SpartanNerd Unboxing and Review...VINTAGE ALERT! 200x Two Bad

SpartanNerd, you wanted a MOTUC Two-Bad.   Well.  Too bad!

So I will settle for the next best thing.  200x Two-Bad.

IMHO, the vintage 1980's Two-Bad was not very good.  I remember making him punch the opposite face all the time.  And that's about it.  He couldn't stand very well, because he was top heavy.  He couldn't hold weapons because his hands were permanent fists.  And his shield didn't fit on his arms correctly.  I did enjoy the power of punching with the spiny loaded arms and waist feature combined, however.  This was the strongest action feature in the original figures.

200x Two-Bad doesn't have any of those problems, and the action feature is also pretty cool.  So he is an advance in every way!

Here is Two-Bad in his original packaging.  Notice the price tag.
The dude at the Barnyard Fleamarket shaved a little off.

This back is different from Beast Man and He-Man.  We get a nice large pic of the figure.  It still has the annoying foreign languages all over the package.  They should have made a different card for the foreign languages, and gave people something else to collect, rather than this all-inclusive strategy.  I like the white outline around the figure.

I took this pic when I removed him from the packaging.  Impressive!

Two Bad has no problem standing.  The weapon is cool,
sporting a hinge between the two pieces.

No big button behind this figure.  His arms are spring loaded themselves.

Notice that the Baddra side of Two-Bad is the exact same color as Spikor!  In this pic you can see that Two-Bad is noticeably shorter than the MOTUC figures.  :(  Also, both heads seem a tad smaller than He-Man and Beast Man's heads.

Here is a shot of all of my baddies together.  The best thing about Two Bad is he helps fill my ranks a bit!

So, what is my rating of Two-Bad?  I like that he is an improvement on the 1980's figure in every way.  His arms are way better.  The Horsemen sculpted him, and he is very detailed.  He has excellent weapons.  He stands nicely.  The only point was taken off because of his slightly off scale build, which was probably done to save money on a fig that was fully tooled.

I rate 200x Two-Bad 4/5.  Do you agree?  Let me know!

SpartanNerd Scoop....Detective Comics #27 review

Why is this a scoop...Almost nobody has reviewed this yet!  I Googled to read other peoples reviews, and they were quite scant.

Variant Cover #2.  This was the cover most often seen in ads.

So I scooped all of Nerd-dom this time!  (Probably not really)

Detective Comics #27 in 1939 was the first time Batman appeared anywhere.  Not long after, Detective Comics was completely about Batman.  And that is all the information I could regurgitate that I most likely learned from Wikipedia at some point!

Fast forward to the New 52.  The current DC Comics universe.  New readers might not know, The New 52 was a massive relaunch of DC Comics two Septembers ago.  The SpartanNerd began reading them then, being intimidated by the vast history of DC Comics before the relaunch.  I felt it would be a good jumping-on point.  And I was correct!  This relaunch included a re-numbering, each issue became #1.  And so now, we are back at #27, and to celebrate the milestone of the original Detective Comics #27, DC has printed a MASSIVE tribute issue!

There are six variant covers...I picked up variant cover #2 in the comic book store last night.  Cover #1 will likely come to me in the mail with my subscription.  Other covers include a Frank Miller Catwoman cover.  (And then there are 3 more, oh math scholars!)

Cover #2, by Christ Burnham and Nathan Fairbairn is kind of cartoony...featuring Batman very large, with Batwoman, Batwing, the Talon, and someone else....???  (I almost thought it was the Talon, but then saw him in the air....)

There is an ad, right behind the cover, but it is just about the only ad in the whole thing.  There is an ad for the Kubert school somewhere in it, but besides the back cover, that's about it.  (A quick flip reminded me of a Scribblenauts ad.)

The first real page is a table of contents\credits page.  We get seven different stories in this issue!  I am going to go down them all, and put forth my review!  There will likely be SPOILERS....READ NO FURTHER IF YOU WANT UNTAINTED EARS!

The table of contents\credits page.

THE CASE OF THE CHEMICAL SYNDICATE...

Hope you heeded my warning!  This first story is meant to be a classic Batman story.*  The art is the average of what we have seen since the late 1980's   We see Bruce Wayne talking to himself, and talking to himself.  Which was sort of off-putting to me at first.  But I have been reading these things long enough to know that something was going on.  In the end, we were seeing snips from "The Journal of the Bat-Man."  I like that Batman says one time "I'm still too new at this!"  The end of this story has someone falling into an acid vat, and the last panel of course shows their hand climbing out.

Now, I am certain that this isn't supposed to be a canonical story.  The New 52 story of the Joker has been hashed out several times.  We saw the Red Hood fall into a vat in the Zero Year Batman story.  Not to mention the Joker reinforcing this origin story in "Death of the Family," and even making Harley go through the experience.

No, this isn't a mainline story.  It sets the stage for the vignettes we are going to be getting throughout the rest of the book.

I LIKE THE ART, I LIKE THE STORY, RATING 5/5.  I like the pulpy nature of it!
*This is a re-telling of the original Detective Comics #27.  Oddly, I didn't remember it panning out the way this did



OLD SCHOOL...

This story begins with a cover, letting you know what it coming!

The "cover art" of "Old School"

Basically, you begin with old-style comics material, with Batman and Robin in their original looks.  As the story progresses, Batman's costume evolves, and the artwork does as well, until it looks like Detective Comics artwork looks now, as different villains do ridiculous things to him.  How is this vignette justified?  Batman has fallen asleep in a comic books store, and people are dressed in costumes all around him for Batman's 75th Anniversary party.  The last panel, he picks up a copy of "Detective Comics #27"  (The original.)

THIS IS A REALLY DIFFERENT STORY.  RATING 5/5!



BETTER DAYS...

Probably a non-cannonical story also.  This one shows Batman as old as he would be for real, with Alfred in a wheelchair.  We see Dick Grayson and Damien Wayne also.  Dick is still night wing, and Damien is currently Batman.  And Barbara Gordon is the commissioner.  They are celebrating his birthday, and an alarm goes off.  So the younger heroes go off to work!  But Bruce decides to suit up and beat them to the crime scene!  They come back, the work already done, wondering how it was possible....

I like how we get to see Damien alive...But other than that, I think it is weak story.  And I don't care for all the cursing...it seems there is some four letter bomb on every page.  I don't like the lines either.  It says Bertram is the artist, who is that?  It looks like .... something you would see in I don't know.  Something I wouldn't read.

WEAK STORY, POOR ARTWORK.  UNNECESSARY CURSING, MINIMAL ACTION.  BUT DAMIEN WAS ALIVE.  2/5



HERO...

Oddly, this story is labeled "Hero" in the Table of Contents, it is called "Rain" on its first page.  The art is far superior to the previous vignette.  And it says Five Years Ago.  This is to tell the regular readers that this happened at about the time the Justice League came on the scene in the New 52 Story arc.  It is the shortest story, and the most puzzling.  I like it...but...

Basically, Batman comes in from the Batmobile, swoops down and saves a woman and her child, who then says "Thank you for saving me...again.."  Before Batman can question him about what he said, BOOM, an explosion happens and Batman saves the kid.  The kid is called "Junior" by his mom.  What I can make of this is the kid must be James Gordon, Jr.  But maybe not...He looks like it with those glasses and the way that hair is parted.  But if this is five years ago, it seems the kid couldn't be James Gordon, Jr.  He looks to be early 20's?  This kid looks like he's 11 at the oldest...

WHATEVER....MAYBE I MISSED SOMETHING OR FORGOT SOMETHING SOMEWHERE.  5/5!



THE SACRIFICE...

I am all about sacrificial characters.  So right away, I am pulled into this story.  The first thing we see is The Phantom Stranger, a character fairly new to me, with the whole Pandora/Trinity War/Forever Evil story arc.  Anyways, the Phantom Stranger shows Batman what life would be like if he got his wish...If his parents had lived through their murder.  (If his father was only wounded).

Batman sees several things.  His parents live on and shelter him.  Dick Grayson winds up on Death Row, he is married to Natalya Trusevich (recently killed by the Mad Hatter in The Dark Knight #20, a Russian pianist.  She was tragically dropped onto the Bat-Signal.)  They have a child as well.  And Ras Al Ghul is taking over Europe.

As pleasant as the thought is to Bruce of not losing his parents, he sees that the world lost something more without the Batman.  And in order for Batman to exist, his parents had to be killed.  Such irony.

I like that they brought Natalya back.  All around, not much has been said about Bruce's grief over the loss of his lover.  It was all around the same time that Damian was killed, so that overshadowed this story.  (That and the fact that the Mad Hatter thing was a little weak).

WE GET TO SEE THE PHANTOM STRANGER, A FUTURE WITHOUT BATMAN, AND WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED BETWEEN BRUCE AND NATALYA.  THE ART IS SUBDUED AND MUTED, NOT MY FAVORITE.   SO 4/5.


GOTHTOPIA...

"And all is right in the world"...Catwoman gets to be Batman's lover,
Batman has a permanent understudy.

Now for the real deal.  This is what would have been printed in Detective Comics #27 if it wasn't a big extravaganza.  And there has been tons of hype!  And...the final panel of the last Detective Comics story arc featured "Catbird," the new "Robin,"  not really putting the question of who the next Robin will be to rest, however.  Catbird is Catwoman in a Robin-esque costume.

All the previews prepared us for this.  Gotham is now the safest city in America, bighter and more akin to Metropolis.  And it is a "Utopia" because of Batman and his fellow heroes.  It is furthermore a Utopia because people have what they desire.  The Roman Sionis is Commissioner.  Catwoman is Batman's lover, and fully knows his identity.  (They are seen together in the bat cave unmasked.)  The Oswald Cobblepot is the mayor.  All of the heroes seem to be brighter.  "Blue Belle and Brightbat" are apparently Batwoman and Bat-Girl.  (Maybe.)  Batwing is now "Flying Fox".  The Talon is "the Gothamite."  Birds of Prey are now "Wings of Truth."

And Batman is redesigned.  He has a lighter colored costume.  It almost looks white!  Really a bright grey.  As the story progresses, we're not really sure what is happening.  Batman appears to be more of a policeman in this comic, not really fighting crime so much as helping people with tragedy.  And he is unable to explain or save people who are committing suicide, (there is a higher suicide rate than usual.)  Apparently Bruce catches wind that something has changed about him, and Selina and the other Heroes want to stop him from uncovering the truth.  Batman winds up in the asylum with his enemies at the end.

Questions...Should I be buying all relevant issues to "get" this story?  It says I should follow the Gothtopia storyline in Batwing 27, Batgirl 27, Catwoman 27, and Birds of Prey 28.  I haven't read any of these titles before.  Should I have picked up Batwing last night?  I guess we'll see.  I haven't read a single Batwing story.  It does say "next: INSTITUTIONALIZED."

MY INTEREST IN THIS STORY IS PIQUED.  I HAVE BEEN WAITING TO SEE DETAILS ABOUT BATMAN:ETERNAL.  THIS ISSUE HAS ME A LITTLE PSYCHED.  BUT I AM NOT SURE ABOUT WHAT IS NECESSARY, AND DC HASN'T MADE THAT CLEAR.  I LIKE THE ART AND THE STORY, AND RATE THIS 5/5.


TWENTY-SEVEN...

The final vignette, a future reality.  Batman has clones of himself working as Batman.  He sees an older version of himself tutoring his new clone.  It is apparently 200 years in the future, and Batman is still at work.  We get to see lots of different future Batmen and Robins, and future villains and threats.

THIS IS A COOL STORY, THAT MAKES YOU THINK.  WITH TERRIFIC ARTWORK.  AND IT IS GOOD TO SEE A FUTURE BATMAN.  THIS STORY GETS A 5/5 FOR SHEER COOLNESS!


SpartanNerds overall review of Detective Comics #27...It was all I hoped it would be!  5/5!

SpartanNerd Review...Commander Unboxing...Evasive Maneuvers

Evasive Manuevers….Commander Deck Unboxing and Review.

Commander, or EDH (whichever you prefer,) is a format for Magic: The Gathering that people seem starved for…Usually they are trying to sneak in a round in between Standard tournament matches, etc.  I have been sort of puzzled by that…thinking it is fun…but is it that fun?

My experiences with Commander come from playing at home with my boys…no surprise really.  The games would tend to be longer, but otherwise, besides the “commander factor” the same and just as fun, just more restricted fun.  (You may only have one copy of each card in your 100 card deck, besides basic land)

BUT that was before this deck!  I think the reason I have had “meh” feelings about the whole thing is that my decks didn’t really “do anything.”  They were more of a collection of cards that I like…that were generally unplayable in standard for some reason.

So my first cohesive deck is one that I buy ready made, it it works great!

Evasive Maneuvers comes in this blister packaging,  You can see the oversized foil Derevi, Empyrial Tactician clearly.  Notice the price...I used a $10 coupon, so this cheapskate didn't pay full price!  (I hear that Oloro's deck is fetching around $100 on the internet!)

Here's the back.  I didn't read it.  But it is supposed to sell you on buying the deck.  Derevi is impressive enough for me, and I have been playing his colors in Standard for awhile.  (White, Green, and Blue, also known as Bant)

When you open the box, you see this.

and here are the contents, underneath the foils.

This deck comes with not only Derevi, but also two other Commanders,
Rubinia Soulsinger, and Roon of the Hidden Realms (A Rhino!).  The deck comes with a regular
card of these also, as they complete the 100 cards.

But clearly Derevi is the star!

Here is a picture of the deck list.

Here is some blurb about how to play the deck.

and a nice poster.

I wish I could have made it to a "serious" tournament before this review...unfortunately Christmas Singing obligations kept me away from the one at the Tangled Web today.  There are two more planned for the future that I know of, and I may be able to attend those and play this deck.

So my first match was against my oldest son, who is currently playing a self built Excava, Blood Witch Commander deck.  (See Excava here.)  It is an aggressive Rakdos strategy, and he uses a lot of burn spells and haste, as well as favors goblins.

I beat him soundly!  And on all fronts.  Here are the cards I used to do so....There are certainly more cards to see, however.

The Mistmeadow Witch got a lot of attention from some veteran players last night
as I showed off  the deck to the people at the Standard tournament at the TW.
Apparently, Kithkins were a big deal in former Magic sets.  This cards activated ability was the way I ousted Excava the first time.  He was never able to get her out again before I finished him off.  (I mean he could have..he chose not to)

This card is kind of a more powerful Tidebinder Mage.  It flys...so....He had no flyers.  

This is apparently a reprinted card from the ancient past of Magic.
I used this to cast Blue Sun's Zenith, (not shown here).  But that instant put cards in my hand when I was starting to feel a lack of fun because I had no hand anymore.

I was delighted to get to play a "level-up" card.  This deck has two!  I had never played one before,
but have played against people that do at Modern tournaments.

This was one of my last plays.  It didn't get to do much....

I put this card onto Dungeon Geists...I never had to use it, though.

I DID use this card...Sort of a Wrath of God.  And because I had the two tokens afterward,
they were part of me winning the game!

I mention this because one of the key things was that MANA WASNT A PROBLEM!
I used this spell to get Evolving wilds back out...(It was the only land card in my graveyard)

Rubinia made an appearance, giving me control of Krenko, Mob Boss.  My son really didn't appreciate this, so he just burned her.  A key point to remember for the future...She's not to hard to kill off.  AND, if she's tapped, she isn't doing much else, is she?

Thoughts on the match...Excava is no lightweight...But I just had more access to stuff.  I had out Darksteel Ingot, Basalt Monolith, and Selesnya Signet, in addition to 12 basic lands and Faerie Conclave and Bant Panorama.  By the end of the game...with the mana-fixing artifacts coming out early giving me the power to do just about anything I wanted.

This caused another problem, though.  My hand was empty for the mid-game.  And I was powerless to do anything but block and activate abilities, of which all I had was the Mistmeadow Witch and Derevi.  Derevi's ability was great...He got sent to the command zone twice, and I was able to get him out cheap!  But my source of card draw came from SpartanSmurf #1 playing Sign In Blood, which got the Blue Sun Zenith into my hand, which I played at the end of his turn in response to him trying to remove Mistmeadow Witch...( I wasn't able to counter him)

The game ender came after all this.  I got out Kirtar's Wrath, and nuked everything.  He had more stuff out than me, so it was not biggie...This gave me the upper-hand with the two spirits, then I was able to also get Derevi out of the command zone.  At the END OF HIS TURN (So he was ready to attack next turn!  Then I played Aethermage's Touch, which got out the Skyward Eye Prophets, and I got to play Curse of Predation.  SpartanSmurf #1 didn't have much life left, so when I swung all-out, it was curtains for him!

Commander damage didn't even figure into all of this...It was all regular damage!

Thoughts on what you get....You get the three commanders...all Bant, so that's cool.  I especially like the Rhino...Rhino's are becoming one of my favorite animals.  (Maybe it is their big nose!)  Some of the cards in here are apparently lusted after by long-time players.  "Sol Ring," for example.  You also get a pretty nice box...But it won't fit your cards if you sleeve them...it is a snug fit as it is.

I am keeping the deck list for reference.  The Wizards are wasting paper by including the blue propaganda that comes with almost every Magic: The Gathering product.


My Rating...I give Evasive Maneuvers a 5 out of 5!  I can't wait to get more of these decks....I have been hint dropping the SpartanWife for Oloro, Ageless Ascetic's Esper Commander deck.  Basically, I see him as kind of like me...Sitting in that chair, He-Man's sword leaned up by the side, drinking a Diet Dew, totally ripped (now I'm dreaming)

Magic Challenge Deck review..."Face the Hydra"

I was sooo excited to see the Hydra deck for sale last Friday!  I snatched that thing up as soon as I could!

The Hydra is a challenge.  He is hard to beat.  The way this works is you get however many heads you want to slay out, and then shuffle his deck.  He uses no mana.  He gets to play whatever card he draws.  (That is why it is a self running deck.)  You on the other hand are restricted to the rules of magic, except that discard and mill spells don't work against the Hydra.

And when you kill a Hydra head, he gets to draw two cards...And if they are Hydra heads, you guessed it...You put them on the battlefield immediately.

The Hydra is no chump either...He can burn you with cards like "Unified Lunge" (See below), and there is not hardly anything you can do about it.  Furthermore, he swings every turn unless you can tap his heads.  I predicted that a white and blue azorius type deck would beat him easily, because that kind of deck can tap things.  I was correct to a point.  It depends on how lucky the hydra is..and how early he is lucky!  (I guess this is true of all Magic playing, isn't it.)

I have played the Hydra with my boys several times...It is a good thing to play Magic a different way...In a teamwork kind of way.

And the Hydra deck makes a great game of Magic Solitaire...In fact, this is something Magic has been sorely lacking...Sure there are a few rules for a Solitaire game floating around out there, but those games aren't that good.  The Hydra is a good option if you don't have a playing opponent.

The Challenge Deck is a new kind of deck, and more are promised in the future.  That said, I'm not sure how to rate it.  I Really Like It!  But it COULD have better art, I suppose.  Some of the Hydra heads look kind of "cartoony".  On the other hand, I love the back of the cards...They look cool...It makes me wish that sometimes MTG cards had a different back, but I guess the "deck master" back is a consistent choice that promotes a variety of formats.

So I'm going to rate the deck with 4/5.  The point was lost for the cartoony heads.  Otherwise, this is an awesome product, and every Magic fan should get one!

Enjoy pictures of my Hydra deck below!

Theros Review

First of all, I must apologize for a little break in the blog action.  I have been a busy SpartanNerd...But I'm ultra-excited..The Tangled Web has a big sale coming up!

Theros has some cool new things!  The "god cards" are cool...They are jacked examples of enchantment-creatures...Like these...

I have Purphoros and Erebos, and am trying to get SpartanNerd #1 to trade me a Heliod. I like how the Wizards have riffed on the greek gods...Hades, Helios, and Hephaestus.  There is also a Thassa and a Nylea, which we don't have.

Each god card has a weapon, and emissary, and an ordeal card related to them.  So there are quite a few things to collect!  I would argue that the weapons are better than the gods themselves!  When I played Booster draft, Purphoros Emissary won a few matches for me.  It has a Bestow trick, where it can be either a crature or enchantment.  It is the kind of thing that you hang onto for awhile if you can and then use it to move in for the kill.

Then there are the "hero cards,"  My favorite is Fabled Hero....(Goes great with Fencing Ace...plus, check out that flavor text.  "You.  Poet.  Write this down."  Brilliant!)  Hero cards use the "heroic" mechanic, which means that you target something and it causes a trigger.  So Heroic works good with  Bestow.

Let's not forget the monsters!  Hundred Handed One is a good example...This card was obviously designed for those token generator decks.

So that is my review of the set.  Maybe this is why M14 was so boring...All the wizards good ideas were saved for Theros!

Figure Review...Marvel Select Deadpool

This is a figure that SpartanSmurf #1 picked up at the MonsterCon.

I wish I got a picture of the unboxing, but sorry!

Let me just say...WOW!  The MOTUC figures have met their match in almost every way!

I mean, Deadpool was only $25!  He is massive!  Has tons of articulation!  And lots of accessories!

Here are some pics and my review!

This is the basic figure.

Here is his diorama and stand

Here are his accessories, minus one sai.  Trust me.  He came with another one.

Here he is with pistol, about to draw the other.

Here he is with machine gun and sai!

I used the extra large pics here to show the detail!  

First thing I noticed was the heft of the figure.  He probably weighs two pounds altogether.  That stand is a chunk!

Deadpool has very nice articulation, with double jointed knees and ball joints in lots of places.  His arms have swivel joints, but his shoulders and hips have ball joints.  His wrists swivel.  His ankles seem to have a rocker, but they are sort of weak.

Lots of detail on Deadpool.  He has extra knives, ammo pouches, a teargas grenade, holsters, etc.

I don't know much about Deadpool.  I read a couple of the comics since my son has become interested.  They really are not for children.  Maybe I shouldn't let him read that garbage.  But one thing is certain, this is an awesome figure!

Compared to the OTHER great figure line of today, MOTUC, he has them beat.  Shame on Mattel!  They could sell MOTUC figures in comics stores for a comparable price.  I mean Diamond is not even mainly a toy company!  

Deadpool has triple the accessories of most MOTUC figures, he is taller and even more hefty, he came with a diorama stand.  Mattel says they cannot sell their figures for less than the $28 plus shipping.  This just proves them wrong.  I do not know there deal on the amount they produce, but it could definitely sell better at comic stores.  They are holding out on us collectors!

I saw a Juggernaut Marvel Select figure at the Tangled Web last night.  Same price.  $25!  That figure was three times the size of a MOTUC figure.  In fact, Three times the size of Deadpool!  Granted, it didn't come with as much other swag, but still.

I think I found my next toy, if they make a Thor.  Or Wolverine.  (The Spider-Man looked kind of small...and came with a big ruined car.  I just don't think that is as great.  Maybe a Spider-Man and Hobgoblin!)