Five (More) Questions With > October Toys

April 23, 2012 | Poe

I first interviewed the good folks at October Toys way, way back in 2008. Given the recent success of their OMFG figures, I decided it was time to check in with them again.


Codename: October Toys
Specialty: Toymakers
Base of Operations: www.octobertoys.com
History: Formed in 2004, October Toys is a purveyor of fine toys and collectibles with an artistic twist. The two creative misfits who own October Toys – George and Ayleen Gaspar – have a lifetime of experience collecting toys and two decades combined experience working in the toy industry. They are currently focusing on expanding their new line of Z.O.M.B.I.E. micro statues and finding a cure for keepitinthepackageitis. They also host and produce the weekly Internet show Toy Break which feature toy news, reviews, and much more!

1.) OMFG seems to have been a big hit. What’s the secret (or not-so-secret) origin of this project–how did it come about?

It all started with the very talented group of artists and designers who regularly inhabit the October Toys forum. We found out that many people on our forum share our passion for mini figures and wouldn’t it be cool if we could put out a community created line of mini figs? Once we decided to go forward with that idea, there were dozens of character concepts posted by various artists which were then voted on and narrowed down to the final five for production. With the help of Kickstarter, we were able to carry the community created aspect all the way through production. We couldn’t be more pleased with how smoothly the process went and look forward to using the same model for future OMFG series!

2.) Is there any chance of OMFG making its way to other markets than the Internet? I ask partly because I ran into some Z.O.M.B.I.E.s at my local comic shop.

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Contest! Win a set of DC’s Arkham City Figures, Series 2 with BAT-LIBS!

April 21, 2012 | Poe

This coming Wednesday, April 25, Figure of the Day will have Arkham City Series 2 for sale! This set will feature figures of Catwoman, the Riddler, the Mad Hatter, Hush, and Detective Mode Batman.

(Please note: due a schedule change by DC Collectibles, the figures will not ship until May 2.)

To help spread the word, FOTD has donated a complete set of Series 2 for a contest right here on PGPoA!

Here’s how to enter: I’ve written a small paragraph about Batman and Robin engaging in their usual heroic derring-do. (To avoid any accusations of having tailored the paragraph to a particular entry, I’m sending it to the Power Pals ahead of time.)

This paragraph has a few blanks – blanks YOU must fill. In the comments below, provide the following:

  • a place noun (“the river” “Gotham National Bank” “R’lyeh” etc.)
  • an occupation (“farmer” “lawyer” “freelance bio-exorcist” etc.)
  • a verb (“push” “smack” “kidney-punch”)
  • and an adverb (“slowly” “jubilantly” “groin-grabbingly” etc.)

Once I’ve got all the submissions, I’ll put them into the paragraph and then the good folks at FOTD will choose their favorite as the winner. And afterward, of course I’ll post the winner and whichever I think are the best entries.

The contest will end at midnight Eastern Time on Monday, April 23. The winner will be announced the following day.

Rules:

  • Winner must have a U.S. shipping address for the prize to be mailed to.
  • PGPoA Power Pals and Poe’s friends and family not eligible.

Battle Beasts Concl’d – Mea Culpa

April 19, 2012 | Poe

Wrapping up the recent flurry of posts about a toy line I never even collected, the final word on the trademark issue can be found in this video of a panel from C2E2 2011:

http://blip.tv/pixelstoplastic/c2e2-diamond-select-art-asylum-minimates-panel-3517759

Here’s what DST’s Zach Oat wrote in a comment on my earlier post:

If you go to the 28-minute mark, you can hear Chuck explain how we registered for the trademark after we discovered it had lapsed. (If I said “purchased” in this year’s panel, I misspoke, but we did have to pay to register the trademark. There was a check written.  ) He also explains why we waited — we were waiting to have room on our plates, for the economy to rebound and to have some sort of media tie-in lined up. Hence the IDW series.

So there you go.

As for me: I apologize for making a mountain out of this molehill. The answer was indeed out there. I didn’t know about this video, and so when I inquired about the trademark issue to my contacts a couple months ago and didn’t get an answer at the time, I ended up thinking there was more to it than there evidently was. I also didn’t put in a new inquiry to my contacts before my most recent post, which I should have done.

I realize my recent posts may have ginned up way more “controversy” about this then was at all warranted. For that I apologize to DST, Zach and everyone else. It was never my intention to cause controversy – if anything, I was trying to tamp it down a bit.

This does prove my utter impatience for watching online videos (sorry, Pixel Dan…) is something I need to work on. But it’s tough when you’re trying to find the answer to something and it’s only available in the middle of a video – I can’t get search results for that on the Web unless there’s a transcript available, and I don’t always have time to sit through hours of comic-con footage in the hopes of finding an answer.

Battle Beasts Cont’d – Takara Beast Fight Revealed [UPDATE: Preorder at BBS]

April 19, 2012 | Poe

While Diamond Select moves forward with their new take on Battle Beasts, TakaraTomy is indeed bringing back the original Beastformers as, at least according to one site, “Takara Beast Fight.” Go here to see the pics of the various figures.

It appears to have some sort of dice game element, which makes a lot of sense. So – are you in for Takara Beast Fight, DST’s Battle Beasts, or both?

Thanks to Pixel Dan for the tip!

UPDATE: These are now available for preorder at BBTS.

What Battle Beasts Rights Does Diamond Select Have?

April 18, 2012 | Poe
battle beasts

battle beasts by toy find!, on Flickr

Phil Reed over at Battlegrip speculates on the specific rights Diamond Select Toys has to Battle Beasts. I actually discussed this on PGPoA way back in 2009, and even then it was rumored DST only had the trademark on the brand name, not the creature designs (or the rub-sign feature).

It seems obvious TakaraTomy (the Japanese rights holder of Transformers) still has the rights to Beastformers, the Japanese toy line that became Battle Beasts when imported to the U.S. and Europe. As the original name suggests, in Japan the line was tied in to Transformers (specifically the Japanese Headmasters franchise). And now it looks like TakaraTomy may be moving forward with some new product under the name Beast Saga.

(A brief aside to Phil’s main question: I suspect the confusion over whether DST “paid someone” for the trademark is due either to someone at the C2E2 DST panel misspeaking, or someone misunderstanding or misreporting what was said. I do think they simply snapped up the trademark when TakaraTomy let it lapse. Also, I believe you pay the government a fee when you pick up a lapsed trademark, so that may be what the “paid” is referring to.)

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