Monday, April 29, 2013

Pin-up of the day- The Walking Saboteur!

The Walking Saboteur by Taylor Lymbery
As the days get closer to the Dallas Comic Con on May 17-19th, I'm getting early commissions for that show. Here is the first one, "The Walking Saboteur". It's an illustration on a 10"X16" white rag board. The request was from Joel at the Darth Mall vintage toy store. He wanted a mash up of two of his favorite characters, Firefly from G.I.Joe and Daryl from the Walking Dead. He requested Firefly shooting Daryl's crossbow at a zombie. My challenge was to figure out how to incorporate all of the elements he requested into one pice and have it work. I took Daryl's body shape and added the Firefly costume to him. I them gave him the season 1 cut sleeve shirt and added a little blue to the grey to make it stand out. I added the crossbow, but put it in green to harken back to the vintage action figure of Firefly since he had all green weapons. I used the zombie's head explosion to frame our main character. Using thick water color pigment and a brush, I added in the background to give the same explosive look as Firefly's vintage package. Now the scan is a little dark for the background. I'm not sure why. So some of the yellow work seems a bit dark. I had quite a bit of fun putting this piece together. I hope you enjoy it. I've got to get back to some more commissions so take care till next time, and stay tuned for more postings. You can also see this piece here to go to my deviantart account

I purchased a table for the Dallas Comic Con in May. I look forward to seeing all of the familiar faces and hopefully some new people stopping by to chat with us. 

I have posted some new shirt designs in my Cafepress store. Head over to my Cafepress store and get a shirt or a couple! 

I have all Xenex the Bug Man comic books available for print on demand. You can see that listing here on my store's tab for comic books. 

Just to let you know all know, I am taking commissions. If you would like to commission me for original artwork, head over to the commissions tab in store to see how. 

If you have not heard about the Podcast called, "Talking Toys with Taylor and Jeff", then it's time I let you know! Jeff and I are on the show where we talk about toys! (Go figure, I mean Go action figure!) Seems simple enough. We pick out a toy line to discuss in each show. We share our childhood memories, our favorite five, and talk about the one toy in the line that got away. Jeff talks about how he cherished his toys and I talk about how they ended up in the garden! The other two shows are The pilot episode, where Jeff and Josh Taylor break down the Pilot Episode in TV series, and The Loosely Based Podcast where Brynna and Jeff compare the book to the movie adaptation! The shows are great! If you are interested in what we got, go to Marvindogmedia.com  and give us a listen. You can subscribe to the shows on itunes and get up to date info on upcoming shows on facebook:
If you like what we have, be sure to tell your friends! We need your word of mouth to help us keep making shows! And, be sure to give Jeff a hug. He's feeling a bit grumpy.

Taylor and Jeff: Action Figure Buddies for Life!

Friday, April 26, 2013

Action Figure Friday- Masters of the Universe Classics- Snake Face!


Ever since I saw this guy in the toy news, I have been waiting for him to show up on my doorstep. He is a very cool action figure, but does not come without a few complaints. Snake Face was Mattycollector's April collector's club action figure. He is a nice addition to King Hsss's army of snake men. Much like his vintage action figure, this version of Snake Face comes with both his staff and shield. The staff is the basic re-use staff that we have seen with King Hsss and Rattlor in the Classics toy line. Snake Face's staff is a nice shade of green that matches his helmet and has great green metal detailing on the bottom scales of the snake. His shield on the other hand is lacking a little. The shield is a bright green plastic that is sculpted very nicely. Paint-wise, it has one application of gold in the center. This is not really a problem at all, but I would have just liked to see some paint that would bring out the sculpt a little more. As for the body, he has all of the basic MOTU male buck movement. We get some really nice newly tooled parts; the arms, armor, hands, loin cloth and head. One of the things that I absolutely love about the new parts is the sculpted snakes on the forearms. That sculpting is fantastic and the "elbow snakes" really accentuate the creepiness of this guy. Another of the other new pieces that I love is the snake popping face. Creepy... It's just plain creepy. This is definitely one of those toys that I will bring around my mom. She is terrified of snakes and this does a great job of giving a great scary snake vibe. (Love you, Mom.)


The original Snake Face action figure had a pop out snake action figure. What Mattel has done to give that snake feature was to add a head with the snakes coming out of the face and detachable panels that pull out of the armor in order to stick two belly snakes on his armor. In some ways, I'm not a big fan of the belly snakes. When you take off the armor panels, it leaves a small slit open at the top of the armor that shows his skin tone underneath.   I really feel that the small slits detract from the over all design. I would have liked to see the panels stay and maybe just have the snakes fit via taking a small peg away at the bottom instead of a whole panel. What can you do? I do not display him with the belly snakes. There... done. 

With all of the display options that you can get, it leaves Snake Face with a lot of parts. In the beginning, Mattel wasn't sure that they would pack in all of Snake Face's weapons due to the fact that there were so many parts. I'm glad that you did, Mattel. Let's hope that you can do the same with the upcoming Castle Grayskull, but I digress, that's another toy. Snake Face is a nice update of the original toy and does not borrow at all from the 200X design at all. I am a BIG fan of the 200X NECA Staction design, and I was hoping for some of those elements to translate over to this toy, but we can't always get what we want. So, was Snake face worth the price... Yep. He's that cool. 



Here is a listing of this toy on amazon.com: 

Masters of the Universe Classics Snake Face Figure He-Man


I purchased a table for the Dallas Comic Con in May. I look forward to seeing all of the familiar faces and hopefully some new people stopping by to chat with us. 

I have posted some new shirt designs in my Cafepress store. Head over to my Cafepress store and get a shirt or a couple! 

I have all Xenex the Bug Man comic books available for print on demand. You can see that listing here on my store's tab for comic books. 

Just to let you know all know, I am taking commissions. If you would like to commission me for original artwork, head over to the commissions tab in store to see how. 

If you have not heard about the Podcast called, "Talking Toys with Taylor and Jeff", then it's time I let you know! Jeff and I are on the show where we talk about toys! (Go figure, I mean Go action figure!) Seems simple enough. We pick out a toy line to discuss in each show. We share our childhood memories, our favorite five, and talk about the one toy in the line that got away. Jeff talks about how he cherished his toys and I talk about how they ended up in the garden! The other two shows are The pilot episode, where Jeff and Josh Taylor break down the Pilot Episode in TV series, and The Loosely Based Podcast where Brynna and Jeff compare the book to the movie adaptation! The shows are great! If you are interested in what we got, go to Marvindogmedia.com  and give us a listen. You can subscribe to the shows on itunes and get up to date info on upcoming shows on facebook:
If you like what we have, be sure to tell your friends! We need your word of mouth to help us keep making shows! And, be sure to give Jeff a hug. He's feeling a bit grumpy.

Taylor and Jeff: Action Figure Buddies for Life!

Friday, April 19, 2013

Action Figure Friday- Playmate's Nick TMNT Mutagen Ooze Drop Copter!


When I saw that Playmate's was bringing us some new single man vehicles, I was on the lookout for all of the new goodies! This is one of those such vehicles. The first must have for my Ninja Turtle collection had to be this Mutagen Ooze Drop Copter and this thing delivers on the cool factor. Now, I never did a review on the Rippin' Rider Turtle Motorcyle that I have in my collection. My opinion on that toy was that it was worth the price point. This toy is the same in my opinion if not better. Let's talk a little about the sculpt of this vehicle. The copter is sculpted fairly well with all sorts of rivets and mechanical plates detailed on the main body. There is some nice turtle shell plating on the tail that let's you know that this is a TMNT toy. I like that this run of TMNT toys are not SO over-the-top with what "found" objects are sculpted in making it a bit ridiculous. The main body is sculpted in a nice ridgid brown-bronze plastic that feels strong and not cheap. 

















The rest of the parts are molded in a nice bright red plastic or a steely grey. The toy is easy to assemble and stays together fairly well. The copter comes with 4 stickers. I will have to go ahead and state, one of these labels is hell to put on. You will need a pin or tweezers to apply it. The toy has a couple of play features that I feel are really thought out. One of which is a wench with a foot hook. You can "pickup" other turtles to save them from danger. It is a basic feature, but it totally works! The next is a free turning copter blade. Need I say more? If you can't thump the blades to make them spin, you do not have a very reliable helicopter. What gives this the Mutagen Ooze Droppin' aspect is Ooze barrels that are attached to a thumb wheel. Flip the wheel forward and you've got ooze dropping fun! With the toy, you get silver ooze puddles that you can put in the red barrels if you don't have any ooze. I kind of wish that these were molded in a different color. As of now, it looks like the copter is dropping metal flashing or mercury. It's just a little awkward. Extra features that this toy has that is not selling points on the box are the opening body harness, turnable hand grips and weapon clamps built in on the side of the main body. Little features like these make these toys so worth while. Every aspect of this toy's design seems very well thought out which at times is rare these days with certain toys, so applause for Playmate's Toys on this toy line so far. Everything on this works well and I think that the simple design of the toy makes this worth the price you pay. The Copter is a load of fun to play with and looks great to display!


Here is a listing of this toy on amazon.com: 


I purchased a table for the Dallas Comic Con in May. I look forward to seeing all of the familiar faces and hopefully some new people stopping by to chat with us. 

I have posted some new shirt designs in my Cafepress store. Head over to my Cafepress store and get a shirt or a couple! 

I have all Xenex the Bug Man comic books available for print on demand. You can see that listing here on my store's tab for comic books. 

Just to let you know all know, I am taking commissions. If you would like to commission me for original artwork, head over to the commissions tab in store to see how. 

If you have not heard about the Podcast called, "Talking Toys with Taylor and Jeff", then it's time I let you know! Jeff and I are on the show where we talk about toys! (Go figure, I mean Go action figure!) Seems simple enough. We pick out a toy line to discuss in each show. We share our childhood memories, our favorite five, and talk about the one toy in the line that got away. Jeff talks about how he cherished his toys and I talk about how they ended up in the garden! The other two shows are The pilot episode, where Jeff and Josh Taylor break down the Pilot Episode in TV series, and The Loosely Based Podcast where Brynna and Jeff compare the book to the movie adaptation! The shows are great! If you are interested in what we got, go to Marvindogmedia.com  and give us a listen. You can subscribe to the shows on itunes and get up to date info on upcoming shows on facebook:
If you like what we have, be sure to tell your friends! We need your word of mouth to help us keep making shows! And, be sure to give Jeff a hug. He's feeling a bit grumpy.

Taylor and Jeff: Action Figure Buddies for Life!

Monday, April 15, 2013

Painting of the Day- Thunder in the Mystic Mountains!


Thunder in the Mystic Mountains by Taylor Lymbery
As I finished up my last painting I took a little time out to get another painting done. I've found that I really enjoy illustrative painting. Painting feels a little more natural than some of the other art mediums that I do. For this piece, I decided to go with Thunder Punch He-Man as the big hero of this scene. The reason why I did this is that I recently picked up a Vintage Thunder Punch He-Man from a local vintage toy store called DFW Vintage Toys. Thunder Punch He-Man pops ring caps when you twist his body and let him swing out a mighty punch. I always wanted one of these He-men when I was a kid. I never got one, but the fascination was always there. Since I got Thunder Punch He-Man, I have had a hard time putting this toy down. I bought a big pack of ring caps to pop in his back pack while I am at stop lights on my way to work. It keeps me entertained while I am on the road. I'm amazed that this toy is still working for being 28 years old now and it's in great shape. I also decided to add one of my favorite toy vehicles, the Roton. I did a review on one not to long ago. If you read that posting, then you know my love for this Masters of the Universe toy. This will probably be the last painting to post for a while. My commissions have stacked up and I need to get them finished. This piece is painted in acrylics on a 13" X 24" 60lb polar matte paper. You can also see this piece in my deviantart gallery here. I hope you enjoy the piece. Now I've got some comics and commissions to finish. 

I purchased a table for the Dallas Comic Con in May. I look forward to seeing all of the familiar faces and hopefully some new people stopping by to chat with us. 

I have posted some new shirt designs in my Cafepress store. Head over to my Cafepress store and get a shirt or a couple! 

I have all Xenex the Bug Man comic books available for print on demand. You can see that listing here on my store's tab for comic books. 

Just to let you know all know, I am taking commissions. If you would like to commission me for original artwork, head over to the commissions tab in store to see how. 

If you have not heard about the Podcast called, "Talking Toys with Taylor and Jeff", then it's time I let you know! Jeff and I are on the show where we talk about toys! (Go figure, I mean Go action figure!) Seems simple enough. We pick out a toy line to discuss in each show. We share our childhood memories, our favorite five, and talk about the one toy in the line that got away. Jeff talks about how he cherished his toys and I talk about how they ended up in the garden! The other two shows are The pilot episode, where Jeff and Josh Taylor break down the Pilot Episode in TV series, and The Loosely Based Podcast where Brynna and Jeff compare the book to the movie adaptation! The shows are great! If you are interested in what we got, go to Marvindogmedia.com  and give us a listen. You can subscribe to the shows on itunes and get up to date info on upcoming shows on facebook:
Talking Toys with Taylor and Jeff on facebook
The Loosely Based Podcast on facebook
The Pilot Episode on facebook

Give us a like! And, if you like what we have, be sure to tell your friends! We need your word of mouth to help us keep making shows! And, be sure to give Jeff a hug. 

Taylor and Jeff: Action Figure Buddies for Life!

Monday, April 8, 2013

Painting of the Day- The Horde's Men!


The Horde's Men by Taylor Lymbery
It has been a while since I have posted art on this site. I've been busy working on some illustration work that I can't share with the public due to copyright at this time. So, I figured I would remedy that with this piece now that I am finished with one major project. "The Horde's Men", as I've come to name it, is my third painting to date. It features the Evil Horde's men; Mosquitor, Leech, Grizzlor, and Mantenna in the way back ground. I would love to get more pieces done this year cause I absolutely enjoy painting and would like to be better at it like one of my heroes, Earl Norem. Back in 2005, Earl had stated that most of his contacts in the industry were either retired or dead and the younger art buyers didn't want anything to do with an 81 year-old artist. When I read that, my heart broke. I care. If I could afford it, I would definitely by one of Earl's He-Man pieces. So, Mr. Norem, if you are reading this, I made this in your honor, good sir! You are a fantastic artist!

This piece is painted in acrylics on a 13" X 24" 60lb polar matte paper. This image is a scan of the painting. You can also see this piece in my deviantart gallery here. I hope you enjoy the piece. Now I've got some comics and commissions to finish. 

I purchased a table for the Dallas Comic Con in May. I look forward to seeing all of the familiar faces and hopefully some new people stopping by to chat with us. 

I have posted some new shirt designs in my Cafepress store. Head over to my Cafepress store and get a shirt or a couple! 

I have all Xenex the Bug Man comic books available for print on demand. You can see that listing here on my store's tab for comic books. 

Just to let you know all know, I am taking commissions. If you would like to commission me for original artwork, head over to the commissions tab in store to see how. 

If you have not heard about the Podcast called, "Talking Toys with Taylor and Jeff", then it's time I let you know! Jeff and I are on the show where we talk about toys! (Go figure, I mean Go action figure!) Seems simple enough. We pick out a toy line to discuss in each show. We share our childhood memories, our favorite five, and talk about the one toy in the line that got away. Jeff talks about how he cherished his toys and I talk about how they ended up in the garden! The other two shows are The pilot episode, where Jeff and Josh Taylor break down the Pilot Episode in TV series, and The Loosely Based Podcast where Brynna and Jeff compare the book to the movie adaptation! The shows are great! If you are interested in what we got, go to Marvindogmedia.com  and give us a listen. You can subscribe to the shows on itunes and get up to date info on upcoming shows on facebook:
Talking Toys with Taylor and Jeff on facebook
The Loosely Based Podcast on facebook
The Pilot Episode on facebook

Give us a like! And, if you like what we have, be sure to tell your friends! We need your word of mouth to help us keep making shows! And, be sure to give Jeff a hug. 

Taylor and Jeff: Action Figure Buddies for Life!

Monday, April 1, 2013

Action FIgure Monday!- Kenner- Robin Hood- Gren Sleives


I have always wanted an unreleased action figure and I recently got my chance the other day. I have been collecting the full regular released run of Kenner's 1990's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves toy line. In the research of this toy line, I found that there was to be a second run of action figures, but they the line stopped just before their release. In that run, there was two new Robin Hoods, a new Azeem, two new bad guys (that this toy line despreatly needed), and King Richard. The Robin Hood's were: Combat Robin Hood and Flaming Arrow Robin Hood. The new Azeem was called Battle Azeem. The two bad guys were Celtic Hessian and Gren Sleives. And then there was King Richard. So with Richard, that would have given us six new action figures for this Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves toy line by Kenner.  The unreleased action figure I was able to get was Gren Sleives. With Gren I also got a card front print proof of this action figure. As I look at the dude on the front, I have to wonder where Kenner got this photo. I honestly have no idea. I do not remember this guy from the movie. I compared this uncut card to the other product





cards that I have. It's dead on in size even though it is not cut. I noticed that the colors are a little light. I've been told that that is how the cards look before the card is heat pressed and laminated. I am guessing the lamination darkens the image. I didn't get a back of card proof. It might have helped with identifying who this character is due to the quick bio usually on the back of the package. From what I've found on the forums, this could be a picture of the creator of this character. How cool would that be to have not only be the action figure, but have your face on a card as well! As far as the action figure, Gren seems to be a complete reuse of parts from the Sheriff of Nottingham with a new head. He comes with a new cloth goods tunic and a re-colored collar like Little John's tan colored one. Gren carries a silver spear. This was a bit confusing due to the fact that we don't see him with a spear in the picture, but that is how this toy line translates for all of the action figures when comparing the toys to the pictures on the cards. All in all, I am very happy with this action figure. It's kind of weird holding a production piece, knowing that it never went to mass pressing. I'm not sure how many Gren Sleives there are out there. I am guessing that there are not too many. Now that I have one, I'm now wondering if I can get the rest of the un-released line. We'll see...

I purchased a table for the Dallas Comic Con in May. I look forward to seeing all of the familiar faces and hopefully some new people stopping by to chat with us. 

I have posted some new shirt designs in my Cafepress store. Head over to my Cafepress store and get a shirt or a couple! 

I have all Xenex the Bug Man comic books available for print on demand. You can see that listing here on my store's tab for comic books. 

Just to let you know all know, I am taking commissions. If you would like to commission me for original artwork, head over to the commissions tab in store to see how. 

If you have not heard about the Podcast called, "Talking Toys with Taylor and Jeff", then it's time I let you know! Jeff and I are on the show where we talk about toys! (Go figure, I mean Go action figure!) Seems simple enough. We pick out a toy line to discuss in each show. We share our childhood memories, our favorite five, and talk about the one toy in the line that got away. Jeff talks about how he cherished his toys and I talk about how they ended up in the garden! The other two shows are The pilot episode, where Jeff and Josh Taylor break down the Pilot Episode in TV series, and The Loosely Based Podcast where Brynna and Jeff compare the book to the movie adaptation! The shows are great! If you are interested in what we got, go to Marvindogmedia.com  and give us a listen. You can subscribe to the shows on itunes and get up to date info on upcoming shows on facebook:
Talking Toys with Taylor and Jeff on facebook
The Loosely Based Podcast on facebook
The Pilot Episode on facebook

Give us a like! And, if you like what we have, be sure to tell your friends! We need your word of mouth to help us keep making shows! And, be sure to give Jeff a hug. 

Taylor and Jeff: Action Figure Buddies for Life!

If you've made it down here to the very end, I have to commend you. April fool's day! I have to be honest, there is no such production run of Gren Sleives. This is a custom action figure that I have made. The dude on the card is the creator, me. I hope you have had fun with this posting. Please don't ruin the April Fool's effect for others till a few days after the 1st. Thanks for reading!