Probably because I went to see Nick Cave last month, certainly the most relaxing evening I've had in... well, no relaxing since anyways...
... last weekend had me chasing sheep. Old girl (Sosatie) thought it might be a good idea to circumvent the neighbour's property, bolting through a fence into a farmer's seemingly endless cattle field (at least we knew where she was, secure) whereas the younger (Gugu) decided making me run up State Highway 1 in gumboots and short shorts for over a kilometre was the path to take.
Man. I hates running for any purpose outside of random joviality.
Anything but getting your hooves clipped, right? Mending fences, switching paddocks, wrangling, clipping and long-distance herding. Cool, only took 12 hours of my Sunday between renovations and multiple family visitations.
This weekend our resident brownie (or is it a kobold?) chose to kill the electrics on the water pump, which I guess is a nice way to let us not take, oh, one of the fundamental ingredients of life for granted. But, hah!, brownie, we save our H2O but good, can't get 1 metre round here without a spare bath, bucket or trough prepared earlier.
Still, thanks for reminding me on the fine art of sanitizing yourself to princess levels with a thimble full of Mad Max slug-infested water, brownie. And my guests still got a cup o' tea.
Back to those O'Malley references!
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| All focus - Extending Capture Claw. No focus - where O'Malley's firing. |
So you know James Cameron's Aliens. You know Ripley, Vasquez, and Bishop. But you could be forgiven for thinking Space Marine O'Malley was busted out by Kenner purely to fill the action-figure ranks.
In actual fact when the Space Marines first encounter the Xenomorphs in the '86 Aliens film, a whole chunk of them bite the dust off-screen.
Enter O'Malley. Or, rather, "immediate exit O'Malley" seeing as no actor visually portrayed him and he basically existed to die. Reinforcing our audience fear of space ants.
Maybe Hollywood quit attempts at sourcing anybody who'd look cool & tough with mid-length red hair and a beret.
So after two mad weekends and a fortnight of 12hr shifts starting pre-dawn, I hadda relax and get decadent. A fistful o' Warren horror mags, an eyeful o' PSX/PS3 gaming, and some Kenner toy grabs.
Relax... yeah, we'll see.
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| Och! Lemme at 'em, lemme at 'em! |
Unlike Bishop, Sgt. Apone or Lt. Ripley, the Pvt. Hudson, Vasquez and 'O'Mas' figures didn't come packed with minicomics, stickers or even on-card character bios. While Hudson's and Vasquezes' characters are explained (in the film every child should be watching) O'Malley could be Kung Fu Panda in space for all we know.
Oh, no wait, false alarm he has a gun. Not Kung Fu Panda.
Or is that a gun? It has no discernible trigger, simply snaps to his wrist like a tacky novelty bracelet. Maybe it's just a 1986 future-shock smart-watch.
This figure, although Kenner's toyline is absolutely non canon, get's me thinking about how O'Malley died. Could it be his firearms selection? Call me old-school but I still think triggers are pretty helpful on rifles.
The day Space Marines install their weaponry with voice activation, is the day Space Marines get their heads bitten off before they can say, "koala flange praline", to switch the safety off.
Perhaps O'Malley's demise could be attributed to his shifting attitude. His right side shows a serious looking militant chap. Mind focused on Alien slaying business...
His left side...
... kinda' looks to be daydreaming about the good ole days of buttered scones and Teletubbies.
Naw. Could always be nerve damage - one nasty shavin' cut going on there.
So possibly the biggest giveaway why O'Mals here was dead off-screen before he had his boot-laces tied...?
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| ... keep reaching for the stars ... |
...BOING! He brought an effing portable scissor lift to a Xenomorph party.
That babies hand activated too.
Which effectively leaves Marine O'Malley arm-wrestling extra-terrestrials capable of withstanding deep space pressure.
Oo Rah. Dead.
- O'Malley: "'Ey, Drake what did you bring to the fight?"
- Drake: "A really big ass gun."
- O'Malley: "'Ey, Apone what did you bring to the fight?"
- Apone: "A big ass gun and grenades. You're on point, O'Malley what'd you bring?"
- O'Malley: "Oh, this really cool smart-wrist rifle and a big ass extendable cla-aaaAAARGGHHH!!"
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| ... cumbersome? Nay, this things skin-tight ... |
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| ... my scissor-claw brings all the girls to the yard ... |
Put his left leg forward and he'll balance, weight bearing on his right leg . It's an old trick for straight leg figures with top heavy accessories (I don't use pegs/stands unless they're specifically supplied for a figure).
You can swivel that 'claw' around so it sits a little more in-line with the fig, which I haven't done here, but regardless of your positioning it's about as low-key as a nipple on your lip.
Oh, didn't I mention relaxing as my main intention for opening this figure? Ferget that!
Our friend the 'extending claw' breaks as easily as any scissor-extending toy you ever had as a child, possibly easier, considering mine already had two pieces snapped off in-pack and hairline splits all over before I'd even dug into it.
And while I'm a self professed whiz with the super-glue, this turned into one pissy annoying little task for a 4'' figure who's quickly become the let-down of the Marine litter.
But, hey, works now.
And I did get that relaxation after all - even if it did require donating money to the SPCA and shoving balls in clown's mouths at today's Agricultural and Pastoral Show.
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| Oorah! |
I will not be denied!
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"If you're inclined to faint at the sight of blood, get some in your eyes." - rihia2k.
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