Odds ‘n Ends + Big Mattel SDCC Reveal tonight (maybe) + contest

April 28, 2011 | Poe

  • In theory, Mattel’s summer SDCC exclusives will be announced tonight on G4’s Attack of the Show. I’ll be busy at that time, so you won’t get my commentary until late tonight. Feel free to use this post as a discussion thread until then. That’s assuming G4 actually airs the segment tonight, but either way, Mattel says they’ll announce the exclusives on Mattycollector.com on Friday.
  • Just for the heck of it: write down as many guesses as you have for the exclusives (across all lines) and I’ll send the one who gets the most right a $15 Amazon gift certificate. If you already know any of them, though, be fair and don’t play. Power Pals also excluded.
  • I still have a gigantic pile of stuff I have to review. I ended up just opening some of it and skipping the review, most notably DCUC Wave 16. I’ve been considering doing less organized reviews, and rather just sort of talking about the toys and characters in general (with plenty of pics). Do people prefer the more organized reviews–do you come for the articulation stats, the assessment of the paint and so forth? Or would pictures + general commentary do the job?
  • As I believe I’ve been hinting, PGPoA is due for a big update in just a few weeks. In the meantime, updates may be a bit spottier than usual.
  • I finished my second playthrough of Dragon Age II last week, and my feelings remain pretty mixed. The story, while thin, did present some tough choices, but the design & gameplay were lacking (I especially hated the repeated locations–the tract-housing mansions–which seemed very late 1990s to me).
  • On a final note, I asked NECA on their Twitter account whether we might see some Portal 2 toys from them. It seems Valve prefers to do their merchandising in-house. Bit of a bummer, but maybe they’ll create some Portal 2 toys of their own (they do have some plush toys).
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MOTUC Bio Discussion #42 > Etheria Map

April 26, 2011 | Poe

Inspired by He-Man.org’s Roast Gooble Dinner podcast, welcome to PGPoA’s latest MOTUC Bio Discussion!

ETHERIA

Beautiful Planet of Despondos

After the Overlords of Trolla harnessed the aura of the Gods, they used this “Power of the Universe” to become immortal and vowed to maintain neutrality in all Five Dimensions. Sensing how dark the Dimension of Despondos was, they used the Power to create a being of formless light and sent him to Despondos to bring hope to those trapped there. It settled on the Planet Etheria, turning the small planet into a lush paradise, standing out in an otherwise dark dimension. Protected by magic, Etheria remained a home for free beings until Hordak discovered it during his banishment. Overthrowing the local monarchs, he declared Etheria his new homeworld and ruled for years as its tyrannical dictator.

Much like the bio for the Eternia map, the Etheria bio primarily adds to the ever-growing MOTUC cosmology. My first question is: who are these gods? Procrustus? Following the progression of this aura/power, it would seem that He-Man wields the power of the gods themselves.

We learn that upon gaining this “aura” of the gods, the Trollan Overlords immediately took it upon themselves to “maintain neutrality” throughout the Five Dimensions. Not order or justice, but neutrality. They deliberately send Light Hope (© Classic Media) to make Despondos a little less despondent. Does that mean that in a dimension where everything’s going great, they send bad guys? The same goes for Zodak/Zodac: if they’re tasked with maintaining neutrality, why don’t we ever see them shilling for Hordak or Skeletor? We really need an evil-leaning Cosmic Enforcer (maybe Strobo?).

“Protected by magic, Etheria remained a home for free beings until Hordak discovered it…” So, I guess that magical protection was only so good.

At least we do get confirmation that Etheria really is the only good place in the otherwise miserable dimension of Despondos. However, it does suck that King Grayskull is inadvertently responsible for Etheria’s enslavement by the Horde.

Faceless One on…Facebook.

April 20, 2011 | Poe

Yeah, so, here’s the Faceless One, a.k.a. Nikolas Powers. It’s not stated on the bio, but I assume Danger’s his middle name. I color-corrected the images from the original post while wondering why Mattel didn’t do the same.

An interesting thing about the Faceless One is how similar he is to the Dormant Form Scarabus (and, of course, suffers a bit from the comparison, however much you take into account MOTUC’s consciously retro style).

I’m a bit more excited about the Faceless One than I was about Chief Carnivus, when it comes to the 200X-specific characters, but only because I like the design more.

Ask Mattel > Answers for mid-April

April 16, 2011 | Poe

1.) Zach asks: Over the past three years, the DCU figures have seen a 50-80% price increase, with little to no increase in quality or value. This is almost to the point of MOTUC prices, minus the shipping, and those figures arguably have better quality and more accessories. Going forward, will there be anything added to these figures, besides a little useless pin, to justify this massive increase?

At this point we are fighting to keep the figures at $14.99.  Highly articulated collector figures are very expensive to make and the cost of labor and raw goods continues to rise. We will do all we can to maintain the price point without sacrificing quality, but there are no plans to plus them up further at this point.

2.) Valo487 asks: I’m glad to see the Horde getting fleshed out a bit, but it seems like the rest of the Horde as well as the Snake Men are more unique sculpts. Can you give us a rough idea of when we’ll see the next Snake Man or Horde member? (more…)

Packaged Battleground Teela revealed! (w/ bio)

April 8, 2011 | Poe

I’ve recently decided to cut down on the “churn ’em out” aspects of PGPoA–news articles you can get anywhere else and reviews of everything I buy, rather than just the things I’m really excited about. But the exception to both is MOTUC.

Thus, enjoy these packaged pics of Battleground Teela, plus a transcription of the bio.

Battleground Teela

Real name: Teela

After being wounded by King Hssss’s venom, the Sorceress of Grayskull knew her time was short. She quickly arranged a mission with Teela to the Elder’s training citadel in the Polar Ice Cap. Here, the Sorceress revealed Teela’s true heritage: that she was secretly her magically cloned daughter and destined to become the next guardian of Castle Grayskull and its secrets! Although in a state of disbelief, Teela knew in her heart that her mother spoke the truth, and trained with the Sorceress until the venom at last overtook her. Returning to Grayskull as the new guardian, Teela uses her new magic to protect the Power of Grayskull and guard the safety of all Eternia!

Wow.

So why is she blonde?

Anyway, still really excited for this figure.

Toy Aisle Trolls > I C Dead DCUC

April 8, 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.

Poester JHndz sends along a pair of DCUC swaps.

Supposed to Look Like: This and this

Problem: The DCUC Green Lantern Hal Jordan has been swapped for a DC Direct Hal Jordan; not actually that bad a trade, to be honest. Kinda weird really, since this is the most easily-available Hal Mattel has made, whereas that DCD Hal Jordan is harder to find. The second figure is a JLU Black Manta in place of Deadshot, and it’s clearly wrong.

Karmic Payback: The troll or trolls who perpetrated this crime are caught on camera self-pleasuring to World of Warcraft, which is then uploaded to YouTube for all to see.