Gygor – 100% new tooling confirmed

February 25, 2010 | Poe

Though I’d heard Gygor was completely new tooling and not a DCUC Gorilla Grodd re-use, I wasn’t sure and wanted to get it straight from the (Four) Horse(men)’s mouth. So I did.

Gy-Gor is indeed 100% new tooling. He’s much larger than Grodd, so none of Grodd’s tooled parts could be used to create him.

So there you have it. As I suspected, the similarities between Grodd and Gygor–and Cy-Gor II, for that matter–are simply due to stylistic similarities in the way the Horsemen sculpt gorillas.

The question is, did Shane Dittsworth–the Fifth Horseman–sculpt Gygor’s crotch?

Life-sized Land Shark makes us afraid to go back on the highway

February 23, 2010 | Poe

ToyFare contributor, Poester and vintage toys superfan Ben Leach pointed me to this post at Lounge Grayskull, featuring photos of a full-size, real-life Land Shark from Masters of the Universe, which is being restored to unholy life by Unique Movie Cars Las Vegas.

Says the poster:

The reason I am posting this is because I own and I am restoring a full size Landshark.I have check the movie they made in the 80’s and in was not in it.Does anybody know why mattel built this or what it was use for.I have posted a pic so everyone can see it. Any help would be great thanks…. YES THE MOUTH MOVES WHILE YOU ARE DRIVING

The fact that the mouth moves while driving is easily the most insanely awesome thing ever to be featured on a car, and yes, that includes the soothing voice of William Daniels. The most insanely pimped-out hydraulics-propelled gangsta car imaginable holds nothing on a giant purple chomping shark-car.

But there’s still a mystery here–when was this built, and why? Anyone know? UMC seems pretty sure Mattel commissioned it.

Odds ‘n Ends > Super G Edition

February 22, 2010 | Poe

  • It shows how out of touch I am with the DCUC scene that I completely missed the fact that the Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle on display at Toy Fair had double-jointed elbows and knees. A very interesting development–has Mattel said whether this signals a new direction for the line, or if this is just something they’ll do occasionally for some figures? (I’d guess the latter, knowing Mattel.) More importantly, what do you think of it? I always thought the double-jointed elbows and knees tended to make many Marvel Legends figures seem a bit too gangling (unless they were supposed to be like that, i.e. Spider-man). Shocking from a pro-articulation guy like myself, I know.
  • My Trap Jaw should arrive today, perhaps by the time I finish typing this post. Dr. Mrs. Ghostal and I will also find out just how much of our tax refund is going to repairing the car this afternoon as well. It amazes me how often tax refunds and emergency expenses coincide. It’s like your car, house, kids etc. just know you’re going to have windfall. I assume the same goes for bonuses, though I’ve never worked at a job that awards them. Anyway, long story short, I’ll get the Trap Jaw review up this week. Probably.
  • If anyone can identify the gun in the chair in the new Odds ‘n Ends pic, I’d really appreciate it. If it helps, it attaches into this weird silver backpack-thing via some cords.
  • Over at Infinite Hollywood, Newton Gimmick has been doing retro reviews of Mezco’s Popeye figures. I own the first wave’s Popeye and Bluto, and they’re great figures.
  • Dr. Mrs. Ghostal and I saw Avatar finally (in 3D at an Imax theater). I was underwhelmed, and DMG was very much not a fan. I liked the overall message of the film, though. But frankly I’m glad I didn’t love it, because I didn’t want to have to buy the toys.
  • As I surmised, it looks like DC Unlimited is making God of War III figures, and as I suspected might happen, they’re going to have extremely limited articulation, a la DC’s World of Warcraft figures. And of course, as with DCD’s Mass Effect 2 figures, they’ll be striking when the iron has been doused with liquid nitrogen and shattered with a soggy breadstick. (On a side note, I no longer care about God of War III or whether it gets figures, because by the end of the second game I’d realized it was just not my cup of tea.)
  • On the other hand, I would happily buy a figure of Nathan Drake from Uncharted if it was as articulated as, say, Nathan “Rad” Spencer. Which it wouldn’t be, since DC Unlimited would be the manufacturer.
  • You probably all saw this, but Mattel issued a pretty extensive semi-mea-culpa on their Facebook page. If you’re interested, you can read the entire note as well as my response on the PGPoA forums.

Custom MOTUC Castle Grayskull update

February 18, 2010 | Poe

Last year I posted some images of Joe Amaro’s awesome MOTUC-scale Castle Grayskull, which will forever remain unequestionably more awesome than anything Mattel would ever spend the money to make.

Joe, who now handles product development for Jazwares and helped create the great 3″ Sonic figures, sent me an email to show an updated image of the castle based on the original box art, created with help from super He-Fan (and sometimes Poester) Baena. Check it out (click for desktop-size version):

Here’s the original box art for comparison (via Grayskull Museum):

Questions:

  • So, I guess Skeletor achieved his lifelong dream of capturing Castle Grayskull?
  • And Beast Man achieved his lifelong dream of nutting up, leaving his abusive relationship with Skullhead and joining up with the good guys?

Evil Tyrant Lizard King

February 18, 2010 | Poe

Good lord.

I just had a thought.

We’re already getting Tytus and Gygor, and Panthor and Megator are sure bets. Tytus’s bio mentions dinosaurs with techno parts. Does that mean we could get…Tyrantisaurus?!

My nerdgasm for such a thing would be visible from space. I had the original Tyrantisaurus as a kid, and it was one of my favorite toys (though I did eventually repaint him into Devil Dinosaur). I’d be in no matter what he cost…as long as he’s not a repaint of this guy:

Happy Trap Jaw Day!

February 16, 2010 | Poe

It’s finally here! The big day fans have been waiting for since Trap Jaw and Battle Cat were first announced. Remember, there’s still just an hour and fifty-nine minutes to participate in my Get the Sell Out contest.

Will today be another clusterflock, or run as smooth as silk? Your guess is as good as mine.

Clusterflock II: Crisis Averted (i.e., no fuzzy Moss Man ears!)

February 10, 2010 | Poe

From Mattel:

MOTU Fans,

You overwhelmingly asked for the ears of Moss Man to be unflocked and we listened… we stopped production of the flocked ear version, made a change, and Moss Man™ will forevermore have unflocked ears. Now, all 2010 Club Eternia™ subscribers will automatically get the version with unflocked ears as their March figure!

But because we produced a small quantity of flocked ears before making what’s called a “running change,” we will sell both the flocked-ear and unflocked-ear versions as separate items on March 15th. That means there will be two separate product pages, one with flocked ears and one with unflocked ears, so you’ll need to be careful that you order the one you want. Again, there’s just a small quantity of the flocked-ear version available, and we’re expecting them to go quickly.

Other than the flocking, the figures are identical. Both versions will have an evergreen fresh scent and an alternative 2002-inspired head designed by the Four Horsemen. Your chance at both happens right here at MattyCollector.com at 12:00 noon Eastern/9:00 am Pacific!

—Matty

I’m sure there will be those who complain–for some reason–but I have to admit, this is pretty cool of Mattel.