Craft Show Banner

I wanted my banner to be so much more than just a logo printed on vinyl. I was thinking of a tapestry/quilt when I was designing it. It will be printed on 45" X 72" canvas. I can't wait to see it hanging up at my next show.

Day 110: KISS (Ace Frehley)

The third one from the KISS series.

Watch out for fourth and last member of KISS soon! Meanwhile you can download the Ace Frehley PDF file here. And here's the PDF of Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons.

Spring Cleaning

I never thought I would like blogging.. it took me so long to start one but now I'm starting to get into it. I've been sprucing up the blog and making it more user friendly. I've added sections to make past articles more accessible and changed the look a bit to compliment the Fantastic Toys brand. I'm looking forward to adding some more tutorials and giveaways in the near future. I've got quite a few ideas so stay tuned.

Show your love for Fantastic Toys.
A couple of badges to add to your blog or website.

Day 109: KISS (Gene Simmons)

The second toy from the KISS series.

Watch out for the rest of the band over the next few days as I post them all. Meanwhile you can download the Gene Simmons PDF file here. For those who can't wait to see the rest of the other band members, head on to our Facebook group for a sneak!

Day 108: KISS (Paul Stanley)

KISS is an American rock band formed in New York City in December 1972. Easily identified by its members' trademark face paint and stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid and late-1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting, smoking guitars, and pyrotechnics. KISS has been awarded 24 gold albums to date.

The original lineup of Paul Stanley (vocals and rhythm guitar), Gene Simmons (vocals and bass guitar), Ace Frehley (lead guitar and vocals), and Peter Criss (drums, percussion and vocals) is the most successful and identifiable. With their makeup and costumes, they took on the personae of comic book-style characters: The Demon (Simmons), Starchild (Stanley), Spaceman (Frehley), and Catman (Criss).

Watch out for the rest of the band over the next few days as I post them all. Meanwhile you can download the Paul Stanley PDF file here. For those who can't wait to see the rest of the other band members, head on to our Facebook group for a sneak!

DC Universe Classics - Blue Beetle

The third action figure I will review from the DC Universe Classics wave 7 set is the Blue Beetle. To buy the Blue Beetle on eBay, click here.

Here is your standard packaging shot. Not much to explain here. If you've bought one of these Mattel action figures, then you know what the packaging is like.

Blue Beetle's body sculpt is fairly basic. Basically the same as Booster Gold's. The main differences of this figure compared to others with the similar body type are obviously the head sculpt and the paint job which I will touch on shortly.

On the side of Blue Beetle's belt is a holster for his gun which has an attachable flap. BB also has similar goggles to Booster Gold which are made of a transparent yellow plastic.

Blue Beetle's paint job is actually pretty good. There are a couple minor spots where the paint has a paint color crosses over the lines so to speak, specifically the yellow paint on his belt buckle. Other than that, its a fairly good job.

As far as accessories go, other than the collect and connect piece of Atom Smasher, Blue Beetle only comes with a small gun (which looks like a hair dryer) that fits well into either of his hands and perfectly into the side holster on his belt.

Since his body type is similar to about 90% of the DC Universe Classics figures, so is the articulation. Joints are in the neck, shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrists, abdominal, waist, hips, thighs, knees and ankles.

Overall, a fairly standard figure for the DC Universe Classics toy line, which is a good thing. There are similar body parts used on this figure that we've seen before on others but the paint job and head sculpt gives Blue Beetle his own uniqueness from the rest of the crowd.

Sculpt/Design - 8, Paint - 9, Accessories - 5, Articulation - 9, Fun - 8

DC Universe Classics wave 7 action figures are all over eBay right now ( as of June 09) so they should be that hard to find, and with wave 8 figures starting to make an appearance, now's the time to pick up the wave 7 figures at reasonable prices.

To find Mattel's DC Universe Blue Beetle on eBay, click here

Thats 3 down and 5 more to go from wave 7 so be sure to check back for the next DC Universe Classics action figure review.

Reader's submission: Ghostbuster by Graham Wilson

Here is another submission - Ghostbuster Peter Venkman, contributed by Graham Wilson.

You can also get the blank template from our Facebook group and design your own toy!