Guardians of the Galaxy - Rocket Raccoon Animated Figure

So I was wandering through Toys R Us this weekend expecting the same ol' same ol' when what to my wondering eyes should appear? A set of Guardians of the Galaxy figures based on the animated series!

It was hard to keep myself from grabbing them all up because I wasn't expecting more Guardians toys until next year. But I had to pick up Rocket!

For now, the figure line up just includes the Milano crew. Yes, even Gamora (although her outfit is not great).  But you gotta have bad guys to fight, right? I'd love to get a Nebula and Yondu in this line. Maybe even a Collector and definitely a Cosmo because he pops up in the show pretty frequently.

Rocket stands around 3.75" and potted Groot is about 1.75". Being from a cartoon series, these are aimed at a younger audience but that's not saying I don't like them. I have a hard time justifying paying $13 for the current Marvel 3.75" line. These are $8 (at TRU anyway), not super articulated but are good for what they are. I love the ferocious face on this Rocket.

He's got articulation in his neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, and ball socket tail. The tail articulation is nice because he needs some extra stability with his BFG, but it can pop out if you move it too much.

What's not nice about the tail is actually looking at it. I mean, I guess it's the best place they could put all this text? The paint apps are good for the most part. I didn't really notice any problems (like the white on the left side of his head) until I started photographing him. Again, it's a line aimed at kids who probably won't notice or care.

Here's a close up of lil Groot. I'm going to have to find a really fine tipped Sharpie and fill in his eyes and mouth and maybe the soil to make him stand out a little more.

Lastly, here's animated Rocket next to his Marvel Legends counterpart. I've never liked the head they used on the Legends figure, it's way too passive for Rocket! Their guns are almost identical to the point where I had to look them over to see if Hasbro was reusing the mold but it's got a few subtle differences.

As I was getting ready to wrap this up, it occurred to me that I didn't get a shot of Rocket without his gun so you can see his outfit. Not a lot of detail paint-wise but there is some good sculpting and it matches pretty well with what he wears in the cartoon.

Aiiiir guitaaaaar!!

You can see pics of the whole wave over at Marvel Toy News.

Now Hear This - Michael Nesmith's Cruisin'

Waaaaay back in the day, MTV used to play music videos. I've tuned into the recently VH1 Classic re-branded MTV Classic and every single time, it has been a TV show or movie. I swear there was talk of them playing videos on there, but I'm getting off topic...

At various times in the 80s, Weird Al took over MTV and made it AlTV for a few hours. He'd play skits and plenty of music videos you'd be hard pressed to catch during MTV's normal rotation. And I being a young fan of Mr. Yankovic, recorded the entire show on VHS because that's how we rolled in the 80s. I don't recall which incarnation of AlTV it was but I seem to remember it being during the summer, so I'm loosely tying this into my favorite things about summer series of posts.

Now, I could be wrong about it being during the summer because of the subject matter of the music video, but ever since viewing this gem I associate it with summer. I can practically feel the A/C on me as I imagine watching it on TV.

According to Wiki, Cruisin' was the last solo single released by Michael Nesmith in 1979. Yes, The Monkees' Michael Nesmith, as if there were more than one in the world!

I was a young teen when I first saw this video so I don't think I fully got the whole picture of what exactly was goin on in the lyrics. All I really got was a sort of Three's Company vibe happening between Lucy and Ramona and Sunset Sam. The simple repetitive bass line and chorus got lodged in my head to the point where in the pre-internet days I thought the song was called "Lucy and Ramona". Thanks to the internet, I now know the name of the song is "Cruisin'" and I can share this piece of my summer history with you.

Grab a cold one, Ecto Cooler if you're lucky enough, and prepare for a trip back to the early 80s and the epicness that is Michael Nesmith's Cruisin'...



Fun fact: Sunset Sam is not portrayed by a young Hulk Hogan.

The League is Back in Season

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes of the League of Extraordinary Bloggers, the Pop Culture League is born anew!

Masterminded by Brian over at Cool and Collected, the original LoEB was a fun way for bloggers to join together with their take on a weekly topic or challenge and it's a good way to meet folks outside your current circles. It's back and slightly tweaked for the hip kids to join in with their Instapics, Facebooks, or Slapchat. If you want to join in, you can get all the details here. There's no commitment, just join in when you want.

If you're reading this, you probably already know the League is back because someone else has posted about it. I don't have a lot of time to write during the week so I'm usually going to be the last one to the party every week. But I'm here!

The topic for the return of the League is Shelfie.

With the end of August looming, I thought I'd start getting into the Halloween spirit! I know stores have had candy displays out for weeks and the Spirit store at the mall has opened so it's time to get things started!

There's plenty of books on this shelf to keep you busy during the spooky season. Starting on the left are quite a few (if not all) of artist Gris Grimly's books. I highly recommend his Wicked Nursery Rhymes series. 

All sorts of "reference" material for encountering the supernatural. The only thing I'm really missing is Tobin's Spirit Guide and now I can finally get one!

The right side of the shelf is mostly fiction with the odd "idea" book. This is also where most of my Halloween-ish Playmobil characters live. Now that I think about it, this is not most of them. Most of them are packed in with the Halloween decorations but those are trick or treater types dressing up, not actual creeps!

Off to the far, far right (out of frame) is the Halloween Tarot and the I Luv Halloween omnibus. The book is a collection of the three I Luv Halloween manga in glorious color. If you've got a warped sense of humor and a love of Halloween,you have to read this. It's got an 80s kid adventure vibe to it, only it's definitely R-rated! I re-read it every year.

The Egyptian princess is there because of the mummy on the left and because of the Egyptian dagger. If you've got books on how to fight monsters, you need something to fight them with, right? Plus, I think it just looks cool, like it could be magical.

Well, that wraps up the first Pop Culture League post! Curious what other League members are posting? Head on over to the Shelfie post at Cool and Collected.

Here's a few to get started

GI Jigsaw has an amazing vintage Star Wars display

Relatively new blog Scotch and Spacemen has got lots of 80s toys

The Harvey Mercheum is packed with merch based on Harvey Comics