Scrappy-Doo - menace or misunderstood?

 I am quite surprised at the love and acceptance for Scrappy. I can only assume that these viewers started with the series at Scooby-Doo and Scrappy Doo or later. For me and my friends, who started with the New Scooby movies, the reruns of Scooby-Doo, Where are You? and then the Scooby-Doo/Dyno-Mutt Hour and then Laff-a-Lympics, we were already fond of the standard formula.

The change in Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, both in replacing the main 'normal' characters characters of Fred, Daphne, and Velma with Scrappy, as well as crossing into actual supernatural villains was a bit jarring. Even bringing back Daphne in later seasons didn't help. While we loved Daphne at the time, we didn't realize we needed Velma's competency for success.

Scrappy was loud, brash, over confident, unrealistic in his abilities, and a bully. He was like the friend you have who gets you into fights because he couldn't keep his mouth shut when in dicey situations. He was the friend who 'helped' build a deck on improper footings, or took out a load-bearing wall, while assuring you that he knew what he doing.

Flim-Flam compounded this with many similar traits in The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo.

Bikes in the zombie apocalypse

 So we watched The Walking Dead: The Ones that Lived. I got to thinking - why aren't more characters riding bicycles? They don't need fuel, you can have a basket, they are pretty quiet, and yet easy to lift and push if the roads get rough.

Sure, it's not at cool as a motorcycle but you can draw zombies by ringing the bell, or putting cards in the spokes.

Also, why aren't more characters using cell phones? You should be able to charge from the solar chargers if no other source of electricity is available. Even if the networks finally go down, you should still be able to take and look at pictures and videos.

Or did all the cell-distracted characters get cleared out earlier?

Figure Painting Total - May 2024

 I picked up the rest of the Aliens figures from GaleForce 9.  The USCM figures will be tricky with all of the camo, but the aliens and assets should be pretty basic paint jobs.  I placed an order for some more Starship Troopers figures and bugs direct from the new manufacturer.  If it goes well, I may pick up some more but I want to dig out the faction books first to see how the forces break down.

 

Bought

Aliens – Alien Warriors – 12

Aliens – Assets and Hazards – 34

 

Painted

 

 

 

May total – 46 figures bought, 0 figures painted

Running total 2024 – figures bought 161, figures painted 7

 

Figure Painting Total - April 2024

 Even though the gameplay on Another Glorious Day in the Corp from GaleForce 9 didn’t excite me from what I’ve seen, the figures did catch my eye.  I must not have been the only one as they had released the figures from the game and its expansions separately.  So I picked them up to use in upgrading my old Aliens board game from Leading Edge.  I also got the missing crates and tank traps from the Dust core set, as well as some dice and figures.  I thought it might be another squad, and it is almost a full squad of Allied combat rangers, with the bazooka soldier swapped out for another figure from a different squad. I may end up using them for objectives or casualties, or even as generic figures for other skirmish games.

I spent most of the hobby time for this month on assembling the Green Lantern Corps and Teen Titan sets from last month.  I was able to get a few figures across the finish line – my first for the year.

 

 

Bought

Aliens – Alien Queen – 1

Aliens – The Heroes of Hadley’s Hope – 13

Aliens – Sulaco Survivors – 4

BM – The Riddler and Bot Army – 4        

Dust Tactics – Allies – (combat rangers w/o bazooka)?? – 5 

 

Painted

DLB – The Curse of Oak Hill – 2

DLB – The Gourd Reaper – 4

DLB – Multipart Killer – 1

 

 

Apr total – 27 figures bought, 7 figures painted

Running total 2024 – figures bought 115, figures painted 7

 

Books read - January to April 2024

 Jan

High Wizardry by Diane Duane

Spike! Presents 2022 Almanac by Games Workshop

Warhammer Leviathan (10th edition) by Warhammer Design Studio

 

Feb

A Wizard Abroad by Diane Duane

Don’t Look Back by Matt Burns

Connections by James Burke

Dice Men – The Origin Story of Games Workshop by Ian Livingstone with Steve Jackson

 

Mar

The Wizard’s Dilemma by Diane Duane

On the Road to Abandoned Manitoba by Gordon Goldsborough

Blizzard Cosplay – Tips, Tricks and Hints by Blizzard Entertainment

 

Apr

Hidden Empire by Orson Scott Card

Made in Manitoba: best of the Open Road stories by Bill Redekop

Running Blind by Lee Child

 

Miniatures starting kit

 I had a friend start in the hobby miniatures painting and I put together a basic list of simple items that they should think about having in addition to paints and brushes.  Some seem quite obvious, and some less so.  I share it here with you.

Good brush set - you don't really need a lot of brushes.  You can get by with three good brushes - a 1, a 000, and another brush for dry brushing.

Good paints - find a few that you like.

Liquid model glue - for styrene figures and models.  I use Plastruct but Tamiya is also nice.

CA glue - for metal and resin figures and moddels.  I used to buy Zap-a=gap but it always dried up before I could finish half a bottle.  I'm currently using Gorilla Super Glue in regular and gel.

PVA glue - for basing.  Most brands are fine. 

 

  

Emery boards – for sanding.  You can get a bunch in a pack at the dollar store.

 

Cheap brushes – for glue or terrain.  You can pick up a pack at the dollar store.  

 

Cheap paint – for terrain or bases.  The Apple Barrel or Americana type paints at Walmart, or dollar store.  At least a black, brown, and two tones for you bases.

 

Ziplocks bags – different sizes.  

 

Reaper (or similar) dropper bottles with a medium mix - for thinning paint.

 

A few slick mats for gluing on.  Like the kind stickers come on.

 

A few thick newspaper – for a drop cover to protect you r table from spills or splatters.

Plastic gloves - useful when priming.

Chip board sheets - like the back of a legal pad, or a cereal box.  Useful for crafting terrain or bits.

 

Paper towels or facial tissue - to remove paint from brush when drybrushing, and to clean up spills.

 

Possibly also get the following:

A craft knife and cutting board

Toolkit - or pencil/shoe box.  For holding your tools.  A container or spot for your paints is also handy.

Small holders for tokens/bits - the dollar store has many different types.

 

Also needs:

more brushes - larger, smaller, extras.

Small wire cutters - for cutting models, sprue, and wire for bits and pinning.

Side/flush cutters – for cutting sprue.

Dedicated water holder - for cleaning brushes.  Distinct enough to avoid drinking accidentally.

Tweezers - I don't really use them but some people really find the useful.

Clips/clothespins - for holding some pieces while the glue dries.

Toothpicks - for applying paint, glue, and for crafts in terrain.

 

Optional:

Wood rods/skewers

Silicon popit – for mixing paints

Bandages - have handy for when you cut yourself

Stir sticks, craft sticks (popsicle), wide craft sticks (tongue depressors)

Dollarama jewelry chains

Christmas hooks (instead of paperclips) - much easier to cut for use in pinning pieces together, or to replace hoses for the figures or terrain.

 

Later:

Figure holder – or blutac and cork or bottle to hold figure while painting.

Helping hands device - to hold pieces when gluing.

files - a flat, round, and half round.

Sharpener for craft knife - to extend the use of your blades.

Spare blades

Used blade holder

brush cleaner

Flashlight – for finding pieces that fall on the floor.

Nail polish remover – for fingers that get stuck by CA glue.

Cork sheets - for terrain.

Clip boards/hardboard - for bases for the terrain.

Foam core

Work tray? - to be able to move your setup easier if you don't have a dedicated spot to work.

Notebook – for marking down your paint mixes to match later.

This is only a start.  You may find other essentials as you work.  Good lighting is always helpful.

 

Figure Painting Total - March 2024

Unfortunately, the Knight Models sets that I picked it up were the newer ones and came without cards.  I’ve been having trouble getting the cards from their site.  They want you to go through their online app for them.  Luckily I had already printed off the DCU cards for the Green Lantern Corps.

 

Bought

Blitz Bowl Ultimate Edition – 12

BM – Teen Titans Batbox – 11

Combat Arena: Contest of Champions – 4

DCU – Green Lantern Corps – 5

 

Painted

 

 

 

Mar total – 32 figures bought, 0 figures painted

Running total 2024 – figures bought 88, figures painted 0