Guest Review > Megator (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

February 22, 2012 | Doc Thomas

I collect nearly exclusively in the 1/12th scale. For me, it’s the perfect scale – translating to about a foot per inch, it’s the ideal size for strong sculpts with recognizable likenesses and meticulous paint detailing while also allowing one to have a bigger collection in a much smaller space than the average 1/6th scale collection.

That said, I am a huge fan of GIANT 1/12th-scale action figures, and rejoice at toys that are both large and in scale with the majority of my collection. I loved the Spawn movie boxed sets Malebolgia and Violator early in my collecting days, and when ToyBiz introduced BAFs into the Marvel Legends line I was ecstatic. (more…)

Odds ‘n Ends > A New MOTUC QC Issue

February 22, 2012 | Poe

  • Another day, another endemic MOTUC quality control problem. This time it’s a crack on Fearless Photog’s extending lens. Anecdotal evidence suggests three out of four Photogs may have it. Mattel says it wasn’t on the factory samples–which makes me wonder if the factory makes sure to do a good job on the samples, like a chef giving his best work to a food critic. Those of you with experience in such matters–are there any standard checks and balances to make sure that doesn’t happen?
  • So if you’ve got a Photog coming, will you go through the hassle of returning it for a replacement that has a 75% chance of also having the crack? I probably won’t, but this is yet another addition to that “Cons” list for signing up for the 2013 subscription.
  • How fast do you think McFarlane will push out a Jeremy Lin figure? I say it’s in stores in less than six months.

Happy Sorce–er, Shadow Weav–no, Fearless Phot…Voltro…uh, Fisto Day?

February 15, 2012 | Poe

Hell of a sale today…along with all the new MOTUC stuff, there’s also Red Lion & Lance, a re-release of the awesome Blazing Sword Voltron SDCC exclusive (which I really need to review one of these days), plus a bunch of other reissues and re-releases.

The sale is at 12pm ET as usual–here’s the all-in-one page.

Mattel ran into delays again:

Club Eternia Members, we’ve just confirmed a small portion of our shipment of Shadow Weaver and Fisto is running a little behind. Most Club Eternia orders will start shipping on Monday 2/13 as planned, but there will be some orders that will ship around 2/17. All other products will ship as usual, including Voltron Red Lion/Lance and the Essential items.

On January 19, 2012, Scott Neitlich wrote: “We also changed our policy so that we will not sell a figure until it is 100% in stock.” Noted without comment.

I haven’t been charged for my 30th Anniversary sub yet, and evidently neither has anyone else. I’m not going to complain about MOTUC or Mattel, but man do I hate Digital River.

Toy Fair 2012 Roundup

February 14, 2012 | JediCreeper

MOTUC Toy Fair 2012 1

Hey Toy Fans!  Nate here, in some circles, I’m better known as JediCreeper, on Twitter I’m JediN8 and to a tiny number of you, I’m the weird guy who won’t shut up on the Average Intelligence Podcast.  I had the good fortune of attending the 2012 Toy Fair and Poe was kind enough to send me to both the Hasbro and Mattel fan appreciation events, to cover them for him.  It is there I learned that even a native New Yorker is not nearly as pushy and shove-y as geeks with new toys.  Here are some of my thoughts on the stuff I got to see.

Poe’s note: you can check out a gallery of Nate’s pics from TF2012 here.

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Odds ‘n Ends > MOTUC Toy Fair News Edition

February 14, 2012 | Poe

  • The Four Horsemen tweeted the following regarding Frosta’s face: “Please spread the word. Paint job was a quickie so we could show her at Toy Fair. Tweaks are being made DDR.” I don’t know what DDR is…down da road?
  • To establish just how much I wanted a MOTUC Spikor, back in 2008 I was the one who started the official thread for him on He-Man.org. Four years later I finally get him. Note my concern for QC issues–and this was before we even got He-Man or Beast Man!
  • For the record, it has not yet been confirmed what figure(s) will come with the MOTUC-ized Keldor swords and Man-At-Arms Millennium-style arm cannon. There was speculation one or both would come with Snake Man-At-Arms, but Scott Neitlich shot that down.
  • But speaking of weapons, there will apparently be a third Weapons Pack in the fall. It’s possible the Keldor swords/arm cannon will be included in that (along with Draego-Man’s shield), though we’ve never seen original sculpts in a weapons pack before. If those three items were included, would certainly make for a bestselling pack.
  • The Wind Raider will return sometime around SDCC. I guess the hope is they sell well enough to convince management to greenlight something like the Battle Ram. Two thing on that: 1.) Fans will already be spending money on the SDCC exclusives, so, like last year’s Christmas release, people will be low on money when this expensive item comes out. Why not re-release during a month where, I don’t know, hardly anything is coming out–like mid-August, maybe?

Review > Queen Marlena (Masters of the Universe Classics)

February 10, 2012 | Poe

When He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was on the air, the series often followed a pattern: a new character would be developed as a toy, then added to the cartoon. It was rare for it to work in the opposite direction, though it occasionally did: Prince Adam, Cringer, Orko, King Randor, and the Sorceress were all characters that were either created by Filmation or were best known through their depiction on the cartoon. It seems unlikely that Mattel would have created a Prince Adam or Randor figure–or perhaps even the Sorceress–without the character’s popularity on the cartoon to sell the toy; and Orko was created by Filmation, so he wouldn’t have existed at all.

There were a few glaring omissions from that list, though. One was Adora, from sister show She-Ra; and the other is Queen Marlena. Wife to King Randor, mother to Prince Adam, former astronaut and queen of all Eternia, Marlena appeared in many episodes of Masters of the Universe, yet she didn’t get an action figure until last summer’s San Diego Comic Con exclusive. (more…)