More Barbie stuff: this article is fairly amusing. Perhaps Barbie needs a sammich? Also, that photo of Brigitte Bardot in the article is not attractive at all -- that's one of those figures that looks great on cartoon characters, but not so much on people in real life.

Brigette Bardot also sounds like a pretty hateful person.

But here's my primary reason for revisiting the topic: I saw the 50th Anniversary Barbies yesterday! I'm not sure if they're supposed to be out before Monday or if the store just broke the street date, but there they were on an isolated display at Safeway, of all places. They were $12.49, which was too rich for my blood -- I think I'll wait until the special $3 price goes into effect. And heck if I could tell you what's different about the face! I'm no Barbie expert, so it looked the same to me as all of the other recent Barbies (and there weren't any others available for comparison). That said, judging from the photo of the creepy-looking 1959 Barbie, she's definitely had some work done over the years.

$3 for one week, eh? I just might have to buy one! Or two, for that matter, since this sounds like it might be a good collectible to have around. I'm actually curious to see what that new facial sculpt looks like!

First Power Rangers, now Barbie. I must be losing it...

Am I the only one who finds this kinda creepy? Microsoft: proudly paving the way towards Judgment Day! By the way, I was thinking about Skynet, and an idea occurred to me. If you wanted to ensure that the early stages of your plan to exterminate the human race proceeded without a hitch, wouldn't it make sense to send robots back in time to introduce the plan as fiction? That way, when a Sarah Connor discovered what you were up to and tried to warn people, they'd be even more inclined to regard you as crazy! Oh, Skynet, you are clever.

In tangential news -- because the show airs right after "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" on Friday nights -- I've posted my reflections on "Dollhouse" on Scary-Crayon. Right after I uploaded that article, the site (as well as Wesoteric) died for several hours. Apparently speaking ill of a Joss Whedon creation makes the Internet angry. It then takes revenge.

Finally, a word of caution to all you action figure collectors: never, ever buy a loose toy on eBay unless the seller notes that it came from a smoke-free home. (That might not have mattered in this case, since the seller insists that no one in her house smokes, but still.) I got a figure on eBay last week that stinks to high hell, and not in the good way like Stinkor. It's not even like regular cigarette smoke -- it smells more like filthy pipes and burning trash and diseased lungs. I can't bring it within a foot of my face without gagging.

Nothing seems to be working to get rid of that smell, either! I tried scrubbing the toy with soap and water; fail. I left it in an airtight baggie with a few spoonfuls of baking soda for a few days, but that only left me with a stinky toy and a bag of stinky baking soda. Which kinda sucks, because I would've just eaten that baking soda if I'd known it wasn't going to work! Baking soda is delicious. Now I have the thing completely immersed in an airtight baggie filled with kitty litter. I hope it works! If it doesn't, though, stinky kitty litter won't be quite as depressing as stinky baking soda. I don't eat kitty litter.

All for now, then. Don't eat foul-smelling baking soda! Ja.

*Post title taken from this song. It is great.

Some folks might recall that -- ages ago, when I was experimenting with digitally coloring scanned drawings -- I drew a rather cutesy version of Cyber Shredder from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters and posted it to the blog. I loves me some Cyber Shredder!

Anyway, with Toy Fair 2009 taking place last weekend and NECA displaying its upcoming Shredder figure -- which, don't get me wrong, looks great for a "first appearance" comic Shredder -- I got kind of nostalgic for my favorite incarnation of the Turtles' armored nemesis. So I recolored a scan from TMNT Vol. 1, Issue #57 to come up with this (click for a larger version of the pic sans the Tournament Fighters background):

That is the toy I would like to see.

Still, even if it's not my Shredder, I'm looking forward to its release. NECA's upcoming Chun-Li figure, however, kinda scares me. (Not that that will necessarily stop me from getting it, but... yeah.)