Quick Review > Joe Amaro’s Mystic Hammer

The MOTUC collecting world seems to have come to a consensus: Tytus needs a better weapon. I suppose the “Body Snatcher” was neat enough in the 1980s, when it featured a rubbery piece inside the hammer that could actually wrap around figures; but the solid-plastic “Warrior Smasher” of the modern Tytus wasn’t quite as fun.

To rectify the situation, Spy Monkey Creations famously created the Hammer of Chalybeous, one of their most popular fan-made accessories (which also featured a super-rare PGPoA exclusive variant!) Fans continue to beg SMC to produce more of that accessory, but now that SMC has moved on to bigger and better things (as will be discussed on the site later this week), there was room for someone else to step in. (more…)

Joe Amaro’s Manta Raider: Power-Con sale information

I’m trying to take a break from all things MOTUC for a week or two, post-Subpocalypse – just want to get away from the topic for a bit – but when Power Pal Joe Amaro sent along news about his new Manta Raider, I had to post it. –PG

The price for the Manta Raider will be $50.00 and will be limited to one per person.  I am thinking about pre-selling them to help avoid any headaches at the con. Anything that does not sell during the pre-sell period will be at the con for sale.

This is for the Manta Raiders at Power Con only. I will not be shipping any out at this time. That will be another run and there WILL BE another run later for fans who could not attend Power Con.

To be clear if you pre-order you will have to pick them up at Rudy’s booth.  Which is better because while there you can him sign it!

But I will not do this until I have them done and ready, so maybe by early to mid September. I will keep updating you as I have information, especially when I have the ordering information.

Thank you so much for your support!

NOTE: The Manta Raider is not associated with MOTU or Mattel.  It’s a limited edition handmade piece of art and not a toy.

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Joe Amaro Brings The Manta Raider to Power-Con

You may recall Joe Amaro teaming up with vintage He-Man packaging artist Rudy Obrero to create a MOTU-themed vehicle called the Manta Raider. Well, Joe’s got some good news for those who wished they could get their own:

At the He-Man.org Power Party I finally got a chance to sit down and talk to Rudy Obrero face to face.

At the party Rudy told me that he wants to make the Manta Raider available to the fans!!! I need to figure out the logistics and price but it will be a very very limited run, definitely under 100. We talked about having it in some type of packaging so we can use Rudy’s awesome painting!

The plan right now is to have it ready for Power Con in September. Rudy will have a table there with some prints for sale. Best of all you can have all the items signed by Rudy!

Note: This is just a fan project and not associated, licensed or in any way affiliated with Mattel or Masters of the Universe.

PGPoA Exclusive > Joe Amaro’s MOTUC Ram-Man Custom

Joe Amaro has been a fixture of the action figure community for years. Not only is he the Director of Product Development for Jazwares, but you’ve seen his customs in ToyFare magazine going all the way back to the 200X He-Man days. More recently, he’s been producing some of the most mouthwatering MOTUC customs you can imagine, including Skeletor’s Robot Knights, his Bone Throne, and of course, the amazing Castle Grayskull.

Today, Joe has graciously given PGPoA the exclusive reveal of his latest custom: MOTUC Ram-Man!

Here’s what Joe had to say about the process of making the figure:

The original idea was to use the DC Universe Kilowog as the base and try to keep as much of his proportions possible. But as I progressed and studied Ram-Man, it became obvious that I could not. Ram-Man is more stocky and more square. So I went with a mix of the vintage back art, the vintage toy and little of the 2002 version.

The main element that I wanted him to have was to be huge! I wanted him to look like a massive battering ram that would be used to breakdown castle doors. Plus I know when Matty makes him he will be a lot smaller.

In the end I only used some articulation points from Kilowog, mainly the arms, although I did bulk up his arms using Magic Sculpt. Other than that, it is an all-original sculpt using Sculpey and mainly Magic Sculpt.

Joe Amaro makes more stuff we all wish we could buy

Joe Amaro is a customizer who enjoys making things we all wish we could actually own ourselves…his latest creation is Skeletor’s Throne of Bones, MOTUC-style. Click here for more pics to hate him for.

Oh, and Mattel? MAKE THIS. MAKE IT MAKE IT MAKE IT.

Joe Amaro’s Robot Knights

Customizer extraordinaire Joe Amaro has created some amazing customs of Skeletor’s “Robot Knights” (sounds like a bad BSG spinoff) from the Filmation cartoon. Visit his site for more pics. Says Joe:

These are complete new sculpts that are fully articulated. The head turns, the shoulders are swivel joints and the elbows are ball joints. Plus they have removable shoulder pads and the hands can interchanged with various weapons like a laser gun, saw blade and a mace. I also sculpted a new stand for him as the current stands would make him too high.

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Joe Amaro’s classic Grayskull makes us all jealous…again

Everyone

You may remember customizer extraordinaire Joe Amaro making a really badass modern Castle Grayskull for the 2002 Masters of the Universe line (I think I may even have spotted it on Robot Chicken once or twice).

Well, Amaro’s at it again, this time creating a supremely awesome classic Grayskull in scale with MOTU Classics.

Will Mattel grant our fondest wishes and mass produce Joe’s masterpiece? No. But we can admire it anyway! More pics here.

Odds ‘n Ends > Mattycollector News, G.I. Joe Photo Covers, FOC Dinobot Pics

  • Mattel has announced the January Mattycollector sale, which includes the Sorceress and Fearless Photog, as well as the “Ready to Believe You” Peter Venkman. More interesting is the news that they will now have He-Man, Skeletor, Battle Cat, Panthor, and 6″ Peter Venkman and Ray Stanz on permanent sale throughout 2012. It only took them four years.
  • I have to pick a winner for the Arkham City contest–I’ll do that tonight. Apologies for the delay.
  • I’m intrigued by IDW’s photo covers of G.I. Joe toys for their comics (here’s one, and here’s another one). On the one hand, it’s awesome that they’re paying tribute to the comics’ toy origins. On other hand, the covers are pretty uninspired. A brief Flickr search will come up with better pics (check out Geek Creek and Ed Speir IV, for example).
  • Power Pal Joe Amaro sent along this touching video of James Sawyer of motucfigures.com reviewing the Wind Raider with his son. As a toymaker himself, Joe says “this is the sort of thing that makes it all worthwhile.”
  • Joe also sent along these awesome pics of the Dinobots (via Tformers.com, though they could have originated elsewhere for all I know) from the upcoming Fall of Cybertron videogame: Grimlock, “Slug” (Slag’s new name, apparently? Yuck. Damned trademarks), and Swoop. They all look awesome, and we had better get toys of them. (Preferably not assembled by sweatshop laborers–more on that later.)