Tharg figure by 3A

This is the first figure from the new range by Ashley Wood,  who actually used to draw for 2000AD,  many moons ago.

It came out as a limited edition (more on that later) and was sold out within 48 minutes of it going on sale. This 'Limited Edition' has Tharg emblazoned with the 2000AD logo from when it first came out in 1977. It's on his left breast and also on the belt buckle. The next version will have the more up to date logo! EDIT: This never came to fruition!

Okay where to start, I suppose the packaging that the action figure arrived in is the logical place. The protective cardboard box has the McMahon artwork on the back, with a c/no on both sides, mine says 192. It's extremely sturdy, so I doubt anyone will have had a crushed box arrive.

Next up, the display box itself. This looks superb and has definitely had a lot of work put into the design of it. Tharg's head by McMahon is on the front, covering at least 2/3rds of the lid. The rest of the lid has the 2000AD logo. Tharg's name and threeA's branding at the top. The sides have similar logo's strewn across them. The base of the box has Tharg's head covering the whole thing plus a bio of him and some translations of his language.

Name: Tharg

Homeworld: Quaxxann, 6th planet in the star system Betelgeuse

Age: Indeterminate but ancient

Special Powers: Green skin: Rosette of Sirius (a sub-space communicator implanted on forehead)

Occupation: Editor and inspiration of the Galaxy's Greatest Comic

Some Betelgeusian sayings

Borag Thungg: Galactic Greetings
Splundig Vur Thrigg: Farewell
Zarjaz: Fantastic
SquaxxDek Thargo: Friend of Tharg
Quaequam Blag!: My Goodness
Ghafflebette: Out of this world
Floriz Grabundae: Many Thanks
Scrotnig: Thrill-Powered
Frognum Gruelisi: April Fool!
Grexnix: Idiot or un-zarjaz person

Okay now we get to the figure itself. Well it's Tharg that's for definite but on the whole I am underwhelmed with the build quality of the body itself. The head is a good sculpt of the modern day editor but the Rosette of Sirius seems to stick out slightly too far for my liking. Also the actual figure has no hands or feet attached, Action Man manages this easily enough. The boots and gloves come off with the aid of ball & socket joints! The gloves have no hands inside and the fingers are all joined together. As for the feet, there ain't any inside the boots, so the stability of the figure is ruined. By the way you also get a spare right hand, which is shaped to hold the plastic cups, super!

Here's a short video, which has been added to the blog after a good five years, so I might have mellowed, compared to the write up!

    

The body itself is multi-jointed with the addition of extra movement on the torso itself. You have a moving joint for the chest and one for the stomach (this may be the way these figures are built these days but I'm comparing this to my Special Forces Action Man).

One thing I noticed upon opening the box was the smell of the two piece suit. The weathered look adds a nice touch but some of the stitching left a lot to be desired, especially on the jacket, around the yellow stripes. There are threads everywhere but you can burn those off, if needs be! Saying that, I think the suit is the best part of the figure.

Now we come to the belt, with it's six cup holders, very reminiscent of 58 pattern webbing pouches and all in yellow. The pouches do actually contain a cup in each of them as an added bonus but why, I don't recall seeing the green one store cups on his belt!

Now I'm glad I bought this figure but I won't be buying the new logo Tharg when that goes on sale, for the same price. I feel the whole fiasco with not knowing what the amount is for this limited edition is a bit of a con. How do I know it's 'Limited' seeing as there is no known number for the buyer to say that he has number 87/100 or such. For all I know there could be hundreds of these figures and I'll never know. Many have already appeared on ebay and some of these before the figure was even released. I just don't know what to think as I've never heard of this happening in any other market. This was discussed very vocally on the 2000AD Forum but it still ended with a strange answer.

So what do I think overall, well it comes to something when the packaging is better than what's inside, I'll leave it at that. I will only be buying from the Dredd range in future and shall leave the ABC Warriors for other collectors. I leave you with where I feel Tharg fits in my collection!

EDIT:

This was written a few years back and we have seen things change with the 2000 AD line, in both what is coming, or not coming and how these figures are being released. I've been very happy with the figures since this first one came out and look forward to seeing what figures they add to the line.

Judge Dredd Bust

This is another fully finished buy that I came across whilst looking through Comic and Collectors Mart.
Nothing else to say really, I think it was about £35 around the late 90's but that's all I know! Now for a series of pictures of the bust....

Now for some close ups of Dredd without the rock!

Last pic is the 'now' obligatory 50p size comparison.

Look forward to next weeks item, it may be green!

Egmont Badges & Keyrings

When that film came out in 95 a few items hit the shelves, admittedly these shelves seemed to be well hidden from mortal eyes. Luckily for me I stumbled across these badges & keyrings when I was in Brighton. Now before you ask, they where not in the comic shops in the town but in one of the shops that seem to sell a wide range of items (the shops up Sydney Street).

I looked at the display which also had Batman & Superman equivalents and found 11 out of the 12 that would make the Dredd set. Obviously I bought them all and that my fellow fans was in 1995. It has taken me all this time to get my hands on the missing one, this happened last week on ebay. This is the Dredd badge keyring, so I can now rest easy!

The badges come on a piece of black plastic that helps them to be easily displayed in the shop (I have now bought similar displays for these that also hold the blister packs of miniatures). They are made of metal and they seem to have the black details painted on, as parts have started to crack and flake. Both sets are the same size as each other as well. Also on the back it mentions The Egmont Foundation, the year and that they were made in England.

Lets start off with the badges -

Now for the keyrings and we'll start with the one that has taken 15 years to find.

Oh! before I get told off, just so you can get an idea of their size, here is a picture with two items next to a 50p.

 

Look forward to next weeks item or items!

Children's Dredd Mask

This is another ebay find, which I bought from an American seller a few years ago. Once again I had never heard of the item and it was only with my constant searching that I stumbled upon it. Also since buying it I have only seen one more available to buy online.

I feel that this is the sort of item that a few people would buy just for the laughs. I mean £200+ is out of most people's price range for a helmet (the cost of the Termight one), so something like this would quench most fans thirst. I think mine was £15 and that included P&P, which isn't too bad.

Just for display purposes I have placed it on the glass head that we have in the bathroom (my beret normally resides upon this). Sadly it's the movie version but it's better than nothing and it came out with (sarcasm mode enabled) all those other movie goodies. It does have a crease just under the left eye and down towards the nose, strangely the other mask I saw also had a crease in the same place. Who knows, it might be from a defective supply!

It was attatched to a display card by two bits of plastic but after some careful moves I managed to take that off without any damage.

On the reverse it has simple instructions, how to care for the mask and production notes.

Here is the mask from all angles.

Now if only Tharg would produce something like this, then there would be a lot of happy kids and parents! I could just see a range of Judge masks from around the world, or even all the ABC Warriors!!!

Judge Dredd - The Role-Playing Game

This is the second game in the Dredd series, which came out in 1985, the box contains the following -

Judge's Manual
Game Master's Book
Cut-Out Character Sheet
2 Play Sheets
A Set Of Polyhedral Dice

I actually bought this when it came out and due to never playing the game because there was no body else to do so with in my unit, it's still in quite good nick. I even glued the playing characters in anticipation to playing the bloody thing! Such was the life of a squaddie.....

The Box itself

The lid is quite eyecatching, as it portrays 4 Judges on Lawmasters heading towards the viewer. Dredd's leading the charge and it looks like it could be Anderson on the far right. Let's not talk about what is happening to Dredd's chain??? The Judge Badge that takes the place of the 'U' in Judge is like an embossed piece, as it stands out so well (especially with the gold effect) and this is also on all 4 sides of the lid, on the base it's just yellow. The actual artwork on the lid is by Terry Oakes and on the base it's by  Brian Bolland, which shows the actual contents.

Judge's Manual

The cover to this black book has the Judge's badge on the front (as you can see). This has 8 parts to it and they are as follows -
Introduction, The Making of a Judge, Making an arrest, Other actions, On patrol, Experienced Judges, A Judge's guide to MC-1 & A glossary of MC-1 slang

All these sections are well thought out and are packed with information and art from some of the early (obviously) and best artists in 2000AD's history. This is the complete credit list of the droids - Brian Bolland, Steve Dillon, Brett Ewins, Carlos Ezquerra, Dave Gibbons, Ian Gibson, Cam Kennedy, Mike McMahon, Kim Raymond, Cliff Robinson, Robin Smith, Ron Smith & Colin Wilson.
You don't need to be a gamer to enjoy this book, as apart from all the game rules there is quite a lot of Mega-City One info in here that will keep the average fan happy.

Game Master's Book

This book has the box illustration as it's cover and inside there are the following sections -
Introduction, Getting started (Firefight - On a hot summer's night), Epanding the adventure, Perps & Crimes, Sectors & City blocks, People, Places & Products, Other data, The ultimate crime of Tony Thermo & Index
Again, this is full of gamer info but there is still enough about the City and Judges to keep the average fan happy and the art does bring back some happy memories.

Cut-Out Character Sheet

Front

Back

Play Sheets

This is really just a double sided play sheet. On one side you have the approach to the Buddy Rich Tunnel & a flyover and on the other, you have the Higgins' Shuggy Hall. These open out into an A2 playing area.

Buddy Rich Tunnel & Flyover

The tunnel is on the left and the flyover, the right (obviously).

Higgins's Shuggy Hall

All in all a great product (I can't vouch for the playing of it though) and worth getting on ebay, as there are always a few on sale, at a reasonable price!

Judge Dredd - The Game Of Crime-Fighting In Mega-City One.

This is the first in the Dredd Role-Playing range from Games Workshop which came out in 1982 and it contains the following items -

Playing Board x 2
Rules Booklet
Umpty Candy Card Album
Judge Cards x 6
Perp Cards x 28
Crime Cards x 28
Sector Cards x 21
Action Cards x 54
Playing Pieces & Die

This was an ebay buy as I wasn't a collector at the time, plus I was just leaving school around this period and preparing to join the forces, so I had other things on my mind!

The box itself

The box lid has Dredd surrounded by his earliest foes, obviously and it's drawn by Brian Bolland. The base shows the game set up for play with the contents list and also a small write up on the game. It mentions that the age range is from 8 to adult with 2-6 players, it also adds that the playing time is between 1-2 hours.

Playing Board

The playing board comes in two pieces, that slide together and show 28 sectors from Mega-City One. These include Palais De Boing, Justice Department Armoury, Alien Zoo, Aggro Dome, Grand Hall of Justice, Resyk & the Academy of Law amongst others. The artwork on the gaming area is by Ian Gibson.

Rules Booklet

This booklet tells you everything you need to play the game under numerous headings - Equipment, Preparation, Starting the game, The game turn, Movement round, Arrest round, Replenishing cards, End of game & Winner.
It also has a section called Action cards - Special notes and this goes into some detail about how to use certain cards during the game.

Umpty Candy Card Album

This takes no part in the game but gives background information on the Sectors, Crimes & Perps and it also shows the combat values of the Crimes & Perps.

Judge Cards

These cards identify the players to their playing pieces.
The game start card identifies the player who will move first in that game turn.

Perp Cards

There are 28 of these cards, ranging from level 1 Gestapo Bob Harris to level 10 Judge Death. 

Crime Cards

There are also 28 of these cards, which range from 1 to 6 depending on the seriousness of the crime in question. For instance littering is 1 whilst murder is 6.

Sector Cards

There are 21 of these cards and they show all the sectors on the board except the Starting Sectors (Grand Hall of Justice, Academy of Law, City Hall, Justice Department Armoury, West 17 Test Labs & the Spaceport) and the Justice Department Hospital.

Action Cards

There are 54 of these cards and they depict various actions and items of equipment that effect the Judges during the course of the game.

I would put a picture up of the playing pieces but seeing as they are not even Judge shaped I won't bother, they are just handbell shaped pieces of plastic. At least the Rogue Trooper game had Rogue shaped playing pieces, more of that to come in the future.

Also included in the box is a flyer for 2000AD

The last thing I will say on this game is that there are always some on ebay and for quite reasonable prices.