Review > Battleground Teela (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

August 5, 2011 | Poe

I’ve made no secret of the fact that my favorite bit of Masters of the Universe fiction is the three-issue DC Comics miniseries from the early 1980s. I grew up on the Filmation cartoon, and it holds a special place in my heart; many of the early minicomics were great; the Mike Young Productions cartoon in 2003 had some great storylines and characterization. But the DC Comics miniseries is an epic that tosses together the sword and science of the world of Eternia with reckless abandon. True, its version of Zodac is a thinly-veiled Metron. But the series features many fun Kirby-esque touches, from epic energy battles to phantasmagorias to over-the-top, blood-and-thunder dialogue. It’s the way I like to think of Eternia–a world where every moment is epic.

Since the miniseries was created while the toy line was still in development, a few of the characters looked a little different than the toys, none moreso than Teela. In the DC miniseries, the Sorceress looked identical to the toy version of Teela.¹ I’m not sure where the model for the DC Teela came from, but she only dressed this way in the first issue. By the second issue, Mattel must have corrected DC, because she was wearing the toy’s white one-piece (though she kept the blonde hair). This led to both Teela and the Sorceress wearing the same outfit.

I’ll admit I was a bit surprised when a campaign sprung up on He-Man.org for “blonde bikini Teela.” I still wonder to what degree this was owing entirely to the fact that she was hotter than her more modestly-clothed counterpart…but for me, the appeal of this figure, beyond its more generally sword-and-sorcery look, is that it’s the first figure to be based on my favorite bit of MOTU media. It gives me hope that we may see a figure of the evil sorcerer Damon in the future.

Of course, the way they shoehorned this look into the bios makes no sense at all, but we’ll get to that in the appropriate bio discussion post. Despite her relatively obscure place in the MOTU mythos, the figure sold out quickly. Furthermore, Mattel seems to have recognized Battleground Teela may represent the MOTU equivalent of Slave Leia, as they had a model dressed as BG Teela at San Diego Comic Con this year. (Thanks to MegaGearMax for the reminder about that.) (more…)

Mattel Updates on the 2012 MOTUC Subscription

August 4, 2011 | Poe

I try not to spend too many posts regurgitating news you can find elsewhere, but at the same time, I know at least some of you are trusting me to provide you with any information relevant to your interests rather than doing the work yourself.

Also, this is exactly the sort of Mattel announcement that generates a lot of comments, so I’m going to post it.

He-Fans and She-Ravers,

With the 2012 Club Eternia sale in full swing and our SDCC reveals past us, I wanted to take a quick minute to clear up some questions and comments from the boards.

1: First off, yes, we are no longer going to be doing a second run of figures. This will start with Queen Marlena and move into Man-E-Faces and the other fall figures. We still have some older figures already slotted for line time and a second run that will be offered monthly(ish) in 2012. But starting with the July/August figures there will no longer be second runs of newer figures (at least for now, anything could potentially change down the road). So if you want Marlena, now is the time to buy!

Additionally, in 2012 we will be reducing our production of all figures above and beyond the subs. We will still have product on sale day for those who do not have a sub, but in general there will be a bit less. Your first, best and most reliable way of getting the figures you want is to sign up for the sub (and the only way to get Shadow Weaver–our first Filmation character!). This will be the case for all subscriptions, not just MOTUC.

(more…)

Forgotten Lore > Darkwing Duck Series 2

August 3, 2011 | Poe

Darkwing Duck was part of the Disney Afternoon,  a great block of syndicated cartoons that ran for most of the 1990s. Pretty much every show on the Disney Afternoon was awesome: DuckTales, Gargoyles, Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers, TaleSpin, and so on.

Darkwing Duck was a semi-spinoff of DuckTales–Darkwing himself never appeared on the show, but the premise was inspired by the DuckTales episodes “Double-O-Duck” and “The Masked Mallard.” But enough regurgitating information you can find on Wikipedia–the important thing here is Playmates produced a line of toys based on Darkwing Duck. I owned a Darkwing figure myself, now sadly lost.

The merchandising for the various Disney Afternoon shows was spotty at best (the only show I can remember getting a full, decent toy line is Gargoyles), so it’s not surprising that the Darkwing Duck line only made it to one wave. However, as you can see above, we have some pics of what the second series would have looked like, and it would have been painfully awesome. I would have given my right eye in a Faustian bargain for that Gizmoduck alone.

Bastards of the Universe > “Creative Impulse”

August 3, 2011 | googum


Well, everyone’s been talking about Mattel’s DC subscription this week, but I’ve been thinking about their Masters of the Universe Classic Create-A-Character contest. Although I don’t get a ton of MOTUC, I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with. But, then I also worry that everyone’s feelings will end up hurt because the one they wanted (as in, theirs) wasn’t made.

Of course, I’m totally getting out the crayons to try it. I just have to see if my idea is ludicrously unfeasible, or merely stupid.

Guest Review > Sci-Fi Revoltech Predator

August 2, 2011 | Fengschwing

I first saw Predator at the age of 13 in 1987. I was mildly indifferent to it at first–sure, it had Schwarzenegger in it, but even as a kid I knew a B-Movie when I saw one. Yeah, they’ll go into the jungle and eventually some cheesy half-assed man in a suit alien would jump out on them and that would be it.

Man was I wrong, even though I was right. The alien was anything but cheesy. I still can’t figure out how they managed the cloaking effect without CGI to this day. Even from the earliest glimpse of the Predator, when it performs surgery on itself in a tree, I knew I was going to love this creature. Of course, it went on to become a design classic, just like its stable mate the Alien. And similar to the xenomorph, the Predator started off as a tale for adults but ended up in the hands of kids. The 1990s saw Kenner’s line of Predator action figures (very, very few of which got as far as the UK), then McFarlane brought us a more grown-up toy before Takara shrunk him again for their AVP Microman line. Hot Toys gave us incredibly intricate 1/6th versions, and just lately NECA have released a wide range of Predators capitalising on all five of the creature’s film outings.

But now a new player is at the table: Japanese company Kaiydo have released a Classic Predator through their Sc-Fi Revoltech line. How does this figure fare up against his American cousin? Let’s take a look… (more…)

Toy Commercial Tuesday > Pre-Filmation Animated He-Man Commercial

August 2, 2011 | Poe

I’m guessing this is someone’s video of an old MOTU commercial that was being shown by Mattel at SDCC this year (for instance, note the swelling Star Wars music in the background). According to one of the commenters on Youtube, this video was actually made by Filmation to help sell the series to TV, but it’s clearly not in the same style as the actual Filmation cartoon was.

Lots of extra detail, real facial expressions, an Alfredo Alcala-looking Skeletor–am I alone in wishing the original series had looked more like this?