Odds ‘n Ends > July 8, 2011

July 8, 2011 | Poe

  • As you may have noticed, I’ve reinstated the Poester Gallery forum. It’s less comprehensive than the old one, based on the fact that most of you seem to prefer doing your discussion here on the blog, but I wanted to give you all somewhere to discuss topics I’m not covering. You do need to register to use it–however, you may already have registered for the site via the forum format I used two forums ago, so you may just need to get a password reminder. If that makes any sense.
  • I’m going to give you to the end of the weekend to enter the contest for the three-of-a-kind Poehammer. The contest ends at 11:59pm ET this Sunday.
  • Nomad of the Idle Hands blog has a fantastic, comprehensive list of SDCC 2011 exclusives. Which do you think is the best? While it’s not the one I’m most excited for personally, I think the Starscream Skystriker takes the cake. It’s the perfect exclusive–an awesome repaint that isn’t necessarily a must-have item for your collection (i.e., a unique character, a la Queen Marlena).
  • There seem to be a ton of toy-related online video shows and podcasts these days. I have to admit I am just not that into them–I prefer reading. I can read faster than a person can talk, and I have complete control over how fast and how thoroughly I read an article or review. But I’m curious–do people watch a lot of videos and/or listen to a lot of podcasts? Is this something I should be getting more into?

Toys R Us Announces SDCC Exclusives

July 1, 2011 | Poe

Toys R Us has announced their SDCC exclusives for this year, and they’re kind of awesome.

Did I say kind of? I meant totally.

  • Exclusive 8″ Classics Thundercasts Lion-O with metallic finish
  • Bizarro vs. Faker MOTUC 2-pack
  • Jazwares 6″ Mortal Kombat Dark Raiden
  • Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Minimates
  • And more that I care a bit less about, but you can see for yourself below.

Best of all, these figures will be available on TRU’s website as well as SDCC. Check out all the pics after the jump! (more…)

Toy Aisle Trolls > Mark of the Goon

June 21, 2011 | Poe

Toy Aisle Trolls is a feature highlighting acts of vandalism to in-store toy items. If you find a ruined package, a stolen figure, a swapped-out figure, or any other such acts, take a photo (cell phone photos are fine if they’re not blurry) and email them to poe AT poeghostal.com.

Submitted by: Engineernerd

The Problem: The toy has been stolen from the package.

What It’s Supposed to Look Like: This.

Engineernerd writes: “I was surprised by this scene in the toy aisle this morning while looking for Captain America stuff. This dead beat could be bothered to even exchange it or put the box back together on this Transformer. This is lower than troll. I should mention this happened between 7PM and 6AM as I was there at both times. I’m guessing it wasn’t a kid.”

Karmic Payback: Well, this is just flat-out theft. It lacks any of the villainous imagination of the typical troll; but what I think bothers me the most is the complete lack of effort. It’s like, you just don’t get it, do you, douche? Anyway, for his karmic payback: after death, his obituary will read like a New Yorker review of a Michael Bay film.

Toy Aisle Trolls > Stealjacked

June 17, 2011 | Poe

Toy Aisle Trolls is a feature highlighting acts of vandalism to in-store toy items. If you find a ruined package, a stolen figure, a swapped-out figure, or any other such acts, take a photo (cell phone photos are fine if they’re not blurry) and email them to poe AT poeghostal.com.

Submitted by: CB

The Problem: It contains a Sideswipe Red Alert painted to look like Wheeljack.

What It’s Supposed to Look Like: This

CB writes:

Here’s one that really goes above and beyond.  I didn’t take this photo, but it was posted on the Illinois Sightings board on tfw2005.com by user TheGame2K5 earlier this week.  Apparently he found a Transformers Generations Wheeljack (an extremely hard to find Transformer that seems to have been skipped over by the stores) at a Chicago store, but it had a Sideswipe [Red Alert – ed.] figure instead, THAT HAD BEEN PAINTED TO LOOK LIKE WHEELJACK.  Talk about going the extra effort to get away with this kind of crap.

Karmic Payback: The perp’s car gets stolen and the insurance company refuses to pay for it because they don’t like his ugly face.

Odds ‘n Ends

June 1, 2011 | Poe

  • The upcoming redesign/relaunch of PGPoA continues apace. Rome wasn’t built in a day, when it’s done, Valve time and all that. Hopefully it will seem worth the hubbub once it’s revealed. I will say we have a pretty cool contest planned to coincide with it.
  • In the meantime, as I’m sure is obvious, I’ve been on something of an unofficial hiatus for a few months now. It was a nice break, and necessary, I think, but things should start picking up soon. April and May were very busy months for me, but things appear to be calming down now.
  • So, DC is rebooting their entire universe. I have a lot of reservations and many questions, but the first one I want answered is: does this mean Damian Wayne can finally go away? More significantly, though, it occurred to me that the comics themselves are really the least relevant form of media for superheroes these days. My Batman is the Batman of B:TAS, the Burton & Nolan films, and Arkham Asylum/City. And action figures, of course. As long as DC still produces Elseworlds-style side comics like Batman Beyond and one-offs like Brian Azzarello’s The Joker, while making animated adaptations of Batman: Year One and Dark Knight Returns, I’ll be fine. What are your thoughts?
  • BotCon is this weekend…anyone going? Anyone interested? Anyone else find it painful Michael Bay is being feted?