Last time, I promised some answers to fan-asked questions that I’d pose directly to Mezco & Mike Drake during my visit. Here’s what I found out :

- Will the Hellboy comic license continue?

While Mezco made two incredible waves of Mike Mignola-art styled Hellboy figures, Mezco has completely closed up shop on the Hellboy comic franchise after their SDCC 2007 Exclusive Abe Sapien figure. Sorry, guys! The movie figures look great, though. You should see the Angel of Death figure. It’ll eat your brain with awesomeness.

- Whay happened to some of the articulation on the Hellboy 2 movie figures?

For the record, we actually stood in the War Room and counted the articulation on a variety of the HB2 figures. Abe Sapien has 19 points, Hellboy has 18 points, Wink has 15 points, and Johann has 12 points. After seeing them in action, I’m confident that they’ll be able to do anything you want them to do, articulation-wise.

Here’s another little tidbit on the HB2 movie figures : they’ll be available at Toys ‘R’ Us, unlike all previous HB figures. While TRU usually balks at anything that mentions ‘hell’, or bears too much female flesh, the Hellboy figures will be on the shelves. This is possible because they’ll be packaged with the name ‘HB’ instead of ‘Hellboy’. Also, look for a soft drink tie-in, which will also eschew the use of the word ‘hell’ by calling Hellboy ‘Red’ and ‘HB’.

- Any word on more Mez-Itz?

Mez-Itz are Mezco’s cute-ish, mini stylized figures from a wide array of properites. Since they’re a signature item of the company, they will continue indefinitely, but there are no specific Mez-Itz planned for the immediate future.

- How about more from their ‘Living Dead’ zombie line of figures?

The Living Dead line is, for lack of a better word, dead. The same goes for the Popeye line.

- Are The Warriors figures still coming?

The short answer is ‘yes’. While we were in the War Room, I had the opportunity to play with the prototype tooling samples of the super-articulated bodies - so, that’s about how far along in the process these figures are. Do not lose hope.

- How about more hip-hop licenses?

As the properties present themselves, Mezco seems happy to work with them. It’s been exceptionally easy to deal with Biggie as a ‘property’ because he’s not ‘owned’ by a large music corporation - all you have to do is ask his mom, who I was told is a very pleasant woman. It’s not as easy to negotiate rights from corporate controlled entity. Also, it was interesting to note that Mezco was the creator of Miles Thirst - one time toy spokesperson for a series of great Sprite commercials. Not only was he an original concept, but a very limited number of Miles figures were made and given to Sprite employees. So you see, the possibilities are wide open.

- Would Mezco consider more literature-based figures like their Captain Nemo set?

Yes, but there’s nothing specific happening at the moment, with much energy going into the great array of stuff that they already have going on.

- Is there any info on the Heroes 4” figures?

There were no sculpts or prototypes around that I saw, but that’s likely because the release date isn’t until November. It’s still full-speed ahead, though!

- What is going on with Future Hiro and Future Peter (from Heroes)?

Both of these figures were removed from the waves that they were slated to be in. While Future Peter has no specific destination at the moment, he will still make an appearance. It will also be revealed here for the first time, anywhere, that Future Hiro will be this year’s San Diego Comic Con exclusive figure. I spied a copy of him in the photography room (where there was no photographt allowed, ironically), and he’s looking great. Also spied were two versions of a clean-cut Peter Petrelli in two variantly colored plaid shirts…..

With those questions suitably answered, my cohort and I hung out on the comfortable Mezco couches for a few minutes. We said hello to Mez himself, president of Mezco, as he walked past - and Mike Drake came back with an armload of toys for us. A stack of amazing proportions - zombies, cinema scenes, the not-yet-released Biggie Smalls from New York Comic Con 2008, Family Guy - more than could comfortably fit on the 7 train…. but before Drake would relinquish these goodies, he challenged me to a duel. Seriously. I’m not making this up.

After it became clear that I couldn’t hold my own in a swordfight, let alone walk up a flight of stairs without feeling faint, Drake took pity on me and just handed the toys over. He probably thought that I could pawn them for a pair of sneakers or an Iso-Flex. At the very least, he didn’t want me to have my inevitable heart attack on their clear floors.

So, we headed back down the charmingly ancient elevator, and as we walked back out into the cool April weather, Drake informed me that he had one more thing for me. Somehow secreted during the elevator trip and walk outside, he pulled a Hellboy prototype figure out from behind his back and handed it to me. Having one of the unique, half-unpainted, pre-production tooling samples from the Hellboy line of figures is probably one of the most prized, neato things in all of my Hellboy AND action figure collections, so I kinda walked a few blocks in a daze, clutching the tiny devil in my hands and just staring.

Many thanks to Mike Drake for having us over & the awesome hospitality that we received. Please enjoy a few more pics from our visit!

(A close-up of the NYCC Exclusive Jason, unmasked)

(The prototype on the right started to droop because the plastics making up the base couldn’t support the weight of the two figures. The prototype on the left now incorporates a metal rod for support.)

(The same figure as above on the left. The figure on the right is a rare 2-up figure, twice the size of the final figure.)

(And finally, Mike Drake himself, and the NYCC Biggie figure. Mike wanted me to remind the audience that he’s the one on the right.)

I’ve been a little in love with toy company Mezco since I blundered upon their Hellboy toys many a Toy Fair ago and found myself completely enthralled with the luminescenet blue-green sheen on a perfectly sculpted Abe Sapien figure. At that point, I had no idea who or what he was - just that it was probably the greatest toy I’d ever seen. I gave it my official ‘Most Awesome Thing of Toy Fair’ award that year - an award that mostly consisted of me saying ‘Man, that’s pretty awesome!’ and posting a big picture of it on my homepage. I was no-budget back then.

So, when Mike Drake, Director Of Special Projects & Administrator from Mezco invited me for a personal tour around their offices in Queens, NY, I tried not to waste too much time hopping a train and a subway to their location, all while clutching a set of directions that involved both the words ‘troll’ and ‘Robocop’. That’s how you know you’re in for a good time. Mike Drake’s probably the most engaging and jovial ‘toy guy’ I’ve ever met, clearly very into the toys as art forms, home decor and collectibles. He warned me not to expect The Wonka Factory, but he probably underestimated how easily entertained I am. I half-expected to meet a Slugworth at the door, imploring me to swipe a Sylar from the upcoming series of Heroes figures.

The Mezco offices, located on the 5th floor of an unassuming building and up a truly ancient elevator, were capacious and lined tastefully with Mezco’s products displayed in rows of black shelves. We traversed the floor’s wide-open spaces designated to design, product photography, toy storage, recreation and other toy-things more technical, and found ourselves in the ‘War Room’ - a whole area filled with bits and pieces of prototypes destined for approval or re-tooling, which is the process of correcting a loose joint, or a not-quite-right sculpt before the figure moves into final production.

Spread across the shelves were tiny Selma Blair heads, super-articulated bodies to be used for Warriors figures, first drafts of things that didn’t quite turn out as expected, accessories, and all manner of things that were works-in-progress. As a collector (and a giant geek-o-nerd for Heroes and Hellboy), seeing the process that goes into these things was pretty damned awesome.

Mezco doesn’t do any sculpting on premises, instead using freelance sculptors at other locations, and while most companies sculpt the original designs for their figures at twice the size that the final figure will be (or, as they’re known to toygeeks, 2-ups), Mezco keeps almost all of their sculpting at actual figure scale - and they actually still sculpt their likenesses from scratch also, while some other companies have gone the way of digital scanning. The accuracy and expressiveness of Mezco’s original sculpts is evident.

It was in this War Room that we were given an exclusive first look at Mezco’s two exclusive figures from the upcoming New York Comic Con, which is only weeks away.

The first of these two items is a rotocast figure of Biggie Smalls, aka The Notorious B.I.G., aka Christopher Wallace. The figure is done in Mezco’s artistic ‘stylized’ style, giving him an urban, grafitti-style appearance. Unlike Mezco’s long sold-out previous Biggies, this time he’ll be decked out in a yellow, fabric jersey (as featured in one of his videos), and include a handful of accessories - a gold chain, a towel, sunglasses, and a microphone. Also, despite being a rotocast figure, he’ll still have a great 12 points of articulation. He’s limited to 2000 units, and will cost $30 at the show. The figure already has a buzz surrounding him, being featured on both MTV and in NME Magazine - so if you can’t get to New York, there’s a good chance that there’ll be a few left over to purchase from Mezco Direct, Mezco’s online store.

The second exclusive item is also a stylized rotocast figure, this time of Jason from Friday the 13th, falling under Mezco’s ‘Cinema of Fear’ collection. His unique deco will include a greener, grave-fresh, mouldering skin tone, as well as a series of ‘Freddy vs. Jason’ slash marks across his battle-damaged mask (though, cleverly, without explicity saying so). He also has 12 points of articulation under his fabric costume, will cost $30 at NYCC, and is limited to 666 units - for obvious reasons.

It took every ounce of restaint that I had to not dart around the offices, excitedly panting “What’s this? And what’s that? Can I touch this? That’s awesome! I have that! WHAT’S THAT OVER THERE?” Scrabble boards, swords laying across chairs, a TV hooked up to video game consoles and comfortable couches belied the attitude of the company - love what you do, love what you make, but take some time to really enjoy it too. I didn’t really expect to find out exactly what the swords were for, but before the visit was over, Mike Drake would make it very clear to me.

Before I made the journey to Mezco, I took questions from a handful of fans to communicate to Mike Drake, all of which were answered - as well as a whole bunch of little along-the-way, exclusive, never-before-revealed tidbits that we gleaned. Stay tuned for Saturday, where all will be revealed!

We’re almost done with the nigh-insurmountable mountain of Toy Fair 2008 coverage (here, here, here and here), but no action figure, TV or movie geek could be satiated without a detailed mention of everything that happened over at the Mezco and NECA booths during The Fair.

[Click here for the full Mezco gallery at our Community!]

Now, I’ve been a dedicated Mezco fan since I first saw their Hellboy movie figures back in 2004. The movie hadn’t yet come out, and comic-based movies (and figures based on comic movies) have had a history of, well, sucking - but the Hellboy figures were outstanding items, and the movie turned out to be one of my favorite films. This year, for the first time in 4 years, Mezco’s booth had new Hellboy movie stuff for me to ogle.

Two waves of 6” figures are planned for Hellboy 2 : The Golden Army, due in theaters on July 11th. Like the figures from the first movie, they’ll be fully articulated and sculpted impeccably. Included in the first wave will be Hellboy, Abe Sapien, and finally, Liz Sherman, who was tragically absent from earlier figures. I have a thing for Selma Blair, and that thing is MY LOVE. Also in this first wave will be Johann Krauss, and bad guys Wink & Prince Nuada. The second wave (which was forbidden from photography, but looked stunning) will include a wounded Hellboy & a t-shirt Hellboy, as well as the beautiful Princess Nuada, the horrific Goblin (who is attached to a rickety wooden cart of some kind), and the huge, ominous Angel of Death. It’s a truly amazing collection of figures that completely blew me away. Even as stand-alone monsters, they’re really, really great.

Mezco is adding onto their usual offerings with small busts of Hellboy and the Right Hand of Doom, 18” figures of Hellboy and Abe, and at least eight 3.75” figures. These tiny, Star Wars-sized figures will have all of the articulation and sculpts of the larger figures, so nothing is lost in translation - an amazing feat that other companies would do well to learn from. Mezco revealed to us that while the tiny figures were cheaper in materials cost, the cost for the molds to cast the small figures was actually greater than the cost for the larger figure molds, due to the intricate details. There’s a certain production number somewhere in the middle where the cost justifies the product, and with all of these companies making 3.75” figures this year, I’m curious exactly how it balances.

Of course, Hellboy wasn’t the only license of note, as Mezco also has the Heroes TV show license. None of these figures have been released yet, but Mezco is already three waves deep into the sculpting, and the likenesses are really staggering. I’ve commented here before on the strange, imperfect likenesses that Mezco released as their PR photos, walking a weird line between photorealism and comic-styled artwork. As it turns out, you just need to see them in person. They’ve applied every ounce of accuracy and skill that made me love the Hellboy figures to these Heroes figures. Forget everything you’ve heard about the figures not being perfect likenesses - they ARE perfect - and the character selection couldn’t be better.

The first set of 5 includes Hiro Nakamura, Claire Bennet, Sylar, Peter Petrelli and Mohinder Suresh. Hopefully, the varied images in our gallery here will clarify some of the misperceptions about the figures that I, too, was guilty of. Keep on clicking around though, as ten never-before-seen figures were also revealed! Included in Wave Two are (and I’ll try to say this with as few spoilers as possible), Horn-Rimmed Glasses guy, Niki & Jessica Sanders (with alternate heads), Matt Parkman & Molly Walker, Mr. Linderman, and Future Peter. Wave Three will include Nathan Petrelli, The Haitian, another version of Hiro from season 2, Elle Bishop, and another character from season 2 that’ll pretty much blow your mind if you haven’t been watching loyally as I have.

Mezco rounds out this license with 9” figures of Sylar, Niki / Jessica, Peter and Claire. Also, like every other company’s been doing with toys this year, wait for a 3.75” line. Sylar vs. Darth Vader vs. Serpentor vs. Doctor Doom isn’t very far off now!

It’s also worth mentioning that Mezco is on their 15th series of Living Dead Dolls - the cute-grotesque series of dolls that pays homage to some of history’s most infamous killers and movie murderers. I suppose they’re all either zombies or about to kill someone, but they’re a very popular collection of higher-end dolls that tend to be collected by cute goth girls - so I can’t argue. The less said about ‘Gangsta Babies’, the better. Seriously - I don’t want to get drive-by’d from a stroller.

NECA also had a presence at Toy Fair. This company seems to pick up an odd assortment of movie-related licenses of all genres, but with a focus on fantasy and horror above all else. In the past, they’ve made action figures for Nightmare Before Christmas (a line that just ended, sadly), Planet Terror, 300, Reservoir Dogs and A Christmas Story. Despite the Christmas Story figure line being ostensibly dead for quite a few years now, NECA has just revealed an additional figure for the line in the form of bully Scut Farkus, sculpted in a perfect, creepy sneer.

[See the full NECA Gallery at our Community by clicking here!]

NECA’s Harry Potter line continues, and likely will continue throughout the release of every foreseeable movie, with figures that include all of the wizard kids, Voldemort, Snape, Dumbledore, the Malfoys, Bellatrix, Mad-Eye Moody and even a handful of the fantasy creatures. I’m no Harry Potter fan, nor have I personally seen the movies, but the figures are another example of the great likenesses that NECA captures for cult-favorite characters. There’s only so much I can personally geek-out over. I need to set limits so that I can be a functional adult - it’s nothing personal against Harry Potter.

Speaking of cult-favorite, my personal highlight at the NECA booth was the figure of Beetlejuice, perfectly rendered with a chubby Michael Keaton face and stained, striped suit. It’s the first time we’ve ever had a Beetlejuice figure that wasn’t from a bizarrely tangential animated show. He’s a great movie ‘monster’ as it stands, and I’d love to see figures of Lydia and the families with a build-a-sandworm - though a few less-than-great figures of the ghost family were released some years back. Let’s just start over. And next time you guys make Ghostbusters figures, make some of the Ghostbusters, okay?

Also an unusual license for NECA, but a great one, is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This isn’t the movie license, or even the cartoon license - this is the license to make figures from the original comic books by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. Believe it or not, these original comics were a fairly complex drama, and drawn in a very different style than what ended up being animated in the 90s. These comic-accurate figures will all come with red masks and different weapons, and be sculpted to look ‘drawn’, with all of the original ink lines intact. April O’Neil will also join the line (but was forbidden from photography), and a series of black & white turtles (colored like the original comics) will also be released. They will all come with interlocking bases to form a scene together.

In terms of even more entertainment properties, Amok Time is a newcomer company with some interesting licenses. Not only are they making 12” figures from the original Lost in Space, but they’re doing the same for the original Battlestar Galactica, and Gort and Klaatu from ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’. Any of these will stand proudly right next to your high-end Sideshow Collectibles monsters, with a few additional B-movie monsters round out the collection, from movies I’ve never heard of, but look visually entertaining.

[Click here for a gallery of toys from Amok Time in our Community!]

The highlight at Amok Time’s booth was the 12” Elvira figure, which sported another perfect likeness, and would absolutely go well in any ironic monster display. I’ve been told that the figure will be solicited in late 2008, so there’s going to be a wait to even order it. On the bawdy end of things, Amok Time is producing bookends in the likeness of adult film star Seka, as well as a 12” figure of the same. True to form, all of these things, even the bookends, will have removable clothing. Two Bettie Page figures are also being produced, to the delight of pin-up fans everywhere.

Stay tuned for one more post about Toy Fair 2008, in which I summarily round up the rest of the awesomeness and finally put these life-consuming toys behind me until next year.

While they’re not due out until May of 2008, Mezco (one of my favorite companies for many, many reasons) has released press images from their upcoming series of action figures, based on the Emmy Award-winning show Heroes - which I love, no matter what any entitled internet nerd message board says. The writers may be on strike, but my loyalty is strong, for now.

Mezco’s figural output is very diverse, ranging from horror to cartoon to classic movie properties, and their figures from the first Hellboy movie were some of the best character likenesses I’d ever seen. This, paired with great quality control and excellent articulation, makes Mezco one of the quieter companies to watch. While the license to make Heroes figures was long-rumored to to have shifted between McFarlane Toys and NECA, both great companies in different ways, I’m pleased that Mezco ultimately landed it.

One might ask, “Why do we need action figures from a show that really doesn’t have THAT much action?” Historically, that’s not such a bad question, especially when the show in question is complex, episodic, and on in prime time. McFarlane’s Lost figures went unsold in many areas, and eventually hit discount aisles before fans of the show expressed any interest. At this time, the line is barely making it through a second series, leaving the cast woefully incomplete. Lost viewers as a whole, it would seem, just aren’t toy buyers. McFarlane released a scene-specific statue or two from 24, and China-based Hot Toys made a few 1/6th scale figures based on Prison Break - all very specialty market items, produced in relatively low quantities. Mezco is hoping that Heroes’ decidedly more nerdy audience IS of the toy-buying ilk - which I’m also hoping, because I don’t intend on collecting a toy line that dies halfway through again, leaving families and teams incomplete. You burned me, Adult Swim figures, and I’ve never recovered.

The first line of Heroes figures will have five characters. Because they’re regular people who change clothes and get haircuts, there’s no ONE outfit that suits them best and makes them more recognizable (something which is a lot more obvious when dealing with costumed heroes or cartoons) - but Mezco does a pretty good job making them all unique in their personality-appropriate clothing. And satisfying their messenger bag fetish by giving them to three of the male characters, and nary a purse to the one female. And non-viewers? Beware of spoilers below.

We have Peter Petrelli, the mimic who absorbs and retains the powers of anyone around him, whether he likes it or not (or is even aware of it), as well as stealing the hearts and underpants of just about every female viewer. Peter is seen with his first season bangs. There will also be a second version of him, exclusive to retailers who order from previews Magazine, which will include a base to make him appear to be flying.

We have Hiro Nakamura, the Japanese sci-fi and comic nerd who can move through space and time, his altruistic motives sculpted gracefully by the comic heroes that he admires. And yet, despite what the uninformed media might imply about comic book readers, his attitudes towards women are completely healthy.

There’s also Claire Bennet (later, Butler), whose blood has powers that can almost instantly heal herself and others. While she’s rarely seen in her cheerleader outfit, the whole ‘save the cheerleader, save the world’ thing was too pervasive to ignore.

Next is doctor Mohinder Suresh, who has no obvious powers of his own, but (usually) works towards the preservation and privacy of these people with special powers, with or without the aid of The Corporation, whose secretive motives keep him guessing.

Finally, there’s the series villain, Sylar (aka Gabriel Grey), who eats the brains of anyone whose powers he wants. He’s unrepentantly selfish and creepy, barely sympathetic, and we all love him. Again, he’s sculpted in an outfit that we rarely see him in, but is darkly appropriate to his character.

The first series lacks everyone’s favorite Noah Bennet, Hiro’s friend Ando, Matt Parkman, Isaac Mendez, Mr. Linderman, Nathan Petrelli, The Haitian, Adam, or even Mr. Muggles, so it’s vital that the line sells well, else we’ll never get the rest of these important characters. Being such a character-driven story, it would be a shame to miss out on any. Each figure in the line comes with a handful of accessories, as well as small reproductions of the paintings that played vital clues in the show.

As far as the character likenesses are concerned, fans have already expressed displeasure at some of the unusual appearances. We can tell who they’re supposed to be, but they’re not really floored by the accuracy. Others have commented that they appear to be half-realistic, and half-Tim Sale - the comic artist who provided and lot of the art for the show, as well as the clue-paintings. Sale’s artwork has been made into figures before, in DC Direct’s Batman : Long Halloween and Dark Victory series, and a Batman Black and White statue as well, and it’s true enough that these figures bear some of the same telltale angles. And yes, Mezco has also shown a proclivity towards some very interpretive figures.

Will this public outcry cause Mezco to revisit the figures before the scheduled release date? Will they settle on one style or another, instead of this odd hybrid? Will I buy them anyhow? I think we all know the answer to that last one. Come May, keep an eye out at your local FYE, Spencer Gifts, or comic shop, where these are most likely to pop up.

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I’ve been trying to cut back on my costly DVD collection, especially with certain debts accumulating, and certain 70-year old women sideswiping my bumper and the financial burden that such entails (despite me having no fault in the matter whatsoever, consarnit). This week, however, was a significant week for significant, irresistible DVD releases. So, in celebration of my new part-time job as a teacher, I went out and wasted pocketfuls of money on delicious watchables.

Of course, the very first item that I honed in on was the Heroes : Season One DVD set. With the new season beginning in just about one month, and reruns of various episodes finally airing on Monday nights again on NBC in preparation, my Heroes pump is primed once again. In DVD hunting, I’ve learned that Wal-Mart (love them or hate them, they’re the only deal around in my remote area) often welcomes in the new DVDs by significantly dropping the prices for the first week of release, even if many aren’t advertised as such. As a result, the Heroes set was under 40 dollars. Target released the ‘Collector’s Edition’ set with 5 small prints and a DVD Q&A session with the cast.

Interestingly, this is the first TV-show-on-DVD set that I’ve seen released and displayed with equal quantities in HD format. That is not to say that other shows haven’t already seen the benefits of this technology, but it hasn’t seemed quite as prevalent. I’m the last person to ask about the visual benefits of the HD format, because I’m still lucky to get most of the correct colors on my personal TV, which is left over from the harsh rigors of dorm life. I can tell you that HD DVDs are designed to store a higher quantity of data, and as a result, can store visual data at a much higher clarity. Of course, this HD format is currently embroiled in a battle with the competing technology of Blu-Ray Discs, both of which require their own expensive players, and neither of which have become the dominant technology yet. Because I have average eyes, and an average TV, and live an average life, these things do not yet concern me, and I’m sticking with regular DVDs until there’s a very real reason to again switch formats and re-collect everything in a more perfect form. Barely perceptible improvements in visual acuity haven’t swayed me yet, especially when it’s possible that one of the two competing, new formats will ultimately go under and leave us with incomplete collections. And there’s nothing worse than that. Unfortunately, the HD set also included more bonus materials.

The Heroes set, in addition to being shiny and holographic, includes 7 discs against a backdrop of Tim Sale’s artwork (which was credited to prophetic artist Isaac Mendez in the show). The set includes the uncut version of the first episode (and not a completely new episode, as the commercials seem to imply), 50 deleted scenes from other episodes (and if you know Heroes, every scene is a clue), and audio commentaries for many episodes. I don’t usually have patience for audio commentaries, but after the 4th viewing of an episode of ANYTHING, it’s usually pretty fascinating to see what went into the show from both the creators and actors. Of course, there’s the obligatory ‘making of’ featurettes also. Especially with highly sequential shows like Heroes, where everything has a bearing on everything else, having a collection of the episodes at your disposal to piece things together is always helpful.

Not included, however, are the online comics that accompanied the story each week. Sure, they’re free online, but it leaves the discs very slightly less comprehensive.

In addition to picking up the second season of Robot Chicken (an Adult Swim standard, and I’m absolutely an Adult Swim collector also), the third season of The Office was also released. Now, this is a show that could have gone to the local Wal-Mart for also, but it’s also a DVD collectors secret to check out Best Buy for extra-special DVD bonuses on release day, every Tuesday. Best Buy often has unique pack-ins to accompany their DVD sets. This particular release of The Office had a Best Buy exclusive gift pack, which all came packaged in a Dunder Mifflin paper box, and included a ‘Welcome Aboard!’ letter from Michael Scott, a Dundie Award (given out annually at a company function), and a miniature Dwight Shrute bobblehead, in addition to the excellent 4-disc DVD set.

Yes, it’s unwieldy and has no place on a sensible DVD shelf, but it charmed my eyes out. Right out of my head.

The DVDs, as usual, are packed ridiculously full of hilarious extras. Each of the 22 episodes include about eight to ten minutes of deleted scenes (which make mini-episodes unto themselves, really, and reveal great little ‘aside’ moments and dynamics that didn’t make it to air). Interviews, commentaries, bloopers, and full versions of videos that Michael made at various points to motivate the staff. It highlights that we’ve entered a time when TV shows have become increasingly immersive for the audience, inviting them to participate, showing them the bare bones, and allowing them to interact on websites and even submit material to the shows themselves. It’s all way too Media 2.0 to believe.

I predict that Media 3.0 is actually going to change the course of reality itself, altering the iron chains of fate and destiny to make life a non-stop, must-watch laff riot. Give it 5 years.

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