Sorry for that teaser image. That’s a custom, MOTUC-style Lion-O by Ben Bishop.
But Mattel didn’t get the license. Bandai did.
Read on for the press release. (more…)
Sorry for that teaser image. That’s a custom, MOTUC-style Lion-O by Ben Bishop.
But Mattel didn’t get the license. Bandai did.
Read on for the press release. (more…)
OK, sorry for the mixed pop culture reference, but the “HO!” gag was already taken and I’m in too much of a hurry to come up with anything better.
ANYWAY–the Thundercats are back, folks. (more…)
So a couple of weeks ago, I decided I wanted a t-shirt featuring MechaShiva’s awesome art of 339/1. Using the original hi-res images, I created the above shirt. The pic is a little washed out because of the sun in the shot–the colors are more vivid than they look.
So here’s my question: if I made these for sale, would anyone be interested? Be honest (though if I use a website like Zazzle, there’s really limited risk to me–I just want to know if it’s worth the effort to set up). And if there are other images on the site you’d like to see as a shirt, let me know–bearing in mind I can’t use any images of copyrighted toys, like Grimlock or even Prime Evil.
I came across some interesting tidbits regarding Tytus’s production, and given the controversy he seems to have inspired among collectors, I thought I’d post them here.
First, there’s this post by ToyGuru on the Mattycollector forums:
Tytus also has a 100% sculpt. But at that size (13″) if we did him fully articulated he would have been very expensive. It is not the sculpting that is expensive, we pay the same amount to “sculpt” a figure as we do a 12″ figure. It is the production that costs more when a figure is larger because a larger figure uses more plastic etc…!
Gygor is not as large as Tytus so we can afford (plastic wise) to give him more articulation. At the end of the day, Tytus was just too large to produce with full articulation and keep him under $100.00. We wanted Tytus (as a giant) to be as big as possible, which is why we used Roto casting which is less expensive to keep him at the $40.00 price point.
We do have big plans for both the Gygor (gorilla buck) and Tytus (giant buck) in the future. So both were an “investment” for Mattel for future figures. We are making a deliberate attempt to spread out the big beasts and giants so that each year will have a good selection. That is why you don’t see all the big name big beasts like Panthor, Megator, etc… all in year one. I imagine in time we will get to them! Our goal is to keep the line going for quite a few years and to do that we need to save big guns for each year.
To add ball joints we would need to make Tytus completely the same way we do a figure and this would drive his price to over $100.00. We used roto casting to keep the price down but when you use Roto Casting it prevents ball joints from being used.
Would fans be willing to buy a new Tytus for over $100.00 that would include all the articulation you see in a MOTUC figure? Let us know.

1.) When you get around to characters like Buzz Off who had “claws” for hands, will those claws be articulated–i.e., will they be able to open and close–or will they just have wrist swivels like the rest of the figures?
It is too early to tell, sorry.
2.) RM asks: When it comes time to make Clawful, would it be possible to make the articulation point in his *large* claw ratcheted/stepped, so he can maintain a solid “grip” or open claw without fear of looseness in such a small, and (sure to be) often used joint? (more…)
Sometimes, between the unnecessary surgery that takes up most of my day, I take a nice long breather out in the fresh air far away from the screams in the basement and reflect upon things. At other times, I’m all about relaxing in my toy room, taking a seat at the table in the middle of the room where I can remove various toys from their home on the shelf and have them duke it out, or have a beer together, or hunt down and kill Napoleon Dynamite.
No matter what kind of collector you are (unless you’re a MOC or 12″ collector and are thus lame) you know the thrill of having a bunch of characters from different properties chilling out together and doing something that you’re the boss of. With this in mind, there are numerous essential accessories that a collector must own so that their toys really get the most out of their lives: these are Essential Accessories. (more…)