Poe’s Point > Eras End All the Time

December 20, 2012 | Poe

Ryan “The Superfly” Prast has a blog post at AFI in which he predicts “within the next few years, the action figure will be an endangered species, and possibly completely extinct.” He continues:

My rants on corporate greed’ are commonplace on the forum, but I am also aware that overseas manufacturing costs have been kept artificially low for over a decade due to the influence of certain retailers. We have seen fifteen years of adjustments in just the past few years, and many collectors can no longer afford the action figures at today’s prices. Add in improving factory conditions, fair workforce compensation, additional regulations and safety standards, and, well, you begin to realize the days of cheap action figures are nearly over.

Hold on – there’s a big difference between saying “the 6″ action figure market will become extinct” and “the days of cheap 6″ action figures are over” (my italics). The latter is obvious. The former is unlikely.

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Poe’s Point > Cy-Chop Addendum

December 17, 2012 | Poe

cy-chop-review-poe-ghostal-motuc-4

I just wanted to offer my two cents on Cy-Chop. This isn’t a second review – Doc Thomas’s is the official review for PGPoA. But I wanted to offer my own thoughts on the figure, and this is my site so it’s my prerogative to do so.

I rather like the scissor-hands and the head. I don’t think the whole Micronauts-homage thing was a good idea, because I just don’t think it makes much sense (i.e., keep your peanut butter Micronauts out of my chocolate MOTU), but I like the design of the scissors and the sculpt of the head, and I don’t mind the silver. I like that the hands are interchangeable with other figures as well.

What I don’t like are the clear Roboto-style torso and the Beast Man limbs. Though in my Roboto review I wrote, “from an aesthetic standpoint I think [the clear chest] looks good,” over time I’ve come to like it less. It looks too cheap and toy-like, and feels brittle (and in Roboto’s case, for many collectors it was). As for the furry limbs, I just don’t think they work with the character design. They’re what make him look so slapdash to me; they clash thematically with the character’s “cyborg” design and demonic head.

If I’d been designing this figure, I would have recommended something like the Trap Jaw/Roboto upper legs and Hordak‘s or Horde Prime‘s lower legs, and perhaps the arms of Icarius, which we haven’t seen often in this line. That would give the character more cybernetic and Horde touches, which would have gone a long way toward making me like this figure more.

Poe’s Point > PGPoA Needs Your Photos

September 14, 2012 | Poe
Reflector (alt mode 1)

Reflector (alt mode 1) by frenzy_rumble, on Flickr

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about how I can generate more reviews for the site, and I’ve struck upon what I think is both a novel and old-fashioned solution. (more…)

Poe’s Point > Final Thoughts on Club Eternia 2013

August 2, 2012 | Poe

Until the sub period ends on August 6 or there’s some actual news to report, this post is going to represent a hiatus on my Club Eternia 2013 coverage, as this will officially flog the horse to paste.

I was intrigued by this comment Rustin Parr made a few days ago:

I’d argue too that the subscription is also at fault because it created a false perception of security and success to the Team and Mattel. Because the bulk of us had put in for everything we simply lost our ability to “vote with our dollars” and help guide the team on what kinds of figures and price points were actually desired and viable.

Obviously variations of this argument have been made over the years – often in discussions regarding Mattycollector offering pre-orders – but Rustin articulates it succinctly here. More than once, a figure was revealed that I probably would never have bought in a store for the same price. To its credit, this made MOTUC a wonderfully inclusive line; small subsets of the fandom got figures that a more traditional mass market release would never have gotten around to. But Rustin’s right: denied an ability to vote for specific characters with our dollars (and in fact, forced to subscribe before even knowing half the product we’d be paying for), we had virtually no control over character selection or price point – aside from whether or not we subscribed the following year.

This year, it seems, collectors are indeed voting with their dollars – and suddenly, they’re being listened to. (more…)

Poe’s Point > Thoughts on the MOTUC Reveals

July 16, 2012 | Poe

As I consider whether to subscribe to the 2013 Club Eternia, I thought I’d run through all the reveals and pass on my thoughts.

All photos are courtesy ActionFigurePics. Visit the site for many more photos!

Me…why did it have to be me?

Rattlor

Not too much of a surprise, as most of his body was revealed with the Snake Men two-pack. Still, it’s a good-looking figure and a classic character, so I’m happy with this reveal. (more…)

Poe’s Point > Nightfighter Robocop

July 4, 2012 | Poe

 

Collectors appear to be excited about NECA’s new TRU-exclusive Nightfighter Robocop (Pixel Dan’s review here, AFP’s review here). It’s a homage to one of my favorite childhood action figures, Kenner’s Robocop Nightfighter (Pixel Dan’s review here). The vintage figure was initially a mail-away promotion, though later it was sold on card. I’m proud to say that as a kid, I actually mailed away for mine.

Before I go any further, let me say I absolutely love NECA and everything they’re doing right now. I will forever owe them for the well-articulated Evil Dead 2 figures they’ve given us, and once I get a super-articulated classic masked Predator and the new Aliens warrior, my debt will be upgraded to full Wookie-life-debt status.

But… (more…)

Poe’s Point > Did Storage Wars Stage a Big Action Figure Find?

May 22, 2012 | Poe

Dr. Mrs. Ghostal and I got into the A&E show Storage Wars a few weeks ago. I’ve never been one for these reality shows – I’ve never watched Antiques Roadshow or Pawn Stars or American Pickers and hell, even that one Toy Hunters episode has been sitting on my DVR, unwatched, since January or whenever it aired. But after a comment from Power Pal Ben Leach, I decided to watch a few eps of SW and got hooked.

Of course, like many such shows, you can find no shortage of Internet commentary claiming it’s entirely staged – particularly an episode in which some buyers, Jarrod and his wife Brandi, discover an extremely valuable cache of vintage Mego Super Heroes. There’s a thread about it at the Mego Museum and the consensus is that it was entirely staged; one fellow claims to know the collector who “donated” the figures to the show. (more…)