Toy Aisle Trolls > Skal(lox)ped

August 11, 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: WW

What It’s Supposed to Look Like: This

WW writes:

Long time reader, first time “caller”! I was in a Walmart in Catonsville, MD and I stumbled upon the attached example of a Toy Aisle Troll. As you can see, they stole the Skallox/Nite-lik Red Lantern body and replaced it with a *broken* Atom body. Atom’s broken leg was just free-floating in the package. The package rim was covered in tape, so it was obvious to anyone that it had been opened. Surprisingly, the Stel part was still there.

Toy Aisle Trolls > Lack Hand

August 9, 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: Poe

The Problem: The BAF piece is missing, and the Mattel Black Hand figure has been replaced with a DC Direct Black Hand.

What It’s Supposed to Look Like: This

Poe writes: Poester Sped and I came across this at the Toys R Us in Dedham, MA. Someone at TRU was evidently vaguely aware of the problem, as it’s got the reduced-price red sticker. But for all I know they just thought the BAF piece was missing–even Sped missed the fact it was a DCD Black Hand until I pointed it out.

Odds ‘n Ends > August 8, 2011

August 8, 2011 | Poe

  • I’m putting together what I’m calling “Bat-Week”–a week of reviews of Batman-related toys. I was hoping to do it this week, the week after Shark Week, but it didn’t come together. So it will be either next week or the week after.
  • I missed this out of SDCC, but it appears Mattel is actually looking into an opt-in option for subscribers for the six “Anniversary” figures in 2012 (Fearless Photog, Draego-Man, and the other four new characters). If that happens, I’ll be both surprised and pleased. The vehicles and Granamyr are still excluded because the pricing on them isn’t known yet (though they’ve been saying $80 for Granamyr).
  • DCUC is on sale for $9.99 at TRU this week, evidently. If you’re short on Mary Marvels or Steppenwolfs, now’s your chance to stock up.
  • Speaking of TRU, apparently the “Mad Love” Joker/Harley two-packs are hitting stores. It would be just my luck if every other Mattel DCUC 2-pack has pegwarmed but I never even see this set.
  • On a related note, I’ve started looking for the K-Mart exclusive Golden Age Batman w/ Bat-Mite. All I’ve found are empty pegs for Batman Legacy figures that haven’t been put out.

Review > Battleground Teela (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

August 5, 2011 | Poe

I’ve made no secret of the fact that my favorite bit of Masters of the Universe fiction is the three-issue DC Comics miniseries from the early 1980s. I grew up on the Filmation cartoon, and it holds a special place in my heart; many of the early minicomics were great; the Mike Young Productions cartoon in 2003 had some great storylines and characterization. But the DC Comics miniseries is an epic that tosses together the sword and science of the world of Eternia with reckless abandon. True, its version of Zodac is a thinly-veiled Metron. But the series features many fun Kirby-esque touches, from epic energy battles to phantasmagorias to over-the-top, blood-and-thunder dialogue. It’s the way I like to think of Eternia–a world where every moment is epic.

Since the miniseries was created while the toy line was still in development, a few of the characters looked a little different than the toys, none moreso than Teela. In the DC miniseries, the Sorceress looked identical to the toy version of Teela.ยน I’m not sure where the model for the DC Teela came from, but she only dressed this way in the first issue. By the second issue, Mattel must have corrected DC, because she was wearing the toy’s white one-piece (though she kept the blonde hair). This led to both Teela and the Sorceress wearing the same outfit.

I’ll admit I was a bit surprised when a campaign sprung up on He-Man.org for “blonde bikini Teela.” I still wonder to what degree this was owing entirely to the fact that she was hotter than her more modestly-clothed counterpart…but for me, the appeal of this figure, beyond its more generally sword-and-sorcery look, is that it’s the first figure to be based on my favorite bit of MOTU media. It gives me hope that we may see a figure of the evil sorcerer Damon in the future.

Of course, the way they shoehorned this look into the bios makes no sense at all, but we’ll get to that in the appropriate bio discussion post. Despite her relatively obscure place in the MOTU mythos, the figure sold out quickly. Furthermore, Mattel seems to have recognized Battleground Teela may represent the MOTU equivalent of Slave Leia, as they had a model dressed as BG Teela at San Diego Comic Con this year. (Thanks to MegaGearMax for the reminder about that.) (more…)

Mattel Updates on the 2012 MOTUC Subscription

August 4, 2011 | Poe

I try not to spend too many posts regurgitating news you can find elsewhere, but at the same time, I know at least some of you are trusting me to provide you with any information relevant to your interests rather than doing the work yourself.

Also, this is exactly the sort of Mattel announcement that generates a lot of comments, so I’m going to post it.

He-Fans and She-Ravers,

With the 2012 Club Eternia sale in full swing and our SDCC reveals past us, I wanted to take a quick minute to clear up some questions and comments from the boards.

1: First off, yes, we are no longer going to be doing a second run of figures. This will start with Queen Marlena and move into Man-E-Faces and the other fall figures. We still have some older figures already slotted for line time and a second run that will be offered monthly(ish) in 2012. But starting with the July/August figures there will no longer be second runs of newer figures (at least for now, anything could potentially change down the road). So if you want Marlena, now is the time to buy!

Additionally, in 2012 we will be reducing our production of all figures above and beyond the subs. We will still have product on sale day for those who do not have a sub, but in general there will be a bit less. Your first, best and most reliable way of getting the figures you want is to sign up for the sub (and the only way to get Shadow Weaver–our first Filmation character!). This will be the case for all subscriptions, not just MOTUC.

(more…)

Toy Commercial Tuesday > Pre-Filmation Animated He-Man Commercial

August 2, 2011 | Poe

I’m guessing this is someone’s video of an old MOTU commercial that was being shown by Mattel at SDCC this year (for instance, note the swelling Star Wars music in the background). According to one of the commenters on Youtube, this video was actually made by Filmation to help sell the series to TV, but it’s clearly not in the same style as the actual Filmation cartoon was.

Lots of extra detail, real facial expressions, an Alfredo Alcala-looking Skeletor–am I alone in wishing the original series had looked more like this?