Ratchet's Hulk Collection

Jerry Macaluso Kit (1999)

I have a friend from the Statue Forum that has an amazing Hulk collection himself – check in tomorrow because I will be posting pics from his collection here! – but, Jade Giant – or JG – has a few rare pieces in his collection that are to freakin’ die for. Last Monday I went into Reading and in this great Comic Shop called Comically Speaking (highly recommended!) the owner there had a couple of rare pieces that I picked up. I picked up quite a few things but 2 pieces that are just extremely rare that I couldn’t help but pick up. This is one of them! Not much is known about this very rare kit – a few things that are known though are that Jerry Macaluso of SOTA toys back in 1999 sculpted this Hulk in an attempt to get a Marvel License. Here is the mock-up of the promo artwork:

It was supposed to be a two piece sculpt – Hulk vs. Wolverine – but only the Hulk was made. And because Marvel didn’t pick up this license then this piece was never made. A master sculpt and one mock-up for Marvel was made. Then someone from the SOTA toy company got a hold of it and did an extremely small run. It’s unknown for sure exactly how many were made but it’s estimated that there were only 10 to 20.

Like I said – only 10 to 20 – but no one really knows! When I walked into Comically Speaking and saw this kit I was floored! A seller on ebay recently tried to sell his but put it up for $1,200. First off, he totally lied in his description of the sculpt claiming that only 4 were made. Then, he wrote that because there’s only 4 and there’s 50 exclusive Hulk vs. Spiderman dios that sells for over $1,000 then this must be worth the same! Well, sorry buddy, that’s not exactly how it works. I paid what I thought was a reasonable price – if it was anymore I wouldn’t have picked it up – but the owner seemed to know exactly what he was doing. By the way, the ebay auction never even finished because he was reported as a fraud for lying about the item he was selling. But no worries, no had bid and no one was going to buy this for that ridiculous price anyways.

It’s not very big, shown here with the other rare item I got (that’s right, a repainted grey Hulk Maquette, I will be posting this next week)- but it’s such a unique take on the Hulk, great pose! There’s so much potential there – it’s so masterfully sculpted and has the fluid motion and raw power of the Hulk that no other sculptor has ever captured! It’s unbelievable that Marvel passed on this. I know for a fact that JG has one – and this guy has one – he made his into an unbeatable dio that is surely a great piece for any fan of the Hulk or Terminator!

This is a grail – a grail to be sure – and since I’ve seen Hulk vs. Wolvie and Terminator in this pose I decided to go with Hulk vs. Leader! The Leader is from the Face-Off 2-pack. I like the McFarlane Leader even though people say his head looks like a pair of testicles. This sculpt doesn’t have a base. It had none to speak of. Most of the sculpts I have seen have a custom base. I’m thinking of making one – but I will have to see.

I will be there – will anyone else?

UPDATE: I went and got a few great Hulk items that I will be posting soon! Stay tuned!

Hulk Activity Book (2008)

Here’s that damn Activity Book I promised. I kept on telling you that I was going to post it and then just didn’t – but here it is! On double-shot Friday! I also thought that we could make a little game out of it. The below picture has a phrase. You have to come up with a word out of that phrase – now to make it fair you can only post one word at a time and you have to let someone else post in between you. ALSO: EACH WORD MUST BE 4 LETTERS LONG – NONE OF THIS 3 LETTER CRAP! If you break these rules then I will delete your post! That’s right! I’m bad! Don’t mess with me! I’ll start!

Release The Rage! How many words do you see?

Hulk Slippers (2008)

Welcome to double shot Friday! Sorry this post is so late but Thursday’s line up of shows that I watch is utterly ridiculous. Takes up all of my time! I was going to get rid of my T.V. one year and then I realized that I really like 30 Rock and I forgot about the whole thing…

Actually all that rambling is to just fill up a little space because there’s not much to say about these slippers other than that I bought them at midnight at the same time I bought the Incredible Hulk movie. Yay! Slippers! Feet warm! I wouldn’t have bought these except that I was waiting for the movie to roll out at midnight and I bonded with them. Screw you for judging me!

Well, well, well… buy these – or a house

It looks like the biggest collection of Stretches is up for sale. Not sure why – but I will love to see how much this actually goes for. The auction keeps stating how RARE each item is and also let’s you know how much he’s been offered for a few of these. Keep in mind – none of the Hulk stretches that I posted sold for what they are “estimated” to be worth. ONE sold for a ridiculous amount – but the others got no where NEAR the amount they said they would. I say estimated because the “worth” of these items are made up. They’re actually worth what people will pay for them – so he says “I was offered $10,000 for a stretch Hulk” – well, one nut willing to blow $10,000 on a toy doesn’t mean there are others this crazy…

Attakus Hulk Bust (1997)

I hesitated about getting this Hulk bust. I stopped myself plenty of times because the pictures just didn’t look pleasing. Then a great deal came up on ebay so I went for it – and then when I got it in the mail I was pleasantly surprised. It looks to me to be based on the art of Gary Frank and it’s heavy – real heavy! But, it’s not like there aren’t plenty of these to go around – there are 8,888. This one is # 988.

The other obstacle, other than trying to find a good price on these – a price that you feel like paying – and my price wasn’t very high… is that these were only released over seas – made in France. Attakus also has a statue made from the design on the 2003 Movie Hulk – but that runs really high for a statue that I think looks rather unimpressive.

Profile - man, he has some little ears!

I will say it again, I actually like the look of this bust – once I got it I was happy to have it – as far as where it rates among the busts I own – it is not the least favorite! It’s actually better than the WWH busts from earlier this year. The only thing I have to say that may be an unfair bias is that I am not a huge fan of Gary Frank’s version of the Hulk. Sure, it looked really good – but too good in my opinion. Hulk isn’t supposed to look like he’s a GQ cover.

Sonic Destruction Hulk vs. Hulkbuster 2-Pack (2008)

I have so much backed up to show you… I just got the Hulk Movie Regener8r’s at Kay-Bee tonight and realized I haven’t finished showing you the movie figures that I have. This is the last 2-pack – and coincidently the last of the smaller Hulk figures that has been made! What a great trip it has been, huh? A lot of people liked the 2003 Hulk figures better – but personally I enjoyed these figures more. Sure, the 2003 figures were bigger – but these had a wider range of figures – and no Hulk-Dogs! Let me know what you thought by participating in this week’s pole!:

I have quite the line-up to show you next including 2 very rare Hulk Kits and a custom repaint. I will be posting these in the upcoming weeks as well as the greatest Activity Book ever! Maybe I will post that Friday… 🙂

Ummm… Part 26

It’s not the costumes… those are okay. But this gets the Ummm… treatment because, well, THEY’RE COUSINS! Why are they so close? Guys – it’s still illegal in the 50 states! Back away Bruce! Back away…

Hulk Sequel…?

A lot of rumors have been flying around – but some news has been confirmed – like, Norton signed on for the sequel. Not much more but HEY! The Hulk’s getting a sequel! I am looking forward to finding out more when it’s announced! Click on the padre to find out more!

Hulk Metamorphs (2008)

Did he get that haircut at Fantastic Sam's? — Did he get that haircut at Fantastic Sam

What a ridiculous, disgusting and awesome toy this is! I have questions of course… Like why does Hulk have a brain and eyes and fists in his mouth? I loved these kind of toys since they first appeared and now they have merged these toys with the greatest character ever! This rubbery Hulk has a small button on the bottom that, when pressed, has Hulk saying 3 different phrases. He says “You’re making me angry! Grrrr!” and “Hulk brains feel funny” as well as “Hulk gets smooshed”. Then when you squeeze the head a bubble of body parts comes bulging out. My nephew said “DIG-GUSTING!” when he saw this toy. Grabbed this beauty at Toys R Us last Friday. There also is a Spiderman, Wolverine, Venom and Iron Man.

Target Exclusive Gamma Glow Hulk with Tear Away Shirt (2008)

Toyjesus, a regular visitor to this site and one of the people who keeps me in the know about what to be looking for, told me about this exclusive. Otherwise I wouldn’t have found out about it because you can’t find it anywhere on the net. The figure itself is practically the same as EVERY figure they released but he has a cloth shirt. Every figure looks better with a real cloth shirt! This figure is painted in a lighter shade of green than the other movie figures and the figure glows in the dark! Glow in the dark stuff always brings me back to my childhood! The tear away shirt is a real nice touch – but to me it makes him look like a green male stripper – just like all of the movie figures you have to make sure you look at the figure your buying so that you don’t get a dud. This was the best one on the pegs. Also, many of the Targets still don’t have this bad boy – I had to travel to Canton for work and was lucky enough to see a Target that had just opened. I had my hopes up and wasn’t let down when I went into the toy aisle! Keep your eye out for these!

*Quick note: the pre-order for the SS Hulk vs. Surfer dio goes up in about an hour!

Hulk #7 (2008) – The Review

Spoilers below! Look out! I have to be honest – I don’t even feel like giving my review. I want to stop bashing the character I love. It’s gotten to the point where I dread even turning the cover page. But here’s what you find when you do read the… comic:

We begin in Vegas. Bruce explains, in narration, that the Red Hulk (ugh) has killed a Wendigo. Everything that the Red Hulk does just gets blamed on him because he’s the original. All the bad stuff that the Red Hulk does is all blamed on Bruce. Well, the Wendigo – a mythical creature bound to the Canadian wilderness – has somehow left Canada and is seeking out the Hulk for revenge. (Loeb calls them hybrids) So, some douche parks like an idiot, almost hitting Bruce, at a casino where Wendigo’s have been killing people inside. Bruce enters and becomes… the Grey Hulk. Oh good, another transformation Loeb doesn’t explain. The Hulk could never just slip into different personalities without reason until lazy writers started to write the Hulk. Here is no exception. What the hell Loeb? What made him become the grey Hulk – let alone call himself Joe Fixit? And what made him Fixit? The fact that he’s in Vegas? Dude, Fixit was fired… he didn’t call himself Fixit as his personality – he called himself Fixit because he didn’t want people to know the Hulk was still alive. Anyways, the Wendigo fight the Hulk who is having a ball fighting them off. Suddenly the Hulk is attacked by Moon Knight. Hulk is helping people and gets attacked by one of the heroes – sound familiar? – and Hulk easily turns his attention to beating the crap out of Moon Knight until – again – he looks behind him and sees that Marvel Girl and Sentry has also come to stop him. Then the comic let’s you know that the next issue will feature the Green Hulk again…

Now, is where I get really angry. Because they have split the Hulk comic into two mini-stories. So instead of getting one longer crappy story we get two crappy stories that lasts what seems like 5 pages long. Anyways, She Hulk is recruiting female heroes to take on the Red Hulk. She calls everyone and calls them by their real names but, Bummer!, they are all busy. She does recruit Valkyrie and Thundra and then the 3 of them sit in a confrence and learn that the Green Hulk, Iron Man and Thor were all beaten by the Hulk. No one mentions the fact that the 3 girls sitting there couldn’t hold a candle to any of those heroes so how the hell are they going to fight the Red Hulk. The ladies just get get into new costumes and head out to fight. They find the Red Hulk pretty quickly and the fight doesn’t last very long – Red makes quick work of them and then starts hitting on Valkyrie and Thundra.

So here’s my review… I have come to realize that I must have done something really bad in a former life – that’s why my favorite comic is now a sham and a horrible sham at that. F

: Frank Cho Variant

*QUICK NOTE: The guy at my LCS said that the Turner variants were incentive covers. Like, if you order so many comics than they give you these covers. Turns out though the deal was ridiculous. They wanted stores to buy a crazy amount that most stores refused to do it. This, by the way, is second hand information and in no way garunteed accurate. But it sounded good to me so I report it to you 🙂 if you know any other information about the variants please feel free to comment!

WalMart Exclusive Digital Comic Book (2008)

I reported to you before about getting this exclusive but I hadn’t actually been able to view it. Now I have. The disc features a slideshow of movie images. It also features 3 audio clips of music from the film (my favorite being Hulk Smash) and the digital comic, of course. The comic bridges the gap between the opening sequence and when Bruce began working in the bottling factory in Brazil. A quick, entertaining story that also features Blonsky’s actual first witness to the Hulk’s destruction.

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

So, it is here! Now I promised a few folks I was going to post the new Target exclusive Hulk figure – but I don’t know where my head was – I forgot what day it is! There is plenty to go through here so let’s begin with the regular one-disc version. It has the cover art that we are used to seeing by now – a great shot of the Hulk – and has deleted scenes (with one where Leonard Samson clearly introduces himself and another that I really enjoyed involving delivering pizza) and commentary. There is also a 3 disc version available:

The Incredible Hulk 3-Disc Version (2008)

This has a digital copy of the film and another disc that features the Alternate Opening where Captain America appears (I hope you have a clear screen and be sure you make good use of the pause button) and load of other extras. This has a slip cover over the DVD case that is embrossed to make the Hulk vs. Abomination pic seem a little more 3-D. I love the cover to this DVD more than the one-disc version – and the Blu-Ray is the same as the 3-disc with a special enhanced 3-D cover. (This is the only version that I don’t own… yet, mainly because I don’t have a Blu-Ray player) Now on to the Exclusives.

I didn’t pick up all the exclusives due to the fact that you have to keep buying the movie to get them – but I know Best Buy had a litograph – I didn’t see them at my Best Buy and had to make some tough choices so I chose not to get it – and Circuit City had an exclusive disc that had games and such… the clerk really had no idea what the disc did so I don’t have much information myself, but again I didn’t pick that up. What I did get was the WalMart exclusive that is a digital comic (I haven’t had a chance to look at this yet) and also Blockbuster has a nice exclusive:

The framed covers are limited to 26,000 each. The top frame is # 24,270 and the bottom is #24,271. Seems like a big number but it’s nice to know just how many are out there. The covers chosen are the classic Incredible Hulk #102 – the premier issue which is much better than the played out Incredible Hulk #1 cover. There are some better covers but #102 is one of the more sought after Hulk issues so… I understand. The other cover is more appropriate for the movie – the first cover to feature the Abomination – Tales to Astonish #91.

The best exclusive by far is the Target 3-disc DVD case featuring the Hulk playing peek-a-boo with you and a brick wall. It has all the discs that the other stores are selling but in a very unique case that opens in the back. The brick wall opens and exposes the raging Hulk behind it. I’m a huge fan of this exclusive – and if you haven’t bought it yet then I suggest getting this one!

I think Target is spot on with the exclusive packages they keep putting out there. They will keep getting my business as long as they put out Iron Man face cases and transforming Transformer cases. Pretty sweet.

Ratchet’s Hulk Collection