Funko- Toy Fair 2018, Part 1

Ahh, the Funko booth at Toy Fair, it always brings such joy to my life. As well, as knowledge that I will be bleeding my wallet dry in the days and weeks to come! There was so much awesome shit, that I had to break this article into two parts. Anyway, here are some of my favorite things that I saw this year, at it.

Let's start with some Game of Thrones Pops, all of which I need! These figures already out.

 The "Riverdale" (above) figures, exclusive to Hot Topic, are already out.

Sasha Banks is already out. I NEED Jake "The Snake" Roberts!

There is A LOT of Stranger Things stuff coming out! Fuck yeah!

For the DC fans:

For my fellow metalheads, the following Pops will surely rank among the coolest ever and must haves! They are, in fact. in my top toys that I saw in all of Toy Fair!

 "Shout at the Devil" era Motley Crue!

Alice Cooper!! Holy shit! This rules!!!

My fellow The Nightmare Before Christmas fans will love these!

Let's end this part with a look at the awesome It stuff that we will be getting. This batch should especially make you happy if you wanted to have the Losers club to go with all the variants of Pennywise (of which we are getting more) that we got last time. Stephen King fans rejoice!

To be continued! 

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Motley Crue: The End (Review)

Motley Crue, one of the most notorious, popular, biggest, and most influential mainstream metal bands of the 80s played their last live show ever on New Year's Eve of 2015, into New Year's Day this year. It took place at the same place it all started: in Los Angeles! This final concert is captured on Motley Crue: The End, and I was fortunate enough to catch it on the big screen, this past Tuesday.

From the get go this fucker kicks all kinds of ass. The band is on point delivering many of their classics and playing hard as hell. Everyone is playing at their best and giving their all, thus leaving as the rock stars that they are. The set-list plays as close to a greatest hits list as possible and is as follows:

1. Girls, Girls, Girls
2. Wild Side
3. Primal Scream
4. Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S.)
5. Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)
6. Smokin' in the Boys' Room (Brownsville Station cover)
7. Looks That Kill
8. Mutherfucker of the Year (followed by wisdom and… more )
9. Anarchy in the U.K. (Sex Pistols cover)
In the Beginning
10. Shout at the Devil
11. Louder Than Hell
O Fortuna
12. Drum Solo (drum rollercoaster got stuck during the solo)
13. Guitar Solo
14. Saints of Los Angeles
15. Live Wire
T.N.T. (Terror 'N Tinseltown)
16. Dr. Feelgood
17. Kickstart My Heart

Encore:
Home Sweet Home

The stage is fucking awesome and huge. There are ramps, hydraulics, fire, explosions, pentagrams, two sexy, female backup-signers, and even a roller-coaster for Tommy Lee's drums during his solo. The contraption gets him stuck, but it's things like this that make this a real concert experience. There are just so many badass moments that I couldn't help but being sucked in.

This is further helped by the excellent sound. Aside from the hard hitting music, the explosions and fire sound so fucking loud and huge. The camera-work is phenomenal with awesome close-ups and shots. Mixed in are some slow-mo shots and still shots that are the epitome of cool. Fan reactions are scattered in, too, with some great shots of some of the Crue's beautiful female fans, which adds some nice, eye-candy moments.

There are also insightful and honest words and thoughts, as all four band talk about this final show. These are scattered throughout the concert. Most interesting is the band admitting that they are not friends or anything of the sort, but that does not matter when they are onstage. It's an honest moment that puts a lot into perspective. Yet, as the concert draws to an end with the classic power-ballad, "Home, Sweet Home" there is an emotional and heartfelt feeling throughout that no true Crue fan will not be able to watch without getting teary eyed.

Without a shadow of a doubt one of the best filmed concerts ever, Motely Crue: The End is not just history captured on video; it is destined to become a classic. See it and own it when it hits DVD/ blu-ray!

* * * * out of * * * *
 

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The 175 Greatest Heavy Metal Album Covers of all Time Pt. 5: 130-121

130. Marduk- Fuck Me Jesus- Ubber-controversial cover to Swedish black metal band Marduk's debut EP features a hot naked chick shoving crucifix up her snatch. Maybe they watched The Exorcist a lot? Whatever the case maybe, I recall the ad for the rerelease of the album in Metal Maniacs ages ago, and it immediately caught my eye. Definitely one of the most shocking looking covers in my entire list.




129. Slayer- Divine Intervention- The Slayer wheel gets a cool redux here with a skeleton and a skull with the image of space in its background. Interestingly the name of the band or album are not on the cover, itself.







128. Iron Maiden- Brave New World- This great album cover has the upper half done by classic Maiden artist Derek Riggs, while the bottom half by Steve Stone, as Bruce Dickinson returned after those two AWFUL albums with Blaze Bayley. A solid album all the way with a beautiful looking cover as a ghostly Eddie looks over a futuristic world.





127. Marduk- Heaven Shall Burn... When We Are Gathered- A bunch of orks gather for a battle in the second Marduk cover to make this part of the list.







126. Megadeth- The World Needs a Hero- Vic Rattlehead busts out of a man's chest, ala Alien, as he makes his return to being on Megadeth album covers. The bloody cover and return of their mascot signifies the return towards a heavier sound after the godawful Risk.






125. W.A.S.P.- Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)- One of the most infamous albums is this EP (featuring the equally infamous song of the same name) with the sawblade codpiece/ crotch shot. This one infuriated the PMRC and was used as example of all that was considered wrong by these jackasses in music, in particular metal music, back then. The combination of violence and sexiaulity makes for a classic and iconic cover that sums up the old days of W.A.S.P., quite well.



124. Motley Crue- Dr. Feelgood- The best selling of Motely's albums has what is probably their best looking cover. It's basically a metalizied version of the caduceus, the medical symbol, with a skull, one snake, a dagger, and demon wings. Their ever changing logo also looked the coolest that it EVER has!






123. Kiss- Destroyer- With gorgeous art by fantasy artist Ken Kelly, this one of Kiss' most famous and popular albums. Our face painted heroes stand over rocks as fire and destruction are in the background. Unquestionably one of the most iconic metal/ hard rock album covers of the 70s.






122. Toxic Holocaust- An Overdose of Death...- The third album by American thrash metal Toxic Holocaust is probably their best looking and coolest cover as evil looking wolves are seemingly all that is left after some sort of, well, toxic holocaust.






121. Nervosa- Victim of Yourself- The most recent album in the entire list is the debut from this Brazilian, all female thrash metal act. It looks really old school and cool, as a skull guy stabs his clone/ twin/ himself/ whatever in a cemetery no less!!

The 175 Greatest Heavy Metal Album Covers of all Time Pt. 4: 140-131 

The 175 Greatest Heavy Metal Album Covers of all Time Pt. 3: 150-141

The 175 Greatest Heavy Metal Album Covers of all Time Pt. 2: 160-151

The 175 Greatest Heavy Metal Album Covers of all Time Pt. 1: 175-16

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The Doctors Are In!

OK, a few years ago at Chiller, two of my friends and I made a mental list of all the doctors (in fiction) that we could think of. The other day leaving Zombieland (which you so need to see if you ain't done so, yet), I had the same the conversation with one of them, again. And, so boredom has lead me to share the list with you! I have added some and maybe forgotten others, but this is just me being silly and geeky, so enjoy. And, remember most of these doctors are people you do not actually want to go see!

Dr. Feelgood- - Not only is this the name of the best post-Shout at the Devil Motley album, but it is also the name of the character the title track is about. A drug dealer. Wow, Motley knows about drugs?! No way!

Dr. Strangelove- - Whacked-out mad scientist and former Nazi hired by the president of the United States from Stanley Kubrick's classic movie of the same name. He has a hand with a mind of it's own that keeps doing the Nazi salute. Most be awkward in public situations!

Dr. Pepper- - While, it cannot perform any actual surgery, it can cure thirst!

Dr. Hill- - Mad scientist whose re-animated corpse carries his own decapitated head around. Has a thing for a hot blonde, and no he is not Hugh Hefner! From the classic Re-Animator.

Dr. Herbert West- - Also, from the same movie is the man who re-animates Dr. Hill after chopping off his head! This mad scientist (damn, there are a lot of them on this list!) is obsessed with finding a way to bring the dead back to life. I am sure one can find less ghoulish obsessions, but The Crocheter would probably not have made for quite as an exciting and fun movie.

Dr. Butcher, M.D.- - Actually the original American title of Italian cult fav Zombie Holocaust, in which a, wait for it, mad scientist tries to bring the dead back to life with the help of cannibals. Hey, they work cheap!

Dr. Strange- - Marvel's Sorcerer Supreme is always ready to protect humanity from the all the evil, supernatural threats that we may endure, like demons and evil magical wielders. He was a former surgeon, but after an accident took the use of hands, he turned to magic. He also has a seventies porn mustache, which leads me to believe he may have been spinning other sorts of magic on the side!

Dr. Bruce Banner- - Brilliant scientist who became the Hulk after an accident. Just don't get him angry cause you won't, aww fuck it! You know the rest!

Dr. Jekyll- - Classic horror character has really deadly split personality, thanks to potion he comes up with. Probably not the right guy to have a drink with!

Dr. Fate- - DC's master of magic has a cool costume and has a shitload of different guys be behind the mask over the course of DC's run. All kidding aside, I think he is one of DC's coolest looking guys.

Dr. No- - The first villain that the original James Bond encountered in the movie of the same name. He has a metal hand he can crush things with. Hope he did not "read" Playboy with said hand...

Dr. Victor Von Doom- - The greatest villain in comic-book history. An evil genius that is the dictator of his own country. Which is more than I can say for anyone else on this list. He also has the biggest ego, and THE coolest look of all these other "doctors". Doom would probably find these guys well beneath him. But, he's Dr. fucking Doom!

Dr. Mikannibal- - Gorgeous sax player and backup signer for Japanese black metal band, Sigh, she is the only one from the list that I wish was my doctor. If I was feeling ill I would so go see her. In fact, I'm not feeling so good at this moment. Uh, doc can you see me now?

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Now playing: Kiss - I Was Made For Lovin' You
via FoxyTunes

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