Mercenary Wraith by Ed Speir IV
News round-up, 11/8/08
—Larger photos of prototype Masterpiece Grimlock (Toynewsi)
—Packaged photos of DCUC Adam Strange/Starfire two-pack (Mattycollector)
—Gears of War 2 NECA figure photos (Figures.com)
—MTV wants a few good fanboys/girls (nycomiccon.com)
—Marvel Select Wolverine w/ First Appearance Variant (MarvelousNews)
—McFarlane’s Halo Wars Wave 1, still no sign of figures from first two games (Toynewsi)
—Hasbro Indiana Jones Q&A (CoolToyReview)
—Hasbro’s 63rd Star Wars Q&A (Rebelscum)
—McFarlane, NBA and Southwest want to send you to the 2009 NBA All-Star game (Spawn.com)
MP Grimlock revealed!
Me, Masterpiece Grimlock, KING!
No pictures yet, but apparently the long-rumored Masterpiece Grimlock is real and will be eating up $150 of my hard-earned cash come next spring. (For those of you who don’t know, G1 Grimlock is my favorite toy of all time.) Here’s hoping this isn’t just the latest round of rumor-mongering.
Now I just have to figure out how to justify the expense to DMG…
MERCENARY WRAITH
All apologies for the lack of updates–a combination of a busy week and a general lack of items of toy-related interest is to blame.
As any regular reader of this blog knows, I don’t collect any G.I. Joe figures. However, I’m always interested in a great toy (for instance, I own the Sigma Six Sky B.A.T.–that thing is just a cool). And I have to say this guy looks awesome:
I know nothing about the character, although the short bio on Hasbro’s site sounds pretty cool:
MERCENARY WRAITH was known for years by the G.I. JOE team and the COBRA organization. Each group hoped that the skilled spy and fighter would choose to join them. In the end, DESTRO was the only one who discovered what MERCENARY WRAITH truly lived for: chaos and destruction. MERCENARY WRAITH doesn’t care about causes or sides, right or wrong; he cares only about the next mission or battle, the next chance to cause harm. Using stolen technology, he acquired a stealth assault suit that makes him virtually invisible. He is protected from weapons fire by impenetrable ceramic plates and is an expert marksman with the built-in forearm cannons. The only flaw in the suit is that an outline of him can be seen if he moves too fast, but by then he is so close to this target that you only get a quick, shadowy glimpse before MERCENARY WRAITH makes his move.
He looks and sounds like the Joe-verse’s Boba Fett, specifically designed to make geeks go wild. Heck, I’m surprised he hasn’t given Snake Eyes a run for his money in popularity.
Anyway, he’s such a cool-looking toy that I just might have to get him…if I can find him. He’s so cool I assume he’ll be shortpacked or otherwise impossible to find. For those of you in the Joe loop, when is he due out?
The Return
That’s right, folks…I’m back. Cue evil laughter…wait for it…now.
You guys get me for a whole week this time. Of course, there’s not a lot of toy news to discuss, it being the week after SDCC, but Poe has another ‘5 Questions’ up, and I’ll tackle next Tuesday’s Odds ‘n Ends. Other than that, we’ve got a wide open schedule. So, tell me. Anything you’d like to discuss? Any opinions on Hasbro’s announcements for the Marvel Legends line last week? Ooh, here’s a good one that always pulls a lot of answers: What new character (I.E., one that hasn’t been done in ML-scale before) would you like to see most in the ML line?
Here’s mine.
I know we’ve seen a LOT of green lately, but there’s just something so…cool about a humanoid pteronodon. I’d have customized one already if that DCSH Man-Bat exclusive weren’t so expensive. My second choice, in light of the Guardian announcement, would be more Alpha Flight figures–Sasquatch is lonely.
What about you guys? Any picks? Hasbro’s announced quite a bit in the next few months, but there’s still a lot more they can do with the line.
Hasbro’s Marvel Museum (SDCC 2008)
(Full pictures of everything I discuss are right here.)
Hasbro sure does show us a lot of Marvel figures, considering that they haven’t actually sold us many in the last 8 months or so.
Still, Hulk Legends has made it to retail (and Foom is worth it, even if a few of the figures aren’t), and other lines are on their way. In a weird move, Hasbro has shown another Wal-Mart exclusive wave, with no standard HML 4 yet to appear. I hope they don’t plan to continue this trend of ML appearing only as exclusives… (more…)
Heightened Interest (Marvel Legends She-Hulk)
Pete here! Hey, lucky me–I completed my Hulk Legends set this week, courtesy of a well-thought out wedding present from a friend of mine.
As I’ve perused various postings on the figures in this wave over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed that one figure under quite a bit of scrutiny is She-Hulk. Some are concerned that this is nothing more than another rehash of the ML2 Shulkie, and more are concerned by the disparity in height. Well fear no more! With my shrewd detective skills, I shall unravel this dark and sinister mystery, at great personal risk to myself. I do this so that you may sleep peacefully at night, secure in your safety. You may thank me with money. (more…)
5 Questions With: Richard Gottlieb
Today I’m pleased to share this interview with Richard Gottlieb, a longtime provider of business development services to the toy industry.
Codename: Richard Gottlieb
Base of Operations: richardgottliebassoc.com
History: Richard Gottlieb is President of Richard Gottlieb’s USA Toy Experts, LLC, and a provider of business development services to the consumer products industry. Richard combines an MBA in Global Management with thirty-five years of consumer products experience to help small, medium, and Fortune 500 Manufacturers increase their market share. Providing straight talk and out of the box thinking, Richard helps companies create innovative, new ideas that leverage their company’s existing assets in dynamic new ways. He is also a Contributing Editor and blogger for “Playthings” and “Gifts & Decorative Accessories” magazines.
PG: In the 1980s, action figures were huge business, with mass market lines like Star Wars, He-Man, G.I. Joe and Transformers dominating the market. Today, kids appear to be more interested in electronics (such as videogames and Ipods) than traditional toys. Overall, what is the action figure industry like today compared to twenty years ago?
RG: It is alive and well. It certainly does compete with other forms of entertainment for children but is a staple part of the industry. Its health will vary with the health of the movie, television and other intellectual property it relies on. Bottom line, if there are hot properties then the segment will be hot. (more…)
Hasbro Makes My Short Round Dreams Come True
Recently Hasbro released images of their upcoming Indiana Jones figures and they’ve finally made my dreams come true. Way back when I first heard that they were going to make Indiana Jones figures, the figure I had wanted the most (aside from Indiana Jones of course) was Short Round.
Why you ask? Why? Short Round is flipping awesome. He’s only eight years old and he managed to save Indiana Jones life. Without Short Round the Nazis wouldn’t have found the Arc of the Covenant… or at least they would have found it and had their faces melted slightly sooner. Without Short Round the Holy Grail wouldn’t be in the hands of the Nazis, except now that I think about it the Grail couldn’t have crossed the seal anyway… Uh well, without Short Round saving Indy the Russians wouldn’t have been killed by the aliens? Wait a minute. Did Indiana Jones do anything in any of the movies that had any impact on the ultimate outcome of the film besides giving the Sankara Stones back to the Indian villagers?
Regardless, the rest of the figures in the Temple of Doom line up looks awesome, especially Mola Ram. Check the rest of them out on Toy News International.
