Today’s Odds ‘n Ends is sponsored by the letter Ω, who surprisingly had a PayPal account.
- The Spawn Message Board was taken down last Friday. Rustin Parr of OAFE has written an excellent obituary here. His comment that the Spawn Board was the birthplace of the online toy collecting community is only mildly hyperbolic–I certainly got my start there, and many other well-known online toy personalities, such as Michael Crawford, congregated there in the late ’90s. I invented the pseudonym “Poe Ghostal” for that board, way back in 1999. Of course, I hadn’t visited the board in years–ever since McFarlane Toys began its long slide into sports and statuism after the Spawn lines of the early 2000s (with the one positive blip being Halo)–but the board’s demise is still worth some brief reflection.
- Diamond Select has created a rather awesome “Mini-Mation” video starring their pirate-themed “Calico Jack” Minimates.
- ItsAllTrue.net has a great review of the TRU-exclusive 1970s-style Arkham City Batman (it comes free with a purchase of the game at TRU, or, like me, you can buy it separately for $14.99). Of course, the actual 1970s game skin is a completely unique model, not just some new graphics over the regular suit…
- BigBadToyStore has two major new exclusive G.I. Joe 7-Packs: Slaughter’s Marauders and the Dreadnoks. You can save $10 if you buy both sets together. The sets include a mix of new figures and repaints.
- Bandai let me know they’re having a Ben 10 Sweepstakes. Kids can enter the contest by submitting codes from Ben 10 toys to helpben10.com. The winner gets an all-expenses paid trip for three to London to ride the Ben 10: Ultimate Mission roller coaster at the Drayton Manor Theme Park in Tamworth, Staffordshire — plus the winner will have a bonus chance to win $10,000 on top of the grand prize. So if you’ve got a child, grandchild, or nephew or niece who’s really into Ben 10, be sure to mention it to ’em.
John Harmon
I wish I could be more upset with the Spawn.com forums being taken down, but I can't. I joined those forums YEARS ago and never…NEVER got approved. Once you joined you had to have an admin approve you to be able to actually post anything. And they never approved me. I was never disapproved, I just never got approved. Very annoying.
George
I find the Spawn thing weird since they are trying to re-release Spawn. Saw some article from Toynewsi about Todd trying to make a comeback….cartoon in the mix…something like that.
Newton Gimmick
Oddly enough I had been visiting the Spawn board pretty regularly the past few years. Not posting, just reading. It was a really cool board these days. It seems like an odd place to save money as I suspect if McFarlane had posted up that they were thinking about taking the board down but wanted donations to keep it alive… They would have gotten enough supporters to keep the board going. Boards like that don't cost that much to maintain and I've seen forums with smaller communities renew every year based on donations.
I suspect this is just another nail in the coffin for McFarlane, who I predict will be done by 2015 at the latest.
Dark Angel
Dammit, Poe…you make me feel bad, but only for those of you who still care, not for the board itself. I know I should probably feel a twinge, at least, but really…that scene was over for me years ago.
*For those who don't know, Poe and I first met on the Spawn message boards…going on 14 years ago by my count O_o
Poe Ghostal
It could only be fourteen years if you remember me as "Spy Dude"…
fengschwing
I'd just like to point out that Staffordshire is a good two or three hundred miles away from London.
Not a dig at Poe at all, just being a pedantic Englishman.
Still, by all accounts that's a good prize no? Trip to London and opp north like.
Donk
It's grim up North! It's more like 120 miles, which is nowt to them there Americans with their massive country and that.
Fengschwing
Eee, grand! Just goes to show I can't tell a distance by looking at a map! Cheers Donk!
Poe Ghostal
I just copied and pasted from the press release, so blame Bandai 🙂