OAFE has just posted my review of the Dark Knight Movie Masters Batman.
Poe’s Point > A little perspective for DCUC collectors
Where is everyone? Two new posts since Friday and not a word of comment. I suppose I can’t really complain, since I’ve been sort of in toy hibernation myself, anxiously awaiting the arrival of wave three of DC Universe Classics. The waiting has already driven more than one collector over at Fwoosh and RTM insane.
Much of the complaining among the online community is based around Mattel’s perceived distribution problems. In terms of quantity, I understand where that’s coming from–the second wave of DCUC has been difficult to find, though I think it’s worth pointing out that there’s plenty of the first wave around, and it’s probably only fair to wait and see how easy it is to find waves three, four and beyond before condemning the company. DCUC2 could be a fluke (or, as Mattel has promised, more shipments of the wave may hit, particularly at Wal-Mart).
Now, as for the collectors who, like me, are going crazy with the wait for DCUC3…
I was too young to really be aware of how toys were released back in the 1980s. But a cursory look at the historical release lists for He-Man and G.I. Joe reveals I’m apparently a spoiled brat. The biggest year for new figure releases for the original He-Man line was 1984, when twelve new characters were made. Counting vehicle drivers, the debut year of G.I. Joe: RAH featured fifteen unique figures. There were a mere eight figures in the first year of Kenner’s Super Powers line, followed by fifteen the next year and ten the final year.
Since December, we’ve seen twelve figures in the DCUC line. While the availability of these (particularly DCUC2) is definitely a problem, I think complaints about lateness are a bit unfair. If Mattel manages to get out even four waves this year (rather than the planned six), that will be twenty-four unique figures (not counting variants) in a single year–four of them BAFs. Twenty-five if you count Lobo!
That’s pretty good for a mass market line. It will be interesting to see, at the end of the year, the final counts for original DCUC/Marvel Legends figures in 2008. I’ll revisit the topic then.
Hasbro Makes My Short Round Dreams Come True
Recently Hasbro released images of their upcoming Indiana Jones figures and they’ve finally made my dreams come true. Way back when I first heard that they were going to make Indiana Jones figures, the figure I had wanted the most (aside from Indiana Jones of course) was Short Round.
Why you ask? Why? Short Round is flipping awesome. He’s only eight years old and he managed to save Indiana Jones life. Without Short Round the Nazis wouldn’t have found the Arc of the Covenant… or at least they would have found it and had their faces melted slightly sooner. Without Short Round the Holy Grail wouldn’t be in the hands of the Nazis, except now that I think about it the Grail couldn’t have crossed the seal anyway… Uh well, without Short Round saving Indy the Russians wouldn’t have been killed by the aliens? Wait a minute. Did Indiana Jones do anything in any of the movies that had any impact on the ultimate outcome of the film besides giving the Sankara Stones back to the Indian villagers?
Regardless, the rest of the figures in the Temple of Doom line up looks awesome, especially Mola Ram. Check the rest of them out on Toy News International.
Humor > Economics Study Claims “Free Parking Prize” Destabilizes Monopoly
More double-dipping into my old Biggerboat entries for last-minute filler. Enjoy!
Geneva, SWITZERLAND—A group of international economic researchers released the findings of a three-year study this week, claiming that the traditional–but technically illegal–use of the “Free Parking prize” in Parker Brothers’ “Monopoly” board game hopelessly destabilizes the game, allowing players to win by chance rather than skill. (more…)
Robo Course
While obviously I encourage you to go out and buy the a copy of ToyFare #132, you can now read my retrospective on the 1980s Robo Force toy line on TF’s website as well.
Get ‘Er, Robo!
Robo Force may have suction cups for behinds, but these robot toys never, ever sucked
Hello, Robo! Adios, Robo!
ToyFare looks at the five strangest Robo Force robots and the ones that didn’t make the cut
Batman vs. Predator: Old Scores #4
That’s right–Batman vs. Predator is back, with a new, better subtitle. Click on the thumbnail to read…
5 Questions With: TJ Dietsch
Codename: TJ Dietsch
Specialty: Associate Editor
Base of Operations: ToyFare magazine
History: He comes from the mean streets of Toledo, Ohio where he learned to survive by reading comics, watching hours of TV and playing with toys. He’s somehow, to the amazement of just about everyone but his mom, turned all that into a living–go figure! No pun intended. Or maybe it was.
Please describe what you do at ToyFare. Is this the culmination of a lifelong desire to work with toys or the inevitable result of a misspent youth?
I am the Associate Editor here at ToyFare, I took over when Justin left us briefly. Basically, I read all the copy that comes in and check it for factual and grammatical accuracy. Every now and then I get to write a feature or two (my first was the Iron Man Costume Contest feature in TF #130 which I’m pretty proud of). I also suggest word balloons and help out with things like TTT, Back Page and those wacky next issue ads.
I actually started out at Wizard Entertainment with an internship a few (four?) years ago. After I graduated I sat around my home town of Toledo, Ohio for a while and then got a job in the research department of Wizard for about three years before moving up to my current position. I’ve always like ToyFare, I even remember picking up the first few issues until I couldn’t afford it anymore and I’d read the issues as they came out when I was in research. I’m a big toy fan, I’ve been collecting, opening and playing with action figures since I was a kid, so ToyFare isn’t where I though I’d end up, but it’s been a perfect fit so far. (more…)
ToyFare #132
Let’s see what we’ve got in this month’s issue of ToyFare!
Keep in mind, this isn’t intended to be a comprehensive breakdown of every single page of the issue–just a few of the highlights that particularly interested me.
Page 4 – Inside the Monkeyhouse: Gotta love Zach’s old-school Toy Biz Batman outfit. There’s the requisite nipple joke as well, of course.
Page 10 – Customizing 101: Heheh. Dick Rider.
Page 16-17 – Incoming: Marvel Legends. Why hasn’t Hasbro released any good press photos of these figures? Particularly Red Hulk. Lovin’ that black-suit Wolverine. Why does the Silver Savage have a jewel on his right nipple?
Page 18 – Incoming: Marvel Legends 2-Packs. Dude, that is totally the Rock. Looks like Hasbro is following Toy Biz’s tendency to make likenesses that vaguely resemble famous actors (Brad Pitt as Angel, anyone?).
Page 20 – DC Direct’s Watchmen movie figures look great, but I must admit what I really want are the comic-based figures they showed way back in 2000 or so. One more casualty of Alan Moore’s conflicts with the mainstream comic biz. (more…)
Old school haulage and a rare Poe custom
I’m on a little mini-vacation right now, using up my vacation days at work before they expire on July 1. I took yesterday off, as well as the first two days of next week. So rather than do anything even mildly constructive yesterday, I headed off to a local comic shop, Comicazi. Comicazi has two locations–one in Somerville, Massachusetts, which I’ve visited many times, and another in Arlington. I’d never been to the Arlington one and, having nothing better to do, decided to see what was there.
What was there, my friends, was an action figure heaven. Racks upon racks of toys, both old and new–toys from the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s right up to today. I should have taken photos–I didn’t have my camera–but here’s just a random sampling of what I saw from memory: Resaurus Duke Nukem figures, McFarlane’s Nitro Riders, vintage Doctor Who figures, Galoob 3 3/4″ Star Trek: the Next Generation figures, an entire wall of Playmates Star Trek figures, Kenner Beetlejuice figures, and tons of 1990s Toy Biz Marvel figures. Again, that’s just a small sampling, and all of this was MOC. (more…)
The Four Horsemen Interview II (Part 2)
Continuing the interview from yesterday’s post, in the second half of my interview with the Four Horsemen they discuss Masters of the Universe Classics, their ongoing FANtastic Exclusive project and the future of the studio.
POE: While details are few on Masters of the Universe Classics so far, we have seen a proto of the King Grayskull SDCC Exclusive. How similar with these figures be to DC Universe Classics in size, style, and articulation?
JIM PREZIOSI: Both lines are very close in the amount and types of articulation they have, but the style is more of a throwback to the original 1980s MOTU line than DCUC. The style will retain a lot of that old school flair, but there will be enough detail and modern applications that the figures won’t feel at all out of place in todays’ market.
ERIC TREADAWAY: As for size, they’ll be close in scale with DC Universe Classics, but the proportions of the characters will be so different that we’re not sure that they’ll fit all that well together in some collectors’ eyes. (more…)