Any questions for Mattel?

March 28, 2011 | Poe

This is for the mid-April round. Questions due by 11:59pm Wednesday, March 30.

Great interview w/ customizer Rupert Valero at IH

March 26, 2011 | Poe

I’m sure some of you have already seen the amazing work of Army customizer Rupert Valero, currently serving in Afghanistan. Newton Gimmick of Infinite Hollywood has a great interview up with PFC Valero. Go read it. Then check out Valero’s Flickr feed for more pics of his customs.

I was considering getting in touch with Mr. Valero, but after Newt’s in-depth interview I’m not sure there’s anything else to cover…

Review > Shadow Beast (Masters of the Universe Classics)

March 25, 2011 | Poe

The 1980s He-Man cartoon, produced by a company called Filmation, had no shortage of monsters throughout its run–many monsters of various sizes and shapes. But as much as there could be said to have been a signature monster in Filmation’s Eternia, it would be the Shadow Beast.

First appearing in “Teela’s Quest,” an episode penned by Paul Dini and easily one of the series’ best, the Shadow Beasts would later show up in three more episodes: “A Beastly Sideshow,” “Prince Adam No More” (also a famous Dini episode) and “The Rarest Gift of All.” Their distinctiveness would even get them their own episode of the 2003 Mike Young Productions (MYP) He-Man cartoon, “Night of the Shadow Beasts” (written by Michael Reaves, who, like Dini, worked on the original He-Man cartoon as well as Batman: The Animated Series). (more…)

Golden Age Batman revealed at C2E2

March 23, 2011 | Poe

(Image from Toy News International)

There wasn’t a whole lot of new stuff at C2E2, but one thing we did see was the prototype for the Golden Age Batman, a figure in the upcoming Batman: Legacy sub-line by Mattel.

Looks great–and I’ll be getting it–but what I really want is that same figure with the yellow oval, to truly match Super Powers Batman. I prefer the lighter gray with the blue, rather than the darker gray used on the DCUC1 figure. Oh, and double-articulated knees and elbows, please.

PGPoA Exclusive > Joe Amaro’s MOTUC Ram-Man Custom

March 23, 2011 | Poe

Joe Amaro has been a fixture of the action figure community for years. Not only is he the Director of Product Development for Jazwares, but you’ve seen his customs in ToyFare magazine going all the way back to the 200X He-Man days. More recently, he’s been producing some of the most mouthwatering MOTUC customs you can imagine, including Skeletor’s Robot Knights, his Bone Throne, and of course, the amazing Castle Grayskull.

Today, Joe has graciously given PGPoA the exclusive reveal of his latest custom: MOTUC Ram-Man!

Here’s what Joe had to say about the process of making the figure:

The original idea was to use the DC Universe Kilowog as the base and try to keep as much of his proportions possible. But as I progressed and studied Ram-Man, it became obvious that I could not. Ram-Man is more stocky and more square. So I went with a mix of the vintage back art, the vintage toy and little of the 2002 version.

The main element that I wanted him to have was to be huge! I wanted him to look like a massive battering ram that would be used to breakdown castle doors. Plus I know when Matty makes him he will be a lot smaller.

In the end I only used some articulation points from Kilowog, mainly the arms, although I did bulk up his arms using Magic Sculpt. Other than that, it is an all-original sculpt using Sculpey and mainly Magic Sculpt.

Toy Aisle Trolls > KaraLoki

March 23, 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.

Poester Barbecue17 conjures up this mystery.

My wife and I were out at our local Walmart in Shelby, NC when we noticed this Loki figure from the new Thor line.  (Actually, we noticed the absence of the figure.)  My first thought was that this was just the work of some juvenile delinquent, but upon closer inspection I noticed that the figure seems to be simply missing from the packaging.  The packaging was perfectly fine and still neatly sealed, along with every other figure nearby appearing to be case-fresh.  This led me to a horrifying realization of Lovecraftian proportions: Either Toy Aisle Trolls have infiltrated Hasbro themselves, or they have started developing the terrifying power to simply remove action figures from sealed blister cards using the powers of their minds!!  Perhaps no blister card will be safe from their ungodly powers!

Karmic Payback: Unclear, as this may or may not have been the act of a human. But Loki is the trickster god, so this is rather fitting…