Spirit Bloody Butcher's Knife (2023)

The mechanisms inside the lens of this camera are borked; count your blessings.

I'm going to excise my ramblings, leaving nothing but my assessment of the piece itself, since I have parted with all of my Silent Hill media.

There is an alarmingly accurate real knife, in this house, that I had on my weapons rack, for a few months. Do not follow in my footsteps, because it tried its damnedest to drive itself straight into my foot. Twice. While in many other regards I am assuredly the real-life incarnation of the greatest gambler to ever live, I wasn’t in the mood to go for broke, here. I was not interested in pressing my luck, any further.

Cue Spirit, previewing this year’s wares, on their site. Plastic? Not foam? Be still my heart~ The handle is…not the cheapest, but it is 100% basic. It’s like I’m back in Kindergarten, playing house. The blood splatter is similarly banal. Thankfully, the entirety of the piece feels more robust than their firearm; I absolutely feel comfortable dropping it. In fact, I intentionally did just that! Point-first, right onto my foot, to appease and reset the odds of the universe.

I’m not saying it’s life changing, but in a world where I’m being asked to pay $30 to pre-order a 6'' domestic Danhausen figure, I have suddenly realized that I’m living the dream. So, yes, at the very least I am saying that it’s wonderful, in its own very vanilla ways. Love that Danhausen, but I got my Buster Sword for less than that, man! You people still collecting new figures, in this current era, are getting screwed, without lube.

Costume weaponry and X-Men trading cards, forever!
Anthony Fantano is no friend of mine.

You dumbshit, you're collecting Transformers, again 😂

Mattel Aquaman Basic Figure (2018)

The universe finally brought me my Arthur!!!

I knew if I waited long enough, one would find its way into my life. This one appears to be the most basic issuance explicitly tied to the movie itself. You can also find it (with slight paint differences) in a 3-pack with Ocean Master and the Brine King. If you’re interested in that variation, follow in the footsteps of the guy who bid $0.01, not the one who splashed out $100~

There’s a single dot of paint missing from one of his gauntlets (presumably due to play), which I have absolutely no problem just living with, but I do have to mention that Mattel’s attempt at placing highlights into his his hair and beard is a little crude. That said, at a distance, it is better than Hasbro’s poop-smears from the War for Cybertron trilogy of Transformers toylines. We haven’t mastered the art of perfectly articulating characters with long hair, yet, but he can turn his head enough to look stoically into the distance at an artistic angle. I think that’s the best we can expect, at this point in time. Honestly, this is a shockingly good face portrait for a Western-released budget figure. It doesn’t seem to be outright faceprinting like Marvel Legends utilize, but there are glints of shiny life in his eyes.

Oh, and his forearms, here and elsewhere, look like corn cobs. You’re welcome~

He is supposed to come with the pictured, associated trident, but it was not present with mine. I’m going to be keeping an eye out for it, both at flea markets and on ebay. It looks to be incredibly pliable, but I do have experience with bending such materials back into their original positions, or user-desired ones. Speaking of which, the skirting pieces attached to his belt are a mite stiff, but Arthur’s joints are quite stern to match, if you'd like to warp them to accommodate a certain pose, over time.

Frankly, I am in utter disbelief of how tight they are, across the board, especially considering that my figure is a loose example, as alluded to. There is absolutely no doubt that he is going to stand proudly, true, and completely unshakable.

Also, ALONE. The matching Mera's face is incomprehensibly generic. Though, I've long been both resolved to and happy at the thought of Arthur being the sole figural representational of the film, on my shelf.

 I cannot describe how happy I am that this has indeed come to pass.

4½ Examples of Worthiness Through Simplicity out of 5

Hero's Edge Fire Axe ()

Camera is borked; this makes me laugh *shrug*

This contains something known to California to cause cancer or birth defects.
Ergo, don't buy one if you're pregnant or generally fearful.

This doesn't have a name, so I'm just using the one from the game.

Use your eyes and mind when shopping. You'll figure it out. 

I have faith.

I'm going to excise my ramblings, leaving nothing but my assessment of the piece itself, since I have parted with all of my Silent Hill media.

It's a great piece, in spite of the objective criticism that I'm ultimately going to deliver; I have no intention of giving it up, unless a friend happens to ever want it.

Unlike the Rusty Axe, the handle on this one is rock solid. I can't squish it for the life of me. It might as well actually be wood. It's incredible! Especially compared to the one that I checked out at Halloween City, last year. That one had a cold, clammy, gummy feel to it. I imagine it would degrade and get full-on sticky VERY FAST. Avoid that one!

 

DON'T HIT ANYONE OR ANYTHING WITH THIS, OR SWING IT LIKE AN OLYMPIAN, BECAUSE EYE-RELATED CATASTROPHE IS 100% POSSIBLE. Yep, the head comes off just the same as the other one, and you can swap them if you are so inclined. I don't think they look good reversed, but you do you!

The blade absolutely needed more paint, right on the edge itself. Red is poking through throughout, down the length of it.

As such—and as with the Rusty Axe—I'm pleased since I got it as cheap as I did. Unfortunately, the (lack of) paint on the blade makes it such that I don't recommend getting this for full price,.

Hero's Edge Rusty Axe ()

 

This contains something known to California to cause cancer or birth defects.

 Ergo, don't buy one if you're pregnant or generally fearful.

 

It doesn't have a name, so I'm just using the one from the game.

Use your eyes and mind when shopping. You'll figure it out. 

I have faith.

 

I'm going to excise my ramblings, leaving nothing but my assessment of the piece itself, since I have parted with all of my Silent Hill media.

 

Not gonna lie, it's really good. There are some things worth noting, but the short version is that this is amazing, given the hefty discount I received on it. At full price? If you REALLY REALLY want one, sure. Yes.

The handle is ever-so-slightly squishy and there's a few small paint blemishes afoot, on the visible parts. There's a world of difference between slight imperfections and damning problems. I only found the former. Visible is a key word, because the head is removable, and will probably reveal some paint streaks, as there are on mine. However, the friction of the foam is quite formidable, and other than deliberately sliding it off by hand, you'd have to swing this as violently as a real axe, to get it to fly off. It certainly can, but you have to MEAN it.

 

Don't beat anyone or anything with it, and to avoid eye-related catastrophe, DON'T SWING IT LIKE AN OLYMPIAN.

All of this of course means that you can swap heads with some of the other axes in the line, if you'd like.

Again, it's great at a deep discount, but if you're taken with it, it's probably worth full price. Unlike this other axe in the line.

BladeBuilders Basic Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker Lightsaber Heather Mason Beam Saber (2017?)

I'm going to excise my ramblings, leaving nothing but my assessment of the piece itself, since I have parted with all of my Silent Hill media.

A little while back, I was visiting one of my favorite flea market stalls, and saw a familiar sight: the vacuous back-end of a BladeBuilders Lightsaber. Except the blade was nowhere to be seen… Turns out they released a basic version without sounds, meaning there was room in the hilt for the blade to completely retract into!

SOLD!

I alluded to it ever so briefly in my review of the electronic variant, but what sells me on Luke’s Jedi saber are the colors of lower-tier versions of it. High-end replicas accurately recreate the lathed-out, delicately rendered area below the emitter, as well as its copper coloring. Cheap ones? They fill it in and slather it with orange paint. Yeah, it looks crude, but I’ll take crude and solid over daintiness any day of the millennium.

This specific version is much more of a costume accessory than a fully-featured toy…on its own. Since I shamefully failed to mention it in the other review, the open end is designed to take connector pieces that allow you to Frankenstein different sabers together. Obviously, this exact one didn’t come with any, but it doesn’t seem that new examples will, either. I remember that the electronic one came with a single connector, but there are some sabers that come with multiples. I’m not going to rain on a child’s creativity just because I’m an old curmudgeon. It’s a neat system, even if it isn’t for me. And, the empty end ports have never bothered me. A gimmick that doesn’t significantly compromise a toy? Be still my heart~

The only complaint I can personally lodge against it is that the pieces of the blade nest together in a specific way. Though, there’s no actual harm to them being crammed in willy-nilly, as thick and robust as they are. A kid is free to have stress-less fun; I’m the one who has to take a minute to fiddle with it, to get them all satisfyingly aligned, as pictured.

No rest for the anal-retentive.

Nicky Bigs Novelties Sledge Hammer ()

I'm going to excise my ramblings, leaving nothing but my assessment of the piece itself, since I have parted with all of my Silent Hill media.

In having (and having had) painted foam weaponry, for a number of years, at this point, I can happily report that they hold up much better than I originally assumed they would. If you handle them with care and gently dust them, you should be fine for a decently long time. In spite of that having been learned, I obviously still prefer plastic, if it's an option. It's who I am.

The head of this thing is a mite horizontally loose, but you have to deliberately torque it, or swing it violently, to notice. Normal handling and display would never give that away. It comes in two pieces, but there are a multitude of raised plastic mounds within the overlap that resemble tiny ramps, arranged in successive stages. I.e., the connection is absurdly good and I do not recommend trying to ever take it back apart. My previous hammer had the grandeur of its paint to thank for it appearing bigger than it was. This one looks decently long, because…it’s decently long…

For a costume party or display, I can certainly recommend this.

Hitting someone will assuredly harm it, instead of them, though. Since being replaced, I've been using this to inflict some pain on inanimate objects, and I've tried it on myself, to boot. It can definitely sting, and it can survive some plastic curling due to impaction. DON'T HIT PEOPLE OR THINGS WITH IT. I'm kind of impressed at its durability, in spite of:

20…SAME YEAR UPDATE: I noticed that this thing is not straight. The bottom half is warped. I can rotate it and the head, but no dice. It has become an irksome entity, through and through.

I give no shits, because the universe has provided the perfect replacement~

Faustus' Noteworthy Video Game Boxart Collection

In response to an invitation by Neg in his magnificent Noteworthy Video Game Boxart Collection, I offer my selections. But because only four of the games that I'd choose to include in such a Top 10 actually have reviews that can be linked to, I've chosen instead to give due credit to the work of one celebrated Japanese development studio. It's just three games (so a Trilogy as opposed to a Collection), all of which are works of genuine art in themselves and for which a convenient review already exists. I'm referring to the games of Team Ico.

The Third Window Films Collection

Of all the so-called 'boutique' labels that continue to licence and distribute film on optical media, none is more consistently interesting to me than UK-based Third Window Films. I don’t buy every title the company release, I’m not that kind of collector, I buy only the ones that I’m interested in, but that in itself is a significant portion of what TWF have on their roster. Because of that discerning approach you won’t find links to every TWF film below the cut, but you'll find all of what I presently own (and a few from past Nutshell authors).

Neg's Noteworthy Video Game Boxart Collection

I honestly find myself being disappointed with video game boxart a startling amount of the time. Sure, sometimes it’s outright awful; I'm looking at you, Mega Man. But, more often than not, I'm usually displeased with what is objectively decent, or genuinely beautiful art, simply because I somehow find it to be incongruent with what it's trying to represent, and sell a consumer on. Still, I have been able to identify 10 examples that I either appreciate in a purely aesthetic sense, or that have something else about them that I consider worthy of celebrating and elaborating on. Below the cut, you will find all of them, as well as links to my reviews of each associated game.

The Mega Man Collection

To me, the Mega Man and Mega Man X series are about skill. When it comes to most forms of media, including video games, I am all in for two things: Character and Story. However, the medium of games is unique in that it undeniably has to cater to the development of skill, even if I, and many others, value narrative most highly. It is bound and defined by it. As a kid, I rented these games consistently, reveling in the colorful and characterful Robot Masters and Mavericks. I treated them as a collection of sampler platters. Indeed, it was not until I returned to the franchise as an adult that I came to appreciate Wily and Sigma’s abodes, finding the utmost joy in doing complete runs. Mega Man himself may be little more than an avatar to me, but that’s fitting, as it is through him that I am able to express my prowess at besting his foes.

Mega Man
Mega Man 2
Mega Man 3
Mega Man 4
Mega Man 5
Mega Man 6
Mega Man 7
Mega Man Powered Up

Mega Man X
Mega Man X2
Mega Man X3
Maverick Hunter X

Below the cut, I will be providing my thoughts on the structure of both the Anniversary and Mega Man X Collections.

The Lone Wolf and Cub Collection

Also sometimes referred to as the 'Baby Cart' series, the Lone Wolf and Cub films tell the story of a skilled rōnin (sword for hire) named Ogami Ittō (Tomisaburo Wakayama). They're characterised by extreme acts of violence, minimal dialogue and highly stylised framing that closely resembles the manga it's based on. When not dishing out vicious and bloody samurai action to the people that deserve it, Ogami wheels his young son Daigoro (Tomikawa Akihiro) from place to place in an iconic wooden baby cart.

The journey of the pair in the original six films was cut short before it could end naturally, but please don't let that put you off from watching. There's more than enough bloodshed and vengeance to satisfy fans of the genre. If you do need closure, then Kazuo Koike's original manga can provide it.

The original six films on In a Nutshell:

01. Sword of Vengeance (1972)
02. Baby Cart at the River Styx (1972)
03. Baby Cart to Hades (1972)
04. Baby Cart in Peril (1972)
05. Baby Cart in the Land of Demons (1973)
06. White Heaven in Hell (1974)

Other LW+C films on In a Nutshell:
07. Shogun Assassin (1980) (US cut and dub)
08. Lone Wolf and Child: Assassin on the Road to Hell (1989)
09. Lone Wolf and Cub: Final Conflict (1992)

Manga on our sister site, Nut Ink:
01. Lone Wolf and Cub Manga - Omnibus Editions (Vols 1-5 only)

The Bunny Collection

Is there someone in there....................Why do you wear that stupid bunny suit............I bet with those long ears you can hear the voices................................I don't have regrets about anythin' anymore..........Put....the.....bunny....back.....in.....the box......What's the matter, snuggle-bunny, finding out the world isn't all sunshine and rainbows?

Click the red link, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.........