March 18, 2008
KO Kabaya Metroplex and A Crayon Haiku #75!

Hey all! Hope you’re keeping warm during these final days of winter. If not, we regrettably lack the ability to provide you with a steaming cup o’ cocoa via the web. We do, however, have a different treat for you tonight: our first article submission of 2008! In what will hopefully be the first of more knockoff Kabaya Transformers reviews from our esteemed guest reviewer, Tresob Yr of the Star Wars Action Figure Theater (SWAFT) gives us a firsthand look at the miniature model of Metroplex. He’s even included an awesome mini-comic — which really isn’t all that mini considering that it’s eight pages and has several panels per page — that manages to be both humorous and informative despite starring those adorable Robot Heroes that I despise so much. So do enjoy these pieces and make Tresob feel welcome, and be sure to check out his site once you’ve finished reading the piece and commenting! 🙂

''Your emotions make you weak... and tender.''

On the other hand, don’t go just yet, as A Crayon Haiku #75 still demands your attention. Yes, demands, because Gorilla Grodd is back and he doesn’t ask nicely — you either submit to his will or you GET IN HIS BELLEAH. This’ll probably be the last time (or at least the second to last time) that Grodd appears in a haiku, though, as I think I’m finally finished with him. While the obvious additions are the custom made “poseable” cape and necklace combo (not perfect, but I think it turned out well enough) and the painted spear that formerly belonged to Karai (note: painting soft plastic — or whatever that spear is made of — is not advised), he’s also gotten more paint touch ups (the teeth have been completely redone) and a coat or two of brush-on matte sealer on his fur since the last time you saw him.

*schluuurrrp*

It’s kind of difficult to make out in the photo, but I also hit up his eyes, teeth, tongue, and lower lip with a brush-on gloss sealer to give them a somewhat more “realistic” wet look. So yes, this Grodd even has drool! Beat that, 4Horsemen BAF Grodd that I will unfortunately never own because I dislike DCUC wave 2 and have no interest in shelling out $50 for it. Yes, I’m still bitter about that — expect me to detail my frustrations more fully in an upcoming article. 😐

And before we go, let me draw your attention to the links block. In addition to checking out SWAFT and our other entertaining links, I specifically recommend that you visit our latest six additions (in no particular order): Cool Toy Review (which has toy news as well as fabulous photo archives — some of which even highlight the articulation — so you can get a good look at what you’re buying), Superarticulated (an excellent source of new toy information and reviews, not to mention featured custom figures), Heroine Addict (awesome reviews and perusals of heroine-related media and products; also reminds me of a very funny discussion that resulted from a typo I once made), Online Action Figure Entertainment (OAFE for short; the site title’s kinda self-explanatory 😉 ), xkcd (a very funny and random webcomic), and Bogleech (wacky spookiness that’s very much in keeping with Scary-Crayon’s aesthetic inclinations).

You might also have noticed that clicking these links and the ones on the sidebar — as well as the ones in Tresob’s submission — no longer causes outside pages to open in new windows. Not too long ago I was reading some web designers’ blogs and I came across a rather angry screed against pages that open in new windows, the rationale being that if users wanted them to open in new windows and/or tabs they’d use the right click and select the appropriate feature. Now, I’ve never been especially bothered by pages that open things elsewhere (popup advertisements notwithstanding), but I couldn’t argue with the logic — so from now on I’ll be discontinuing the target attribute when it comes to links. I don’t feel strongly enough about the issue to go back and remove the targets from the four years’ worth of articles and entries in which I’ve already employed them, but yeah. Hopefully no one will be too inconvenienced either way.

I think that’s all for now, crayon fans. Special thanks to Tresob for the article submission! And remember, if you’d like to follow his awesome example, you know where to look. Until next time, then — which will ideally be sooner than later! :mrgreen:

-posted by Wes | 7:59 pm | Comments (5)
5 Comments »
  • Great article Tresob! I’ll have to check out your site when I have more time. Those Transformers bootlegs almost seem like a “poor-man’s” “Gunpla” kit.

    And, Wes I gotta disagree with those bloggers. I think it’s more convenient with the new windows because you don’t lose your place and don’t have to worry about remembering to do the right-click thing.

    But really, it’s no biggie either way (especially since I have Firefox and a 3-button mouse, so I just click with the middle button and it goes right to a new tab).

    Anyway, that is a pretty cool Grodd figure, but what’s this about a $50 one coming out?

  • Wes says:

    The convenience thing was my original view regarding new windows, but I thought the guy had a valid point since — insofar as I’m worried about losing my place and don’t want to leave the page I’m on, anyway — I right-click and open links in new tabs without thinking. There are other concerns as well, though. Frex, I have no idea why you’d be reading Scary-Crayon on a cell phone, but since those apparently don’t exactly tabbed browsing (per se) the new windows thing could be awkward.

    At any rate, leaving the choice of opening links in new tabs/windows up to the reader seems like the best way to handle things, so I’ll probably stick with it unless readers strongly protest. 🙂

    Well, technically the upcoming Grodd is “free” — but only if you buy all five figures in DC Universe Classics wave 2, since he’s one of those connect-and-collect piecemeal type deals that I hate so much. And since each of the figures one has to buy to assemble him costs $10, consumers essentially have to pay $50 to get him. He’s a great value if you actually plan to get most of the figures in the wave, but since I only want Harley I’m pretty disappointed by that. In fact, my disappointment was what led me to buy the Kong figure and make him into Grodd in the first place.

    By the way, If you want a better look at the DCUC Grodd and the other figures in the wave, there’s a pretty thorough review here on TheFwoosh.

  • Well, $10 sounds like a more reasonable price especially if it comes with a bonus-piece of a different figure.

    I mean it is incredibly stupid, but I’m just glad they haven’t jacked up the price of toys to such an amount as $50.

    Still nothing I’d pick over a dollar-general Ninja, though.

    Speaking of which, I’ll soon be submitting a review of those. I meant to write it sooner, but I got sidetracked by the urge to write a KND fanfiction (if anyone’s curious, click my name). I recently discovered how awesome the 1×362 pairing is.

    Anyway, I’m hoping they come out with a cell-phone with a remote toilet-flusher, since that’s about the only device they haven’t built into those things yet.

  • Wes says:

    Oh, it’s great if you actually want the entire wave. The problem is that Grodd is the piecemeal guy and I only want Harley — so taking into account that I’ll probably get her regardless, Grodd would cost me an extra $40 to get (though he’d come with four extra figures that I don’t want). Not really worth it to me.

    Never really got into KND (though I’ve seen a few eps), so I can’t say that I’m familiar with #362. I do quite like #3, though — and I have no doubt she’d be ssssmokin’ hot in a show called Codename: Twenty-somethings Next Door. Yes.

    Those wacky cell phones, eh?

  • Well, the final episode “Operation: I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S” did feature grown up, live-action versions of the characters. And, Kuki (#3)’s live-action, grown-up self is pretty easy on the eyes. I tried to find an image to link to, but I suck at using search-engines and couldn’t find one.

    It was one of the redeeming features in a somewhat disappointing final?.

    Anyway, while it does have some episodes that are painfully stupid, (I certainly wouldn’t compare it to the consistently brilliant Code: Lyoko), it also has some episodes that are downright awesome!

    A good example would be “Operation A.R.C.H.I.V.E.” which is a parody of the Animatrix segment: “The Second Renaissance”. And, I mean a word by word, image by image spoof that had me applauding (and probably confused the hell out of anyone who didn’t see the Animatrix). Plus, the TV movie “Operation Z.E.R.O.” was fantastic.

    Anyway, I’m hoping to see Harley Quinn in upcoming Dusty Plastic Hell comics.

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