Enterbay "Game of Death" Bruce Lee

After the success of "Fist of Fury (1972)" and "Way of the Dragon (1972)", Bruce Lee began filming "Game of Death". While in the middle of filming "Game of Death", Bruce Lee was given the offer to star in "Enter the Dragon", the first kung fu film to be produced by a Hollywood studio and with a budget unprecedented for the genre, it was an offer Lee could not refuse. Unfortunately, Bruce Lee died of cerebral edema before the film's release and was never able to complete "Game of Death". The yellow-and-black tracksuit which Bruce Lee wore while making the film has come to be seen as something of a trademark for the actor and is paid homage to in numerous other media. [source: wiki]

This was the very first release from Enterbay and it is Bruce Lee in "Game of Death". This 1/6 scale 12-inch limited edition (only 3,500 pieces were produced) collectible figure came in a deluxe packaging with individually numbered booklet and certificate of authenticity.

Bruce Lee is dressed in his famous yellow jumpsuit with black stripes, has his 1/6 scale bracelet, green bamboo fighting stick, nunchaku in cloth bag, the famous yellow Asics sports shoes and an integrated display base with background booth.

The sculpting by Korean sculptor Arnie Kim on Bruce Lee is superb and the facial details are spot-on. He even comes with 2 sets of interchangeable eyes and 4 pairs of hands for various poses. Besides the head sculpt, Arnie Kim has done an entire torso sculpt as well because Bruce Lee was a man who did not appear to have one ounce of fat on his entire body as he was a fitness fanatic. Lee felt that many martial artists of his day did not spend enough time on physical conditioning. Bruce included all elements of total fitness — muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance and flexibility.

The yellow snug fitting jumpsuit outfit with black stripes down the sides has been copied and parodied many times in ads, videos and most notably by Quentin Tarantino in "Kill Bill 1 (2003)" where Uma Thurman (The Bride aka Beatrix "Black Mamba" Kiddo, former member of the "Deadly Viper Assassination Squad") wears it for her showdown at the "House of Blue Leaves" when she faces O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) and her Crazy 88 gang. Quentin Tarantino paid another homage to Bruce Lee by having the Crazy 88 members wear masks similar to what Bruce Lee as Kato wore in "The Green Hornet".

The yellow jumpsuit outfit is not complete without his black socks and yellow Asics trainers.

From every angle, there is no mistaking that this Bruce Lee!

The famous physique Bruce Lee had. Lee's devotion to fitness gave him a body that was admired even by many of the top names in the bodybuilding community. Joe Weider, the founder of Mr. Olympia, described Lee's physique as "the most defined body I've ever seen!" Many top bodybuilding competitors have acknowledged Lee as a major influence in their careers, including Flex Wheeler, Shawn Ray, Rachel McLish, Lou Ferrigno, Lenda Murray, Dorian Yates, eight time Mr Olympia Lee Haney and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The nunchaku came into prominence as a deadly weapon in the hands of Bruce Lee and its popularity surged when his movies came out in the 1970s. Possession of nunchaku is illegal in a number of countries including Belgium, Germany, Norway, Canada and Spain. In the United Kingdom it is legal to own for martial arts purposes, although public possession is not allowed unless transporting between a place of training and a private address.

The head sculpt, the unique one-of-a-kind torso, signature hand poses, beautifully produced jumpsuit and accessories right down to the excellent trainers make this a true 1/6 masterpiece and tribute to Bruce Lee. IMHO The Ultimate Bruce Lee collectible!

Bruce Lee, Fist of Fury

It's Chinese New Year so I thought I'll cover things Chinese. Who's the most influential martial artist in the twentieth century and a cultural icon? No, not Jackie Chan or Jet Li. They come after the one, the only Bruce Lee, 李小龍 (27 November 1940 - 20 July 1973).

Bruce Lee played his first leading role in "The Big Boss (1971)" which proved an enormous box office success across Asia and catapulted him to stardom. He soon followed up his success with two more huge box office successes: "Fist of Fury (1972)" and "Way of the Dragon (1972)". In 1973, Bruce Lee played the lead role in "Enter the Dragon", the first film to be produced jointly by Golden Harvest and Warner Bros. This film would skyrocket Lee to fame in the US and Europe. However, only a few months after the film's completion and three weeks before its release, the supremely fit Lee mysteriously died. "Enter the Dragon" would go on to become one of the year's highest grossing films and cement Lee as a martial arts legend. It was made for US$850,000 in 1973 (equivalent to $4 million adjusted for inflation as of 2007). To date, "Enter the Dragon" has grossed over $200 million worldwide. The movie sparked a brief fad in the martial-arts, especially Chinese Kung Fu and was epitomized in such songs as "Kung Fu Fighting" and such TV shows as "Kung Fu". [source: wiki]

Medicom released a 1/6 scale 12-inch Real Action Heroes RAH Bruce lee in 1999 (This isn't the recently released version). Unfortunately, the head sculpt wasn't up to scratch :( Medicom's Bruce Lee came with two pairs of extra hands, nunchuks and combat staff. Eric So from Hong Kong would produce his own Bruce Lee collection, all 24 of them. He wanted to chart the various stages of Bruce Lee's career and had him wearing 70s' style clothing/street wear. IMHO Eric So's head sculpt was way better so it was a matter of marrying the two. Put Medicom's outfit on Eric So's Bruce Lee body.






One of Bruce Lee's famous signature kick - his flying kick!

Loading Toys Dangerous Man/Spy

Since this is the "Niú (牛)" Year or Year of the Ox for us Chinese, it's most appropriate to re-introduce an all English bull, the one and only Daniel Craig as James Bond, MI6 Secret Agent 007 "licensed to kill". I've already covered Daniel Craig James Bond in suit as he appeared in theatrical posters and at the beginning of the film, where "Casino Royale (2006)" left off (see post here)

The outfit that Loading Toys produced was from the end of "Quantum of Solace (2008)", where Bond attacks and kills the departing Colonel of Police for betraying Mathis, and sets off a chain of explosions in the hotel where Greene and Medrano met, in the Bolivian desert. Just like in the first film where Daniel Craig filled in the shoes of Bond, he almost always charges into every situation and kills every suspect before he can interrogate them.

Daniel Craig as James Bond wearing black polo T-shirt, jacket, jeans and shoes (511 Low Caliga) by Loading Toys. Loading Toys only provided the head sculpt so you have to find your own body.

I had to ditch the jeans provided by Loading Toys because it's almost white. Talk about stone- washed jeans, these must be boulder-washed!

I also got rid of the pull tab of the zipper because it is HUGE. I don't understand why Loading Toys provided the jacket with two side pockets with miniature zipper (1/6 scale) but kept the main zipper 1/1 scale.

In his debut as Bond in "Casino Royale", Daniel Craig as James Bond was abducted, stripped naked, strapped to a chair which had its seat removed and then tortured by Le Chiffre (it was painful to watch - OUCH!).

Very nice shoes (511 Low Caliga) by Loading Toys

Check out the treads on the outer sole - very nice indeed!

James Bond with his Walter P99. The Walther P99 was the main sidearm of James Bond throughout "Casino Royale" but not in "Quantum of Solace". In the movie still shown above, Bond is holding a SIG-Sauer P210 when he faces Dominic Greene in the Bolivian desert. He picked it up from from General Medrano's room when he went to rescue Camille.

Another view of Loading Toys' Walter P99 pistol with suppressor

The name's Bond. James Bond.

Happy "Moo" Year to one & all!!

Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is one of the most important traditional Chinese holidays. It is also called the Lunar New Year, especially by people outside China. This being the Year of the Ox, here's wishing all chinese visitors and friends a "Happy Niú (牛) Year" and may you all have lots of "moo-lah" this year, to buy more toys - ha! ha!

Mandarin oranges are the most popular and abundant fruit during Chinese New Year due to its significance in the chinese language - jin ju (Chinese: 金橘子; pinyin: jīn júzi) translation: golden tangerine/orange or kam (Chinese: 柑; pinyin: gum) in Cantonese.

According to tales and legends, the beginning of Chinese New Year started with the fight against a mythical beast called the Nian or "Year" in Chinese. Nian would come on the first day of New Year to devour livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nian ate the food they prepared, it wouldn’t attack any more people. One time, people saw that the Nian was scared away by a little child wearing red. The villagers then understood that the Nian was afraid of the color red. Hence, every time when the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten away the Nian. From then on, the Nian never came to the village again.

Clothing mainly featuring the colour red is commonly worn throughout the Chinese New Year because it is believed that red will scare away evil spirits and bad fortune. In addition, people typically wear new clothes from head to toe to symbolize a new beginning in the new year.

Coincidentally, the British also seem to favour red in their military uniforms (the Canadian Mountie too).

You have the Action Man Grenadier Guard, DiD's 42nd Royal Highlander Regiment, Action Man Life Guard

DiD Royal Scots Line Infantry Regiment, Action Man Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Dragon Canadian Mountie (Mercantile Exclusive)

DiD 24th Regiment of Foot Private Williams and Dragon 24th Regiment of Foot Colour Sergeant on either side of Canadian Mountie

Ignite's Knight Hospitaller and behind him, Dragon's Coldstream Guards

A reunion dinner is held on New Year's Eve where members of the family, near and far away, get together for the celebration. Fish (simplified Chinese: 鱼; traditional Chinese: 魚; pinyin: yú) is included, as the Chinese phrase "may there be surpluses every year" (traditional Chinese: 年年有餘; simplified Chinese: 年年有余; pinyin: nián nián yǒu yú) sounds the same as "may there be fish every year." So let's all get fishy - LOL!!

Barbie as Catwoman

"Catwoman" is a 2004 superhero film which starred Halle Berry, Sharon Stone, Benjamin Bratt, Lambert Wilson, Frances Conroy, and Alex Borstein. It was poorly received by critics and audiences. Halle Berry plays Patience Phillips, a shy and timid artist working for a devious cosmetics company out to make money without worrying about the side-effects caused by the defective beauty products they were selling. She is drowned but brought back to life by the temple cat she had seen and tried to rescue earlier (The temple cat is actually a messenger of the Egyptian goddess Bast). She is transformed into Catwoman, a warrior with the force of a cat, who prowls the night in search of justice.

This Catwoman story is totally different from that in "Batman Returns (1992)", directed by Tim Burton and starred Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Christopher Walken as Max Shreck (a corrupt businessman), Danny DeVito as the grotesque Penguin Oswald Cobblepot plotting to take control of Gotham City and Michelle Pfeiffer as Selina Kyle/Catwoman. As a quiet and shy secretary for Max Shreck, Selina transforms into Catwoman when she is resuscitated by a group of cats after she is thrown from the top of Max Shreck's building when she discovers his plan to build a super power station and drain Gotham of its electricity. Michelle Pfeiffer was so hot as Catwoman that they couldn't kill her off and wanted a Catwoman spin-off but the film was stuck in development hell for years and ended up becoming the critically-panned "Catwoman (2004)".

Barbie as Catwoman - I got it because she looked quite cute in her costume

Barbie as Halle Berry. Halle Berry's breakthrough feature film role was in the 1991 "Jungle Fever". This led to a role in "The Flintstones (1994)" playing bad girl turned good Sharon Stone and guess who played the villain in "Catwoman"? Sharon Stone.

Halle Belly? Halle's role as Catwoman was sort of a belly flop for her. She won a worst actress Razzie Award in 2005 for Catwoman and was gracious enough to accept the award in person. This after she had won an Academy Award for Best Actress in 2001 for her performance in "Monster's Ball", becoming the first and, as of 2008, only woman of African-American descent to have won the award for Best Actress.

Her cat mask, to mask her real identity. Halle Berry also portrayed the mutant superhero Storm (Storm by Toy Biz here) in the film adaptation of the comic book series "X-Men (2000)" and its sequels, "X2: X-Men United (2003)" and "X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)". In 2001, Berry appeared in the film "Swordfish", which featured her first on-screen nude scene. At first, she refused to be filmed topless in a sunbathing scene, but she changed her mind when Warner Brothers raised her fee substantially. The brief flash of her breasts added $500,000 to her fee.

The inscription on her back says: "©2002 Mattel, Inc. Indonesia" Well, what do you know? Not everything is made in China.

As Bond girl Giacinta 'Jinx' Johnson in the 2002 blockbuster "Die Another Day" alongside MI6 Agent OO7 James Bond played by Pierce Brosnan, Berry recreated a scene from Dr. No, bursting from the surf to be greeted by James Bond as Ursula Andress had 40 years earlier. Berry has said of the scene: "It's splashy", "exciting", "sexy", "provocative" and "it will keep me still out there after winning an Oscar." Good for you, Jinx ;p