Needless Things Podcast 258 – Plastic Legends: The History of Wrestling Toys

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-7iih6-ac1a0e

We are on the Road to WrestleMania and it’s high time the Needless Things Irregulars talked about their favorite wrestling toys, brother!

From LJN to Hasbro to San Francisco Toymakers and beyond, there have been a huge number of popular toy lines based on the greatest sports personalities of all time. Most of the best-known wrestling federations from the last four decades have had toy lines that have seen some level of success.
In today’s episode Dave talks to Rich from Nerdy Laser and Chris from Figures Toy Company about the history of wrestling toys in their lives. Which line will go down as the best in the history of Our Great Sport?
Listen in as Dave, Rich, and Chris throw their toys into the squared circle on the newest episode of the Needless Things Podcast.
Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think!

“Procrastibate” by LeSexoflex.com

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You can follow Phantom Troublemaker on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture!

Home Again – March’s Blu-Ray Releases

Welcome to Home Again, where each and every Tuesday I’ll be running down some of the best genre releases coming to home media.

All info is from the excellent Blu-ray.com. This isn’t every genre release, just the ones I find interesting. For the full list, follow that link.

Toy Review – Masters of the Universe Classics Ultimate Filmation from Super 7

When Super 7 took over the Masters of the Universe Classics line from Mattel I was pretty much okay with being done with the line.

I had every character I ever wanted (except for Wun-Dar, who I now consider a lost cause) and plenty I didn’t. I looked at the shift in companies as an opportunity to bail. As a matter of fact, I intentionally neglected updating my credit card information for the final few months of Mattel’s releases because I decided I didn’t need them.

Fortunately I was able to pick the ones I wanted up for cheap at GameStop and ThinkGeek a couple of years later.

Super 7 has announced a couple of things I want here and there – most notably Karg – but after years of subscribing to MattyCollector and paying for things I don’t really want I can’t justify signing up Super 7’s sets, which have all included at least two figures I do not want.

Note: Obviously this does not include the recently announced and offered William Stout Collection. I jumped on those day one.

From time to time Super 7 offers individual figures, though. And I’ve been more than happy to grab them because they’ve been fun, gimmicky things like Laughing Prince Adam and Holiday He-Man. And today’s subjects.

I was never particularly interested in the Filmation style Classics figures. They look great, but they don’t fit in with the regular Classics collection and I don’t want to start all over again. I have Trap-Jaw – who is the character I’ll buy in pretty much any form – thanks to our pal Rad Ranger, but I had no plans to own anybody beyond him.

Then Super 7 revealed that beautiful and weird Robot He-Man head, as well as Laughing Skeletor.

Those excellent pieces were to be included with all-new Ultimate figures of Filmation He-Man and Skeletor, which weren’t necessarily on my “needs” list, but were gimmicky and interesting enough to grab my attention. I was well aware that I might be inviting a case of Potato Chip Syndrome by buying these, but I hadn’t felt any particular compulsion to order any of the other Filmation releases. I think I’ll be okay.

These two arrived a day prior to me receiving the shipping notice because apparently Super 7 is now utilizing time machines to ship their products. Were they a good purchase? Did Super 7 deliver “Ultimate” figures? Am I now compelled to collect all of the other Filmation releases?

Read on and find out!

Needless Things Podcast 257 – Hunt to Kill Needless Commentary

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-28rn3-ab9aba

Part of an ongoing series – the Needless Things Irregulars gather in the Phantom Zone to provide their own unique commentary on classic genre films!

We’re on the Road to WrestleMania, so it’s time for a wrestling-adjacent Commentary! Stone Cold Steve Austin is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, so it seemed right to choose one of his films – Hunt to Kill!
Part Commando, part The Most Dangerous Game, and all whoop-ass action, this 2010 action flick pits the Rattlesnake against a motley crew of criminals. Among the supporting cast are Michael Eklund, Eric Roberts, and a scenery-chewing Gil Bellows of Ally McBeal fame!
Listen in as Dave, Battle Cougar, Ryan Cadaver, Rad Ranger, and Arian head out to the woods for this month’s Needless Commentary!
Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think!
“Procrastibate” by LeSexoflex.com
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You can follow Dave as Phantom Troublemaker on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture!

The Young-Adult World of Star Wars Books

Aright, part two of what I hadn’t intended to be a two part thingy. At this point I’ve finished Thrawn: Alliances, Bloodlines, and Kenobi. I would totally watch Ewan McGregor do an Obi-Wan Kenobi movie after that book. He’s the perfect age, and as much as I’ve wanted Disney to slow it down a little on the Star Wars movies I’d hate to let this chance slip by. I’m well aware that they can CGI people to look younger, but I really don’t think we should let that become a thing unless it’s absolutely necessary for a minor role. But we’re not here to talk about such grown up Star Wars books. We’re here to talk about why I read Star Wars “young adult novels”. If you haven’t read the first part, and maybe want to know about your more adult book options you can read that here. Or you can skip how I got on this kick and just find out whether any of these books are worth your time.

Repost: Movie Review – STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN In Hunt to Kill

Originally posted on the old Needless Things in August of 2011

I want to tell you about this amazing movie I watched Monday morning. But I’m going to have to resort to spoilers to do it justice, so don’t read this if you don’t want the magic of STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN in Hunt To Kill ruined for you. Just go to Comcast’s OnDemand service and watch it right now.

Home Again – March’s Blu-Ray Releases

Welcome to Home Again, where each and every Tuesday I’ll be running down some of the best genre releases coming to home media.

All info is from the excellent Blu-ray.com. This isn’t every genre release, just the ones I find interesting. For the full list, follow that link.

Toy Review – Transformers War for Cybertron: Siege from Hasbro

Last week I wrote about my history with Hasbro’s Transformers franchise. That post started off as a review of the newest line of toys from that franchise – War for Cybertron: Siege. I like to open toy reviews with a bit of my personal history with what I’m reviewing, but sometimes if I haven’t written a whole lot about what I’m reviewing it turns into more than an intro.

So now that I’ve gotten that history out of the way, I can explain how I ended up collecting Transformers again after quitting (several times) and I can also review some toys.

Needless Things Podcast 256 – Until Next Time, Dana Swanson

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-jdnb7-aad74c

Our dear friend Dana Swanson is bidding Buttlanta farewell and flying off to the City of Angels to pursue bigger and better things.

I Accidentally Read Star Wars Books For Kids

(I had assumed this would easily all fit into one post. Once I got to 1,000 words without even having spoken about the book series I was planning on writing about I decided to make this a two-parter. If it takes me five hours to write it’ll probably take you two hours to read. I don’t know too many people who want to read 3,000+ words about Star Wars books in one sitting. If you are one of those people I apologize, and feel your pain. “Too long, didn’t read” is the worst thing you can say to someone who busted their ass writing something so I try to edit myself when necessary. It became very necessary with Star Wars books because I’ve been reading so many for so long.)