Tim and I had this idea for a blog post about Oscar-winning actors and actresses who happen to have action figures, and although I didn’t get a chance to post it before the Oscars this year, at least I can get it in for this week’s challenge from The League.

At first I was going to make this a definitive list of every Oscar-winning actor who also has an action figure, but after doing some research I realized there are a veritable shit-ton of them. Since none of them seem to have action figures for the roles they won Oscars for (that would be awesome), I’ve opted to just collect the 10 best examples I could find.

So, get out your Morgan Freeman action figure and read the rest of this post in his voice, because here we go.

Kevin Spacey

Mr. Spacey has won two Academy Awards so far, for The Usual Suspects and American Beauty. Although I would have dropped some cash to get a Keyser Söze action figure, his action figure actually comes from the 2006 most-people-hate-it-but-I-kind-of-like-it movie Superman Returns. I’m impressed at how easily they were able to make this tiny piece of sculpted plastic look like him. When I track one down, I’m going to replace his body with a generic guy-in-a-suit so I can recreate the Will you go to lunch! scene from Glengarry Glen Ross.
Read More

I’m the guy that always gets people movies for Christmas. I don’t really do it on purpose, it just happens. This year there are a ton of cool DVDs and Blu-rays for the movie buffs on your list, whether they like silly cartoons or classic cinema. Here are a few choices me and the rest of the team put together.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete Classic Series Collection

If you haven’t pulled the trigger on any classic TMNT DVDs over the past decade or so they’ve been released, or you’re just a Turtle completist, this complete series set would be the perfect gift. 23 discs housed in a replica Party Wagon? I’ll take ten.
[Amazon]

Read More

No, I’m not talking about the (hopefully) awesome actual-movie that comes out in 2014, I’m talking about a direct-to-Blu-ray movie in the same vein as the LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace thing that was way better than it needed to be.

I didn’t recognize many voice actors but Clancy Brown was definitely Lex Luthor, which makes me happy. This comes out in early 2013 and I can’t wait.

Seeing Superman be a dick in LEGO form sounds fun.

Via The Mary Sue

What better way to celebrate the release of the final chapter in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy than by reviewing four 12 year old, completely unrelated action figures? I can’t think of one! Yup, it’s time for another Random Toy Review.

Today we’re looking at four action figures that were released as a tie-in to the direct-to-video animated movie Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, which is actually pretty damn awesome. I loved Batman Beyond as a kid, but I didn’t discover this movie until a few years ago. It has a huge cult following, partly because the violence nabbed the first PG-13 rating for a Batman animated film. There have been a lot of versions on home video since, some with the violence dumbed-down, but thankfully the uncut version is available on Blu-ray and looks great.

But I digress. Thinking about this movie has made me want to revisit it soon, and I’m sure I’ll write something up on the site about it. For now though, the toys. A friend game me some carded figures from this movie, and since I have no respect for mint-in-the-box-things I promptly ripped them open to get a closer look. How do these 12-year old toys hold up to the Batman action figures of today? Let’s find out.
Read More

I’ve drooled over many a Mondo poster the past few years, and I’ve never been able to snag one due to their limited runs and popularity among geeks these days. Luckily, Mondo has teamed up with acclaimed artist Olly Moss to produce a Dark Knight Rises poster that will be sold to anyone who wants one.

From Olly’s annoucement post:

It’s a 16×24 screen print on cream stock, and it will go on sale for 24 hours at 12:01am CT Wednesday the 18th of July for $40 from www.mondotees.com . It’s a timed edition, so anybody who orders within those 24 hours is guaranteed a print.

I think this is a great idea. With eBay scalpers accounting for a huge number of Mondo sales lately, printing a huge run like this will effectively cap the resale value but enable more fans to get their hands on the art. I wish they would do this for more posters.

So, are you going to order a poster on Wednesday?