Poe’s Point > A Peek into the Madness of Mattycollector’s Return Policy

January 4, 2012 | Poe

So, here’s an update on my Wind Raider situation.

The long-suffering Dr. Mrs. Ghostal, who ordered my Wind Raider using her own account as as Christmas gift, had to call Digital River to request a replacement. DMG hates making cold calls to anyone, so we were already in a bad place.

We bypassed the standard customer service and called the Escalation Department directly. This probably saved us three to five business days of bureaucratic runaround, but both DMG and I suspect Digital River will soon close down this backdoor and require a ticket number from customer service before allowing someone to talk to the Escalation Dept. This would support what we now believe is an unofficial policy to try to make getting replacements so difficult as to cause the customer to give up entirely.

Adding this image and link so that it shows up in search results for DR.

I had read that the Escalation Dept. often sent out a replacement without asking for a return, but in this case we were asked to box up the Wind Raider and send it back. Here’s where it gets even more frustrating. Rather than simply emailing us a UPS label to stick on the box–or even letting us just bring the damned box to a UPS store–we have to give the box to a UPS delivery person, who will have the label. The UPS person will apparently arrive sometime during business hours in the next three days.  (more…)

Wind Raider review addendum – missing guns

January 4, 2012 | Poe

It’s been brought to my attention that my Wind Raider is in fact incomplete–there should be two guns on the underside of the ship, to the right and left of the center front wheel. You can see the little divots where they’re supposed to be attached. You can see them on Michael Crawford’s review pics.

I don’t know if they were supposed to come attached and someone at the factory just forgot them, or if they were supposed to be loose in the box–but there’s no sign of them.

I’ll be requesting a replacement–this error bugs me a lot more than the Swift Wind one.

Help Poe identify an old toy (and win a free Sword of Ages)

January 3, 2012 | Poe

The first person to post a comment correctly identifying this toy gets a free Sword of Ages (random color scheme)!

I’ve been wracking my brain trying to identify an old toy I had. For most of my life I only had one part of it. Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of what I want to show you–I can only describe it.

I seem to recall that this toy that was similar to Voltron in that it was a robot made from a number of vehicles put together, but I don’t believe it was Voltron or Dairugger (vehicle Voltron). It may have been some sort of Voltron-like ripoff, but I don’t think it was a bootleg. I’m fairly sure I got it at Child World in Hanover, MA, so it would have been some sort of mass market thing.

The only part of it I can distinctly remember was a small blue plane-like vehicle. It was about 2 ½” in wingspan and dark blue with a slight silvery sheen. It actually looked somewhat like the Wind Raider, in that it had two turbines on either side of the front and a cockpit in the center of the craft, rather than the front. There were two exhaust-whatchamacallits in the back.

It was molded entirely in blue, and the only moving parts were the cockpit and missiles. It may not even have had the cockpit canopy, but I’m pretty sure it did. The canopy may not have been hinged–it may have just snapped on–but if it did have a canopy, it was clear.

Here’s my incredibly lame drawing of it:

In between the turbines on the front were holes for spring-loaded missiles, and I think the seat/cockpit may have had a opening translucent canopy, though I lost both the missiles and the canopy very early on. The only part of this robot that survived in my toybox–for years–was that little plane. I think the plane went on the robot’s chest, or maybe its back.

I’m fairly certain this was some sort of imported anime-type toy (like Matchbox’s Voltron stuff), but again, I’m fairly certain it was a mass market item, not a direct Japanese import.

 UPDATE: The toy has been identified! It was from the Diaclone Dia-Attacker:

Review > Wind Raider (Masters of the Universe Classics)

January 3, 2012 | Poe

Masters of the Universe Classics was born in July 2008 with the King Grayskull San Diego Comic Con exclusive. The line proper started in December 2008 with the release of Beast Man and He-Man. The first “beast” was Battle Cat, released in February 2010; and now, three years into the line–three years!–we have the first vehicle, the Wind Raider.

I’ll admit I expected the previously-revealed Battle Ram to be the first vehicle–and also hoped it would be, because it’s my favorite (with the Talon Fighter coming in a close second). The Wind Raider is actually pretty low on my list, but it’s one of the more iconic vehicles and owing to its simpler design, I’m sure it was a lot cheaper to produce for this toe-dipping exercise. (more…)

Battle Beasts to return on April 12, 2012?

January 2, 2012 | Poe

I was perusing the Battle Beasts News and discovered something I’d completely missed: a countdown timer for Battle Beasts from Diamond Select. (Or supposedly from Diamond Select–BBN says Diamond posted it, but I couldn’t find the original link.) It appears to be set for April 12, 2012. What will happen on that day? BBN speculates that there will be some sort of announcement at C2E2, which begins the 13th.

What will it be? More of the Minimates-style Battle Beasts we’ve seen so far? Or the even more awesome fully-sculpted figures they showed at SDCC 2010?

As a reminder, I’m not sure we’ve ever confirmed whether Diamond Select has the rights to anything aside from the trademark name “Battle Beasts”–i.e., they may not have the rights to any of TakaraTomy’s character designs.

Show and Tell > McDonalds Muppet Babies

January 2, 2012 | Poe

After seeing The Muppets earlier this week, it got me thinking of my personal favorite incarnation of the franchise, Muppet Babies. As I mentioned in my article last week, to me, Muppet Babies was Saturday morning. The show was well-written with lots of heart and good lessons for kids, but made it more palatable than a lot of kids’ programming with a healthy dose of pop culture references (who can forget the Star Wars episode?). Most importantly, the show didn’t just encourage kids to use their imagination, it practically exalted it as a concept. (more…)

Odds ‘n Ends > MIB3, Swift Wind QC errors, 6″ ThunderCats

January 1, 2012 | Poe

  • Darth Skeletor, Overlord of the Sith.
  • I meant to post on this a while back, but some pics surfaced of JAKKS’s Men in Black 3 toys. Looks like JAKKS is giving them the 4″ POTC-style treatment–not sure if there will be 6″ figs. I guess there are spoilers here if you’re trying to avoid them. MIB2 was pretty bad, so I don’t really have high hopes for this one. The original film is one of my all-time faves, though, so I’ll be happy if it doesn’t suck…
  • I managed to submit my entry for the Create-A-Character contest just under the wire (i.e., yesterday, because it had to be postmarked by December 31). I’ll reveal it once it’s allowed, which I guess is after the announce the winners.
  • It appears there’s a very common error on the Masters of the Universe Classics Swift Wind. WARNING: This is an error you might never notice. I’ve colored the text in white so that you can remain in blissful ignorance if you desire. If not, highlight the following text. Please don’t mention it specifically in the comments. The front forelegs (bottom part of the legs, above the hooves) are often two left or two right legs. You can tell by checking to see if the veins are in the same place. I checked and my Swift Wind has this error. If you read through that thread, you’ll find some advice on what to do if you want a replacement, though I think this is probably the best shot. I thought it over and decided this was one of those errors that I might never have noticed, and between that, my general lack of interest in the character, and the effort required to get a replacement, it just isn’t something I want to bother with. I get the fans who say everyone should pursue this to teach Mattel a lesson, but I’m just too lazy in this case. I will admit I’ve occasionally wished I could cancel my 2012 sub, though.
  • The 6″ classic ThunderCats have started hitting stores–I saw them at Target a couple days ago. Overall I’d say the 8″ line is better in terms of design and sculpting, but the 6″ scale is a bit more appealing.