Wonder Woman
For a long time, “Direct to Video” was considered the kiss of death when releasing a movie. If your movie went straight to the video store without a broadcast or theatrical release, it meant that no one wanted your product. It put your work firmly in the realm of the “B movie”. Nowadays, studios are realizing that more and more people have a movie collection at home, so you can see a nice shift in direct to video films. There are still those “Gee, another movie with Eric Roberts” moments, but you’ll often find some real gems in the bargain bin when you pass by your local Video City or Astrovision.
Take Warner Home Video and their recent partnership with DC Comics. They already gave is what is quite frankly the best superhero cartoon series EVER to air on TV, Justice League. When that ran its course after the fifth season, WB and DC started cranking out straight to DVD animated features. They’d already had some experience with this when they did a few for the old Batman Animated series, but now they were stepping out of the G-rated DC Animated universe they had created and moving into the big leagues of PG-13.
Wonder Woman, released earlier this year, is one of the results of studios accepting the new paradigm that cartoons aren’t just for kids. It’s obviously heavily influenced by the DC Animated Universe, no surprise since Bruce Timm, the man behind the DCAU, is the producer. Though the director, Lauren Montgomery, a former story boarder for Timm, is obviously a fan of Disney, she manages to keep the adult themes going. Despite their work on the Saturday morning squad, these guys (with the help of writers Michael Jelenic & Gail Simone) were able to cook up a story that appeals to adult fans, too.
They make full use of the PG-13 rating, with the film taking on a decidedly violent bent. It’s not too far out there, since Wonder Woman is really Diana of the Amazons, a race of warrior women cut off from the rest of the world since the days of Ancient Greece. It’s great to see the origins of some of DC’s best characters being retold. I think this really is the medium for it, and it works so much better than DC’s retcons, or Marvel’s whole “Ultimate” Marvel Universe. There are some really great fight scenes, and though it’s not Miller’s 300, you’ll get to see a beheading or two. At least in silhouette.
You’ll also see a lot of flirting in this animated film. It’s by no means Playboy’s Girl Next Door, but Montgomery’s Amazons aren’t afraid of their sexuality. A lot has been said about how good a role model Wonder Woman is for girls but face it, she’s a better hero for a child than Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears. Sure, she runs around in a corset and panties, but she can kick Batman’s ass while doing it, so things are about even. The whole thing is addressed when Diana teaches a crying girl how to swordfight. She shows her how to impale the boys who wouldn’t let her play pirates. “Unleash Hell,” she says.
Keri Russell plays Wonder Woman, and to her credit, I never once thought “Felicity” until I read the credits. Nathan Fillion (Serenity!), who plays a smarmy rogue so well, is perfect as downed pilot Steve Trevor, who trapped on an island of women, naturally finds time to play peeping tom. The rest of cast is filled with “real” actors, from Alfred Molina, to Virginia Madsen, to Rosario Dawson. The best voice acting is when you can’t recognize the voice because they’re selling the character. That’s the reason stuff like “Shark’s Tale” fails so miserably, since the animators are trying to hard too make the fish like Will Smith. Will Smith should become the fish. Happily, the cast here knows what it’s doing.
Art and cinematography for the film is excellent. The 70 minute runtime goes by fast since about 30% of it is composed of big fight scenes. It opens with the traditional action spectacular, an epic battle between Hippolyta’s Amazon forces and the Legion of Ares. It’s a nice foundation for the story and gets much of the exposition out of the way. Then you get into the Origin of Diana, the classic one where she is made out of mud and given life by Hippolyta’s longing for a child of her own. There’s the classic tournament where Diana wins the right to represent the Thymiscria as ambassador to the outside world, and yes… the Invisible Jet is there. No explanation whatsoever, but it’s there. You canon whores can be satisfied.
All in all, Warner and DC is giving Marvel and Lionsgate Home Entertainment a run for their money. You can’t help but compare this title with the recent Hulk Vs. Thor feature, and it is easily a match. While it’s not as violent, and the art is a little more Disney, the plot is every bit as engaging and fresh as it was when Diana was first introduced in 1941.
DC Universe Classics
Wonder Woman
In total, I own 2 DC figures, this one and Hawkman. Most would assume that it is because DC Universe Classics figures are so expensive (1,300 Php at retail), but there are options available for the thrifty collector. Despite the recent price hike (or perhaps because of it), many collectors are letting go of their DCUC collections, so you’ll often find entire waves for about half of what they were available for when they were released.
There are also a ton of “surplus” figures flooding the market from factories in China. Word is that these figures are almost indistinguishable from the originals distributed by Bankee (local distributor of Mattel merchandise here in the Philippines). The biggest diffrence is that the packaging is flimsy, which is a moot point for most loose collectors. They cost about 100-300 Php if you can catch them before the wholesalers get their hands on them. Even if you don’t, they soon show up everywhere else at something like 500 Php a pop, which is still a good deal. You’ll have to be careful that you get one with a nice paint scheme and any accessories that the figure’s supposed to come with (but seeing as how the early quality control on the DCUC line was crap, that isn’t as big an issue as it would be).
This flood of “quality” product at knockoff prices coupled with a price hike for all Mattel figures has ensured that bankee won’t be bringing in succeeding waves of these figures. Already DCUC shelves in Toy Kingdom are packed with product that isn’t moving at all. 1,300 Php is alot to ask, considering in order to assemble the “Collect-and-Connect” figure, you’ll need to buy 5 or 6 of these things at the very least.
Which is why I was happy to find Wonder Woman before the end. I was lucky enough to score this one at Rustans Department Store in Shangri-La. There were a few figures available at 500 Php there which looked to have come in with a shipment of surplus goods or something. Their pacakges were all banged up, but the figures were alright. This one is from the filler wave that didn’t have the CNC piece. Instead it has a stand that is less than useless.
Since there was only one Wonder Woman figure and I was saving 800 Php with this purchase, I wasn’t going to quibble about quality issues, but I’ll enumerate what there is of them here. First and biggest problem was her shoulders. I don’t know how Mattel molded these, but the inner “wheel” portion that allows her arm to move outward is smaller than the “ball”. This makes the entire construction look decidedly odd and unfinished, or down right sloppy. There’s also a lot of flashing (excess plastic that squeezes out from between two halves of a mold) around on various parts. From what I observed at Toy Kingdom, the problems are common to all these figures as well as the Artemis variant.
Paint is decent however. I didn’t notice anything blatantly wrong on my figure nor on the ones on the shelves. Most of the body is cast in flesh tones, so we don’t have to worry much there, and the rest of her is mostly flat tones. There aren’t too many problems with register lines despite there being a lot of opportunity for it. Consider her panties (sir, yes, sir!). The stars are printed on the blue plastic, but the lines are crisp. The only problem areas you’ll need to look at are the boots and the top of her corset, since those are the ones with multiple paint aps over cast plastic. Both parts on mine don’t have a lot of spillover. Her face is pretty good, with nice clean applications on lips, eyes, and brows, and a clean black for the hair.
Accessories wise, she comes with some nice ones; a sheild and an axe. The sheild fits perfectly on her arm via a clip. It’s got her star motif sculpted and painted around the edge of the disc, and some other nice sculpted details. The axe is kind of a let down, though. It’s a nice looking piece in the shape of an eagle, but it doesn’t fit in her hand very well. The weapon is so loose that it’ll fall out at the slightest touch.
Her lasso and bracelets are there, but neither are removable, so are more features of her sculpt rather than accessories.
I really like this figure and it goes well with the little sub-collection I have of gladiators/warriors/barbarians. Despite the control issues Mattel has, their DC Universe Classics line is a very fun line to collect, with nice accessories, the Collect-and-Connect parts, and sturdy constuction. Plus they’ve got this great selection of characters. At most they’ve given us maybe 4 supermen, and 2 of those were variants. How many Wolverines and Iron Men have we gotten in the last few waves of Marvel Legends?
But all things considered I can’t recommend it. 1,300 Php is insane for a mass market figure. If Mattel had the kind of sculpt quality that NECA, McFarlane, or Mezco had, or was imported like Revoltechs, that might have swayed my vote, but these are hardly better than Hasbros efforts and none of their lines have passed the 1000 Php mark for a single figure.
Metro Comic Convention
Every now and then I like to enjoy a geek weekend all to myself. Often, my self appointed task during these events is to observe and record the social interactions that occur when geeks of varying interests are gathered into a temporary enclosure filled with a plethora of geeky paraphenalia. For instance did you know that the geek sub-species, the cosplayer, will stop in it’s tracks whenever a camera is pointed at it? It will hold it’s pose for several minutes until the threatening camera weilders lose interest. The pose it assumes can be either of two types, either the awesome I-am-a-bad-ass-with-a-huge-sword/bat/baton/stapler position, or the I-am-an-achingly-cute-schoolgirl/catgirl/scantilycladgirl-and-you-can’t-resist-me-pose. Both are equally effective in calming would be predators.
Cosplayer assumes the I-will-kick-your-ass stance.
Cosplayer assumes an I’m-too-cute-don’t-hurt-me pose
The sub-species called Toy Collector, however, often arrives at these events loaded with wads of cash, on the hunt for the elusive prey named the bargain which is rumored to only show it’s face at events, or the legendary, hard-to-find which is as the name suggests, hard to find at retail. There is also the show exclusive which aren’t native to Philippine shores and must be imported via questionable means. Since the toy collectors are often well represented, competition for these three items is often bloody. In past events the hunt for the hard to find has often led to a life or death struggle between two or more collectors (or harsh invectives anyway).
A favorite of collectors, the “Bargain”
The elusive “Hard-To-Find” shows up regularly at conventions
“Exclusives” often must be imported, since they are not indigenous to the Philippines
Another group of geeks would be an off-shoot of the Toy Collector sub-set, the Statue Collector. These geeks often have Toy Collectors in their ancestral tree, but gravitate more and more toward high-end products with higher value and quality. This year’s comic con provided them with a veritable smorgasboard of local talent to wolf down. Halimaw, HobbyMaster, Fatboy Studios, The Art Department, and IamNinoy all had a selection for their patrons. I was lucky enough to catch these shots as I moved through the crowd.
Sasquatch by Halimaw!
Silver Surfer and Archangel by Hobbymaster
Hulk by Fat Boy Studios
Gambit by Fat Boy Studios
Deadpool by Fat Boy Studios
Selene by The Art Department
Ninoy by Iamninoy
Not to be outdone by their Statue Collector cousins, the Customizers were also out in force. These geeks will take a pre-produced figure and with their advanced tool-using abilities, create something all together different. Some of their work was displayed at the convention and made the other sub-species drool with envy.
Cory doll
Polgas action figure
Ghostrider Munny
Giant Stickfas Snake Eyes
Voltron Munny
Ironman Munny
Original action figure
Gillian Anderson? doll
But when it all comes down to it, the Metro Comic Con is the natural watering hole of the Comic Book Geek. According to popular thinking, this species is perhaps the origin of all geekdom and individuals belonging to it often display a collective memory that resembles the way some human cultures pass on their ways through oral history. By sharing the same stories, Comic Book Geekdom has grown to encompass most of the other species, with Comic Book Movie Geeks, Comic Book Toy Geeks, Comic Book Statue Geeks and Comic Book Cosplay Geeks.
The Metro Comic Con didn’t skimp when it came to providing for their patrons, with various panels, shows, tables with artists and writers, signings, sketches, and several big exhibitor tables from Comic Odyssey, Planet X, Fourth Wall, and Druid’s Keep, with a ton of back issues and comic book story arc sets. Many comic book artists also attended to promote and sign their work.
Panel on cartoon dubbing in the Philippines
Buyers at the Planet X table
Buyers at the Planet X table
Creators of “Who Can Save Us Now?”
A creator signs his work
The Comic Odyssey table
The Comic Odyssey table
Lan Medina sketches at The Comic Odyssey table
Sandy at The Comic Odyssey table
Pugad Baboy table
Another comic exhibitor table
Fourth Wall’s Table
Comic Artists doing what they do best
Sketches were just 20 Php apiece
Eric of Fourth Wall Comics
The fabled female fan!
The room on the first day
The two day event was highly enjoyable, and despite some negative comments I’ve seen around, I felt it showed a lot of promise. Though lack of funds prevented me from bringing home some of the more prestigious prizes (Red Hulk, Ironman Man & Maria Hill 2-Pack, Statues!!!), I was able to bag a few trophies, including another copy of Books 1 and 2 of Trese, signed by Budgette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo (woot!), a copy of Skyworld: Apocrypha by Mervin Ignacio and Ian Sta. Maria, a 6″ Dawn McStatue from Edmond, a surplus 25th Anniversary Scarlett sans accessories and a Wall-E stuffed toy from 2Rats, and a Sigma 6 Kamakura with flame gear from CADS (I think).
Suffice it to say, I can not wait for next year’s. And this time I’ll bring cash instead of a camera.
Metro Comic Con hauls (Transformers courtesy of caloocan6th of CybertronPH)
Trese: Murder on Balete Drive
By Budjette Tan & Ka-Jo Baldisimo
Review Originally posted on slangards.multiply.com
Above: Cover illustration of the first Trese Collection by Ka-Jo Baldisimo
I collected comics. A lot of comics. When most people I know have a stack of them stashed away, I have four 3′ long boxes filled with them in my closet, and those are just the ones I decided not to sell. Most of them are Marvel issues from from the late 80’s to the 90’s era when the likes of Jim Lee and Todd McFarlane were at their peak. The largest chunk is composed of X-men titles, though I had a fondness for the Incredible Hulk as well.
At one point they were all polybagged and boarded, cause you know that is what you do when you have a comics collection, right? You keep them in acid free bags to protect them, keep them out of sunlight so they don’t yellow, only turn the pages with tweezers because your fingers have destructive oils, and never allow creases on their spines or else their secondary market value drops exponentially. argh. Eventually I got to a point where I said, “F*ck it” and threw away all those bags and boards. I had about 10 years of X-men continuity. I hated these things. I finally allowed myself to sit down and read entire story arcs the way it was meant to be done. Pick up one issue, finish it, pick up the next. Market value be damned.
The reason I stopped was comics became less and less interesting and more and more expensive. I found that even my favorites like Chris Claremont were turning out duds. Read X-treme X-men? Don’t. While things were getting less and less HUMAN on Earth 616, the characters that I loved were now appearing on the big screen and feeling more and more like the people I remembered reading about month after month. Comic titles I had never heard of like Constantine and Hellboy and 300 were poping up in the cinemas and surpassing what I was seeing on the page. I couldn’t remember why I would pay P150-250 for a 10 minute read when I could pay the same for 3 hours of Nolan’s Dark Knight.
Then I remembered why.
I picked up Budjette Tan’s and Ka-Jo Baldisimo’s TRESE: MURDER ON BALETE DRIVE on a whim. I was at Powerbooks after an unsuccessful toy hunt and was trying to convince myself to spend P1,000 on a Hellboy trade paperback rather than saving it for when I found a Leader Class Optimus Prime. I was unsuccessful. Then I saw Trese on the racks. It was local publication, printed in black and white by Alamat, and wasn’t much bigger than a high school notebook. The art on the cover was great, and featured Baldisimo’s renditions of creatures from Philippine mythology, with Trese (the lead character) and her two associates, the Kambal, prominent above the title. The blurb in the back was interesting. And it was only P140.
Sold.
I had heard of the comic before, since I’m on Alamat’s mailing list and remember Budjette from a summer of internship at Harrison Communications. Still remember that excited feeling I got when he told me he had actually bought a comic that me and my friends had written as a course requirement. I didn’t care if he liked it (he thought it was too morose if I remember correctly), it was just the fact that someone had actually read it outside of the our group. He had actually paid money for a copy of “Portfolio”. Amazing.
From what I knew Trese was just as advertised, a private consultant who the police turned to when something weird happened. This edition collects four of the stories that the pair created; At the Intersection of Balete & 13th St, Rules of the Race, The Tragic Case of Dr. Burgos, and Our Secret Constellation. Each is a wonderfully stand alone tale that anyone can understand, even someone like me who has only a cursory knowledge of Philippine myths and legends.
Tan’s writing is simple, unembellished with big words. The four episodes read like straight-forward crime noir short films. Captain Guerrero of the Manila Police finds a case that’s a little odd, calls Alexandra Trese, she investigates, she solves it, done. The set up is right there and you don’t need any complications to spice that up. No boring exposition for the reader to plod through. The story, like Trese herself seems, is to the point, and that is what ultimately makes it readable.
Normally there’d be a measure of disbelief in Tan’s setup. However, because Trese and the people inhabiting her world aren’t going out of their way to explain things to you, you accept them. You’re not constantly poking holes in the plot, or over analyzing the flaws. You are there, following along like Watson after Holmes. You know you don’t have the knowledge to solve these crimes, so you trust in her ability to lead you to the answer. It’s just… CSI with engkantos.
Baldisimo’s art complements that kind of stark writing well. He’s not at all afraid of blacks, and the simple strong line art makes this darker world seem to pop. He illustrates the scenes in Tan’s story so well that I find myself wondering how it could be possible t do it any better. he seems to knows the beats where a movie producer would go “trailer shot!”. The introduction of the Kambal, Armanaz standing before Trese, Santelmo emerging from the flames, and the big reveal at the end of “Our Secret Constellation”. What an ending! Reading Tan’s afterword, I can’t believe they did this all on their lunch hours (especially know the hours these guys work) and it boggles the mind to think what he’s capable of completely focused on illustrating a comic.
His designs are iconic; if Hasbro ever decided to do another Legendary Comic Book Heroes, I would be first in line to buy the Marvel Legends style action figures of her and her Kambal (I am in fact considering finding two professor xaviers and a small female figure and customizing my own) and I’d love to own a BAF of Senor Armanaz.
My favorite of the collection is “Our Secret Constellation”. I grew up on Marvel comics, so I don’t hold Mars Ravelo in such high esteem as the two creators do, but reading their story gave me goosebumps. Not being familiar with the names of Ravelo’s characters, I had no idea what was coming so when the end came, I was engrossed. Those final few panels were just classic. I won’t reveal what it’s about here; I want you buy it and experience it for yourselves. Finishing it gave me the same feeling I had when I first read the Age Of Apocalypse or Miller’s Dark Knight Returns. It’s worth the price of the book by itself.
So thanks, Budjette and Ka-jo. Because of Trese, I’m back into comics. I’m glad there are still some great stories to be told and I can’t wait to read the rest.
Now I’m gonna sit back here and read it again.
P.S. 8/10/2009
This past weekend, I got a copy of parts 1 and 2 of Trese at the Metro Comic Con, signed by both Budj and Ka-jo! Geekgasm!
Ice Cream Truck Skids & Mudflap
Thanks to a fellow collector, I was able to score one of these babies despite the insane demand for them. After the movie was released, kids, collectors, and even grandmothers (seriously, there was one at a recent toy event looking for Transformers) are looking for this set. Understandably, I didn’t get them at retail price (p700.00), but considering bids on eBay are going up to p1600.00, I consider myself lucky. The way I figure it, the little extra I paid for these Twins is a lot less than what I would have spent riding up and down the MRT from SM North to Mall of Asia looking for them.
The big selling point of the Deluxe Class “Autobot Skids/Mudflap” is really right on the box; “2 ROBOTS COMBINE!”. When I saw that announcement sticker on the front of the package, I, like everyone else couldn’t wait to get one. How can you beat a two-for-one deal? Just look at the buying frenzy that ensued when Marvel Legends hit clearance here in the Philippines. It started an influx of new dilettantes that have turned into collectors and geeks in their own right. People love a sale.
According to the back of their card, these guys are equipped with “experimental combination technology”. Fuck if I know what that means. I do know that this version showed up in the movie (albeit in a weird and inexplicable scene I’m not at all sure was necessary), so I’m sure completists are going to want to add him to their displays. Kids are going to want him because let’s face it, their pure merchandising gold. As for me, I just couldn’t resist pink Transformers that turned into an ice cream truck. We all scream for ice cream.
But I want to make one think very clear before I get going; two-for-one isn’t necessarily the same as 50% off. Skids and Mudflap turn into a vehicle that is roughly the same size as a regular deluxe vehicle, but their robot forms are about the size of the Scout Class figures. I pretty much expected this since Hasbro’s got to make a profit, but if you were expecting to get a toy that replaced the red and green Twins that came out previously, you’ll want to keep hunting.
The package for these Revenge of the Fallen toys is alot easier to open than previous lines. Once you strip the tape off the back, the bubble seems to fall right off when you pull it. There are several twisties, but I’ve learned to keep a nail clipper handy while I open things. There are also some clear rubber bands that will have to be removed. The requisite useless instruction manual is included (which you can feel free to toss in the trash) as well a catalog of other Transformer toys available at your favorite toystore (or not).
Skids and Mudflap come in their separate half-vehicle forms and you are required to put them together. I really miss that old note on those 80’s toys that warned “some assembly required”, so this was a mini thrill for me. It’s a cinch really, since he’s got pegs and holes that are really very obvious. Really, an untrained monkey who just came in off a bender, has been blindfolded, and spun around 52 times in an office chair can put these two pieces together.
The vehicle form is just as great as I imagined it. It really reminds me of that Mickey/Optimus Prime import. It seems like something Disney would have put in one of his movies. Or Stephen King in one of his books. Really the only thing that it’s missing is a light and sound feature with the little ice cream truck song it had in the film and the “Decepticons suck my popsicle” painted along the side. I seriously want to ask one of our local customizers if they can paint that on one side, just so I can have him drive by my set of Masterpiece Seekers.
There is one thing that I find fiddly though. His hood tends to pop open fairly easily since the latch isn’t really that secure. The little hood ornament on the front acts as a lock to hold his spring loaded head down under the hood, but since it’s a small, pull out piece, it comes loose fairly easily. I’m afraid it might get pretty bad later on with a few months play wear.
Their robot forms are excellent little toys. I’m not really a stickler for size or scale, so the fact that they’re smaller than a G.I. Joe doesn’t really bother me. The colors are what you’d expect from the vehicle mode, though Skids seems to get more of the pink, while Mudflap gets the cream. Maybe Skids is more secure in his masculinity.
They’ve got pretty good articulation, though not as much as their single robot forms. Knees and elbows are hinge joints, while shoulder, hips and neck are all ball joints. Skids’ shoulders are hindered by his armor, however. There’s an additional hinge joint on the wrists of their oversized hands; right for Skids, left for Mudflap. Sculpt wise, I prefer Skids. He’s got a top heavy look that goes well with his face. It makes him look a little CRAZEH! Mudflap is all right, but his torso seems very long, like the Scout Class Roll Bar toy. His feet are also oversized.
As far as I can tell there aren’t any issues with paint. The register lines on the words were perfect on mine. Admittedly, there is no way for me to actually check, since these aren’t shelved so much as brought-out-of-the-box-and-given-to-people-waiting-in-a-long-ass-line.
So are the Ice Cream Twins worth the trouble? Probably not. It’ll be hard to find them at retail for the near future unless you’re unbelievably lucky and they’re smaller than your average Deluxe figure (even if there are 2 of them). On the other hand, given that Scout figures are now at p700.00 as well, the same price as these guys, and the quality of the toy is very good. The real kicker is availability. I would recommend waiting to see if the newer case assortments reach our shores. I’m sure with the demand that the movie has kicked up, we’ll be flush with Transformer product for a while yet.
If you're looking for biased, one-sided views of toys and other assorted geekery, then you're in the right place. If you want objective, you'll need a blog written by someone who isn't an obsessive geek.
These are my views on various toys, movies, places, and things, along with assorted pictures and the the occasional link to stuff I find sufficiently geeky.
Enjoy your stay and leave a comment.
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