Odds ‘n Ends > A New Beginning

August 19, 2008 | Poe

ODD: Well, it seems most of you want the next installment of “It Figures” to feature DCUC Wave 3. Which means a lot of writing for me. I had my fingers crossed for the Mousers exclusive….all right, DCUC3 it is. I’d better start writing now.

END: After weeks of seeing nothing but Movie Master Batman Begins and Scarecrows on the shelves, I finally found some Dark Knight Batmans and Jokers at Wal-Mart over the weekend. I picked up one of each for some friends and only just this minute realized I should have picked up an extra Joker and raffled him off here. Dammit! (more…)

5 Questions With: Kate Napolitano

July 31, 2008 | Poe

Codename: Kate Napolitano
Specialty: Managing Editor
Base of Operations: ToyFare magazine
Motto: “What’s it going to be then, eh?”
History: There was she, that is Kate, and her three hobbies: books, sex, and superheroes. For a long time, she believed she was going to marry the first two and try to become the next Dr. Ruth. Growing up in my happy New Jersey home, she always appreciated having my questions about sex answered honestly and positively by her totally sweet, supportive parents–and she thought it’d be great to pass that good karma professionally on to others. But when she got to college, and suddenly realized she was writing a few more papers on Batman than she was on BDSM, she thought a job more marvelous-so to speak-would likely make her happy. So, she kept her eyes open for anything Wizard, Marvel, DC, Top Cow, etc., related–and lo and behold–she found this opportunity and fought for it like the last BBQ chip! She is a life-long fan of all things Wizard–they are honestly her Journalism heroes; it’s a dream and honor to be in their office every day. So, humbly and happily, Kate’s glad to say she’s a pretty happy girl right now. And (she said with a wink) still a budding sexpert off the clock. She never leaves a droog behind.

PG: Please describe what you do at ToyFare. Is this the culmination of a lifelong desire to work with toys or the inevitable result of a misspent youth?

I am Adam Tracey’s bioengineered clone, birthed in a petri-dish at Wayne Enterprises–now with less goatee, more cleavage (::shiver at thought of Adam with a li’l decolletage::). Okay…seriously, I am ToyFare‘s Managing Editor. And what’s that, friends? In short, I organize, organize, organize–production schedules, meetings, interview appointments–with a little whip crackin’ to make sure everything, from big features to little ads, gets done on time. Plus a little copy editing. Which is a sentence fragment. As is that. And that. (more…)

ToyFare’s DC Universe Classics fan poll

July 9, 2008 | Poe

MATTEL’S DC UNIVERSE CLASSIC FAN POLL (click the link to vote)

Mattel has asked ToyFare to run a poll allowing fans to vote for which characters they’d like to see in a future wave of DCUC. The choices are:

I won’t tell you who I voted for, because judging from the boards, fans are as rabid about these characters as their are their political leanings. But I suspect almost all these characters will show up in DCUC eventually, if the line continues to be successful.

Odds ‘n Ends > Zur-En-Arrh Edition

July 8, 2008 | Poe

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”??)

Robo Course

June 26, 2008 | Poe

While obviously I encourage you to go out and buy the a copy of ToyFare #132, you can now read my retrospective on the 1980s Robo Force toy line on TF’s website as well.

Get ‘Er, Robo!
Robo Force may have suction cups for behinds, but these robot toys never, ever sucked

Hello, Robo! Adios, Robo!
ToyFare looks at the five strangest Robo Force robots and the ones that didn’t make the cut

5 Questions With: TJ Dietsch

June 25, 2008 | Poe

Codename: TJ Dietsch
Specialty: Associate Editor
Base of Operations: ToyFare magazine
History: He comes from the mean streets of Toledo, Ohio where he learned to survive by reading comics, watching hours of TV and playing with toys. He’s somehow, to the amazement of just about everyone but his mom, turned all that into a living–go figure! No pun intended. Or maybe it was.

Please describe what you do at ToyFare. Is this the culmination of a lifelong desire to work with toys or the inevitable result of a misspent youth?

I am the Associate Editor here at ToyFare, I took over when Justin left us briefly. Basically, I read all the copy that comes in and check it for factual and grammatical accuracy. Every now and then I get to write a feature or two (my first was the Iron Man Costume Contest feature in TF #130 which I’m pretty proud of). I also suggest word balloons and help out with things like TTT, Back Page and those wacky next issue ads.

I actually started out at Wizard Entertainment with an internship a few (four?) years ago. After I graduated I sat around my home town of Toledo, Ohio for a while and then got a job in the research department of Wizard for about three years before moving up to my current position. I’ve always like ToyFare, I even remember picking up the first few issues until I couldn’t afford it anymore and I’d read the issues as they came out when I was in research. I’m a big toy fan, I’ve been collecting, opening and playing with action figures since I was a kid, so ToyFare isn’t where I though I’d end up, but it’s been a perfect fit so far. (more…)

ToyFare #132

June 23, 2008 | Poe

Let’s see what we’ve got in this month’s issue of ToyFare!

Keep in mind, this isn’t intended to be a comprehensive breakdown of every single page of the issue–just a few of the highlights that particularly interested me.

Page 4 – Inside the Monkeyhouse: Gotta love Zach’s old-school Toy Biz Batman outfit. There’s the requisite nipple joke as well, of course.

Page 10 – Customizing 101: Heheh. Dick Rider.

Page 16-17 – Incoming: Marvel Legends. Why hasn’t Hasbro released any good press photos of these figures? Particularly Red Hulk. Lovin’ that black-suit Wolverine. Why does the Silver Savage have a jewel on his right nipple?

Page 18 – Incoming: Marvel Legends 2-Packs. Dude, that is totally the Rock. Looks like Hasbro is following Toy Biz’s tendency to make likenesses that vaguely resemble famous actors (Brad Pitt as Angel, anyone?).

Page 20 – DC Direct’s Watchmen movie figures look great, but I must admit what I really want are the comic-based figures they showed way back in 2000 or so. One more casualty of Alan Moore’s conflicts with the mainstream comic biz. (more…)

On the Menu > 339/1

June 12, 2008 | Poe

Way back in late 1997, a new magazine caught the interest of then-teenage Poe, who was in his first few months of college. Called ToyFare and produced by the folks behind Wizard magazine, it was the first periodical I’d come across that was devoted solely to action figures. Having just come off a years-long obsession with Magic: the Gathering, I found my interest in toys was once again waxing, so ToyFare‘s appearance was fortuitous.

Now, get me talking about the early days of ToyFare and I will always mourn the death of a feature called “Castaway from the Island of Misfit Toys.” Slipped in at the end of the monthly Top 10 Hottest Action Figures countdown, the sidebar always made fun of some lame figure. It was always funny, full of sarcasm and wit, but the one in issue #5 was some sort of bizarre masterpiece.

The figure?

339/1. (more…)

Flippin’ Through ToyFare #131

May 22, 2008 | Poe

Again, all apologies for the scattershot posts this week. Between how busy I’ve been at work and my webhost’s endless problems with a file server on my cluster (causing significant slowdown problems here on PGPoA), it’s been hard to get through an update. But now I’m back and rarin’ to go, the site speed seems to be flying, and I’ve got content up the wazoo!

Today I’m going to discuss ToyFare #131, which hit comic shops last week (and will hit newsstands this week or next).

On the cover we’ve got the 6″ Target exclusive movie Hulk, which is a repaint of the Marvel Legends 1 Hulk with a new head. The ML1 Hulk mold doesn’t come close to the perfection of Face Off Hulk, and I can’t see Ed Norton in that head sculpt the way I can in the movie stills. However, if you missed the boat on previous 6″-scale Hulks, this one might be passable. He is the first 6″ Hulk to feature non-purple pants.

Page 3: Big ol’ ad for DCUC wave 3. Here’s hoping they ship before, say, the end of July…

Page 9: An ad for the new Indiana Jones toys, which seem to be selling well, though I’m not sure if they’re being bought by kids or Star Wars collectors. It was smart of Hasbro to include figures from all four films. (more…)

Odds ‘N Ends > Authentic Edition

May 20, 2008 | Poe

ODD: Where did all the comments go? I leave for a few days and the comments dry up like Aquaman in the desert. Come back! I promise I’ll be interesting!

END: Good news for fans of NECA’s Ninja Turtles line. First, it appears the line is selling quite well. That’s great news; perhaps NECA will be inspired to create more heavily-articulated figures. Second, it appears to be confirmed that the SDCC exclusive is a Mouser 3-pack. Add another exclusive to the pile I’ll be begging for come July…

ODD: From the looks of the toy aisles when I hit Target or TRU, Iron Man seems to be a rousing success with the kids as well as adults. All the 6″ figures have disappeared, though I notice plenty of those Superhero Squad and dress-up sets. Hint hint, Hasbro!

END: Please join me in congratulating Paul of Toy Bender, who entered into wedded bliss this past weekend. I’ll be joining him in just a few scant months. See you on the other side, Paul!

ODD: The next issue of The Toybox will be delayed until the first week of June, due to a hectic schedule for both Red Kryptonite and me. But I’m hoping to put something together to tide you over in the meantime, as well as expand the Toybox world.

END: The latest issue of ToyFare (which I’ll recap tomorrow) has a big ad for wave three of DC Universe Classics, possibly the greatest wave of superhero action figures since ML6. I imagine packaged pics will show up on the Net soon, though I still don’t expect to see my set until late June. If you think you know better, be sure to enter the contest!