Kids and MOTUC

December 10, 2008 | Poe

I’m not going to suggest this story is representative of how kids might react to MOTUC were it a normal retail line, but this story warmed my already-pretty-fuzzy heart.

Back in 2002 my son quickly fell in love with the relaunch of MotU but due to not being able to find anyone other than He-Man and Skeletor variants he also quickly fell out of love with it. Now he’s 11 and here comes the MotUC. I showed him pics of the upcoming exclusive and he never seemed to be interested but when he saw the actual King Grayskull figure he flipped out saying that it’s the most awesome figure he’s ever seen and that he wants one now. I go on the internet and show him pictures of the other figures coming out and he’s all excited saying he wants 1 of each too. I also had to go online and disappoint him by showing him that King Grayskull is sold out and that you can only get him by paying around $75. I also had to disappoint him even further by explaining I’m not about to pay $75 for a figure and that he may have to wait for Christmas. Well he wanted it now. I had to go to Atlanta with my girlfriend this past weekend and when I got back to my parents’ house to pick my son up he shows me the receipt from where he purchased it for $68. Turns out he wanted it so bad he washed and vacuumed family members’ cars for $20 each and he raked and mowed my parent’s yard. All that for a King Grayskull figure. Makes a father proud!

10 Questions with > The Four Horsemen

December 9, 2008 | Poe

The Four Horsemen are special friends of PGPoA, having opened the site with an interview a year ago and again appearing at the six–month mark. As befits their special status, they get to answer ten questions instead of just five (whether this is a privilege or an extra obligation is subject to debate, but I digress).

Once again, the Horsemen have taken time out their extremely busy schedule to collectively answer ten questions from PGPoA. (more…)

Mock-up of what 2002-style MOTUC He-Man might look like

December 8, 2008 | Poe

Sevman over on the He-Man.org forums has created an amazing mock-up of what a 2002-style Masters of the Universe Classics He-Man might look like:

My 2ยข:

  • That is one great-looking action figure. Kudos to Sevman for his Photoshop skills.
  • Oddly enough, seeing this reinforces my desire for the classic-style figures. That’s a great action figure, but it’s not He-Man as I loved him best. (Monte, am I engaging in autobotic asphyxiation here?)

More great MOTUC pics

December 3, 2008 | Poe

P. Gayatin (Guia X on He-Man.org) has added a few more awesome photos of He-Man and Beast Man to his Flickr gallery. Check out the thumbnails below, and click this link for full-size versions.

Odds n’ Ends

December 2, 2008 | Poe

Apologies for the late Odds ‘n Ends today. I’m down with a bit of a cold, and it took a while to get up the energy to snap the new O&E pic.

You know the drill–feel free to add your own Odds and Ends in the comments section. (more…)

Buy the Power of Grayskull: The MOTUC Controversy

December 1, 2008 | Poe

Few recent action figure lines have divided fans so strongly–and bitterly–as Mattel’s new Masters of the Universe Classics. The first two figures, He-Man and Beast Man, go on sale today at 12 p.m. EST on Mattycollector.com, barring any major website problems.

First, some background: in the early 1980s, Masters of the Universe (MOTU) was one of the most popular action figure lines of the time. It essentially ruled the period between the Star Wars craze and the rise of Transformers and G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero in the mid-eighties, and many kids (myself included) started with MOTU and later moved to one of those properties. Now we’re all grown up and have become nostalgic action figure collectors, and the toy companies have catered to us with a slew of reissues and revamps of toys from our childhood.

Mattel first tried to capitalize on MOTU nostalgia in 2002. After hiring former McFarlane toy designers the Four Horsemen to do the sculpting, Mattel created an updated line aimed at both kids and collectors, supported by a new cartoon and a comic book. The Horsemen took the original MOTU designs and amped them up, emphasizing the original features from the characters while minimizing their more goofy traits and making the anatomy a bit more realistic. This was arguably the first MOTU controversy, as some diehard fans of the original line were disappointed by the new designs, while more casual fans and collectors who had never owned a He-Man figure were impressed. (more…)

News round-up, 12/1/08

December 1, 2008 | Poe

Merry Christmas-time, everyone! Or happy holidays, if you are of a non-Christmas-celebrating persuasion. Or happy secular time of celebration, good will and consumerism for you atheists.

You’ve no doubt noticed we’ve made a few little design changes to the site. Hope you like it! I want to thank webmaster OB1 for his tireless work on the site. Let us know if there’s anything you particularly like or don’t like–PGPoA is a continuing work-in-progress.

And now on to your regularly scheduled news…

  • Add comic book writer Gail Simone to the list of people who have had dust-ups with Shocker Toys. Somehow the topic came up at Simone’s creator forum at Comic Book Resources, Shocker Toys responded and the situation escalated from there. (via RTM)
  • Can anyone explain this Shortpacked to me? Wait–never mind, Willis did it himself. (Toynewsi)
  • The Marvel Legends Nemesis wave pops up overseas. Is a new avatar for OAFE‘s yo go re in the cards? (Action-Figure)
  • MOTUC He-Man and Beast Man go on sale at 12 p.m. EST today on Mattycollector.com. I’m hoping to have another post about this topic up later today.
  • Hisstank has in-hand photos of the G.I. Joe: Resolute Duke, Cobra Commander, Cobra Trooper and Blowtorch figures.