Needless Things Minicast Episode 4 – Raymond Carr’s Joyriders

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-hgevv-af94f6

Dave talks to writer, director, and puppeteer Raymond Carr about his new upcoming project, Joyriders.

JoyridersMovie.com
Support Joyriders
Joyriders on Facebook
Raymond Carr on Instagram
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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Home Again – April’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.

Snake Mountain from Super 7 (or) Am I Really Going to Skip This thing?

I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO HERE, PEOPLE.

I have almost every Masters of the Universe Classics figure and toy I want. As of right now I am missing Zodac (who I just the other day realized I don’t own somehow), the Roton, and of course my holiest of holy grails, Wun-Dar.

If you’re new here, Wun-Dar slipped through my fingers a few years ago because I decided to go eat right before getting to the toy vendor that had one. Which he sold to someone for a ridiculously low price right in front of me as soon as I got back.

I haven’t eaten since.

I have tons of figures. I have a Wind Raider and a Griffin and the two giants. I have a huge drawer full of all of the weapons packs that I really shouldn’t have bought but I just had to have He-Man’s weapons in green or some asshole’s whip that I don’t even remember right now. I have Castle motherfreaking Grayskull.

How can I possibly pass up Snake Mountain?

Needless Things Podcast 262 – Touring the Khetanna with Victoria’s Cantina

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-gwek2-aefe1b

Hasbro – one of the most prolific toy companies in the business – blew minds when it announced an all-new experiment called HasLab at Toy Fair 2018. It was to be a place where Hasbro could communicate and solicit funds directly from customers and deliver very special products that would be impossible to market through normal retail.

The first announced project was one of the most ambitious toys ever produced – Jabba the Hutt’s sail barge, The Khetanna from Return of the Jedi. Hasbro immediately revealed an unprecedented amount of detail, for an as-yet unproduced toy and soon after opened preorders.
The hefty $500 price tag (which included shipping) was intimidating to some, but for stalwart collectors who had forty years of Star Wars toys on their shelves, it was impossible to imagine a collection that didn’t include this monolithic vehicle/playset.
One year later the true believers who invested in this dream have The Khetanna in their homes. Was it worth it?
Listen in as Dave and our special guest Victoria, from Victoria’s Cantina discuss this unprecedented toy release on the newest episode of the Needless Things Podcast.
Follow Victoria’s Cantina on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube!
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

Interstitial music provided by The Mystery Men?

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

The MCU Ranked, and Slightly Updated

Dave messaged me last week wanting to know if I’d be ready for an Endgame podcast by Sunday. I won’t. Given the hype, anticipation, and number of people that I know who’ve already bought tickets I can only imagine how crowded every single showing will be for opening weekend. My love of The Avengers will not win out over my hatred of seeing movies in a sold out theater. Anything over half full gives me anxiety these days. I’ll see it sometime next week when I’m off early on a weekday, and can get in while most everyone else is still at work. During these messages Dave also mentioned that he was doing an MCU ranker for the site this week, and asked me to do one too. As luck would have it I did the one below last year for the old site. Obviously he hasn’t memorized every single article I’ve ever written. What a jerk. And then he ended up not even doing the ranker he set out to do. Anyway, besides cleaning up the formatting I left everything pretty much as it was when I first wrote it. I could go back and start over-thinking things, but why? I did add Ant-Man and the Wasp, but you’ll notice that Captain Marvel isn’t here. The lame answer is that I just haven’t gotten around to seeing it yet. My life has been busy and complicated so far this year, and I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. I also don’t understand having two Marvel movies in theaters at the same time. I’d have been a lot happier to see this one at home a few times before going to see Endgame. So I’ll probably see Endgame twice before I see Captain Marvel, but I will see it.

Independence Within the Marvel Cinematic Universe

I’m going to try to do something a little different today.

Before we get any further – comment below with the MCU movie that you think stands alone most successfully. There are plenty of answers with all kinds of justification; I’m just curious to see what you think.

With Avengers: Endgame imminent, my plan had been to rewatch the preceding MCU movies and write a fresh piece ranking them. Thanks to work and other stuff I only made it to Thor: The Dark World before I had to sit down to put this post together.

Hopefully we’ll get to Age of Ultron and Infinity War again before we see Endgame, but I’m not gonna hold my breath. It’s okay. I know these movies fairly well by now; or at least, I hope I do. Today’s post relies on my familiarity.

Home Again – April’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 – Game of Thrones Series 1 from McFarlane Toys

Like many toy collectors of my generation I’ve had a long and tumultuous relationship with McFarlane Toys.

That may seem like a dramatic way to open a toy review, but I have to lay down some groundwork so you know where I’m coming from. I have a deep fondness for McFarlane Toys and the amazing changes they wrought in the toy industry. Because of them horror toys became mainstream and a constant presence in toy aisles. They also leveled up what was possible in a single action figure, from sculpt to paint to accessories.

McFarlane Toys penetrated the likes of Walmart and Target with collector-focused products and paved the way for mass-market availability of every niche of dorkery.

McFarlane Toys has produced some of the most amazing-looking action figures in the history of the business. They have also produced some tragically fragile collectibles that have a tendency to simply fall apart, sometimes straight out of the box.

There’s probably a whole post to be written, but that’s not what I’m here for today.

Needless Things Podcast 261 – Dead Alive Needless Commentary

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-7jmah-ae7609

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

It’s Lady’s Night in the Phantom Zone! For this month’s selection Nicole Ghouled picked the legendary gross-out flick Dead Alive!
As many older horror fans’ first experience with Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson, Dead Alive sets a very different tone for his career than King Kong or Lord of the Rings. Chock full of innovation and complimented by brilliant yet classic storytelling, this New Zealand gorefest displayed Jackson’s ingenuity and creative spirit.
Listen in as Dave, Nicole, Ryan, and Sean get covered in red pudding 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
Interstitial music provided by The Mystery Men?
You can follow Dave as Phantom Troublemaker on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest on pop culture!

Game of Thrones: Winterfell

Game of Thrones: The Reunion Episode. Oh wait, it was called Winterfell. But there sure as hell were a lot of reunions. Arya and The Hound, Arya and Gendry (was she flirting?), Arya and Jon (so sweet), Jon and Bran, Jon and Sam, Theon and Yara, Theon and his balls (figuratively speaking), Tyrion and Sansa, and (most awkward of all) Jamie and Bran. It seemed like a lot of feels and set-up for it being a season premiere, but I appreciate that they’re getting all this shit out of the way quickly. Too quickly, since this episode wasn’t even quite an hour long. There’s a whole lot of action coming so we need to move it forward super fast I guess.

I’m not going to recap every single scene. I’m more here to talk about how I felt about the episode, what I think some of these things mean, and what could be coming next. Needless to say: spoilers are coming either way. If you haven’t seen the first episode of season 8 turn back before it’s too late.