Dragon Alexander the Great

Alexander is a 2004 film, based on the biography of Alexander the Great, the Macedonian King who conquered Asia Minor, Persia and Ancient India. Alexander was played by Colin Farrell and the film was directed by Oliver Stone. The movie was pretty terrible and not surprisingly grossed only US$34 million in the US and $132 million in overseas revenue.

Dragon produced an Alexander the Great figure and at first glance it looked like the movie's version. However after some detailed inspection, there are some areas (chest armor & sword) which are not movie accurate.
The head sculpt is pretty decent and if you look hard enough you can see Colin Farrell's likeness.
The sculpted hair is removable so that he is able to wear the helmet.
There are no joints on both the knees and so the legs have more of a "Barbie" look...if you know what I mean.
The chest armor has nice details but there is one area which is not movie accurate. In the movie, the main chest armor is an image of a man opening his mouth but the Dragon version is of a lion's head. The figure comes with a spear, sword & helmet. The sword is also not movie accurate. The helmet is an item I really like. I like the details on it and it is also quite close to the movie's version.

I know I have been saying a lot that the figure is not movie accurate however I really can't fault Dragon as this figure was never meant to be the movie's version. I actually bought this figure thinking that it was but overall I still think this is a decent figure.

The chest armor




































A closer look at the helmet as compared to the movie

Yipee! More GI Joe!

Could not get this guy at CSC recently as the price was a tad too expensive. Luckily the next day on Monday, I managed to get it at a much more reasonable price.
I really love this figure and the improved sculpt is really nice. I am so tempted to get another one so I can open and play with it while still be able to display the carded one on my GI Joe wall.

Cobra EEl

Info on Cobra EEls
Cobra EEl troopers are the underwater demolition specialists of the COBRA legions. They man and operate the COBRA marine outposts disguised as off-shore drilling rigs and augment the crews of larger COBRA naval vessels. They undergo a rigorous two-part training program in the warm shark and pirate infested waters of the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean and in the frigid, dark depths of the North Atlantic. Their training regimen includes marine structural engineering, explosive ordnance, underwater fighting techniques and marine geology.
Hmmmm, too smart to be a small time Cobra trooper...I must say.

Closer look at the nice sculpt

Paper Toys Watchmen Doctor Manhattan

My 2nd Watchmen paper toy is Doctor Manhattan. I hope that I can quickly finish up the rest of the Watchmen and shoot a group shot.
2 down and 4 more to go.
You can view my other Watchmen paper toys here.
Enjoy...













4 more to go!

Another BIG one!

You either love the design or hate it. After giving us the AT-TE aka "The BIG One", Hasbro has decided to hit us with another big one. This time the nice people at Hasbro are giving us the turbo tank.
The turbo tank is one of the most enormous Republic military vehicles introduced during the Clone Wars. It is a ten-wheeled titan bristling with weapons and covered in thick armor. With a blocky design and seemingly simplistic engineering, the turbo tank epitomizes unstoppable brute force tactics favored by the clone troopers.
Now the problem...where got space!!
More pics from action-figure.com

The packaging

Ray Harryhausen's monsters from 7th Voyage of Sinbad & Clash of the Titans

Ray Harryhausen is the master nonpareil of stop-motion animation that endangered filmmaking technique by which models are brought to life through being photographed frame by frame, moved millimetre by painstaking millimetre between exposures.
Despite all the improvement in movie special effects, I am still fascinated by stop-motion animation. Imagine all the patience and painstaking effort needed to make the models come to life. Besides being the master of stop-motion animation, Ray Harryhausen's monsters' designs are bizarre and yet excellent!
When I was younger I used to love 7th Voyage of Sinbad & Clash of the Titans. I could watch them over and over again. I was very happy that X-Plus & Gentle Giant decided to produce the Cyclops/Dragon from 7th Voyage of Sinbad & Medusa from Clash of the Titans respectively.

Cyclops & Dragon from X-plus
The Cyclops and Dragon are 8" scale and they are made of vinyl, hence they are pretty light-weight and have only basic articulation. Just like the Bandai Ultraman figures.
The sculpt for Cyclops is almost perfect and the details spot-on (almost). The only complaint is that in the movie, the Cyclops actually had 2 horns and not 1 as sculpted in the figure.
I really love the texture of the body. They managed to include all the bumps and lumps on the Cyclops' body.
The paint ops are decent enough. I do admit I like the shading done on the Cyclops which enhances the texture of the bumpy skin even more. However the color they used on the lower half of the body is a bit too dark as compared to the movie.
If you got the Cyclops, how could you not get his nemesis, the Dragon, in which he had an epic battle at the end of the movie. The sculpt of the Dragon is not as good as compared to the Cyclops. In the movie, the dragon had two really long "fangs" but in the figure the "fangs" are pretty short.
The texture and details on the body are pretty good. Again, I think the color of the Dragon is a tad too dark as compared to the movie. There is also no shading unlike the Cyclops.
When you display the Cyclops and Dragon together, I feel the proportion is a bit off. In the movie, the Dragon is actually as tall as the Cyclops and much bigger.

Medusa by Gentle Giant
The sculpting for Medusa is very good and spot on! The texture on the body is great
and very detailed. The paint ops is also very well done. I really like this figure a lot. Medusa is around 9" and has basic articulation.

Overall, these are solid figures at reasonable prices. Also it's pretty hard to come across solid figures from such movies like Clash of Titans & Sinbad’s movies

Cyclops




















Dragon
















Royal Rumble!!!!








Medusa