- Hasbro G.I. Joe Q&As: TNI, Figures.com, Hisstank
- Behind-the-scenes video about the new Hasbro Millennium Falcon (Hasbro)
- Diamond Select releases photos of their upcoming Borg-themed Trek line. These look pretty awesome. (Cool Toy Review)
- Diamond Select partners with Toys ‘R Us. I guess TRU is serious about appealing to collectors–good for them. This is great news. (DST)
- Color pics of Masterpiece Grimlock and first pics of ROTF deluxe Bumblebee (Seibertron)
- Have you always wanted a M.U.S.C.L.E. man to screw your computer? Your wish has been granted–by Japan, of course. (Topless Robot)
News round-up, 11/18/08
Unfortunately, I don’t think these news round-ups can be a daily thing. There just isn’t enough significant toy-related news on a daily basis. But I’ll try to get them out every other day.
—Rustin Parr’s King Grayskull review Long, but well worth the read. Rustin seems certain MOTUC is going to crash and burn. Personally, I really like the design of the line, but those of us who do seem to be the minority.
—NECA’s Gears of War Lancer production issue
—New DC Direct announcements (HDCU Series 2, Watchmen variants, 13″ Golden Age Flash)
—Jason Voorhees Living Dead Doll, based on the 2009 remake
—Mattycollector.com announces still-MIA DCUC TRU exclusives
—Hasbro’s Star Wars Q&A round-up If I put a round-up within a round-up, does the universe implode? (Looks around hopefully, sighs in resignation.)
5 Questions with > Rob Bricken of Topless Robot
Codename: Rob Bricken
Specialty: Writer/editor
Base of Operations: Topless Robot
History: Rob Bricken was a normal, nerdy teen who simply enjoyed anime, comic books and terrible science fiction and fantasy novels in reasonable amounts until the new Star Wars figures came out in 1995. This set Rob down a dark path of insane toy collecting, which led to him waking up at 5 am on Saturdays, during college, to wait outside Toys R Us for the possibility of buying a Rancor Master figure. At a certain point, Rob realized his toy obsession had reached Trainspotting/heroin addiction-like proportions, and decided he want to know the touch of a woman again, and gave it up.Unfortunately, he was almost immediately hired as an Associate Editor of ToyFare magazine in 2001; however, by forswearing all Star Wars figures, he managed to keep his toy-buying at a reasonable level. As Rob was the only person at Wizard Entertainment who knew why Goku’s hair sometimes turned yellow in Dragonball Z, he was put in charge of Anime Insider magazine, which he edited until 2006.
After a doomed, duplicitous internet venture, Rob was hired by Village Voice Media for incredibly low pay to create, write and edit ToplessRobot.com, the internet’s 466th most popular site for nerd news and humor, covering movies, games, anime, comics, acts of nerdery, and whatever Rob finds himself able to rant about. Since he has no other job, he tends to write for it all day, as well as editing feature-length Daily Lists of various nerd interest and discussion. Topless Robot receives about a million visitors per month, and has been mentioned by Gawker, Wired, Defamer, New York magazine, and several other far more popular and influential websites.
PG: What were your favorite toys or toy lines when you were growing up?
RB: I’ve always been a big Star Wars fan, but Masters of the Universe was my obsession as a kid (and pretty much now). The incredible variety of characters, designs, and action features just captivated me. Between my younger brother and myself, we had just about everything in the line. I honestly feel MotU is more than the sum of its parts; by having all of them, it was something far more unique and special than Transformers, G.I. Joe or even Star Wars. (more…)
News round-up, 11/8/08
—Larger photos of prototype Masterpiece Grimlock (Toynewsi)
—Packaged photos of DCUC Adam Strange/Starfire two-pack (Mattycollector)
—Gears of War 2 NECA figure photos (Figures.com)
—MTV wants a few good fanboys/girls (nycomiccon.com)
—Marvel Select Wolverine w/ First Appearance Variant (MarvelousNews)
—McFarlane’s Halo Wars Wave 1, still no sign of figures from first two games (Toynewsi)
—Hasbro Indiana Jones Q&A (CoolToyReview)
—Hasbro’s 63rd Star Wars Q&A (Rebelscum)
—McFarlane, NBA and Southwest want to send you to the 2009 NBA All-Star game (Spawn.com)
The Heinz Ketchup H-57 Burger Blaster
Sometime in 1986–possibly while watching a syndicated episode of the original Transformers–a young Poe saw a commercial for a magical item. It was a Heinz Ketchup bottle that could transform into an X-Wing-like starfighter. Of course I wanted it–I wanted everything. But this was one of those odd promotions, requiring some sort of coupon from a newspaper and a check (that magical, adults-only form of currency), and between the Transformers and a resurgent interest in Star Wars, I neglected to follow up on this (i.e., beg my parents for it). (more…)
Star Wars and G.I. Joe Round Up: A Big Week
Paul here again with another catch up on the week’s events in the G.I. Joe and Star Wars toy worlds. This last week was actually exciting compared to the previous few weeks of news drought.
Star Wars
The big thing this week (and perhaps one of the biggest events in Star Wars toy collecting history) was the leak of images of the long rumored Millennium Falcon redo. The pictures appeared on Galactic Hunter.com and sent Star Wars message boards on fire. Why all the commotion? This thing is two and one half feet long and has a long, long list of features.
Ironically, the image appeared after Hasbro had stated that the images of the Falcon that has surfaced before were all fakes. This thing hasn’t been confirmed by Hasbro yet, so I’m still trying to maintain my loose grip on sanity.
Another vehicle came under the radar to hit Toys R Us shelves this week in the midst of all the Falcon hubbub. It’s a white colored large winged TIE fighter, to better match the vintage TIEs and the ones seen in the first Star Wars film. And by first Star Wars film, I mean the good one and if you don’t know which first one is the good one then I feel sorry for you.
G.I. Joe
While G.I. Joe news wasn’t as big, it was pretty notable. Wave 5 images of the 2008 Joe releases came out on the G.I. Joe Club’s website. Head on over there and check them out, because this is a great wave. The figures are Hawk, Bazooka, Barbecue, B.A.T., Snow Serpent, and a black Storm Shadow. Barbecue and the B.A.T. seem like the stand out figures is this batch and probably the two that will be the hardest to find.
There was also a round of questions Hasbro answered related to the line. While the answers were posted all across the ‘net, you can find my take on the best ones on Toy Bender.com (my site) or look around your favorite Joe sites for the answers. Good luck if you go that route, they’re all over the place!
Star Wars and G.I. Joe News Round Up
Hello all, Paul here again with another Hasbro update. There’s been yet another week of almost no new G.I. Joe or Star Wars news of any import. Still, I’ve gathered what I could for fans of Mr. Poe’s site and here we go:
Solved Mysteries
A friend of mine emailed me photos of a mysterious toy, hoping I could identify it:
I couldn’t, but with a few well-placed inquiries to my usual sources, it was ID’ed by Greg the Bunny of the RTM forum as the Star Wars “Vehicle Maintenance Energizer” from the old 1980s Kenner line.
It’s a glorified gas pump. This was definitely one of those consolation toys your parents bought you when the store was sold out of speeder bikes and Jabba playsets.
Star Wars and G.I. Joe at Toy Fair 2008
Poe Ghostal here. Look, I’m awesome–no one’s disputing that. But the fact is, I’m just not into every single toy line out there. Therefore, to make sure I’m providing you, the discriminating action figure collector, with the comprehensive toy industry coverage you deserve, I’ve recruited a few special correspondents to give you the lowdown on these neglected toy lines. First up is my respected colleague Paul from ToyBender.
Hello all. Poe Ghostal knows a lot about toys, but since he’s a bit tied up (and safely hidden in the trunk of my car) he’s enlisted my help as a special Hasbro correspondent to update y’all on Star Wars and G.I. Joe. You might know me from my “5 Questions” interview Poe posted a few months ago, or the toy blog ToyBender that is my fiefdom. But enough about me, let’s catch up on Hasbro’s Toy Fair 2008 showing.
During the 2008 Toy Fair Hasbro announced so much product goodness that I believe they were trying to give me an aneurysm. Their tactic almost worked, but I struggled through my overwhelming excitement to provide you an up-to-date list of all the product announcements for Hasbro’s Star Wars, G.I. Joe, and Indiana Jones toy lines.