It’s Sy-Klone Day!

April 15, 2011 | Poe

Sy-Klone Masters of the Universe Classics

It’s that time again! There hasn’t been a major non-sub item since the Eternian Guards pack in January, so it will be interesting to see how today’s sale tests Mattycollector.com.

I think it was probably a bad idea to have three very high-demand items–the Weapons Rack, Panthor and the reissued Moss Man on the same day–but the fact that it’s happening hardly surprises me.

Here’s the link to the all-in-one page.

On sale today:

Good luck to all, and may CAPTCHA not be your downfall.

How to Assemble an Action Figure

April 13, 2011 | Poe

In a follow-up to his insider’s perspective on the King Hsss-shoulder issue, Jazwares Director of Product Development and all-around toy fan Joe Amaro sent these images from the Jazwares factory in China. It provides an interesting look into how action figures are assembled, and why fixing an error like the shoulders can be so expensive.

Writes Joe:

Attached are pictures of some insert molded parts. This is how MOTUC shoulders are made.

Basically it is taking the joint part, putting it into the tool (mold) and injecting the plastic around it. So when the worker pulls them out of the tool the joints are already assembled.

You can see the different parts in the pictures by color, the lighter parts are the joints.

The parts come out of the tools just like models cars come from the box. They are all attached together and have to be cut out. So you can’t just flip a part, they are all attached.

This is why you can’t interchange joints and why it requires a retool.

And to the issue of mixing parts, again, we [collectors] only think of one figure. They look at thousands and thousands of individual parts.

Look at the pictures of bags and bags of pieces. If they are not careful, it is easy to mix up parts.

Any questions for Mattel?

April 11, 2011 | Poe

This is for the May 1 edition. Questions are due by 11:59pm Wednesday, April 13.

Toy Aisle Trolls > Galactic Zeroes

April 11, 2011 | Poe

Toy Aisle Trolls is a feature highlighting acts of vandalism to in-store toy items. If you find a ruined package, a stolen figure, a swapped-out figure, or any other such acts, take a photo (cell phone photos are fine if they’re not blurry) and email them to poe AT poeghostal.com.

Today’s TAT comes from none other than Jazwares product developer and customizer extraordinaire Joe Amaro.

What it’s Supposed to Look Like: This

The Problem: Writes Joe, “Someone took out most of the figures and replaced them with C-3P0s.” They seem to have stolen Uncle Owen, that creepy bug-version of a C-3P0 droid, both Jawas, the Gonk and left a couple extra C-3P0s, Garindan (why?) and a Yoda in their place.

Karmic Payback: Who steals from a little kids’ toy set? What human being is so petty, so selfish, and so uncaring that they would do this? Assigning karmic payback to someone so obviously bereft of any joy or positive emotion in life just seems sad, but I’ll do it anyway: may he pass a kidney stone for every toy he steals.

Poe’s Thoughts: Y’know, the title of some of these Star Wars sets weirds me out a bit. The titles create an odd parallel in my mind with those pieces by Renaissance artists that depict some famous scene from the Bible, such as the Last Supper or The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist. Four hundred years from now, will “Purchase of the Droids” be gawked at by tourists in the holodeck equivalent of the Louvre?