May Hauls!

[BWprowl]

Feels like I've been kicking these off more than usual.

Anyway, I got some stuff in from Amazon.

Scarlet Spider Vol. 2: Lone Star - Can't wait to read this. It actually covers up to the last few issues of SS I read, though more than half the volume is 'new' content for me, so it's fine. Looks like a few of the 'in-between' issues were actually a cross-over with Venom and Carnage called 'Minimum Carnage' (har) that I can buy in a separate trade. And it appears that was written by Yost, so I will totally do so. I'm gonna buy comics starring Kaine and Venom fighting Carnage. What is wrong with my life, and why does it feel so right?

Negima! Vol. 37 & 38 - Oh yeah, bittersweet. These are the final two volumes of Negima, AKA my favorite manga of nearly the past decade. Admittedly there were some legal and otherwise complications that compelled Akamatsu to end the series a little more prematurely than he intended (roughly one whole arc was left untold), but he at least ends the series with plenty of resolution otherwise, and it goes out on a high note (and he's hinted he might continue the story anyway one day). But thanks anyway Akamatsu, for keeping me coming back all these years. I can't wait to see what he's doing next.

Also picked up GI Joe: Retaliation Joe Colton. I'm probably not gonna see this movie, and I really don't care about any of the other toys, but what am I supposed to do, not buy a tiny Bruce Willis? Come on.

[Gomess]

Finally got a complete version of the Divine Comedy. Most publishers only seem interested in Inferno, I suppose because it was the only part Blake, Eliot, Beckett et al really cared about. Hell is cooler than heaven, right kids?

Of course, the best part is where Dante meets his old teacher in the circle of hell reserved for sodomites. It's actually quite sad. But, given the firmly Catholic context...

"Did you ever try... not being gay?"

Muhammad is in hell too. Classy.

Oh, but in Paradiso, Dante goes to other planets! Classical sci-fi

[BWprowl]

I finally found Beast Hunters Shockwave, woo woo! His gimmick is a blast, his attachable armor is neat and people shouldn't just write it off, I love the way the tread emulates the G1 version's hose, and he transforms into nothing, but I don't hold it against him. He just makes a great general Shockwave, so he'll probably end up on my Decepticon shelf once his 'keep at arm's length to fiddle with' period is over. FoC Shockwave (FoCkwave?) had a short tenure.

Oh, and Hitohira Vol. 2 came in from Amazon. This was a manga I bought the first volume of yeeeeeaaaaaaars ago on a whim, and ended up really enjoying (it's about the wild world of drama students!), but it was from some C-list publisher so of course I never saw other volumes on bookstore shelves. Then a little while ago I got the idea that I should check Amazon to see if any other volumes ever did come out, and lo and behold, volumes 2 and 3 are things that exist! Vol. 3 is a special order for them, apparently, so I'll be waiting on it a little longer. Still, neat!

Also picked up a copy of The Great Gatsby because I'm a pretentious fuck who wants to see the movie but wants to have read the book first.

[138 Scourge]

How did you get through high school without reading Gatsby? I'm torn on the movie, I've heard bad things, but I really likes the director's version of Romeo and Juliet. So I dunno.

[BWprowl]

How did you get through high school without reading Gatsby? I'm torn on the movie, I've heard bad things, but I really likes the director's version of Romeo and Juliet. So I dunno.

We actually did read it in class, but it was one of the ones I skimmed/Sparknotes'd. I could read through all of 'Crime & Punishment', 'Lord of the Flies', and 'Grapes of Wrath', but somehow couldn't make time for something as thin as Gatsby, I don't fully understand it either.

Oh well, I'll probably appreciate it more now anyway that I'm reading it for 'fun'.

[Shockwave]

I read Gatsby in high school and remember thinking it sucked. I've got no interest in the movie.

Anyway, this weekend yielded a pretty big haul for me: My mom's dollhouse. She finally surrendered it to me. The thing is huge over 4 1/2 feet tall and it's on a custom made base with drawers for all the stuff that goes inside. It's been pretty beat up from moving it over the years so it needs a lot of fixing up but hey, if I can customize a Transformer fixing a dollhouse should be easy.

[Almighty Unicron]

Got Deluxe BH Dreadwing today. Solid figure- yeah, his kibble shows in the altmode, but he's pretty fun and I love his weapons.

[JediTricks]

Ticket to Iron Man 3 - waste of $10, pretty mediocre for an Iron Man movie. Standard summer blockbuster without a brain fare.

[138 Scourge]

Over the weekend, I checked out a local TRU for Springer, and couldn't find one. As a consolation prize, I picked up the Kre-O Mech Venom Strike set. It's okay, a cheap little set with a Windcharger Kreon, a little gun emplacement deal, and a goofy little "Predacon Cohrada". Which is pretty much my whole reason for buying the thing, right there.

Not bad. Pretty much just a kreon with a couple accessories, but it was cheap and there's some things that I'm a sucker for, and this set happened to have a couple of 'em in there. The Windcharger looks pretty legit in both modes, the gun is an okay little weapon thing, and the Cohrada doesn't look a thing like the original, it's just a string of blue ball joints with a snake head at one end and a claw at the other. Still, kind of neat, I had a good time putting 'em together. Heck, I might even go back for the similar Trailbreaker vs. Dragon set.

[BWprowl]

Jurassic Park Dino Showdown: Allosaurus Assault – Hasbro has a small-scope JP line exclusive to TRU to tie into the recent re-release of the movie in 3D. It mostly consists of packs of repainted hilariously antiquated small dinosaur and ‘tracker’ molds from what I swear must be the Lost World line, at least, along with recolors of the Dino Growlers from JP3. The real draw, though, are these Dino Showdown packs, which include the ‘new’ mold dinosaurs and trackers that Hasbro was developing for a JP toyline revival a few years ago, which never came to pass. The trackers are based on the 25A GI Joe body style, while the dinosaurs have more articulation than has been standard for JP, along with the return of fully functional ‘Dino Damage’ complete with a cover piece for the wound, as well as an action feature of some sort. The Allosaurus has caught my eye before, but I’d waffled on it since TRU wanted thirty damn bucks for the pack. But with nothing else at TRU last night and me having a rather ‘open’ paycheck this go-around, I decided to go for it. Despite the price, it’s a very nice set. The allosaurus has great articulation in the head area, with an opening jaw and a universal neck joint, with another swivel at the base of the neck. The little arms are on universal joints, it has hip swivels, and universal ankle joints (which feel like upsize GI Joe shoulder/elbow joints, and are quite stiff). I’d prefer a little more articulation in the legs and some in the tail, but this is still miles ahead of what toy dinosaurs usually provide. The head stuff especially lends a lot of personality, and the ‘thrashing’ action dragooned into it and the right arm doesn’t actually hinder either. There’s also a lot to be said for the sculpt, the level of detail on the scales all over this thing, particularly the feet and the neck, is incredible, and Hasbro’s paint job actually works to enhance it in several places. It’s just a killer dinosaur toy, and can look good in absurd action sequences with other stuff you have (if you think the first thing I did wasn’t to have Bruce Willis fight an Allosaurus, then you don’t know what fun is). The tracker is cool too, a badass Riker-lookin’ dude named, and I swear I can’t make this up, ‘Ash Skullstriker’. He comes with a Joe-level butt-ton of weapons packed under the box which enhance his badassery, having him be a hardcore hunter trying to take down a Allosaurus with a damn compound bow, and if that doesn’t work, he has a pair of SWORDS strapped to his back to try and fight the damn dinosaur with! Furthermore, reusing Joe weapon molds means that the wakizashi has a particular symbol on it, indicating that Ash also happens to be a member of the damn Arishikage ninja clan! Ash Skullstriker, Ninja Dinosaur Hunter. I think this guy is the new leader of my toys.

I also picked up the first Bay TF movie, since TRU had it on Blu-Ray for like ten bucks and I realized I still didn’t own it. They had ROTF too, but no way I’m paying money for *that*.