Movie Masters Batman Begins Batman and Scarecrow

(Jeesh, that title’s a mouthful, ain’t it?)

I’m not going to do an official review of these, since Michael Crawford’s does the job nicely. This being the Weekend of the Bat, though, I thought I’d talk about them a bit in honor of The Dark Kuh-nigghit, as an outrageously-accented Frenchman might say. (Incidentally, the word “knight” comes from the Anglo-Saxon word cniht, which was pronounced “keh-nikt.” At some point English speakers stopped bothering to pronounce the “k,” thus giving modern Batman writers their beloved “dark knight/night” pun.)

I already reviewed the Movie Masters Dark Knight version of Batman for OAFE (link), so I’ll just crib that review for my basic take on the MM line.

In 2005, Mattel’s line of kid-targeted 5″ figures held little interest for collectors (outside of a not-bad Collector’s Edition figure). Collectors wanted 6″ figures with the sort of articulation that was beginning to appear in Mattel’s DC Superheroes line. Well, guess what? Mattel delivered this time around.

For The Dark Knight, Mattel has created “Movie Masters,” a line of 6″-scale action figures featuring detailed sculpts by the Four Horsemen and featuring the extensive articulation found in their comic-based DC Universe Classics line. While the initial Movie Masters waves are limited to The Dark Knight and Batman Begins, Mattel’s license extends to all the DC movies, so it’s possible we’ll see a 6″ Christopher Reeve Superman or Michael Keaton Batman in the future. (more…)

Heightened Interest (Marvel Legends She-Hulk)

Pete here! Hey, lucky me–I completed my Hulk Legends set this week, courtesy of a well-thought out wedding present from a friend of mine.

As I’ve perused various postings on the figures in this wave over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed that one figure under quite a bit of scrutiny is She-Hulk. Some are concerned that this is nothing more than another rehash of the ML2 Shulkie, and more are concerned by the disparity in height. Well fear no more! With my shrewd detective skills, I shall unravel this dark and sinister mystery, at great personal risk to myself. I do this so that you may sleep peacefully at night, secure in your safety. You may thank me with money. (more…)

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Back in April 2004, I walked into the theater to see Hellboy knowing next to nothing about the character . At that point, I had started seeing movies more and more rarely at the theater, so I’m not sure exactly why I saw Hellboy except I guess the marketing intrigued me–there were hints that the movie would have a Lovecraftian vibe. And from the moment I saw the pre-credit title card–a fictional quote from the equally fictional De Vermiis Mysteriis–I knew I’d found kindred spirits in Messrs Mike Mignola (creator of Hellboy) and director Guillermo Del Toro. (more…)

The Heinz Ketchup H-57 Burger Blaster

Sometime in 1986–possibly while watching a syndicated episode of the original Transformers–a young Poe saw a commercial for a magical item. It was a Heinz Ketchup bottle that could transform into an X-Wing-like starfighter. Of course I wanted it–I wanted everything. But this was one of those odd promotions, requiring some sort of coupon from a newspaper and a check (that magical, adults-only form of currency), and between the Transformers and a resurgent interest in Star Wars, I neglected to follow up on this (i.e., beg my parents for it). (more…)

Flippin’ Through ToyFare #131

Again, all apologies for the scattershot posts this week. Between how busy I’ve been at work and my webhost’s endless problems with a file server on my cluster (causing significant slowdown problems here on PGPoA), it’s been hard to get through an update. But now I’m back and rarin’ to go, the site speed seems to be flying, and I’ve got content up the wazoo!

Today I’m going to discuss ToyFare #131, which hit comic shops last week (and will hit newsstands this week or next).

On the cover we’ve got the 6″ Target exclusive movie Hulk, which is a repaint of the Marvel Legends 1 Hulk with a new head. The ML1 Hulk mold doesn’t come close to the perfection of Face Off Hulk, and I can’t see Ed Norton in that head sculpt the way I can in the movie stills. However, if you missed the boat on previous 6″-scale Hulks, this one might be passable. He is the first 6″ Hulk to feature non-purple pants.

Page 3: Big ol’ ad for DCUC wave 3. Here’s hoping they ship before, say, the end of July…

Page 9: An ad for the new Indiana Jones toys, which seem to be selling well, though I’m not sure if they’re being bought by kids or Star Wars collectors. It was smart of Hasbro to include figures from all four films. (more…)

Taters of the Lost Ark

Hi! Power Pal PrfktTear here. While I am the resident Transformers Guru, I’m also nuts about a certain little spud. With Transformers news in a lull since BotCon ’08, and over a month to go until the first Transformers: Animated toys hit shelves, I have a distant cousin, Mr. Potato head. Okay, he’s got nothing to do with Transformers, well, except that he’s made by Hasbro! Good enough!? Lets move on…

(more…)

Featured Article > Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NECA) review

(Click on any of the photos for a larger version.)

Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird are a classic American success story. They parlayed a strange concept–a comic parodying Frank Miller’s then-popular Daredevil and Ronin comics, but starring anthropomorphic animals–into an empire, with profits that at times exceeded those of the mainstream publishers whose works they were parodying. It’s hard to know where independent comic publishing would be today without the immense success of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. (more…)

Review > Iron Man movie figures

You will believe an iron man can fly

Poe: Howdy, Poe here, and with me is my good friend and PGPoA Power Pal Pete of Fanwank.net.

Pete: Hello!

Poe: Today we’re going to do a review of a few of Hasbro’s new action figures based on the upcoming film Iron Man, starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow. The figures hit stores last Saturday, and it looks like they’re already selling well. I picked up the “Mark 03” Iron Man, as well as the villain called Iron Monger.

Pete: I got the Mark 01 Prototype Armor and the Target-exclusive Repulsor Red Prototype version. (more…)