Odds ‘n Ends > November 2, 2011

November 2, 2011 | Poe

  • Yesterday Warner Bros announced they had extended their master toy license deal with Mattel. Hardly a surprise with Dark Knight Rises and Man of Steel on the way, but good news for those of us who love Four Horsemen sculpting on DC toys. Speaking of, I sincerely hope the Horsemen will be working on the DKRises Movie Masters toys. Not sure if that’s been confirmed yet.
  • BigBadToyStore has the next (and final?) wave of Batman Legacy figures up for preorder. Enchanted Toy Chest should have them soon as well.
  • Pics of the upcoming G.I. Joe Zombie-Viper surfaced yesterday. (And some guy named Edwin “Lifeline” Steen.) The zombie looks incredibly awesome. This is how it’s done, Todd.
  • I hadn’t even heard about this until yesterday, but NECA is offering an incredible in-scale Da Vinci Flying Machine from Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. It doesn’t come with an Ezio figure, but if you have one it will fit in the machine. It’s only available via preorder from Gamestop.
  • Due to NYCC, I forgot to submit a Q&A to Mattel for November 1, but you can see a roundup of the rest of them here. I didn’t find any answers particularly earth-shattering, but it’s interesting to see they’re committed to continuing Ghostbusters past 2012. The prop replicas are selling out and are apparently pretty cool, but the figures seem to be tanking.
  • The fully-painted “Infinity Edition” of Outer Space Men phases three and four will go up for preorder on 11/11.

Odds ‘n Ends > October 19, 2011

October 19, 2011 | Poe

Today’s Odds ‘n Ends is sponsored by the letter Î©, who surprisingly had a PayPal account.

  • The Spawn Message Board was taken down last Friday. Rustin Parr of OAFE has written an excellent obituary here. His comment that the Spawn Board was the birthplace of the online toy collecting community is only mildly hyperbolic–I certainly got my start there, and many other well-known online toy personalities, such as Michael Crawford, congregated there in the late ’90s. I invented the pseudonym “Poe Ghostal” for that board, way back in 1999. Of course, I hadn’t visited the board in years–ever since McFarlane Toys began its long slide into sports and statuism after the Spawn lines of the early 2000s (with the one positive blip being Halo)–but the board’s demise is still worth some brief reflection.
  • Diamond Select has created a rather awesome “Mini-Mation” video starring their pirate-themed “Calico Jack” Minimates.
  • ItsAllTrue.net has a great review of the TRU-exclusive 1970s-style Arkham City Batman (it comes free with a purchase of the game at TRU, or, like me, you can buy it separately for $14.99). Of course, the actual 1970s game skin is a completely unique model, not just some new graphics over the regular suit…
  • BigBadToyStore has two major new exclusive G.I. Joe 7-Packs: Slaughter’s Marauders and the Dreadnoks. You can save $10 if you buy both sets together. The sets include a mix of new figures and repaints.
  • Bandai let me know they’re having a Ben 10 Sweepstakes. Kids can enter the contest by submitting codes from Ben 10 toys to helpben10.com. The winner gets an all-expenses paid trip for three to London to ride the Ben 10: Ultimate Mission roller coaster at the Drayton Manor Theme Park in Tamworth, Staffordshire — plus the winner will have a bonus chance to win $10,000 on top of the grand prize. So if you’ve got a child, grandchild, or nephew or niece who’s really into Ben 10, be sure to mention it to ’em.

The Rock as Roadblock (Roadrock?)

August 16, 2011 | Poe

I’m not that much of a G.I. Joe fan, but I respect it as one of the great 1980s toy properties. The first movie was terrible, but I’ve been watching the development of the second film with cautious optimism. Most fans dismissed it the second the director of the Justin Bieber movie was chosen, but that awoke some contrarian sense in me that suggested two wrongs just might make a right. More specifically, Jon M. Chu, as a novice director, might be more willing to respect the franchise’s history than try to create his own vision of the concept.

But I digress. When I found out the Rock would be in the G.I. Joe sequel  as Roadblock, my optimism went up a bit more. I’ve never been a wrestling fan, but I love the Rock–mostly on the strength of his performance in The Rundown (one of my favorite movies), but also his general personality. He’s fun to watch.* And man, is he psyched to be in G.I. Joe.

The above pic was posted on Johnson’s Twitter account, showing him in full Roadblock costume. I have absolutely no legitimate reason to be optimistic about this film, and yet…there is a precedent. Star Trek: The Motion Picture turned off Star Trek fans with its incredibly slow pace, awkward dialogue, odd characterization of the main cast, and the forced addition of new characters. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan kicked ass by going back to what made the original show great–action, suspense, great dialogue and character interaction, and a focus on the main characters. It respected the franchise.

I think G.I. Joe: Retaliation just might pull off the same trick. But…I’ve been wrong before.

For more on the Rock’s importance to the new film, check out Poe Power Pal GeneralsJoes‘s post, G.I. Joe: Retaliation influenced by “The Rock’s” positive impact.

*At one point there was a plan to make a buddy cop flick called Blowback starring the Rock and Ryan Reynolds. I’m sad it never got made. Very sad.

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 > July 8, 2011

July 8, 2011 | Poe

  • As you may have noticed, I’ve reinstated the Poester Gallery forum. It’s less comprehensive than the old one, based on the fact that most of you seem to prefer doing your discussion here on the blog, but I wanted to give you all somewhere to discuss topics I’m not covering. You do need to register to use it–however, you may already have registered for the site via the forum format I used two forums ago, so you may just need to get a password reminder. If that makes any sense.
  • I’m going to give you to the end of the weekend to enter the contest for the three-of-a-kind Poehammer. The contest ends at 11:59pm ET this Sunday.
  • Nomad of the Idle Hands blog has a fantastic, comprehensive list of SDCC 2011 exclusives. Which do you think is the best? While it’s not the one I’m most excited for personally, I think the Starscream Skystriker takes the cake. It’s the perfect exclusive–an awesome repaint that isn’t necessarily a must-have item for your collection (i.e., a unique character, a la Queen Marlena).
  • There seem to be a ton of toy-related online video shows and podcasts these days. I have to admit I am just not that into them–I prefer reading. I can read faster than a person can talk, and I have complete control over how fast and how thoroughly I read an article or review. But I’m curious–do people watch a lot of videos and/or listen to a lot of podcasts? Is this something I should be getting more into?

CoilCon slithering through the Midwest in July

June 20, 2011 | Poe

Poester Southzen sent in an email asking to spread the word about CoilCon, the annual convention of the Midwest-based G.I. Joe fan club Coil Club. Now in its sophomore year, the 2011 CoilCon will be held in late July at Kokomo Toys and Collectibles in Kokomo, Indiana.

From the press release:

The 2nd annual COIL Con GI Joe Swap Meet and Get Together will be held on Saturday, July 23, 2011.  Admission is FREE and open to the public.  There will be FREE hot dogs and drinks throughout the day in addition to great prizes, giveaways, games for the kids and contests for adults.

Like last year, Joe fans from all around the Midwest will be bringing GI Joe related items to sell and trade in our FREE vendor tents.  That’s right, there is NO charge for vendor set up!!  Even if you are not a vendor and want to sell some items, there will be tables for private sellers too!

Fans from far away as Utah and many online community regulars from Hiss Tank, Joe Battlelines, Joe Sightings, YoJoe, Joe Intel, Joe Declassified and Terrordome attended COIL Con I sharing rare and prototype pieces of their collections.

We are pleased to announce the second of our special guest joining us this year.  Pre-production collector and Modern Era “documentarian” Gary Head will be on hand to join in the festivities of the day.  We will also be joined by published author James Kavanaugh, Jr., with copies of his new GI Joe reference guide!  See our GUEST page on the menu bar for more details.

Available THIS year will be a Convention Exclusive COIL Commando, Codename: Sidewinder.  Quantity will be extremely limited.  Price has not yet been announced.  It will only be available at COIL Con II!

Come early to shop, stay late for the conversation!  COIL Con II will be a GREAT TIME!