Again, all apologies for the scattershot posts this week. Between how busy I’ve been at work and my webhost’s endless problems with a file server on my cluster (causing significant slowdown problems here on PGPoA), it’s been hard to get through an update. But now I’m back and rarin’ to go, the site speed seems to be flying, and I’ve got content up the wazoo!
Today I’m going to discuss ToyFare #131, which hit comic shops last week (and will hit newsstands this week or next).
On the cover we’ve got the 6″ Target exclusive movie Hulk, which is a repaint of the Marvel Legends 1 Hulk with a new head. The ML1 Hulk mold doesn’t come close to the perfection of Face Off Hulk, and I can’t see Ed Norton in that head sculpt the way I can in the movie stills. However, if you missed the boat on previous 6″-scale Hulks, this one might be passable. He is the first 6″ Hulk to feature non-purple pants.
Page 3: Big ol’ ad for DCUC wave 3. Here’s hoping they ship before, say, the end of July…
Page 9: An ad for the new Indiana Jones toys, which seem to be selling well, though I’m not sure if they’re being bought by kids or Star Wars collectors. It was smart of Hasbro to include figures from all four films.
Page 12: The Hot Plate – I gotta get my hands on that Sam & Max DVD. Somehow I completely missed that show when it first came out, despite my love of the original Lucasarts game.
Page 16: More DCUC goodness in Incoming. I’d seen all the photos before online, but they’re still awesome. Also: the Riddler gets the award for Best Word Balloon Gag. Kudos, anonymous ToyFare writer!
Page 26: While I’m not yet sold on Tonner’s superhero figures, the sculpt on that Dobby in incredible.
Page 27: These exclusive Indiana Jones toy offers look pretty neat. It’s nice to see the big boys like Hasbro getting on the collector bandwagon. Now if only we could get those Sideshow playsets…
Page 29: Um, what’s the deal with that “Witchblade Shiori Tsuzuki” statue? It doesn’t look anything like Witchblade and it has enormous breasts. I mean, we’re talking serious back problems here.
Page 33: If I were into dolls (which I’m not–I collect action figures, people), that Evangeline doll would be the first one I’d get. That thing is, well, kinda hot.
Page 42: The ToyFare Hall of Fame–It’s always good to see creators in this industry get lauded publicly. It’s a shame companies like Hasbro and McFarlane haven’t gotten on this bandwagon and started crediting designers on their packaging (or have they? I don’t collect much product from either company, so I may be out of the loop). Mattel hypes the Horsemen, and NECA lists full credits on their figures’ packaging.
Page 46: A nice interview with one Robert Burden, an artist who does artistic portraits of action figures. The paintings are actually quite good–I’d love to own that Battle Cat one. You can check out his website here.
Page 49: “The Big Picture Show” A rundown of the big geek movies this summer. Cool, but what I was most interested in was the “You Autumn Know” sidebar which revealed movies I didn’t even know were being made. Apparently we’re getting a remake of Scanners by the director of Saw IV (with a script by David Goyer); a Max Payne flick starring Mark Wahlberg (I wanted Peter Krause, but whatever); and a remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still starring (sigh…) Keanu Reeves. On a side note, did you know they’re making a remake of Creature from the Black Lagoon, too? Also The Wolf Man, which would have been great with Frank (The Shawshank Redemption, The Mist) Darabont directing an Andrew Kevin Walker (Sleepy Hollow) script, but now is iffy with Joe (Jurassic Park III) Johnston directing a David (Road to Perdition) Self script. But I digress…
Page 60: “Simply Smashing” A rundown of the Hulk’s greatest battles. Pretty cool.
Page 64: “Mini Masterpieces” I always love seeing behind-the-scenes aspects of toy creation.
Page 68: “An Uphill Trek” Star Trek, heal thyself. Diluted by too many television series and movies, the Star Trek franchise returns to its root next year, when J.J. Abrams hopefully brings the magic back. The article notes that Activision actually sued Viacom for mishandling the franchise (Activision had the videogame license).
Page 72: “The Princess Diaries” Lots of content in this issue! This is a retro-piece on She-Ra, including an interview with cartoon writer extraordinaire Larry Ditillio. Look for another retro piece by a very familiar writer in next month’s issue.
Page 76: “Just Say Nova” DC apparently won’t play nice and allow ToyFare to use their characters in Twisted ToyFare Theater (another example of DC’s odd lack of humor), so the TF folks give us the “Nova Corps,” which, while a real thing in the Marvel universe, is here used a barely-veiled parody of DC’s Green Lantern Corps. TTT’s Spider-Man is, as always, at his acerbic best.
Page 85: The “Market Watch” sidebar claims the 7-11 exclusive, Iron Man-shaped Slurpee mug is selling for $100 online. If that’s the case, I was a complete fool for not picking one up when I saw a whole rack of ’em a month ago. I can’t help wondering if that’s a typo, though, and it should be $10. Also: the way the straw comes out of his head reminds me of that weird dream sequence in that Star Trek episode where Crusher’s drinking out of Riker’s head. You know, cellular-peptide cake? With mint frosting?
Page 96: “Spocked Up” Ha! James T. Kirk likes to have sex.
And that’s it for this month. Be sure to check in again next month, where I’ll plug my own article shamelessly.