Toy Aisle Trolls > D’oh Joe

May 4, 2011 | Poe

Toy Aisle Trolls is a feature highlighting acts of vandalism to in-store toy items. If you find a ruined package, a stolen figure, a swapped-out figure, or any other such acts, take a photo (cell phone photos are fine if they’re not blurry) and email them to poe AT poeghostal.com.

Found by: EV

What It’s Supposed to Look Like: This, this and this

The Problem: They’ve all been replaced with other figures. I have no idea what those are–anyone know?

Karmic Payback: The trolls’ entire toy collection is melted in a house fire. Also, his house burns down.

Writes EV: “I found this at my Target in Sagamore Hills Ohio. I thought I found a rare Joes at first but to my dismay it was a Troll’s doings.”

Odds ‘n Ends > Wondercon/Joecon Edition

April 3, 2011 | Poe

Wondercon 2011 - Mattel - Batman Legacy

  • My friend Popeonabomb was at Wondercon yesterday, and he took some pics for me – primarily of MOTUC and the Golden Age Batman & Joker. You can check ’em out here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/poeghostal/sets/72157626418374964/
  • I’ve been reading the G.I. Joe: Special Missions trade paperbacks from IDW. The concept, as described, really appealed to me–Joes performing “realistic” military missions. I’m enjoying the heck out of them, and between that and the incredible awesome reveals at JoeCon this weekend, I’m now actively resisting getting into G.I. Joe collecting. Which is kind of amazing, because G.I. Joe has been around forever and I never had the slightest interest in it (I was a He-Man/Transformers/TMNT kid). But Hasbro seems to be going balls-out with stuff like this and especially this. We’ll see whether I can hold out.
  • Some news bits from Wondercon: according to Scott Neitlich, Leech will have no other head, his jaw is not articulated, and Hordak’s armor will be vac-metallized (i.e., chrome).
  • As you know, I’ve often discussed expanding the scope of this website to encompass more geek-related, but not necessarily toy-related, topics. I just as frequently have shot the idea down, deciding that keeping a laserlike focus on toys is the best way to keep the site popular. However, I’ve found I do need some sort of outlet for my non-toy geekishness, and to that end I’ve decided to create a spinoff website that will allow me to write about non-toy stuff. All I need is a title…Poe Ghostal’s…Pop…something? I don’t know. As such, I’m holding a contest! Post your suggestions below. If I decide I like any of them enough to use as the site’s title, that person will win a special Sword of Ages variant–purple hilt, black blade! Enter as many times as you want.

Toy Aisle Trolls > Low Point

March 7, 2011 | Poe

Toy Aisle Trolls is a feature highlighting acts of vandalism to in-store toy items. If you find a ruined package, a stolen figure, a swapped-out figure, or any other such acts, take a photo (cell phone photos are fine if they’re not blurry) and email them to poe AT poeghostal.com.

Poester K. sends in this sad commentary on some of the people in our hobby.

Writes K.:

At my local Walmart in Lockport, IL, which is rated by the company as one of its top 5 stores in the country somehow, I am constantly finding these horrible swap outs. I’ve brought them to the store’s attention and different managers many times. I am pretty sure it is the same troll that has been doing this to at least 30 figures I’ve found since the Rise of Cobra line came out.

Yesterday’s find of the just-released vhtf Low-Light was particularly horrible and I had to take a picture before I turned him over to the Toy Department Manager.

For some reason, this one just out-and-out pisses me off as an example of blatant theft. I’m not even going to make fun of the creepy shirtless dude in the helmet. I’m just going to wish the worst upon the human being who did this, no doubt created when an irradiated sperm met a gangrenous egg.

But I commend K. for actually taking some action this time–if he reads this post, perhaps he can let us know whether the manager actually took the thing off the shelf?

Ten Classic G.I. Joe Icons That Require a Pursuit of Cobra Makeover

March 4, 2011 | Monte

Monte Williams returns to Poe Ghostal’s Points of Articulation to counter the cloying Mattel love with some praise and speculation for the world’s greatest toy company, Hasbro.

Ten Classic G.I. Joe Icons That Require a Pursuit of Cobra Makeover

Or

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Start Loving Small-Scale G.I. Joes

The Pursuit of Cobra series features the most awe-inspiring figures Hasbro has ever produced under its many G.I. Joe banners. Like Mattel’s Masters of the Universe series of 2002, Pursuit of Cobra takes classic character designs and increases their dynamism by roughly three hundred-percent… and then adds stellar articulation and a dizzying array of accessories.

Thus far, Hasbro has treated Joe fans to Pursuit of Cobra updates of Destro, Spirit, Firefly, and many other classic G.I. Joe characters.

So who should they update next? (more…)

Odds ‘n Ends (+ Sword of Ages update)

March 1, 2011 | Poe

  • As some of you know, Ecrater accidentally oversold the Sword of Ages and the Dread Axe of Darkness during the last sale. I chose to honor those sales and requested replacement ones from SMC (after contacting the individuals to make sure they didn’t mind waiting); the replacements arrived over the weekend, but our apartment got flooded AGAIN (fifth time in five years) on Sunday, so there’s going to be a bit of a delay while all that gets in order. I apologize for the wait.
  • As I mentioned last week, I’m a guest on this week’s OrccaCast. Tune in to hear some more stories from my time at Toy Fair, speculation on the “secret accessories” for Man-E-Faces and Megator, and find out what this is!
  • I didn’t realize that the guy who got picked to direct the next G.I. Joe movie, Jon M. Chu, directed the Justin Bieber movie (as well as two Step Up sequels). Here’s my take on it, though. Of course it could totally suck, but karmically, I’m thinking it might just turn out okay. Plenty of directors got their start directing forgettable movies (or rather music videos, which is really more in line with what Chu was directing).* I guess I’m just saying I’m giving Chu the benefit of the doubt. Of course, I really should see the first G.I. Joe movie at some point.
  • Remember, the Scarabus 10-pack goes up for preorder tonight at 9pm EST. I’d planned to get you guys a review of the Toypocalypse Scarabus, but the aforementioned flooding interfered. Fortunately, I found this review on YouTube for you.

* On the other hand, the two directors who come immediately to mind as having started their careers in music videos are Michael Bay and McG, so I could be very, very wrong about this.