Poe Ghostal's Points of Articulation – Page 76 – A blog about action figures and the toy industry in general by writer and collector Poe Ghostal.

Pic of the Day > Z.O.M.B.I.E. by nanoFatato

February 2, 2012 | Poe

Ask Mattel > Final Edition

February 1, 2012 | Poe

Here’s PGPoA’s final (for now) edition of Ask Mattel.

Barbecue17 asks: What does Mattel consider a legitimate QC issue that would warrant figures to be delayed or exchanged in mass? For some figures who customers have perceived as having problems, these have been responses from some Mattel reps: “Mossman is not a bath toy.” “It’s not a big deal! Reviewers didn’t notice the backward shoulders.” “The figure is not defective, it just is not working as perfect as we will like.” Recently, we have seen widespread QC problems with Swiftwind’s legs. How defective or “not working as perfect as we would like” would a figure have to be for Mattel to take action on a QC issue? Missing limbs?

We don’t have a specific rule for this but we do replace any defective product so if a figure is assembled incorrect you can return it for a corrected item.

Mysterious Stranger asks: What is the future of the “Action League” line? I’ve been collecting all the Green Lantern related characters and am only missing Kyle Rayner. What are the odds of him being released? (more…)

MOTUC Bio Discussion #45 > The Faceless One

February 1, 2012 | Poe

Inspired by He-Man.org’s Roast Gooble Dinner podcast, welcome to PGPoA’s latest MOTUC Bio Discussion!

The Faceless One Bio

Real Name: Nikolas Powers

As the ruler of Zalesia, Nikolas Powers was entrusted by King Grayskull to guard the city’s great magical objects – the Havoc Staff and the mystical Ram Stone. Powers was a core member of Grayskull’s Council Of Elders, great mages from across Eternia who had the wisdom to tap into the planet’s hidden magical secrets. But by marrying and having a daughter, he broke the Elder’s treaty with King Hssss to not produce any heirs. Powers was stripped of his humanity, condemned to never leave Zalesia and forced to watch his beloved city destroyed by Serpos. Now called “The Faceless One,” he asked the wizard-warrior He-Ro to use the power of Central Tower to send his daughter Evelyn into the future. There, with his immortality, he hoped to raise her away from the terror of the Great Wars.

In this one biographical sketch, we get far, far more than we ever got about the character from the cartoon. In fact, it strips him entirely of his mystery, even giving him a first and last name (“Nikolas” is most likely a reference to Nicolas Flamel, reputed researcher of the Philosopher’s stone who became much better known thanks to Harry Potter–the Philosopher’s Stone being analogous to the Ram Stone).

I find this bio more interesting for what it leaves out. We were at one point promised an origin for the Havoc Staff–a mystery I wouldn’t mind being explained–but this isn’t it; the Havoc Staff and Ram Stone evidently predate the Faceless One. All the stuff about King Hsss and Powers being a member of the Council of Elders comes from the third volume of the MV Creations Millennium-era comics (which, sadly, I’ve never read, and have never been collected).

Ultimately this bio doesn’t make me any more excited for what was possibly my least favorite MOTUC figure of 2011. I really wish he’d been somehow involved in the creation of the Havoc Staff–it would have added a lot of value to the character for me.

New “TMNT Classics” Figures from Playmates

February 1, 2012 | Poe

Everything old is new again. Following in the footsteps of Mattel’s MOTUC and Bandai’s Thundercats Classics, Playmates brings us the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classic Collection. They’re basically super-articulated versions of the 1980s cartoon Turtles. They look VERY MOTUC-style. And yes, I’m on board for this line–unlike Thundercats, I actually collected TMNT (…a lot).

No news on a release date yet, but apparently we’ll see more of these at Toy Fair, and there will be a second series.

More pics and the exclusive scoop at MTV Geek. (Thanks to Joe Amaro for the tip!)

Update: On more reflection, I’m less psyched than cautiously optimistic. Playmates tried super-articulation before with their Fightin’ Gear Turtles and the results were mixed; the articulation was plentiful but poorly engineered, especially the articulated fingers which couldn’t hold their weapons tightly. Moreover, I can’t think of a single previous Playmates figure, of any line, that had quality super-articulation. [But feel free to remind me if I’m forgetting something.]

Also in the figure above, the head looks too big and the swords too small. I’ll definitely get a Leonardo–because I always buy Leonardo–but whether I end up wanting the whole line remains to be seen.

Review > Panthor (Masters of the Universe Classics)

February 1, 2012 | Poe

Continuing my effort to catch up on the MOTUC reviews…

Mattel was nothing if not thrifty with the original Masters of the Universe line in the 1980s. The mold for Battle Cat was borrowed from a Big Jim playset from the 1970s, and Panthor was obviously a repainted, flocked Battle Cat. Mattel is just as concerned with saving money through mold re-use with Masters of the Universe Classics today as they were in the 1980s (if not more so), so there’s not a whole lot to say about Panthor that I didn’t say about Battle Cat. (more…)

Interesting Tidbit About Those Mattycollector Sub Cancellations

February 1, 2012 | Poe

I came across this on the He-Man.org forums (courtesy user “Neil”) and thought it was worth passing along to any of you who may be having (or will have) problems with your credit card authorizations on Mattycollector:

If you are a subscriber, it’s not enough just to change your credit card details. If you do that, it only works for all subsequent transactions. Previous purchases (like your subscriptions) are still tied to your old credit card number. In order to solve that you have to go into your Order History, find the order number for your subscription (probably the one “in progress”) and change the credit card details in there as well. It’ll show you the last four digits of your old card number and you can click on that to make the change.

Now I didn’t realise this until after DR had cancelled my 2011 and 2012 Club Eternia subscriptions. They kept telling me to change my credit card details, and I kept telling them that I had done so…. not realising that I hadn’t changed them in the one place they were looking. Now, it’s utterly their fault for having such a rubbish and non-intuitive system… but I’d rather play their game then have to get them to correct mistakes.

That’s a pretty useful piece of information that I haven’t seen Mattel or Digital River publicize anywhere.

Pic of the Day > Ashley Wood’s World War Robot – 1/12 Dropcloth [Jungler Variant] by Ed Speir IV

February 1, 2012 | Poe

No Questions for Mattel

January 31, 2012 | Poe

Though I know it will cost me some traffic, I’ve decided to stop submitting questions to Mattel for the time being.

There are a few reasons for this, but the two main ones are:

1.) Too frequently, the answers are evasive or unsubstantial. (Besides, many times the same questions get asked by other sites anyway.)

2.) And yes, it’s a little bit because I was miffed by this. If that makes me seem petty, so be it. But at some point you’re done baling and you’ve reached the last straw, y’know?

That’s not to say that something could change–I’m more than willing to listen to some positive outreach from Mattel. But for now, I’m going to focus on getting more interviews with other industry players, like the upcoming pieces I have with the folks behind Battlegrip and October Toys.

If you have questions you really want to ask Mattel, there are many, many other sites that do the Q&As (and more every month).

Review > King Grayskull (Reissue) (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

January 31, 2012 | Poe

The second version of King Grayskull was released on November 15, 2010, making this easily my most-delayed review of a MOTUC figure. I didn’t even get around to opening him until I started this review. That’s mostly because I prefer the original King Grayskull (my review) and I wasn’t I even wanted to keep this version (but ultimately, being a completist–aside from the DC vs. MOTU sets–I have).

With the upcoming Temple of Darkness Sorceress convention exclusive with the pedestal for the Orb of Sparkle Crest, I decided it was time to open up ol’ D’Vann. (more…)