Misinterpreted

New Beginning

 

Gloria's Back

I totally forgot about her, but not without good reasons. She is my first petite character, not Susie nor Rachel as mentioned in my earlier entries. Memories are not enough evidence.

In the mood for nothing

That means relax. There is no consequence in not painting a new doll face. There is no hurry to sew the next dress. There is no obligation to update the social media. There certainly is no need to buy the next doll.

I took my time finding the right gold paint for the gladiator sandal. I wasn't able to find one, actually. And it's okay. I'll just make my own. Every time I get the chance to say, "I'll just make my own," I don't mean disappointment from the unavailability of anything. I mean I can. I mean I have the power. So I mixed my own gold paint. 

And don't get me started on the jumpsuit, because I won't. I have the power, remember? I don't mean the buying power. I mean having no debts to pay with explanations.

It took a while before this set was complete, And now that it's done, it's nothing.

This need to trap the living in the dead.

*The title of this entry is a line from "Nosi Balasi" by Paolo Manalo.

Cape Blazer

This is one of those articles of clothing I want to try my hands on. It's not perfect, but it will do.



I intended this blazer for my Cinderella doll but I haven't done the other pieces to go with it so I just tried it on to a random doll.



I have a feeling that that doll will wear it better than Cinderella.

Worry Goals

I'm a big worry wart and I want to make fun of my worrying. I decided to make a doll look like she is worried. We have enough dolls that look happy or pissed anyways.





I initially had another character in mind for this purple haired doll but then I thought she can be the worrier for now. I like that she looks fun with her purple hair but she has these inner struggles. And her smile looks contrived as if she's trying to convince everyone that she's okay. Cute yes?

Bibbidi

I was finally able to squeeze into my busy schedule the repainting (and shrinking) of the clone Cinderella head.

Curvy or Vernie?

It's not that I hate Curvy, I just like Vernie more. Curvy lacks a certain maturity I want in a doll. Maybe Curvy could use a makeover. Those eyes need reduction, for one.

Waiting for the end

I can't wait for Hasbro to just quit their 4 inch action doll line. With each new wave, I want less and less from them, especially since the price increase. I just cherry pick from what they have to offer.



From their hopefully last wave, I picked Quasar. Although he's not in his vintage costume he still fits nicely with other cosmic characters.

Is Racism Being Promoted in Mattel Barbie Boxes?

To not ship Black dolls to international markets because they don't sell well is one thing. To deny their existence by removing their images on the boxes is another.

Black Barbie Clone

I haven't seen a dark-skinned doll with this face mold before. With a cheap price, I just have to get two. The body can be thrown away like what I do with authentic stiff Barbie Fashionista bodies. The problem is I don't have an articulated doll body to match. I guess I just have to do some magic.

Cinderella Clone Doll

I like how cheap she looks now, yet she has a lot of potential. I like to play fairy godmother and give her a makeover.

I got her from Divisoria for around PhP100 only.

Update:
Repainted face

Never Forget

The Black Widow didn't have heroic roots. She used to be a villain. She committed crimes in the past and S.H.I.E.L.D. has a record of these crimes.  During the Hydra's takeover of S.H.I.E.L.D., Black Widow was willing to reveal her dark secrets to the world if it meant taking down Hydra. 

I find this very interesting because these days, there are people who are trying to cover up their crimes. There are already public records of the crimes and some people are spreading false information to make it look like the crime never happened or trying to place the blame on someone else. These are the same people who claim that the dictator responsible for these crimes was a great leader. These are the same people who fault other people who can't forgive and move on from the crimes even if they were committed decades ago. 

Maybe if they admitted the crimes and subject themselves to the authorities, the way Black Widow admitted her crimes and subject herself to a Senate subcommittee, maybe there is a chance to see them in a different light.

Revisionism

This is the Marvel Universe Avengers: Age of Ultron Captain America with motorcycle.  The box indicates that it is Marvel Legends Captain America: Civil War Captain America with motorcycle. The Marvel Universe toy line is for the 4-inch action dolls while the Marvel Legends is for the 6-inch action dolls. Now, Hasbro is revising the toy lines and calling all their Marvel action dolls, whether it's 4, 6 or 12 inch, as Marvel Legends. This has brought  a lot of confusion among toy collectors. Hasbro doesn't care as long as their products sell.

The toy is being associated with the Captain America: Civil War movie. I don't remember Captain America riding a motorcycle there. He did use a motorcycle in the Avengers: Age of Ultron movie. The action doll's uniform looks closer to that of the Civil War movie than the Age of Ultron movie, though. Still it's not exactly like the ones from those movies.

What's the problem with this revisions? It is an outright denial of what happened. It is an attack on the truth. If there is anything good about the Captain America: Civil War movie, it gives some attention on the victims of the tragic events. People died. There was no denial. The characters were not treated as if they were not affected. They didn't move on just like that.  They tried to learn from the past.

This toy defeats the aim of upholding the truth. It is just another denial exercise. It associates itself to the wrong movie for it's own benefit. The buzz for the older movie has died so marketing it along with the newer movie is the practical move. It may be a practical move but it certainly isn't truthful. I find it villainous.  Their exercise of power on naming toys reminds of how a dictator name his humans right violation and corruption as progress and development using state owned mass media.

It's a good thing I didn't pay for the full price for this. (I paid 50%.) That's what it's worth with its half-truths and reduced articulation. With all the undesirable revisions, I'm going have to revise my desire to collect this line of toys and watching the movie versions of these characters. I may just settle for watching the pirated version and just stop with the Age of Ultron. Not all characters in the Civil War movie will be made available, anyways. Another option is to just buy the knock off toys. They have more than five points of articulation and a whole lot cheaper. Plus, it is a good idea to know where to stop. Here.

Cheese

This first Captain Marvel action doll fits more in my collection than the current Captain Marvel, although I don't know much about him. I googled and saw cheesy (by today's standards, although they might been acceptable back in the days) comic book covers and decided to recreate them.

Gotta love what you have.

Reconsideration

I'm not a Ms. Marvel/Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel fan. I bought this figure because of the possibility for turning it into another character.  That shouldn't keep me from enjoying this toy in its original form. 

I heard a new movie will be made based on this character but that will be released around 3 years from now. I bet the comics will make this character more interesting. But then again, a Black female lead is overdue. The female Captain Marvel could be the Monica Rambeau. That's far-fetched, of course. You can't expect too much  from the Marvel Cinematic Universe writers/producers/directors.

I might like the character by then. I might regret not having a Captain Marvel action doll. There is no urgent reason for me to create a new character out of this toy, anyways. Who knows, other toy releases would be more suitable for the character I have in mind, or they will release a toy version of that character. This toy will remain as is, for now.

The toy came with a comic book. Unlike previous comics that came with toys like this, this comic book has an ad for another toy line. I feel that Hasbro is really pushing us 4-inch collectors to switch to the 6-inch line. No way!

They can end the 4-inch line, for all I care. I'm quite satisfied already with my 4-inch collection. I really don't need this toy. It was just accessible and available and I have the funds and it takes so little space to store this. I would have preferred the unmasked version, since one can do more with that head sculpt than this one,  but it sold out. No big deal. Toys aren't.

Denial Exercise

I have a problem with the look-at-the-bright-side mentality. The not-so-bright side doesn't get enough attention. I think that is why we have necks, to help us look at every side, bright or not. I'm a self-confessed pessimist so that should be expected of me.

At least, I don't know anyone personally who was affected when it was revealed that Captain America is an agent of Hydra. I did saw online reactions of some fans, mostly of disbelief, thinking/hoping that there will be a twist somewhere down the line. 

I'm more concerned with how people are not reacting when someone says that if you are a corrupt journalist, you might as well expect to be assassinated. This is from the same person who finds it appropriate to kill criminals even before they are tried. Look at the bright side. At least, there will be less criminals and corrupt journalists.

As of late, there has been a number of alleged criminals being killed. What can stop a cop, or somebody else, from killing a civilian and make it look like the victim is a criminal? How difficult could it be to plant evidences against a dead person? Bag and tag the body as a drug dealer or as a corrupt journalist and a common person will sleep soundly at night.

After reading the news about an alleged criminal who was killed, how many people will ask themselves if the dead person was indeed a criminal? Who can review the evidences? How can someone appeal to reverse the judgement? Due process, all that is taken away, not just from the person who was killed but from everybody who knows that the due process is part of what keeps us safe.

Somebody is killing our due process. Should we kill the murderer?

Apocalypse

If Captain America: Civil War was like a reality TV show wherein you enjoy watching personalities clash, X-Men: Apocalypse is a beauty pageant. Aptly set in the 80's, a time when going big was in fashion, the Bryan Singer film showcased mutant power in full volume.  One will be in awe as each mutant lavishly parades his/her powers.  Mix the power pageantry with the usual story about the triumph of humanity, a.k.a. world peace, as this always work with everybody with a hardened heart, and all you need is the crown.

Sweep the dead bodies under the rug or dump them in the talahiban, the usual dumping place for the bodies of the victims of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines back in the 80's. Moviegoers will still feel good when they walk out the theater. Forget the people who died, forget the dead X-man. We don't respect the dead nor the heroes like we used to do. We will allow a real life dictator to be buried alongside war heroes. The people we root for win, didn't they?  The movie ended with rebuilding, anyways. Like when they build over the dead bodies in the Manila Film Center, remember? Oh wait, we try not to remember those. 

Apocalypse could learn a thing or two from famous dictators. Storm and Magneto wouldn't be turncoats had Apocalypse charmed them with his vision of a new world. Apocalypse lacks the charm of a powerful dictator. Some dictators have long been dead but still have a strong following.  A good dictator knows how to teach his subjects to keep their eyes on the prize. Focus on the good things. Look at the shiny and bright things. 

Magneto

This dress was almost a failure but I didn't want to dispose it because I like the fit. At least, I was able to turn it into something basic.



It wasn't intentional but this reminded me of a comic book character. I didn't watch the movie just to finish this dress. I have a feeling it won't do as well as the other Marvel movie.

Vision

I've had this young Vision action doll for some weeks now. I wasn't excited with it because it is not the Vision I know. I plan to modify it to make it look like the original Vision, but after posing it to take the photo for this entry, I realized that the cape design keeps the action doll from standing up on its own. It already has reduced articulation and for it not able to stand is adding insult...

No wonder this is hard to sell locally. I should have waited instead of buying this right away. Had I waited, I could have gotten it at a lower price from an online seller.

Shoulder to shoulder

...but not eye to eye.

Giving

...the hot shoulder.

Taking the weight

...off her shoulder.

Divisoria Marvels

Divisoria never ceases to amaze me. I just never know what to find there. I try to visit there every month, if time permits even if I have nothing specific in mind to buy. It's a good excuse to walk for hours as an exercise.

Marvel Universe action dolls from Divisoria.

Here I am with the West Coast Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy action dolls, toys I didn't plan to have. Those toys just presented themselves to me while I was visiting Divisoria. It wasn't that I hate them. I just didn't want to exert any effort to get them. I didn't went toy hunting for those. I didn't buy online even if they weren't sold in local toy stores. (The GotG pack was sold in local stores but that was before I became interested in collecting the toy line.)

The monetary cost, the amount of time to search, the wait for the arrival, the risk of poor quality when buying online, the bargaining with the seller, etc., in short, all the trouble to get them wasn't worth the satisfaction of having them. The ease of having a toy has always been a major factor for me in toy collecting. It shouldn't cost much and it should be available in local stores. I enjoy the shopping experience wherein you get to touch the box, examine what's inside before making a decision to buy an experience that is lost when buying online. When I found the boxes above in Divisoria, I knew they were going home with me.

These toys aren't sought after, to be honest. The popularity of a toy isn't a major consideration for me in buying a toy.  I never bothered with the resale values of any toy I buy. It was just that the opportunity to get these toys easily below the retail price is there. I felt that the opportunity will not present itself again. That is just me trying to make sense of this impulse buy.

Hero vs Hero

After watching the hero vs hero movies from DC and Marvel, I can't help notice some similarities. Here are some.

In Batman vs Superman (BVS), there was no clear motivation why Lex Luthor is doing what he's doing. He just seems crazy. Making  a character crazy is an easy way out compared to creating a backstory to explain the villain's motivation.

In Civil War (CW), Helmut Zemo may have a backstory but it wasn't shown. It was just told. The objective was, of course, not to make the audience empathize with the villain. The reveal of the villain's backstory was used to enlighten another character, T'challa. I also didn't get why Zemo had to reveal that he framed up Bucky. He could have destroyed the evidence and released the video of Tony Stark's parents, to further fuel Tony's anger earlier on. 

Both movies lack an interesting villain. At least, BVS had Doomsday.

In both hero vs hero movies, I wasn't moved by any side. I didn't empathize with Superman and I feel Batman is too angry and afraid. I thought Batman was a good detective. He should have made a thorough investigation to see if Superman was indeed a threat. Superman, on the other hand, just didn't seem to care at all with what's going on around him.  He didn't have a clue that he was being set up. A quick x-ray scan of the building could have saved a lot of people.

I wasn't Team Iron-man nor Team Cap as well.  I understand Tony felt the guilt for the collateral damage while Steve has this guilt of not being able to save his friend. The thing is, it was hard to share their guilt. Didn't we celebrate when the heroes defeated the villains even if we knew that there was some damages, some lives lost? Didn't we rationalize how the death toll could be higher had the Avengers didn't do what they did? Tony's guilt may be sensible but I felt it wasn't strong enough to make me side with him. I've always seen him as a person with a big ego so his wanting himself placed under some organization's control also doesn't make sense.

I don't also didn't get Cap. How could he place so many people's life in danger just to save someone who can already save himself? I feel for all the soldiers he beat up just to keep Bucky safe. Also, Chris Evans is not a great actor. For those who is used to watching action and sci-fi movies may find his abilities good enough but not me. Maybe I'd appreciate him more if he had a nude scene.

The issues between heroes for both movies could have been settled diplomatically but then the movie would have a lot of talk time, less action scenes. The truth is, a lot of us only wanted to see a brawl between two or more heroes. At least, we got that. It doesn't have to make sense.

Losing a parent is no laughing matter but when it is overused, it becomes a cliche like in both movies. People who get to hear that story over and over will eventually get desensitized.  Yeah, it adds to the backstory, giving a clear motivation. It's also adds to the drama but it's getting... *yawns* Speaking of drama, Steve should have died in CW, for the sake of drama... or comedy if you get the point.

Both BVS and CW introduced new characters that will eventually be part of the team. BVS storytellers are really too lazy imagining an incident where the introduction was called for. The introduction doesn't really add to the story. The same is true with adding Ant-man and Spider-man, even the return of Hawkeye. They were just added for the rumble because it is what we really paid for. (T'challa's appearance fit in the story, so I don't see a problem there.)  If you are going against your own team, the same people whom you somewhat trusted before, why would you turn to someone new, someone whose reliability hasn't been tested yet? Why did Steve trusted Ant-man and why was Tony bringing in a kid to a fight? What have these new characters done to gain the trust of the older characters? What if they were Hydra? Are Steve and Tony really evil such that they are willing to sacrifice the safety of other people just to further their goal?

I really think some of them should die already, like Cap and Hawkeye. They died in the comics. It reminds me of beauty pageant question: if you're going to die, why not now? At least, Superman died.

The Dark Knight Rises: Battle for Gotham City, Batmobile with Batman (2012)

This Batmobile toy was initially released in 2012. I'm assuming it was a flop since I have been seeing this being sold in Divisoria for quite sometime. I don't collect DC toys so I didn't buy it then but every time I was in the store, I kept looking at it. The Batman toy also looked crappy. The Batmobile, aka the Tumbler looked really cool, though. It can work with my 4-inch Marvel Universe action dolls. For PhP700 (less discount), it feels like a good deal. (It is being sold online locally for PhP1100.) I did enjoy the Decool Tumbler I got for my nephew and I thought I should get my own version.

As with a lot of Mattel toys, this, too, is difficult to remove from the box. It has some locking mechanism I don't understand. I did try following the illustration but it didn't release the toy. I just pulled the car from the cardboard. A strong force is needed. I don't think a kid can do it. The kid would just be frustrated.

the locking mechanism

From the photos on the box, the spoilers(?) on the car are raised. I felt fooled when I found out that the spoilers cannot be raised. They are also made of rubbery material which is good. The spoiler could be the first to break if they are made of hard plastic. This toy just invites the player to handle it roughly. 

The spoilers can't be raised but they can be bent.

The Batman action doll feels like a knock-off. The plastic feels cheap. The one I got has splayed legs. It has poor articulation when compared to Hasbro action dolls on the same scale. This poor standard was the Mattel standard for action dolls in this scale.

The Batmobile feels light since it is mostly hollow. It has enough details making it look good in pictures. Most 4-inch action dolls can fit inside although it is very cramped.

The rear wheels are made of rubber while the front wheels are not. They roll quite easily. The body is made of hard plastic but it doesn't feel like it can crack easily. The car can survive some rough playing. It can be bumped to the wall or other toys. It may have some dents and scratches but it could give cool a battle-worn effect.

For less than PhP700 (around US$15), this is a good buy compared to the Captain America with Motorcycle from the Captain America: Civil War toys. I don't even remember Captain America with a motorcycle from that movie. It was Bucky who did an awesome trick with a motorbike.

This is one of the most iconic Batmobile design from one of the best Batman movies. The Batmobile from the Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice has a sensible design as well, but it wasn't offered in a scale for 4-inch dolls.