June 9, 2010 | Poe
- So, Voltron is back and Mattel has the toy rights. Thoughts, opinions, bitterly sarcastic comments regarding the availability and quality control of new toys?
- Once again, ItsAllTrue.net has taken an idea I had and beat me to the punch. Check out their interview with Mel Birnkrant, inventor of the Outer Space Men. A must-read.
- And while you’re there, check out their review of the awesome Revoltech Jack Skellington. I’m tempted, despite the price…my NECA Jacks are pretty fragile.
- Any thoughts on the Lion-O staction by Icon Heroes?
- Masters of the Universe will be inducted into the ToyFare Hall of Fame at WizardWorld Philadelphia this weekend. So that’s cool. Also, Scott Neitlich is going to reveal a new MOTUC figure on Friday at the “Big Toy Industry” panel. It’s the September sub figure, and the odds-on favorites on the He-Man.org forums are Roboto and Chief Carnivus. Anyone want to make their guess?
- On a side note, I had to reset the poll because I realized it was only allowing one choice per person, instead of three.
May 22, 2010 | Doc Thomas
Like many contemporary collectors, the action figures that got me into this glorious hobby were the late-90’s McFarlane Toys offerings: Movie Maniacs, Sleepy Hollow, Austin Powers and everything in-between. With the combination of amazing sculpting and detailed paint, Todd McFarlane’s company had upped the game for everyone. But for me, the best thing McFarlane Toys offered was the chance to have my own miniature world of characters I knew and loved, in my own little universe, doing whatever I want.
Along with sculpt, paint and (occasionally) articulation, the other thing that McFarlane upped was the scale of their action figures. In the 1980s and ’90s the vast majority of action figures were either the 3¾”-5″ tall. McFarlane Toys bumped the scale up to 6″, with its appealing proportion of one real-world foot=one toy inch, separating themselves from products aimed at children while allowing for more realistic sculpting. (more…)
May 6, 2010 | Poe
Author Robert E. Howard’s character Conan, popularly referred to as Conan the Barbarian, has had more toys than you might realize. First there was his Mego figure in the 1970s, who was pretty cool except for his Mary Tyler Moore hair. Then there were the Masters of the Universe-inspired Remco figures in the 1980s. Both the Mego and Remco efforts were based on the Marvel Comics version of the character. In the 1990s there were two short-lived Conan cartoons, Conan the Adventurer and Conan and the Young Warriors (the latter sounds like a 1970s progressive rock band, but I digress). Adventurer got a toy line by Hasbro.¹ (more…)
April 23, 2010 | Poe
- You may have noticed PGPoA seems a bit…wider. That’s right, we’ve increased our girth, and completely without the aid of that terrifying Enzyte mascot with the rictus grin of a ten-month-old corpse. It was mostly done because I was finding it difficult to post certain videos, since the smallest embed options were larger than the 500px width I was using. The new width may screw up some of the older reviews, so let me know if you notice any, and bear with me as I fix them. Thanks as always to OB1 for the fix.
- As I mentioned previously, PGPoA has brand-new forums in the hip phpbb style all the kids are talking about.
- Evil-lyn and Wun-Dar arrived at Chez Ghostal this morning, though I won’t see them until I get home from work. Expect reviews next week–remember reviews?
- The weapons pack is due to arrive Monday. In the meantime, check out this creative use of the brown Beast Man armor from the weapons pack. It makes Wun-Dar about 10x more awesome.
- A few weeks ago, Dr. Mrs. Ghostal and I saw How to Train Your Dragon. It was the first time I’ve seen a Dreamworks movie approach a Pixar level of quality. Other movies I’m psyched for this summer, for good or ill: The Losers, Iron Man 2, The A-Team, and The Expendables. Damn, the Expendables had better be good, because I want to love that movie so bad. (Before you ask, no, I haven’t seen Kick-Ass and have no interest in doing so, though I have no big qualms with it and wish it well.)
- DC Unlimited’s God of War figures–because aren’t you tired of having to bend your well-articulated NECA Kratos into a squatting position and then leaving him that way forever?
March 24, 2010 | Poe
February 22, 2010 | Poe
- It shows how out of touch I am with the DCUC scene that I completely missed the fact that the Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle on display at Toy Fair had double-jointed elbows and knees. A very interesting development–has Mattel said whether this signals a new direction for the line, or if this is just something they’ll do occasionally for some figures? (I’d guess the latter, knowing Mattel.) More importantly, what do you think of it? I always thought the double-jointed elbows and knees tended to make many Marvel Legends figures seem a bit too gangling (unless they were supposed to be like that, i.e. Spider-man). Shocking from a pro-articulation guy like myself, I know.
- My Trap Jaw should arrive today, perhaps by the time I finish typing this post. Dr. Mrs. Ghostal and I will also find out just how much of our tax refund is going to repairing the car this afternoon as well. It amazes me how often tax refunds and emergency expenses coincide. It’s like your car, house, kids etc. just know you’re going to have windfall. I assume the same goes for bonuses, though I’ve never worked at a job that awards them. Anyway, long story short, I’ll get the Trap Jaw review up this week. Probably.
- If anyone can identify the gun in the chair in the new Odds ‘n Ends pic, I’d really appreciate it. If it helps, it attaches into this weird silver backpack-thing via some cords.
- Over at Infinite Hollywood, Newton Gimmick has been doing retro reviews of Mezco’s Popeye figures. I own the first wave’s Popeye and Bluto, and they’re great figures.
- Dr. Mrs. Ghostal and I saw Avatar finally (in 3D at an Imax theater). I was underwhelmed, and DMG was very much not a fan. I liked the overall message of the film, though. But frankly I’m glad I didn’t love it, because I didn’t want to have to buy the toys.
- As I surmised, it looks like DC Unlimited is making God of War III figures, and as I suspected might happen, they’re going to have extremely limited articulation, a la DC’s World of Warcraft figures. And of course, as with DCD’s Mass Effect 2 figures, they’ll be striking when the iron has been doused with liquid nitrogen and shattered with a soggy breadstick. (On a side note, I no longer care about God of War III or whether it gets figures, because by the end of the second game I’d realized it was just not my cup of tea.)
- On the other hand, I would happily buy a figure of Nathan Drake from Uncharted if it was as articulated as, say, Nathan “Rad” Spencer. Which it wouldn’t be, since DC Unlimited would be the manufacturer.
- You probably all saw this, but Mattel issued a pretty extensive semi-mea-culpa on their Facebook page. If you’re interested, you can read the entire note as well as my response on the PGPoA forums.
February 18, 2010 | Ed Humphries
You all know me. Know what I do. So, you’re probably asking yourselves, why does Poe keep inviting his videogame enthusiast, Lost-obsessive kinfolk round these parts to offer up n00bish takes on something he clearly know next to nothing about? That’s akin to bringing a Master Sword to a Hammer of Dawn fight… wait, that’s a gaming reference. I’ve got to remember my audience.
It’s akin to modeling a new Weeble with 98 points of articulation. It just don’t make sense, son. (more…)
February 15, 2010 | Poe
It would be impossible and way too much work for me to cover all the awesome stuff coming out of this year’s Toy Fair. The awesomeness seems to be hearkening back to the good old days of the early 2000s…anyway, instead of trying to list everything, I’m just going to hit the highlights of the stuff I’m excited about. But feel free to use this as the catch-all Toy Fair discussion thread.
Masters of the Universe Classics
Of course we start here. We’ve had hints and suggestions of all the stuff that was revealed, but frankly, I was never really 100% sure we were going to see Tytus or, even more insane, Gy-Gor–who looks much better than I’d imagined he would as a Gorilla Grodd repaint. Anyway, the reveals were:
Wow. Where to start with all this? (more…)
January 11, 2010 | Poe
January 4, 2010 | Poe
