Mattel unveils Panthor, King Hiss, & DCUC17

December 23, 2010 | Poe

I’m officially on vacation, so posts are going to be a bit sporadic over the next couple of weeks. For those of you who don’t bother with other websites for news, though, I thought I’d better post some of the stuff Mattel has been unveiling on their Facebook page recently.

Pics after the jump. Click any of the pics for a larger version. (more…)

Joe Amaro makes more stuff we all wish we could buy

December 20, 2010 | Poe

Joe Amaro is a customizer who enjoys making things we all wish we could actually own ourselves…his latest creation is Skeletor’s Throne of Bones, MOTUC-style. Click here for more pics to hate him for.

Oh, and Mattel? MAKE THIS. MAKE IT MAKE IT MAKE IT.

Happy Buzz-Off Day!

December 15, 2010 | Poe

I have to admit that Buzz-Off has been flying completely under my radar. I’ve barely thought about him what with everything else that’s been going on lately.  Still, he looks pretty neat, and goofy name aside, he was always one of my favorite MOTU figures. This is definitely a case where the 200X figure is superior (cue lamenting DMW comment), but I’m still looking forward to the MOTUC version. (more…)

Mattel needs a new editor, I think

December 15, 2010 | Poe

Kudos to Infinite Hollywood for pointing out Mattel’s bizarre mistakes on their newsletter email that went out yesterday.

First off, that’s the wrong JLU Darkseid–it’s an old one, not the one actually on sale today.

Second, that’s the DCUC BAF Kalibak, not the JLU one.

But the real travesty is the Superman. That isn’t the 12″ Christopher Reeves Superman–it’s the 4″ Infinite Heroes Superman!

What a comedy of errors. How could this even happen? Pics of all these toys are on Mattycollector.com!

Anyone with even a passing familiarity with these brands would have gotten this right, so I really have to wonder who was assigned to create this thing.

Outer Space Men: Galactic Holiday Edition on sale TONIGHT

December 14, 2010 | Poe

I haven’t been covering all the awesome stuff coming out from the Four Horsemen recently, for two reasons: 1.) there’s only so much time in the day, and 2.) they’ve been doing a damned good job covering it themselves. If you follow their new blog at FourHorsemen.biz, you’ll get all the 4H-related info you need.

That said, I thought it prudent to mention the limited edition Galactic Holiday Outer Space Men will go on sale tonight at 9pm ET at StoreHorsemen.com. Featuring vac-metallized ABS accessories, these figures are expected to go fast, to grab ’em if you want ’em!

More info after the jump. (more…)

Mattel posts Sy-Klone pics

December 13, 2010 | Poe

Mattel has officially posted pics of Sy-Klone.

As you can see, he comes with the 200X-style ring, but it’s both removable and sized so that it can be used as a weapon. Interesting.

EDIT: Forget everything I wrote below. Thomas B. below is right, the ring can be pivoted so it surrounds him at the hips like a hula-hoop, which is arguably cooler than it being up over his shoulders. Shame on me for not noticing and doubting the Horsemen. That said, Mattel really should have taken a pic showing that. –PG

But the ring on the 200X figure could be raised up and brought down over his shoulders, so that when he spun, the ring spun in a circle around him. It was a nice effect.

Here, the ring can only attach to his lower back and stick up vertically over his shoulders. Seems a bit pointless. I would have designed a second clasp at the top of the “backpack,” so that the ring could be brought down over his shoulders–though I suspect this would have caused the same problem as the 200X figure, namely, that the clasp wouldn’t have been quite high enough and the ring would hit the shoulders, so it juts out at a slight angle rather than being parallel to the ground. Still, you could either sculpt the clasp a bit higher than the top of the backpack–or have it slide out from the backpack–to solve that problem.

This is a very rare case where I think the Four Horsemen missed a design opportunity. That said, I’ve learned to give them the benefit of the doubt, so it’s quite possible they recommended something like that and Mattel shot it down for some reason.