Tag Archives: Marvel

FRONT

Those X-Men Barbie’s are coming with a surprise addition!

That Storm Barbie glimpse offered by Marvel at Essence Fest turns out to be the real deal.

The first ‘official’ images of the X-Men Barbie’s have finally hit the web with some surprising announcements correcting some previously found information which also includes a new addition to the line.

Instagramer papusilemele posted three photos to her account noting that these dolls will be a GameStop exclusive.

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Scrolling through the photos, the previously known Jean Grey doll is in fact a Dark Phoenix release, the Storm which we saw at Essence Fest and the surprise inclusion of our favorite blue skinned shape-shifter Mystique.

By all accounts, it seems they will be available via GameStop from July 18th for pre-order with a retail price of US$54.99 (which translates to around $79AUD)

Will you be ordering these? Sound off in the comments!

Toys

Did Marvel just give us a sneak peek look at the upcoming storm barbie?

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Not too long ago, I posted about the Marvel/Disney/Mattel team up that could possibly see two long-time fan favorite mutants become part of the official Barbie line-up. X-Men characters Storm and Jean Grey were in the rumored line-up of upcoming releases (along side Princess Leia) but since the post, all is silent surrounding the project.

That was until the 8th of July when Marvel posted a photo to their Instagram from this years Essence Festival where Disney had a Marvel booth set up spruiking everything Black Panther and everything Wakanda.

Wakanda baseball jersey! Wakanda bag! What’s that to the left there?! A Storm doll?!

A few fans were wondering if perhaps the doll was a custom though when looked at closely, you can see she’s standing with a card noting the ‘Marvel 80 Years’ logo on it, the same one used in all the merchandise celebrating the 80th anniversary of Marvel comics.

Disney and Marvel are keeping tight lipped about the doll and from what it seems, no other photos from the booth have his the web. Could this perhaps be a first look at the Storm Barbie coming our way?

Toys

Mego Corp Gains Access to the Secret Vault of Stan Lee

Mego Corp have been keeping very tight lipped about a major announcement they were to make, causing fans of the vintage toy company to ponder just what was in store. From international distribution news to possible new licenses that involved everything from Gilligan’s Island to Melrose Place, Bionic Woman to Star Wars, we were all wondering what it could be.

And while we were repeatedly informed it was NOT a deal with Marvel (as fans were hoping for) what we did not see coming was a deal with Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment. In an announcement made today via Mego Corps social media channels, the new licensing deal allows Mego Corp to delve into the secret vault of the late Stan Lee – an untapped reservoir of never-before-seen characters created by Lee and introduce these creations to fans in the form of either 8″ or 14″ collectible action figures.

From today’s press release, “With Stan’s vision, I always told him that I’d follow him anywhere,” says Marty Abrams, co-founder and CEO of Mego Corporation. “It’s with great responsibility that I can carry on his one-of-a-kind creations and reveal the characters that he had envisioned. I have tremendous pride in showcasing the work of a long-time friend. Our nostalgic action figures of Lee’s conceptions will now introduce new memories with more characters originated by Stan.”

The news however has had a very mixed reaction from Mego Corp fans from those excited to see new characters from the mind of Stan Lee to those confused as to why Mego would risk on such a license, just as they make their comeback, on characters that no one has heard of or have the backing of a cult following / fan base.

Mind you, this is not the first time Mego Corp have delved into left-of-the-middle licenses that left fans scratching their heads. Last month, among the announcements of new Star Trek, DC and Pop Culture Legends figures, they announced a new line of Impractical Jokers 8″ figures based on the hidden camera reality comedy series that airs on TruTV.

That said, new Mego, in whatever format is still welcome!

Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment is a multimedia company founded in 2001 by Stan with his friend and business partner Gill Champion, its president. The company has been and will continue to be the guardian of Stan Lee’s legacy, and is excited to roll out new projects and adventures Stan had been working on.

New figures from the Mego/POW! Entertainment announcement are due later in 2019. And as for the news of Australian distribution talked about recently, there is still no official word.

FRONT, Gaming

Marvel’s Ultimate Alliance Bundle Goes Live For PS4

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Classic console game series Marvel Ultimate Alliance has been given a re-birth as Activision and Marvel bring the classic series to next gen consoles but it’s not all good news as fans balk at the costly price.

Boasting one of the biggest rosters ever seen in any Marvel based game, Marvel Ultimate Alliance and it’s follow-up Ultimate Alliance 2 have been brought to next gen consoles allowing old fans to replay the classic games and new fans the chance to finally play those games not available on current consoles.  The first Marvel Ultimate Alliance features 22 playable characters including Captain America, Black Panther, Storm and The Invisible Woman and included more than 140 iconic Marvel characters such as Psylocke, Winter Soldier and Loki spread across its story.  Players can customize and upgrade their squad of heroes in the single-player campaign, co-op and competitive online and local multiplayer for up to four players.

It’s successor, 2009’s Ultimate Alliance 2 followed the Marvel Civil War story line and included an impressive roster similar to the games first outing.

From Executive Producer Mike Jones, “The team did work really hard on improving performance, some UI and graphic enhancements as well as making the games compatible with modern platform features.” Jones adds that the games “play really smooth.”                                                                                                                                                                                                 Upon original release, both games included DLC that included extra characters, alternate outfits and comic missions but since the bundle’s release, it’s been noted the DLC that was part of Ultimate Alliance is missing while UA2 does include the DLC.  It’s a bit of a kick in the face for fans who weren’t told about this prior to purchasing the bundle.

Speaking of which, both games, currently available on the Aussie PSN store can be bought separate for $50 each (yes $50 per game!!!) or as a bundle for $60.  While most are excited about seeing the games available on their next gen console, the high price point on decade old games – some of which are missing dlc – is another misstep.

 

 

 

The Marvel Ultimate Alliance bundle is available for PS4 and PC now and is set for a July 28th release on Xbox 1

Comics, FRONT, X-Men

Marvel Women Beefed Up For Marvel Gaming March

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Marvel’s female character feature in Marvel Gaming March special

From Fantastic Four’s Invisible Woman, Uncanny X-Men’s Storm and Phoenix to Avengers She Hulk and Scarlet Witch, Marvel’s female heroines have been at the forefront of the comic world and March will see our super powered femme fatales at the forefront of all of Marvel’s gaming programs.  While DC comics are using their female heroes to target young girls and adult collectors in their DC Super Hero Girls line, Marvel are hitting the digital gaming market.

Called ‘Women of Power’ the event will bring “new characters and content” to its portfolio of mobile, handheld, console, and PC games. Peter Phillips, the executive vice president and general manager of digital distribution at Marvel Entertainment, said the event will bring together “some of the most popular heroes and villains” in a “unique way for the first time.  By featuring these stories and characters throughout a single month, we’ve lined up one [of] the most exciting events in the history of Marvel games.”

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The line-up boasts an impressive number of mobile and console/pc marvel games that will all take part in the event including:

  • LEGO Marvel’s Avengers: Marvel will introduce Captain Marvel, Moonstone, and Poundcakes.
  • Marvel Contest of Champions: New event quest featuring Ms. Marvel will become available. Players will also be able to add She-Hulk, X-23, and Ms. Marvel to their team.
  • Marvel Avengers Academy: Several all-new female heroes will be added to the Avengers Academy student body.
  • Marvel Puzzle Quest: Marvel’s new Women of Power variant covers will be available in-game.
  • Marvel Future Fight: A new event featuring Proxima Midnight—one of Thanos’ most powerful generals—will be unlocked.
  • Spider-Man Unlimited: Notable Spider-Women, including Silk, will get their own “special event.”
  • Marvel Heroes 2016: The latest installment will add the ability “to team up with fan favorite Rescue and earn an enhanced power costume for American Dream.”

The announced events will kick in from March 3rd which also coincides with Marvels “Women of Power” variant comic covers month for Black Widow #1, Mockingbird #1, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #5, Scarlet Witch #4 and Uncanny Inhumans #6 among others which will be released throughout March.

 

 

Coloring Books, Hobbies, Pop Culture

Coloring Books for the Pop Culture Minded Adult

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It’s only been recently that I’ve started seeing more and more news stories about how ‘adults’ are rediscovering the wonderful hobby of coloring books and how this task is being called ‘the new meditation’ as it relaxes the mind, encourages the turning off of mobile devices and creates creativity.  I realized it’d been years (many many years) since I last even picked up a colored pencil and put it to paper so I delved a little more into what was being pushed towards the adult coloring book market.

Flowers, paisley prints and intertwining circles it seems is what adult color-in-ers’ are wanting.

NOT ME.

I began reminiscing of the days of my GI Joe, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, Batman and even Dune coloring books getting a good work-out, so where were these types of books for people like me who wanted something to connect with to color in?  eBay has these ‘vintage’ coloring books but due to their age, they cost a pretty penny.  A search in local department stores proved mostly fruitless with most of the coloring books featuring Barbie fairytopia and pepper pig (I did find a pretty cool Avengers: Age of Ultron deluxe coloring book for $7) and local supermarkets have begun selling basic Marvel related coloring books featuring Thor, Iron Man and the Avengers for $2 a pop.

Extending the search even further, artists on Etsy and around the net are starting to cash in on the craze with some very cool and very unique subjects.

ILoveMel.com have released a bunch of coloring books based on pop culture and celebrities all featuring hand drawn illustrations by artist Mel Elliott.  Books featuring James Franco, Taylor Swift, Kate Moss and Jamie Dornan are all available for purchase and receive the color treatment.  The Thrill Murray coloring book has been around for a few years now and features Bill Murray in an array of well known characters from Lost in Translation and Ghostbusters.

TeamArt, over at Etsy, are selling some personal favorites that I’ve been stalking to buy with amazing ‘mini-books’ featuring Tina Fey, Lena Dunham, Paul Rudd, Game of Thrones and Ty Burrell all waiting to be colored in.

Getting back to that $7 Avengers book I picked up…it is true that once I picked up that red pencil to start coloring in Black Widows flowing hair, it was easy enough to disconnect, relax and loose time as I fleshed out her skin and gave her some really dark eye makeup.

The coloring-books-for-adults-craze has seen books priced upwards of $20 per book, while as I mentioned, the marvel ones I purchased ranged from $2 for basic Avengers/Guardians of the Galaxy books at the supermarket to $7 for a deluxe book at a department store.  One that I am keeping my eye out for releases August 1st and is called “Creative colouring for grown ups: the classic comic colouring book” which features fantastic images from vintage comic books of the 1950s ready to color in.

The flipside to buying coloring books is to google search your interest and go from there!  This is my next task!

Check out some of my work-in-progress below!

Vintage 80’s Barbie coloring page
The X-Men get the color treatment
Black Widow wears hooker eye makeup

Have you found some awesome coloring books?  Share below in the comments.

Drama, Fantasy, FRONT, Made For Tv, NBC, Sci-Fi, TV

NBC Set to Revive Heroes as Mini Series

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Four years after its original cancellation, superhero drama Heroes is set to make a comeback in 2015.

Heroes Reborn will be a 13 part mini series set to air in 2015 with show creator Tim Kring on board (Kring currently has another high profile series Dig currently in production for USA Network).

NBC teased viewers with a brief spot during it’s winter Olympics coverage on Saturday night (US time) with plans to bring in a digital tie-in series ahead of the 2015 premiere date that introduce new characters and a new storyline.

Details remain slim at the moment as no plot details for Heroes Reborn have been revealed and no word on any original cast members coming back though Heroes Reborn is being described as a stand alone story arc for the show.

The original series ran from 2006 – 2010 and helped launch the careers of Zachary Quinto (Star Trek movies) and Hayden Panettiere (Nashville) among others and followed the lives of everyday people living with extra ordinary powers.  While ratings held strong for Heroes onset, the show began to dwindle in viewers towards the end of the shows run before being cancelled in 2010.

Tapping into the popular superhero genre, Heroes Reborn will join ABC’s Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD and a new series adaption on the DC comic Constantine series.

“The enormous impact Heroes had on the television landscape when it first launched in 2006 was eye-opening,” said NBC Entertainment  president Jennifer Salke. “Shows with that kind of resonance don’t come around often and we thought it was time for another installment. We’re thrilled that visionary creator Tim Kring was as excited about jumping back into this show as we were and we look forward to all the new textures and layers Tim plans to add to his original concept. Until we get closer to air in 2015, the show will be appropriately shrouded in secrecy, but we won’t rule out the possibility of some of the show’s original cast members popping back in.”

Check out the promo spot below:

Heroes Reborn is due for a 2015 premiere in the USA on NBC.

Comedy, FRONT, TV

Trophy Wife & The Goldbergs Earn Addition Script Orders

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Cast of ABC’s The Goldbergs

This news makes me both happy and hopeful!  Two of my favorite comedies to come out of the new fall season have been given an early gift of additional script orders this week.  ABC picked up an additional three scripts each for The Goldbergs and Trophy Wife showing the network has confidence in it’s two newest comedies.

The two comedies are part of the American networks all-new Tuesday night line-up along side Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D which is the only show on the ABC network currently given a full season order.

Of the two, The Goldbergs i’m finding much more funnier (A Wonder Years) type comedy set in the 80’s though Trophy Wife has a stellar cast and some very funny moments.  Both are now starting to find their feet now they are a few episodes in.