Wow, am I late with this thing. Frankly the only reason I’m even doing it is to placate my obsessive-compulsiveness–there must be a PPF for every year, even if it takes me three months into the following year to do it.
MOTUC Bio Discussion #38 > Preternia Disguise He-Man
Inspired by He-Man.org’s Roast Gooble Dinner podcast, welcome to PGPoA’s latest MOTUC Bio Discussion!
This bio largely draws from the vintage minicomic “The Power of Grayskull – The Legend Begins!” and the outline for the rest of those comics. The storyline was never completed, but notes were made, and are being used for the bio storyline. (more…)
Ask Mattel > Answers for March 1
1.) Elvis8Batman asks: DCUC. Do you plan on completing both the young sidekick versions of the Teen Titans team and the older Perez era version of the team as at the moment they are half and half?
Ideally, in time, we’ll get to both.
2.) RM asks: As a huge Shawn Michaels fan, and a fan of your fantanstic Elite-style WWE figures, I’ve been very much looking forward to adding a Mattel Shwn Michaels to my collection. One thing however has prevented me from doing so; the complete lack of chest hair on every Shawn Michaels figure to date. Shawn’s chest hair (and stubble) are trademark aspects of his “look”, and his figures just don’t look right without. Is there any chance that future Shawn Michaels figures going forward may have paint applications to correct this, to give fans the accruate figures that they desire? (more…)
Review > Bow (Masters of the Universe Classics)
[Poe’s note: Welcome to the new look for our reviews! Much thanks to OB1 for helping put this together.]
Just as Teela was the token woman among the mostly sausage-fest that was the Heroic Warriors, Bow represents the token man in the Great Rebellion (unless you count Kowl, I guess…and I think Swiftwind might be a dude…). Having never watched She-Ra, I can’t say I have an attachment to the character. But I have an attachment to Masters of the Universe Classics, so, here we are.
Pic via He-Man.org
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The original Bow figure wasn’t that impressive. As part of the Princess of Power line, he lacked the insanely-muscled physique of the vintage MOTU figures, reminding those boys who were interested in POP that the line wasn’t really meant for them. That said, Bow is arguably a forerunner of the New Adventures of He-Man toyline, which featured more realistic anatomical proportions. That’s probably why MOTUC Bow’s legs, particularly his boots, are quite obviously based not on Bow’s vintage figure, but on NA He-Man. (And now that I’ve gotten a better look at them, his gauntlets appear to be based on NA He-Man’s as well.)
For MOTUC, Bow has been updated to match the house style, meaning he finally gets to show off his abs like all the other dudes.
Last day to vote for Man-E-Faces’s colors
Just a reminder–the poll about the colors for MOTUC Man-E-Faces ends today. Vote now!
The Four Horsemen and all four Roast Gooble hosts have stated they want the flesh-toned MEF. I voted for the middle ground, which should be classic Poe to those of you who know me personally. Anyway, barring a big last-minute surge, it looks the middle ground is going to win.
1,200 votes seems surprisingly low to me….far more action figures will be produced than there are people voting for it.
That said, we can always get the flesh-toned MEF in a DC vs. MOTU 2-pack with Two-Face–if those keep going. Given my inability to find on at any TRU anywhere, I’m not sure what the likelihood of that is.
Any questions for Mattel?
Questions are due by 11:59pm Sunday, February 27.
Battleground Teela = Te-Man?
So last night I recorded an appearance on OrccaCast. That episode, which should be out sometime early next week, will feature the reveal of the identity of this thing I teased you about a while back (I’ll have actual pics later in the week). We got to discussing the mysterious “big news” regarding Battleground Teela. (more…)
Toy Aisle Trolls > The Shave and the Trolled
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 MB must live in a troll-heavy area, because he drops not one, but two douchetrocities on us:
Writes MB:
Found both of these at the same Wal-Mart in Greenville, SC. The only Kyle that I have seen and the plastic was cut with a box cutter in the shape of the sword. What makes it even better was that they also took the box cutter as the package for that was on the shelf on the other side of the aisle. I’m sure that the Brave and Bold one just had Superman pulled out of the hole at the top, which is exactly what I thought I would see when I first saw this set.
At least the Kyle remains intact in its package–even the BAF part is there. I’m wondering if this wasn’t just a case of a careless employee slashing the package as he opened the case of figures. I missed the fact they stole his sword. Terrible. And odd. He really wanted just the sword that bad? AND he stole the box cutter he used to do it? Wow. I assume this guy will be be moving up from torturing pets and stealing toys to the FBI’s Most Wanted in a few years.
There’s no excuse for stealing the Superman figure–much less from a toy set aimed at five-year-olds. Unless said excuse is “I’m a total douchebag”–which doesn’t excuse the theft, but at least would be honest.
Review > Preternia Disguise He-Man (Masters of the Universe Classics)
I covered the origin of Preternia Disguise He-Man pretty thoroughly in an earlier post, so I won’t rehash that here, aside from mentioning that he’s based on the characters appearance in the 1980s minicomic “The Powers of Grayskull – The Legend Begins!”
PD He-Man is the 2011 subscription exclusive figure, a decision which made most people happy, since people who bought the subscription are generally big enough fans to want the figure, while those who didn’t were happy not to get another He-Man variant; and those who did buy the subscription but didn’t want PD He-Man could easily sell him to those who didn’t buy a sub. Which is an incredibly complicated way of saying yes, he was a good choice for a subscription incentive figure.
The “Powers of Grayskull” concept came about very late in the MOTU line in the 1980s, just as the movie was flopping. As such, it makes use of some of the movie’s ideas, including the Cosmic Key, a device which can open a portal to other worlds–including Earth, which conveniently lets you film 90% of your epic fantasy movie on the streets of Los Angeles. Mattel got a bit more creative with the concept, sending He-Man back to the time when dinosaurs ruled the Earth–I mean, Eternia. (more…)
Toy Fair 2011 > The Experience
(l-r: Poe, H. Eric “Cornboy” Mayse, Joe Amaro, Cornboy’s wife Corinna, and Val “JVS3” Staples)
It’s been over a week now, so I should probably try to wrap up my Toy Fair coverage. We’re getting there!
For this post, I’d like to give you a description of my general experience at Toy Fair. This was my first trip to NYTF, and I thought it might be fun to show you what it’s like. (more…)