So where we are at as of 2014...

Crime is rampant in Saltillo.  Because the thieves know the citizens do not have guns.  The police and government have taken away it's people's god given right to protect themselves.

So we finally talked with the bar across the street.  They have been broken into 3 times.

Our place is pretty frickin fortified right now.  IF we are here.  We have to shore up the roof with more metal spikes etc.  So......It looks like it might be yet another year before I can return to the states.  We finally paid the liquor license so at least that is out of the way.  But this security is something else.  We have to stop these punks.  After we shore it up I plan on getting cameras. In atlanta Dad and I had a glass door for our front door.  We were sitting ducks there.  But no one ever tried to break in in the 5 years we were there.  I guess it is bred into Mexico to do so.

But hey, at least we don't have Obamacare!  A friend of mine is coming back to Mexico BECAUSE he found out he has to pay $600 for just his family EVERY month for the forced upon it's people healthcare.

Then when we get to the states I gotta import my car.  Bummer!  That is a major amount of money and a painus in my anus.

After all that though, we should be in a good place.  Giddy up.

As of now I gotta find another seamstress....I am making buttons from my youth like crazy.  I have 34 now.  I hope to photograph some of them soon.  I have a few new Marvel Universe figures as well.  They made their way down here.  But at $16 a pop they are far and wide between me buying them.

So that is it.  Bills basically....

EDIT- New info for me.  Apparantly they DO allow you to get a gun...A VERY small gun IF you go to Mexico city to get it.  Ughhh....Because we really need one.  An 18 year old kid was quite visibly shaken outside the other night.  He was just walking up the street when a van pulled in front of him, a few guys got out with knives and stripped him of all his possessions.  They took off.  Probably took 30 seconds or less.  Then gunman have been entering stores and robbing it blind.  Because the citizens do not have guns the criminals KNOW this.  I hate liberal politicians.

Wish I knew I was a gunnut before I moved here in 2006.  But being a witness guns are against their idealogy.  THEY made me stupid.

AHA! AHI! AHA! AHI!

Being born in the seventies I had many of the toys dating to back then.  Like Cal from his blog, I have decided this year will be spent trying to get some of that stuff back into my life.  He is focusing on Super Powers...I am focusing much earlier....

I have slides taken of me playing at the beach with some vintage AHI toys.  Since I cannot post slides here you will just have to take my word for it.  I really want toys from my childhood so I went back to 1974 to get some.  I had an AHI moment....

I found an AHI Joker, Robin, and Batman in pretty bad shape.  As you know I love to make my own things...So I will be restoring these as best as possible.  Look for it!

So happy to have these!  These figures represent a turning point for me.  I WILL be like other bloggers and have the toys from my childhood.  Since my seamstress is gone, and the metal custom projects are done...I will be focusing on these now.

GULLIVER'S TRAVELS...

One thing I DO like about living in Mexico is the knockoff stuff.  Something I thought I would never own would be the Gulliver Brazil marvel figures.  Well thanks to reproducing...I finally do.

I already painted 5 of them as seen below....Guess what?  I have a WHOLE bag of em!  So whenever I get these bills paid off guess what will be going out in some  care packages?  Wooooo!

From L to R and the top....Spidey, Captain America, Falcon, Thor,
Bottom row- Sum Mariner, Dr. Doom, Doc Ock, Human Torch, Green Goblin

I really enjoy collecting stuff I probably would never do in the states.  In the states it would have been all action figures for sure.  Here I am doing my own custom stuff including buttons and these repops.

I would LOVE to find a stash of repops of the Marx Marvel 6 inchers!  Or the Cavemen too!

Another thing...Darnit...We had to fire my sewing waitress today...That means no more wrestling clothes for awhile till we find someone else.  Darnit!

Why didn't somebody tell me?

OMG!  So I busted out Batman Mask of the Phantasm last night and was watching it with Wifey.  She had never seen it before.  So I am on the couch giddy with anticipation for her to find out the big reveal in the end.  About 10 minutes before she says....It is Andrea...I sat their cooley not wanting to give it away.  I said impossible....Phantasm spoke like a man....

It got me to reminiscing about my Batman the animated series action figures I used to have.  I used to have the first series.  Possibly second as well. Killer Croc, Joker, Scarecrow, Two Face, Penguin, Catwoman and that was about it... Then I moved onto other things.  I think my girlfriend that stole my Jurassic park dinos also stole my Batman animated series figures...

Anyway I popped open Ebay to show Wifey what they looked like.  OMG!  Why didn't somebody tell me?  I didn't know they actually continued   I stumbled onto a few images...

 Oh my god!  They made Ra's without the ridiculous armor?  Holy crap!  Where have I been?

 Holy nuts!  They made Scarface AND the Ventriloquist?  AHHHHH!

Whoa!  Clock King AND the badass Scarecrow from the 4th season?

I have to collect these now.  I must.  In fact all of JLU.  I found here in Mexico Aquaman with the hook hand and Sinestro some time ago.  Before I started blogging.  Also found Killer Croc, Joker, and the Mad Hatter in purple.

But the rest?  Man am I behind or what?  I am already imaginning the batcave my artist could make.  Drooling at the mouth possibilities here.

Controversial Thursday- People that put us down because of our hobbies...

I mean really.  This is 2014 isn't it?  I actually had this REALLY fat broad find my blog from Facebook and proceeded to tell me that I played with dolls and made dolly houses for them to live in...

Sorry...I just gotta laugh here.  That MAY have worked when I was 13 and awkward not wanting girls to know etc...But this is 2014.  I am 41.  I am WAY beyond that insult.  Next thing she will tell me is that I smell of Elderberries or something....Then because I have some bills to pay she states that my cafe is in the red and it will be out of business soon.  Excuse me while I laugh...

This fat ass whose name is Brandi Vining has done probably NOTHING in her life but tries to tell me how my life is going.  It is hilarious.

It reminds me of this scene in Good Will Hunting.  She has done nothing in her fat miserable life but tries to tear others down...So fricking funny.

Yeah babe I am 40... And I mean BABE the OX....I am not 13 anymore.  You gotta come up with something better for us toy geeks than dollies....
Next thing ya know she will be harping on Billionaire Stan Lee because he drew kiddie comics...

Top 10 lines Reaction should continue

1. Kenner Aliens- I KNOW they have the Aliens line already but imagine continuing the one that Kenner started!  I loved Bishop's redesign.  We only got 4 or 5 of the marines.  Just imagine others in a 5 inch scale!

2. Batman the animated series- We got a ton of figures from this line.  But we could have had more.  Red Claw, Tygris, Harvey Bullock, Renee Montoya, Rupert Thorne, Roland Daggett, Lockup etc.  They could also do MORE of Batman villains in the 5 inch style.  Imagine a Dr. Phosphorus? Anarky? Black Mask? Calender Man, Hush etc...

3. Clash of the Titans- I know a customizer did some over at the Mego Museum but the line really needs to be continued for us old farts.  Zeus, Medusa, the Scorpions etc.  They are all sorely missing from this line.

4. Dragonriders of the Styx-  Heck they can make up all the characters they want to for this line since it wasn't based on ANYTHING!  It is screaming to be done again.  Kids love fantasy figs.  Especially cheap ones.

5. Dungeons and Dragons-  LJN went out of business.  It doesn't mean these have to go away.  I really didn't like the figures all that much, but these big rubber monsters were awesome.  It would surely be cheaper than making parts that move.  We only got some of the classic monsters anyways.  How about the Purple Worm?  The Beholder?  The gelatonous cube?  The Green Slime?  A vampire for crying out loud.  We NEED these to return and spark kids imagination again.

6. Fisher price adventure people- Again a no brainer.  I think the modern day Fisher Price stuff looks like crap.  They were really coming into their own with the space theme etc. back then.  Hell all of us need normal figures to go with our heroes etc.  They are also all basically the same mold.  It could be done.

7. Star Wars- Many characters did not get made.  Tarkin, Aunt and Uncle of Luke, Garinden...I could go on and on.

8. DFC playset- They are a thing of beauty.  They are EASY to reproduce so I do not understand why not continue the trend?  Army men and dinosaurs have been in constant production since the fifties.  Why not these guys?  Same goes for the Marx military guys and marx cavemen.  If dinosaurs can be made, why not cavemen to fight them off with?  Tim mee did some recently but they ain't at stores.

9. Mego heroes-  Four points of articulation.  These colorful heroes are BEGGING to be made again!  Infinite heroes kinda went there but fizzled out after a year.  These things need to be on toy shelves constantly.

10. Masters of the Universe- Talk about another no brainer!  None of this Matty collector shit either.  ALL Heman figures use the same fricking mold.  Why not have a presence at toy stores?  Kids would eat up the vintage line like they used to.  

I own NONE of the toys above mind you.  These are images I found on Google.

MY TOP 5 BATMAN FIGURES I WANT

Of course this will be over the standard requirement of 3.75 inches....This would be for a 5 inch kind of fun.  So with that said...

1. KENNER 1997 BANE- I hated the movie of Batman and Robin.  Hated it.  But this figure does the character justice.  UNLIKE the movie did.  I never had this figure as I had the animated series one.  But this one beats that one IMO.  He looks like he could put a real hurting on Batman.  Look at that closed fist!

 2. KILLER CROC- I was around reading Detective comics when Croc first made his debut.  He was kinda like Bane.  Wanted control of Gothom's gangs.  Too bad the writers decided to make him an idiot later on.  The Croc I was introduced to was smart and a real threat.  I do not care about Post Crisis...THIS is the guy that killed Jason Todd's parents.  I bet you guys in comic land didn't know that.

 3. Clayface-  This one.  This looks more like the animated one than the animated one did.  Big large figure.  I love it.

 4. These Batman robots-  I have looked all over Ebay for Batman Armory and came up empty handed.  They are so awesome looking.  Betting they could kick Ironman's ass.

5. MANBAT- This would be my definitive manbat.  He looks more real than any of the others.  The one in the torn labcoat is actually TOO big for a 5 inch universe.

GAME- WHAT IS THIS FIGURE?

Those armored Batman dudes look amazing!  I would love to know what they are.  I have searched Batman armor, Batman robot and nothing turns up.

Anyone know out there the official name for them?

REACTION FUNKO THOUGHTS...

I am in love.  BuzzChuck started it though.  He sent me 2 Kenner Star Wars figures and I started to get hooked again. Started to fall in love again with 5 points of articulation... I have never seen Buffy, Pulp Fiction, or Firefly....BUT...

Wouldn't this guy be a GREAT Alfred?  Batman's butler?  I can see him in my custom batcave right now.

This Travolta figure would be an awesome mafia type thug for Batman to take out on his way to see the Penguin for instance.

Batman villain for sure.  I would make up a whole identity for him etc.  I love it.

I sure hope Reaction gets a DC license to make a Batman that would fit the style.

With all that said I DO want to get of course the Universal Monsters ones.  EMCE were complete frickin idiots when they had the license.  They released very few and what happened?  Franky and Wolfy are $150 a piece on Ebay.  I hope someone ELSE gets the line and releases them again.  So I am going to have to preorder them somehow...I hate living in Mexico sometimes.

CUSTOM WWE ROYAL RUMBLE 1999 SPOT!

The Royal Rumble 1999 was electric.  I was living in New York at the time and it was all the talk.  Mankind wrestled the Rock and an I Quit match.  Foley did a spot and the whole house came down.

He fell on those electricty boxes and the lights went out in the arena!  It was so cool!

I had to fake the audience area...

There he goes tumbling down!

It would have been better if I could simulate some sparks...

The Rock is on top of him beating the stank out of Foley!

They don't look bad.  Not great.  But not bad.  And that is that.

This is my last custom for wrestling I will be doing for a LONG time.  I am tired of it all.

MONSTER CAFE FIRST LOGO

When I first started Monster Cafe I knew I wanted it to look like the old Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine that I grew up with.  I also knew I wanted Franky to be the first monster we inducted onto our logo.  

This is a baseball cap we did of Monster Cafe.  I love it and it is wellworn.  I have since shown earlier in a previous blogpost that we changed it to brown and orange for the Wolfman.  But this was the first.  The original.  I plan on doing all the monsters eventually in the sewing style.  We always need more Tshirts after all.

And my camera finally went kaput!  I gotta get a new one.   So if I do not blog for a week or so you guys will know why.

MY LITTLE TUMBLER COLLECTION!

Hey I just started....What more do ya want?  As I have detailed I hate baby versions of my superheroes but hey....It had Thor on the cup.  Ironman 3, Amazing Spiderman and Captain America round out the list.

I think they are cute and quite handy when just wanting a little bit of something to drink.

CUSTOM MADE HOME GYM!

I have a few pieces in my gym at home.  I only have two custom made pieces though.  The rest are store bought.  I have always wanted my own home gym.  Every guy usually starts out with the bench press.  But after lifting for a few years I know what ails me.  Abdominals.  Yup.  I hate working them.  I hate them so much.  Plus after you work them 30 minutes in the gym I am too exhausted to do the other stuff.

The above we had made here in Saltillo.  It was Wifey's choice.  She got to pick something to make and I got to pick something.  This simulates climbing a mountain.

I have used it several times.  You can isolate muscles as well.  Just do legs OR just do arms etc.  It works out most of the body.  I am fine with it.

This was my pick.  I tried to think of something I have never seen at a gym so I could use it at home.  So I decided to make a machine that forces your legs to do a split.  Whoa!  I still cannot do one yet if you are asking.  Sometimes I use it alot then other times I forget.

How does this tie into abdominals?  It does not.  However, off to the right I have an abcrunch and a lower ab thingie.  I plan on making another piece real soon.  A roman chair.  Gotta work them abs now!

My little plate collection...

There are limited amount of things to collect of pop culture down here in Mexico.  I have only been collecting these plastic plates for a few months.  I have to wait until every tentpole movie comes out to have a new one.  Well, there ya have it!

Spider-man Spider-man...

I am a child of the seventies.  I had ALL of the original pocket heroe megos in the day.

This is the Mego Spider-man.  I used him alot.  Loved spidey as a kid.  I love that he has a fist ready to punch.  But alas, it got lost in the great kids breaking into my house era....So why do I bring him up?
Well....My REAL mother sent me the one below 2 weeks ago.  It is the new Ultimate spiderman line.

 I wasn't upset with her because she is 80 and has no idea what I love.  I left it in the box to sell in the cafe.  The more I looked at it though....It is a Mego pocket heroe come to life!  5 points of articulation?  Check!  IT really brings me nostalgia for those times.  It is perfect.

I thought I could only be happy with the multi articulation that Marvel Universe brings but I was WRONG!  This is where it is at!  5 points baby!  To prove it to myself I took it and threw it off the roof.  It landed unharmed.  So sturdy.  Now what would happen had I thrown an MU off the roof?  It probably would have broke.

I am with the 5 points now.  Screw MU!  I want my 3.75 figures like the original Star Wars figures now.  I hope they do the entire Marvel Universe line with this style.  And especially DC!

MY INSANE MISSION!!!!!!!

Over at the blog on my blogroll JimSmash he has been on an insane mission for 2 years now.  He collects novelas of the movie Aliens.  So far he has around 30 books.  Today it just hit me.  I now have an insane mission.


http://jimspages.com/States.htm

I have been playing the above game for around a year and a half now.  I get almost 100% each time.  It is addicting.  But like I said, I now have an insane mission!

That is right!  I want to collect every state as a magnet and do the United States on my fridge!  But I do not want to buy the set.  I want people to send me a magnet from their state.

So far someone is committed to New Jersey and Georgia....We will see!