Tag: MOTUC Page 2 of 75

Odds ‘n Ends > Halloween begins, S.H.MonsterArts AvP, random plugs

odds-n-ends-halloween-horror-2

  • It’s Halloween season! For as much holiday fun as can be fit into a blog, be sure you’re following Dinosaur Dracula, the current blog of Matt Caracappa, one of the minds behind the late, great X-Entertainment.com. Oh, and be sure to keep an eye around here as well, of course.
  • Pixel Dan has three new video reviews of upcoming MOTUC figures: Geldor, Strongor (Strongarm), and everyone’s favorite(?) pink bunny dictator, Plundor!
  • Speaking of Pixel Dan, it looks like he’s getting another #MyMosquitor – a new Mutagen Man for the current TMNT line, coming in spring. (I must confess I prefer the more grotesque vintage version a bit more.)
  • I’ve never even seen Alien vs. Predator: Requiem – even though it evidently sucks, I probably should get around to it anyway – but I’m still intrigued by the upcoming S.H.MonsterArts versions of the characters. Here’s the official Tamashii Nations page for them. They’ll run $60 apiece, of course, but they’ll be better-articulated then NECA’s figures, offer more accessories, alternate heads, and I believe they will be closer in scale to 6″ lines like Marvel Legends, Star Wars Black, and DCUC than NECA’s stuff (which is in a 7″ scale). While the movie may be dreadful, I don’t mind the designs themselves, so I’m considering getting these. The scale will probably be the determining factor for me, so I may have to see them either in person or next to some other figures first.
  • Requested plugs: T-Rav from Doomkick.com is running a contest for some cool classic villain drink coasters; Acheson Creations is about 1/3rd of the way to their goal for their Kaiju Kaos: Super Robot StratoMaxx resin kit figure with just five days to go.

Doc Thomas Reviews > Icer (Masters of the Universe Classics, Mattel)

icer-top

Icer is the first toy from the Club Filmation sub-line from Masters of the Universe Classics, and as someone who isn’t an avid fan of the 1980s cartoon (I seem to remember thinking it was pretty stupid even as a kid, though not stupid enough not to own cool toys from), I’m a little perplexed at the specific characters they’ve chosen to produce. It seems like most of these characters only appeared briefly, and most don’t have truly interesting or memorable designs, limiting their popularity. But a major exception is Icer. Icer is very cool. (GET IT?!)

Tons of Four Horsemen News

IMG957048

There has been a metric crap-ton of Four Horsemen news over the last week or so. Where to start?

I guess I’ll start with Power-Con, since that’s just wrapped up. For those that don’t know, Power-Con is the Masters of the Universe / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles / Thundercats convention, run by many folks that anyone familiar with He-Man.org and the Roast Gooble podcast would know. It happened over this past weekend, the Horsemen were there, of course, and they brought goodies!

power-lords-power-soldier-figure-2013-power-con-edition-3 power-lords-elite-power-soldier-figure-2013-power-con-edition-3

First up are their Power Lords exclusives, the Power Soldier (black) and the stormtrooper-like Elite Power Soldier (white). These figures are 4″ tall and sell for $10, which is a better price than I expected for these figures and is competitive with mass market 4″ figures. I’m not sure whether that will be the standard price for the regular Power Lords figures – only time will tell. Both figures will also be made available at the Four Horsemen shop sometime today.

Odds ‘n Ends > CollectionDX Summit, Club Eternia goes through, Poe’s Ravens pledge, the return of toy magazine

odds-n-ends-11b

  • For any New England-based Poesters, I’ll be attending the CollectionDX Summit this Saturday afternoon in Dracut, MA. If you’re interested in attending, you can check it out here (and please RSVP if you decide to go).
  • The 2014 Club Eternia subscription went through at 115%. Now we can all start gearing up for next year’s panic. (I predict that will be a “One Final Year!” campaign.)
  • For the curious, here’s what I got in the Gothitropolis Ravens Kickstarter: one Raven with the battle pack set, one set of black wings, Quetzalcoatl, and two stands. Quetzalcoatl is the real stand-out among the variants, both for its colors and because it’s more of a lizard than a bird, which makes it a bit more distinctive – in my opinion anyway. Looking forward to adding them alongside the Keeper of the Black Labyrinth.
  • Speaking of the Ravens Kickstarter, here is a cool behind-the-scenes video, along with some photos.
  • Does a defleshed necromancer stares at you while you sleep? If so, you’re either deeply mentally ill, have some strange friends, or you’ve got the life-sized Skeletor bust from Pop Culture Shock Collectibles.
  • Phil Reed of Battlegrip is experimenting with the idea of making the site into a magazine. This comes on the heels of Brian of CoolandCollected will be trying a magazine as well. I find this an intriguing, if slightly counterintuitive, trend. Phil’s reasons are that he misses working in print and having the ability to play with and control graphics and presentation. That’s actually a very good point, I think – websites, especially popular ones, tend to be pretty stripped-down and minimalist and can’t really offer much in the way of variety of content presentation. Obviously, a website that presents its content in a way that’s too visually “busy” is not only a strain on bandwidth for both the site and reader but also tends to be difficult to read online, but perhaps an online magazine can represent a middle way. That said, didn’t ToyFare originally try something like this and it didn’t work? Brian, for his part, acknowledges that magazines aren’t exactly a growth industry right now, but he just thinks it would be fun to make one.
  • The 1966 Batman figures are starting to pop up at stores. I’m not planning on collecting the line, but if I see Batman himself at a store I’m sure I’ll be unable to resist picking him up.

Two-Bad to be exclusive to the 2014 Club Eternia subscription

two-bad-motuc

Sigh. In an effort to counteract some of the negativity surrounding MOTUC at the moment, we here at PGPoA are in the midst of prepping a very positive post about the line. So of course, brand manager Scott Neitlich (a.k.a. ToyGuru) writes this:

How about this, we just confirmed from logistics that Two Bad, like Clamp Champ or Fang Man will be short produced and therefore will only be for sub holders in 2014. I don’t know if that is an incentive, but it is the latest info we just got.

Many fans are up in arms again, but this doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. MOTUC has been moving toward “subscription-only” for so long I’m surprised they didn’t announce at SDCC that all 2014 figures would be sub-only. And while it definitely sucks for those who can’t or don’t want to subscribe, I don’t see why anyone should expect Mattel to offer day-of-sale product at this point, particularly when we know they’re going to have less money to work with in 2014.

It’s Castaspella Day

y3192_fullsizeimage01

It’s Mattycollector day. The new stuff on sale includes:

Poe’s Point > Breaking down the decline in MOTUC subscriptions

motu-motuc-banner-logo

For all the discussion of character selection, scare tactics, and revealing the entire lineup and all that, I think there are three main reasons for the decline in MOTUC subscriptions:

  • The most popular, iconic characters have been made;
  • The costs of the figures has gone up significantly;
  • The overall popularity of MOTUC is winding down.

I’ll break these down after the jump.

Four Horsemen ride to the subs’ rescue

FOUR HORSEMEN logo

I find it interesting that the Four Horsemen are releasing a statement urging collectors to subscribe for established licenses like MOTU and DC Comics, while their own, highly transparent “thermometer”  for a project featuring a homegrown license with absolutely no media backing it up has hit 300%. (Statement after the jump.)

Maybe there’s a big difference between the numbers the Horsemen need, and the numbers Mattel needs. After all, the Horsemen’s project has a mere 1,000 participants, with an average pledge of about $200. The “pledge” for Club Eternia is $500 plus shipping, although you’re getting at least 8-10 more figures (albeit with fewer details and less articulation). I really wonder whether more transparency about the numbers needed would help boost the campaign. Of course, announcing all the figures for the sub would also help, and I honestly think that doing that isn’t nearly as impossible or legally complicated as Mattel makes it seem. Just add in some “subject to change” and “items may be delayed” text, and people will know what they’re getting into.

Poe’s Point > Thoughts on Mattel’s reveals from SDCC 2013

And now we come to the end of our SDCC coverage. I’ve had to hold off on this one because I was really busy last week, but now I can finally take the time to discuss all the reveals.

Ghostbusters

DSC04492

Image from Toyark

Really?

Mattel showed a mock-up of a 1/12th-scale Ecto-1, which is currently available for pre-order along with Peter and Ray figures with removable proton packs so they can actually sit in the car. As of this writing, the pre-orders are extremely low and this seems unlikely to be made. It’s $215 for the car itself, $25 apiece for the Peter and Ray figures, and a multipack of all three for $265.

Scott Neitlich (ToyGuru) on the State of the Subs

MOTUMeter_fullsizeimage726DCUMeter_fullsizeimage726

With three weeks to go, the MOTUC and DC subscriptions aren’t in great shape – especially considering we’re nearly a week past the SDCC reveals.

Before we go further, how about a trip down memory lane?

Now, I’ll be surprised if Club Eternia doesn’t go through. I feel like we go through this every single year, and by August 19 the numbers will be there (or maybe they’ll extend it a week or two). Club Infinite Earths I’m not so sure about.

Page 2 of 75

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén