If you can’t wait until June for the first wave of Transformers: Animated figures to hit shelves, you may be in luck! Yesterday, the Hasbro Toy Shop Catalogue began hitting mailboxes, and yours truly happened to receive one. Inside is a full page spread featuring the first wave of Transformers: Animated figures. Hasbro is reporting that these will be available via Hasbro Toy Shop on March 25th!
Poe’s Figure Hall of Fame > Face-Off Hulk
Welcome to a brand-new feature I made up about ten seconds ago: Poe’s Action Figure Hall of Fame. These posts, appearing as regularly as I feel like writing them, will honor fine examples of action figure artistry.
The inaugural inductee is: Marvel Legends Face-Off Hulk!
Name: The Hulk
Line: Marvel Legends (Face-Off)
Year: 2006
Manufacturer: Toy Biz
Sculptor: Sam Greenwell
I prefer to have a nostalgic connection to the character of any action figure I buy. I can remember getting a little rubbery Hulk toy at Building 19 when I was a wee tyke (sadly, I can’t remember at all what it was or who made it). I was familiar with the character–what little kid wasn’t?–but I hadn’t read the comics, and I didn’t until the early 1990s during Peter David’s run. While David was making the Hulk smart by integrating his Bruce Banner and Hulk personalities, I got my second Hulk toy–the classic purple pants-wearing titan, made by the then-fledgling toy company Toy Biz. That first Toy Biz Hulk was shorter than most of other figures in the line, most likely because he was so muscled and the young Toy Biz had to conserve plastic to maintain prices (I’ll discuss this issue in more detail below).
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Wizard TV: “Prime of Your Life”
From the fine folks at ToyFare comes this great Twisted ToyFare Theater video:
Funny, I would never have thought Ultra Magnus had the stones.
Odds ‘n Ends > Impatient Edition
ODD: DCUC Wave Two is hitting all over the country, but not the online retailer I pre-ordered it from. I don’t blame the retailer for that–nor Mattel, frankly. Wave One arrived at the online retailers before it hit the brick and mortar stores, so there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. And considering the speed and tenacity of the local scalpers, I’m still better off waiting for my full set to ship than wasting gas money driving around to Targets and Wal-Marts to get one or two figures. But still…patience is not one of my more practiced virtues. (more…)
ToyFare #129 (May 2008)
Picked up the latest issue of ToyFare this week. In the tradition of all uninspired stand-up comedians, let’s see what’s in the news this month…
Cover: Iron Monger from Hasbro’s Iron Man movie line. I have to admit, he looks totally awesome, though I’m wondering whether those hips are ball jointed. Haven’t seen any of these figures in stores yet, but that makes sense since the street date is the 23rd.
Inside cover: Ad for Diamond Select’s second wave of Battlestar Galactica figures. The Cylon looks badass–that’s going to be a hot seller. It looks like they may have fixed up Starbuck’s face a bit, but she still looks more like that woman from Stargate SG-1 to me.
Page 9: Who’s Mandalore the Indomitableâ„¢? I’m way behind on this Star Wars Expanded Universe stuff. Last thing I remember is Kyle Katarn and those badass Darktroopers.
Page 10: Ill-favored N2/Mirage Toys made a Mad Max line that actually wasn’t so bad. (more…)
Lord of the Batches
Before we get to the winner of the contest, I just wanted to pass along the news that NECA has released new images of its upcoming two-pack of Jareth (the Goblin King) and Hoggle from the cult film Labyrinth. I must say, NECA may be taking their famed devotion to detail a bit too far: (more…)
Ask Mattel > 3/13/08
PG: Pre-sale photos of Deathstroke have shown a machine gun, a sword and sheath, a staff and a removable pistol in a holster. Will the retail figure come with all these accessories, and if so, why the bevy of goodies for ol’ Slade?
Mattel’s “ToyGuru”: Yes! Slade in both his standard and chase version will have a staff, which clips to his back, a pistol that fits in his holster, a sword in his sheath and a machine gun with a strap. Why so many accessories–It is friggin’ Deathstroke!!! Why not? (more…)
Poe’s Point > Top Five Most Anticipated Movie Toy Lines of 2008
Yeah, I could write a list of my most anticipated movies this year–and there are quite a few–but to stay more on-topic, I decided to list what I think are the five most anticipated action figure lines based on movies this year among collectors. Note, these aren’t listed in the order I’m anticipating them, but on how much I think the collector community is. (more…)
A tribute to Batman: Year One, pp. 61-62
The Toybox > #1: Lost and Found
Welcome to the first edition of The Toybox, an original webcomic drawn by Red Kryptonite (whose lovely art adorns the rest of this site) and written by yours truly.
The Toybox will feature an ongoing story (with suitable single-strip punchlines whenever possible) and a cast of toy-themed characters.
Initially, you can expect a new Toybox every other Wednesday (we hope to do them more frequently once we streamline the process, but we’ll see how it goes). Be sure to let us know what you think in the comments section!
(Click to read)
