Tom Brady Pro-Bot

November 14, 2008 | Poe

I really don’t want to do an “intereview” for this toy, for many reasons–not the least of which is having to deal once again with the pain of having drafted Tom Brady as my first-round pick in my fantasy football league this year. I can’t imagine interviewing him–or even his robot toy avatar–without breaking down into tears or a bitter rant against the unfairness of life.

I saw these last week at Toys ‘R Us. Predictably, they didn’t have Brady, since he’s the local favorite, but I was able to order him from TRU’s website. You can see the other figures on the packaging photo.

When I saw them, I initially assumed they’d been made by Foamheads, makers of the excellent Fox Sports Robot. But after looking at the package, that doesn’t appear to be the case–these figures were made by a company called Toy Quest. (more…)

Poestradamus

November 13, 2008 | Poe

Back on October 30, I posted a guess on the Fwoosh as to when the next few DC Universe Classics items would be available:

  • Wal-Mart DCUC wave starts appearing mid-November
  • DCUC wave 2 re-ships in early December
  • DCUC TRU exclusives start appearing early December
  • Adam Strange/Starfire ships late January
  • DCUC wave 6 ships early March

With the Wal-Mart wave just starting to trickle into stores now and the announcement that the Adam Strange/Starfire pack goes on sale January 15, I’m already 2 for 5. Anyone care to weigh in on my other predictions? The only one I’m not that confident about is wave six…it’s possible that will hit in late January. I’ll eat my invisible intangible hat if it shows up before December 31, though.

Maybe it’s time for another Pool contest…

5 Questions with > Rob Bricken of Topless Robot

November 12, 2008 | Poe

Codename: Rob Bricken
Specialty: Writer/editor
Base of Operations: Topless Robot
History: Rob Bricken was a normal, nerdy teen who simply enjoyed anime, comic books and terrible science fiction and fantasy novels in reasonable amounts until the new Star Wars figures came out in 1995. This set Rob down a dark path of insane toy collecting, which led to him waking up at 5 am on Saturdays, during college, to wait outside Toys R Us for the possibility of buying a Rancor Master figure. At a certain point, Rob realized his toy obsession had reached Trainspotting/heroin addiction-like proportions, and decided he want to know the touch of a woman again, and gave it up.

Unfortunately, he was almost immediately hired as an Associate Editor of ToyFare magazine in 2001; however, by forswearing all Star Wars figures, he managed to keep his toy-buying at a reasonable level. As Rob was the only person at Wizard Entertainment who knew why Goku’s hair sometimes turned yellow in Dragonball Z, he was put in charge of Anime Insider magazine, which he edited until 2006.

After a doomed, duplicitous internet venture, Rob was hired by Village Voice Media for incredibly low pay to create, write and edit ToplessRobot.com, the internet’s 466th most popular site for nerd news and humor, covering movies, games, anime, comics, acts of nerdery, and whatever Rob finds himself able to rant about. Since he has no other job, he tends to write for it all day, as well as editing feature-length Daily Lists of various nerd interest and discussion. Topless Robot receives about a million visitors per month, and has been mentioned by Gawker, Wired, Defamer, New York magazine, and several other far more popular and influential websites.

PG: What were your favorite toys or toy lines when you were growing up?

RB: I’ve always been a big Star Wars fan, but Masters of the Universe was my obsession as a kid (and pretty much now). The incredible variety of characters, designs, and action features just captivated me. Between my younger brother and myself, we had just about everything in the line. I honestly feel MotU is more than the sum of its parts; by having all of them, it was something far more unique and special than Transformers, G.I. Joe or even Star Wars. (more…)

Odds ‘n Ends > 11/11/08

November 11, 2008 | Poe

It’s time for another round of Odds ‘n Ends, your weekly dose of whatever the hell I happen to be thinking about at the moment. (more…)