I do have an "official" new year's post planned, but I've been a bit too busy to get to it during the past week. In the meantime, here are some recent Scary-Crayon links and a few more toy photos!

Much of what I've been up to lately (in an unpaid capacity, anyway) has involved SC, since I couldn't let the site go without a January 1 update! In addition to Dusty Plastic HELL: Hot Flash #103, which takes its cue from the most recent episode of "To Catch a Predator," I posted a (late, I know) summary review of my most favorite holiday special: George and the Christmas Star. Some of you may already have seen it, but -- if not -- the review also contains two clips of musical numbers from the special. For geekier readers, the review is also littered with Transformers, Doctor Who, and other fun references.

Also, in the hopes of adding a little more diversity to SC in the coming year, I have also posted a lengthy list of guidelines for submitting content! Most of this stuff probably goes without saying, but one can never be too careful when it comes to this sort of thing. So yes, if submitting to SC sounds like something you'd like to do -- and I would especially like to see pieces from some of you who know who you are (!!!) -- slog through the guidelines and send me some ideas. 🙂

And now, more toys!

Red X has been around here for a while -- I think I acquired him shortly after "Teen Titans" stopped airing -- but I brought him back up to my room after I got the Neo Shifter because it came with an extra piece that reminded me of a small container of xenothium (which Red X is holding in the photo). Dalek Thay and Martha, however, are my first toy acquisitions of 2008! I did order them in the final days of 2007, but still.

Thay is more or less the same as all of the other Character Options Daleks in my collection, but what differentiates him is the rear panel "damage" that he incurred in Series 3. I liked it a lot less in theory and in the online pictures -- the toy just looked like a messed up Dalek -- but now that he's here I rather like it because it differentiates him from my other CO Daleks. Technically I already have a Thay since I have the Cult of Skaro set, but since there's no way I can tell him apart from Jast and Caan I tend to think of them all as being "regular" Daleks. But now I have an identifiable Thay to stand with Sec. So while something happened in my continuity to cause the rear panel damage, that ridiculous Human Dalek shit never happened.

Martha is another figure that I wasn't too keen on upon seeing the online pics, but I like her a lot more in the flesh... er, soft plastic as well. The facial sculpt really is a lot better than it appears in small pictures (and even this larger one doesn't do it as much justice as I'd like) -- it might even be my favorite human sculpt among the CO figures. Most of them have a kind of dead mannequin look to them, but Martha's got this slight smirk that imbues her figure with a little more life. And like Thay, her backside is rather nice and complements the toy well. 😉

All for now -- more from me later regarding my optimistic hopes for 2008 that were subsequently thwarted in rather violent fashion. Hope y'all are enjoying the new year thus far, though! Ja.