Poe’s Point Special > Toy Fair 2010

February 15, 2010 | Poe

It would be impossible and way too much work for me to cover all the awesome stuff coming out of this year’s Toy Fair. The awesomeness seems to be hearkening back to the good old days of the early 2000s…anyway, instead of trying to list everything, I’m just going to hit the highlights of the stuff I’m excited about. But feel free to use this as the catch-all Toy Fair discussion thread.

Masters of the Universe Classics

Of course we start here. We’ve had hints and suggestions of all the stuff that was revealed, but frankly, I was never really 100% sure we were going to see Tytus or, even more insane, Gy-Gor–who looks much better than I’d imagined he would as a Gorilla Grodd repaint. Anyway, the reveals were:

Wow. Where to start with all this? (more…)

Poe’s Point > Dear Accoutrements, Where is my H.P. Lovecraft figure?

February 10, 2010 | Poe

Accoutrements is a manufacturer of novelty toys and fun, goofy baubles–the sort of stuff that coats one wall of your local Spencers or Newbury Comics, or makes up 90% of the non-book merchandise at a college store. I remember picking up their Sigmund Freud figure almost a decade ago as a gag, and since then, they’ve added more and more real-life people from throughout history–from big ones like Alexander the Great, Benjamin Franklin and Annie Oakley to completely obscure folks like Seth Godin and “Fuzz.”

They don’t skimp on the famous writers, either: the line features Edgar Allan Poe, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, and of course the Bard.

All well and good, but seriously, Accoutrements: where is the H.P. Lovecraft figure? (more…)

Poe’s Point > Mattel says “Choose and perish!” on MOTUC bobblehead issue

December 28, 2009 | Poe

I mentioned in my reviews of Teela and the Goddess that the pins used for the heads created something of a “bobblehead” effect. Well, in a post on He-Man.org, ToyGuru presents fans with the following dilemma:

Hey He-Fans,

We’re well aware that a lot of fans are receiving Goddess figures that have a “bobble head” effect. Here is the 411 on that:

In order to have removable heads, the pin used to connect the head and neck is creating the undesired effect. We’ve already looked into it and here are two options we can explore to correct this:

1: Make the head non removable on future female figures (no future females will have a second head option)

2: Use a larger pin, but lose all up and down articulation. Head will only move left and right.

What are your thoughts folks?

TG

My thoughts…? Fix the heads without sacrificing anything! (more…)

Poe’s Point > Dante’s Retail Purgatory

November 20, 2009 | Poe

Dante2s_1

So I’m somewhat interested in the upcoming videogame Dante’s Inferno, and NECA’s figure looks pretty cool too. However, I posted on Twitter recently that if the game wasn’t good, I probably wouldn’t want the figure–I rarely, if ever, buy toys just because they look good. I need to have some attachment to the property.

That said, I also rarely, if ever, pre-order videogames. Videogames are just too expensive an investment to risk them being crappy. There are obvious exceptions (e.g., it’s unlikely a sequel to a proven franchise like Halo is going to be terrible), but for the most part you won’t see me pre-ordering a videogame. Heck, most of the time I can wait until a few months have gone by and I can buy it used and save a few more bucks. So I can imagine a scenario whereby Dante’s Inferno gets good reviews, so I go out and buy the figure before I even get the game.

However, that’s not going to be an option this time. (more…)

Poe’s Point > Mattycollector Customer Service is unacceptable, and here’s why.

October 19, 2009 | Poe

I went back and forth on whether to post this, because the anti-Mattel ranting and general negativity around here lately has, well, made running this blog not very enjoyable as of late. But then I remembered part of my original mission statement for this blog (in my head, anyway) was to provide commentary on aspects of the industry that don’t show up on the news sites and so forth. And so, as the Joker might say, here…we…go. (more…)

Poe’s Point > My Five Most-Wanted Obscure He-Man Characters

October 12, 2009 | Poe

I’ve already written a post about the five characters from previous Masters of the Universe toylines that I’d like to see in Masters of the Universe Classics. Today’s post is about the five fairly-to-utterly obscure characters I wouldn’t mind getting a figure of. What are the chances we’ll actually see any of these in figure form? Probably close to nil, with one exception. (more…)

Poe’s Point > Vintage toys, eBay, and trading

August 19, 2009 | Poe

Recently I’ve been interested in tracking down the four original Ghostbusters from the 1980s Kenner Real Ghostbusters line. Of course, the first place I checked was eBay, the same place everyone else goes–including people of much greater means than I–thus ensuring that any and all auctions go for a price at the very high end of the market.

But my only other option is to scour yard sales, flea markets, and vintage collectible stores to try and find them at a reasonable price.

I’ve got plenty of old vintage stuff myself, and I’d much prefer to trade with some other collector without using eBay as a middleman, selling my vintage stuff online and then bidding top dollar on an auction on eBay, paying PayPal fees every step of the way.

How about a website that’s a sort of toy-focused, trading-based version of eBay, where collectors can put up all the items they have for trade and then look at other people’s wants and haves and make offers. It’s similar to what any toy board’s trade forum does, but a bit broader and with a way to search for specific items.

Of course, for all I know something like that already exists. Anyone know?

Poe’s Point > SDCC Wrap

July 28, 2009 | Poe

sdcc_wrap

I’m not going to discuss what happened with the various exclusives and so forth–Rustin has promised a rant later in the week, and I’m sure that will cover it all and more.

Instead, I’m just going to list the things that interested me the most. (more…)

Poe’s Point > Random thoughts on SDCC thus far

July 24, 2009 | Poe

There are a dozen different websites you can go to for much better SDCC coverage than I can offer, what with my not actually being there and all–and even websites you can go for better SDCC news roundups. So rather than bother with any of that, I’ve decided to just post a list of random thoughts and observations on SDCC so far. (more…)

Poe’s Point > Toy collectors got no reason to live

July 10, 2009 | Poe

I realize I’m posting this largely just to provoke some lively discussion–feel free to also discuss whether this makes me a troll on my own site or not. But in reading the comments on Topless Robot’s post about the Wonder Twins packaging, I came across this incredibly pointed attack on toy collectors. It’s notable because the writer, “ZeroCorpse,” spends a lot of ink really going for the throat here.

While everyone’s entitled to their opinion, I’m going to examine this one line by line. (more…)