Marvel Super Hero Mashers Micro: Green Goblin

 

My first exposure to the Marvel Super Hero Mashers Micro figures were two packs, however as the line progressed there were several waves of individual figures released. This meant not only more characters, but more pieces you could use to swap between your different Super Hero Mashers figures. Green Goblin comes from the 2nd wave.

Green Goblin here is looking mighty mischievous. Perhaps he's looking for a certain webcrawler to unleash a barrage of pumpkin bombs on. Like with the other Micro figures, the head and both hands are interchangeable.

Marvel Battle World: Mystery of the Thanostones (Battle Ball)

While traveling for work last week I stopped in the Target down the road from my hotel to grab a snack after dinner. Of course I checked out both the trading card and toy section. On one of the end caps was this huge Marvel display for their new game, Battle World: Mystery of the Thanostones. I was surprised to see it was made by Funko and not a company like Hasbro. My older brother had told me about these earlier, but this was the first time I had seen them in person.

The top shelf of the display housed three gravity feeder type displays fill of Battle Balls. These retailed for $9.99, but were on sale at the time for $8.99. The bottom shelf had larger packs that retailed for $24.99. 

The display really catches your attention 1) for the sheer size and 2) the artwork used for the characters. In the center was a little display showcasing 6 of the actual figures that are used in the game. Each side of this figure display where images of the other characters available in this initial wave.

While some of the choices for characters is a little puzzling, I was surprised at just how detailed these figures are. They are only about an inch tall so Funko could have mailed it in and just released some crappy painted, non-descript figure. 

After standing there for a moment and looking at the display and the figures, I decided to take a change on the game and grabbed one Battle Ball.

These Battle Balls are made up of hexagon shapes so it's like a large die more than a ball. I noticed the top and bottom of the ball had a recessed section with a peg and a flat groove. The back of the wrapper shows you that contents of the Battle Ball along with an image of a Thanonstone.

Once I got the wrapper off and the ball opened, I found the orange Thanostone, some hexagon shaped cards (one of which was sealed in a black bag), and a small bag with a die and a figure.

The figure included w/ the die was none other than Ant-Man. The figure stands at about 1 inch tall and obviously isn't articulated. The sculpting and paint applications are well done for such a small figure.

In addition to Ant-Man's character card were four other cards. I had to read the included instructions to figure out what these were and how they were used in the game. Essentially each card is a battle playfield.

The Thanostone was interesting. It felt soft and almost like foam, but was hard like plastic. On the front of the stone was an "etched" image on Thanos' himself. I thought that only one figure was included in the Battle Ball, but I was wrong as the Thanostone also included a mystery figure. Once I was able to get it open I found...

Spider-Ham...the Infinity version. This figure is cast in translucent purple plastic to represent the Power Infinity Stone (I think). 

Now I understand why the character card was placed in a opaque black bag so it wouldn't give away the identity of the figure inside the Thanostone.

The instructions on how to set up and play the game are pretty straight forward. I'm not the biggest fan of board games or table top games, but this one looks interesting. I might be able to get my family to play, but that means we'll need to pick up another Battle Ball or two. Remember, you can click on the images to enlarge them.

When you're not playing the game you can use the two halves of the Battle Ball to display both the figure and their character cards. This is a nice addition as some may want to collect the figures and not play the game and this gives them a way to show off their collection.

What are your thoughts? Have you seen the display at your local Target store? Have you purchased one out of curiosity such as I? Have you played the game? I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions on both the figures as well as the game.

McKay's Comic Haul

This first month of the new year has proven to be a busy month for me and with that comes some travel. While I've visited the McKay's store in Greensboro, NC on multiple occasions, I haven't visited their location in near by Winston-Salem, NC in years. Since then they have moved to a new, larger location and I finally worked in a visit this week.

I was immediately impressed by the sheer size of the store and all of the goodies to browse through. I stopped on my way home so I really didn't have much time to look. I was there on a mission to find and bring home a Taylor Swift CD for my 10 year old daughter. While I did succeed in finding a CD (for $2 to boot!) I did browse through a few short boxes of Marvel comics that were labeled as "new arrival". The previous day I did visit the Greensboro location and grabbed a few cheap comics so I'm tossing those into this post as well.

I'll start with this issue of Ghost Rider #80. I've been on a Ghost Rider kick of sorts lately so I've been specifically on the look out for his books. While I found several, I didn't feel like paying $1.25 an issue so I settled on this one. It's from late in this volume's run, plus it features the Valkyrie and some awesome artwork by Salvador Larroca.

I also found a few issues of the 2nd volume of the Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider series. I've not read any of his series before, only familiar with the character as he was shown on the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. television series. It's a small run with like 6 issues so since I found half of them and they were cheap, I figured why not.

I'm not much of a speculator when it comes to comics, however my Key Collector comics app said this book may be a lead in of sorts to the big, upcoming Empyre story. $.50 plus art by Geraldo Sandoval made this an easy purchase.

I'm slowing filling some holes in a Daredevil run and I don't see the later issues in volume 1 in the cheap boxes that often. 

The Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty series may have been short lived, but I liked it. I don't see the issues that often, probably because the series didn't last long and or sell well. Both were priced decently.

Now that the Morbius movie trailer has dropped, I figured finding his stuff in cheap boxes would start to get tougher. Thankfully I've put together most of his first series, but I was lacking this issue that was part of the larger "Siege" storyline. I almost didn't buy this one because there is a small stain on the cover just below the UPC box...but it was just $.90 and an issue I've had on my want list for some time.

If it wasn't for the CLZ Comics app on my phone I could never keep track of all the different Spider-Man titles...especially from the 90's. This issue of Spectacular Spider-Man happens to be the last issue in this volume...which don't see to show up that often...at least for cheap that is!

I believe I had at least the main cover to this Marvel/Image Comics cross over back when I was in high school. I found the variant cover (the one on the right) back to back with the main cover. While I was more a fan of the Generation X team during this time, I was always intrigued by the Gen 13 team and comic. This was the perfect gateway of sorts for me to be introduced to the Image characters.

I believe I just lack one part now of the Phalanx Covenant storyline after finding this issue of X-Force. Gotta love the 90's cover gimmick with the strip of holofoil. If the cover art looks familiar, it's by Tony Daniel...the current artist on DC's Batman title.

I've never been the biggest fan of the X-Men and various mutant characters/titles, but I loved the Age of Apocalypse storyline from the mid-90's. Surprisingly my app said I didn't already own X-Men Omega. Love John Romita, Jr.'s cover art and the chrome cover still looks great to this very day.

After the big Age of Apocalypse storyline came Onslaught. I'm still piecing together issues that tie-in to the over arching story so I was glad to find this issue of Wolverine.

The Uncanny X-Men was a very pleasant find, especially for $.75. Not only does this issue feature the beautiful manga-esque pencils of Joe Madueira, but it features one of the best gatefold covers I've ever seen...check it out!

Pretty nifty, ain't it? I was/am a big fan of Joe's art from this time period. I would have bought this issue for the cover/interior even if I didn't care for the X-Men.

It's always a good day when I find more 2099 books I don't have. I'm slowing closing in on completing the Doom 2099 run. That series has been the easiest 2099 series for me to complete it seems.

Ghost Rider 2099 and Punisher 2099 books don't seem to show up as often in the $.50 boxes or even the dollar boxes, so I quickly snatched these two up. Love the foil cover on the Ghost Rider book too. I was surprised I didn't have the 1st issue.

The 2099 Unlimited books are thicker and contain multiple stories. Just about have all of these after picking up these two issues.

The last two books I have to share set me back a total of $.40. I originally started picking up some of Malibu Comic's books during their crossover with the Marvel Universe in the mid-90's with the Godwheel mini-series. I've since started working my way backwards and picking up the earlier Malibu books from the time prior to the Marvel purchase. Malibu had some interesting characters and it's pretty obvious Marvel has no intentions on doing anything with these characters. No reprints, no collections, no digital books...so why not pick them up? They are dirt cheap and it's been fun to piece together certain Malibu titles. These two books are from different periods within the company and offers up some good info...especially since I'm still learning who some of these characters are.

All in all I spent very little money and came away with more great books. Once I finish up the big organization project I'm working on with my trading card collection, I need to do the same thing with my comics. That will be a bigger task and one that is still unfortunately a little further down the road before I can tackle it.

Until next time, "make mine Marvel!"

McKay's - A little bit of everything

Several weeks ago now (because I've been sitting on these pictures!) I stopped by McKay's in Greensboro, NC while traveling for work. It had been almost exactly a year to the date since the last time I visited this store so I was eager to get back. If you're not familiar with McKay's, it's a chain of stores that buys/sales a lot of different things including: books, movies, music, video games, comic books and more. You never know what you'll find when you go in. Most of the time you can find some good deals, but just like anything "collectible" there are times where the asking price is higher than you'd like to see. Regardless, I walked out with two boxes of goodies on my last trip and this post will share them with all two readers of the blog!

McKay's doesn't bag your purchases, so I bragged two empty boxes by the door to make it easier to haul my loot home.

It's not that often that I buy a Pop! figure, but ever since I grabbed the Peggy Carter Pop! figure a year or so ago, I wanted her niece. I looked for her at the Heroes Convention in Charlotte, NC this past June, but didn't see her oddly enough. I flashed a quick look at the wall of Pops! while at McKay's and wouldn't you know I found Agent 13...for $5 none the less too.

I browsed all of the various video game platforms, but didn't really find anything that stood out. Then I turned my attention to the discount shelf near the comic books and bingo! I found NES Play Action Football for super cheap. A lot of times old NES games marked this cheap have dogged labels, but this cartridge looked brand new. I'm not a big sports game fan, but I couldn't leave this one behind.

My youngest daughter, Winnie, 8, loves Spongebob. She got some Game Boy Advance games last summer and I told her I'd keep my eyes open for other games. While I can't say I've heard of this game, she was super excited when I got back home and gave her this.

The Lights, Camera, Pants! game is the only one I pulled out of the normal section. The rest of the games, including this complete, $.95 Creature from the Krusty Krab GameCube game came from the discount shelve. The first game is a 4 player co-op game that I thought would be fun for the whole family. The other is the console version of a GBA game she already had.

I mentioned the discount game shelve was near the comics and that was my next destination inside the store to check. The organization of the books left a lot to be desired, but I'd find little runs of a title here and there. One I was glad to find was the post-Legacy run of Daredevil. Partially thanks to the Netflix show and the Legacy promotion Marvel was running, I started buying Daredevil. I heard the creative team on the book was doing an exceptional job too. Artist Phil Noto transitioned to the book around this time. These 5 issues filled in the gaps I had so I was thrilled to find these. Priced at $.75 an issue too.

I purposefully left the price tags on the bags so you could see the deals I got. The Sentinel of Liberty series didn't run that long and issues are getting tougher to find. The Alice Cooper was a surprise for sure. Once I got back to my hotel room I was surprised again as when I pulled the book out of the bag/board one of the rear corners was creased. Bummer.

Marvel is doing something with the 2099 universe again soon so I've been picking up any 2099 book I can find. I already had two of the four issues of Timestorm so I was floored to find the other issues I needed. Plus who can pass up $.25 comics?!

After browsing much of the store my feet and back were starting to hurt and I was hungry. Before I left though I lightly browsed the music area, particularly the cheap CDs. Glad I did...

I was a fan of The Classic Crime since their first album was released on Tooth & Nail Records, however I thought once they left the label the band was done. Turns out this album, Phoenix, was Kickstarter funded! I also found a CD by a band called Undercover that I didn't know existed.

The last two items I purchased that night before heading across the street to Kickback Jack's for dinner was Bride's "Live to Die" and 10,000 Maniac's "Our Team in Eden". The Bride album is a classic metal album featuring the classic song "Hell No"...well at least classic in my circle of music. I was also shocked to see that this was the original Pure Metal Records release...nice!!

I didn't listen to much mainstream music in high school, but I remember this album and I always enjoyed Natalie Merchant's vocals. I thought for a quarter now would be a good time to give this album a listen.

I love going to McKay's as I always find something exciting and interesting. If you are a fan of physical media (as I) then you have to stop by McKay's if you're ever near one of their locations. I also recently found out they are building a larger store in near by Winston-Salem, NC. By the time I have to go back to this area for work it should be open so you can bet I'll be checking it out.