Odds ‘n Ends > The Manta Raider; Thundercats Returns

March 6, 2012 | Poe

  • Joe Amaro has posted an incredibly cool custom MOTUC toy, the “Manta Raider,” based on an art piece by the incredible Rudy Obrero, who did much of the vintage MOTU art as well as the recent Wind Raider box. Let’s all “thank” Joe for continually making and showing off awesome MOTUC stuff we’ll never own.
  • Although if Mattel had any brains, they’d include this Manta Raider with one of the 30th Anniversary figures.
  • Does anyone else wish this year’s sub pack-in had been a poster of the Wind Raider box art instead of the Preternia map?
  • It looks like Thundercats will be back sooner than anyone expected – namely, March 24, when the second season begins. Hooray!
  • BigBadToyStore now has the 2012 Ninja Turtles and Hobbit stuff for preorder.
  • I’ve been upping the number of guest reviews lately. As of right now I can’t really remunerate anyone for them (aside from plugs and publicity), but if you’re interested in writing a guest review of anything (but particularly of the new Marvel Legends 6″ stuff) shoot me an email.

Hasbro’s Statement on the Fun Publications Credit Card Incident

March 6, 2012 | Poe

Not being a G.I. Joe collector, I’ve only been following this issue from a distance, but it seems worthy of mentioning. Fun Publications, who appear to be Hasbro’s equivalent to Digital River, is the company who handles the G.I. Joe and Transformers collectors’ clubs. Club members have been hit by credit card fraud related to security flaws in FP’s system (which were noticed by collectors years ago).

Hasbro released their official statement on the matter yesterday. (more…)

MOTUC Bio Discussion #50 > Megator

March 6, 2012 | Poe

Inspired by He-Man.org’s Roast Gooble Dinner podcast, welcome to PGPoA’s latest MOTUC Bio Discussion!

Megator

Real Name: Moleb the Demolisher

An Eternian giant in service to Hordak, Megator led Hordak’s troops in battle during the Great Wars. He was recruited to help booster the Horde’s ranks after Tytus and several other giants from the Mountains of Perpetua allied themselves with King Grayskull. Megator was killed during the First Ultimate Battleground, caught in the iron jaws of Central Tower when the Three Towers were enchanted to sink into Sub-Ternia. His remains were discovered millennia later by King Hssss who magically reanimated him into a mindless zombie. He served King Hssss and fought against Hordak and the Masters of the Universe in the Second Ultimate Battleground – once again dying on the battlefield.

Not a whole lot to comment on here. We don’t really get a lot of back story to Megator, other than he was an “Eternian giant in service to Hordak.” The story of his reanimation explains the extra zombie head that came with the Megator toy, and allows Megator to exist in the “current” time period of He-Man.

I would have liked more on Megator’s origin, and perhaps his powers or abilities (if he has any other than “giant-strength”), but apparently it was more important to tell the MOTUC story.

I find it interesting when they give characters whose names are already fairly normal-sounding a “real name.” It’s not like he had a codename, like Buzz-Off or Trap Jaw. “Megator” doesn’t mean anything. And “Moleb the Demolisher” sounds like a wrestler with some sort of Old Testament gimmick.

Review > Hurricane Hordak (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

March 6, 2012 | Poe

My childhood obsession with He-Man was relatively brief–maybe most of 1984, and part of 1985. After that, it became all-Transformers all the time until maybe 1987 or so. So a figure like the vintage Hurricane Hordak immediately had two strikes against it: it came out after my interest in He-Man was long gone (1986), and it was a guise; if I owned a figure, it was almost always the iconic standard version.*

I know I’ve written this a few times before, but I really think that without the Club Eternia subscription, Hurricane Hordak might have been the first figure who really tested my completist bent on this line. While his “action feature” is neat, he’s just not that exciting an addition to the line. (more…)

Figure It Out #6

March 5, 2012 | Poe

Click for a larger version

Guess what toy this is a part of!

Guesses due to poe@poeghostal.com by 12 noon ET on Friday. Please put “Figure It Out” in your subject line. Winner will be chosen from among correct guesses and will receive a Poe Prize. Good luck!

Guest Review > Star Sisters (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

March 5, 2012 | Doc Thomas

This is a guest review. Opinions expressed in this review (toy-related or otherwise) do not necessarily reflect the views of Poe Ghostal.

Doing these reviews for Poe lead me sit down and actually watch the She-Ra: Princess of Power cartoon, something I’ve never done before outside of minor glimpses as a kid. I loved the Filmation He-Man as a child, and love it now because it’s totally stupid, but I never really gave She-Ra the time of day. And you know what? She-Ra is actually pretty good. The Horde represent more of a threat to Etheria than Skeletor ever did, and the heroic characters don’t just defend the world’s inhabitants from the Horde but teach them to rise up and fight for themselves.

Adora is an interesting, powerful, independent character who is handled well and isn’t dependant on a man – an excellent role model for young girls. Adora/She-Ra is the kind of character we could add to that very short list about of strong, interesting, non-misogynstic female protagonists. Even Bow, despite occasionally falling into a neat subversion of the “damsel in distress” role Teela took in He-Man, is well-executed. He’s not threatened by the powerful women around him; he’s a real man.

So basically, I want to make clear I have no anti-She-Ra slant, no misogynistic female-character-toy hatred, no anti-girl’s-toys sentiment – and despite all that, I still can’t bring myself to like these figures. (more…)

Figure It Out #5 – Guesses & Winner

March 5, 2012 | Poe

Click photo for larger version

Last week’s contest was probably the first one to actually get a few incorrect guesses, though they all had a common theme.

Here’s one reader:

I had a flashback in my brain as soon as I saw this pic!  I’m sure it’s the  Street Shark figure Jawsome. I went and found this info  “Street Sharks” is about crime-fighting half-man/half-sharks . It was produced by DIC Entertainmentand aired from 1994 to 1995, originally as a part of the Amazin’ Adventures lineup. How’s that work for ya?

A good guess, but not quite. But this reader has company. Another guess:

Is the figure in the picture a Street Sharks Night Fighters Stingshot Streex figure?

Keep up the jawsome work!

Another:

Is it a Moby Lick Street Sharks?

As you may have guessed by now, it is not a Street Sharks figure.

Four Poesters got it correct. The winner, chosen at random, was Poester and Power Pal Ben Leach: (more…)

A Question for Collectors: Thoughts on Reviews of Free Toy Samples?

March 2, 2012 | Poe

I’m working on an article about the practice of reviewing free toy samples provided by toy companies. I’ve got a good number of quotes from reviewers and even one from a toy company employee, but what the article needs is some thoughts from the perspective of the review readers (or viewers, in the case of video reviews).

So if you’d like to participate, please send an email to poe@poeghostal.com with answers to the following questions:

1.) As a consumer, does whether or not a reviewer got a toy for free affect how seriously you take the review, or how much weight you give to its opinions?

2.) If you do tend to view free sample reviews more skeptically, in what way are you skeptical and why?

3.) Do you think there’s any difference between free sample reviewing in the toy industry and, say, IGN reviewing a videogame, CNET reviewing a new smartphone, or Rolling Stone reviewing a new CD?

4.) Ultimately, do you think there’s any problem with reviewing free samples of toys?

I can’t guarantee I’ll quote everyone who emails me, but I’ll definitely use some of them. I’m really curious to know your thoughts.