Review > Preternia Disguise He-Man (Masters of the Universe Classics)

February 22, 2011 | Poe

I covered the origin of Preternia Disguise He-Man pretty thoroughly in an earlier post, so I won’t rehash that here, aside from mentioning that he’s based on the characters appearance in the 1980s minicomic “The Powers of Grayskull – The Legend Begins!”

PD He-Man is the 2011 subscription exclusive figure, a decision which made most people happy, since people who bought the subscription are generally big enough fans to want the figure, while those who didn’t were happy not to get another He-Man variant; and those who did buy the subscription but didn’t want PD He-Man could easily sell him to those who didn’t buy a sub. Which is an incredibly complicated way of saying yes, he was a good choice for a subscription incentive figure.

The “Powers of Grayskull” concept came about very late in the MOTU line in the 1980s, just as the movie was flopping. As such, it makes use of some of the movie’s ideas, including the Cosmic Key, a device which can open a portal to other worlds–including Earth, which conveniently lets you film 90% of your epic fantasy movie on the streets of Los Angeles. Mattel got a bit more creative with the concept, sending He-Man back to the time when dinosaurs ruled the Earth–I mean, Eternia. (more…)

Bastards of the Universe > “Bastard and Servant”

February 22, 2011 | googum


I like that title entirely too much. But, even if you’re (somehow) not a fan of DC Universe Classics, the Super Friends: Legendary Super Powers Show, Jack Kirby’s New Gods, and/or René Auberjonois; you still need a Desaad action figure. The Four Horsemen nailed that sculpt, and Desaad’s figure just looks like the perfect snivelling little toady. Even if he’s not ‘Desaad’ in your collection, he’s a great looking character. God, he just looks like he has to notify the neighbors when he moves into the neighborhood. Creepy bastard…!

Toy Aisle Trolls > WWEak

February 22, 2011 | Poe

Toy Aisle Trolls is a feature highlighting acts of vandalism to in-store toy items. If you find a ruined package, a stolen figure, a swapped-out figure, or any other such acts, take a photo (cell phone photos are fine if they’re not blurry) and email them to poe AT poeghostal.com.

Today’s travesties come courtesy of JediCreeper.

Writes JediCreeper:

I was in k-mart today and I found multiple examples of trolling… Most likely all from the same guy… Frighteningly… I think I might know who the guy is. Anyway, he bought several of the Mattel Elite WWE figures and returned some old Jakks Pacific ones, in their place. Most interesting is the Kane figure, as he left the accessories behind, and carved the beard off some other bald wrestler…

As punishment, he should feel all the pain a wrestler feels in a week, all at once.

It occurs to me that by releasing the same wrestlers JAKKS released for years, Mattel is offering a rich source of food for toy aisle trolls. I suspect this happens fairly often nowadays.

Anyway, troll, whoever you are, know that we all think of you as Adam Sandler in this scene.

Pic of the Day

February 22, 2011 | Poe

Alien Argus Tease - Rear View

Alien Argus Tease – Rear View by sketchguy

Toy Fair 2011 > The Experience

February 21, 2011 | Poe

(l-r: Poe, H. Eric “Cornboy” Mayse, Joe Amaro, Cornboy’s wife Corinna, and Val “JVS3” Staples)

It’s been over a week now, so I should probably try to wrap up my Toy Fair coverage. We’re getting there!

For this post, I’d like to give you a description of my general experience at Toy Fair. This was my first trip to NYTF, and I thought it might be fun to show you what it’s like. (more…)

Pic of the Day

February 21, 2011 | Poe

Artille VS Raptias

Artille VS Raptias by persocomholic

Aquaman vs. Mer-Man

February 19, 2011 | Poe

As many have pointed out, the art for the new DC vs. MOTU 2-packs is rather unimpressive. For example, here’s the Aquaman vs. Mer-Man art:

It’s just not very good. Aquaman’s right hand looks oddly twisted, his spear is an inch thick, Mer-Man sword is too narrow and the blades are parallel rather than inclined, and most importantly, Mer-Man is green. The whole point of the set is that he’s a blue repaint!

To show Mattel (or DC, since they provided the art) what the set could look like had they hired a more–experienced?–artist, former Masters of the Universe comic artist and walking MOTU encyclopedia Emiliano Santalucia produced his own version. Feast your eyes upon this, my friends.

(Click the image for a super-hi-res version)

Toy Fair 2011 > DC Universe

February 19, 2011 | Poe

DSCF0325

(DC Universe Gallery)

Mattel had plenty of DC Universe stuff on display at the collector’s event last Sunday, from DC Universe Classics to Batman: Legacy, to Young Justice and Action League, to Green Lantern and Retro Action DC Super Heroes. (more…)

Matty News Roundup

February 18, 2011 | Poe

Mattel has dropped a few bits of news here and there over the last few days, so I thought I’d round them up for you. (more…)

Toy Fair 2011 > NECA

February 18, 2011 | Poe

DSCF0071

(Check out my NECA gallery here.)

As always, NECA had some fantastic stuff on display at Toy Fair this year. Randy Falk, the Director of Product Development, gave me a tour of their major action figure lines for 2011. (more…)