ToyFare #132

June 23, 2008 | Poe

Let’s see what we’ve got in this month’s issue of ToyFare!

Keep in mind, this isn’t intended to be a comprehensive breakdown of every single page of the issue–just a few of the highlights that particularly interested me.

Page 4 – Inside the Monkeyhouse: Gotta love Zach’s old-school Toy Biz Batman outfit. There’s the requisite nipple joke as well, of course.

Page 10 – Customizing 101: Heheh. Dick Rider.

Page 16-17 – Incoming: Marvel Legends. Why hasn’t Hasbro released any good press photos of these figures? Particularly Red Hulk. Lovin’ that black-suit Wolverine. Why does the Silver Savage have a jewel on his right nipple?

Page 18 – Incoming: Marvel Legends 2-Packs. Dude, that is totally the Rock. Looks like Hasbro is following Toy Biz’s tendency to make likenesses that vaguely resemble famous actors (Brad Pitt as Angel, anyone?).

Page 20 – DC Direct’s Watchmen movie figures look great, but I must admit what I really want are the comic-based figures they showed way back in 2000 or so. One more casualty of Alan Moore’s conflicts with the mainstream comic biz. (more…)

Old school haulage and a rare Poe custom

June 21, 2008 | Poe

I’m on a little mini-vacation right now, using up my vacation days at work before they expire on July 1. I took yesterday off, as well as the first two days of next week. So rather than do anything even mildly constructive yesterday, I headed off to a local comic shop, Comicazi. Comicazi has two locations–one in Somerville, Massachusetts, which I’ve visited many times, and another in Arlington. I’d never been to the Arlington one and, having nothing better to do, decided to see what was there.

What was there, my friends, was an action figure heaven. Racks upon racks of toys, both old and new–toys from the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s right up to today. I should have taken photos–I didn’t have my camera–but here’s just a random sampling of what I saw from memory: Resaurus Duke Nukem figures, McFarlane’s Nitro Riders, vintage Doctor Who figures, Galoob 3 3/4″ Star Trek: the Next Generation figures, an entire wall of Playmates Star Trek figures, Kenner Beetlejuice figures, and tons of 1990s Toy Biz Marvel figures. Again, that’s just a small sampling, and all of this was MOC. (more…)

The Four Horsemen Interview II (Part 2)

June 19, 2008 | Poe

Continuing the interview from yesterday’s post, in the second half of my interview with the Four Horsemen they discuss Masters of the Universe Classics, their ongoing FANtastic Exclusive project and the future of the studio.

POE: While details are few on Masters of the Universe Classics so far, we have seen a proto of the King Grayskull SDCC Exclusive. How similar with these figures be to DC Universe Classics in size, style, and articulation?

JIM PREZIOSI: Both lines are very close in the amount and types of articulation they have, but the style is more of a throwback to the original 1980s MOTU line than DCUC. The style will retain a lot of that old school flair, but there will be enough detail and modern applications that the figures won’t feel at all out of place in todays’ market.

ERIC TREADAWAY: As for size, they’ll be close in scale with DC Universe Classics, but the proportions of the characters will be so different that we’re not sure that they’ll fit all that well together in some collectors’ eyes. (more…)

The Four Horsemen Interview II (Part 1)

June 18, 2008 | Poe

On May 1, Poe Ghostal’s Points of Articulation hit its six-month anniversary. In anticipation of this event, I asked the Four Horsemen if they would be willing to do another interview as they did for the inaugural month of this blog, and they very kindly agreed. I had hoped to post it on May 1st, but the Horsemen were too busy creating awesome toys to get to it right away. I think we can all agree it’s worth the wait.

This is the first half of the interview, focusing on DC Universe Classics and NECA’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I’ll post the second half tomorrow.

POE: There are some slight stylistic differences between the early DC Superheroes figures and DC Universe Classics–for instance, Superman from DCSH wave 2. Do you feel Superman still fits in well with DC Universe Classics, or would you like a chance to do another straight Supes figures?

ERIC “CORNBOY” MAYSE: Well, as you’ve probably already guessed from the “Regeneration Suit Superman” revealed at Wizard World Philadelphia a few weeks back, we’re definitely moving forward in attempting to create a definitive DC Universe Classics Superman that will have obvious differences from its earlier DC Superheroes counterpart.

JIM PREZIOSI: When and in which wave that definitive Superman will finally make his debut is still up in the air, but it is coming. (more…)

Odds ‘n Ends > Subtraction Edition

June 17, 2008 | Poe

Is it Tuesday again already? Man, time flies…

ODD: I beat The Simpsons Game over the weekend. Wow, that game is short. I think my total play time was under six hours. And I still got through 60% of the game, meaning I could wander around and find all the other hidden items and so forth and still only spend another four hours on it.

END: I’m reading a great book by Susan Jacoby called The Age of American Unreason, about the history of anti-intellectualism in America. I highly recommend it. It’s great up until the last few chapters, where Jacoby’s discussion goes from history to the present day; her criticism of the “culture of distraction” loses the sense of objectivity found earlier in the book and begins to read like an older person shaking her head at the sad state of the world’s affairs without entirely understanding it (I was particularly miffed by her assessment of videogames, which she seems to think are still based entirely on points and body counts–which, ok, it is for many, but not nearly to the degree it once was). But I’m being unfair by dwelling on these minor criticisms; it’s really a great book. Check it out at your local library.

ODD: One of my OAFE compatriots, Shocka, has referred me on occasion to Walter Chaw, the acerbic and often contrarian film reviewer for Film Freak Central. I find him an enjoyable read; you could chop down a forest with all the axes he has to grind. Anyway, here’s his review of The Incredible Hulk. Guess what? He didn’t like it.

END: Lots of cool news out of Mattel’s recent Q&As; in addition to mine, there’s also one here, here, here, and here. Phew! I think everyone had a question regarding the difficulty of finding DCUC wave two. I just want wave three to arrive…glad to hear we’ll be getting a new DCUC Joker, though.

ODD: In case you missed it, here’s my review of the Helm of Xaanm over on OAFE. In looking over my site stats recently, I was surprised to find how popular my review page is–I don’t really think of PGPoA as a review site.

END: The recent spat of controversies over at DC have me seriously questioning my pull list at my LCS, particularly Final Crisis. I may trim it down to just Batman and Detective Comics. It’s become increasingly clear to me that DC’s Editor-in-Chief, Dan Didio, changes his mind about major plot points and character developments on a daily basis, and that lack of consistency makes reading an exercise in frustration. As I’ve written here before, Alan Moore called it ages ago. It’s this carelessness and improvidence that’s hurting DC’s sales–ironic for a company so obsessively obsessed with continuity. They may maintain a certain continuity of universe(s)–unbelievably convoluted as it is–but their continuity of character consistency and character development is becoming a joke.

R.I.P. Stan Winston

June 16, 2008 | Poe

Wow, first Tim Russert, now this. From the LA Times:

Stan Winston, an Oscar-winning visual effects artist, has died at age 62.

Winston died at home Sunday evening after a seven-year struggle with multiple myeloma, according to a rep from Stan Winston Studio.

This is very sad news. Stan Winston was one of the men whose incredible, otherworldly designs of robots, gods and monsters were an indelible part of my life growing up (and many of which reside in my action figure collection to this day). He will be missed.

Ask Mattel > June 16 edition

June 16, 2008 | Poe

Get ready for another round of questions with Mattel’s Toy Guru!

Poe Ghostal: Photos have shown both Lobo and Despero with the same big gun. Will they both come with it?

Toy Guru: Yes. Both Lobo and Despero come with the same weapons, although they are painted slightly differently. Lobo actually shares a the same body buck as Despero with a new head, coat, belt, boots, and arms.

Is there any chance of seeing an updated Superman figure in his classic look, with brighter colors and the yellow “S” on his cape?

This is definitely a variant of Superman we will get to in time.

The Joker figure made for the 2003 Batman line is visibly under-scaled and lacks the articulation of DCUC. Collectors have expressed a wish for a new comic-based Joker–is there any chance of that in DCUC’s future?

Much like we re-sculpted Nightwing for Wave 3, The Joker is a character ready for a new updated sculpt. Only time will tell when he will show up. He is a crafty one!

DCUC wave 2 seems noticeably harder to find in stores than the first wave. Is there a reason for that, and will we see any more shipments of DCUC2?

So far we have only shipped out the first half of Wave 2. The second half with Jason as Firestorm will start showing up very soon. This should help make Wave 2 easier to find.

It may be too early to ask this, but is there any chance the Four Horsemen will do any work on WWE for Mattel?

It is indeed to early to comment on WWE toys. Currently the Four Horsemen are busy sculpting our amazing DC Universe Classics and upcoming Master of the Universe Classics toy lines. We keep them well booked!

For Four

June 14, 2008 | Poe

Today marks the four-year anniversary of the day Mrs. Ghostal-to-Be and I started dating. This will probably be the last time we really celebrate this date, since, well, she’ll no longer be Mrs. G2B come August but just Mrs. Ghostal (actually, she may want me calling her “Dr. Ghostal,” since she’ll get her degree in biochemistry next month. Busy year for us!).

But I wanted to pay a small tribute to Mrs. G2B on this occasion, as she has always been not only tolerant but supportive of my hobbies. Our first toy-related interaction that I can remember came before we were dating, when we were just roommates (with two other people as well–long story). Anyway, I had managed to string up my DC Direct Superman on fishing wire, making it appear he was hovering, and in attempt to be friendly (I won’t degrade the concept of flirting by calling it that), I made a point to show her. She was clearly unimpressed, but as she later told me, it wasn’t because she couldn’t believe this guy was showing off how he’d made one of his little toys look like it was flying, but because she’d been thinking, “Yeah, well, of course you used fishing wire–how else would you have done it?”

Mrs. G2B met me just in time for my years-long obsession with Hellboy, though she’s been privy to fads for Lord of the Rings, horror films, Halo and, most recently, Batman and DCUC since then. And she’s always been supportive–as some of you may recall, she even knitted me a Batman doll.

That’s not to say she won’t use my love of toys as a source of endless personal amusement at my expense, but it’s all in fun. I think.

Four years ago, I took one of the most important steps in my life. And I think I knew it, even then, but I’ve certainly become more and more sure of it ever since.

OK, end OT sappiness…

The Incredible Hulk

June 14, 2008 | Poe

So Mrs. G2B and I saw The Incredible Hulk last night.

I had a great time. Be aware: the film is not nearly as artistically ambitious as the 2003 Ang Lee film, but it doesn’t drag, either. If you went in wanting to see scenes of the Hulk destroying midtown in a battle with another giant beast–which I did–you’re going to enjoy yourself.

I think the best way to look at Incredible Hulk is to see it not so much as an adaptation of the comic (or a sequel to the Lee film) but as a big-screen adaptation of the 1970s television series. (more…)

Red Hulk vs. Red Hulk

June 13, 2008 | Poe

In honor of the release of The Incredible Hulk, I thought I’d toss up a Hulk-related post.

In the aftermath of the popular Planet Hulk and World War Hulk storylines, Marvel needed a way to capitalize on that success while offering something interesting for new fans who picked up the comic after seeing the new movie. The answer, it seems, was the Red Hulk, a villainous, ruby-colored version of the Jade Giant. So far, Marvel has not revealed the Red Hulk’s alter-ego, but he does appear to be as intelligent as the Smart Hulk of the 1990s. He’s also already killed the original Abomination with a giant custom revolver (shades of another big red superhero), so his motivations are as much a mystery as his identity. (more…)