Welcome to the first post for Ghostbusters Week here at The No Seatbelt Blog! Due to my love for all things Ghostbusters, I have decided to dedicate an entire week to the franchise here in my little corner of the Internet – you’ll read about the movies, the toys and memorabilia, and more! I’m kicking off the week with the story behind one of my favorite action figures, the 12″, fully-articulated figure of Egon Spengler, everybody’s favorite nerdy Ghostbuster. Continue reading
This week on Funko Friday, I’m finally welcoming my very first Deadpool figure into my varied collection of Funko’s Pop! dolls. I’ll be honest if it weren’t for my nerdy compadre Cory, who is a Deadpool superfan, I would likely have been oblivious to the character’s existence until the movie came out. And what a movie that was. Played PERFECTLY by Ryan Reynolds, the “merc-with-a-mouth” slayed audiences, myself happily included, with a full-throttle ride full of blood, guts, unbridled profanity, and even a mushy love story. Reynolds proclaimed that he waited over ten years to make this movie, and just to prove a point to that end, reportedly stole the character’s trademark suit from the set. Continue reading
Honestly, who doesn’t love Tony Stark? Played by the incredible Robert Downey Jr. in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Stark is a brilliant, charismatic, and borderline alcoholic scientist and weapons guru who after being kidnapped by mercenaries out in the desert, has his heart removed and replaced with an energy source, builds a mechanical suit that enables him to fly, shoot lasers from his hands, and protects him from much damage. Once rescued and brought back to America, he’s approached by Nick Fury, who convinces him to join the Avengers Initiative, a program which assembles a team of assorted superheroes that come together to save the world when evil strikes. Continue reading
Another week is coming to a close, and if you’re a toy collector, or just a nerd, what better way to kick it off than with another Funko Friday entry here at The No Seatbelt Blog? This week, we’re reaching for the classic that is Pulp Fiction once again, as Vincent Vega’s partner in bloody crime, Jules stands front and center to curse at you, pump you full of bullets and then abruptly change his ways after he witnesses what he believes to be a miracle. Continue reading
It’s Friday night, and here at The No Seatbelt Blog, I celebrate it by writing about toys. Because that’s what nerds do. Every week, I showcase another piece of my collection of Funko’s Pop! vinyl figures, offering some background on the featured character, its origin, and significance to me. Funko has won a piece of my nerdy heart with this line of compact, inexpensive, big-headed collectibles, and my collection of them has grown exponentially over the last few years. Continue reading
This week, I present another edition of Funko Friday, showcasing none other than the popular toy company’s version of “the heart of the Ghostbusters,” Dr. Raymond Stantz. Played with a signature “aww, shucks” charm by Dan Aykroyd in both movies of the franchise, Ray Stantz was a thoroughly lovable character. Built with equal parts childlike wonder and real world smarts, poor Ray was conned by his partner Pete Venkman into selling the house his parents left him so that the future foursome of paranormal investigators and eliminators could purchase a dilapidated firehouse where they would store the supernatural baddies they snared. Continue reading
My collection of Funko’s Pop! vinyl dolls has grown significantly over the past couple of weeks, and the latest addition to my burgeoning trove of these addictive collectibles is none other than Butch Coolidge, the character made famous by Bruce Willis in Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece, Pulp Fiction. If you want just a glimpse of Butch’s trials in this most brilliant film, he spends his time beating an opponent to death in a boxing ring, evading and eventually attempting to run down his former ally Marcellus Wallace, berating his well-meaning girlfriend about forgetting to bring along his father’s prized watch before they try to make their escape, and having a climactic run-in with Marcellus’ henchman Vincent Vega, played by John Travolta in one of his greatest roles. Continue reading
Welcome to the first post of what will be an ongoing series involving my favorite new toy company, Funko. The toy maker is known for its line of vinyl Pop! dolls, which now exist for just about every movie and television show ever (except for Indiana Jones, much to the chagrin of my friend and toy consultant Jack), with more properties being released all the time. Each week, I will post a picture of one of the many in my collection, with a blurb, quotes, a story or some other bit of information about these fun, highly collectible (and affordable) toys. Continue reading
Last Saturday, in celebration of my friend Jack’s 30th birthday, we embarked upon the most glorious part of our mission to reclaim our childhoods, one toy at a time. With our friends and fellow nerds Andrew and Cory in tow, we took the long trip up to Westwood, New Jersey, to visit Hollywood Heroes, a vintage collectibles shop owned by Jordan Hembrough of TV’s Toy Hunter. The store is only open for a handful of hours on Fridays and Saturdays, as Hembrough travels around the world looking for vintage toys of untold value. On Toy Hunter, which was the highest-rated show on the Travel Channel before the network inexplicably cancelled it, he would raid the basements and attics of other toy collectors, searching for rare toys to resell at his store, at conventions such as Comic-Con, or to his celebrity clients like Gene Simmons from KISS, or Kirk Hammett from Metallica. Continue reading
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