Epilogue – Week of May 5th


I find myself wanting to impress my kids – but in the most positive ways possible. Sure, sometimes I want to get one of the last 14 but most of the time I want to get them creatively and critically thinking. This seems like a fun way to do it. Fire, bacon, and eating. It’s sure to be a hit. Or they’ll say, “Isn’t the stove easier?”

If that doesn’t impress them, then this will.

Not amazing.
What’s more rare than a Purple #208? A Dark Blue #180.
Is the GPK keeping this FAKE Dr. Bombay auction’s price up?
198 figures and keeps going higher. Wow.
How many people missed the SC in this auction? I did at first glance.
The “Satan’s Cross Spin Offs” are still up, but the $10.75 shipping shocks me more.
Born that way or spikes scrubbed off?
“LOT OF 33 RARE,” Umm…
I see a total shit lot. Am I wrong?
$74.99 – are you on fucking crack?
74 Flesh figures?!?! (Nothing crazy, I liked the two 74’s next to each other.)
I bet people either love or hate the bootleg with these figures.
At $0.99 jump on this one. But is that an original or re-cast of this figure?
Tougher sell with one of the figures being broken.
Great chance to pick these up cheap!
I’m always curious to see the final price on customs like these.
Color 10-Pack starting at $0.99.
Wow. Very interesting Kickstarter article. Read it.
Another good article, but you don’t have to read it.
This is a $0.99 mixed lot I want to bid on.
Very cool news if you like The IT Crowd – which should be all of you.

This is what it is like if you review a figure from only an online picture.

I’ve said before that I really dislike these figures, but that’s 100% unfair. I honestly believe you can’t review a figure until you hold it in your hands. That tactile experience is critical to fairly judging a figure. I’ve said all this before, so I won’t go on and on. Why am I sharing this? Because I just placed an order for these. Time to give these figures a fair shake.

After I wrote up the little blurb above, I saw this. God damn it. I liked David Healey’s MUSCLE MASK MASK MUSCLE, but this figure is terrible – and it’s been done before (scroll to the bottom of the page). The original version was the “weakest figure in the group” of the Yama-Bito 10-Pack. And to see a redux is just boring.

I’ve said before that #153 (the Claw) has become the Macarena of the M.U.S.C.L.E. world. It was hugely popular at one point, but now has morphed into a joke – except for the old ladies who love to hear it at weddings.

If you are a customizer, artist, or whatever – stop. Unless you can completely reimagine or transform the #153 figure than you shouldn’t be anywhere near it.

This was the D&D set I bought.

I saw this interesting article about D&D the other day. I was kind of surprised when I read it. The most surprising part was that D&D had become so rule based and people were going back to the more open-ended version of the game. I was simply mystified.

As a kid D&D was always about the role-playing aspect. We basically skipped the rules. Sure we basically understood the rules, but I don’t think we ever had a disagreement (let alone a discussion) about the rules. We kind of made our own. We just wanted to have fun.

We rolled dice, created characters, and made maps. Frankly, looking back, I think we liked making maps on the graph paper more than anything. We bought D&D books, but it was to learn about monsters, and shields, and magic we could add to our imagination. I guess it is naïve, but I didn’t know it could be anything other than that.

I know that I still have my D&D stuff packed away in my parent’s house. I might have to give it a try again with my boys – playing with our set of rules. (If I do find it, I’ll be sure to post one of the maps or characters or something.)

This week’s Video of the Week feels like a weird choice. I’m not an “outdoorsy” kind of guy. And I’ve never seen Bill Dance’s show. But his blooper reel actually made me laugh out loud when I watched it – and that almost never happens. Most internet videos make you smile or, at most, do one of the single-exhaling-snort-laugh.

UPDATE: What the fuck Bill? Apparently this video has been taken down. That’s a shame. No, it’s a fucking travesty – because it was funny as all hell. But do you know what? It wouldn’t be seen anywhere else. I think the clip was a few minutes long. Nobody is going to be forking over any money for that short few minutes of video.

I checked and you can buy FOUR volumes of Bill’s bloopers. Jesus christ. Four volumes Bill.

I could see wanting to take down videos if people had posted all four volumes of Bill’s bloopers. But those few minutes are the only reason I now know Bill’s name. If I was a lunatic, then I could buy a volume of his bloopers. It’s a shame that the best possible video for Bill to grow his brand awareness with non-fisherman was taken down.

Now I don’t have a Video of the Week or a Picture of the Week.

If you guys have either, then feel free to post it in the Comments.

And no porn – well, no hardcore porn. Just use good judgment.

  1. #1 by Josh on May 10, 2013 - 3:44 pm

    ?? What is the tell of the Dr. Bonbe being fake? It looks pretty congruent with the purple fig (which I’m assuming isn’t fake also).

    And video of the week/month/year/century:

    http://youtu.be/F1I4nkNTVqM

  2. #2 by Johnny on May 11, 2013 - 1:27 am

    Um, the video works for me. 🙂

  3. #3 by andrea on May 11, 2013 - 5:48 am

    grazie thanks

  4. #4 by Josh on May 11, 2013 - 8:54 pm

    OK, the weird rubber cracks and the obvious sloppy sprue cuts are the tell.

    You win again Dr. !!!

  5. #5 by Chad Perry on May 13, 2013 - 9:22 am

    Johnny :

    Um, the video works for me. :)

    The video came back almost immediately after I posted that “update.” I must have change YouTube’s or Bill’s mind. That’s the only explanation…




(will not be published)