Soundwave in San Diego

April 8, 2009 | Paul

Hasbro revealed this last week that the G1 Soundwave would be their exclusive Transformer at this year’s San Diego Comic Con. Everyone’s favorite tape recording Decepticon will come with plenty of friends. He’s going to have Ravage, Buzzsaw, Laserbeak, and Ratbat along with him at the show.

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Personally, I’ve never been too terribly impressed with the Transformer exclusives. They just seem like simple repaints most of the time, but I’m not a huge Transformers fan so I guess I don’t have my finger on the pulse of what’s desirable. This Soundwave seems a hell of a lot more interesting than the usual offering, but I’ll definitely be skipping this one too. I managed to get a hold of the exclusive Toys R Us “reissue” from a few years ago. Yeah, I know that Soundwave had a different chest piece that held two mini-figs and that the San Diego version is the “true” one and he comes with extra cassettes, but I can only have so many Soundwaves. Anyone looking to get their hands on this guy?

Original Source: Transformers Collector’s Club

The DCUC Batman I want

April 8, 2009 | Poe

Pardon my mediocre Photoshop skills…couldn’t quite clear out all that mud.

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Poe’s Point > Gleekocalypse

April 7, 2009 | Poe

gleek1I’m almost striking after the iron’s cold, but last week the DCUC collecting community exploded into rage when it was revealed that Gleek, the Wonder Twin’s monkey mascot, would not be available for sale online but only as a pack-in with purchases of the WT set at the San Diego Comic Con (SDCC).

Collectors started a campaign, “No Monkey=No Money,” saying they wouldn’t buy the Wonder Twins set online if Gleek was not included.

In a note on Facebook, Mattel tried to head off the tide of anger. Unfortunately, they went a little too far in trying to offer fans a rationalization for it. (more…)

Review > Booster Gold (modern) (DC Universe Classics)

April 7, 2009 | Poe

Having reviewed Blue Beetle last week, it’s only natural to review Ted’s bromance buddy next.

While the Ted Kord incarnation of Blue Beetle was created by Steve Ditko back in the 1960s for Charlton Comics and Booster Gold was created for DC Comics by Dan Jurgens twenty years later, the two became famed best friends in the pages of Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis’s Justice League International in the late 1980s.

Since then, Booster Gold’s popularity has waxed, waned and waxed again among DC fans. He’s currently starring in his own series, wearing the modern outfit shown in this figure. There’s also a variant “classic” Booster, featuring a slightly different paint scheme, a disco collar and non-opening Skeets (if you don’t know what that means, see below). (more…)

5 Good (and 5 Not-So-Good) ’80s Toy-Based Feature Films

April 7, 2009 | Poe

prime_dead

With the imminent release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra and the announcement that Tom Hanks may star in a Major Matt Mason movie, big-budget films based on toy lines are big business. The last (and first) time this happened was in the 1980s, when there was a slew of feature films based on the various fad toys of the era.

Here’s a look at some of the best and worst toy-based films of the 1980s. With one exception, all of these movies received a theatrical release. (more…)

Raide–I mean, RAVEN wins!

April 6, 2009 | Poe

k7Sorry, had a Mortal Kombat flashback there.

The 2009 FANtastic Exclusive victor–who will be released at next year’s San Diego Comic Con–has been crowned, and the victor is Raven. While I was rooting more for some other characters, I can’t begrudge an action figure based on the inspiration for my namesake’s most famous poem.

Future voting rounds, which will begin next week, will decide things such as articulation, variants and accessories. The Horsemen hint that there may be other types of birds, too. While a cardinal would look resplendent, I’m also hoping for a pigeon and a penguin.

Now that that’s settled, what I really want to know is–what’s the status of Queen Alluxandra?

Toy review roundup (via Fanmode)

April 6, 2009 | Poe

fanmode-copy EVA Unit 4A reviews the Bandai Macross Origin of Valkyrie VF-1J Valkyrie (Ichijo Hikaru type) 1/55-scale figure. Excerpt: “I still love the Takatoku Toys 1/55-scale sets, and this VF-1J Valkyrie (Ichijyo ver.) is no exception.”

EVA Unit 4A reviews the Bandai Macross Origin of Valkyrie VF-1S Valkyrie (Roy Focker type) 1/55-scale figure. Excerpt: “While my 1990 reissue will remain a treasured founding piece in my own collection, the Origin of Valkyrie line allows me to appreciate the quality of the design once more from a collector’s standpoint.”

Corey Tincher reviews the Mattel DC Universe Classics Blue Beetle figure. Excerpt: “This toy does Blue Beetle some of the justice he deserves by giving fans a little something to hold on to.” (more…)

DCUC8 surfaces in Hong Kong, the Phillippines

April 6, 2009 | Poe

In what has become a wave tradition, the first photos of DC Universe Classics wave 8 have appeared first on AFTimes via Captain Collector, then in eBay auctions from Hong Kong, and finally in photos from collectors in the Phillippines–all of which suggests they’ll start popping up at U.S. stores within two or three weeks. I stand by my assertion that my online preorder will arrive on or around May 20, however.

Here are the photos from the online auctions. Check out the wee little Atom next to Giganta’s head in the Gentleman Ghost package. For loose pics, see the photos from the Phillippines collector, arcdeluxe, on Fwoosh.