Joes for Tots: Want to win a 6″ unmasked Dark Knight Batman?

ATTEN-TION, Poesters! Paul tells me the number of entries for Joes for Tots ain’t quite up to snuff. Some of you have been derelict of your duty–your duty as a toy collector, as someone who wishes to pass on a love of toys to another generation, as someone who stands a chance to win a lot of awesome prizes, and last but not least as a human being.

The good news is, it’s very easy to rectify the situation–just make a donation to Toys for Tots today. The deadline for actual toy donations has passed in most places, but you can still make a cash donation via the Toys for Tots website. Don’t worry about how big or little your donation is–every bit helps.

And once you’ve made that donation, forward your confirmation email to winbigprizeswinbigmoney@gmail.com and you could win a prize pack worthy of a Magi. (more…)

The Great MOTUC Debate, Revisited

motu-classics

You’ll recall back in December of last year, I posted a series of articles with quotes from various high-profile collectors regarding their thoughts on Masters of the Universe Classics. (You can read them here and here.)

Well, it’s been nine months, and at this point it’s safe to say that MOTUC has been a success. However, a financial success does not always equal an artistic success (see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), so I thought I’d contact some of the contributors from last time and see whether their thoughts on MOTUC have changed since the line debuted.

There are a couple more contributors I was waiting on–I’ll add their comments if/when i receive them. (more…)

Poe’s Point > SDCC Wrap

sdcc_wrap

I’m not going to discuss what happened with the various exclusives and so forth–Rustin has promised a rant later in the week, and I’m sure that will cover it all and more.

Instead, I’m just going to list the things that interested me the most. (more…)

5 Questions With > Rustin Parr

Today we have an interview with a good friend of mine, Rustin Parr of OAFE. Rustin and I first met through OAFE in the early 1990s, and despite living on separate coasts, we’ve met in person many times since then. An passionate if idiosyncratic movie buff, Haunted Mansion enthusiast, and King Leonidas look-alike (well, maybe not the abs, but the face, anyway), Rustin has agreed to bare just a bit of his soul to us here at PGPoA.

338381890_lCode name: Scott McEachen, alias Rustin Parr, alias Gunstas von Artlefuasdensein, D.D.S.
Specialty: Dreaming Big and Accomplishing Small
Base of Operations: Monterey, CA
History: Began the adventure in gorgeous Hermosa Beach, California, whence an egregious lust for action figuring took hold. A lack of sculpting ability and painting prowess propelled him into the world of Motion Picture production whose frivolities spat the man into the cutting edge of Neuro Marketing during which a healthy imbibing of toys and movies keeps the life juices flowing. It was a hot and sunny day when a close personal friend, the self-titled Lord of the Nazgul, brought together Rustin with Yo Go Re and Poe Ghostal, all posters at the formerly awesome and important/relevant spawn.com message boards, the latter two being founding members of oafe.net. After one particularly long and laugh-riddled evening in which Rustin performed his then-constant desperate rage upon the unprepared Yo’n’Poe towards falsely accused inept waitresses and rightfully, if not righteously accused George Lucas and his modern films, Poe’n’Yo dragged the Froce’o’da’nature into the fold at OAFE where on Rustin continues to this day to be less entertaining than that first eve and less consistent in producing reviews than his editor would prefer. Rustin is survived by his collection projected to consist of over 2,000 individual action figures, 500 hundred vehicle and location replicas 9in varying scales) and hundreds of plus-sized and resin collectibles, not to mention a DVD collection of some 1200 discs.

(more…)

Toy review roundup (via Fanmode)

fanmode-copy Jeff Parker reviews the Hot Toys Predator Major Alan “Dutch” Schaeffer and Private Billy Sole 1/6-scale figures. Excerpt: “Well, once again we are in the territory of Dallas and Kane’ where one actor/agent/lawyer has given permission to use his likeness and the other hasn’t …”

Newton Gimmick reviews the Playmates TMNT Mini-Mutants Exoskeleton Shredder figure. Excerpt: “… while it’s obviously inspired by Exo-Squad it has tons of little traits that definitely make it TMNT.”

Dave Van Domelen reviews the Hasbro Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Scout class Rollbar, Dead End, Knock Out, Dirt Boss, Depthcharge and Ransack figures. Excerpt: “… it seems like they used a much more brittle plastic in most of these than the designs would have worked best with.” (See also: 1, 2, 3, 4.) (more…)

5 Questions With > MisterBigBo

Welcome to the first of what I hope will be many interviews with fellow collectors!

MisterBigBo, who comments here occasionally, is a real-life friend of mine who I’ve actually spent time with in person. He’s taken time out of his busy schedule as a brand-new dad to answer a few questions about his toy collecting.

mbb_avatar

Codename: MisterBigBo
Base of Operations:
The Commiewealth of Taxachusetts
History:
Regular ole suburban lower middle class kid who grew up in the 80s. Star Wars fan first, but like most boys of that generation I had a healthy action figure collection. I have gone on to become a teacher, a dad, and study traditional Japanese martial arts, but the toys are still there.

1.) What were your favorite toys or toy lines as a child?

Though I started with Star Wars, moved with the trends to Transformers and He-Man for a while, GI Joe was my favorite. The designs and the articulation caused me to stay with the line into junior high, after most of my friends had moved on. As a youngster I had a little of everything: a few M.A.S.K. vehicles, and one or two Sky Commanders, Army Antz, Silver Hawks, C.O.P.S., Centurins, Marvel Secret Wars and D.C. Super Powers, Captain Power, Chuck Norris Karate Kommandos, Battle Beasts, Starcom, Eagle Force. . . those are the faves that I can remember right now . I suppose my tendency these days to collect only one or a few of any given line is a continuation of that trend. (more…)

Toy review roundup (via Fanmode)

fanmode-copy Poe Ghostal reviews the Takara Tomy Transformers Masterpiece MP-8 Grimlock figure. Excerpt: “… a superb tribute to one of the most popular Transformers ever.” (See also.)

Poe Ghostal reviews the Playmates Toys Terminator Salvation T-R.I.P. Resistance Infiltrator Prototype (Deluxe version) 6-inch figure. Excerpt: “… it’s nice to have an Endoskeleton in the 6″ scale.”

Michael Crawford reviews the Playmates Toys Star Trek Galaxy Collection Kirk, Spock, Uhura, Original Spock and Nero figures. Excerpt: “… what I’ve seen so far indicates the quality of the sets will be much higher than the figures.” (more…)

Toy review roundup (via Fanmode), 1/24/09

fanmode-copy yo go re reviews the Mattel DC Universe Classics Green Lantern figure. Excerpt: “… Hal Jordan isn’t much of a character; this mundane action figure suits him perfectly.” (See also.)

Thomas Wheeler reviews the Mattel DC Universe Classics Harley Quinn figure. Excerpt: “… this is one very impressive figure.” (See also.)

yo go re reviews the Hasbro G.I. Joe Flint (Cobra disguise version) figure. Excerpt: “… this is a good toy, even if it is everything we’ve seen before.” (See also.) (more…)