February 2012 – Page 4 – Poe Ghostal's Points of Articulation

Poe, in Meejit Form

February 16, 2012 | Poe

Artist and talented Poester Happymonkeyshoe has created this awesome Poe “meejit.” What’s a meejit, you ask? I asked too. Here’s what HMS said:

It’s just what I call my style and collection. Basically it’s chibi, but I don’t think it’s cute enough to be called that so I named them meejitz, just a play on the word midget.

To see more meejitz and other art by HMS, visit his DeviantArt page.

Now I just need someone to sculpt this into toy form…

Pic of the Day > Gamorrean Guard by speedbreaker92

February 16, 2012 | Poe

Odds ‘n Ends > Toy Fair Items of Interest & More

February 15, 2012 | Poe

A few other things that caught my eye at Toy Fair:
Mezco’s stylized Universal Monsters figures. OAFE reviewer and occasional PGPoA contributor Rustin Parr could not possible be more excited for these–he’s planning to get two of each. I’m in for the Gillman, of course, as he’s my favorite UM. They’re due out around September (according to at least one site). Pics at Battlegrip.
Jay Cochran of TNI seems concerned about the future of Bandai’s ThunderCats toys; there was nothing new at Toy Fair this year, and the staff wouldn’t comment on its future. The cartoon show has been a moderate success and reportedly renewed for a second season, and from my own observation the toys seem to sell decently, so I’m a bit surprised by this.
There will be Play Arts Kai Mass Effect figures, starting with Shepard, Ashley and Garrus. Garrus is great, but Shepard is less exciting since everyone creates their own character, and Ashley? Why no Miranda? Miranda was way more interesting. And–ahem–hotter, for a CGI character anyway. BBTS has these up for preorder.
Of course there’s also PAK’s upcoming Arkham Asylum figures. I note that Phil Reed of Battlegrip made sure to get an upskirt of Harley Quinn (prediction: that will be my most-clicked link today. You’re welcome, Phil!).
I have to admit to being kind of excited by Mezco’s Mars Attacks figure. I just hope it has decent articulation. It appears to have hinged elbows and knees, but the real question is whether the hips/thighs are ball joints. I’m guessing not the thighs at least, since the feet don’t appear to be articulated.
TNI has more pics of the classic Turtles, including the packaging, which is wonderfully nostalgic. They’re due in stores in August at about $15 apiece, so it’ll cost you $60 to put together your Fab Four.
In non-Toy Fair news, Poester Chris Pearce sent me a note regarding his blog Teachable Moments, which has been running a series of posts called Thrift Store Finds. He’s reviewed a number of vintage MOTU items recently such as children’s books, coloring books and magazines, all of which you can check out using this link.
PGPoA art director Mecha-Shiva pointed me to this neat YouTube video of a self-proclaimed “Greatest Toy in the Universe.” It’s created by a UK company called Wow Stuff, and it looks rather like the vintage MOTU toy Spydor. I dislike radio-controlled toys, but I’ll admit that thing is pretty neat.
Finally, I just want to thank JediCreeper again for helping out with the Toy Fair coverage this year. Maybe we can get him a real press pass next year…

Happy Sorce–er, Shadow Weav–no, Fearless Phot…Voltro…uh, Fisto Day?

February 15, 2012 | Poe

Hell of a sale today…along with all the new MOTUC stuff, there’s also Red Lion & Lance, a re-release of the awesome Blazing Sword Voltron SDCC exclusive (which I really need to review one of these days), plus a bunch of other reissues and re-releases.

The sale is at 12pm ET as usual–here’s the all-in-one page.

Mattel ran into delays again:

Club Eternia Members, we’ve just confirmed a small portion of our shipment of Shadow Weaver and Fisto is running a little behind. Most Club Eternia orders will start shipping on Monday 2/13 as planned, but there will be some orders that will ship around 2/17. All other products will ship as usual, including Voltron Red Lion/Lance and the Essential items.

On January 19, 2012, Scott Neitlich wrote: “We also changed our policy so that we will not sell a figure until it is 100% in stock.” Noted without comment.

I haven’t been charged for my 30th Anniversary sub yet, and evidently neither has anyone else. I’m not going to complain about MOTUC or Mattel, but man do I hate Digital River.

New list at Topless Robot – “10 Extremely Inappropriately Named Toys”

February 15, 2012 | Poe

I’ve got yet another list up at TR. This one was really enjoyable to write, as it’s one of the funnier ones I’ve done:

10 Extremely Inappropriately Named Toys

Pic of the Day > He-Man: Fisto by jimmy j, on Flickr

February 15, 2012 | Poe

Figure It Out #3

February 14, 2012 | Poe

Click for larger version

We’re running a little late this week, so guesses are due to poe@poeghostal.com by Friday (instead of Thursday) at noon Eastern time. Please put “Figure It Out” in the subject line of your email.

Toy Fair 2012 Roundup

February 14, 2012 | JediCreeper

Hey Toy Fans! Nate here, in some circles, I’m better known as JediCreeper, on Twitter I’m JediN8 and to a tiny number of you, I’m the weird guy who won’t shut up on the Average Intelligence Podcast. I had the good fortune of attending the 2012 Toy Fair and Poe was kind enough to send me to both the Hasbro and Mattel fan appreciation events, to cover them for him. It is there I learned that even a native New Yorker is not nearly as pushy and shove-y as geeks with new toys. Here are some of my thoughts on the stuff I got to see.

Poe’s note: you can check out a gallery of Nate’s pics from TF2012 here.

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Odds ‘n Ends > MOTUC Toy Fair News Edition

February 14, 2012 | Poe

The Four Horsemen tweeted the following regarding Frosta’s face: “Please spread the word. Paint job was a quickie so we could show her at Toy Fair. Tweaks are being made DDR.” I don’t know what DDR is…down da road?
To establish just how much I wanted a MOTUC Spikor, back in 2008 I was the one who started the official thread for him on He-Man.org. Four years later I finally get him. Note my concern for QC issues–and this was before we even got He-Man or Beast Man!
For the record, it has not yet been confirmed what figure(s) will come with the MOTUC-ized Keldor swords and Man-At-Arms Millennium-style arm cannon. There was speculation one or both would come with Snake Man-At-Arms, but Scott Neitlich shot that down.
But speaking of weapons, there will apparently be a third Weapons Pack in the fall. It’s possible the Keldor swords/arm cannon will be included in that (along with Draego-Man’s shield), though we’ve never seen original sculpts in a weapons pack before. If those three items were included, would certainly make for a bestselling pack.
The Wind Raider will return sometime around SDCC. I guess the hope is they sell well enough to convince management to greenlight something like the Battle Ram. Two thing on that: 1.) Fans will already be spending money on the SDCC exclusives, so, like last year’s Christmas release, people will be low on money when this expensive item comes out. Why not re-release during a month where, I don’t know, hardly anything is coming out–like mid-August, maybe?