While the Mattel Masters of the Universe debacle drove the toy collecting community into a frenzied rage, the other toy book this year has been getting a lot of respect if not the same amount of talk. When my buddy was at SDCC this year I gave him a list of stuff to pick up for me and one of the items was the Hasbro related book Insight (as well as the Masters book that I didn’t get). I can say that I managed to get a copy, it’s a sweet arse book.
What? Toy Hunt on Poe Ghostal’s blog? How is that possible!? Well, after the bastards killed my blog I took all my awesome with me, so here’s the first Toy Hunt on Poe Ghostal. If you’re not familar with Toy Hunt, it’s basically me talking about what toys I bought. Why should you care? I don’t know, you just should. So let’s kick this off:
After moving to a new city I hadn’t stopped at any Wal-Marts yet. Actually that’s a lie, I stopped at one when I was looking for apartments and was really unimpressed. Today though, I stopped at a new one that I found and I scored big (at least for me). Most Wal-Marts around me tend to suck. Hell, I stopped going to one because they don’t even carry G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra or any DC figures. So imagine my surprise when I realized that this one had the potential to be a magic Wal-Mart.
If you’re hoping that Hasbro will re-release the classic G.I. Joe Skystriker, I hope you’re not holding your breath. First of all, they are going in a more futuristic direction with the movie line. Secondly, the rumor is that Funskool ruined the molds when they had them. But even if they managed to make a new Skystriker, it still wouldn’t be as cool as this jet from JSI:
This is a 1:18th scale F-14 Tomcat, meaning it’s to scale with G.I. Joes and it could be modified to be the most bad ass Skystriker on the planet. It’s got a ton of detail and is a pre-order for the low, low price of 209.00. Okay, that’s not very low, but it’s still damned cool. You know, I think you owe me a Christmas gift from last year. This is a great way to make amends.
I’ve resisted the urge to post every mildly amusing geek-related video I come across–and I’m sure 99% of you have already seen this–but it was too amazing not to post. That’s one hell of a cast.
Use this post’s comment to discuss anything about the movie that doesn’t involve spoilers. If you want to discuss spoilers, please use this thread on the PGPoA forum.
Remember how Mattel is teasing us all with the SDCC-only, limited-to-1,000 MOTU art book? Hasbro’s doing something similar, only they’re letting anyone who wants one get one. Oh, and the profits go to charity. (more…)
The above monster figure is an example of one of the coolest ideas for a custom toy I’ve ever seen and it’s based on something that I hold near and dear to me. You see, the above figure is from an part of a series of episodes of the G.I. Joe cartoon entitled Pyramid of Darkness. In a sort of rip off of Gremlins there are these little furry animals that are suddenly changed into the horrific whip cracking aliens you see here. They’re never really explained in the series and they pretty much sums up why the G.I. Joe cartoon was stupidly awesome.
They also represent something that I thought was weird when I was a kid. Why didn’t they make figures of them? Of course as I got a bit older I realized that it was best that they didn’t, but when Pyramid of Darkness came out I was still pretty little and I embraced all the super weird over the top sci-fi elements found in the cartoons. Now that I’m older, I’m more into the military element of G.I. Joe, but I like that it can be fluid and sometimes incorporate the more fantastic.
Kudos to the customizer, for perfectly capturing something that might otherwise shrugged off as stupid or not worthy of being in the G.I. Joe universe.
Thanks to: HissTank.com
Corey Tincher reviews the Hasbro G.I. Joe Hall of Heroes Firefly figure. Excerpt: “… this is my early favorite for most fun 3.75 inch figure of the year.” (See also.)
Wes reviews the Hasbro Marvel Legends The Incredible Hulk Limited Edition Hulk Target exclusive figure. Excerpt: “If it weren’t for the fact that you could buy a much better Hulk on eBay for the same price as this guy, I’d have no problem recommending him.”
yo go re reviews the Hasbro Marvel Universe Wolverine figure. Excerpt: “Wolverine’s X-Force costume may be graphically interesting, but it’s murder on the paint apps.” (See also.) (more…)
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.
Code 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.
