Figure It Out #3

February 14, 2012 | Poe

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We’re running a little late this week, so guesses are due to poe@poeghostal.com by Friday (instead of Thursday) at noon Eastern time. Please put “Figure It Out” in the subject line of your email.

Toy Fair 2012 Roundup

February 14, 2012 | JediCreeper

MOTUC Toy Fair 2012 1

Hey Toy Fans!  Nate here, in some circles, I’m better known as JediCreeper, on Twitter I’m JediN8 and to a tiny number of you, I’m the weird guy who won’t shut up on the Average Intelligence Podcast.  I had the good fortune of attending the 2012 Toy Fair and Poe was kind enough to send me to both the Hasbro and Mattel fan appreciation events, to cover them for him.  It is there I learned that even a native New Yorker is not nearly as pushy and shove-y as geeks with new toys.  Here are some of my thoughts on the stuff I got to see.

Poe’s note: you can check out a gallery of Nate’s pics from TF2012 here.

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Odds ‘n Ends > MOTUC Toy Fair News Edition

February 14, 2012 | Poe

  • The Four Horsemen tweeted the following regarding Frosta’s face: “Please spread the word. Paint job was a quickie so we could show her at Toy Fair. Tweaks are being made DDR.” I don’t know what DDR is…down da road?
  • To establish just how much I wanted a MOTUC Spikor, back in 2008 I was the one who started the official thread for him on He-Man.org. Four years later I finally get him. Note my concern for QC issues–and this was before we even got He-Man or Beast Man!
  • For the record, it has not yet been confirmed what figure(s) will come with the MOTUC-ized Keldor swords and Man-At-Arms Millennium-style arm cannon. There was speculation one or both would come with Snake Man-At-Arms, but Scott Neitlich shot that down.
  • But speaking of weapons, there will apparently be a third Weapons Pack in the fall. It’s possible the Keldor swords/arm cannon will be included in that (along with Draego-Man’s shield), though we’ve never seen original sculpts in a weapons pack before. If those three items were included, would certainly make for a bestselling pack.
  • The Wind Raider will return sometime around SDCC. I guess the hope is they sell well enough to convince management to greenlight something like the Battle Ram. Two thing on that: 1.) Fans will already be spending money on the SDCC exclusives, so, like last year’s Christmas release, people will be low on money when this expensive item comes out. Why not re-release during a month where, I don’t know, hardly anything is coming out–like mid-August, maybe?

Toy Fair 2012 Updates, Part II

February 12, 2012 | Poe

There’s already a ton of news and the damned show hasn’t even started yet (though it will have by the time I get this post up). On a side note, the Mattel collector show–and subsequent MOTUC reveals–will be at 3pm ET today.

JediCreeper is going to do a write-up tonight, including the Mattel event. In the meantime, he’ll continue to tweet all day.

I’ve also uploaded a ton of Hasbro press pics of yesterday’s reveals, which you can check out on my Flickr account. If you want to see pics of the Horsemen event, including pics of the upcoming Raven and Vampire Queen figures from FANtastic Exclusive, I recommend this gallery from PCN.

Updates from Hasbro Collector’s Event

February 11, 2012 | Poe

Just a reminder, Poester JediCreeper is reporting for PGPoA from the Hasbro Collector’s Event at Toy Fair today. Follow his tweets here.

Pics to come!

Poest Office > How Durable Are Rubber Hoses on Toys?

February 10, 2012 | Poe

Poester SF writes in:

“I’m a collector and I know you have a lot of experience with figures so I hope you can help me out. I’ve got a quick question about rubber parts used in toys. I am looking specifically at figures like Transformers Dark of the Moon Shockwave and McFarlane’s Call of Duty Marine Corps with Flamethrower figure when I ask this. Those figures have rubber hoses (at least Shockwave does) and I’m wondering if these rubber parts can become worn from taking them out of their sockets and re-inserting themtoo many times.  Have you had any experience with this?”

Thanks for the note, SF. While I don’t own either of the toys you specifically mention, I have had a number of toys over the years with rubber parts, and in general I have found that the durability of such hoses depends a lot on the design of the hose itself. For example, I have a Mutagen Man figure from the vintage Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line whose hoses are still tight and strong, but I’ve had other figures who tubes have been so thin as to be easily ripped.

If your question is whether removing and replacing the tubes frequently will weaken their ability to hold tight in the socket, my gut feeling is that the answer is no. Rubber is fairly flexible and will simply squeeze to fit the hole, rather than getting scratched away.

That said, if you’re really concerned about durability, it’s never a good idea to repeatedly remove and replace parts on a figure, especially if they’re made of rubber.

But since, again, I don’t own those two figures, I invite my readers to weigh in with their own experiences. Do you find rubber hoses to be durable or easily ruined?

If you’d like to ask Poe a toy-related question, send an email to poe@poeghostal.com. Please include “Poest Office” in the subject heading.