While searching for Draego-Man fan art, I came across the work of CJEdwards, who’s drawn a quartet of images of the 30th Anniversary figures that actually makes even the non-Draego-Man ones kind of…cool? (more…)
Pic of the Day > Roswell by Greg 50
Sponsor News > BigBadToyStore has New Batman, Transformers, Marvel, Statues, Hot Toys & More
From BBTS: Here is a quick update about a big batch of new arrivals. There were big deliveries of new items this week so we have many more instock announcements than normal. Also a nice round of new preorder items. (more…)
Review > Draego-Man (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)
It took more than ten years of working on the property, but the Four Horsemen have finally added their own brand-new character to Masters of the Universe.
You can read the not-so-secret history of Draego-Man’s creation in this Fwoosh interview with Horseman Eric Treadaway last year, which describes the process behind his creation. Of course, a dragon-man in MOTU is really a no-brainer – as Treadaway noted, it was odd there were no dragon-men in the original MOTU, nor any bad guys with wings.
That said, Draego-Man has a very retro feel; he evokes memories of figures from those MOTU knockoff lines of the 1980s, like Dragoon from Sungold’s Galaxy Warriors, Gecko from Remco’s Warrior Beasts (pictured alongside Draego-Man below), Iguana from Sewco’s Galaxy Fighters or, most fittingly, Dragonman from SOMA’s Fantasy World.
Of course, being a fantasy monster who fits in well with the ever-popular sword and sorcery interpretation of Masters of the Universe, Draego-Man has proven immensely popular amongst fans of all inclinations. So how is the figure? (more…)
Pic of the Day > Almost there Master Bruce… by Popcornboy20
Tamashii Teases S.H. MonsterArts Godzilla SDCC Exclusive
Bluefin Tamashii Nations USA, the American distributor for Bandai’s collector brand Tamashii, has been posting enticing pics of what I think is a Matt Frank art piece showing Godzilla smashing the San Diego Convention Center as part of their promotion for their Godzilla SDCC exclusive.
That’s Godzilla’s tail whapping a palm tree.
And that appears to be Godzilla stepping on the SD Convention Center. (more…)
Pic of the Day > Rhino Blue by Jii Dee
Poe’s Point > Vykron Thoughts
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu1Ujp72TCM&h=284&w=500]
Mattel has posted a new video with Scott Neitlich explaining the Vykron SDCC exclusive and showing off the packaging.
One thing I didn’t initially realize about these figures – the boots and cuffs are half-parts that clip on, rather than full parts that encompass the limb and snap on a la the original Toy Biz Iron Man. I understand it as a cost-saving measure, but it makes the figures significantly more like “Cosplay He-Man.”
To be fair, I think this is a great exclusive, and this post by “Prince Adam’s Dad” explains it as well as I could:
Personally, I’m unlikely to pick it up. It’s a neat concept and a cool part of the line’s history, but it just doesn’t fit into what I’m doing with my collection. However, there are plenty of people who will be interested in him. More to the point, there are plenty of people who will be interested in three or four of him to display in each of his forms and MOC.
So it’s a non-essential figure that some people will buy multiples of – sounds like the perfect convention exclusive to me. (more…)
Pic of the Day > MSN-07 Z’Gok by jaqio
Illustrating Voltron
Using the coloring technique shown in the “Illustrating Skeletor” guest post by Phil Reed, I spent a couple hours over the weekend turning this:
into this:
I need more practice, obviously. But it’s pretty fun, and works particularly well with robots like this. Also: this is rapidly becoming one of my favorite action figures ever.