While trawling Google Images for My Pet Monster pics, I came across this awesome take:
Someone get the license, contact this artist, and make this action figure for me RIGHT NOW.
I should do a whole write-up on MPM sometime…
G.I. Joe and Transformers Finally Coming Back to DVD
Hasbro has announced that both the original Transformers and G.I. Joe animated series are going to be on DVD again, brought to us via Shout! Factory and should be available later this year.
This is extremely welcome news to me, because both series have been out of print on DVD for years. As a Joe fan it was even worse than not simply being able to buy them. While the Transformers animated series saw a full release, the G.I. Joe series was never completed before the rights went from Rhino to Sony. Sony, for whatever crazy reason, sat on the license and completely missed the perfect windows for a releases like during the G.I. Joe 25th anniversary and the release of the first Transformers live action movie. In the mean time many fans spent a fortune for the out of print DVDs. For example, the final Joe season was going for over a hundred bucks on Amazon when it originally retailed for around 30 dollars, and the original Joe film was going for double it’s original retail price. Many fans who couldn’t afford the ridiculously inflated prices turned to bootlegs. Hopefully, those that turned to other methods to get their classic toon fix will reinvest in either animated series, so Joe fans can finally complete their collection.
Original Hasbro press release after the break:
You Sunk My Movie Themed G.I. Joe Vehicle
You know what sucks about G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra aside from almost everything revealed about it so far? The fact that there’s all these new G.I. Joe tie-in products that have almost nothing to do with the Joes that I love. They’re filled with all this newfangled Joe movie stuff that certainly does nothing to bank on my nostalgia and therefore my insane desire to buy anything beloved from the days of my youth. Take G.I. Joe Battleship for example. It’s a cool update to one of my favorite board games of all time, yet there’s nary a classic vehicle or character on the box. Of course, there is the updated Night Raven, but it’s not THE Night Raven.
Hot damn, now I know what it’s like to be one of those old guys who only collects the classic 12-inch Joes. It sucks.
Thanks to: Toy News International
Soundwave in San Diego
Hasbro revealed this last week that the G1 Soundwave would be their exclusive Transformer at this year’s San Diego Comic Con. Everyone’s favorite tape recording Decepticon will come with plenty of friends. He’s going to have Ravage, Buzzsaw, Laserbeak, and Ratbat along with him at the show.
Personally, I’ve never been too terribly impressed with the Transformer exclusives. They just seem like simple repaints most of the time, but I’m not a huge Transformers fan so I guess I don’t have my finger on the pulse of what’s desirable. This Soundwave seems a hell of a lot more interesting than the usual offering, but I’ll definitely be skipping this one too. I managed to get a hold of the exclusive Toys R Us “reissue” from a few years ago. Yeah, I know that Soundwave had a different chest piece that held two mini-figs and that the San Diego version is the “true” one and he comes with extra cassettes, but I can only have so many Soundwaves. Anyone looking to get their hands on this guy?
Original Source: Transformers Collector’s Club
Robo Course
While obviously I encourage you to go out and buy the a copy of ToyFare #132, you can now read my retrospective on the 1980s Robo Force toy line on TF’s website as well.
Get ‘Er, Robo!
Robo Force may have suction cups for behinds, but these robot toys never, ever sucked
Hello, Robo! Adios, Robo!
ToyFare looks at the five strangest Robo Force robots and the ones that didn’t make the cut