Quick Review > Blinky the Red Ghost PVC (Pac-Man, Coleco, 1982)

March 13, 2012 | Poe

There seems to have been an abundance of Pac-Man-related toys when I was a wee tyke, circa 1982, and for whatever reason I owned a few of them. The oldest toy I still own from my childhood – the one that’s still the original, that I’ve never had to buy a replacement of on eBay – is a wind-up Pac-Man by Coleco.

I also had this guy, a PVC ghost from Pac-Man, part of a whole line of PVC figures also by Coleco. I believe they predated the cartoon series; they’re certainly not based on it. Nor is he based on the actual game ghost – he’s just some sort of cartoonish interpretation of it. My fondness for this piece isn’t based on nostalgia for Pac-Man, though; it’s just a nice, solid, fun little PVC I owned as a kid, and a nice desk tchotchke.

Although it doesn’t say it on the front of the package, he’s apparently known as “Blinky the Red Ghost” – maybe it says that on the cross-sell on the back. Believe it or not, there doesn’t appear to be a website out there that has cataloged this toy line in detail. The closest thing I could find was this.

So apparently Pac-Man was huge in the early ’80s. It’s easy to forget that, since Mario more or less wiped Pac-Man off the map a few years later.

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Review > Shadow Weaver (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

March 9, 2012 | Poe

Almost every great toy line has a few major gaps. The 1980s Star Wars line lacked Grand Moff Tarkin (who finally got a figure in 1997, and will get a new one later this year). The vintage Masters of the Universe needed a Queen Marlena (last year’s SDCC exclusive). Perhaps most famously, Playmates never produced a Maude Flanders for their late-1990s Simpsons line.

The 1980s Princess of Power had Shadow Weaver.* Shadow Weaver was the antithesis of Eternia’s Sorceress: a powerful wizard who worked with the bad guys instead of the good guys. With her vast powers, mysterious appearance, and hefty role in the cartoon (she appeared in 52 of 93 episodes), Shadow Weaver was a very notable absence from the 1980s toy line. And since she was created by Filmation and never had a vintage figure, Mattel didn’t have the rights to produce a toy based on her until the deal with Classic Media came through last year. (more…)

Quick Review > Mutant Gorilla (Papo)

March 7, 2012 | Poe

I first came across this figure from this post on Toywalker’s Blog. Being a love of all things gorilla, I knew I had to own it – fortunately Amazon had it.

I don’t know anything about this toy line or why it includes a post-apocalyptic warrior ape, but it’s awesome. (Side note: there’s a whole bunch of weird animal-men from this line, some of which were reviewed by Rustin Parr over at OAFE.) The sculpt is excellent (although I absolutely hate that sneaker, for some reason), and the paint, as you can see, is very well done too. The sword is interchangeable with the axe, although only the sword can be sheathed on his back.

Sadly, the figure has no articulation at all, so it’s mostly just a neat shelf tchotchke.

Review > Hurricane Hordak (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

March 6, 2012 | Poe

My childhood obsession with He-Man was relatively brief–maybe most of 1984, and part of 1985. After that, it became all-Transformers all the time until maybe 1987 or so. So a figure like the vintage Hurricane Hordak immediately had two strikes against it: it came out after my interest in He-Man was long gone (1986), and it was a guise; if I owned a figure, it was almost always the iconic standard version.*

I know I’ve written this a few times before, but I really think that without the Club Eternia subscription, Hurricane Hordak might have been the first figure who really tested my completist bent on this line. While his “action feature” is neat, he’s just not that exciting an addition to the line. (more…)

Guest Review > Star Sisters (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

March 5, 2012 | Doc Thomas

This is a guest review. Opinions expressed in this review (toy-related or otherwise) do not necessarily reflect the views of Poe Ghostal.

Doing these reviews for Poe lead me sit down and actually watch the She-Ra: Princess of Power cartoon, something I’ve never done before outside of minor glimpses as a kid. I loved the Filmation He-Man as a child, and love it now because it’s totally stupid, but I never really gave She-Ra the time of day. And you know what? She-Ra is actually pretty good. The Horde represent more of a threat to Etheria than Skeletor ever did, and the heroic characters don’t just defend the world’s inhabitants from the Horde but teach them to rise up and fight for themselves.

Adora is an interesting, powerful, independent character who is handled well and isn’t dependant on a man – an excellent role model for young girls. Adora/She-Ra is the kind of character we could add to that very short list about of strong, interesting, non-misogynstic female protagonists. Even Bow, despite occasionally falling into a neat subversion of the “damsel in distress” role Teela took in He-Man, is well-executed. He’s not threatened by the powerful women around him; he’s a real man.

So basically, I want to make clear I have no anti-She-Ra slant, no misogynistic female-character-toy hatred, no anti-girl’s-toys sentiment – and despite all that, I still can’t bring myself to like these figures. (more…)

Guest Review > Swiftwind (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

March 1, 2012 | Doc Thomas

One of the absolute best things about the original She-Ra: Princess of Power cartoon is that Swiftwind is voiced by what appears to be a chainsmoking mall Santa. Instead of choosing someone warm and soothing and appealing like, say, Twilight‘s Robert Pattinson to voice the talking horsie,* it was decided that a better option for selling the new pretty pink pony toy to little girls was the voice of the nearest gravelly-voiced hobo.** This pays off in spades, especially when the damn thing gets some action unlike poor Bow and his mate pops out a kid. If this isn’t reason enough to get over the weirdness of being an adult male collector buying dollies to own the thing, then I don’t know what is.

One of the excellent things MattyCollector has done with these larger boxed toys is brought out variant figures of the central characters so that we can have one He-Man or Skeletor to display with the other characters and one to ride on their oversized magic kitten. I feel Battle Armor He-Man looks superior to regular He-Man on Battle Cat, and the MOTU promotional material tends to agree. (more…)

Guest Review > Bubble Power She-Ra (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

February 29, 2012 | Doc Thomas

The Masters of the Universe Classics line is one of the greatest lines of action figures of all time. I don’t think one can debate this. If you strip away all of the problems with distribution, quality control, communication and Digital River, and focus solely on the toys, I don’t even think this is a question. Alongside Palisades’ Muppets, Toybiz’s Marvel Legends, and even Takara’s Masterpiece Transformers, MOTUC is an absolutely superb line of beautifully sculpted, wonderfully playable and awesomely detailed action figures to appeal to the child and adult collector alike. (Yes, MOTUC isn’t aimed at children, nor are the Masterpiece Transformers, but let’s face it, if kids could get their hands on them they’d love them, as long as they weren’t busy doing drugs and stabbing each other like most kids these days.)

Alongside Swiftwind, a new She-Ra figure was announced – an update of classic variant Bubble Power She-Ra – with improved leg movement enabling her to ride Bow Swiftwind. The first She-Ra figure lacked the articulation to do this, but with the new Bubble variant, she can easily climb on and wrap her tan, silky thighs around Bow Swiftwind as they take to the sky. For this reason, I’m reviewing the two figures together; it’s a silly idea to get one without the other, as without the new Bubble Power She-Ra Smokey has no rider, and without Swiftwind She-Ra has nothing to straddle except her hapless eunuch Bow. (more…)

Review > Man-E-Faces (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

February 27, 2012 | Poe

One concept I just could never buy into was the idea of Man-E-Faces as an actor. If so, he’s an actor with a fairly limited range: he can play a guy in  big blue mechanical suit with a domino mask, a guy in a big blue mechanical suit with a robot face, and a guy in a big blue mechanical suit with a monster face (at least until this figure, which gives him three more options).

All right, so perhaps I’m being unfair – for all I know, the monster is the Laurence Olivier of his generation. And based on his first minicomic appearance, it looks like Manny was more of a wandering bard than a leading man (note that apparently his helmet was removable). If you think of him as a storyteller who uses his ability to create the faces of the speaking characters, the whole “actor” thing makes more sense.

Man-E-Faces was one of the most iconic characters in the original Masters of the Universe toy line (and a personal favorite). He also had a Millennium figure which, while a bit pre-posed, was nonetheless one of my favorites from the revamp. Let’s see how his Classics figure compares. (more…)

Review > Fearless Photog (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

February 24, 2012 | Poe

No discussion of Fearless Photog can be complete without first mentioning this article on X-Entertainment.com,* the seminal 1980s kids’ culture website by Matt Caracappa. At this point, anyone with even a passing acquaintance with Masters of the Universe knows the story: in 1985, Mattel held a “Create-A-Character” contest. Children were invited to send in their ideas for new characters, which were then voted on by fans via a phone number. The winner received a $100K scholarship, a trip to Disneyland, and best of all, their character would be made into an actual Masters of the Universe figure.

Only it didn’t happen that way. (more…)

Guest Review > Megator (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

February 22, 2012 | Doc Thomas

I collect nearly exclusively in the 1/12th scale. For me, it’s the perfect scale – translating to about a foot per inch, it’s the ideal size for strong sculpts with recognizable likenesses and meticulous paint detailing while also allowing one to have a bigger collection in a much smaller space than the average 1/6th scale collection.

That said, I am a huge fan of GIANT 1/12th-scale action figures, and rejoice at toys that are both large and in scale with the majority of my collection. I loved the Spawn movie boxed sets Malebolgia and Violator early in my collecting days, and when ToyBiz introduced BAFs into the Marvel Legends line I was ecstatic. (more…)