Toy Aisle Trolls > Bumm-Ra

February 16, 2012 | 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@poeghostal.com.

Submitted by: JN

JN writes: I actually came across this Skeletor jammed into a Mumm-Ra package at a Wal-mart tonight. I have to admit I did a double take when I saw it and had to take a photo. Didn’t think I’d ever be sharing it with anyone, other than just having it for my own amusement. But as luck would have it, I just happened across your site tonight. It’s amusing how crafty people can be with these things…

Karmic Curse: May they find thousands of new cures for you each year.

New Article at ThisBlogRules

February 16, 2012 | Poe

Will Paoletto of ThisBlogRules gave me a chance to stretch my imaginative wings and write about something other than toys for once. What I wrote was an attempt to unify all the policeman roles of Reginald “Sgt. Al Powell from Die Hard and Carl Winslow from Family Matters” VelJohnson into one (fairly) cohesive story.

The Strange Career of Sgt. Al Powell

Poe, in Meejit Form

February 16, 2012 | Poe

Artist and talented Poester Happymonkeyshoe has created this awesome Poe “meejit.” What’s a meejit, you ask? I asked too. Here’s what HMS said:

It’s just what I call my style and collection. Basically it’s chibi, but I don’t think it’s cute enough to be called that so I named them meejitz, just a play on the word midget.

To see more meejitz and other art by HMS, visit his DeviantArt page.

Now I just need someone to sculpt this into toy form…

Sponsor News > BBTS has Toy Fair Preorders, Maketoy Giant – Yellow & Green

February 15, 2012 | Poe

Updates from BigBadToyStore:

Hi – we’ve just received information from Maketoy in Japan.   Their combining ‘Giant’ figure is now up for preorder.

The Yellow version is available in three different 2-packs of figures, A, B, and C sets – each of these is quite limited from what we understand.

The sets are available at $118.99 each – preorders found here:
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=MKT10001&mode=retail
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=MKT10002&mode=retail
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=MKT10003&mode=retail

Green Version to be announced later

Also back in stock:

Fansproject Defender:
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=FPJ10013&mode=retail

Fansproject CA-05:
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=FPJ10026&mode=retail

(more…)

Odds ‘n Ends > Toy Fair Items of Interest & More

February 15, 2012 | Poe

  • A few other things that caught my eye at Toy Fair:
  • Mezco’s stylized Universal Monsters figures. OAFE reviewer and occasional PGPoA contributor Rustin Parr could not possible be more excited for these–he’s planning to get two of each. I’m in for the Gillman, of course, as he’s my favorite UM. They’re due out around September (according to at least one site). Pics at Battlegrip.
  • Jay Cochran of TNI seems concerned about the future of Bandai’s ThunderCats toys; there was nothing new at Toy Fair this year, and the staff wouldn’t comment on its future. The cartoon show has been a moderate success and reportedly renewed for a second season, and from my own observation the toys seem to sell decently, so I’m a bit surprised by this.
  • There will be Play Arts Kai Mass Effect figures, starting with Shepard, Ashley and Garrus. Garrus is great, but Shepard is less exciting since everyone creates their own character, and Ashley? Why no Miranda? Miranda was way more interesting. And–ahem–hotter, for a CGI character anyway. BBTS has these up for preorder.
  • Of course there’s also PAK’s upcoming Arkham Asylum figures. I note that Phil Reed of Battlegrip made sure to get an upskirt of Harley Quinn (prediction: that will be my most-clicked link today. You’re welcome, Phil!).
  • I have to admit to being kind of excited by Mezco’s Mars Attacks figure. I just hope it has decent articulation. It appears to have hinged elbows and knees, but the real question is whether the hips/thighs are ball joints. I’m guessing not the thighs at least, since the feet don’t appear to be articulated.
  • TNI has more pics of the classic Turtles, including the packaging, which is wonderfully nostalgic. They’re due in stores in August at about $15 apiece, so it’ll cost you $60 to put together your Fab Four.
  • In non-Toy Fair news, Poester Chris Pearce sent me a note regarding his blog Teachable Moments, which has been running a series of posts called Thrift Store Finds. He’s reviewed a number of vintage MOTU items recently such as children’s books, coloring books and magazines, all of which you can check out using this link.
  • PGPoA art director Mecha-Shiva pointed me to this neat YouTube video of a self-proclaimed “Greatest Toy in the Universe.” It’s created by a UK company called Wow Stuff, and it looks rather like the vintage MOTU toy Spydor. I dislike radio-controlled toys, but I’ll admit that thing is pretty neat.
  • Finally, I just want to thank JediCreeper again for helping out with the Toy Fair coverage this year. Maybe we can get him a real press pass next year…

Happy Sorce–er, Shadow Weav–no, Fearless Phot…Voltro…uh, Fisto Day?

February 15, 2012 | Poe

Hell of a sale today…along with all the new MOTUC stuff, there’s also Red Lion & Lance, a re-release of the awesome Blazing Sword Voltron SDCC exclusive (which I really need to review one of these days), plus a bunch of other reissues and re-releases.

The sale is at 12pm ET as usual–here’s the all-in-one page.

Mattel ran into delays again:

Club Eternia Members, we’ve just confirmed a small portion of our shipment of Shadow Weaver and Fisto is running a little behind. Most Club Eternia orders will start shipping on Monday 2/13 as planned, but there will be some orders that will ship around 2/17. All other products will ship as usual, including Voltron Red Lion/Lance and the Essential items.

On January 19, 2012, Scott Neitlich wrote: “We also changed our policy so that we will not sell a figure until it is 100% in stock.” Noted without comment.

I haven’t been charged for my 30th Anniversary sub yet, and evidently neither has anyone else. I’m not going to complain about MOTUC or Mattel, but man do I hate Digital River.