Happy Holidays from the Child Sized Coffin!

The Coffin is going to be taking a break for a few days. We're traveling abroad and won't be back until the first week of January, and once we get back it'll probably take a few days to get back in the swing of writing. There's a lot of good stuff coming that we just ran out of time on this year, despite our best efforts.

I know we've recently been informed that we could say "Merry Christmas" "again," despite my having no memories from the last 39 years wherein we were not allowed to say that, for any reason, but delusion is a very, very powerful thing. I've always wished people "Happy Holidays" because, since I am not a child, either physically, emotionally, or mentally, I am aware of the fact that there are several different holidays taking place at this time of the year, and I'm not that interested in forcing anyone to acknowledge one made-up tradition over any other made up tradition. I suppose if you're super upset by that, think of all you'll be able to do with the time you save following one less blog on the Internet!

2017 was the biggest year in the Coffins' brief history, and I hope to continue with a strong and content-filled 2018.We've got a whole lot of figures that just didn't make the cut time wise this year, and so we ought to be able to get back in January with some articles fairly quickly.

So, from the Coffin family to yours, Happy Holidays, whichever they are for you, and we'll see you in 2018. Hopefully things will be better then. It's hard to imagine that they can get much worse.

Mass Burial: Squalus, The Great Fish

I don’t remember when, because Life often moves too fast for my mind to grasp the good parts tightly enough to crystallize them into memories these years. There was an announcement that some of the members of the great Giant Squid were putting together a project that would use samples from the 1975 meisterwerk Jaws, the movie that invented the concept of the summer blockbuster, as well as a movie that has clearly been an enormous inspiration for the members of Giant Squid. The initial announcement made it seem that this new band, dubbed Squalus, was going to use sample, samples, like they did on “Eating Machine” from Metridium Fields. So, my understanding of this new project was a bunch of songs like “Eating Machine”. And while “Eating Machine” does appear in altered form on The Great Fish, I was totally unprepared for what this record really was.

Mass Burial: Giant Squid, Minoans

Minoans is the last Giant Squid record, in that it is the last record these musicians would release under this name. This is a good combination of the song composition and content that the band has always offered, but largely loses the sludgy lurch of their earlier works.

And that is a quality of this band that I have always really, really appreciated, so to have it mostly disappear is a little bit of a personal let down. Not to say that the band has lost its magic, as that is something that was always provided by the compositions and their atmospheric moments; but the Giant Squid of Metridium Fields and the heavier moments of The Ichthyologist will always be preferable to me to the cleaner, more polished Giant Squid of Cenotes and Minoans. But enough, lest I become That Guy, eager to disparage the modern output in favor of toasting unnecessarily again the old. It is the absence of sonic density that causes the musical density to be somewhat overlooked, at least by myself somewhat regularly.

TFC Toys Ares: Aethon

 

The fourth member of the Ares squad is Aethon, a third party Tantrum, again named for one of the fire breathing horses that pull the chariot of Ares in Greek mythology. Aethon is a general reuse of the Conabus mold, with some slight differences.

(Apologies for blurry picture. I only realized now that after I wiped the lens, I never retook a picture of Aethon as the ‘cover’ photo. I am sorry. – mr)

Transformers: Titans Return Overlord

 

The Titans Return Leader class felt particularly empty, despite having several entries. The only other Leader from this line that the Coffin experienced is the rather pedestrian SixShot, although the Powermaster Prime was on the radar for quite some time, but was never found at what was considered to be an acceptable price. Oh well.

Overlord is the end of many things. He is the end of the Titans Return line for the Coffin. He is the last toy that came out of that large box of early November online purchases. There was an online buy yesterday morning that proved this wrong, but Overlord could have been a very last as well. But never mind those things, let’s talk about Overlord.

Transformers: Titans Return Twintwist

 Over the summer, fellow Jumpstarter Topspin was granted the title of Should Be A Great Figure, But Is Rather Bland. The idea was floated that perhaps once teammate Twintwist showed up, Topspin’s property value would increase. In early November, a package arrived at Coffin HQ containing the last four desired Titans Return toys, and one of them was Twintwist. So, does the presence of one validate the other?

Mass Burial: Giant Squid, Cenotes

Cenotes is an EP that showcases one particular thing that has been part of the Giant Squid repertoire from the beginning, but given the sheer amount of things happening musically, can often be overlooked. From the opening seconds of the record, a strong Middle Eastern influence can be heard. And, it has been there all along, not a thing that has just surfaced for these five songs.