Growing buzz about a Sectaurs comeback

July 17, 2010 | Poe

(Apologies for the title–couldn’t help myself.)

This could be old news. After reading a post that hinted that Sectaurs may be making a comeback, I decided to do a quick trademark check and lo and behold, Hasbro filed for the Sectaurs trademark in September. (Hard to keep big reveals like this a secret in this day and age.)

The trademark covers everything from toys and video games to cartoons and comics. Could they be looking to bring back Sectaurs as they are Micronauts? Could Hasbro finally be planning a toy line I’ll want to collect? If they are, I suspect SDCC will be the place to announce it. Keep your fingers crossed, obscure ’80s vintage toy line fans!

(On a related note, has anything actually happened with that Micronauts revamp yet? Or are they just trying to make a movie out of it?)

For more on Sectaurs, visit sectaurs.fansector.com.

Doc Thomas Probes > Most Wanted

July 17, 2010 | Doc Thomas

These days, we collectors have a lot to be thankful for – the shift in quality of action figures over the past two decades has turned once-small, barely recognizable, barely moveable plastic playthings into fully articulated, awesomely detailed, instantly identifiable works of art that we’re glad to have displayed in our kitchen, to be briefly admired by last night’s mistake before we kick her out of the apartment. Yes, toys have come a long way, and with the expansion of the market has come a bigger range of great properties picked up and plasticized for our collecting pleasure.

If you’re anything like me, and I know I am, you can look in front of you right now and see an amazing range of amazing toys including Bender from Futurama, the Heath Ledger Joker from The Dark Knight, several Daleks, the amazing Masterpiece Grimlock, WALL-E, at least a dozen different Skeletors, Big Daddy holding a Little Sister’s hand, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cobra Commander, an entire shelf of friggin’ Muppets, and Richard Nixon’s head. That is range, my friends. The sheer mass of different characters that have been made into great toys is amazing and wonderful – and yet, there are still plenty of favourites that are yet to be immortalised in plastic. These are

<<MOST WANTED>>

(more…)

Ask Mattel > Answers for July 15 [Roundup added]

July 15, 2010 | Poe

1.) Damien asks: How committed is Mattel to providing plenty of new sculpts in the WWE line? There already seems to be a growing issue, especially in the BASICS line, with characters getting sculpts way too muscular for them. Fans are getting concerned that Mattel will continue the JAKKS trend of utilizing completely incorrect body types over and over again to reduce costs.

Our goal for the collector lines is to continue to pursue real “Superstar Scale.” We do this by literally had every Superstars go through a digital body scan to capture their physical attributes and visible body markings, which ensures characters like Big Show is physically larger than Rey Mysterio, just like in real life. There will be lots of new sculpts to ensure this scale accuracy. (more…)

Happy Count Marzo Day!

July 15, 2010 | Poe


No offense to you non-subscribers, but man, it’s nice to have a month off.

How quickly will this minor villain from the Millennium cartoon sell out? Your guess is as good as mine.

ToyFare #157 & 2011 Club Eternia/Club Ecto-1 news

July 15, 2010 | Poe

The latest issue of ToyFare, #157, hit newsstands this week, and it’s chock (what’s a chock? anyway) full of news. News you didn’t already know. Or maybe you did, but I didn’t. Among the highlights:

  • The Four Horsemen’s new line is Symbiotech, which should be familiar to Fantastic Exclusive voters. Still early on in the production development, but they’re coming!
  • Fantastic Exclusives Scarabus and Raven are still coming–look for more when the Horsemen relaunch the FE website just before SDCC.
  • Mattel will be producing a 6″ Ghostbusters II 4-pack with removable Santa hats which will be available at TRU in October. That’s Toys ‘R Us, Matty haters. Relatively minor bummer: no slime throwers.
  • DCUC Wave 16 includes Jonah Hex and the Creeper, with CnC Bane. (Pics of all, plus Green Lantern Classics ’90s Kyle Rayner, included in magazine).
  • The DCUC Fan Poll candidates, the winner to be turned into a CnC figure, are: Blockbuster, Girder, King Shark, Nekron, Shaggy Man, and Wildebeest. Vote at Wizardworld.com. Nekron will win.
  • JLU is getting the Gray Ghost (might be old news?)
  • Gentle Giant is creating massive 12″ versions of the vintage Boba Fett, Stormtrooper and Walrus Man 3 ¾” figures.
  • DCD Arkham Asylum Bane is just as crazy as the videogame version.
  • There’s a full-page ad of Carnivus (no Whiplash ad, apparently), that says he carries the “Sword of Saz,” which is apparently a reference to the Filmation series–“Saz” was some sort of feline mythological hero.

Mattel also released official news on the 2011 Club Eternia subscription. It’s all-in, so those of you hoping for tiered subscriptions are out of luck, I’m afraid. The sign-up will go from 7/21 at 4 p.m. PT through 8/4 at 4 p.m. PT. The January figure, Club incentive figure, and map poster will be revealed at the Friday SDCC panel.

But wait–there’s more! Ghostbusters fans get their own subscription, Club Ecto-1. It’s $20 for six figures plus a club exclusive figure.

But to quote Geordi La Forge, don’t take my word for it–buy your copy of ToyFare #157 today! Then you get all the pretty pictures.