Bat-Week | Review > Batman & Joker Mez-Itz (Mezco)

August 28, 2011 | Poe

In the early 2000s there was an explosion of minifigures in the collectors’ market: Minimates, Pocket Heroes, Kubricks, Stikfas, and Shockinis, just to name a few. Some were clearly inspired by the classic LEGO minifigures, while others focused more on customizability and interchangeable parts.

My personal favorite minifigures were the original Mez-Itz by Mezco. Unlike other minifigures, Mez-Itz had uniquely-sculpted heads and other accessories. And they had a slew of great licenses, including Aliens, Predator, Robocop, Hellboy, Edward Scissorhands, Friday the 13th, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and even Army of Darkness. Later they expanded to their own unique lines, such as pirates and ninjas (much as Minimates is doing now). Sadly, the line died out when the Pirates and ninjas failed to set the world on fire.

In the intervening years, the vinyl figure movement expanded from its niche into the mass market, primarily in the form of Mighty Muggs and its derivates. Mezco hopped on that bandwagon by mimicking the style and size of Mighty Muggs with their newly re-branded Mez-Itz. Now, they come full circle as they shrink the 6″ Mez-Itz down to two inches. (more…)

Bat-Week | Review > Batman (Arkham Asylum, DC Direct)

August 28, 2011 | Poe

For the aesthetic design of Batman: Arkham Asylum, Rocksteady Studios chose to walk a line between the realism of the Christopher Nolan Batman films and the comic books. While some characters, such as the Scarecrow, deviated significantly from their comic or movie incarnations, others remained fairly truthful to one form or another.

The game’s Batman design is a cross between the bulked-up Batman of the Hush era, with the black bat symbol and the pouch belt, and the survival suit of The Dark Knight, as evinced by the piping and seams on the uniform and the heavily modified gauntlets and boots.

As usual, DC Direct struck with these figures when the iron was ice-cold–they hit stores a good year and a half after the game. The second wave has already come out and there will be more, including an Asylum Killer Croc and an Arkham City Harley Quinn is due in a “few” months (read: July 2012). (more…)

Welcome to Bat-Week!

August 28, 2011 | Poe

This was the first summer in years that I watched some of the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week. It’s not that I don’t love sharks–I do (JAWS is my favorite film). But by the time I was a teenager I’d already watched a lot of shark nature shows, so I suppose I figured there wasn’t much new to learn. Still, I enjoyed Shark Week this year, especially Jaws Comes Home, which examined the recent appearance of numerous great white sharks off my native Massachusetts coast.

More importantly for you, I was inspired to create Bat-Week! I’ve got over twenty unopened Batman-related toys, ranging from 1989 to 2011, and over the next seven days I’ll be reviewing as many of them as possible. So sit back, put on your cape and cowl, sandpaper your vocal cords and enjoy the Batmania.

Odds ‘n Ends > 8/12/2011

August 12, 2011 | Poe

  • I got an email last night that said Mattel had extended all the subscriptions another week to August 22. It’s hard to know whether this is primarily to give the DC subscription a better chance or because all the subs aren’t getting the numbers they want. I still think the DC sub is screwed–the minimum number just seems to be too high–but this week I was considering subscribing until I found out that, because I already subscribed to Club Eternia and didn’t subscribe to both at the same time, I’d have to pay double shipping by adding a second subscription (“Remember, you can buy as many subscriptions as you like in any combination and they’ll all ship together when purchased in the same transaction!”). I’m sorry, but I am not paying double shipping. If Mattel wants to encourage fans to buy Club Infinite Earths, they should kick Digital River’s sorry ass and make them combine the shipping for the damned subs even if they’re ordered separately. Anything less is dumbfoundingly stupid. Period.
  • Mattel also posted more information on the future of the 6″ DC figures aside from Club Infinite Earths. The money quote, in my opinion: Yes DC 6″ will continue at retail in 2012 but their will be a lot of changes. Collect and Connect and the Wave strategy will be gone. The focus will be on much more mainstream and kid/mom friendly mixes/characters. This is WHY we created the club, to give a home to those team builders, C and  D list characters and fan demanded variants who may no longer be showing up at retail in 2012. It seems fan speculation is correct–the 6″ DC line will look like the Millennium MOTU line of the early 2000s, with tons of Superman and Batman guises. Before you start collecting kindling for Mattel’s auto-da-fé, keep in mind this is very likely being pushed by Warner Bros./DC, who are overtly trying to court a younger audience with their “Brand New DC” relaunch next month. Get the kids hooked early and all that. When will the two big comic companies stop pining for the days when Captain Marvel sold a million copies a month? That was in the 1940s, people. There were few televisions and no videogames or heck, even action figures then. Those days aren’t coming back.
  • Blogger, Poester and sometime PGPoA contributor Novelty wants to know: “What if MOTUC cherry pickers switched to the subscriptions instead?”
  • Figureoftheday.com is having an Alien/Predator event all day today. Might be worth checking out.
  • Angels preserve us, could the second G.I. Joe movie actually not suck?
  • You may remember MasterEnglish, whom I commissioned to make my 339/1 custom. I’ve just commissioned a second custom, which will be (if all goes according to plan) revealed not here, but at Power-Con first.

Odds ‘n Ends > August 8, 2011

August 8, 2011 | Poe

  • I’m putting together what I’m calling “Bat-Week”–a week of reviews of Batman-related toys. I was hoping to do it this week, the week after Shark Week, but it didn’t come together. So it will be either next week or the week after.
  • I missed this out of SDCC, but it appears Mattel is actually looking into an opt-in option for subscribers for the six “Anniversary” figures in 2012 (Fearless Photog, Draego-Man, and the other four new characters). If that happens, I’ll be both surprised and pleased. The vehicles and Granamyr are still excluded because the pricing on them isn’t known yet (though they’ve been saying $80 for Granamyr).
  • DCUC is on sale for $9.99 at TRU this week, evidently. If you’re short on Mary Marvels or Steppenwolfs, now’s your chance to stock up.
  • Speaking of TRU, apparently the “Mad Love” Joker/Harley two-packs are hitting stores. It would be just my luck if every other Mattel DCUC 2-pack has pegwarmed but I never even see this set.
  • On a related note, I’ve started looking for the K-Mart exclusive Golden Age Batman w/ Bat-Mite. All I’ve found are empty pegs for Batman Legacy figures that haven’t been put out.

Pic of the Day > Two-Pack Batman (Mattel, 2003) by Poe Ghostal

August 2, 2011 | Poe

Two-Pack Batman (Mattel, 2003)

Poe’s note: While the 2003 comic-based Batman figures were painfully under-articulated, there’s no denying they were excellently sculpted–to this day, I think a fully-articulated figure with the Zipline Batman sculpt would perhaps be the perfect Batman figure.

This particular version of Batman came from a two-pack with a forgettable Mattel-sculpted Superman. However, I find it interesting because, with the yellow symbol, lack of briefs and lines on the cowl, it presages elements of both the Batman, Incorporated design, as well as the “Brand New DC” look.

Odds ‘n Ends > July 26, 2011

July 26, 2011 | Poe

  • Saw Captain America with Dr. Mrs. Ghostal and Red Kryptonite this past weekend. I enjoyed it–more than Thor, and probably more than any Marvel flick since X-Men 2. We knew Joe Johnston could direct period pieces, and this was sort of a sideways sequel to The Rocketeer anyway. Chris Evans was great, Tommy Lee Jones did a great job being Tommy Lee Jones, and the Red Skull was Red Hulk to Jim Carrey’s The Mask. (I did find the Red Skull make-up a bit too cartoony, but I realize that–as well as the German-accented English among the foreign bad guys–was done to make the film accessible to kids, and that’s fine.) Did I think it was better than Batman Begins or The Dark Knight? No, but it was unquestionably more fun than those movies, and a nice set-up for The Avengers.
  • Speaking of Nick Fury & the Avengers, this spoof is cute. Love the slow clap.
  • As you may know, Mattel is bringing the DC Retro Action line to a close soon. Some fans have a petition up to save it. I wish ’em luck!
  • I received an email from a company called Geek Design, who create high-end furniture for storing and displaying collectibles.
  • Looks like I’ll be attending NYCC this year. I keep hoping more of SDCC’s hype will spill over into NYCC as SDCC becomes more crowded; maybe that will start this year, with the show moving back to October. The Tuesday after the show, incidentally, is the release date for Batman: Arkham City, the Arkham City trade paperback, and the Blu-Ray of Batman: Year One. Busy day for Bats.
  • In case you missed it, there were a couple small MOTUC news bits out of SDCC. First off, the Wind Raider will have real box art, painted by the same artist who did it thirty years ago.
  • Also, here are all the new bios that were revealed. Battleground Evil-Lyn’s is a doozy; Demo-Man’s disappointingly contains nothing about Demo-Man himself, nor explains what happened when Keldor merged with him (i.e., did any of Demo-Man’s mind merge as well, etc.).
  • Finally, it looks like there very well may be an exclusive at PowerCon: a pedestal for King Grayskull’s Orb of Sparkle Crest Toothpaste. The PowerCon part is speculation but seems likely.

Odds ‘n Ends > SDCC 2011 Preview Night Edition

July 21, 2011 | Poe

  • The Entertainment Earth/TRU exclusives are now on sale on the TRU website–here’s the link. HOWEVER: Rodimus is already sold out, and the Bizarro vs. Faker pack isn’t listed, apparently because it “missed the boat.” That’s what my pal at SDCC was told by the booth operators. Whether that means it will show up later in the ‘con, or not for another three to five weeks, is not something I know.
  • Mattel posted another MOTUC list. This one seems pretty obviously fake–Zombie Randor? Gwildor? Lodar? And Slime Pit He-Man as the exclusive, when we’ve been told the sub exclusive isn’t a He-Man variant?–but the odd thing is that one redacted bit after Sweetbee. Who redacts a fake list? Anyway, I have some limited knowledge of what may or may not be coming down the pike for the rest of 2011, and this doesn’t square with that at all, so I’m calling this fake.
  • There’s a “Project Photog” sticker next to Captain Glenn in the Mattel display case, including the names of the astronauts on the flight. The two that stick out to me are Mason–obviously a reference to Major Matt Mason, who, btw, would be an awesome MOTUC figure–and Bitner, a reference to Nathan Bitner, creator of Fearless Photog (who, until the lists popped up recently, was the frontrunning rumor for the 2012 sub exclusive).
  • NECA had most of its Evil Dead II line on display. There are three Ashes: a one-armed version, a torn-shirt version with a chainsaw, and Deadite Ash, whom I’ve wanted a figure of forever–plus Henrietta. Sixteen-year-old Poe would have LOST. HIS. S*** over this line. I’m a bit removed from that now–and bummed by the lack of leg articulation–but I’ll be buying every single Evil Dead II figure NECA makes.
  • You can also see the NECA Robocop behind that Henrietta–he looks pretty good.
  • I have to wonder, is it awkward shilling products for a failed blockbuster like Green Lantern at SDCC after the movie has come out? Still, Parallax looks awesome.
  • One of the bizarre things I’ve seen was the 1970s’-colors Arkham City Batman. It’s a TRU exclusive you get when you buy the game there, so I assume it’s going to be a skin in the game, too. Is it me, or is that head placed much better on the body than the regular version?
  • Possibly the best thing I’ve seen out of the show so far is the evidence that there will indeed be more Futurama figures. Lrrr! Morbo! Clamps! Joey Mousepad! The Donbot! And yet…NO HEDONISM-BOT. It’s a crime we’re getting the Destructor, whom I barely remember, before Hedonism-Bot. This line cannot end without that figure.
  • He is Vigo! The scourge of Carpathia!
  • Hot Toys is making a 1/6th Jack Nicholson Joker and a 1/6th Burton Batmobile; I can only assume a Keaton Batman is coming. I mention this solely because it irks me we still don’t have some Movie Masters of these in 6″ scale.
  • Speaking of Movie Masters, we’re also getting a figure of the Joker as he looked in the two-second scene in The Dark Knight where he dressed as a cop and shot at the mayor. Yay?
  • Mezco’s making a new Earthworm Jim figure. Weird, but cool. Oh, and it looks like there’s an Uncharted 3 Drake figure next to him. Square Enix is making a figure of Drake, too. Not sure I need one of those, but unless the Mezco one has articulated legs, of the two I’ll take Square’s.
  • Any photos that weren’t links to other sites were taken by Rustin Parr. Thanks Rustin!

SDCC Preview Night Pics

July 20, 2011 | Poe

Here are a few pics from SDCC, courtesy of Rustin Parr. Not as nice as you’ll find on other sites of course, but something to talk about.

First up, it appears Mattel is indeed expanding its Arkham City figures–here’s the Joker and Harley:

I can confirm that Harley, at least, was sculpted by the Four Horsemen. The Joker looks a little off, though–the head looks too small, and the hair looks too short. (more…)