February 2012 – Page 6 – Poe Ghostal's Points of Articulation

Guest Review > ThreeA 2000 AD A.B.C. Warriors Mongrol

February 9, 2012 | Fengschwing

Pretty much every team of heroes has one: the big guy whose chief role is to lift stuff, smash things and hit people. The Avengers had the Hulk, the Fantastic Four has the Thing and the A.B.C. Warriors have Mongrolâ€¦

In the late 20th century a fascist uprising in the Volgograd area of Russia turns to a full blown coup and the Volgan Republic of Asia is born. Soon the Volgans begin a rapid invasion of the rest of Western Europe, including the British Isles, igniting a third world war.

The United States retaliates but quickly realises that 21st century combat requires a new kind of soldier to deal with the atomic, bacteriological and chemical threats on the future battlefield. The A.B.C. Warriors were born. (more…)

Odds ‘n Ends > Futuretro, Toy Fair, Matty Subs, Snout Spout/Stay Puft QC Problems, & a Plastic Granamyr

February 9, 2012 | Poe

Just a heads-up–for a variety of reasons, I won’t be attending Toy Fair next week like I did last year. I will, however, be offering my usual armchair coverage, and I will have someone representing PGPoA–JediN8–who will be taking photos and tweeting from the Mattel and Hasbro collector events, as well as the Fair itself.
I also won’t be able to attend the Four Horsemen’s now-annual show, this one called Toypocalypse II: Futuretro, on Friday night at Toy Tokyo in NYC. It’s looking to be quite an event, though. In addition to the Horsemen and Outer Space Men creator Mel Birnkrant, there are three visiting artists: Sucklord, who may already be familiar to many of you; Abdi Farah, who won the first season of Bravo’s “Work of Art: The Next Great Artist,” and Kymia Nawabi, the winner of the same show’s second season. As I understand it, all of them will be presenting their own Outer Space Men customs. Speaking of OSM, they will also have a set of four OSM with new paint jobs designed by OSM creator Mel Birnkrant himself, signed by Mr. Birnkrant and the Horsemen, as well as a print of the above painting by the superb Nathan Baertsch (you can get the whole shebang–figures and print–for $125). It looks like it’s going to be an awesome time, and I’m hatefully envious of everyone who gets to go.
Speaking of Toy Fair, Paul Nomad of the blog Idle Hands is doing his usual thing where he gets all the pre-Toy Fair scoops through whatever mysterious black magic (or maybe just blackmail?) he employs. There’s lot of interesting stuff there, so be sure to check it out.
Mattycollector.com has added the long-awaited subscription manager to their website, though be aware that it won’t really work yet, since–as was explained months ago–February subs can’t be combined. Be aware that (as far as I can tell) you actually shouldn’t have to take any action to combine your subs. That should happen automatically. However, if you want them separate, you have to adjust that in the settings. You can also update your credit card info for each subscription from this new section.
It seems that Snout Spout‘s foam trunk may have a tendency to break or tear. Of course this is unsurprising, and again, I don’t get why Mattel couldn’t just use the hard rubber from the vintage figure of twenty-five years ago.
In addition, it sounds like the foam giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Men are turning yellow. Mattel’s response was “Yes, totally aware of this issue and we have the CPI team looking into it. We hope to have an update soon.” This, after they just answered in December that “[a]ll of our figures, no matter what the material, go through extensive internal simulated aging and humidity testing. If product does not pass, we do not ship it.” Nonetheless, I give credit to Mattel for admitting to the problem, though I have no idea what they can do about it. Unless there’s a really easy fix for it, the only thing they could do would be to offer a refund, and I have a hard time seeing that happening.
Anyway, all of this QC/foam stuff led fans to create a thread on He-Man.org pleading for Granamyr to be made of plastic and not foam, to which Scott Neitlich replied that Granamyr would not be made of foam and would be made from the same plastic as Tytus and Megator. So, some good news there.
He-Man.org has posted the first part of an interesting interview with Nathan Bitner, the boy who invented this month’s MOTUC 30th Anniversary figure, Fearless Photog.

Pic of the Day > Star Wars Death Star Playset E by speedbreaker9

February 9, 2012 | Poe

Pic of the Day > Truckin’ by immaculatewang

February 8, 2012 | Poe

Toy Aisle Trolls > Total Bummer

February 7, 2012 | Poe

Toy Aisle Trolls is a feature highlighting acts of vandalism to in-store toy items. If you find a ruined package, a stolen figure, a swapped-out figure, or any other such acts, take a photo (cell phone photos are fine if they’re not blurry) and email them to poe@poeghostal.com.

Submitted by: J T

J T writes: “Came across this in a zellers in Toronto. At first I thought it was a new Black Manta…then I realized it was something else I can’t identify.”

Karmic Payback: May the sun and the spring breeze warm you and caress you like an apple–as you hang from a tree.

Pic of the Day > spaceman by Johnson Cameraface

February 7, 2012 | Poe

More Little Godzilla Pics

February 6, 2012 | Poe

Bluefin Tamashii Nations USA updated their Facebook page with more pics of Little Godzilla from the Space Godzilla effects pack.

The crystals are pretty lame, but the figure is fairly large and articulated. It’s also ridiculously cute, but I’ll console myself and rationalize my purchase by thinking that my future child will like it. The crystals are rather lame, though.

Figure It Out #2

February 6, 2012 | Poe

Name the toy and toy line it comes from (if any).

Guesses due to poe@poeghostal.com by Thursday at noon. I’ll pick one winner for a Poe Prize at random from the correct submissions.

Metlife’s “Everyone” Commercial feat. He-Man & Voltron

February 6, 2012 | Poe

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1RCplpVaQ0&w=500&h=284]

While I’d rather forget everything about yesterday’s game, I’d be remiss if I didn’t post this link to Metlife’s “Everyone” commercial, which features guest appearances by He-Man, Battle Cat and Voltron, among others.

Is everyone in this commercial owned by Warner Bros.?