July 26, 2011 | Poe
- Saw Captain America with Dr. Mrs. Ghostal and Red Kryptonite this past weekend. I enjoyed it–more than Thor, and probably more than any Marvel flick since X-Men 2. We knew Joe Johnston could direct period pieces, and this was sort of a sideways sequel to The Rocketeer anyway. Chris Evans was great, Tommy Lee Jones did a great job being Tommy Lee Jones, and the Red Skull was Red Hulk to Jim Carrey’s The Mask. (I did find the Red Skull make-up a bit too cartoony, but I realize that–as well as the German-accented English among the foreign bad guys–was done to make the film accessible to kids, and that’s fine.) Did I think it was better than Batman Begins or The Dark Knight? No, but it was unquestionably more fun than those movies, and a nice set-up for The Avengers.
- Speaking of Nick Fury & the Avengers, this spoof is cute. Love the slow clap.
- As you may know, Mattel is bringing the DC Retro Action line to a close soon. Some fans have a petition up to save it. I wish ’em luck!
- I received an email from a company called Geek Design, who create high-end furniture for storing and displaying collectibles.
- Looks like I’ll be attending NYCC this year. I keep hoping more of SDCC’s hype will spill over into NYCC as SDCC becomes more crowded; maybe that will start this year, with the show moving back to October. The Tuesday after the show, incidentally, is the release date for Batman: Arkham City, the Arkham City trade paperback, and the Blu-Ray of Batman: Year One. Busy day for Bats.
- In case you missed it, there were a couple small MOTUC news bits out of SDCC. First off, the Wind Raider will have real box art, painted by the same artist who did it thirty years ago.
- Also, here are all the new bios that were revealed. Battleground Evil-Lyn’s is a doozy; Demo-Man’s disappointingly contains nothing about Demo-Man himself, nor explains what happened when Keldor merged with him (i.e., did any of Demo-Man’s mind merge as well, etc.).
- Finally, it looks like there very well may be an exclusive at PowerCon: a pedestal for King Grayskull’s Orb of Sparkle Crest Toothpaste. The PowerCon part is speculation but seems likely.
July 21, 2011 | Poe
- Not quite as much awesome toy stuff revealed today–preview night is always the big one, aside from panels–but apparently Mattel did put the above figs in their display case today. They appear to be super-deformed MOTU toys in the style of the DC Action League (or Galactic Heroes or Superhero Squad or whatever line you prefer). Mattel certainly seems interested in trying some new styles with MOTU–and that can only be a good thing. Anyway, I’m definitely in for these. The above pic was taken by Pixel Dan, who’s covering SDCC for PopCultureNetwork; check out this link for a larger pic of the minifigures.
- DC Direct had their panel today. I was primarily interested in their Arkham City figures, but they still haven’t revealed anything beyond Harley. I’m speculating this is because the other figures are of characters who haven’t been revealed yet, i.e., Nightwing. They’re also making figures based on the JLA in their Brand New DC looks. I have to say the figures look rather uninspired, and what’s more, you won’t be able to buy the first one for another thirteen months.
- In Poe-Could-Go-Bankrupt news, ThreeA toys had some 6″ Star Wars prototypes that they’re evidently trying to pitch to Takara. Why Takara? I don’t know. I only know I don’t want these to be made because I want to have a house and kids and so forth someday, and I won’t be able to afford it if I’m buying these. Head over to ActionFigurePics for more info and photos. Poester and Star Wars pedant misterbigbo informs us that apparently the Stormtrooper head sculpt is based on the F/X 501st helmet and is not screen-accurate; I’ll take his word for it.
- Marvel Legends are back! And…could it be true? Am I finally getting the 6″ Constrictor I’ve wanted since I read a backup story about him in Marvel Comics Presents #74? I find it a bit amusing they’ve got Steve Rogers there in his “Super Soldier” costume–has Marvel really not got him back into the red, white and blue for the movie release? Good for them for sticking with story over marketing, I guess. Anyway, check out ActionFigurePics for pics and info on the ML relaunch.
- Evidently Mattel’s WWE line is becoming a Mattycollector exclusive for 2012. That’s–kind of weird, right? WWE figures seem to have been perennial sellers for the last decade. Is this a.) due to waning popularity of the WWE and wrestling in general; b.) due to the waning popularity and market oversaturation of wrestling figures in general and the WWE in particular; c.) due to the waning popularity of action figures in general among youngsters, the WWE’s main demographic; or d.) Mattel actually managed to bungle a surefire seller like WWE? Anyway, the good(?) news for wrestling fans is that they get to vote on five of the figures to be released in 2012. UPDATE: Commenters correctly pointed out to me below that it’s only the Legends sub-line that’s going Mattycollector-only. The regular line still sells well.
- Should I be covering Voltron? Do people care? I never watched the show, and the only toys I had were the old diecast 6″ figure and, believe it or not, the vehicle Voltron.
- The Mattypalooza panel happens at 2pm PT (5pm ET) Friday, thus bringing this farce to a close (I hope). The DC panel is two hours later–here’s hoping for some more Batman Legacy awesomeness. Apparently Matty himself might stop by! To quote Hudson, “He’s coming in. I feel safer already.”
July 21, 2011 | Poe
- The Entertainment Earth/TRU exclusives are now on sale on the TRU website–here’s the link. HOWEVER: Rodimus is already sold out, and the Bizarro vs. Faker pack isn’t listed, apparently because it “missed the boat.” That’s what my pal at SDCC was told by the booth operators. Whether that means it will show up later in the ‘con, or not for another three to five weeks, is not something I know.
- Mattel posted another MOTUC list. This one seems pretty obviously fake–Zombie Randor? Gwildor? Lodar? And Slime Pit He-Man as the exclusive, when we’ve been told the sub exclusive isn’t a He-Man variant?–but the odd thing is that one redacted bit after Sweetbee. Who redacts a fake list? Anyway, I have some limited knowledge of what may or may not be coming down the pike for the rest of 2011, and this doesn’t square with that at all, so I’m calling this fake.
- There’s a “Project Photog” sticker next to Captain Glenn in the Mattel display case, including the names of the astronauts on the flight. The two that stick out to me are Mason–obviously a reference to Major Matt Mason, who, btw, would be an awesome MOTUC figure–and Bitner, a reference to Nathan Bitner, creator of Fearless Photog (who, until the lists popped up recently, was the frontrunning rumor for the 2012 sub exclusive).
- NECA had most of its Evil Dead II line on display. There are three Ashes: a one-armed version, a torn-shirt version with a chainsaw, and Deadite Ash, whom I’ve wanted a figure of forever–plus Henrietta. Sixteen-year-old Poe would have LOST. HIS. S*** over this line. I’m a bit removed from that now–and bummed by the lack of leg articulation–but I’ll be buying every single Evil Dead II figure NECA makes.
- You can also see the NECA Robocop behind that Henrietta–he looks pretty good.
- I have to wonder, is it awkward shilling products for a failed blockbuster like Green Lantern at SDCC after the movie has come out? Still, Parallax looks awesome.
- One of the bizarre things I’ve seen was the 1970s’-colors Arkham City Batman. It’s a TRU exclusive you get when you buy the game there, so I assume it’s going to be a skin in the game, too. Is it me, or is that head placed much better on the body than the regular version?
- Possibly the best thing I’ve seen out of the show so far is the evidence that there will indeed be more Futurama figures. Lrrr! Morbo! Clamps! Joey Mousepad! The Donbot! And yet…NO HEDONISM-BOT. It’s a crime we’re getting the Destructor, whom I barely remember, before Hedonism-Bot. This line cannot end without that figure.
- He is Vigo! The scourge of Carpathia!
- Hot Toys is making a 1/6th Jack Nicholson Joker and a 1/6th Burton Batmobile; I can only assume a Keaton Batman is coming. I mention this solely because it irks me we still don’t have some Movie Masters of these in 6″ scale.
- Speaking of Movie Masters, we’re also getting a figure of the Joker as he looked in the two-second scene in The Dark Knight where he dressed as a cop and shot at the mayor. Yay?
- Mezco’s making a new Earthworm Jim figure. Weird, but cool. Oh, and it looks like there’s an Uncharted 3 Drake figure next to him. Square Enix is making a figure of Drake, too. Not sure I need one of those, but unless the Mezco one has articulated legs, of the two I’ll take Square’s.
- Any photos that weren’t links to other sites were taken by Rustin Parr. Thanks Rustin!
July 19, 2011 | Poe
- Mattel announced its 2012 subscriptions: Club Eternia, Club Ecto-1, and the new Club Lion Force. (Is anyone else kind of amazed that Club Ecto-1 is still going?) Anyway, the Club Eternia sub includes a $60 item, and there’s a lot of speculation as to what that is. Many are suggesting Granamyr, though personally I’m hoping for Tyrantisaurus Rex. (Remember, vehicles–such as the Battle Ram–won’t be included in the subscription.) A three-figure army builder pack, or some sort of multi-part figure like Modulok, is also possible.
- Mattel allegedly has five big MOTU-related announcements at SDCC…at least I think it’s five, I’ve lost track. Many people are assuming Mattel will announce the Filmation rights, though Toyguru has tried to tamp those rumors down. While Filmation rights would definitely be the shot in the arm this line needs, I can’t say I’m that certain we’ll see them. It also leaves four other announcements.
- I’m trying to decide how to cover SDCC this year. What would you guys like? Up-to-the-second links to other people’s coverage and pics (since I’m not there), reflective posts on reveals, or both?
- Don’t forget, you’ll be able to order all the TRU exclusives, including the Faker/Bizarro pack, on TRU’s website. It’s not clear when exactly items will become available, aside from “when the show starts,” so I’d recommend checking that page frequently.
- So what are you most excited about at this year’s SDCC? It can be toy-related or otherwise. Personally I’m curious what new reveals we’ll get regarding Batman Arkham City, if any–perhaps a new character? I’m hoping for Nightwing in the challenge modes, at least.
July 8, 2011 | Poe
- As you may have noticed, I’ve reinstated the Poester Gallery forum. It’s less comprehensive than the old one, based on the fact that most of you seem to prefer doing your discussion here on the blog, but I wanted to give you all somewhere to discuss topics I’m not covering. You do need to register to use it–however, you may already have registered for the site via the forum format I used two forums ago, so you may just need to get a password reminder. If that makes any sense.
- I’m going to give you to the end of the weekend to enter the contest for the three-of-a-kind Poehammer. The contest ends at 11:59pm ET this Sunday.
- Nomad of the Idle Hands blog has a fantastic, comprehensive list of SDCC 2011 exclusives. Which do you think is the best? While it’s not the one I’m most excited for personally, I think the Starscream Skystriker takes the cake. It’s the perfect exclusive–an awesome repaint that isn’t necessarily a must-have item for your collection (i.e., a unique character, a la Queen Marlena).
- There seem to be a ton of toy-related online video shows and podcasts these days. I have to admit I am just not that into them–I prefer reading. I can read faster than a person can talk, and I have complete control over how fast and how thoroughly I read an article or review. But I’m curious–do people watch a lot of videos and/or listen to a lot of podcasts? Is this something I should be getting more into?
June 24, 2011 | Poe
- Today’s Odds ‘n Ends is mostly stuff I’ve meant to write about but never got around to it. First up: this piece over on OAFE, revealing how Toys R Us prices items higher in stores in wealthier areas.
- October Toys is developing OMFG!, a homage to M.U.S.C.L.E. and Monster in My Pocket figures from the ’80s and ’90s. Depending on how much you donate, you can get flesh-colored and/or black sets of all five figs.
- Mattycollector.com will be having their SDCC voucher pre-sale, which allows SDCC attendees to reserve their exclusives, on July 11. The post-SDCC sale will be on August 1.
- The Power and the Honor Foundation is a non-profit group dedicated to creating an archive of materials related to all things Masters of the Universe. Their first project is a hardcover catalog of MOTU design art. For a donation of $55, you get 160 pages of MOTU history. This is ideal for those who missed out on the SDCC MOTU art book a few years back.
- To my surprise, the Batman Legacy Arkham City figures are already shipping; mine are en route from BigBadToyStore. I was sure we wouldn’t see these until September at the earliest, given that the game doesn’t come out until October. These may be the figures I’m most excited about this year; we’ll see how they turn out in person. BBTS also has singles of some of the other Batman Legacy figures, such as the Golden Age Joker.
- Speaking of Arkham City, Best Buy recently revealed that their pre-order bonus is a Tim Drake Robin. It’s unknown whether Robin will show up in the campaign (as a playable character or otherwise), but he will be available in the challenge modes and will have his own move set (i.e., he’s not just a skin of Batman). Chances are those who pre-order through Best Buy will just be able to get Robin first, and a few weeks or months later he’ll be available as DLC. But unless some other, even more cool pre-order bonus character is revealed at some other store (Nightwing maybe?), this basically guarantees I’ll be pre-ordering the collector’s edition through Best Buy, which for price alone I’d probably do anyway. All that aside, what do you think of Robin’s look? I like the outfit. Some folks are complaining about the shaved head, but I don’t really care either way.
June 20, 2011 | Poe
- Mattycollector is having a “Mad Matty Monday” next week on the 27th. The idea is for $40, you get three items that exceed the $40 value. There’s a DC set, a MOTU set, and a Ghostbusters set. One thing to keep in mind is that the third item in the MOTU set could be display stands, and the DC set could contain JLU items as well as DCUC items. I’ll be curious to see how these do. I suspect the MOTU sets will sell out fairly quickly.
- Figure previews around the Web: Pixel Dan reviews Clawful, Megator and Young Justice Robin; Fwoosh has SDCC Movie Masters Kilowog and DCUC Series 17.
- Saw X-Men: First Class this weekend, and quite enjoyed it. I think Marvel and its licensors may have made a mistake by not giving more credit to this flick, though admittedly there aren’t many toy-friendly designs in it–maybe diamond Emma Frost, Mystique, and Beast. Much has been made of January Jones’ mediocre acting, and here’s my contribution: she reminded me of Gwyneth Paltrow’s role in the fake Austin Powers movie (as “Dixie Normous”) in Goldmember.
- The site redesign proceeds apace. We’re getting closer to the big relaunch, but we’re not quite there yet. It’s looking good, though.
June 7, 2011 | Poe
- The big website redesign I’ve been mentioning for months now is tentatively scheduled to go live this Monday. That could easily be pushed back, but for now that’s the plan. OB1 and Mecha-Shiva have been working their butts off for this project.
- To get you all psyched up for the redesign, I’ve pledged to write a review a day this week (since evidently it’s my most popular feature).
- DC revealed a bunch of Bat-titles for its upcoming “Brand New DC” (my term) in December. Pros: Dick Grayson back as Nightwing, only one Batman. Cons: Damian Wayne still Robin. Not sure how to feel about: Barbara Gordon getting her legs back and returning as Batgirl. I recommend you read this op-ed by Jill Pantozzi. And finally, Rather worried about: While Catwoman, Batgirl, Batwoman, Nightwing, Batwing and even frickin’ Jason Todd get their own books, there was no sign of Tim Drake yesterday. I have a bad feeling Tim may be getting killed off/”disappeared” by Didio & friends.
- There seem to be a lot of mixed feelings on this, but I’m psyched about all the Halo news out of E3 so far. First off, I’ve never loved any Halo game as much as I loved Combat Evolved, so the news about the updated version was welcome–it’s something I’ve talked about for years. As for Halo 4, while I generally do think certain companies do the best job with certain properties, I also think Bungie had some idiosyncrasies in its game development and storytelling that I wouldn’t necessarily miss (Gravemind anyone?). So long story short, I’m willing to give both games the benefit of the doubt. The one thing out of E3 I’m not liking? All the discussion of the Kinect and Move, especially them being used in games like Mass Effect 3. No thank you, game developers.
June 1, 2011 | Poe
- The upcoming redesign/relaunch of PGPoA continues apace. Rome wasn’t built in a day, when it’s done, Valve time and all that. Hopefully it will seem worth the hubbub once it’s revealed. I will say we have a pretty cool contest planned to coincide with it.
- In the meantime, as I’m sure is obvious, I’ve been on something of an unofficial hiatus for a few months now. It was a nice break, and necessary, I think, but things should start picking up soon. April and May were very busy months for me, but things appear to be calming down now.
- So, DC is rebooting their entire universe. I have a lot of reservations and many questions, but the first one I want answered is: does this mean Damian Wayne can finally go away? More significantly, though, it occurred to me that the comics themselves are really the least relevant form of media for superheroes these days. My Batman is the Batman of B:TAS, the Burton & Nolan films, and Arkham Asylum/City. And action figures, of course. As long as DC still produces Elseworlds-style side comics like Batman Beyond
and one-offs like Brian Azzarello’s The Joker
, while making animated adaptations of Batman: Year One and Dark Knight Returns, I’ll be fine. What are your thoughts?
- BotCon is this weekend…anyone going? Anyone interested? Anyone else find it painful Michael Bay is being feted?
May 6, 2011 | Poe
- As you’ve no doubt noticed, it’s been very, very dead around here lately. That should change over the next week or so, and much more so by the end of the month. Real life has been interfering, but fear not, I’ll soon nip that in the bud.
- In other news, the early reviews of Catra, the Faceless One and Battleground Teela are all over the place. Here are the Fwoosh’s, and here are Pixel Dan’s. Remember to hate both VeeBee and Pixel Dan for all these freebies. Because I totally do.
- The Creative Licensing Corporation spilled the beans on two of NECA’s new licenses: Rambo and Evil Dead II. They misspelled NECA a few times, which seems…odd. So far we know we’ll get Rambo and Ash figures. No shocks there, but I do have to say, of all the McFarlane figures NECA’s redone, Ash is probably the most warranted. McFarlane’s Ash was terrible. And after all the hard work we ED freaks had put into getting it…I used to be VERY into Evil Dead. I tried so damned hard to like that figure at the time, but it was awful. Just awful. Awkwardly pre-posed, barely articulated, and frankly Toy Biz’s Autolycus figure looked more like Bruce Campbell than this one did (OK, that’s an exaggeration). The best thing about that figure were the accessories. Anyway, I have little doubt that NECA will kick McFarlane’s Ash into the stratosphere. A redo that’s long overdue.
- Oh, I almost forgot: Thor comes out today. You going tonight?
