Monday, September 30, 2013

Neca sets - Pacific Rim and KA2



It seems to be another year when Neca is pumping out a lot of Heroclix sets.  I picked up the Pacific Rim and KA2 starter sets and need to get the rest of the singles.  Neither of these had really been mentioned on the www.Heroclix.com site.


The Pacific Rim set comes with a Gipsy Danger and a Slattern - not the Knifehead that it shows on the back.  Both figures are visible in the package so this is not too much of a concern.  Also included is a tiny 3 x 8 map on a four-folded board as well as 32 pogs for tanks, jets, and battleships.  These figure seem to be part of the basic 10 figures available in the single figure counter packs.  What it is missing is a basic heroclix rulebook explaining any of the special abilities on the dials - instead coming with a very simple rule set to be able to play with the figures given ignoring the special abilities.


I also picked up 6 single figure packs - getting only one duplicate.  I now have all the Kaiju and two of the Jaegers - Gipsy Danger and Striker Eureka.  I'll probably pick up the remaining 3 figures on the secondary market.



The KA2 starter is a great fit for the Heroclix system – I snapped it up as soon as I saw it.  The 6 figures in the starter are in addition to the 11 available in single figure counter packs.  There are a few interesting things about this set – mostly having to do with the names. 


The set is notably missing Colonel Stars and Stripes (and Eisenhower).  I suppose with Jim Carrey’s disillusionment of the violence, he has not allowed his image out.  Also missing is Dave’s friend’s Todd in his inverted A**-Kicker costume.   

The characters that have names that might be questionable instead are marked with their secret identities.  Kick-A** is listed as Dave Lizewski, Mother-F***** is listed as Chris D'Amico, and Night B***** is listed as Miranda Swedlow.  Since a big part of the movie involves finding out their secret identities, this makes it a bit odd.

I haven't picked up any single figure packs for KA2 yet but probably will.  Any dupes of KA, MF, or NB I can always fix the names or repaint a KA to an AK - using a Battle Guy dial.
 

Friday, September 27, 2013

Kickstarters - updates




My Kickstarters have been paying off.  I’m still waiting for my first one – OGRE Designer’s Edition from May of 2012 – but should finally be shipping soon.  This one is going to be huge.  I’ve even ordered a few of extra sponsored counter sheets.

The Dungeon Roll from back in March came in earlier this month.  It’s so tiny.  The box is the Kickstarter mimic version instead of the regular treasure chest version.

I just got Walk the Plank in this week with my extras.  It too is a bit smaller than I would have thought.  I got the pirate stickers and ghost pirate figure as Kickstarter bonuses and had ordered the Sharkspansion and Pink Robot for Get Bit as well.  This had been paid back in April – so that makes it the shortest turnaround time I have.

My only other Kickstarter was a non-game one – the Veronica Mars movie.  That was paid back in April too.  We already got the DVDs back in August but still are waiting for the t-shirts.



So far, my experience has been very good with these.  I haven’t been checking as often as I could but, so far, nothing else has caught my eye – or my pocketbook.


Thursday, September 5, 2013

Books read - May to August 2013



May
The Six-Gun Tarot by R.S. Belcher
Iron Maiden: The Ultimate Unauthorized History of the Beast by Neil Daniels
The Monster Show: a cultural History of Horror by David J. Skal
Because I Said So! The Truth Behind the Myths, Tales, and Warnings Every Generation Passes Down to Its Kids by Ken Jennings

June
The Lego Book by Daniel Lipkowitz
The Big-Ass Book of Home Décor by Mark Montano
Stan Lee’s How to Write Comics by Stan Lee
The Art and Making of the Dark Knight Trilogy by Jody Duncan Jesser and Janine Pourrot

July
The Big-Ass Book of Crafts 2 by Mark Montano
DK Star Trek the Visual Dictionary by Paul Ruditis
The Making of the Empire Strikes Back by J.W.Rinzler

Aug
Robot Building for Dummies by Robert Arrick
The Complete Photo Guide to Making Metal Jewelry by John Sartin
Warhammer Armies: Orcs & Goblins (6th edition) by Rick Priestly & Jake Thornton
Made by Dad: 67 Blueprints for Making Cool Stuff by Scott Bedford
10-Minute Puppets by Noel MacNeal
Time-Life Books: The Old West – The Gunfighhters by Paul Trachtman
The Star Trek Craft Book by Angie Pedersen
Star Trek Cross-Stitch by John Lohman
Stan Lee’s How to Draw Superheroes by Stan Lee
Dad’s Book of Awesome Projects by Mike Adamick
The Monopoly Companion by Mr Monopoly as told to Philip Orbanes