–ODD–

NECA is making both a Rambo figure from the first film and an Atlas figure from Portal 2.

It’s very cool we’re getting a figure from the first film, but as anyone who’s seen that movie knows, it’s as much a study in PTSD as an action film. I think everyone’s expecting/hoping for a figure of Rambo from the more-fun-if-far-more-jingoistic Rambo II – which, personally, I will use to make a custom of Weird Al as he appeared in the Rambo dream sequence in UHF.

–END–

Bandai’s adult collectors division, Tamashii Nation, has a “Super Imaginative Chogokin” line of action figures. Until now, the line has focused almost entirely on Kamen Rider and, according to Wikipedia, ” It is intended for those riders to closely resemble the ones portrayed in the manga and to have a much more darker theme.” The same minds behind this line created the Movie Realization toy line that gave us Red-Boobs Batman.

Anyway, long story short, evidently Tamashii is, or was, or at some point thought about working on some sort of dark, “realistic” versions of Woody and Buzz from Toy Story:

Not being able to read Japanese, I have no idea what you’re looking at here. For all I know, these could be some sketches of a project that never made it past the pitching stage, or even just some artist’s doodles. But ToyFreakz, where I came across this, seems to think these figures will be made.

–ODD–

So, Ram Man is delayed. Initially I thought, “Well yeah, haven’t all the incentive figures shipped in March or April anyway?” Then I remembered Ram Man isn’t the incentive figure – Old King He-Man is.

IMPORTANT: 1/15 Sale Update! The full allotment of Ram Man won’t arrive in time for all subscribers to get one so we’re moving him to our 2/15 sale and switching up our Early Access items (1/14 8am thru 1/15 8am). Here’s the new lineup for 1/15: Netossa, Horde Prime, Griffin, Saint Walker & Rorschach. Also, the My Subscriptions pages should launch this week full update soon!

So for you non-subbers, you’ve got another month to fret about how bad the White Screen of Death will be.

–END–

I am not excited about the new Evil Dead remake. It’s not that I’m one of those diehard purists fans who thinks this is some sort of sacrilege and refuses to see it on principle. (I might feel like that if they tried to redo Evil Dead II.) I just don’t have any desire to see the film.

The remake is clearly for fans of the original Evil Dead, which is my least-favorite film of the franchise. I adore Evil Dead II and have watched it countless times; I’ve watched Army of Darkness a dozen times; but I’ve only watched The Evil Dead maybe three or four times. I watch EDII and AOD for the humor, heroics, and the character of Ash. Those movies are fun. The fact that they’re horror films seems incidental.

While some of the comedic elements of the later films are present in The Evil Dead, it’s mostly a straight horror film. It can be tough to watch. Even Red Kryptonite, who’s gone with me to see Evil Dead II at special theater showings – twice – has never watched The Evil Dead. Dr. Mrs. Ghostal was horrified by the remake’s trailer and has vowed never to watch it (for the record, she’s seen EDII and we both watch the madness that is American Horror Story, so it’s not like she hates the genre).

So while I guess the new Evil Dead may live up to the original’s reputation for disturbing gore (and tree rape), it doesn’t look like it’ll be much fun. I suppose expecting “fun” from a horror film is misguided, like the guy who picks up The Dark Knight Returns and doesn’t understand why the funny book ain’t funny. But whatever rewarding experience people get from watching The Grudge or Saw or Hostel doesn’t seem to work for me.

Maybe I’m wrong and the remake will have some sort of tongue-in-cheek (pun not intended, for those who have seen the trailer) undertone, but from everything I’ve seen and read, it looks like the idea was simply to make a really scary, gory horror movie. Which, to be fair, was the exact same goal of Sam Raimi & company with the original Evil Dead. But the franchise went somewhere else with Evil Dead II, and that was the one that hooked me.