Mattel Updates on the 2012 MOTUC Subscription

I try not to spend too many posts regurgitating news you can find elsewhere, but at the same time, I know at least some of you are trusting me to provide you with any information relevant to your interests rather than doing the work yourself.

Also, this is exactly the sort of Mattel announcement that generates a lot of comments, so I’m going to post it.

He-Fans and She-Ravers,

With the 2012 Club Eternia sale in full swing and our SDCC reveals past us, I wanted to take a quick minute to clear up some questions and comments from the boards.

1: First off, yes, we are no longer going to be doing a second run of figures. This will start with Queen Marlena and move into Man-E-Faces and the other fall figures. We still have some older figures already slotted for line time and a second run that will be offered monthly(ish) in 2012. But starting with the July/August figures there will no longer be second runs of newer figures (at least for now, anything could potentially change down the road). So if you want Marlena, now is the time to buy!

Additionally, in 2012 we will be reducing our production of all figures above and beyond the subs. We will still have product on sale day for those who do not have a sub, but in general there will be a bit less. Your first, best and most reliable way of getting the figures you want is to sign up for the sub (and the only way to get Shadow Weaver–our first Filmation character!). This will be the case for all subscriptions, not just MOTUC.

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Toy Commercial Tuesday > Pre-Filmation Animated He-Man Commercial

I’m guessing this is someone’s video of an old MOTU commercial that was being shown by Mattel at SDCC this year (for instance, note the swelling Star Wars music in the background). According to one of the commenters on Youtube, this video was actually made by Filmation to help sell the series to TV, but it’s clearly not in the same style as the actual Filmation cartoon was.

Lots of extra detail, real facial expressions, an Alfredo Alcala-looking Skeletor–am I alone in wishing the original series had looked more like this?

Review > Catra (Masters of the Universe)

Though mostly forgotten now, there was some mild controversy around MOTUC Catra. At the time she was shown, fans weren’t sure whether Mattel had the rights to do her “Filmation” look. It turned out they did, owing to a depiction of the character in a Mattel-created style guide from the 1980s. And thank heaven, because otherwise we might have had a figure based on her vintage look. (“Cobie Smulders is Demeter in Cirque du Soleil’s Cats!“)

Unlike the sausage-fest that was the Evil Warriors (Evil-lyn excepted), the Evil Horde was a more equal-opportunity organization. In addition to Catra, there was Shadow Weaver, Scorpia, Entrapta and Octavia. And while Hordak was the boss, most of the other male characters were dumb grunts while the women were smarter and often held positions of authority. After Adora’s defection to the Great Rebellion, Catra became the Force Captain of the Horde. Like Shadow Weaver, Catra once teamed up with Skeletor in an attempt to overthrow Hordak. [Source] (more…)

Power-Con/ThunderCon Update

The folks behind Power-Con/ThunderCon send along this press release. Unfortunately I won’t be able to make it–thus is the price of living on the other side of the continent. But it looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun.

July 18, 2011 – Three of the 1980s most blockbuster properties are joining forces for their first ever fan convention. Power-Con, LLC is proud to present POWER-CON / THUNDERCON — a celebration of Masters of the Universe, Princess of Power, and ThunderCats all together for one great fan convention.

The convention is being presented at the Four Points LAX in Los Angeles, California, on September 24th and 25th 2011. Reduced ticket pricing is available through September 1st 2011 (1-day pass: $20/person, 2-day pass: $30/person) and kids 12 and under get in free with paying adult. For fans wanting more, a Power Package bundle is available that includes exclusive convention memorabilia. There is also a Roast Gooble Dinner Package which offers a limited number of fans the rare opportunity to dine with celebrity guests from the show.

Guests include Larry DiTillio, writer of numerous He-Man and She-Ra episodes and developer of She-Ra; Don Glut, writer of the original He-Man mini comics; Michael Halperin, writer of the original Masters of the Universe series bible; Larry Kenney, the original voice actor for ThunderCat’s Lion-O; Roger Lay Jr., filmmaker of the upcoming Toy Masters documentary; Ted Mayer, one of the original designers of the Masters of the Universe toy line; Mattel, creators of the original He-Man and She-Ra toy lines and current producer of MattyCollector.com’s Masters of the Universe Classics; Earl Norem, painter of the iconic He-Man magazine; and Dean Stefan, lead story editor of the 2002 He-Man series on Cartoon Network. But, that’s not all! Our complete guest list can be found online at: http://www.thepower-con.com/guest-list/

For more information on Power-Con / ThunderCon 2011 and all of its offerings, please visit http://www.thepower-con.com


 

Thoughts on the MOTUC Reveals

The Four Horsemen were kind enough to provide some glorious high-res studio shots of the MOTUC reveals from SDCC, so here’s my figure-for-figure thoughts on each one.

Demo-Man > Easily my favorite reveal among a lot of awesome reveals. Not only does he have a highly detailed, almost entirely original sculpt that’s dead-on to the artwork, but he comes with a bad-ass scimitar, a huge flail, and two extra heads, including an Alfredo Alcala-style Skeletor head, which will placed on my “default” Skeletor as soon as Demo-Man arrives. I’m not sure what the deal is with the other skull, though it reminds me of the Evilution Demon. (more…)

Odds ‘n Ends > July 26, 2011

  • Saw Captain America with Dr. Mrs. Ghostal and Red Kryptonite this past weekend. I enjoyed it–more than Thor, and probably more than any Marvel flick since X-Men 2. We knew Joe Johnston could direct period pieces, and this was sort of a sideways sequel to The Rocketeer anyway. Chris Evans was great, Tommy Lee Jones did a great job being Tommy Lee Jones, and the Red Skull was Red Hulk to Jim Carrey’s The Mask. (I did find the Red Skull make-up a bit too cartoony, but I realize that–as well as the German-accented English among the foreign bad guys–was done to make the film accessible to kids, and that’s fine.) Did I think it was better than Batman Begins or The Dark Knight? No, but it was unquestionably more fun than those movies, and a nice set-up for The Avengers.
  • Speaking of Nick Fury & the Avengers, this spoof is cute. Love the slow clap.
  • As you may know, Mattel is bringing the DC Retro Action line to a close soon. Some fans have a petition up to save it. I wish ’em luck!
  • I received an email from a company called Geek Design, who create high-end furniture for storing and displaying collectibles.
  • Looks like I’ll be attending NYCC this year. I keep hoping more of SDCC’s hype will spill over into NYCC as SDCC becomes more crowded; maybe that will start this year, with the show moving back to October. The Tuesday after the show, incidentally, is the release date for Batman: Arkham City, the Arkham City trade paperback, and the Blu-Ray of Batman: Year One. Busy day for Bats.
  • In case you missed it, there were a couple small MOTUC news bits out of SDCC. First off, the Wind Raider will have real box art, painted by the same artist who did it thirty years ago.
  • Also, here are all the new bios that were revealed. Battleground Evil-Lyn’s is a doozy; Demo-Man’s disappointingly contains nothing about Demo-Man himself, nor explains what happened when Keldor merged with him (i.e., did any of Demo-Man’s mind merge as well, etc.).
  • Finally, it looks like there very well may be an exclusive at PowerCon: a pedestal for King Grayskull’s Orb of Sparkle Crest Toothpaste. The PowerCon part is speculation but seems likely.

“The Toy Masters” Documentary Trailer

Shows how out of the loop I am–evidently some enterprising He-Fans have made a documentary about the controversy surrounding who invented He-Man. I’ve touched on this before, but to my knowledge it’s never been examined as deeply as these filmmakers have gone about it.

I’d like to hope that it will settle the Roger Sweet/Mark Taylor debate once and for all, but that seems unlikely. Regardless, the documentary looks great, particularly for the stuff that doesn’t involve the who-invented-He-Man question and focuses on the franchise as a whole: there are interviews with Larry DiTillio, J. Michael Straczynski, Alan “Skeletor” Oppenheimer and Lou Scheimer, among many others.

Visit the film’s official website (warning: it’s noisy), and follow them on Twitter here.