 7:00 PM on 01.20.2010 |
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I remember it as if it were yesterday. One night in the fall of 1997, I was sitting at a diner with my oldest friend, John Drauss. We were discussing Nostradamus' prophecies regarding the end of the world. Then he starts telling about this great movie that he saw. Starship Troopers. I didn't want to hear anything about it. At the time, I was obsessed with Star Wars, and Starship Troopers was just a dumb cash-in on people too impatient to wait for Episode 4. Plus it had that annoying Blur song in the trailers. No thanks. John was adamant. He was so sure that I would like this movie, he was willing to put up the cash for me to see it. I was wrong about a great many things that night. First, I now quite like Blur. Second, I should have gotten that burger at Vassal's diner medium-rare, since it was over-cooked. Third, George Lucas is a douche-bag. Finally, Starship Troopers instantly became one of my favorite movies. If you listen to Tomocast, then you know that if I am obsessed with something and there's a toy version, I will own it. Would you like to know more? Click ahead to check out the big, bad warrior bug from Galoob's Starship Troopers toyline. 
As was the standard from the beginning of time through the turn of the 21st century, licensed toys were horrible. The Starship Troopers line didn't try too hard to buck tradition. The standard figures released were Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien), Ace Levy (Jake Busey), and Carmen Ibanez (Denise Richards). They not only completely failed to resemble their real-life counterparts, but the outfits they wore didn't look a thing like the movie versions. The war outfits for Ace and Johnny were pastel, for crying out loud! Not good. 
The warrior bug, on the other hand, was fantastic in every way. It is a perfect representation of the computer-generated bug from the film. The sculpt was dead-on. The paint-job looks incredibly authentic. Finally, the articulation was really well done. 
Each of the four legs, as well arm-like appendages, are mounted with ball joints. This enabled the warrior bug to be thrown into nearly any pose. It always makes me wish that I had four hands so that I could make this thing properly walk across the floor. 
The jaws are able to clamp down onto a figure. The pincers when snapped shut, will hold the weight of a standard 6-inch figure with no problems. And 12 years later, the ball joints in the legs are still strong enough to not budge a millimeter when taking on that same weight. This arachnid is an example of quality craftsmanship. 
It's battery operated, so when you open and shut the jaws, it makes metallic slicing noises. There's also a button on it's back which activates hissing. Over time the batteries in mine have died and for that I am thankful. I wouldn't consider the sounds iconic or even accurate. A neat concept, but the delivery left me indifferent. Now if it had Clancy Brown's voice shouting "Medic!", it never would have gotten old. Nor Michael Ironside saying "Everyone fights. No one quits. You don't do your job, I'll shoot you myself." I would never fail to find uses for those. 
They say that the only good bug is a dead bug. I have to disagree. I love this evil space-monster dearly. Even though the rest of the Starship Troopers figures are sitting in a box, never again to see the light of day, this guy has been proudly on display for over a decade. For that, I owe Galoob my eternal gratitude. As I do to John D. for dragging me to see that movie for the first time. 
We're through with April, which means we celebrate its demise with another edition of DO WANT. Here, you'll see all of us at Tomopop want on our desks, shelves, etc.
This month, you can look forward to:
A goddess
A scout
A pop star
A glorious mustache
...and more! Hit the jump to find out what. Welcome back to the feature that lets you know how we want to spend our hard-earned ducats. That's right, it's the monthly DO WANT! Sorry we're a couple days late, as we had to prep for the usual April Fools shenanigans. ... Everybody has a favorite Batman rogue. Usually that favorite is along the lines of the Joker, Riddler, Harley Quinn, Two-Face, or Catwoman, although there's also the occasional Mr. Freeze fan. My choice might be a little less... When us Western folks think about figure scenes in the East, we tend to invariably end up thinking about two main places. The place where they all came from, Japan and probably the second-largest community in the area, Singap... Oh, it's the end of the month you say? Well, that can only mean one thing: it's time for DO WANT! This month, we have several editors agreeing on one particular figure, which hasn't happened in a while. Which one is it? Well,... Welcome back again to Custom Made Monday, our spotlight on things going on in the world of custom figures. This week's rundown is a little bit shorter than last week's, but it's also just as impressive. In part, that's becaus... Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! To show our appreciation for you taking time out of your day every day to come visit us, our editors got together and made a small gallery. We figure it would be impractical to mail out f... Ever look over your collections and think about what started it all in the first place? As collectors, we always treasure new and old things, but there is always a special place in our hearts for the first things we collect.
The header images may make it obvious, but hit the jump to see what figurine kick started many of our editors' collections. Today's my birthday, and as such, I figured today would be as good a day as any to announce the rebirth of Munn-day Morning Recap into a new, expanded feature — Custom Made Monday.
Custom Made Monday expands on what Mun... As it's the end of the month, it's time for DO WANT, where the Tomo editors let you know what we desperately desire. As it's been a couple of months since DO WANT has graced the front page, there's quite a bit of pressure to ...
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