Odds ‘n Ends > August 22, 2011

August 22, 2011 | Poe

  • I’m (finally!) on vacation this week, and my hope is to finally get to some of those reviews I’ve been promising you guys forever. The pile of unopened toys has only gotten bigger, though, including the NECA Robocop, which I found at TRU over the weekend.
  • One thing I learned during this move is that I have a LOT of toys. More than I realized, and that was after selling off a bunch of stuff to a local comic shop. If you stop by Comicazi! in Somerville, MA any time over the next few months and buy a loose figure, there’s a good chance it may once have been mine.
  • Club Infinite Earths put up a good fight, but as of right now it’s still 40% short of its goal. I’ve said since the beginning that whatever the goal was for this sub, it was just too high. That suggests either Mattel didn’t do the due diligence on testing what the market really was, or they always knew it was going to be a long shot. At this point, even without all the QC issues, historically terrible distribution, and Gleekocalypse, I’m not sure the Club could have hit the needed subscriptions. The only hope now is that it did well enough that the brand managers can convince the higher-ups to do it.
  • Notable reviews from around the net: Pixel Dan reviews Vigo the Carpathian & MOTUC Leech; Wesitron reviews the 6″ Modern ThunderCats Lion-O

Guest Review > Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Raiden (Mortal Kombat 6″ Series 1, Jazwares)

August 18, 2011 | Doc Thomas

When Jazwares announced a new line of Mortal Kombat action figures to premiere alongside the new release, I was ecstatic. A lifetime fan of video games from the fighting genre, I love my SOTA Street Fighters to death and have always felt there was an unfilled hole in my collection where the Mortal Kombat fighters should be. With the recent revival of the fighting genre, beginning with the excellent Street Fighter, the news that Mortal Kombat was returning in a big way pleased me to no end.

When the game finally came out I was ever so pleased to find my expectations met: with a balanced and interesting new engine, sensational graphics, a fully realised story mode and some of the most despicable gore ever seen in a video game, Mortal Kombat was back! About the same time Jazwares revealed images from their first series of 6″ figures based on franchise favourites Sub Zero, Scorpion and Raiden, and subsequent images from a 3 3/4″ scale series. Fans were torn, prefering the look of the smaller figures to the seemingly less-detailed 1/12 scale toys. How do the final releases fare? Let’s find out! (more…)

Mattel Updates > MOTUC, DC subs, Draego-Man costs

August 17, 2011 | Poe

Lots of Mattel-related stuff to discuss today. First up is this addendum to Monday’s Q&A:

3.) Gasha168 asks: Does the 23″ Voltron contain any diecast metal components at all, or is it pure plastic except for the springs and pin joints?

The Lions that combine into the 23″ Voltron do not have any die-cast parts.  At the scale that the lions are being offered, if they were die-cast, the overall weight of the combined Voltron would be too much for it to be secure or stable.  However, we do understand that die-cast is a big fan request so this is something that we’re looking into for the future.

Next, we have a bunch of updates from Mattel regarding the MOTUC and DC subs. There’s a lot to cover here–this appears to be one of those times when Mattel comes surprisingly clean with us. I’ll reply bit by bit rather than a long speech at the end.

First off is this post from the Mattycollector forums:

Hey He-Fans and She-Ravers,

With so much talk over the DC Sub (and if we have enough subscribers) I wanted to check in with all of you on the MOTUC sub.

First off, as expected we have well passed our min sub order to keep the line going. (MOTU fans are committed!) BUT, I do want to let you know that we are actually at our lowest sub sale yet. Which unless we get a huge bump in sales this week, this means Shadow Weaver will likely be the lowest produced figure in the whole line! Wow.

(more…)

The Rock as Roadblock (Roadrock?)

August 16, 2011 | Poe

I’m not that much of a G.I. Joe fan, but I respect it as one of the great 1980s toy properties. The first movie was terrible, but I’ve been watching the development of the second film with cautious optimism. Most fans dismissed it the second the director of the Justin Bieber movie was chosen, but that awoke some contrarian sense in me that suggested two wrongs just might make a right. More specifically, Jon M. Chu, as a novice director, might be more willing to respect the franchise’s history than try to create his own vision of the concept.

But I digress. When I found out the Rock would be in the G.I. Joe sequel  as Roadblock, my optimism went up a bit more. I’ve never been a wrestling fan, but I love the Rock–mostly on the strength of his performance in The Rundown (one of my favorite movies), but also his general personality. He’s fun to watch.* And man, is he psyched to be in G.I. Joe.

The above pic was posted on Johnson’s Twitter account, showing him in full Roadblock costume. I have absolutely no legitimate reason to be optimistic about this film, and yet…there is a precedent. Star Trek: The Motion Picture turned off Star Trek fans with its incredibly slow pace, awkward dialogue, odd characterization of the main cast, and the forced addition of new characters. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan kicked ass by going back to what made the original show great–action, suspense, great dialogue and character interaction, and a focus on the main characters. It respected the franchise.

I think G.I. Joe: Retaliation just might pull off the same trick. But…I’ve been wrong before.

For more on the Rock’s importance to the new film, check out Poe Power Pal GeneralsJoes‘s post, G.I. Joe: Retaliation influenced by “The Rock’s” positive impact.

*At one point there was a plan to make a buddy cop flick called Blowback starring the Rock and Ryan Reynolds. I’m sad it never got made. Very sad.