Jacob Blackmon Blogs

This is an observation I'm just writing down to get out of my head. Don't feel you have to read it. There are times when I have problems with new characters being created for a story, because it makes established characters redundant and put in the sideline, despite how much investment had been put into said characters by the previous writing team. This happens a lot in comics. And even in toys. Many examples: In Masters of the Universe, there is a hero character named Extendar, who is able to extend all of their body to make themselves longer and far reaching: neck, arms, legs, torso... all of their body extends. This specifically sidelines the existing hero Meck-a-Neck, whose only power is his extending neck. And lo, there comes a photo, as it to prove my point! Gambit -- from the X-Men comics -- is incredibly guilty of this. He's a mutant who comes from a clan of thieves. Um... guess what? The X-Men have Storm! Ororo was trained as a thief on the streets of Cairo...

TOYS! Recently I picked up the first four Turtles of Grayskull figures. I bought these online from Big Bad Toy Store . Mutant He-Man. Solid figure with lots of fun details! He's got a bandanna around his head, like the turtles! He's got some custom feet, as one of the boots has his giant toes poking out the front. Standard articulation found on all the MOTU Origins series figures, so lots of posing options! The joints on this figure I found to be really stiff! The elbow joints almost seem to be like a ratchet joint in the way they clicked and moved. Also, standard removable parts found in all MOTU Origins figures for customization. And when I first saw the figure in the package, I thought his arms seems larger than normal... Yes, they are indeed extra-long and chonky arms! Man-At-Arms Speaking of arms, this may become my default Duncan figure to use in the future of my toy comics! This is a magnificent figure! The armor is heavy and the face sculpt is magnificent! All standard...