Star Wars The Force Awakens Predictions

So, the new Star Wars movie is coming out soon, and for all we know Disney spent $250 million dollars for the 2 teasers and 1 trailer of a movie that doesn't actually exist. In case there is an actual movie on the way, here are some predictions from me:

1. It's actually a remake of A New Hope. The New Order (bad guys in white armor) battle the Resistance (the Rebellion / the underdogs) for control over the galaxy. Now the Darth Vader groupie/wannabe has a fully operating planet destroying weapon (Starkiller Base) to level the playing field. Tthe climatic battle is the Resistance flighting against time to destroy the weapon before it destroys the planet where the Resistance's main base is (with Leia, Han, etc.). Does this sound familiar?

2. Finn is not a Jedi.  I feel like Rey is actually the main character of the movie, and Finn is a decoy. Sure, he's still a main character, but he's not a Jedi. Rey is. Rey is the next Luke, Finn is the next Han, and so on.

3. Han Solo dies in the end of this movie. Harrison Ford has wanted this for thirty years, and sure doesn't want to be in Episodes VIII and IX. Here's the longshot, though: Finn is his son.

So, in Marvel Comics, they introduced a character named Sana Solo, who claims to be Han Solo's wife. Straight out of the Doctor Who playbook, it seems to be half and half where you can believe whatever you want about the marriage. Anyway, Solo dies and gives the Falcon and Chewie to Finn, his son with Sana Solo.

4. Luke Skywalker is not in the movie. Well, not much anyway. He's in exile or hiding or something like that. We see him in a few flashbacks, saying goodbye to R2, etc. Once Rey decides to be a Jedi, she'll need to find where Luke went to just like Luke sought out Yoda. So, Episode VIII will be the search for Skywalker.  He is not the bad guy in black, and he didn't go to the Dark Side. Sorry.

Ultraman Nexus Junis Mode Spark Doll

Not long ago, I talked about the original Ultraman Nexus Anphans Mode Spark Doll.

Not as long ago, Bandai released a Junis Mode to go with the Anphans Mode.



The Nexus design is pretty elaborate making painting a test of anyone's patience. But I didn't have much of a choice given how much was missing on the Spark Doll. Like the Anphans Mode, there is a great looking metallic red used on the v-shaped color timer thingy.

The Anphans figure is the same one pictured in my previous entry, but now I've added a lot of missing paint.  It didn't turn out as well as the Junis one.

The figure looks fantastic now. I wish Bandai had at least completed most of the paint apps on the front of the figure. They did a really good job on the Ultraman Cosmos (Eclipse Mode) that came out at the same time.  Everything on the front of the Cosmos figure was painted correctly. It was only the back that was left unpainted.

But what do you want with a 500 yen figure?

Big Chief 11th Doctor with Stetson

I'm surprised that there was enough demand for this to happen. Not that I'm complaining. I love the stetson used in Series 6, and the 1/6 scale 11th Doctor looks a lot better with the new head. The Matt likeness is right on, though there's a slight blank stare look on his face.

Personal tastes vary, but it's well worth it if you like the look.

Ultraman Ginga Victory

So, Ultraman Ginga and Ultraman Victory combine to form Ultraman Ginga Victory.  Not the most original of names, but the design is definitely unique. Pictured are the spark doll and Ultra Change versions of the character.  The spark doll looks more accurate, but the Ultra Change has more articulation.

What's funny is that my two favorite elements of Ultraman Ginga Victory weren't painted on either of the figures: the silver lining on his collar and red lightning designs on the feet. The silver I used isn't as bright as that used by Bandai, but I'm happy with the results.

Painting the crystals on the spark doll's face was not fun. You can see what the spark doll originally looked like here.

Ultraman Victory

Ultraman Victory is certainly one of the more unique designs for an Ultraman in recent years.  With the unusual color scheme and overall V design, it took awhile for me to warm up to. I did eventually get two figures of Victory: the spark doll and the Ultra Change figure. (The Ultra Change figure was bought on my trip to Japan.) There are at least 3 different figures made of Victory and all of them are missing paint apps of some kind.

Now, both of these figures needed quite of bit of touch ups in the paint department, especially the spark doll. You can see the original figure here. I was actually impressed with the Ultra Change version but went ahead and painted the back and other missing paint apps.

The spark doll was one of my first major painting projects after the Luna Mode Ultraman Cosmos figure. It could have been better, with the experience I have now, but it turned out pretty good. Also, painted light colors over black is not fun.

Marvel Legends Wasp

If you ever told me there'd be a wave of figures focusing on Hank Pym / Ant-Man, I'd say you're crazy. While the Ultron wave of Marvel Legends isn't exclusively all Ant-Man related, it's as close as us Ant-Man fans will probably get.



Today, we're focusing on the winsome Wasp. Instead of doing a new costume (which might require actual tooling on the body), Hasbro decided on the black and gold costume from the 2000s. Some people complain about the buck they used for this figure, but it's much nicer than some female bodies I've been on the shelves. (Like Toy Biz's Xtreme Rogue and its toothpick thin arms.) Unfortunately, my figure, purchased online, has a bad eye painted on, ruining the nice sculpt.



At first, I thought about re-painting the eye, but then, I found out the Captain Marvel head fits on the head socket. It actually looks nice on the Wasp body, Especially with the tossed hair giving the illusion of movement. So, I painted the hair brown and my sister applied some black highlights.

I'm rather pleased with the results.

Marvel Legends Hellcat

Hellcat is on my list of superheroes I didn't expect Hasbro to make.  She is in good company with characters like The Black Knight, US Agent, 90s Armored Daredevil, and so on. Why? Because they're all characters that Hasbro has made, much to my surprise.

Now, there isn't a lot of appeal with Hellcat. She looks like another cat-themed martial artist super hero and/or villain.  A lot of her appeal (to me) is her personality (especially when written by Kathryn Immonen) and her history.

Her alter ego, Patsy Walker, started out as a character in a line of romance comics in the 40s & 50s and was revived in 1975 as a the superhero Hellcat by Steve Englehart.

I really love the head sculpt for the figure. Head sculpts seem to be the one thing Hasbro won't reuse a lot, except, of course, for the Age of Ultron Captain America. My one issue was the thin yellow pain on her shins, where the blue plastic is bleeding through.

Using a darker yellow paint, I tried to apply a layer to better hide this.  Here are the before and after photos.

Ultra Monster 500 Series Birdon

In honor of Birdon's appearance in the second episode of the new Ultraman X series, here is my custom paint work on the recent Birdon Spark Doll. The sculpt was really nice, but I really wish Bandai had put more effort into using more paint apps.

The gold paint is a little garish, but the alternative is a sickly yellow-greenish color for Birdon's fur. At least all of the chest torso is complete now, and the beak is completely black now.

Marvel Legends Captain Marvel

For the longest time, I wasn't the biggest fan of Carol Danvers, A.K.A. Ms. Marvel, Binary, etc. That is  until she got upgraded to Captain Marvel and received one of the coolest costume redesign of the millennium. When her new title isn't confusing search engines with Fawcett's famous creation, she is headlining her own (comic book) series and will soon be in her own Marvel movie in 2018.



Unusually prescient, Hasbro made a Captain Marvel figure during the Odin series. It has a great head sculpt and looks great overall. No doubt, it will be reissued in three years. Some artists (mostly Mark Brooks) depict the new costume with gold trim instead of yellow.

So, I bought a second figure and played around with my gold paint.

From the Work Bench: Marvel Infinite Captain America (Age of Ultron)

In the latest series of Marvel Legends / Infinite, we have more obscure characters like Batrog and Hellcat paired with the more familiar movie versions of Cap, Iron Man, and the Hulk. The face sculpts on these figures are pretty impressive, especially the build-a-figure Thanos. On the reverse, it looks like Hasbro selected characters that didn't require a lot of sculpting beyond the new head. The figures based on the new Avengers movie are mostly recycled parts as well. C'est la vie.

Anyway, this is concerning the movie version of Captain America.  While he does have a new chest piece, most of the rest of him is recycled from the Winter Soldier figure. This leads to some inaccuracies in the portrayal of the new suit.  But the main gripe is the paint.  The "white" in the suit was the worse, with a lot of the blue plastic showing through. So I basically repainted all of it white.

From the Work Bench: TK07 Kamen Rider Mach

In a hobby consisting of a seemingly constant lowering of quality, Bandai's Kamen Rider Drive figures are sturdy, hefty, and well made.  The only criticism I can lay on these figures are a few missing paint apps, but that's not too bad, considering that they are not their high-end brothers in S.H. Figurarts.

Here are a few photos from a few months ago while I was working on adding black to his front chest and parts of his backside. You can view the original figure here and here. At the time of the photos, I had not started work on the feet.

That's Ultra Monster 500 Series Astromons in the background. Hopefully, someday I will get around to covering him.

12" Electronic Ultraman Nexus

Long ago, I bought this 12" version of Ultraman Nexus. It's not very articulated, but it made some neat sounds and it's HUGE.  Well, compared to most of the Ultraman figures I had at the time.

I was very disappointed to find out that they didn't paint the lightning-like designs black (near the shoulder pads).  So, recently, I remedied this.

Only to discover that they didn't paint his cuffs black either.  So, finally, here is the end results.

Supergirl the TV Series

It just seems too good to be true.

CBS is picking up Supergirl as their now obligatory superhero series. Melissa Benoist, a relative unknown, has been cast as Kara / Supergirl.  Following the precedent started with The Flash, Helen Slater, the first Supergirl, has been cast as Kara's mother. And now, more recently, photos of the costume have been released without months of speculation.

Looking at the costume, you can tell it's Supergirl.  I was really surprised they went with the classic skirt look. I assumed that they would go with the one piece swimsuit look of the current comic book design. Colleen Atwood, who designed the suits for (Green) Arrow and The Flash, did a very nice job with staying true to the original suit.  My only quaims are the leggings and the tall boots, but it's minor at best.

Here's a photo of Benoist as Supergirl. It's great that she's got her hands on her hips, looking very much like her more famous cousin.  I Photoshopped her smile over the frown, and played with the saturation levels until you could actually see some colors.

Sigh, it just seems too good to be true.

Ultra Hero 500 Series Ultraman Cosmos Luna Version

To see how the original Ultraman Cosmos spark doll, click here.

This was the first figure I ever painted.  What I lacked in experience, I made up for with way too much paint. There are three missing paint apps: the silver on the underside of each arm, the silver triangular design on his back, and the gold on his ears.

The blue vinyl used to make this figure is darker than the previous 6" version. Also, if you're going off the suit used in the upcoming Ultraman Ginga S movie, Cosmos is more gray than silver.

8" Captain America - Avengers Movie Version

This is an odd-scaled figure I found at TRU a couple years ago.  It shares many of the details of the smaller 3-3/4" scaled version made by Hasbro only with a lot less articulation.

I only did a few touch-ups to this figure, mainly adding silver to the "buckles" on Cap's gloves and boots. I also added silver to the clips on the pockets on the belt as well as the zippers molded on the legs.

A Letter to Stephen Fry

Dear Stephen Fry,

This morning, my sister forwarded me a video with your now infamous response to the question of what you would say to God if, in fact, He did exist. I was not shocked so much as to what you said but with the vehemence in which you said it. It leads me to believe that there is a very personal reason in which you hate the very existence of God.

Your reasons for such a "capricious" God is bone cancer in children, and insects that burrow into the eyes of children. Very odd choices, considering you could have gone with AIDs, Ebola, heck, even the omnipresent Common Cold.  So, that leads to me think that your personal reason, which has a great affect on you, either occurred to you when you were young or someone you knew who was young.

First, let me say that yes, you are correct. We live in what seems to be a most cruel world, and there are a lot of things in it that can, and will kill, us in the most horribles of ways. The most simple answer is that no one knows why there is suffering in the world.  If anyone says that they have an answer, they are wrong, including the Pope and whatever the atheist version of the Pope is.  We must overcome suffering, or it will surely overcome us.

What you insist is that if God existed, then He would make all the suffering and diseases go away, and we can live our happy, hedonistic lives.  But we're not here to overindulge. We're here to help each other, and we can only do that with suffering. Yes, there are many diseases in the world, but why haven't we united to wipe them out yet? Why don't the rich back enough research to make bone cancer a thing of the past? Because they want to live their happy, hedonistic lives. We all have free will, and, right now, we all choose to help ourselves, not those around us.

Stephen, let's be honest. You don't look like you've missed many meals, and you probably haven't gone  without a roof over your head either. So, why don't you skip the histrionics and donate money to help cure cancer, or better yet, since it weighs on your mind so much, donate a million goggles to protect the eyes of children in third world countries. Don't be the man who buried his talents. (Oh, sorry. That's from the Bible, that collection of stories that illustrates how to live your life.)

I am truly sorry for the bitterness you hold in your heart. United, humanity can accomplished anything. I believe in this, and that is why God put us here. But, until we do this, we will be nothing more than mere children fighting with each other.

Sincerely and etcetera…

PS - I loved you in that movie, you know, the one with the dry humor and you were all sardonic and such. Yes, that's the one.

12th Doctor 3-3/4" Figure Photos

I found the new Twelfth Doctor figure at a random Walgreens about the tail end of December. Here are some random pictures I took. The Capaldi likeness is decent for the scale. The profile is stronger than the front view.  Kudos for using navy plastic/paint for the Doctor's outfit. (It's not black!) His arms are a bit thin, and the one shin piece looks crooked (?!), but overall, I'm happy with it.

One big happy family.

No cracks about the Clara figure, okay?

Where I've Been - Ultraman Victory Spark Doll

The first post of 2015.  In February? Not to worry. I have a legitimate reason.

Or not.

In January, I started painting, not walls or anything, but figures.  My sister's the master at this, and she's been showing me the ropes. Between that, full-time work, and all that snow, I've not much time for this.

Below are some pictures of Ultraman Victory spark doll and the paint work I've started on him. Keep in mind that its back is was almost completely black when i started. I'm hoping to post some photos of work I've done so far, including the finished Victory figure. (I don't know why they'd design a new Ultraman with so many colors when it's clear that they don't have the budget to spend on painting their figures accurately.)

Thanks for reading!

P.S. - I had to search the Internet for references of the back color scheme, and the red paint I choose didn't match the color used on the figure 100%, but I'm happy with the end result. (You'll see it soon I hope.)