Odds ‘n Ends > August 8, 2011

August 8, 2011 | Poe

  • I’m putting together what I’m calling “Bat-Week”–a week of reviews of Batman-related toys. I was hoping to do it this week, the week after Shark Week, but it didn’t come together. So it will be either next week or the week after.
  • I missed this out of SDCC, but it appears Mattel is actually looking into an opt-in option for subscribers for the six “Anniversary” figures in 2012 (Fearless Photog, Draego-Man, and the other four new characters). If that happens, I’ll be both surprised and pleased. The vehicles and Granamyr are still excluded because the pricing on them isn’t known yet (though they’ve been saying $80 for Granamyr).
  • DCUC is on sale for $9.99 at TRU this week, evidently. If you’re short on Mary Marvels or Steppenwolfs, now’s your chance to stock up.
  • Speaking of TRU, apparently the “Mad Love” Joker/Harley two-packs are hitting stores. It would be just my luck if every other Mattel DCUC 2-pack has pegwarmed but I never even see this set.
  • On a related note, I’ve started looking for the K-Mart exclusive Golden Age Batman w/ Bat-Mite. All I’ve found are empty pegs for Batman Legacy figures that haven’t been put out.

Review > Battleground Teela (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

August 5, 2011 | Poe

I’ve made no secret of the fact that my favorite bit of Masters of the Universe fiction is the three-issue DC Comics miniseries from the early 1980s. I grew up on the Filmation cartoon, and it holds a special place in my heart; many of the early minicomics were great; the Mike Young Productions cartoon in 2003 had some great storylines and characterization. But the DC Comics miniseries is an epic that tosses together the sword and science of the world of Eternia with reckless abandon. True, its version of Zodac is a thinly-veiled Metron. But the series features many fun Kirby-esque touches, from epic energy battles to phantasmagorias to over-the-top, blood-and-thunder dialogue. It’s the way I like to think of Eternia–a world where every moment is epic.

Since the miniseries was created while the toy line was still in development, a few of the characters looked a little different than the toys, none moreso than Teela. In the DC miniseries, the Sorceress looked identical to the toy version of Teela.¹ I’m not sure where the model for the DC Teela came from, but she only dressed this way in the first issue. By the second issue, Mattel must have corrected DC, because she was wearing the toy’s white one-piece (though she kept the blonde hair). This led to both Teela and the Sorceress wearing the same outfit.

I’ll admit I was a bit surprised when a campaign sprung up on He-Man.org for “blonde bikini Teela.” I still wonder to what degree this was owing entirely to the fact that she was hotter than her more modestly-clothed counterpart…but for me, the appeal of this figure, beyond its more generally sword-and-sorcery look, is that it’s the first figure to be based on my favorite bit of MOTU media. It gives me hope that we may see a figure of the evil sorcerer Damon in the future.

Of course, the way they shoehorned this look into the bios makes no sense at all, but we’ll get to that in the appropriate bio discussion post. Despite her relatively obscure place in the MOTU mythos, the figure sold out quickly. Furthermore, Mattel seems to have recognized Battleground Teela may represent the MOTU equivalent of Slave Leia, as they had a model dressed as BG Teela at San Diego Comic Con this year. (Thanks to MegaGearMax for the reminder about that.) (more…)

Mattel Updates on the 2012 MOTUC Subscription

August 4, 2011 | Poe

I try not to spend too many posts regurgitating news you can find elsewhere, but at the same time, I know at least some of you are trusting me to provide you with any information relevant to your interests rather than doing the work yourself.

Also, this is exactly the sort of Mattel announcement that generates a lot of comments, so I’m going to post it.

He-Fans and She-Ravers,

With the 2012 Club Eternia sale in full swing and our SDCC reveals past us, I wanted to take a quick minute to clear up some questions and comments from the boards.

1: First off, yes, we are no longer going to be doing a second run of figures. This will start with Queen Marlena and move into Man-E-Faces and the other fall figures. We still have some older figures already slotted for line time and a second run that will be offered monthly(ish) in 2012. But starting with the July/August figures there will no longer be second runs of newer figures (at least for now, anything could potentially change down the road). So if you want Marlena, now is the time to buy!

Additionally, in 2012 we will be reducing our production of all figures above and beyond the subs. We will still have product on sale day for those who do not have a sub, but in general there will be a bit less. Your first, best and most reliable way of getting the figures you want is to sign up for the sub (and the only way to get Shadow Weaver–our first Filmation character!). This will be the case for all subscriptions, not just MOTUC.

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Forgotten Lore > Darkwing Duck Series 2

August 3, 2011 | Poe

Darkwing Duck was part of the Disney Afternoon,  a great block of syndicated cartoons that ran for most of the 1990s. Pretty much every show on the Disney Afternoon was awesome: DuckTales, Gargoyles, Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers, TaleSpin, and so on.

Darkwing Duck was a semi-spinoff of DuckTales–Darkwing himself never appeared on the show, but the premise was inspired by the DuckTales episodes “Double-O-Duck” and “The Masked Mallard.” But enough regurgitating information you can find on Wikipedia–the important thing here is Playmates produced a line of toys based on Darkwing Duck. I owned a Darkwing figure myself, now sadly lost.

The merchandising for the various Disney Afternoon shows was spotty at best (the only show I can remember getting a full, decent toy line is Gargoyles), so it’s not surprising that the Darkwing Duck line only made it to one wave. However, as you can see above, we have some pics of what the second series would have looked like, and it would have been painfully awesome. I would have given my right eye in a Faustian bargain for that Gizmoduck alone.

Bastards of the Universe > “Creative Impulse”

August 3, 2011 | googum


Well, everyone’s been talking about Mattel’s DC subscription this week, but I’ve been thinking about their Masters of the Universe Classic Create-A-Character contest. Although I don’t get a ton of MOTUC, I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with. But, then I also worry that everyone’s feelings will end up hurt because the one they wanted (as in, theirs) wasn’t made.

Of course, I’m totally getting out the crayons to try it. I just have to see if my idea is ludicrously unfeasible, or merely stupid.