On their Facebook page, Mattel has posted a three-part (so far) review of 2009 for the various Mattel collectors brands.
They’re all well worth a full read, and the MOTUC one in particular offers a refreshingly candid peek into the behind-the-scenes decisions regarding the line. But for discussion purposes, here are a few of the highlights from all three posts. (more…)
Every so often, Action Figure Times catches my attention with a preview of some desired figure. That Captain Collector sure has some good connections. He has the Web’s first look at a production Battle Cat. The toy looks great–and it certainly dwarfs the 200X Battle Cat (no pics with the original BC, sadly). I try to tone down the hyperbole on this site–which I like to think helps my credibility–but I think we can safely say MOTUC Battle Cat will be the toy equivalent of everlasting peace in the Middle East.
Note that the “sword holders” on either side of the front legs appear to be stirrups–which raises a question: why didn’t Captain Collector take a photo with He-Man on Battle Cat? Or any MOTUC figure, for that matter? We know he owns some.
AFT also has a good look at (part of) the new DCUC Darkseid and a few other figures. I think a lot of fans are going to be very happy with that Darkseid.
The Mego Retro-Action DC Super Heroes Green Arrow is now on sale at Mattycollector.com, along with the boxed set of DCUC Wave 11. I know there have to be some diehard Mego fans out there who are psyched for this guy…yes?
Poester Emerald has suggested that MOTUC Battle Cat may be smaller, in relation to He-Man, than the prototype. The basis for this is this brief appearance from Attack of the Show.
Thanks to He-Man.org member Tallstar for the video.
I’ll confess, I can’t really tell from this video either way, but it seems OK to me. Your thoughts?
Fwoosh has its 24th Custom-Con going on, and customizer Jeff Stephens of Boyd’s Custom Minimates has created a line of figures that I want with every part of my body, including my unmentionables. They’re MST3K Minimates, and they’re insanely awesome.
In the past, I’ve had trouble really getting on board the Minimate bandwagon–witness my flash-in-the-pan interest in Ghostbusters Minimates–but I would treasure these forever. I’d need a Crow, a Mike, a Bobo, a Pearl and a Brain Guy too, though.
Diamond Select, there’s no way the Best Brains license would run you much. Make these. Now. Or I’m coming to your house with a copy of Hobgoblins.
The daddy of Prince Adam and popular fast food mascot goes on sale at 12pm ET today, alongside the Goddess, a reissued Skeletor and a ton of other stuff, including:
Here’s a link to the all-in-one order page.
Why the flood of items in December? I dunno…maybe it’s for tax reasons or something. Incidentally, if you look to the sidebar you’ll notice I added a small at-a-glance Mattycollector calendar.
I’m definitely getting Randor, the Goddess, and Winston. I thought about the Skeletor reissue, but changed my mind when I found out that the “tighter grip” left hand is actually just the same hand with slightly more curled fingers–rather than the Zodac/Webstor hand, which is what I thought it would be. UPDATE: the word from Matty himself is that figure WILL have the Zodac/Webstor left hand. Which means I’ll be getting him.
Anyway, use this post as a discussion thread for all things Matty. The next Q&A should be up sometime later today.
Also: sign me up for a MOTUC Santa Claus.
Mattel has updated their Facebook page with photos of Trap Jaw and Wun-Dar in package–and we finally discover the secret of Wun-Dar’s bio.
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Wun-Dar will be mailed out automatically to all Club Members. (the subscription fee paid at sign up covers this figure). Club members will also recieve an exclusive map of Eternia which contains secrets of the Elders on the backside! These secrets can not be shared with anyone who is not a member! Anyone caught sharing them (or posting them online) will be cursed by the black magicians of the Dark Hemisphere forever! So guard these secrets with all your power!
Trap Jaw contains all the parts for Trap Jaw and Kronis. He includes an interchangable head and arm as well as three weapon attachments. His jaw opens and closes too!
You will automatically receive one Wun-Dar figure for each subscription you purchased. Subscribers will also receive a map of Eternia folded as a 10X10 square with Wun-Dar. (it folds out to 30 X 20)
My thoughts:
Trap Jaw looks great. I like the shade of blue they chose for him…seems a little more muted than Webstor’s, but it’s hard to tell. Do we know whether the claw is articulated?
I love the line “Wun-Dar became known as ‘the He-Man,’ battling in a savage way”–as opposed to the more civilized, no-one-ever-gets-hurt way of a century hence (I’m serious–who ever got hurt on the cartoon?).
But c’mon, no mention of the bread?
I wonder where they got the art for Wun-Dar? Is it new?
Anyway, February can’t get here soon enough.
UPDATE: I’ve bought a copy of ToyFare #150 and seen the pic, and my post below stands as-is, with one addition: the staff & head sculpt look great.
Also, in a Facebook comment, Mattel writes: “There are actually a few additional accessories that come with Evil Lyn, but we’re not ready to reveal them yet.”
The first photos of MOTUC Evil-lyn appear in this week’s ToyFare #150. Obviously I’m not going to post the pics here, and I encourage you to pick up the issue yourself if you’re interested (there’s also a reveal of two new DCUC two-packs, including a pouch-belt, black-bat-symbol Batman and a green-and-red Tim Drake).
[First, a caveat: I haven’t even seen the photos of Evil-lyn myself yet, and in terms of accessories I don’t know how complete ToyFare‘s information is.]
First off, the details: she’s yellow-skinned and her armor is colored like her original toy, not the purple of the 200X version. She comes with a full-length staff and a knife (presumably her 200X knife). However, there’s already a furor erupting over at He-Man.org over the fact the figure is apparently a straight repaint of Teela. (more…)
As every other toy blog posted way before me, Mattel has released images of Masters of the Universe Classics Battle Cat in package. (Click for a slightly larger image.)
Looks good, though as Mattel mentioned before in a Facebook post, it looks like the helmet tends to fall off during shipping. I can’t read the bio, but fortunately MegaGearMax of He-Man.org deciphered it:
A member of the Green Tiger Tribe, Cringer was saved from a ___________ attack by a young Prince Adam and afterwards became his devoted companion for life. He assisted Adam during his quest to unite both halves of the Power Sword of He and afterwards was enhanced by its power to become Battle Cat the fighting tiger of He-Man. Cringer is one of only a handful of allies who knows Adam’s secret and fights alongside the other Masters of the Universe, carrying He-Man into battle against the forces of evil.
No one can figure out what Cringer was saved from…I’m seeing “parek-mare,” but what the hell is that?
Anyway, Battle Cat looks fantastic (note the divots in the saddle for He-Man’s furry underwear). I only hope they’re producing enough of them, or there might be a lot of mad people come February.
Along with Eldor, one of my most-wanted Masters of the Universe toys that never made it past the prototype stage was Gygor, a yellow gorilla intended to be another beast-steed for He-Man (made from a re-purposed Big Jim toy, just like Battle Cat). While Roger Sweet described the creature in Mastering the Universe, I’d never seen a photo of it–until now: He-Man.org got their hands on some phototype shots.
I don’t know about you, but I would have loved this thing when I was a kid. Click the thumbnail for the full-size pics.
Mattel recently registered the Gygor trademark, which could mean we’ll be getting a Gygor down the line. While at one point, the figure was intended to be larger than He-Man and feature a saddle for him to ride on, I’m thinking a MOTUC Gygor could be a Beast Man repaint with some new tooling. Or, of course, it could just be another trademark feint by Mattel to keep us all guessing. Which would be very disappointing.
