Poe’s Review > Spikor (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

August 23, 2012 | Poe

Sega’s first attempt at an “edgier” Sonic

I admit I’ve neglected to write up a post about it, but I did get The Power and the Honor Foundation‘s excellent Volume One: The Art of Masters of the Universe Toy Design. It’s everything the Mattel art book should have been (for the same price). Anyway, the book includes an early concept sketch of Spikor. He’s similar to the final version except the porcupine aspect is played up more – he’s brown and has a more animalistic face. Why Mattel decided to make him purple in the end is beyond me, but I now find it part of what makes the character endearing.

I had the vintage Spikor as a kid. He appealed to me because of his color scheme (I like purple), the fun rubbery spikes, and the odd extendable trident feature. Like Whiplash and Leech, Spikor survived (or post-dated) the day that I gave away many of my He-Man figures to a cousin in Florida. He eventually became a generic monster foe to the likes of the Ninja Turtles. (more…)

Doc Thomas Reviews > Starman (DC Signature Collection, Mattel)

August 21, 2012 | Doc Thomas

This Starman is based on the Kingdom Come version of the character.

I’ve always been a Marvel man. Sure, I’ve been a fan of the Batman since Miller’s seminal graphic novel, and I’m apparently one of the only sane people who loves Superman Returns, but I was always much more fond of the Marvel universe than the DC. This can be in part attributed to Bryan Singer’s excellent X-Men films raising the bar for comic book movies back before the 90’s ended, and then in part due to the phenomenal Marvel Legends action figures that redefined the way we collect today. But that line ended, and although Hasbro took the baton from ToyBiz it hasn’t quite been the same.

When Mattel decided to apply DC characters to that same formula the result was a great series of toys, but one that was incredibly hard to collect in Australia; while Marvel Legends were plentiful in Oz across their early run, the DC Universe Classics were barely available, if at all. Fortunately friend Poe was able to help me acquire basically the entire series, and since then I’ve been reading a lot of the great DC arcs, currently knee-deep in Blackest Night. I’m a convert; for all their mistakes and baffling choices, especially with the sad reboot last year, I’d argue DC can rise to the occasion with stories just as strong as Marvel’s.

I jumped at the chance to subscribe to Club Infinite Earths, to continue collecting characters from the DC universe, and I feel like I’ve been rewarded for it: the DC Signature Collection has offered both entirely new, and fan requested, characters, like John Constantine and Saint Walker, as well as excellent new versions of figures that have previously seen toys, like Atrocitus. Metron was an excellent incentive to subscribe – as was previously reviewed on here, he’s an excellent toy and a great centrepiece for your New Gods display. I’m happy to continue subscribing; even though I’ve fallen off the MOTUC wagon courtesy of the $75+ Fearsome Foe Whatsits, CIE’s figures are all interesting to me, even characters I’ve previously never stumbled across like Starman. (more…)

Movie Review > The Dark Knight Rises

August 16, 2012 | Poe

Note: The movie’s been out for nearly a month now, so I’m not going to bother worrying about spoilers. If you haven’t seen the movie, don’t click on the jump. You’ve been warned. –PG

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Sponsored Review > Hero Ash and Henrietta (Evil Dead 2, NECA)

August 14, 2012 | Poe

NOTE: The toys in this review were provided free of charge by NECA Toys (though I also bought a second set). –PG

This has been an interesting year for me. It has seen the advent of two things that young Poe wanted more than anything: super-articulated Godzilla action figures, and Evil Dead 2 action figures.

As you may or may not be aware, my “Poe Ghostal” handle was born when I joined the Spawn message board back in 1999. And why did I join? To urge McFarlane Toys to add Ash to their Movie Maniacs line. They did, and it sucked, and also it was from Army of Darkness and not my favorite of the trilogy, Evil Dead 2, but I’ve covered this before so let’s move on.

While Army of Darkness is the film most casual fans know, my favorite has always been and always will be Evil Dead 2. I’ve seen it dozens of times on video and at least twice in special Halloween theater showings. I do somewhat miss the time when the film was still a true cult favorite; for Christmas one year, my parents had to contact a store in Canada to track down a copy of ED2 on VHS as a gift. Nowadays the Evil Dead trilogy is big business, with tons of comics, videogames, DVDs, and toys, but as with Lord of the Rings, part of me misses the time before the Internet boom when Evil Dead fandom was still the provenance of in-the-know geeks and horror hounds.

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Poe’s Review > Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2012, Playmates)

August 8, 2012 | Poe

As I mentioned in my review of the Classic Collection Leonardo, I’ve covered my history with the Turtles before here and here. To my surprise I was left a bit underwhelmed by Classic Collection, but the photos of the basic line for 2012 (based on the new cartoon) seemed intriguing enough to merit picking up at least one figure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Gy7E_aBv0I

I’m interested to watch the show, which debuts on Nickelodeon on September 29. The animation and style seems like a cross between Cars and Teen Titans. The humor seems great. (more…)

Poe’s Review > Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classic Collection, Playmates)

August 6, 2012 | Poe

One thing that has made it increasingly difficult for me to write reviews these days is that I’m often reviewing a character I’ve reviewed before. For me, the appeal of a review is often discussing the history of the character or the franchise, my own childhood memories and so forth. I’ve already covered all that for Leo and the rest of the TMNT in two previous reviews here and here, so I refer you to those if you want the flavor text. This review is going to get down to brass tacks.

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Doc Thomas Reviews > Horde Prime (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

August 3, 2012 | Doc Thomas

Oh, pardon me, I’m supposed to be fighting Flash Gordon.

Originally with Masters of the Universe Classics I was not intending on being a line completist. There was no reason to: with the poor Australian-to-American dollar conversion rate, and the difficulty in buying ordinary characters who sold out within minutes (grrrrrrrr) there was no point trying to be an obsessive. Fortunately, as the Australian dollar improved, MattyCollector picked up their game and made it possible to acquire any of the toys I wanted. My personal philosophy when it comes to collecting toys is that collectors should have the toys they want available to them, and at a fair price – exclusivity rarely makes things better for collectors, which is why I was frustrated when MattyCollector made Shadow Weaver the exclusive subscription figure for this year. (more…)

Poe’s Review > Stinkor (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

July 9, 2012 | Poe

Stinkor. It’s as if someone took all the derogatory clichés about the original Masters of the Universe line and put them into one figure: he’s a half-man, half-amusing-animal with an off-putting action feature (a terrible smell) and a lazy name that describes said action feature but adds “-or” to the end of it. (more…)

Guest Review > Metron (DC Universe Signature Collection, Mattel)

July 6, 2012 | John Harmon

Metron is one of Jack Kirby’s creations, first appearing in the New Gods comic book series. He’s from the same world (the Fourth World, to be exact) as characters like Darkseid, Orion, and Lightray. He’s meant to be a neutral cosmic observer, but he has been known to choose sides (not always Good), especially if something threatened the entire universe. He’s also the man who invented the “Boom Tube” technology which allows the people of New Genesis and Apokolips to travel great distances across the universe, and he holds the key to Darkseid’s Anti-Life Equation. Basically, Metron is not one to be trifled with. (more…)