Barbecue's Bonfire 11/27/2020: A Black Friday to Stay Home and Stream Edition

 

   Happy belated Thanksgiving, everyone! Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday and that you're either being extremely careful, shopping online, or just avoiding Black Friday this year. Besides, there is lots of good stuff to stream this year so staying home isn't so bad. With a new episode of The Mandalorian today, another tree to decorate (we're doing two trees this year), and some Lego Harry Potter to play on the Nintendo Switch we're going to be plenty occupied. I've also been watching lots of other stuff.

  Did you check out any of the MST3K Turkey Day marathon? We didn't get to watch the whole thing but we watched parts of Pod People along with Night of the Blood Beast and Cry Wilderness. My daughter legitimately loves Cry Wilderness, by the way, so that was a nice surprise. I missed Emily Crenshaw's riffing segment so I'm going to have to track that down. More stuff, including Star Wars and Kurt Russell as Santa Claus after the break...

This is the Way: Jango Fett (Star Wars: Bounty Hunter) from Star Wars: The Black Series Phase III by Hasbro

   The Mandalorian Madness continues with a look at Jango Fett who is, according to the rulers of Mandalore, not actually a Mandalorian. He's allegedly from Concord Dawn, a planet in the Mandalore Sector of the Outer Rim, but not from Mandalore itself. Anyways, whether or not he's a Mandalorian it's pretty clear that Jango Fett was renowned as the greatest bounty hunter of his era. Hasbro released a Jango Fett in the Black Series back in early 2016 that was based on his appearance from Attack of the Clones, a film that's simultaneously one of the best and one of the worst Star Wars movies. This version of Jango Fett is one of GameStop exclusive Gaming Greats and is actually based on the 2002 GameCube and Playstation 2 game Star Wars: Bounty Hunter. That's pretty cool, right? It wasn't the best game but I do have some good memories of playing Star Wars: Bounty Hunter on my GameCube back in 2003 or so. The biggest weakness of the previous Jango Fett figure was the paint on the face so Hasbro has totally rectified that issue here with an incredible face print. To further differentiate the figure, though, you also get Jango's earlier Z-6 jetpack and a purple bodysuit. I thought it was worth a buy, especially with the great sales and the nice rewards GameStop has been running lately. Let's take a look at the Gaming Greats Jango Fett after the break...

Action Figure Review: Red Ninja from G.I. Joe: Classified Series by Hasbro

   Ready to finish up the second series of the G.I. Joe: Classified Series? Then let's take a look at the mysterious Red Ninja! The Red Ninja first appeared in 1984 in Marvel's G.I. Joe #21 Silent Interlude, the renowned story which features lots of ninja action but no dialogue. Over the years they've become a regular staple in the G.I. Joe universe and a popular army builder. I didn't expect to see them in the line this early, especially not before we received a standard Storm Shadow, but here they are. The Red Ninja seem to be the toughest of the series 2 figures to find, probably because of they're army builder status. Of course, Red Ninja is also a pretty cool figure who is loaded with weapons. Seriously, he has more weapons than any other standard figure in the line. Let's take a look at the Red Ninja after the break for some hardcore ninja action...

This is the Way: Cad Bane from Star Wars: The Black Series Phase IV by Hasbro

   He's not a Mandalorian but he is a bounty hunter and some say he was the best bounty hunter in the galaxy after the untimely death of Jango Fett at the hands of Mace Windu. Who are we talking about? Why Cad Bane, of course. Cad Bane appeared in the second season of The Clone Wars and I remember there being a lot of excitement about him. Cad Bane was a fixture on the Clone Wars between the second and fourth seasons and while there was work done on a later episode of The Clone Wars where Bane and Boba Fett had a duel that resulted in the dent in Fett's helmet and Bane's death, it was never finished. Maybe that story could be resurrected or maybe we'll get more stories about how Cad Bane is still around. Based on some early images from concept work for the Original Trilogy, Cad Bane is a Western styled gunslinger who would fit perfectly into The Mandalorian, wouldn't he? He's pretty old, though, and would be well into his 70s in that era, but maybe he could still be around as a crusty old professional still doing his thing. Hasbro has been slow about filling in the roster of The Clone Wars but Cad Bane was an excellent choice and he's another stellar figure. He's part of the newest series of Phase IV Black Series figures but he was also offered earlier this year as an exclusive figure along with his droid companion, Todo-360. That figure was tough to acquire, though, so I settled for the standard release. Let's take a look at Cad Bane after the break...

Minifigure Review: Teela from Masters of the Universe by Mega Construx

 

   Today I'm checking out the last figure in the second series of the single carded Masters of the Universe Mega Construx figures and it's Teela. Yes, another Teela. How many Teelas have there been in Mega Construx? There was the original Teela which was released back when the line was called Mega Construx Heroes and who was then repackaged in the Battle for Eternia Collection, followed by the more vintage toy/ cross sell art accurate Teela that came with the SDCC 2019 exclusive Battle Bones. Well, now we have another one and she's actually nearly identical to the the Teela that came with Battle Bones. She's got a few differences but she's mostly a repack. Of course, since this line is sold on cards, you can simply skip this one. If you don't have the older figure or didn't get your hands on the SDCC 2019 exclusive, however, this one gives you a Teela for your collection. Not the most exciting release for longtime collectors but surely a vital piece for newer collectors. Let's take a look at this single carded Teela after the break...

This is the Way: The Armorer from Star Wars: The Black Series Phase IV by Hasbro

 

   Since season 2 of The Mandalorian is in full swing I'm on a roll, continuing to check out lots of cool new Star Wars: The Black Series figures. Today we're checking out the mysterious leader of the Mandalorian enclave known as the Tribe who is known only as the Armorer! Hasbro released a Pulse exclusive version of the Armorer a month or two back but she disappeared rather quickly, so I had to settle for the standard version. I'm super excited to get the Armorer in The Black Series although she feels like a figure we should have gotten last year. Unfortunately, it feels like Hasbro is currently working a year behind when it comes to The Mandalorian so it's doubtful we'll see any figures from season 2 until sometime later in 2021. That's not a knock on the quality of the figures nor on the quality of the show, but it definitely makes me wish that Hasbro and Disney could work together more closely. Anyways, let's take a look at the Armorer after the break...

Barbecue's Bonfire 11/19/2020: Snake Mountain Arrives Edition!

 

   What's up everyone? This has been a pretty good week. We've been decorating trees, I've started to play The Last of Us: Part 2 (which I got for my birthday back in September), and Christmas movies have been a regular staple in the house. And... Snake Mountain from Masters of the Universe Classics finally arrived! How about that? It showed up on Wednesday in a massive box that weighed about 50 pounds.

Yes, my long awaited Snake Mountain from Super7 arrived in the mail yesterday. I'm definitely going to do a full review in the coming weeks but I have to say that the size and overall presentation of Snake Mountain is amazing. I love it and I'm so, so glad to finally have it in my collection. I've had a spot worked out for it for quite a few months and it's really cool to see it there. The quality of the playset is really nice and it seems quite durable. It does seem a bit lacking feature wise, with oddities like the monster mouth on the front only moving manually (there's no lever) and the bridge being really short. Still, the accessories like Skeletor's throne and the monsters coming out of the green water are incredible and feel like substantial additions to the MOTUC line. Of course, continue after the break for more thoughts on a potpourri of things...