Rob over at Raving Toy Maniac–who I’ve vouched for here before, and is generally a reliable guy for this sort of thing–says he’s heard something about a 6″ line by Mattel based on Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (presumably the upcoming animated film, since DC Direct has already done a bunch of figures based on the graphic novel). (more…)
Odds ‘n Ends
- I think it may be a relatively quiet day today here on PGPoA–I’m going to take a break after all those DCUC8 reviews and so forth.
- Since the eBay Hong Kong resellers/thieves once again forced their hand, Mattel has officially revealed the Warrior’s Ring that will come with Tri-Klops.
- I’ve got better photos of the DCUC Wildcat variant, but I’ve been asked to hold off on posting them until next week.
- It’s difficult to describe how excited I am that this summer I’ll get not one, but two Monkey Island games–an Xbox Live Arcade special edition of the original game and a brand-new one, Tales of Monkey Island, from Telltale Games. The Secret of Monkey Island is easily one of my favorite videogames of all time–to this day, I’ll still respond to some insults with, “How appropriate–you fight like a cow.”
- Other games I’m excited about: Metroid: Other M, Crackdown 2, Halo: Reach, New Super Mario Bros Wii.
- In one of their Q&As from this past round, Mattel claimed they might have DCUC9 on sale on Mattycollector in July. Maybe for preorder, but there is no way DCUC9 will be out in July. I expect the first collectors to get their hands on them (not counting samples) in late August at the earliest. I mean, DCUC8 hasn’t even shown up at retail yet.
Mattel Q&A roundup for June 1
- PGPoA
- The Fwoosh
- Kastor’s Korner
- Action Figure Insider
- Critical Mess
- DC Hall of Justice
- DC Collector
- Action Figure Pics
Interesting tidbits:
- Webstor’s backpack is removable, and it will have the same “climbing” action feature as the 1980s figure.
- There will be a running change to make the Hector Hall Fate’s gloves and boots gold (thereby making him a must-buy for me).
- October and December’s MOTUC figures will be good, November’s will be evil (my guesses: Teela, Mekaneck, and Scare-Glow).
- The exclusive Walmart wave will not contain any All-Star figures.
Ask Mattel > June 1 Edition
Thanks to all the excellent questions I got from you guys, this round is double the usual size. I’d like to thank Toy Guru for taking the time and effort to answer these!
1.) Can you confirm whether DCUC Wave 10 or Wave 11 is the Walmart exclusive wave?
That will be announced in an upcoming issue of Toy Fare magazine.
2.) Are the spider legs shown in the ToyFare photos of Webstor removable, and how articulated are they?
Webstor’s legs are attached to his backpack. The backpack is removable and with it come the legs. They are also on ball joints and can tuck down pretty discreetly behind his back. That is what you are seeing in the photo.
3.) Newton Gimmick asks: Mattel often suggests that collectors “contact their local toy aisle manager and ask for JLU/DCUC/etc. by name.” Target, Toys R Us and Wal*Mart don’t appear to have toy aisle managers. In some cases like Target, the managers at the stores have little if no control what is shipped to them. So what exactly is Mattel instructing us to do requesting us to do? Can you offer some alternatives to getting our voice heard?
Contacting retailers directly is the best way for fans to have their voices heard. (more…)
Toy review roundup (via Fanmode)
Michael Crawford reviews the Mattel Masters of the Universe Classics Zodac Mattycollector.com exclusive figure. Excerpt: “… if Mattel could just produce mass market action figures with this level of build quality.”
Poe Ghostal reviews the Mattel DC Universe Classics Collect and Connect Giganta figure. Excerpt: “… she’s probably the hottest woman the Horsemen have sculpted so far.”
Poe Ghostal reviews the Mattel DC Universe Classics Vigilante figure. Excerpt: “He’s one of my favorite figures in my second-favorite DCUC wave this far …” (more…)
He-Ro pops up on eBay
Those fiendish Hong Kong sellers have struck again…this time giving us a preview of He-Ro. I won’t link to the auction (I don’t want to encourage them), but it’s not hard to find.
A couple things of note:
- The gem is red, not green, although we knew this was coming.
- There’s a heavily stylized Grayskull emblem on the back of the cape
All in all, I can’t wait for this fig.
Dedicated DCUC reviews page
Since I easily have more DCUC figure reviews than any other type, I’ve created a more easily-navigable reviews page just for DCUC, sortable by name, team, or wave.
DCUC8 reviews roundup
Here’s a roundup of all my DCUC Wave 8 reviews in one convenient place:
Review > Giganta (DC Universe Classics)
How do you solve a problem like Giganta? For Mattel, the answer was to split her into a number of smaller parts and package her with the rest of DCUC Wave 8.
Giganta is this wave’s Build-a-Figure, or as Mattel calls it, “Collect and Connect” figure. However you want to phrase it, it means she’s a big toy.
Part of me wishes Mattel and the Horsemen had decided to go with Giganta’s cool modern outfit, but maybe we’ll get that down the line.
Poe’s Point > Nightwing R.I.P.
The “Battle of the Cowl” is over, and to absolutely no one’s surprise, Dick Grayson has won the twin thankless tasks of being Batman until Bruce Wayne inevitably returns and being partnered with the awful Damian Wayne as the new Robin. (more…)