Lego my Shaun of the Dead

March 30, 2012 | Poe

Good lord, that title sucks.

Anyway, you may recall my recently plugging yatkuu‘s “Shaun of the Dead” Lego project on Lego’s Cuuso website. Well, Simon Pegg mentioned the project on Conan the other night (video) and the project’s support has exploded.

Now, I have no idea how the rights issues are going to be resolved around this sort of thing – or whether Lego would even be willing to create a set based on an R-rated movie, no matter how popular it is. But it seems we’re closer than ever before to a Shaun of the Dead Lego set, which, honestly, is pretty amazing.

If you want to add your support the project, head over to the website.

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S.H. MonsterArts & Ultra-Act Expand with King Ghidorah, Red King

March 30, 2012 | Poe

Before we go further, I’d like to issue my usual reminder that this is my blog and sometimes I’m going to post about stuff that I like, but I realize may not be of interest to all/most Poesters.

So Tamashii, whose relationship to Bandai I’ve never quite sussed out by they seem to be some sort of Japanese corporate arm or subsidiary of them, is having its third annual “Tamashii Features” even in which they reveal a lot of the new products for the coming year. Three items caught my attention. Here they are, in order of least to most interest:

Super Robot Chogokin Daizujin

This is Super Robot Chogokin Daizujin, a super-articulated version of what many of you may know better as the Dino Megazord from Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. I never watched the show, but I’m guessing some of you did. (more…)

Batman Wants to Crush Your Cities, Learn How to Love

March 30, 2012 | Poe

I try not to shill too much on this blog, especially for specific products, but sometimes there’s something so awesome you just have to share it.

Somehow, Funko got it into their head to create a Shogun Warriors-style Batman. But it’s not just Batman, because that would be weird; no, it’s a giant ROBOT Batman. Meaning you can stand it alongside your Batman Brave and the Bold or BTAS figures as part of a display.

Standing 11 inches tall, this thing is available at Entertainment Earth for $36, which seems surprisingly reasonable for something of this size and degree of badassitude.

 

Guest Review > Weapons Rack (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

March 30, 2012 | Doc Thomas

I love accessories. In my Toy Room I have more than three chests of drawers full of well-organised, catalogued, ziplock-bagged accessories from my decades of collecting. There’s something appealing about owning a miniature armory of tiny weapons, or scaled-down shopping trolleys and cupboards that wrestlers can hurl at the Simpsons, or little fake body parts that can be strewn around a gruesome horror display. (more…)

MOTUC Bio Discussion #54 > Snout Spout

March 29, 2012 | Poe

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

Snout Spoutâ„¢ Bio
Real Name: Jaxton

A peasant from Etheria, Jaxton was one of three athletes abducted by Hordak and cast into his experimentation matrix. There, like the others, Jaxton was grafted with cybernetic parts giving him both amazing powers and a bizarre form. After crossing through a Laser Gate to Eternia with The Evil Hordeâ„¢, Snout Spoutâ„¢ escaped and joined with the renegade Masters of the Universe. Self-conscious about his appearance and called “Snout Spoutâ„¢” for his abilities to blast water from his cybernetic trunk, Jaxton often feels that everyone is always laughing at him. But when the Snake Menâ„¢ slither out and enemies attack, Snout Spoutâ„¢ blasts them back with a super jetspray!

Because he joined the MOTU toyline after the Filmation cartoon had ended, Snout Spout was incorporated into the She-Ra cartoon, which is presumably why he has an Etherian origin here. But even the cartoon version was confusing; of the three episodes he appeared in, sometimes he was depicted as an Etheria resident (and was even referred to by his original concept name of “Hose Nose”) while other times he was Prince Adam’s friend from Eternia.

Finally, issue #26 of the United Kingdom MOTU comic featured the story “The Unknown Warrior” in which Snout Spout was an Etherian peasant who was experimented on by Hordak and transformed into an elephant-headed freak who later escaped to Eternia and joined the Heroic Warriors.

This bio synthesizes elements from all these origins, but adds the interesting wrinkle that Snout Spout evidently served as a Horde member for at least a little while. It raises the question as to whether “Jaxton,” like so many other Horde members, wasn’t simply brainwashed. Maybe they hadn’t worked out the kinks yet? Did Jaxton do any evil deeds as a Horde member? Did he kill a fat barkeep?

I love the lack of resolution to his bio, too: “Jaxton often feels that everyone is always laughing at him.” Oh, and he fights the Snake Men. So we’re left to think either people are laughing at him or he’ll continue to suffer crippling paranoia that they are.

As for that last bit, why the Snake Men, you ask, rather than Hordak or Skeletor, either of whom would make more sense? Because the last sentence has to come from the card back, people!

Review > Kobra Khan (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

March 28, 2012 | Poe

What many childhood fans of Masters of the Universe remember about Kobra Khan is that when his vintage figure was produced in 1984, he was just another one of Skeletor’s Evil Warriors (specifically the “Evil Master of Snakes”). Legend has it that when the Snake Men were introduced two years later, Kobra Khan was re-released in Snake Men packaging with a new tag of “Evil Snake Men Henchmen”; however, I have not been able to track down a photo of Khan in Snake Men packaging, so I’m a bit skeptical it exists.

The various media depictions of Khan often address the Evil Warrior/Snake Men question. The Snake Men hadn’t been introduced by the time the 1980s cartoon ended, so Khan was merely one of Skeletor’s lackeys, albeit a fairly intelligent one; but Khan worked as a spy for Skeletor among the Snake Men in the vintage minicomics (“King of the Snake Men”). In the Millennium cartoon, he was a descendant of the Snake Men who joined up with Skeletor so he could delve into Snake Mountain and free his ancestors from the Void (“Snake Pit”).  It’s notable that in both cartoon depictions, Khan had a cobra hood not present on his toy version. However, the Four Horsemen added it to his Millennium figure. (more…)