Mattel has posted some great photos of Scareglow, complete with his new bio, which doesn’t quite explain that weird, awesome accessory.
It does, however, clear up the whole “is he Skeletor’s ghost or just a guy who works for Skeletor?” issue–he’s an “Evil Ghost Serving Skeletor.” Better than “Evil Ghost Serving #52, Buffalo Chicken on Country Parmesan,” I suppose. (more…)
You may remember customizer extraordinaire Joe Amaro making a really badass modern Castle Grayskull for the 2002 Masters of the Universe line (I think I may even have spotted it on Robot Chicken once or twice).
Well, Amaro’s at it again, this time creating a supremely awesome classic Grayskull in scale with MOTU Classics.
Will Mattel grant our fondest wishes and mass produce Joe’s masterpiece? No. But we can admire it anyway! More pics here.
In the 1980s cartoon, Tri-Klops was just another one of Skeletor’s thugs. He was given no background story on the show, although the cartoon series bible claimed he was a scientist by the name of Dr. T. E. Scope on board the future queen Marlena’s spaceship who was later corrupted by Skeletor. TK also received little in the way of character development; Tri-Klops’s only claim to fame was the various abilities of his three eyes, which could shoot laser rays, see through walls and so forth.
On the 2002 series, Tri-Klops was changed into Skeletor’s #1 inventor, creating useful devices such as his iconic Doomseekers (little bird-like robots that secretly observed the good guys). While in the original cartoon, Skeletor had invented both technological and magical devices, in the 2002 series Tri-Klops took on the technology side of things, leaving Skeletor free to investigate the workings of the mystical realm.
While the 2002 portrayal was great, I’ve always been partial to the early mini-comics, produced by DC Comics, as well as the DC mini-series. In his first appearance in any media, “The Terror of Tri-Klops,” TK is just a random swordsman summoned by Skeletor to fight He-Man. When we first see him, he’s just randomly slaying blue demon-looking fellows who may or may not have deserved such treatment. When Skeletor teleports him to Eternia, he’s about ready to give Skullhead a beat-down until Skeletor hires him to fight He-Man. Tri-Klops proceeds to systematically take down Battle-Cat, Ram-Man and Teela before giving He-Man a solid thrashing. Ultimately He-Man triumphs, of course; and interestingly, Tri-Klops seems to accept his defeat gracefully, and there’s no reason to think he’ll go back to working for Skeletor.
While I think Tri-Klops works best in the MOTUniverse as Skeletor’s gadget guy, I’ve always liked the notion that he’s a near-match for He-Man as as a fighter, and may be more morally complicated than he appears. His bio for MOTU Classics is a blend of all his origins, and even includes a take on the old “T. E. Scope” name. (more…)
This is a page from the mini-comic “Danger at Castle Grayskull,” which came with the original Talon Fighter toy. It was the second of a two-story comic, and it came with a record so you could follow along and listen to the story. I’m pretty damned sure I had this as a kid–I know I had the Talon Fighter, and the whole thing with Trap-Jaw locking them up and getting rusted rings a bell.
It also shows just how stupid Eternian residents can be. It seems their incompetence isn’t limited to being fooled by blue guys. (more…)
I’ve got an extra He-Ro figure, minty fresh in his white mailer box and waiting for some loving collector to take him into his home.
So here’s the deal. I thought about saying you just had to post a comment below to enter the contest, but that’s boring. So instead, what I’d like you to do is imagine “Poe Ghostal” was a MOTU character, and then write a mini-bio for him in the style of the MOTU Classics packaging.
The bio should be between 50-75 words. It can be as serious, funny, or mocking as you want. I’ve posted a few sample bios below, so you can get a feel for the style. Feel free to make up a goofy “real name” too.
The contest will start now and end at 12pm on September 1st. I’ll pick a winner based solely on my own judgment. The winning entry will be Photoshopped into an actual MOTUC-style bio, and some runners-up will be posted as well.
I’ll open this up to international Poesters too, with one condition: I’ll pay for shipping up to $20, but you’ll have to pay the difference for anything over that. Sorry to be a jerk, but int’l shipping can get crazy.
As usual, the Power Pals and friends and family are excluded from the contest (“friends” in this case means people I’ve hung out with in person–online acquaintances are free to participate). But if they’d like to write a bio just for fun, feel free!
Click “Read the rest” to see the sample bios! (more…)
The well-connected folks at Fwoosh have posted first looks of Mattel’s 6″ Public Enemies and Webstor. First off, Fwoosh–and I think I speak for all toy collectors, but particularly those of us who wile away our time writing blogs about toys and secretly but arrogantly think we deserve some sort of compensation for all the free publicity and yet are ignored like–wait, where the hell was I going with this? Oh yeah, Fwoosh: you go to hell. You go to hell and you die for getting all these weeks-early free samples to taunt us with.
There, now I feel better. Moving on… (more…)
Maybe you’re like me, and you’ve been hearing a lot lately about the Masters of the Universe Classics toyline (seems like most of the news is coming from this blog 😉
I haven’t been a huge follower of the newly-released toyline (mainly because of the prices), but it’s my impression that Mattel is gouging the living hell out of MOTU fans, and making it a pain in the ass to get the limited edition figures they want.
Recently, Mattel has unveiled its collector’s membership where you can sign up on Matty Collector’s site to be guaranteed a figure when it’s released. That’s a big improvement, but it’ll still cost ya $260 plus shipping on 13 figures. Luckily, the figures they unveiled at SDCC were so cool and badass, everyone forgot about all their belly-aching and decided to sign up (myself included. I really didn’t wanna miss Moss Man).
So, what’s my point with all this? Well, I say screw it. It’s great that Mattel is revisiting our childhoods with the MOTUC toyline, but they know we will do whatever it takes to get these toys, because we are crazed fans with a disposable income.
Howabout we switch it up a bit. Maybe show Matty Collector who’s boss. Instead of reliving our expensive childhoods through Mattel, let’s relive a cheap childhood we never had (most of us anyway). Behold. MOTUB: Masters of the Universe Bootlegs.
Unfortunately, today is not the end of the Red Screen of Doom for those of us who subscribed, as there are no doubt bonus figures, Battle Cats and stands in our future. But at least I’ll get September off.
Before we begin the Tri-Klops Day festivities, here’s my mid-August bout–er, round of Q&As with Mattel. –PG
DC Universe
1.) Emerald asks: Can we now be assured that the remaining Matty JLU 4-packs (Shazam, Doom Patrol, and Justice Guild) will in fact be released, and if so, what are the approximate release dates?
Yes, both Doom Patrol and Justice Guild will be coming out, but we do not have release dates yet. The future of the JLU line on MattyCollector.com will depend on sales of these remaining packs. (more…)
He-Man.org member Mermisto has written up an interesting post examining inflation and it’s relation to the action figure industry. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do but never got around to it, and I think Mermisto did a better job anyway because he had access to the old Sears Wish Book catalogs.
I’m not going to blockquote what he wrote (it’ll screw up the page after the “Read More”). His post starts with the quotations.
“When the MOTUC series was first announced, I thought the $20 price tag was a little much for an action figure, but since I have been collecting vintage toys over the past decade, I am used to paying over $20 a piece for dolls and action figures anyways, so it did not bother me too much.
However, I was recently curious as to how expensive the toys I grew up with really were. I know a lot of times nowadays I tend to look at prices at Target and Wal-Mart with vintage goggles on, as I remember back to the 1980’s when I could get She-Ra or Catra for $6.99 at K-Mart back in 1985.
So, using a handy price inflation converter, I looked up all the prices in my vintage Sears Wish Books, and converted them into current prices. (I rounded the current prices to the nearest dollar, or five dollar increments if they were over $20.)
1985
Toy / Original Price / Price If Sold Today
Castle Grayskull / 29.99 / 59.99
Snake Mountain / 44. 99 / 89.99
Night Stalker / 8.99 / 17.99
Spydor / 24.99 / 49.99
Bashasaurus / 13.99 / 29.99
Fright Zone / 28.99 / 59.99
Hordak / 5.49 / 10.99
Thunder Punch He-Man / 6.99 / 13.99
Modulok / 7.99 / 15.99
Land Shark / 11.99 / 24.99
Crystal Castle / 32.99 / 69.99
She-Ra / 6.99 / 13.99
Enchanta Swan / 17.99 / 34.99
She-Ra with Swift Wind / 14.99 / 29.99
(more…)
