Customizing Gen 13’s Caitlin Fairchild Is Fairplay

Ever since finishing Firefly, I’ve had a spare Marvel Select Gwen Stacy head staring at me on my workbench. It was too nice of a sculpt to go to waste. The expression on the sculpt by Jean St. Jean is beguiling for being neither neutral nor extreme. It’s not scaled for Marvel Legends, so that knocked out many body transplant options. I wasn’t even sure whom I’d use the unmasked Spider-Gwen head for until I began thinking about her bangs lunatic fringe. A little orange paint confirmed my suspicion she’d work as Gen 13’s Caitlin Fairchild. As she was the runner up to become the visage of my overly mogged Polaris custom, I realized Mattel’s Wrestlemania Chyna would accommodate her & be a more appropriate physique. At the glacial pace McFarlane Toys is producing women (to stem a glut of future serial killers), I wouldn’t need to worry about an official Fairchild being made soon. If you thought a TMNT x Power Rangers mashup was too mainstream, this is the 90’s alternative custom for you!

Sun’s out; gams out.

Marvelous Hellfire Halloween!

It’s Samhain Season again! That’s another excuse for me to unload more outdated Marvel Comics ephemera. This is distinct from Marvel Cinematic Universe ephemera. (Watch Werewolf By Night again!) Toy talk has been sequestered to the end for your convenience. I’ve also removed the muties so they can get their own post soonish. The DC Comics equivalent could probably fill out more.

Its flickering candle makes a groovy strobe effect.

MCU Musings

I’ve got a backlog of writing that’s more esoteric than my usual rants. Since my neophyte blogging days, however, I’ve learned it’s better for site traffic to prioritize blogs that are newsworthy in the moment. (Even being well timed, however, isn’t a guarantee they’ll be popular upon posting.) Then when there isn’t anything trendy happening in a given week, I get confused over which ramble is most worth editing into something readable.

That was going to be the case last week, but then I heard D23 was happening. So after postponing to see if anything earthshaking was revealed, it was more of a Loki lowkey affair aside from a Werewolf By Night trailer & Thunderbolts roster. So then I opted not to rush to publish my thoughts. Instead this is mostly rambling Marvel Cinematic Universe cold takes. I held back some stuff that’d be germane to She-Hulk: Attorney At Law & Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. In addition to general MCU & adjacent Spider-Man, I’ll start off with hypothetical X-Men. Belated Marvel Comics rants will be a future blog.

A Decade Of D-Cat!

It’s cat bloggin’ time! Recently I celebrated my cat’s tenth birthday. (I waited until after to write this headline & introduction so as not to jinx it with tragedy.) I don’t know if it’s her real birthday, but it’s the one I assigned her in lieu of a birth certificate. It’s also not her tenth anniversary of being the feline in residence. (Until her family pays her ransom, this cat will continue to be my hostage.) Rather than continuously refer to her generically, I will reveal her first name starts with D. This will maintain a level of privacy for her & prevent me from having to commit to one spelling online. Happy decade to the D-Cat!

Unlike the inflatable birthday hat fiasco, this year I went out of my way to purchase her Yeoww! catnip toys from Pet Goods she actually appreciates. The path of least resistance works to placate pussycats! Hopefully they’ll make some catnip fish in new colors because I believe she now has the complete set. She’s quite fond of nip-pineapple. I was able to get plenty of photos of her playing with her new toys, but the lighting wasn’t ideal. So here’s some of her wielding hammers instead!

“These tools are mine now. I am become a hammerist.”

CC Returned To SD!

After a two year absence, San Diego Comic Con returned in collective figurative person to San Diego! As a germaphobe on a limited budget, I did not partake of the festivities directly. I enjoyed the virtual panels that I used to be able to stream at home, but they’ve been discontinued. While I couldn’t observe the Gremlins: Secrets Of The Mogwai panel, I’m relived Tze Chun meeting Greta went great. Despite what crazy people on The Twitter insisted, neither Henry Cavill nor Elizabeth Olsen showed up! The amount of Everything Everywhere All At Once cosplay I saw secondhand pleased me.

I was planning on doing one of my non-review blogs after Thor Part IV & Ms. Marvel’s inaugural season, but a heatwave of the non-Mick Rory variety struck. I can work when it’s too hot or too cold. I need a temperature-regulating gimp suit like Scorpius. Then I got hung up obsessing over SDCC tidbits from another timezone. So I realized nobody would bother reading a non-SDCC article from me. I doubt anyone even wants to read an SDCC retrospective from me, but sometimes you have to write a low stakes blog to remind visitors there’ll be better blogs soon. If you share my incredibly narrow interests, this armchair SDCC coverage is the overview for you! It goes action figures, Marvel, & DC. As usual, no actual comic book news will be involved!

“Are you here for Dom-Con too?” “No, we’re looking for the American Library Association conference.”

Whipping Up Lashina

If you wanted a very verbose blog about customizing Lashina & her use within DC Comics, you’ve come to the right place! If not, just look at the pictures. Either way it gives you more fake nerd cred than reading a Thor 4 trailer reaction. The real nerd cred, however, comes from supporting #renewLegendsOfTomorrow until The CW bends to our will! The bastards just cancelled Legends Of Tomorrow the same day we lost Neal Adams & Batwoman? GRODD DAMN THEM! Now back #saveLegendsOfTomorrow & petition HBO Max to give it a proper wrap-up!

Post-Apocalyptic jump rope has a dress code.

The Multiverse Of Michelle Yeoh Minces Morbius!

Hot on the heels of Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse & No Way Home yet before Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness & oft delayed The Flash, Michelle Yeoh stars in her own multiversal movie! I did not expect this concept to be the basis for so many blockbusters. I guess we have Blind Chance, Sliding Doors, Run Lola Run, & The One to thank for all this. It’s madness hers didn’t kick off with a wide release. The Wages Of Cinema will fill you in on SPOILERS for Everything Everywhere All At Once! As its title promises, there’s so much going on here that even we can’t cover them all in a reasonably sized podcast & blog combo. I doubt these can ruin the experience of actually observing this masterpiece, but you may want to do that first just to be on the safe side. You can look at my repainted Scare Glow while you’re waiting for it to open near you. Reject Morbius mania & embrace Everything Everywhere All At Once!

What A Shocker!

Another custom of an underrated supervillain? What a twist! Who is Spider-Man’s greatest adversary, & why is it Shocker? Seriously, I would like you to explain this to me in the comments section.

“I AM THE ONE WHO SHOCKS.”

How Helmut Zemo Got His Barony Back

I once wrote a listicle of worst dressed movie supervillains that concluded throwing a trenchcoat over a weak design doesn’t help. When Helmut Zemo finally got a costume in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier along with his barony, it was basically a trenchcoat over a weak design. I must be the biggest hypocrite of all since his was the only action figure I purchased out of the first Disney+ Marvel Legends wave. I’m just a sucker for a superb Daniel Brühl likeness.

“If you think I’m pretty,…”

Spider-Man Has No Way Home From Nostalgia

The making of the second third Spider-Man movie seemed more chaotic than usual. There’s been so many leaks about this movie before press screenings even happened. Neither they nor the trailers have gotten me enthused about seeing this. Why do we need this when Into The Spider-Verse already exists? (Across The Spider-Verse looks keen! Is Hailee Steinfeld getting typecast?)

“Mom, we want Spider-Man: No Way Home!”

“We already have Spider-Man at home.”

No Way Home at home is Into The Spider-Verse. There is much rejoicing.

One downside to superhero movies finally catching on with the public is that The ‘Net is determined to spoil anything that may bring firsthand joy. Legions of Spider-Fans have been extra rabid about this one. So The Wages Of Cinema SPOILS this movie for you to perpetuate the web of abuse.