In preparation for my Castle Grayskullman review, I conducted a brief interview with CGM creator Daniel Benedict. Be sure to check out Daniel’s “ad” for CGM.
Poe Ghostal:How did you come up with the concept for Castle Grayskullman?
Daniel Benedict: I was sitting at my desk trying to come up with another character design to send in. I had already sent in three, but I still racking my brain trying to, if anything, scrape the bottom of the barrel and send in a stick figure with a sword if I had to. I had the vintage castle on my desk and was looking at it. I thought it would be neat to make the castle into a head. And I went from there. (more…)
In 1985, Mattel held the “Create-a-Character” contest, inviting kids to design their very own Masters of the Universe character. The winner was Fearless Photog, created by Nathan Bitner. For whatever reason, Fearless Photog was never produced back then; it would be another twenty-seven years before a Fearless Photog figure would become a reality. By comparison, it took less then twelve months for the winner of the second Create-a-Character contest, Castle Grayskullman by Daniel Benedict, to become a reality. (more…)
Mattel released the packaging photo and bio for Jitsu earlier this week. Evidently Jitsu runs Snake Mountain after Skeletor leaves for space, which seems kind of out of left field to me. Was this solely for the “iron fist” joke? Because his fist is golden. Says right on the bio. (more…)
In related news, Mattel sweetened the Castle Grayskull pot by offering a cross-sell poster of all MOTUC figures released by the time the playset comes out. Also, Scott Neitlich did a new write-up on the castle on Mattycollector.
The thermometer is pretty close. Just over four more days left…
The photos for this review were taken by toy photographer extraordinaire Ed Speir IV. You can see more pics of many different toy lines at his Flickr page.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that I didn’t actually own all that many vintage MOTU figures when I was a kid. In fact, off the top of my head, I believe they were limited to He-Man, Skeletor, Mer-Man, Teela, Ram Man, Trap Jaw, Tri-Klops, Buzz Off, Man-At-Arms, Man-E-Faces, King Hiss, Mekaneck, Hordak, and Leech. Long after I’d lost interest in MOTU, I did somehow end up with a Sorceress, Rio Blast, and Optikk. So at this point in MOTU Classics, we’ve gotten deep into the characters I never owned and perhaps never even saw.
Dragon Blaster Skeletor can definitely be counted among those figures I don’t remember. I did pick one up about ten years ago during the Millennium era when I decided to try and put together a vintage collection (which I eventually abandoned because the rubber bands holding most figures’ legs together were too weak, and they would never stand). So DB Skeletor is one of those figures that has to appeal to me in despite my lack of nostalgia. I realize I often am biased in this regard, so I’m going to try to evaluate him fairly as a MOTUC figure without that nostalgic connection. (more…)
That’s right – Odds ‘n Ends is back! I’ve just got too much stuff to write about and don’t want to spam your RSS reader with a slew of Sightings posts, so instead I present the return of O&E.
Also, because I eliminated the discussion board, I thought I’d try creating a “weekend discussion thread” and see if it appealed to anyone. So feel free to post about any (toy-related) topic you want in the comments below.
Anyway, on the odds and ends.
Good news, everyone! Castle Grayskull pre-orders have reached the halfway point (which may be 3,654, if the title of the .gif used for the meter refers to the number of pre-orders). Mattel’s Scott Neitlich did a couple interviews about the playset, which you can read at CastleGrayskull.info and Pixel Dan’s site. They’re worth a read-through, if only to see what features are being considered and which ones probably won’t happen.
Some follow-up on my Biollante post from earlier this week: it’s unclear whether the Godzilla figure (based on the suit from Godzilla vs. Biollante) is an S.H.MonsterArts prototype or just some sort of stand-in. But one thing that occurred to me, which I’d forgotten about, is that according to the Heisei series timeline, the Godzilla in GvB is only eighty meters tall. Due to a ridiculous time travel plot in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah that I won’t even try to describe, the Godzilla of the rest of the films (including Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla, the one the current S.H.MonsterArts figure is based on) is 100 meters tall. But judging from this photo, Biollante is in scale with the rest of the line, which means they’re evidently going to ignore the height difference and just increase the eighty-meter-scale monsters to the 100-scale ones. Which is fine. I just…spent a surprising amount of time thinking about this, apparently.
Doomkick has an interview with the man behind the awesome-but-expensive Bog-Nar of the Warlords of Wor. Discussion of the $100 price is included. I get why it’s so expensive, I just…can’t afford it.
Anyone else catch Mockingbird Lane last night? I thought it was fantastic. Really wish it had been picked up, but it’s Bryan Fuller, so it was doomed. If Bryan Fuller and Joss Whedon ever tried to make a television show together, TV execs would grab each page of their sublime, brilliant screenplay as it came out of the printer and deposit it directly into a shredder.
And so, on a related note, henceforth I’m only blogging when I have a post I actually want to write. Sadly, that means no Minicomic Monday, at least for now. That one post was just too much work for not enough funny.
So here’s how it stands right now – the pre-orders for Castle Grayskull [pre-order here] are a bit under halfway there. Personally, I’m not going to panic, or even worry, until we’re into November, because I think a lot of people get paid at the end of the month. Let’s see where the meter is around the first week of November. If it’s still under, then you have my permission to panic.
For the record, I put in my pre-order days ago. No tormented back-and-forth on this one (even Dr. Mrs. Ghostal, by far the more financially responsible member of our duo, told me to just go for it – possibly because she didn’t want me freaking out and spending a small fortune on one at a bankruptcy-baiting mark-up on eBay). So I’ve done my part.
In Grayskull-related news, the irrepressible NoisyDvL5 of ItsAllTrue has created yet another new site, this one tracking all news and info about the Classics Grayskull, at CastleGrayskull.info. I can only sit and admire his energy for this sort of thing.
One of the main things we’ve dreamed of doing since we very first pitched the idea o Masters of the Universe Classics to Mattel is to get the chance to re-create one of the most iconic playsets of all time, CASTLE GRAYSKULL! Well, the time has come, and we’ve got the chance to not only re-create Castle Grayskull so that it fits in with the level of detail and styling of Masters of the Universe Classics, but this thing’s gonna be HUUUUGE! Plus, we’re going to include all of the features and fun details of the original, and try squeeze in as much cool new stuff as we possibly can as well.
Here’s where you all come in. Unfortunately, this incredible playset isn’t going to be cheap to purchase and we understand that. But the price Mattel’s going to be selling it for is the only way we’re going to be able to make it and get it into the hands of Masters of the Universe fans. Mattel has to have a certain amount of pre-orders before they can even have us start building the thing. If they don’t meet the minimum number of pre-orders required to set this process in motion by the deadline, then Castle Grayskull for the MotU Classics line will never happen. It’s as simple as that.
And for those who missed it, here’s Scott Neitlich’s video showing the foam mock-up of the playset:
It goes up at 12pm ET tomorrow. Details after the jump; pre-order link here.
Yes, it’s expensive. Yes, it’s ordering something from Mattycollector completely blind as to the final product. But…it’s Castle Grayskull. I don’t see how I have a choice. And I’ve got a year to save up for it. Then it’s just a matter of finding room for the thing. Y’know, I really don’t know about this. It’s so expensive (probably at least $300 after shipping) and seems so decadent…and space really is an issue. It took me weeks to decide to subscribe to the 2014 sub, and this costs nearly half that.
Well, I’ve got until January 3 November 10 to decide.
Here are some hi-res pics of the plans (which Mattel for some reason hasn’t bothered to release), courtesy Preternia.com:
For the first time since the Wind Raider, I think, I’m actually going to be attempting to order something off Mattycollector. I’ve been remiss about posting these “Happy…” Mattycollector posts since the subscription became standard and there have been few things people actually had to order, but the Great Unrest pack is probably going to be popular enough to merit it.
