Odds ‘n Ends > Arthropod Edition

  • So, Voltron is back and Mattel has the toy rights. Thoughts, opinions, bitterly sarcastic comments regarding the availability and quality control of new toys?
  • Once again, ItsAllTrue.net has taken an idea I had and beat me to the punch. Check out their interview with Mel Birnkrant, inventor of the Outer Space Men. A must-read.
  • And while you’re there, check out their review of the awesome Revoltech Jack Skellington. I’m tempted, despite the price…my NECA Jacks are pretty fragile.
  • Any thoughts on the Lion-O staction by Icon Heroes?
  • Masters of the Universe will be inducted into the ToyFare Hall of Fame at WizardWorld Philadelphia this weekend.  So that’s cool. Also, Scott Neitlich is going to reveal a new MOTUC figure on Friday at the “Big Toy Industry” panel. It’s the September sub figure, and the odds-on favorites on the He-Man.org forums are Roboto and Chief Carnivus. Anyone want to make their guess?
  • On a side note, I had to reset the poll because I realized it was only allowing one choice per person, instead of three.

Light blue Superman appears on eBay

This news is a few days old, but I figured there’d be enough interested parties around here to make it worth posting.

What appears to be a semi-official light blue Superman has appeared on eBay. From my very cursory Web search, no one seems entirely sure where this figure comes from or whether it will eventually be released to stores (I think it will, but I’m not sure about the time frame). Some seem to think it’s a factory sample from the canceled Superman/Bizarro 2-pack. Has any more definitive news come to light?

One thing everyone on the forum I was reading could agree on was that they hated that head sculpt. I can see where they’re coming from…I think the DCSH Superman head was better.

Keldor & She-Ra previews up at AFI

To counteract the what-might-have-been blues from the Thundercats-Bandai announcement, enjoy some nice big pics of Keldor and She-Ra from AFI.

Keldor

She-Ra

Loving the cape on Keldor–and Skeletor–but man, is Keldor blue or what? Damn. I guess being alive is good for the complexion. Or rather, being dead is bad for it. Even if you’re blue.

These pics are also the first time I’ve gotten mildly excited about She-Ra. She came out pretty well, I think. But Keldor is definitely the one I’m most excited about. Now, will I be able to even get one? That remains to be seen…

Tytus Revisited

I came across some interesting tidbits regarding Tytus’s production, and given the controversy he seems to have inspired among collectors, I thought I’d post them here.

First, there’s this post by ToyGuru on the Mattycollector forums:

Tytus also has a 100% sculpt. But at that size (13″) if we did him fully articulated he would have been very expensive. It is not the sculpting that is expensive, we pay the same amount to “sculpt” a figure as we do a 12″ figure. It is the production that costs more when a figure is larger because a larger figure uses more plastic etc…!

Gygor is not as large as Tytus so we can afford (plastic wise) to give him more articulation. At the end of the day, Tytus was just too large to produce with full articulation and keep him under $100.00. We wanted Tytus (as a giant) to be as big as possible, which is why we used Roto casting which is less expensive to keep him at the $40.00 price point.

We do have big plans for both the Gygor (gorilla buck) and Tytus (giant buck) in the future. So both were an “investment” for Mattel for future figures. We are making a deliberate attempt to spread out the big beasts and giants so that each year will have a good selection. That is why you don’t see all the big name big beasts like Panthor, Megator, etc… all in year one. I imagine in time we will get to them! Our goal is to keep the line going for quite a few years and to do that we need to save big guns for each year.

To add ball joints we would need to make Tytus completely the same way we do a figure and this would drive his price to over $100.00. We used roto casting to keep the price down but when you use Roto Casting it prevents ball joints from being used.

Would fans be willing to buy a new Tytus for over $100.00 that would include all the articulation you see in a MOTUC figure? Let us know.

(more…)

3 3/4″ Toy Story 3 Twitch RARE HTF (sigh…)

I could be jumping the gun here. But if the confidence of this eBay seller and my cursory Web search constitute a preponderance of evidence (which they don’t), the one figure I’m really interested in from Toy Story 3, the decently-articulated 3 ¾” Twitch, is going to be very hard to find. This auction is the only evidence I’ve found that this figure even exists.

No doubt he’s packed one to every ten cases.

Prove me wrong, Mattel. (Please) prove me wrong.

Batman: Arkham Asylum figures possibly awesomest things ever made by DCD

Seriously. OK, so the articulation isn’t great, and Batman really should have black and not blue highlights (and if you don’t think DC Direct will be selling that repaint at some point, have I got a bridge for you). And of course, DCD’s overly-cautious nature has them striking when the iron is red-hot, a good fourteen months after the game’s debut and months or perhaps years before the sequel hits.

But that doesn’t make these figures any less supremely awesome. I’m already thinking this entire set may be worth a pre-order. Thoughts?

Jazwares put their A-team on, uh, the A-Team

Jazwares announced their A-Team movie toys the other day, and the 3¾” line looks pretty good. I’ll say this–their product looks a lot better than what Playmates did for Terminator and Star Trek last year. If the new A-Team‘s a success, Jazwares may just have a hit on their hands.

Of course, I think the question on all our minds is: is there any chance of a vintage A-Team line as well?

More pics at TNI.