Apologies for the late Odds ‘n Ends today. I’m down with a bit of a cold, and it took a while to get up the energy to snap the new O&E pic.
You know the drill–feel free to add your own Odds and Ends in the comments section. (more…)
News round-up, 12/1/08
Merry Christmas-time, everyone! Or happy holidays, if you are of a non-Christmas-celebrating persuasion. Or happy secular time of celebration, good will and consumerism for you atheists.
You’ve no doubt noticed we’ve made a few little design changes to the site. Hope you like it! I want to thank webmaster OB1 for his tireless work on the site. Let us know if there’s anything you particularly like or don’t like–PGPoA is a continuing work-in-progress.
And now on to your regularly scheduled news…
- Add comic book writer Gail Simone to the list of people who have had dust-ups with Shocker Toys. Somehow the topic came up at Simone’s creator forum at Comic Book Resources, Shocker Toys responded and the situation escalated from there. (via RTM)
- Can anyone explain this Shortpacked to me? Wait–never mind, Willis did it himself. (Toynewsi)
- The Marvel Legends Nemesis wave pops up overseas. Is a new avatar for OAFE‘s yo go re in the cards? (Action-Figure)
- MOTUC He-Man and Beast Man go on sale at 12 p.m. EST today on Mattycollector.com. I’m hoping to have another post about this topic up later today.
- Hisstank has in-hand photos of the G.I. Joe: Resolute Duke, Cobra Commander, Cobra Trooper and Blowtorch figures.
Odds ‘n Ends > Zur-En-Arrh Edition
ODD: In what is only the latest of what can only be termed an episodic farce, Red Kryptonite’s laptop was stolen last week. This is the third time this has happened to her, I believe. While insurance will cover the replacement, it will be some time before The Toybox can resume its regular schedule. I hope you’ll understand. Let’s all blame the anonymous jerk who stole it at the coffee shop. And remind RK never, ever to trust humanity again.
END: I completed my collection of the Toy Island Universal Monsters figures over the weekend. I was able to pick them up on clearance at KB Toys for $8 a pop, which is much, much more worthwhile than the $13 they were charging at TRU when the figures first appeared. I’ll probably review them for OAFE sometime in the future, since the only other major review–Michael Crawford’s–is pretty negative, and personally, I think the figures deserve better.
ODD: Please welcome the newest addition to the PGPoA blogroll: Toy Figure Times! Formerly the fantasy-focused Green Dragon, the site has been relaunched with a much broader focus on action figures as a whole. To celebrate their grand opening, they’re having a very cool giveaway.
END: I must praise my good friend Shocka with great praise for tracking down an Attack Armor Batman for me. I’ve already customized the fellow into the coolest blue-suit Batman ever made, if I do say so myself.
ODD: Be sure to check out my latest review over on OAFE, Iron Monger (v2).
END: At long last, ToyFare has a blog! It’s FarePlay, “your best bet to get your favorite ToyFare-y goodness in the 29 days a month between issues.” Check it out! (Hey wait…are they saying I’m a “bootleg blog”??)
Odds ‘n Ends > Slow as Ass Edition
ODD: Before you ask, yes, my webhost is having problems again. Fingers crossed that everything is resolved in the next few days. Apparently there’s some troublesome file server, and I think I speak for everyone in my cluster when I suggest that once all the data has been offloaded from that server, it should 
be dragged out into a field behind the office and smashed with a baseball bat.
But I digress.
END: An inquisitive DC Universe Classics fan uncovered two new photos this week: promo photos of Kalibak and the Sinestro Corps variant of Sinestro. (UPDATE: I’ve removed the Kalibak photo, as apparently Mattel doesn’t want it out there right now.) The Kalibak is a new reveal, and given the fact that the photo was found on Mattel’s retailer site, it’s probably safe to assume he’s the Collect & Connect figure for Wave 6.
ODD: I scored the second Iron Monger and Titanium Man from Hasbro’s Iron Man line in a trade this weekend. Watch for reviews of both figures over on OAFE sometime in the near future. My teeny-tiny review: they’re both pretty cool.
I’ll be posting most of my reviews posted on OAFE from now on (despite the fact that yo go re has yet to post a single comment over here…I don’t think he even reads the blog). (more…)
Odds ‘n Ends – Imposter Edition
ODD: Where is Poe? Is he truly on vacation, or has he been moved to an undisclosed location for…safekeeping? Will he ever return, or has my evil plan finally been realized!? I now present…PETE’S POINTS OF ARTICULATION!
…crap, that doesn’t flow nearly as well. I guess Poe has to stay.
END: And quite a literal one, I might add, for my Movie Master Batman figure, which was just horrendously savaged by my puppy/engine of destruction, Esry. A moment of silence if you will. (more…)
That’s alotta toys.
Yo go re of OAFE has posted his entire toy expense report for 2007. The total, by my count, is around $4,880. It makes mine look laughable.
I didn’t keep track, but I’d estimate my own spending around $1,000.
My new Batman figure review is up at OAFE
My review of the black-and-gray repaint Batman has been posted over on OAFE. Be sure to check it out–my editor, yo go re, added a nice effect with one of the photos that shows what some other possible repaints might have been.
On a related note, I was reading The Dark Knight Archives Volume 1–one of my Xmas gifts–when I came across the following panel from an old 1940 comic. The context is that Batman has figured out that an old woman is actually Catwoman in disguise and is taking off her make-up. When she resists, he says the obvious thing. (I swear this isn’t Photoshopped–this is the real panel. And keep in mind, Robin is standing nearby–way to set an example, Bruce.)
Battle of the Batmen
I posted a poll over on Action Figure Insider to see which Mattel 6″ Batman figure is considered the best. As of this moment, the black-and-gray series 8 repaint (see my Flickr photostream) has a big 33% lead. My review of that figure for OAFE should be posted soon.
5 Questions with: yo go re of OAFE
Codename: yo go re
Specialty: Toy reviewing
Base of Operations: Online Action Figure Entertainment (OAFE)
Did you know? All the “facts” you’ve heard about Chuck Norris? They’re actually about yo go re. He just knew Chuck’s feelings would be hurt if no one was talking about him.
PG: What is the first action figure you remember owning?
It barely counts as an action figure, what with only two points of articulation, but the first figure I have a distinct memory of owning is Ram-Man. Or maybe Trap-Jaw.
PG: What’s your favorite review among those you’ve written for OAFE?
I don’t really have one. I’m of the Ron Popeil school of creativity: I just set it and forget it. My favorite is whichever one last helped someone to make a decision. Which is a crap answer, so I’ll say Ultron, because it provoked a response from Jesse Falcon.
PG: What’s the most interesting thing going on in the action figure industry today?
Despite the horrendous delays they faced in 2007, the Four Horsemen’s FANtastic Exclusive is awesome. Fan-directed toys? That’s wicked awesome! Of course, that may just be because so far everything I’ve voted for has won. And did you see the article in ToyFare about how the Seventh Kingdom is becoming its own real line? Even better!
PG: Spill it: what the heck does “yo go re” mean?
It’s the Fukawi Indian word for “small totemic carving.” And you can tell that to the Marines! [Note: yo go re is full of crap. –PG]
PG: What’s your fondest toy-related holiday memory?
Probably Santa Claus giving me the last Constructicon I needed to complete the G1 Devastator. And I don’t mean that in an abstract way: a guy dressed as Santa actually came to the house to give all us kids presents one year, and the one I got was Long Haul. Of course, I didn’t have the rest of the Constructicons with me, so I still had to wait a few days to build the big guy, but that was still a hell of a sense of accomplishment for a little kid.