Our pal at Marvel, Jesse Falcon, shared the good news that Marvel Super Heroes: What The–?! has a new home page at Marvel.com. With Marvel’s website, it’s been easy to miss when each new episode of MSHWT was posted. Now there’s one spot to find them all.
Can you believe there’s been over 40 episodes made in the past four years?
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Here’s a wrap-up of Jedd’s STGCC coverage with an interview with Nathan Hamill, artist and toy designer, who coincidentally is one of Mark Hamill’s kids. He talks with Jedd about toys, art, comics, and, yes, a little bit about Star Wars.
Jedd: Welcome to Singapore!
Nathan: Thank you!
Are you having a good time so far?
Excellent. First time here and it’s stunning, it’s incredible. The weather was perfect yesterday; it’s great so far.
I had a look at your Twitter feed, really cool stuff. Beneath your handle, it says “I makes what I likes.” What do you think has been the most rewarding thing of living by that maxim?
Yeah, “I makes what I likes” is just… first of all, I think it’s funny because it’s using improper English, which makes me laugh. Like “I makes what I likes,” yeah… I try to keep it as simple as that. So yeah, my motto, “I makes what I likes,” at the end of the day it should come down to whether or not it’s something that you enjoy, not to be too convoluted about what your themes and what your concepts are. Yeah, that stuff is good and fine but I guess I’m trying to… you know, take things less seriously.
Continue reading “STGCC 2013: Interview with Nathan Hamill by Jedd”
In AFP’s Border Patrol, we scour active eBay auctions for customized action figures that you won’t want to let slip by!
Transformers Masterpiece Optimus Prime with Lights and Sounds by CustomsByZ – I know we see a metric ton of Masterpiece Optimus Prime customs, with metallic paint, and many with LED lights – but how often do you see Optimus Prime with LED eyes and Matrix that are coordinated with a sound chip with four Optimus Prime soundbites? – that’s right, never – expect this to go through the roof for bids and final price – ends Sep 14, 2013 18:29:59 PDT
As someone who never got to collect Star Wars action figures as a kid (I was so deprived, right? ;-)), it’s been a real pleasure getting the Hasbro Star Wars Black Series figures. With Gentle Giant acting as the design studio much like the Four Horsemen have from DC Universe Classics, what the first wave has given us is a very good mix of detailed sculpt and articulation, with serviceable paint apps. The result is a group of action figures that look great and are very photogenic, and I’ve enjoyed snapping pictures of them.
One shot I wanted was Luke and Artoo in a flight hangar, before their run at the Death Star. I think the shot of the figures came out nicely, but the backdrop was only a limited success. In this post, I’ll share how this shot was created.
If you’re not familiar with Philip Reed and his site, BattleGrip, you should check it out. When I started AFP, somehow Philip found the site, and he’s been a really great supporter from our early days – and he’s just that way in the collecting community – a terrific guy.
Earlier this year, Philip published a Kickstarter-funded book about 3rd-party Transformers called Transforming Collections. (There are a couple of copies of Transforming Collections available on Amazon.) I guess that massive effort kept him hooked on publishing, because his latest endeavor is a free downloadable magazine. I’m re-hosting BattleGrip – issue 1 here (click to download – 70MB) to help get the issue out there. If you’re an old-timer like me and miss the days when you could go to a magazine store to pick up one related to toys (or if you just want to know what that was like, in this increasingly online world), then you’ll love this.
A couple of tips – you’ll need Adobe Acrobat Reader or an alternative PDF reader, and the best way to read this magazine is to set it up in 2-page view (View -> Page Display -> Two Page View) and select the option to show the cover page on its own (View -> Page Display -> Show Cover Page in Two Page View). This will let you see some of the beautiful 2-page spreads, like the Predator Trophy Case above, in all their glory.
Great start to the magazine, Philip, and thanks for the link to my moot-fake-rant about the Club Infinite Earths Doomsday. Can’t wait for issue 2!