Captain Norrington

After work today I went by Hastings, considering taking a look at Tifa again and see if I wanted to buy her. But someone had already bought her out; I suppose it's okay because it saved me from buying something I was only mildly enthusiastic about.

They did have this figure of Captain Norrington from Series Three of Pirates of the Caribbean. It's how he appeared when he was down and out in Dead Man's Chest. He comes with tricorn hat, saber, pistol, and base. He was reduced from $14.99 to $11.24, and every little saving helps.

Streets of Cairo

I was rummaging through my papers and found this scrap of ephemera. My brothers and I got this set way back when there was only one Indiana Jones movie--and now a new one is looming on the horizon. We still have most of the parts, except, I think, for Monkey Man's cloak. Hard to keep track of all those little oranges and that teeny knife, especially when you actually play with them. On the back are instructions on how to put the table and cart together.

Proper Use

In the Moss Hart/George S. Kaufman play You Can't Take It With You, the unhappy, socialite, grimly businesslike parents of Tony Kirby come to meet the free-spirited, unpretentious family of his girlfriend Alice Sycamore. The following exchange occurs after the Kirbys have appeared unexpectedly a day early and are getting to know the Sycamores through the detritus of their interests that clutter the house. Mr. Kirby spots a Meccano set (like an Erector set) belonging to Paul, Alice's father.

Kirby: (he sees Paul's Meccano boat model.) Hello! What's this? I didn't know there were little children in the house.

Paul: Oh, no. That's mine.

Kirby: Really? Well, I suppose every man has his hobby. Or do you use this as a model of some kind?

Paul: No, I just play with it.

Amen, brother. Amen

Some Blades

A sampling of swords, from recent acquisitions.

From the top left:
1&2) Swords of Rukia and Ichigo from Bleach
3) The 'Fabulous Sunsword' from Thundarr the Barbarian
4) The Keyblade from Kingdom Hearts
5) Sword of Prince Charming from Shrek 3
6) Peter's sword from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
7) Edmund's sword from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
8&9) Cutlasses from Pirates of the Caribbean
10) Magical sword from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I've got a whole 16"x8.7"x8.1" toolbox full of swords, axes, bows, arrows, spears, maces, knives, clubs, shields, helmets, and bits of armor.

Pinhead

From the Hellraiser: Series Two, a line from Reel Toys from NECA (http://www.necaonline.com/). Our old pal Pinhead, leader of the Cenobites in the Hellraiser movies.

Quote from the card: "A fine line dissects the worls of pleasure and pain, and walking that razor's edge is the scarred and punctured visage of 'Pinhead'. 'The Lament Configuration' puzzle box is both the invitation and the key to unlock his world of dark fantasies and forbidden sins...time to play?"

I got this figure a few months ago from Blockbuster Video. You can see the crease going through the card. I left the resolution higher for this jpg; I hope the details will be more obvious. Pinhead came with one panel of the twirling block of pain: collect the other Cenobites and build your own!

Andorian

The Andorian. Perhaps best known from the original series for the fake Andorian who made an attempt to disrupt the conference on Babel, in the course of which the Tellarite Ambassador was killed and Captain Kirk wounded. In the group above, he's the light blue fellow with the antennae.

This is the last figure I got in the Hastings trove, and it is a sentimental favorite. I just had to show the entire line-up from the card. Back in the day (early 70's) my brothers and I had Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scottie, Uhura, and the Klingon, and the crew of the Enterprise had many an adventure with the fellow Mego action figures from the Planet of the Apes. Their battered remains, often missing limbs, accessories, and clothes, are lovingly preserved in a special plastic container, along with what is left of our large G. I. Joes (one with kung fu grip!).

Of course we never even saw the rarer aliens like the Mugato, Romulan, Gorn, "Neptunian", or Andorian, so it is a real treat to have these detailed reproductions of original molds. Nothing like a dream come true, even after 30 years or so.

This figure came in special re-sealable packaging, the likes of which I've never seen before. A quote from the card: "From 1974-1979, the legendary MEGO Corp. produced the first licensed STAR TREK toys ever! Their designs have become timeless and their value immeasurable...but now you can own painstaking reproductions, recreated to provide this generation with the quality and playability first established by MEGO founder MARTY ABRAMS, the father of the modern action figure!"

That's quite some claim.

The Andorian is 8 inches tall (standard MEGO size), wears "retro cloth" clothes, and has no accessories. The cost was $17.99. Relevant e-mail addresses from the package are www.diamondselecttoys.com and www.emcetoys.com.

Yasutora 'Chad' Sado and Orihime Inoue

These figures are part of the Hastings bonanza. They are the Series Two run by Toynami from the Cartoon Network Adult Swim anime feature, Bleach. I have the Series One line, comprised of Ichigo and Rukia. Each figure cost $14.99.

From the card of Yasutora Sado: "Nicknamed 'Chad,' this classmate of Ichigo's believes his only asset is his physical strength. He likes small animals and anything cute." He comes with a stand and an Exclusive Score Trading Card.

From the card of Orihime Inoue: "Ichigo's classmate Orihime lost a brother three years ago. She and Ichigo form a bond when she's attacked by a Hollow." She comes with a base and a trading card, but also has a black cat, which I must say is the best sculpt of a cat I've ever seen with an action figure. You can't really tell from this picture, which is a scan off the card.

(By the way, and most of you probably know this: the card is the cardboard backing of the packaging of an action figure, the blister is the plastic bubble the actual figure is encased in.)

The show Bleach has a rich and fascinating mythology which I am not about to attempt to explicate here.