Toy Aisle Trolls > Not Yo’ Man

December 20, 2011 | Poe

Toy Aisle Trolls is a feature highlighting acts of vandalism to in-store toy items. If you find a ruined package, a stolen figure, a swapped-out figure, or any other such acts, take a photo (cell phone photos are fine if they’re not blurry) and email them to poe AT poeghostal.com.

Submitted by: BP

What It’s Supposed to Look Like: This

BP writes: 

Hello Poe, I wanted to share my Toy Aisle Troll find here in Kansas City Ks. I was at the local Toys R Us and found this WWE All Stars set and thought that the Macho Man Randy Savage figure looked a little different. Turns out that someone swapped out the Elite Macho Man with a basic Matt Hardy. Whats even more messed up is that when I first found the package, we got sidetracked and I didn’t get to tell an employee. We came back probably a month later and it was still sitting on the shelf. This time I made sure to tell someone.

Illustrating Skeletor

December 19, 2011 | Battlegrip.com

I recently posted a rough guide to battlegrip.com  in which I outlined a process I’ve been using to create digital illustrations by pulling photos into Photoshop (or the free GIMP program). That rough guide sparked questions that, to properly explain, led me to create a new illustration. While trying to come up with a cool subject I remembered the photo of Skeletor on a throne from Poe’s review . . . and, as you can see, I elected to use that photo as my base. (more…)

Toy Aisle Trolls > Crime Syndicate of Troll-Land

December 19, 2011 | Poe

Toy Aisle Trolls is a feature highlighting acts of vandalism to in-store toy items. If you find a ruined package, a stolen figure, a swapped-out figure, or any other such acts, take a photo (cell phone photos are fine if they’re not blurry) and email them to poe AT poeghostal.com.

Submitted by: RS

Location: Walmart in Fremont, CA

The Problem: Owlman and Johnny Quick have been replaced by Dr. Mid-Nite and a regular Flash. UPDATE: I missed the fact that Power Ring appears to have been replaced by a regular Green Lantern, Superwoman has been replaced with a Marvel Legends Valkyrie, and Ultraman’s head has been swapped for a 1990s mullet-haired Supes head. Ugh.

Poe’s note: I just realized that I used the same title for two different TAT posts–and no one even noticed.

Anyway, clearly this set is serious troll-bait. Meanwhile, you can get an Owlman off eBay for the price of a single DCUC figure.

 

Odds ‘n Ends > Lego News, Po-rtal-tato, JLU

December 16, 2011 | Poe

  • There’s been a lot of Lego news this week. First off is Lego’s new girl-oriented brand. I’ve seen some knee-jerk reactions from geeks that the sets are too girly and that it’s wrong to characterize Star Wars/Indiana Jones sets as solely boy-oriented. I agree with the latter statement, but after reading the article,  I don’t think that’s what Lego is saying at all. Lego seems to have done their research on this. Girls and boys don’t play the same exact way all the time, and I’m interested to see whether Lego has indeed found a way to appeal to girls more.
  • There are also going to be Lord of the Rings Legos. My initial response was, “Did they make those years ago?” But apparently not. As much as I love the movies, frankly I’d be more excited if these were based on the books instead–I’d love a Tom Bombadil playset. But I suppose the movies are more marketable. And maybe we’ll get a videogame.
  • Dr. Mrs. Ghostal thinks this Portal 2 PotatOS Science Kit is the coolest thing she’s ever seen.
  • PGPoA contributor Monte has a post up at PGPoA Power Pal Generals Joes about the most overrated and underrated modern G.I. Joe figures. For the most part I have no idea who any of these characters are.
  • Check out the latest teaser from Spy Monkey Creations. Here’s a hint: Hammer of Chalybeous w/ Glyos fit/form function. Sweet.
  • Mattel is considering producing the last six tooled JLU three-packs for diehard collectors. The catch is that, due to the low production numbers, they would cost $50 apiece. Not being a diehard JLU collector, I can’t imagine paying that much for those figures, but I’m the guy (reluctantly) paying $60 for the Star Sisters, so who am I to judge?

Happy Wind Raider Day!

December 15, 2011 | Poe

[Here’s the link to the all-in-one page.]

With Demo-Man delayed, I think we can all agree the real reason everyone’s hitting Mattycollector today will be for the Wind Raider. I’ll be interested to see how quickly it sells out. Personally I don’t find the Wind Raider to be all that interesting a vehicle–I’d much rather have gotten the Battle Ram or even the Attack Trak first–but it does look lovely, and the stand is a nice touch.

So just to clarify, everything will ship right away except Demo-Man. If you order Demo-Man, anything bundled with him will have to wait until he arrives at the warehouse in early January. If you want your stuff to ship right away, don’t order Demo-Man. On the other hand, this is your only chance (as far as I know) to actually order him–he won’t go on sale in January when he arrives. So yes, this is kind of a pre-order, amusingly enough.

Then there’s the controversial Battleground Evil-Lyn repaint and the Legion of Super-Heroes 12-pack is on sale again, as is the brand-new Vigo from Ghostbusters II.

So, what are you getting?

Ask Mattel > Answers for December 14, 2011

December 14, 2011 | Poe

Gargamel asks: Will we see a Movie Masters line for the Tim Burton Batman films in the near future?

There are no plans for now, but it’s a good idea that we’ll consider.

Rich asks: Wow, that Legion 12-pack sold really well! And quickly! I know that you’ve barely planned 2012, and 2013 is a long way off your radar, but if you’re considering another 12-pack, would you help fill out all of our DCUC teams with a “Women of the DC Universe” 12-pack? In one fell swoop, you could give us Elasti-Girl (Doom Patrol); Platinum (Metal Men); Ice and Fire (JLI); Hawkgirl II (Kendra) (JLA/Modern JSA); Vixen (JLA); Huntress (JLA/Birds Of Prey); Phantom Lady (JSA/Freedom Fighters); Mera (JLA/Aquaman); Jade (Infinity Inc/JLA); Batwoman (Batman Inc) & Dr Light II (JLI), for example. Would you consider diversifying many teams at once with this approach? DC’s line of busts have already featured 7 of these characters, so there’s more than enough appeal for Kendra/Mera/Phantom Lady/Vixen/Batwoman/Huntress/Jade in your audience! Thanks!

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