On Adora’s Sellout

January 16, 2010 | Poe

Regarding the Adora sellout: to clarify, I definitely think they were more, possibly a lot more, total Adoras than total Battle Armor He-Men. What I was suggesting in the comments to the Adora post was that the total number of Adoras available on Mattycollector yesterday might have been exceeded by the total available BA He-Man because the entire stock of BA He-Man was available, whereas a large portion of the Adoras were taken up by the subs.

I didn’t expect BA He-Man to sell out before Adora. Actually, I didn’t think about it at all, but if you’d asked me before yesterday I would have thought Adora just as likely as BA He-Man, perhaps more so due to the subs. BA He-Man is a variant, and plenty of people already have the regular He-Man, and these figures aren’t cheap–BA He-Man has all of that working against him. (And then there’s this–which I don’t agree with, but could represent the view of some casual fans.)

What gave me–and I think many others–pause is Adora selling out within half an hour. I don’t even expect that of Trap Jaw. Battle Cat yes, but partly because I suspect he was produced in a relatively low numbers so Mattel could hedge their bets with their first larger-scale item.

I’m perfectly willing to entertain the idea that Adora is just a really popular character. Rob of Topless Robot has said Adora alone makes the entire sub worth it to him, and he even ordered an extra one (I know because I was ordering it for him).

Happy Adora Day!

January 15, 2010 | Poe

Here’s the link to the all-in-one sale page.

I’ll admit it–Adora is the first MOTUC figure I’m pretty lukewarm about. I never watched She-Ra as a kid, so Adora is even less interesting to me than She-Ra. That said, I don’t regret having bought the subscription, and I certainly don’t begrudge She-Ra fans (like Rob of Topless Robot) their long-overdue Adora. And as a completionist on this line (so far), I’m buying her no matter what.

Fortunately, she’ll be followed next month by Battle Cat and Trap Jaw, who look to be the finest examples of MOTUC figure to date. And she also comes at the same time as Battle Armor He-Man. Oddly enough, I’m pretty excited about him. As my friends can tell you, I tend to loathe variations of characters; I just want the iconic version (Trenchcoat Hellboy, Batman minus any ridiculous armor or gear, the regular Ninja Turtles sans gimmicks or costumes, and so forth). But for whatever reason, some of He-Man’s alternate looks really appeal to me, and Battle Armor is one of them. I’ve also got my fingers crossed for an Ice Armor He-Man (on a side note, check out that link…apparently I’ve been saying I “loathe variations” for years).

But don’t forget–there’s also the reissue Beast Man and Movie Masters Harvey Dent. I’m tempted to get a new Beast Man, since my original has very loose knees, but given the odds of ending up with some other QC issue–like weak ankles, which are becoming the Achilles’ heel (HA!) of this line–I figure I’ll just stick with what I’ve got. Besides, Beast Man looks pretty good hunched over.

As for Mr. Dent, I’ll just wait for Two-Face. But for those of you who have anxiously awaited an Aaron Eckhart action figure, this is your time!

(Should I even mention the CARS exclusive? Does anyone here collect those?)

Diamond, Mattel, and the DCUC 11 Pricing Mix-up

January 14, 2010 | Poe

I’ve heard from several people that there appears to have been a pricing mix-up regarding Diamond’s order for DCUC 11, which is how most comic shops get their DCUC. So I checked into it.

It seems that due to a pricing error, all orders for DCUC wave 11 are going to be canceled and then re-offered at the new (higher) price. Each store that placed an order through Diamond will be contacted and offered the chance to renew their order at the higher price.

My first instinct upon hearing about this was to assume it had something to do with the price hike on DCUC, but it turns out the price DCUC 11 was solicited for was below wholesale cost of all previous waves even before the price increase. So this sounds like your basic clerical error (after all, the price hike isn’t forty percent). It’s not clear which side made the error–Diamond or Mattel–so let’s not get carried away with a round of Mattel-bashing.

MOTUC News Motherlode

January 9, 2010 | Poe

Perhaps to salve the disappointment of the SDCC exclusive not being revealed (and there are some out there theories regarding that figure springing up around the Web), Mattel dumped some serious surprises on us at the Gallery 1988 affair last night, including a look at the very first New Adventures figure in Masters of the Universe Classics: Optikk! (more…)

Bif Bang Pow to make Venture Bros. toys

January 8, 2010 | Poe

First off, yes I know this news is like, so totally yesterday so shut up and lemme alone.

Bif Bang Pow, makers of the Flash Gordon and Dexter action figures, has scored the license to The Venture Bros.

From the press release:

First to be released from the line is a series of 7-inch scale resin bobble heads targeted for spring 2010. Action figures are scheduled to hit the market in the summer of 2010. These fully articulated figures will include the series most popular and recognizable characters including Dr. Venture, The Monarch, Brock Samson, Hank & Dean Venture and more. Several exclusives are also in the works. More detailed information about the products will be made available in the coming weeks.

It’s about damned time, no?

Where are the God of War III figures?

January 7, 2010 | Poe

Back in 2007, NECA released a series of highly popular action figures based on the Playstation 2 hit game God of War. Now, with the PS3 more popular than ever (thanks to last year’s price cut–even I have one now) and the highly-anticipated God of War III due out in March, where the hell are the new action figures? Well, I have a theory about that… (more…)

More Mattel Moss Man madness

January 6, 2010 | Poe

Mattel updated their Facebook page again yesterday. Here are the highlights:

Mossy is already in production. If (and that is an ‘if”) we can effect a change it means some fans will get flocked ears, some no flock. And it will be random. Are you okay with that?

Ugh. Get ready for $100 no-flocked-ears Moss Men on eBay. Still, I have to say that in this instance, I am OK with it–basically because I don’t care enough about Moss Man for it to matter to me whether mine has flocked ears or not, so why deprive others if they really want it? (more…)

Meet MOTUC Moss Man

January 5, 2010 | Poe

On their Facebook page, Mattel has posted pics of the post-clusterflock Moss-Man:

He has much more flocking than I think any of us thought he would after Mattel first revealed the problem and solicited fan advice. I mean, as far as I’m concerned, that figure is fully flocked.

Thing is, he’s really more like Fur Man, am I right? But I guess there is moss that looks like that. As someone who doesn’t really have much invested in Moss Man as a character, I’m fine with this figure, but there seem to be some fans unhappy with this compromise and the amount of flocking, especially on the head(s). I love the monkey-head, though–and the wooden club. But what’s the deal with the (moss) man-purse? What’s in there? I can’t see from the angles of the photos and I’m too lazy to search for the prototype images.

Oh, the update also mentions this (emphasis mine):

Also, for those in the LA area, be sure to head over to Gallery 1988 this Friday night for the Art of MOTU show opening. Not only will this free event feature some of the hottest artists interpreting the world of MOTU, but we will be revealing one of our SDCC MOTUC items at the show! Full details for the show are in the news section on Mattycollector.com!

DCUC and MOTUC first looks

January 5, 2010 | Poe

Our apartment was flooded last week, which is make the updates pretty sporadic for a bit. I won’t be able to review Winston Zeddemore or DCUC Man-Bat until next week at the earliest, along with the Spongebob Squarepants figures I found on clearance at Target that no one ever even told me existed. Thanks, everyone. BTW, I still need most of them, so if you see any aside from Karate Spongebob or Sandy Cheeks, pick ’em up for me and I’ll happily reimburse you for your trouble.

Anyway, to give you something to yak about today, here are some Fwoosh first looks of DCUC 12 and Battle Armor He-Man, as well as a video review of Battle Cat by He-Man.org’s Pixel Dan.