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!

Pic of the Day

December 14, 2010 | Poe

Christmas Bender action figure from Futurama

Christmas Bender action figure from Futurama by popculturegeek.com

Pic of the Day

November 3, 2010 | Poe

Bender

Bender by Plastic Hero, on Flickr

SDCC > Rustin Parr’s Report, Day 4

July 25, 2010 | Poe

Saturday 7/25

A very long day. Began with us futile-y trying to get in to Hall H for the Warner Bros panel. After realizing how pointless that was it was back to the dealer floor. Panels, especially big name panels or panels otherwise in one of the big room, are really hard to get into with the line at any given time being about 50% people for the next panel and 50% people for one later in the day, which just exacerbates the whole situation and makes it s far harder to get into panels to begin (this is why I came very close to missing the Mattypalooza panel, the line was massive and mostly people for the Marvel/Capcom panel the following the hour). Essentially, one must pick a large room and not leave in order to see the large panels. This has been a problem for several years (this is Movie Con, after all) so I’ve long since made peace with the fact that I’m not getting in to panels and that I will be able to read the news immediately online and see the movie/s themselves in a couple months. Still would have been neat to see the Avengers assemble, though. (more…)

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…)

Poe’s Point Special > Toy Fair 2010

February 15, 2010 | Poe

It would be impossible and way too much work for me to cover all the awesome stuff coming out of this year’s Toy Fair. The awesomeness seems to be hearkening back to the good old days of the early 2000s…anyway, instead of trying to list everything, I’m just going to hit the highlights of the stuff I’m excited about. But feel free to use this as the catch-all Toy Fair discussion thread.

Masters of the Universe Classics

Of course we start here. We’ve had hints and suggestions of all the stuff that was revealed, but frankly, I was never really 100% sure we were going to see Tytus or, even more insane, Gy-Gor–who looks much better than I’d imagined he would as a Gorilla Grodd repaint. Anyway, the reveals were:

Wow. Where to start with all this? (more…)

5 Questions With > Dr. Mrs. Ghostal

August 20, 2009 | Poe

Poe’s note: I’ve got a special treat for you all today: an interview with my one and only, Dr. Mrs. Ghostal. What can I say about my lovely, understanding wife that I haven’t said on this blog a dozen times already? Brilliant, beautiful, geeky, and more than I probably deserve.

Code name: Dr. Mrs. Ghostal, DMG, DottyGale
Specialty: Biochemistry, Knitting
Base of Operations: Brighton, MA.
History: Born and raised in SoCal as a child of the 80s, but was more into TV and books than toys. Got pulled into the world of action figures when I started dating Poe 5 years ago, and have had a house full of plastic men, women and creatures ever since.

1.) What were your favorite toys as a kid?

Like I said, as a kid I wasn’t all that into toys.  I had a lot of stuffed animals of various sorts.  My mom says that I was a “social doll player” in that if someone else wanted to play with the Barbies or the Cabbage Patch Kids I would play, too.  I think the toys I really remember the most fondly were these little animals that my sister and I collected.  They were plastic, but furry, and wore tiny doll clothes.  We had bears, rabbits, little baby moles.  I can’t remember what they were called, but we sure had a lot of them.

Perhaps the funniest thing I can remember is that when my friends, my sister and I played with toys, the story lines were really influenced by the TV my babysitter watched, which included a good share of talk shows and soap operas.  I’m pretty sure that Barbie’s Dream Wedding was interrupted by a mysterious stranger with a scandalous past! (more…)