shelves but 2011 is represented.  So yes, Guardian is still on the shelves to this day.  You couldn't find one in Toys R Us in the states I am sure.  Besides if you find a nice American that goes to the states often most likely they will let you send stuff to their mailbox and have it delivered to you.  Amazon is a wonderful thing.

3. Movie DVDS!-  I picked up Ghost today.  It was on my list.  You will hardly ever find Classic TV shows on DVD here though.  Bummer.  But oh well.  My wishlist of DVD movies is 300 strong...I am sure I will find more here.  Without DVD's to collect I would go absolutely crazy.

4. CHEAP MEDICAL STUFF!- Even cheaper than Canada!  I had my whole teeth done and whitened for around $200.  In the states oh man....I would have been broke doing that.  This includes delivering babies, surgeries etc.  My Root Canal was $80.  I love being here for this reason.  This includes cheap food and cheap rent!  Seriously.  A whole house for rent for $250!  Sign me up....Hell you can buy one for REAL cheap and OWN it!  Not like in the U.S. where you basically are renting the land.

5. Cute Mexican women- Now I am married of course.  But this is for guys like Cal who is single.  Or other single guys living in the states reading this blog.  For some reason....The women down here love American or Canadian men.  It doesn't even matter if one is ugly.  Believe me I have seen it.  

6. No major rules-  The U.S. has gotten WAY too many rules.  It is a police state now as I hear it.  In Mexico if I want to put a pond on my property, I do it.  I don't have inspectors crawling up my arse with a microscope saying I broke rules etc.  I mean there are still traffic laws and taxes to obey etc.  Which by the way, taxes are the lowest of any  country!  Imagine that!  That is good.  You don't have to have your dog registered and all that crap the U.S. does.  It is so great.  Hell you don't even have to have costly insurance that the U.S. makes one do too.  No death taxes and all those other hidden fees either.  You want to put Jennifer Aniston on your sign that she supports your business?  Go ahead.  Nobody cares down here.

7. The border crossing is close!-  If I need Taco Bell...It is just a few hours away.  If I need to hear English spoken and go to Toys R Us it is there!  Groovy!  Need to go to a comic book convention in the states....Again it is right there!  Believe it or not....but in this city of Saltillo there exists a Star Wars fanclub.  Cosplay included.  However I cannot find them to join yet but really I do not have the time.  The restaurant business is 24 7 baby.

How to make Mexico better for myself...

1. Get more goods from the U.S. or better yet start producing HERE!  Mattel has an entire complex of industry here. We should have WWF figures that are NEW right on the shelf.  Instead we have Vladimir Kosloff clogging the pegs....At $30 per figure....Also get a few more U.S. restaurants here.  If we could get Olive Garden...Heck I may never leave Saltillo again.  We ARE getting an IHOP!  That is progress!  Oh and Comic books in ENGLISH!  Man I haven't read a first run comic in 7 years.  I miss it.  There are many Canadians and Americans living here now.  It is time to come up with American comic books.

2. Legalize GUNS and Marihuana- that would certainly help things.  I would feel MUCH more safe with a gun under my pillow and a joint in my hand at night.  Believe me the kidnappings would be drastically reduced if guns were widely available.

3. Get American TV- The cable companies translate almost EVERYTHING into spanish.  You sit down to watch Sly Stallone in Rocky and he is speaking spanish.  It just doesn't work for me.  The Cable company really needs to have some kind of option button.  One for English two for spanish...Especially for Monday Night RAW.  That is a given.

4. Grass and trees- I know other areas of Mexico are lush...Saltillo could be too.  More planting needs to be done here.  Grass, fruit trees etc.  Saltillo is WAY to desertic.  If that is even a word.

Other than those small things I am as happy as a pig wrapped in a blanket.

How can I be on this Earth and not have this?

I don't know what it is about Model kits....I just love them.  There is something so special about painting and doing one.  I can fully understand WHY ones get repopped after decades.   I am sorry but some model kit company HAS to repop this one.

Now I have known for years about the Star Wars ones built like this.  Like Jabba's palace, Echo Base, and the Cantina but NEVER had I ever seen a Raiders of the lost ark kit.  Oh man....I must have one.  But I am pretty sure the only way I could is if a company repops this.  Wow....How exciting!  Indy in small model kit form!  COME ON MOEBIUS OR ROUND 2!  Repop this bad boy!

Wednesday Wishlist DVD I edition!

It is Wednesday Wishlist!  DVD I edition!  Yeah I wish I had these on DVD.  In Mexico one never knows though...

1. I'm dancing as fast as I can-  Yeah why would I ever want to see this?  Because of HBO.  It was on alot in 1981.  I watched it many times as a kid.  Startling no?

2. I'm from Hollywood- I first saw this in 1998 when my wrestling fever was at it's highest pitch.  I think Andy here is the greatest villain in the history of wrestling.  Sorry Ric Flair.  But this one storyline blows them all away.  So fresh.  Wish McMahon could copy it...

3. If you could see what I hear-  Marc Singer takes a turn at being a blind guy WELL before Al Pacino even thought about it.  It is a great movie.  Sadly, not on DVD.

4. In the Army now-  Pauly Shore in this movie cracks me up!  It is very funny.

5. Incredible Shrinking Woman-  Oh yeah.  An HBO favorite.  My favorite parts are her living in the dollhouse.  This movie is also where I fell in love with Charles Grodin.

6. It's a Wonderful life- A Christmas classic.  I only recently saw it in 2000.  I do a good Stewart imitation so....

7. It's my party- A good movie highlighting the AIDS crisis which just might be over with if it is true that bee toxin kills HIV....Let's hope so.  A great movie with a decent cast!

8. Iron Man-  Yeah...How can I be a comic book nerd and not have this film?  It is because in Mexico they think it is still a new movie and keep the price at $20!  Everything else they lower except this one.

9. Iron Man 2- See above...

10. Incredible Hulk-  I have the first one but do not have this one....Again, too pricey for my tastes here.  

New Toy Tuesday- Yo Adrian!

To round out my Amazon shopping spree I saw this.  Pure impulse buy.  But at $3 I couldn't pass it up.

Rocky 1.  The one that started it all.  Great workout music too!  Like I said, I gotta start spurcing up the old homestead.  I should really work on getting these framed sometime soon.

WWF BURIED ALIVE MATCH CUSTOM!

October 1996, the buried alive match as it was called pitted the Undertaker vs. Mankind.  I was enthralled.  I have loved wrestling since 1987.  I ordered Wrestlemania 3 on PPV mind you so my fanatic ways about it go back a stretch.  Since I had my metal guy design the dreaded Scaffold match that I featured last week on this blog...I thought about other WWF items I could do.  In walks my artist that helped design Monster Cafe...I thought of the buried alive match.  I was pretty sure my metal guy could not design it anyways as there is no metal in it...

 Look at this thing!!!!!

 Poor Mankind is going to be BURIED ALIVE~Look!  He even engraved the headstone and then painted the letters over it!  AWESOME!  Yes the headstone is wood but I betcha didn't know that did ya?

 Now THIS is a playset!!!!

I am just awaiting Kane to come down any minute to give Undertaker a hand!

Look at the size of this thing?  It is as big as one of our tables!  It is so strong too.  I am going to have a blast playing with this thing...Austin vs. Taker!

 The Jakks Undertaker and Mankind are just battling it out!  WHOOO!!!!

 Look at this SIZE!  It is next to a Jakks real scale RING!  WHOA!

This thing is so frickin cool.  Hours of fun at a time when companies usually do not make playsets anymore. 

Now I just gotta figure out how to store the beast...And as always whenever I get one of these creations in my mind starts to race on what I could do next....Wrestling playsets are great and all....But with the announcement of Figures Toy Company re releasing Mego style heroes...I am thinking something along the lines of doing the Mego Batcave playset...I wanna really test this artist.  But mine would be sturdy and none of that plastic cardboard crap that was done back in the day.

And to the people that say it is too big then WATCH a Buried Alive Match.  The amount of dirt used is equal if not MORESO than a ring's size.  The Buried Alive hole has to be as big as a figure.  A figure that could stand up in it.  So it is a good 7 inches deep.  That is why it appears to be a mountain but in reality with scale etc. it is perfect.

Again this is not made to be absolutely perfect.  We all have blinders on the way things should be.  This is MY version of the Buried Alive set.  I like ALOT of play area.  I like huge playsets.  

http://www.howtomakeonline.org/Y2NSKMoneyMMIpH6/Kane-vs-Undertaker-Buried-Alive-Match.html

Here is a Buried Alive match that someone uploaded from Smackdown vs. RAW 2007.  Notice how huge it is...

And hey fellow bloggers!  COMMENTS ARE WELCOME!  

Score Saturday-MU series one again?

You know....I love Mexico.  I really do.  There are some things I do not like about it as I am sure everyone feels about where they live etc...I do not like that figures cost so much among other things but this part I like....Mexico apparantly has a storehouse of figures.  All across Saltillo they have been hording Marvel Universe figures.  The stores have been restocked with series one or two I cannot remember which of figures...SO.......I scored a few that I thought I would never find.

The Hobgoblin and Jonny Storm!  I apologize that I have had to use pics from the internet but again...my camera is missing it's digital card so....I am forced to do this.  But these are exactly like the ones I bought.  So glad to have them.  Hobgoblin moreso.  I was there.  I was READING the Amazing Spiderman when Hobgoblin was first introduced.  Issue 238.  My friend Robbie Trott and I tried to guess who he was.  We never found out.  Robbie moved away and it wasn't until years later that Roger Stern the writer of Spiderman, revealed who it was.  We both never guessed it was Kingsley.  So glad to have them both.

I hope Mexico continues to release older series.  I am missing alot!

Friday Film Day- Come on and Stand by me...

I can cross another DVD off my list.  I got this classic from my youth.  Now it was either this or Jerry Maguire and the Doors movie...This won out for the time being.  Great movie.  I love it.  Even has extras on it on how they made it.  

I am a movie junkie....But only specific films.  My DVD obsession all started when I moved to Mexico.  I felt that I would never hear English spoken ever again.  So I bought a few in the states to comfort myself....Then I found out that they do INDEED carry them here!  There was really nothing else to collect and regular TV really sucks in Mexico so..............Now I am addicted to DVD's....I will never change over to Blu Ray.  I worked too hard on this collection.

Wednesday Wishlist DVD H edition!

Yes it is Wednesday Wishlist again and I am back.  I really want these DVDs that start with the letter H...They are must haves.

1. Hugo the Hippo- Saw this movie as a kid.  Loved it.  Bought the vinyl soundtrack.  Sadly it has not been released on DVD...They say it is racist...I never saw anything racist in it as a child.

2. Hardtimes-  Man...What a movie about street fighting!  James Coburn is classic with his oneliners!  

3. Hardware Wars-  Saw this when it premired on HBO all those years ago.  I am a Star Wars buff.  How can I not have this?

4. Harold and Maude- Maude had life altogther.  She is a beaut.  Although I do not like her stealing cars...

5. Heavy Metal- Cartoon boobies!!!  I gotta see this again!  The airplane scene creeped me out as a kid.  How did I see these movies so young?

6. Here comes Peter Cottontail-  A perrienial favorite at Easter time.  I have the other Christmas and halloween classics.  I need this too!

7. Hot Stuff-  Loved this on HBO as well.  I challenge anyone not to laugh their ass off when Deluise smokes that pot....OMG!  So funny!

8. History of the World part 1-  A Mel Brooks classic.  Love it when she deflates herself with the bobby pins...HAHA...

9. Hiding Out-  Jon Cryer before the ridiculous 2 and a half men.  This movie has drama comedy and romance.   

10. How to be a man-  I have never seen this.  I think I need lessons though.