Ben 10: Alien Force Overview

The original Ben 10 series found an enormous following of young boys and girls alike, across the English-speaking world. Five years after the beginning of the first series, Ben 10: Alien Force, the sequel series, is due to start and is hotly anticipated! Ben 10 is now actually Ben 15 … he has aged in the show's hiatus, and the Ben 10 action figures also have accordingly. Today we take an overview of what's going on in Ben 10 in the immediate future.

The plot

Ben is already known the world over as a superhero … in the show as well as in real life! Gwen and Kevin will be around to help him with his exploits, and while the kids of the world are immediate converts, the adults aren't so much. Creating an 'inner group' and an 'outer group' has always been a popular way to make devoted fans,, and it seems that the tactic works as well now as ever!

Ben has a new Omnitrix called an Ultimatrix - look out for this available to be purchased alongside the new Ben Ten action figures. It's expected to have a pretty hefty resale value if you can get your hands on an early model!

In this series, Ben's grandpa Max Tennyson goes missing, and Ben has to put his Ultimatrix on and re-enter the world of aliens and danger.

The Enemies

The alien enemies include:

• Terrapsin
• Water Hazard
• Amphibian
• Nanomech
• Ultimate Swampfire
• Ultimate Humungosaur
• Ultimate Big Chill
• Ultimate Spidermonkey
• Ultimate Cannonbolt
• Ultimate Echo Echo
• Armodrillo
• NRG

Other main villains fighting this round of Ben 10 action figures are:

• Vilgax
• D'Void
• Ghostfreak
• Vulkanus
• Charmcaster
• Hex

The long wait means that there is al to of hype surrounding the Ben 10 new series … get your Ben Ten action figures early, and prepare to see their value skyrocket!

The Story Behind the Halo Figures

It is one of the most famous games in the world … ever … as is to be expected given that it was made by one of the companies that is most likely known even in the dusty, goat-herding depths of Africa … Microsoft. A wax replica of the Master Chief has even been made for the Madame Tussaud's wax museum in London. In the first ten weeks after the release of Halo 2, players spent a combined 91 million hours playing the game online. Halo has pretty much been the savior of the Xbox 360 (which otherwise has little that can compete with Nintendo Wii other than good graphics), and has even created its own film genre. So, what's the back story behind the Halo video games and Halo figures? We check it out.

Setting

Halo is set in the 26^th century, when mankind has been able to colonize several other planets due to the development of faster than light travel. Of course, there has been conflict between outlying human settlements and the central government. You know how much conflict simply having state and federal governments creates, imagine if you added an interplanetary dimension into the whole thing!

Major events

A mysterious alien civilization starts attacking the Halo figures on their human-colonized planets with no warning. They are known as the Covenant, and are actually made up of several different species that have come together in a caste-based system under a fundamentalist government.

The human race can't hold out against the unexpected attacks of the aliens, and we start losing planets to The Covenant. One of the main human 'weapons' against the Covenant is you … playing Halo as Master Chief John 117, the last of a secret race of supersoldier human beings known as Spartans.

Halo 1, 2 and 3

Each game takes you through a story in the overall plotline of the human-Covenant clash.

• Halo 1: Master Chief John 117 discovers an ancient artefact while his ship escapes the Covenant
• Halo 2: There is a split within the Covenant, and you discover a second ancient artefact
• Halo 3: Loose threads within the storyline are all tied up, and the end of the Covenant Invasion and Civil War are covered.

For a simple first-person shooter game, Halo and Halo figures have done amazingly well. If you have the time to foster another addiction, it is highly recommended!

5 More Little-Known Villains from the Marvel Legends

There's no way to avoid it … in order for good to continue to triumph in comic book form, there needs to be an enormous number of baddies for them to routinely defeat every issue! This makes the villainous world of the Marvel Legends HUUGE, and also quite varied and rich. There are characters that can do little more than a bit of mind control, all the way up to long-time foes that can't be defeated within a single episode, and may have powers equal to those of the Marvel Legends. Today we continue our exploration of the many and varied villains in the Marvel Legends Universe, starting our journey at some of the more obscure corners!

Baroness S'Bak

Baroness S'Bak is a minor warlord of the Skrull Empire, with the natural shape-shifting abilities of her race, but little intelligence, strength, or energy projection capabilities. She appears in the Annihilation Comics.

The Communist Party

Given the prominence of the Cold War in the public consciousness in the heyday of Marvel Legends comics, it isn’t surprising that they were so blatant in naming them as villains! Some of the notable fictional characters from the party (which was led in the comics by the real Lenin and Stalin), include the Iron Maiden, Executioner, Fantasma, Omega Red, Red Ghost, Red Guardian, Red Skull … not many opportunities for non-confusing nicknames!

Ezekiel

Ezekiel is a long time nemesis of Spiderman, and one of the more interesting and permanent characters out of the corps of over 800 Marvel Legends villains. He has quite decent durability, strength and intelligence … which makes sense, since he derives his powers from the same source as Spiderman. He isn't really evil … more of a wasted opportunity.

Jazz

Jazz is one of the more recent additions to the Marvel Legends villain-verse, appearing in 2004 and 2006. He has blue skin and wears a 'Bufu' hat! He is part of the 198 group

Mosh

Mosh comes from the Hood comics, with his first appearance in 2002. He's nothing but muscle … but actually has minimal strength, durability, fighting skill or intelligence. He did have superhuman strength and night vision … before he died.

Little-Known Villains from the Marvel Legends

Think you know a bit about the Marvel Legends? Got all the action figures, read all the comics, seen all of the recent remakes of the movies? I wonder if you knew that there are well over 800 villains in the marvel Legends series! Today we delve into some obscure corners of the villainry catalogue, testing the memories of hardcore fans, and giving new enthusiasts a taste for the enormous scope of the Marvel Universe.

Mathemanic

A geeky looking thin blondie with 3D glasses on, Mathemanic is a university student with little physical skills, Mathemanic can project abstract mathematical information into the brains of his victims to overwhelm them … I know the feeling! He's from the New Warriors comics.

Brainchild

One of the first Savage Land mutates, Brainchild often leads the pack of mutates. Savage Land is often discussed in Spiderman, Uncanny X-men, Astonishing Tales and Avengers.

Kangaroo

Kangaroo is a member of the Corpse Corp, and is a Proto-Husk version of his former living self, who was serving Arnim Zola before being killed by Deadpool. Official ratings are only 1 out of 7 for everything, but fans actually considered him to have good physical prowess.

Hag

Despite her name, Hag was actually a beautiful, vivacious demon assisting Troll to try to defeat the Ghost Rider. She used to hypnotize her victims, leaving their bodies as rotting corpses.

Lullaby

As indicated by her name, Lullaby may be a bad 'guy' but she certainly isn’t very scary! She gets a 1 out of 7 in official ratings for every characteristic. Her real name is Felicity Hopkins, and she can sing people to sleep immediately and them make them do whatever she wants. She appeared in the Sleepwalker comics to torment Marvel Superheroes.

Lady Deathstrike

Wow, Lady Deathstrike! She gets top marks in the official ratings for all of her characteristics, including Intelligence, Strength, Speed,, Durability, Energy Projection, and Fighting Skills. But I guess there's no sense making a cyborg that isn't quite perfect! She is a nemesis of Wolverine of the Marvel Legends.

Marvel Legends Biographies: Wolverine

Wolverine is the natural leader of the X-men, and is central in so many of the X-men comics and cartoons. The life story of this Marvel Legend, like that of many of the brand's heroes, is actually pretty sad in his early years as James Howlett… but he has had many triumphs as Wolverine to make up for it! Today we take an overview of the life and times of Wolverine/Logan/James Howlett.

Early years

James Howlett was the sickly son of wealthy landowners in Alberta, Canada. He had two childhood friendships, one with the caretaker's son, Dog Logan, and one with Rose (an orphan who was brought in from the city to be his companion). His mother was mentally unstable, triggered by the death of his older brother, John Howlett Jr.

His friendship with Dog Logan and his father soured when the father shot John Howlett Sr, causing his mother to take her own life with the same pistol. This sight was Wolverine's first manifestation of his mutation … his claws emerged from his knuckles and he used them to kill Thomas Logan, and put a triple scar across Dog's face.

Little Wolverine Growing Up!

James Howlett took the name 'Logan', and became a miner who also ran with the wolves of the forest. When Dog returned to kill him, Rose got in the middle of the fight and Wolverine's claws impaled her instead. Wolverine went off to the forest for many years to live with wolves. He returned when Dr Cornelius used him in an experiment with bonding adamantium to human bone cells, making them indestructible.

Wolverine's Powers

Bet you didn't know your Marvel Legend figurine could do all of this:

• Regenerate damaged or destroyed areas of his body at an incredible rate, including being able to knit two halves of his body back together!
• An immunity to all poisons and drugs (he cannot get drunk, either)
• Immunity to the poisons of fatigue
• Extraordinary agility and reflexes
• An extended lifespan - he is over a century old
• Amazingly acute senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch
• Six fully retractable one-foot-long bone claws in his hands
• Fluent in Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Lakota, Cheyenne, Spanish … whew!
• Trained in hand to hand combat, explosives, assassination techniques, weapons, computer systems

Wolverine also has the ability to die. Despite this Marvel Legend's healing capability, if his injuries remove vital organs from his body or cause a loss of physical form, he will perish.

Marvel Legends Biographies: Iron Man!

Despite his popularity, relatively few people know anything about the Marvel legend Iron Man! He's actually been in the Marvel Universe since 1963, along with his alter ego, Anthony Stark. Today we delve a little deeper into the background of the action figures you may have of Iron Man, the cool exec with the heart of steel!

Marvel Ratings

Marvel rates Iron Man's strongest qualities as his intelligence, his strength, his durability and energy projection. He rates 3 out of 7 for fighting skills … though presumably that 3 is on a superhero scale, that would still leave him able to wallop any ordinary person into the ground! Speed gets 5 out of 7, and the rest of his above mentioned characteristics rate 6 out of 7. Surprisingly, though he has advanced degrees in physics and electrical engineering, his intelligence only rates 6 out of 7 also.

The creation of Iron Man

Iron Man was created when Anthony Stark was kidnapped by Wong Chu, a warlord, and in the struggle was injured by exploding shrapnel. Stark and Ho Yinsen worked together to create weapons for Wong Chu, and also to make a suit of iron for Anthony Stark that would keep the shrapnel still in his body from making its way completely to his heart.

The two tried to escape together, but Yinsen was killed - in the escape Anthony Stark met Rhodes (War Machine!), his soon-to-be best friend and helicopter pilot.

Extra powers

Iron Man gained extra powers after he injected himself with a modified virus to save his own life. The virus fused Stark's armor to his body (otherwise every time he took it off, the piece of shrapnel would have worked its way closer to his heart). It also let him store it inside his own body controlling it by direct brain impulses. They have operations to get shrapnel out nowadays, and probably did back in the 60s as well … but c'est la vie in comics!

Battle with alcoholism

As it so often is in real life, the rich playboy lifestyle of Anthony Stark has led to a serious alcohol addiction. He became homeless at one stage due to his alcoholism, and handed over his Iron Man identity and tools to Rhodes, one of his best friends. However, he returned as Marvel legend Iron Man shortly afterwards, starting a new company at the same time.