Reviews – Page 2 – Poe Ghostal's Points of Articulation

Review > Scarabus (Gothitropolis, Four Horsemen)

On November 26, 2013

It’s taken over two years for me to review this figure. There are a lot of reasons why, but “sheer procrastination” is probably the most honest one.

For those who don’t know, Scarabus was made and sold by design-studio-turned-toy-company The Four Horsemen. They started out as sculptors for McFarlane Toys in the mid-1990s. They were responsible for many fantastic and memorable figures. In 1999, they left McFarlane to form their own design studio and were swiftly contracted by Mattel to revamp the Masters of the Universe toyline. The result was Millennium (200x) MOTU. Mattel not only gave the 4H credit for their work on the line, but – in stark contrast to McFarlane – actually used the Horsemen as a selling point to collectors.

Doc Thomas Reviews > Batros (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

By Doc Thomas

On November 18, 2013

In Reviews

This review was sponsored by friend, editor and webmaster Poe Ghostal, who sent me a toilet and a dumpster, oddly fitting items for the review subject.

Batros is one of the worst, most ridiculous and most bewildering characters in Masters of the Universe, a place where bewilderment and ridiculousness flourishes. So it’s fitting he’s got one of the worst, most bewildering action figures in Masters of the Universe Classics – but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

To prep for this review, I watched the specific Filmation episode from which the action figure originates, “The Great Books Mystery.” In the episode Batros (a character who exhibits no bat-like traits whatsoever) decides to take over Eternia by stealing all of its books. A winning plan if there ever was one! Why swiping all of the books would immediately plunge Eternia into ruin and force the kingdom to make Batros ruler goes unexplained. I don’t know, it seemed to me like no one would have even noticed if Orko hadn’t gone looking for his book on unicorns.

Review > Hive Wars Predator (Predators, NECA)

By Poe

On November 11, 2013

In Reviews

Note: this is a sponsored review. The figure was provided by NECA.

In the late 1980s, there were few action figures I wanted more than a Predator. Sadly, by the time Kenner started making Predator figures in the 1990s, I had entered the four-to-five-year period where I was more interested in Magic: The Gathering cards than action figures. I did, however, pick up the Alien vs. Predator two-pack, because I couldn’t resist movie-accurate versions of the Predator and Alien. but all the other crazy, weird variants Kenner made were completely uninteresting to me.

Today, I still want to have a regular “classic” Predator before anything else, but I already have that. At this point in my life, I’m able to appreciate the creativity that went into Kenner’s line. The figures had unique accessories, bright colors, and the exaggerated muscle sculpting that marked many 1990s toy lines (including, hilariously, the first few waves of Kenner’s comeback Star Wars figures). I think that sort of grotesquely-muscled, semi-posed design was due to a stylistic hangover from the immense popularity of Playmates’ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (whose own style had been influenced by Masters of the Universe).

Those original Kenner Predator figures were designed to appeal more to kids than cynical teenage collectors. In the 1990s I was both too old and too young to appreciate Kenner’s work.

Review > SDCC Exclusive Boba Fett with Han Solo in Carbonite (Star Wars Black 6″, Hasbro)

By Poe

On November 8, 2013

In Reviews

Don’t forget to enter our “Trygg Poftu” contest for a chance to win a Star Wars Black 6″ Boba Fett!

It all started on November 17, 1978. Thatâ€™s the day the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special aired for the first and last time. In-between live action scenes that lurched from soul-crushing tedium to wince-inducing sentimentality (Bea Arthur sings!), there was a brief cartoon segment that featured Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and a character who would become one of the most famous members of the Star Wars universe: Boba Fett.

Review > Darth Maul (Star Wars Black 6″, Hasbro)

By Poe

On November 7, 2013

In Reviews

Don’t forget to enter our “Trygg Poftu” contest for a chance to win a Star Wars Black 6″ Boba Fett!

My personal Star Wars: The Phantom Menace story was the same as that of many other SW fans. The excitement of of the initial rumors the prequels would be made. The preview figures. The first trailer, downloading on the Internet oh-so-slowly over my college’s T1 line. The puzzlement at announcement of the terrible title. The plastic orgy of the early May toy release. And then the realization, just a few minutes in to the movie, that something was very, very wrong.

You’ll never convince me the original films are of the same quality of the prequels. I’m not blinded by childhood nostalgia; it’s simply not the case, and I could write volumes on why, but it’s already been well-covered by others.

Review > R2D2 (Star Wars Black, Hasbro)

By Poe

On November 6, 2013

In Reviews

Don’t forget to enter our “Trygg Poftu” contest for a chance to win a Star Wars Black 6″ Boba Fett!

My mother’s favorite “toy hunt” story revolves around R2D2. Back in the early 1980s, Star Wars toys were massively popular, none so much as R2D2 himself. He was funny, he was lovable, he had a great, kid-friendly design. He was almost every kid’s favorite character. (Except for that weird kid who couldn’t get enough of Amanaman. Okay fine, it was me!)

The year was 1982. I had just seen Star Wars for the first time at the Braintree drive-in that summer,Â¹ andÂ I wanted nothing more than an R2D2 action figure. But the Empire Strikes Back was two years old and Kenner’s big push for Return of the Jedi was a year away, so Star Wars figures were a bit hard to come by, particularly popular characters like Artoo. My parents searched high and low for him, and one day, returning from a visit to my grandparents, they stopped at a small Child World in Quincy. There was no Artoo on the pegs, but there was one of those carriages full of returns in the aisle, and lo and behold, buried at the bottom of the carriage was none other than Artoo. My parents inform me that I danced through the aisles saying, “We found him! We found him!”

One interesting fact about Artoo-Detoo: he always has been and always will be totally awesome. He escaped the prequels smelling like a rose – arguably the only character to do so.

The vintage R2D2 I had was the one with the pop-up “sensorscope.” As much as I loved that little toy, it always bugged me he didn’t have the third leg and the feet couldn’t be moved to put him into his proper rolling posture. It would be nearly twenty years before Hasbro finally made an Artoo with both the extra leg and articulated feet.

Now, with Star Wars Black, Hasbro is attempting to give us the definitive R2D2 figure. Did they do it?Â No, I don’t think they did. The design team’s heart was in the right place, but the execution failed in a few ways.

Review > Sandtrooper (Star Wars Black 6″, Hasbro)

By Poe

On November 5, 2013

In Reviews

In preparation for this review, I initiated a research project to try and find out exactly why George Lucas, Ralph McQuarrie and the other designers behind the originalÂ Star Wars chose to make the stormtroopers white. Since they’re obviously bad guys, andÂ Star WarsÂ was obviously not trying to explore any moral ambiguities, there’s no real subversiveness in having the bad guys be white, and besides – theÂ main bad guy was dressed in black (Darth Vader) and the main good guy was dressed in white (Luke Skywalker). So why white for the stormtroopers? Why not black, or hell, any other color?

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find any documentation as to why white was chosen for the stormtroopers. The white armor shows up in early McQuarrie artwork (so early that everyone, including stormtroopers, are still carrying lightsabers), so this wasn’t a decision made during the production process due to concerns about materials, weather conditions, or cinematography issues.

Review > Luke Skywalker (X-Wing Pilot) (Star Wars Black 6″, Hasbro)

By Poe

On November 4, 2013

In Reviews

When I was a kid, my favoriteÂ Star Wars movie wasÂ Return of the Jedi. My father let me skip kindergarten that opening Friday to see the movie. I distinctly remember how deep Jabba’s voice sounded in that big theater. Of course,Â Jedi was the most kid-friendly of the original trilogy, featuring tons of action, monsters, puppets, and yes, lovable(?) Ewoks. I still love a lot about ROTJ (particularly the space battle and theÂ Millennium Falcon‘s race through the Death Star at the end), but when I became a teenager and got to college, I came to understand why many adults consideredÂ The Empire Strikes Back as the best of the films. Dark, moody, and with a lot more dialogue and character development than any of the other films, it’s easy to see why ESB deserves its reputation.

2012 4″ Batman Target Halloween Exclusive

By Poe

On October 16, 2013

In Reviews

I picked this up last year but never got around to doing a write-up about it. I absolutely love it when companies do holiday-specific exclusives (for example, the Christmas-themed S.L.U.G. Zombies, Santa Gizmo, or the Playmobil Santa set). There was a couple of years where Target had a lot of these, maybe about 4-5 years ago, but they don’t seem to have as many nowadays. However, they did have this one last year.

Doc Thomas Reviews > Icer (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

By Doc Thomas

On September 18, 2013

In Reviews

IcerÂ is the first toy from the Club Filmation sub-line from Masters of the Universe Classics, and as someone who isn’t an avid fan of the 1980s cartoon (I seem to remember thinking it was pretty stupid even as a kid, though not stupid enough not to own cool toys from), I’m a little perplexed at the specific characters they’ve chosen to produce. It seems like most of these characters only appeared briefly, and most don’t have truly interesting or memorable designs, limiting their popularity. But a major exception isÂ Icer.Â IcerÂ is very cool. (GET IT?!)

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