Tomfoolery After Dark: Blacklight Special Returns Again

Welcome back to the Blacklight Special!  If you're unfamiliar with this, then just click on the "blacklight special" tag at the bottom to check out the last two.



Lets get you back up to speed: I take pictures each night (give or take) with a tiny blacklight I got from a Hotwheels car and my phone.  The pics aren't always the clearest, but I kinda like how my phone screws them up sometimes, or adds an aura around the figures.

The first guy is some ice dude from the failed Redakai toyline (something with collectible cards and toys).  Nice Joe sized toys that barely lasted the blink of an eye.  This one wasn't any sort of challenge; he lit right up!  Clear plastic usually does the trick, but this guy brought it in spades.

Kamen Rider stuff is sorta give and take.  There are a bunch that you'd think would look good, but then the light just does nothing.  If you can find some nice clear plastic on the eyes or elsewhere (and some white, sometimes) you'll get something kinda cool.  It also helps when they're shiny, sometimes.  Shadow Moon (above four pics) did some interesting things, but I had to work to get the eyes to catch.  Once they did, though, they did this neat jade sorta glow.

I took a ton of photos of Figuarts Vegeta, but this was the only one that ended up working.  You've gotta position the light just-so to get it to catch his face and the blast.  In the end, I settled for the blast from his hand and his face; I couldn't get the blast that was flying away from him.

Some of the Imaginext stuff from the previous medieval line were made to light up in blacklights, since one of the playsets had a blacklight in it.  The set itself came with a dragon you could light up, but this particular (awesome) set was made for the same purpose.  It almost looks the same color as it does in the light!  I tried a different angle to get it to actually glow (though it is still technically glowing here, since we're in the dark).

A little better, but I think it works with the previous one.  I just love how he glows SO well that he just looks like he does in the light.

Scarlet Witch was good, if only for her witchy effects.  They lit up differently from different angles.  I liked how they glowed softly here, but you didn't really get a good look at the figure.

Much better!  And her effects look a little more dangerous, here.  In all honesty: I think these would technically turn out better if I just used my camera....but I kinda like the challenge that the phone camera presents.

This was a surprise!  Batman Beyond's face lit up, and his symbol did a tiny bit.  He had a lot of variations depends on where the camera was focusing, but this was the best aberration:

Reminds me of Batman Begins, when he's morphing because people are effected by the fear gas and seeing Batman as a monster.

I thought this effect worked best with Batman Beyond, what with all the neon being used in his future.  And heck; if the future doesn't have a ton of neon, then that's a future I don't want to be a part of.

WHOA, G.I. Joes?  I remember Alexx having those!

This guy was from the last wave of stuff from the last movie; a cyber ninja, of sorts.  Can't remember the name off the top of my head.  He's all Troned out with light blue lines on his bodysuit (and he wears a slick motorcycle helmet) so he worked out pretty well.  It was just a matter of aiming the light to get all his lines to light up.

This is my good friend Shadow Tracker, and I was hoping his clear yellow facemask would light up.  It did not.  His eyes did, though!  Of course his eyes did.

Also from the end of the previous movie line: The Cobra Trooper!  I guess.  I mean, these looked more like the troopers in the movie, but this is a...ninja trooper?  Why not!  The point of this figure is DAT HELMET.  It's a monoeye helmet, and the eye lit up, just like I was hoping!  I need two million copies of that head for everything ever.

Alright, lets end this with the He-Man guys!  This is Strongarm, from the old cartoon.  I didn't really think he would light up, but I had hoped his shiny parts would look good.  Came out pretty well!  Plus he's using this axe that is meant for Skeletor, but I made my own axe that I like better, and this axe matches Strongarm's colors.  I'll go into that when I get to him, proper.

And speaking of the axe I made that I like better: The green jewel on it glows well!  I just could NOT get Skeletor in the same glow (though I ended up liking this creepy shot).

Nothing was really working how I wanted, so I just put the blacklight RIGHT on the jewel on the end of the axe, and this happened!  Now the jewel is the source of light, and it just works, ya know?

This is Faker.  I always want him to work out better than he does.  Everything just comes out in flat colors, though this pic ended working on a dynamic sense.

200X Faker ended up giving me what I want!  (MotUC Faker is such a tease).  His armor and sword lit up like the friggin' sun, brutha.  I took a bunch of shots, but this was my favorite.

Now I knew this would work, but I didn't know it would end up so crazy!  This is the Spirit of Hordak figure - it's clear red all through.  This is a good example of how different kinds of plastic will glow in different ways.  The figure is uniform in color, but different sections are different kinds of plastic.  The hard rubbery plastic of the limbs turn that light pinkish color, why the softer rubber armor and loincloth turn right blue!  The plastic of the torso is hard, though, so it stays reddish pink.  This is my favorite kind of reaction.

Here he is with the light shinning behind him, for the heck of it.  Gives off tones of the slime from Ghostbusters 2.  Watch the water in the bathtub, kids!  You never know what might come out.

If New Adventures He-Man's sword and shield didn't work, I was gona frown with such intensity that the other side of the world would have to dodge the corners of my mouth as it broke through the earth.  No world shattering frowns here, though!  Lit right up!

Super dynamic, though it would work better if you could see more of the figures.  I'll have to find a way to get his sword to glow in the light.

Alright, that's it for another installment of the Blacklight Special!  I've got a million of these pics, so I'll post these as I slowly collect a batch of pics that look any good ('cause for every one that is worthy of showing, there at at least ten others that are crap).

Watch out for sword rabbits!