Grave Considerations: The 2017-2018 Colorado Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche were just eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs last night, losing their first round series with the Nashville Predators 4 games to 2. I want to take a few minutes and reflect on their season.

Grave Considerations: C2E2 2018

Two weeks ago the 2018 edition of the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, or C2E2, too place, and we made our annual pilgrimage to MacCormick Place, a building we drive past everyday on the way to work. This year my wife and I were approved for Professional passes, so we got two days of entry for basically the price of one. At least we went for two days: we had three day passes, but we have yet to go for all three. Something comes up for Saturday night/Sunday, or we’re just too worn out from Friday and Saturday to go on Sunday.

MakeToys MTCM-03A Blindfire

 Blindfire is the MakeToys version of Technobot Strafe, and is part of Quantron, the MakeToys version of Computron. Attained in February thanks to a great online deal, Blindfire and his teammates have had to wait a pretty long time to get any attention, thanks to the moving of Coffin HQ. But now, they are finally freed from their boxes, and can get some attention both in hand and in writing.

Star Wars: The Black Series Lando Calrissian (Solo: A Star Wars Story)

 

 

In a little over a month, the second Star Wars anthology film Solo will hit theaters, bringing us details from the early years of the galaxy’s greatest smuggler, Han Solo, whose death in The Force Awakens I am still not over. Naturally, this means new figures, some for new characters and some for new versions of old favorites.

FansProject Ryu-Oh

 

The combined form of the Saurus team, Ryu-Oh (“Dragon King”) is the third party version of Victory combiner Dinoking. Initially announced to some degree of excitement, it seems the enthusiasm for Ryu-Oh cooled over the time of release, which is really unfortunate. Six all-around solid if individually non-distinct figures, and one really tremendous combined mode. Maybe it’s the lack of Western presence for the characters that caused people to tune out during the life of the set; maybe a Monstructor would have been a bigger hit; maybe the individual bots really needed their dinosaur shells. Who can say?

MakeToys Contact Shot

Coming with an almost impossible amount of hype from reviewers and the online community, MakeToys Contact Shot is a figure that couldn’t possibly live up to expectations, or deliver on what it promises, right?

Wrong. So very, very wrong.

Contact Shot is everything you’ve read about it.

Star Wars: The Black Series Death Squad Commander

 

 One of the original figures in the Star Wars line, and THE original figure of a rando in the Star Wars line, the Death Squad Commander is here a part of the 40^th anniversary collection, and rather than being released in the standard Black Series box, comes on a marvelous blister card that harkens back to the original Star Wars packaging.