Custom District 9 mech way cooler than Avatar statue

August 21, 2009 | Poe

d9_mecha

I just saw District 9 last night (I’ll try to get my review up on my other website, Biggerboat, sometime soon), and naturally I came away wondering about the toy potential of the movie.

To my knowledge, no company’s announced having scored the license, which reminds me a bit of how toy companies missed the boat with The Matrix (and then we got those mediocre N2 figures before McFarlane got the license after the hype had died down and buried it with McStatues).

However, one enterprising customizer has created this supremely badass custom prawn mech, which already has bids over $500 on eBay. I have to believe a few toy companies are taking notice. (more…)

5 Questions With > Dr. Mrs. Ghostal

August 20, 2009 | Poe

Poe’s note: I’ve got a special treat for you all today: an interview with my one and only, Dr. Mrs. Ghostal. What can I say about my lovely, understanding wife that I haven’t said on this blog a dozen times already? Brilliant, beautiful, geeky, and more than I probably deserve.

Code name: Dr. Mrs. Ghostal, DMG, DottyGale
Specialty: Biochemistry, Knitting
Base of Operations: Brighton, MA.
History: Born and raised in SoCal as a child of the 80s, but was more into TV and books than toys. Got pulled into the world of action figures when I started dating Poe 5 years ago, and have had a house full of plastic men, women and creatures ever since.

1.) What were your favorite toys as a kid?

Like I said, as a kid I wasn’t all that into toys.  I had a lot of stuffed animals of various sorts.  My mom says that I was a “social doll player” in that if someone else wanted to play with the Barbies or the Cabbage Patch Kids I would play, too.  I think the toys I really remember the most fondly were these little animals that my sister and I collected.  They were plastic, but furry, and wore tiny doll clothes.  We had bears, rabbits, little baby moles.  I can’t remember what they were called, but we sure had a lot of them.

Perhaps the funniest thing I can remember is that when my friends, my sister and I played with toys, the story lines were really influenced by the TV my babysitter watched, which included a good share of talk shows and soap operas.  I’m pretty sure that Barbie’s Dream Wedding was interrupted by a mysterious stranger with a scandalous past! (more…)

Interesting article about the action figure industry

August 19, 2009 | Poe

There’s an interesting article up on Playthings.com, “Back in the Fight,” which provides a fairly in-depth look at the state of the action figure industry. I’ll write up something longer about it later, but for now, I highly recommend you check it out. Michael Crawford contributes some quotes to the piece.

Here’s one eyebrow-raising tidbit that surprised me–and I’ll admit I appear to have been flat-out wrong on this issue; such are the results of paying too much attention to one part of the elephant (though I think the industry’s reluctance to release these numbers deserves a bit of the blame):

NPD’s Frazier pegs online accounts for about 4 percent dollar sales in the action figure/accessories supercategory versus 70 percent at mass/discount and 20 percent at toy stores.

Poe’s Point > Vintage toys, eBay, and trading

August 19, 2009 | Poe

Recently I’ve been interested in tracking down the four original Ghostbusters from the 1980s Kenner Real Ghostbusters line. Of course, the first place I checked was eBay, the same place everyone else goes–including people of much greater means than I–thus ensuring that any and all auctions go for a price at the very high end of the market.

But my only other option is to scour yard sales, flea markets, and vintage collectible stores to try and find them at a reasonable price.

I’ve got plenty of old vintage stuff myself, and I’d much prefer to trade with some other collector without using eBay as a middleman, selling my vintage stuff online and then bidding top dollar on an auction on eBay, paying PayPal fees every step of the way.

How about a website that’s a sort of toy-focused, trading-based version of eBay, where collectors can put up all the items they have for trade and then look at other people’s wants and haves and make offers. It’s similar to what any toy board’s trade forum does, but a bit broader and with a way to search for specific items.

Of course, for all I know something like that already exists. Anyone know?

Paul’s Peg > Skystriker? Pshaw! Now This is a Jet!

August 18, 2009 | Paul

If you’re hoping that Hasbro will re-release the classic G.I. Joe Skystriker, I hope you’re not holding your breath. First of all, they are going in a more futuristic direction with the movie line. Secondly, the rumor is that Funskool ruined the molds when they had them. But even if they managed to make a new Skystriker, it still wouldn’t be as cool as this jet from JSI:

f14tomcatgijoe

This is a 1:18th scale F-14 Tomcat, meaning it’s to scale with G.I. Joes and it could be modified to be the most bad ass Skystriker on the planet. It’s got a ton of detail and is a pre-order for the low, low price of 209.00. Okay, that’s not very low, but it’s still damned cool. You know, I think you owe me a Christmas gift from last year. This is a great way to make amends.