Toy Bender

More He-Man, more Ghostbusters! Okay, Mattel managed to not disappoint too much at this year’s San Diego Comic Con.

He-Man

Out of the Masters of the Universe figures announced, there have been more aside from Battlecat that has got my boxers in a bunch. To name but a few, there’s a glow in the dark Scare Glow (I have an original SUCKERS!) as well as a Moss Man that’s actually mossy. Sweet!

Now here’s my dilemma. I really want to get into this line, but I don’t want to have to log into some website at a specific time in order to get the figures, so now I’m really considering getting a subscription in order to get one of each. The only problem is that I might end up with a bunch of figures that I don’t want.

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Let’s continue Toy Bender’s half assed armchair coverage of the San Diego Comic Con ‘09. You know, to be honest that so far I haven’t been overly impressed with much of the news coming out so far. I just wish I was there for the social aspect now more than anything… anyway, here’s some Marvel and DC toy offerings.

Marvel

Marvel had a few figures in their Marvel Universe line that got my attention. In particular, I really dug this Thor:

I also liked Vindicator. I know jack and crap about the character, I just dig the costume:

I’ve also got to get my hands on this here Vision. Combine him with a can of white spray paint and you have the perfect 90s version of the figure. Yeah, I like that “costume” you have a problem with that?

The biggest drawback with the Marvel Universe line so far is that it’s hard to buy them when they cost so damned much at most places, combined with the fact that they are often tough to find for me. Where the heck is Moon Knight and why do I have to pay over eight bucks for him?

Note: Pictures came from MarvelousNews.com

DC

I kind of knew about most of the DC offerings going in, especially for the DC Universe Classics line, but it’s still nice seeing pictures of POWER GIRL. I really want her bad, but is she seriously going to be Wal-Mart exclusive? I’ll never see her!

The Joker is a nice surprise for me, because he’s the classic version of the character that appeared in the most excellent Super Powers line.

The 12 inch General Zod figure from Superman II was a nice surprise, but I’d rather take him in 6 inch format.

Note: Pictures from Toy News International.

Man, the problem with SDCC and this here blog is that I can’t keep up with all the stuff going down. So I guess my best strategy is really focus on what really gives me a boner (toy collecting wise) and ignore the less bonerific stuff. I also figure that you get your news other places and you come here for mostly my take on certain things, so it’s easier for all of us just to focus on a few items.

He-Man

In the world of He-Man, I have three words for you: Battle Fucking Cat

Now I haven’t gotten any of the new Mattel Masters of the Universe figures (He-Mans) so far, mostly because of price. I will however now need a He-Man when he’s re-released, because I can’t imagine a world where I don’t have this new kick ass Battlecat and no He-Man to fight with him. I don’t say this often, but that shit is tight. I’m also digging that Teela in there, mostly because that means now that there’s a female body I’m hoping that She-Ra (Princess of Sexy) will be soon to follow.

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Twilight fans, you know what sucks? Twilight. You know what sucks even more? Jerkholes like me making fun of it all the time. Holy crap has that got to be terrible if you love the book and films. I like some terrible shit, but it’s not popular (at this point) to bash it at the moment. So I’m going to take it easy on you. No more making fun of Twilight to get Twilight fans to make any comments on the post, even though I state I’m doing it to get angry comments from rabid fans, because clearly people miss that part.

The reason I bring Twilight up now is to point out these Twilight inspired Barbie dolls:

Unlike other internet bloggers, I will not make fun of them. I will talk about what I like about them. I really like the fact that Bella Barbie isn’t as Plain Jane as the actress that portrays her. In fact, she’s kind of cute which is a nice change of pace. I could actually believe a vampire would fall in love with this girl. I also like the fact that everyone’s favorite Dracular Edward Cullen isn’t as ugly as a rotten stump. I mean, he’s pretty ugly, but by far not as ugly as Robert Pattinson. Granted Dracular Ken is not the most handsome Dracular in the universe, but he’s not as hideous as his real life counterpart and that makes all the difference.

See, I can play nice and clearly not say mean things about something that has people rabidly defending it. Heck, I may even some day make peace with the ICP crowd and say something nice about ICP.

Heh, probably not.

I used to collect only mint on card toys. I did that because I get more of a nostalgia kick out of carded and box toys than I do for ones that are opened. I also think that a toy in the package can be art. But as much as I like carded toys, I would never spend the insane amount of money I’ve seen go for vintage toys in the package. Take for instance this He-Man with a sled:

The seller is looking for $20,000 for this puppy. Egad! You know what’s even worse, though? The fact that he’s still charging twenty five bucks for shipping. Seriously dude? You can’t throw in shipping when you’re getting the same price some people buy for a new car? What a cheap ass.

I know that there are some of you nerds out there with enough cash to drop on a really expensive toy for no other reason other than it’s rare, but I have to wonder about someone spending this much in the economy we are currently in. Holy crap, I could only imagine buying a He-Man for twenty grand and then losing my job. Of course, I’m looking at this from the perspective of someone who doesn’t have a lot of money. The world may seem a bit different if I’m taking daily dips into a pool of gold.

The Masters of the Universe Classics Hordak has finally made an appearance on MattyCollector.com. He’s going to be available for order on June 15, 2009. Hordak’s accessories include a “magik” staff, a crossbow, and a bat. Price is twenty bucks.

Yep, as much as I like Hordak I’m going to have to skip this for sure. I can’t purchase a twenty dollar figure, much less one that has an eight dollar shipping fee tacked on. Hell, I can’t afford toys in the first place, but now that I’ve had a somewhat of a compulsion to purchase Marvel Universe figures and DC Universe Classics, I’d rather spend my little cash on those lines.

And no, I don’t have a problem with his “real” name. The whole fricking concept is ridiculous from the top down, so having silly names for some of the characters is pretty much par for the course.

Thanks to: Poe Ghostal

I know I almost never cover DC Universe Classics figures, but it’s mainly because I can’t keep up with it and I know bloggers who do it much better than I could. Still, I couldn’t help having some thoughts about Wave 9 that I’d like to share.

As much as I don’t want to like him because he’s such a J-hole, I dig Black Adam. I just want to root for him the times he’s not being a total jerk, which seems to change on the whims of the writers.

You know, black Adam is one of the few times a hero or villain in comics has had “black” in his or her name and they aren’t, you know, black race wise. I’m just saying.

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This post is a little old, but since it was mostly written and laying unused and unloved I thought I’d give it a new lease on life. Anyway, here goes:

The other day when I got good news in regards to being employed I decided to go on my first Toy Hunt in a long time. It was a good old fashioned hunt, one where I went to five stores in the hopes of finding some sweet toy action.

The only place I found anything good was at Toys R Us. Apparently, they had just gotten in a shipment of DC Universe Classics figures. It’s the only explanation for there being so many of them on the shelves, unless all the legion of scalpers in the area were having a board meeting or something. I was ultra excited that I could pick up a Flash figure for a friend who had wanted him awful bad.

The only thing I found for myself was the G.I. Joe comic two pack featuring “Shockblast”, or rather Shockwave, and Pilot Destro. Shockwave is great, but he seriously needs more weapons. The original came with a cool backpack that had a removable knife, while this one gets a couple of pistols. It would have been nice if he came with a shotgun and (in my dreams) a riot shield. “Shockblast” does get is a great assortment of hats, though. You get his cool looking baseball hat, a tactical helmet, and a wicked as hell gas mask.

The lack of weapons could easily be solved by purchasing extra guns from a place like Marauder “Gun-Runners.” In fact, Shockblast is the character most likely out of all my toys to get some of the more realistic weapons,since he’s the closest thing to an actual military or police figure that I own.

The Pilot Destro is certainly interesting. He’s got some cool chest armor, but what’s with his backpack with the tubes that run to his arm or the friggen steel boot claws? This is certainly the type of figure that makes it into my sell or giveaway pile. Anyone want him?

Millionaire Playboy recently posted an article about a few of Mattel’s offerings in the Infinite Crisis series of it’s 3 3/4ths scale figures. There’s not a whole lot of new info, except that the three pack that used to consist of Wondergirl, Supergirl, and Superman will now switch out Superman for Bizarro.

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Mattel’s new He-Mans, I mean Masters of the Universe, are going pretty strong. At the New York Comic Con they showed of several new figures that certainly got me excited.

Man-at-Arms

I’m really digging this Man-at-Arms, because they did the fans a service by including both his “cartoon” head and the head that came on the toy. Man-at-Arms is one of those toys that holds a special place for me, because he’s one of the first action figures I remember getting and he as certainly my first Masters of the Universe figure. In other words, I hope this guy will someday be mine.

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After getting super excited about Mattel’s announcement the other day that there would be Ghostbuster toys, I’m more than pleased to see how fantastically awesome they actually look. The three main Ghostbusting crew were shown off at the New York Comic Con and hot diggidy damn they are amazing:

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First there’s a new video game staring all the (important) actors for the orginal film and now Mattel has said that they will be making Ghost Busters toys!

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If you’ve resigned yourself to buying DC Infinite Heroes because they’re okay enough, but wished they were better then you no doubt have collected a few “anti-monitor” points. What could you get for these points? Possibly some cool mail-away offer? Nope, Mattel revealed you can only redeem them at the San Diego Comic Con.

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There’s been a lot of buzz about the upcoming lines of Star Trek toys, hell USA Today had a story on them. Freaking USA Today! Unfortunatly not all of the buzz is good. In fact, the stuff from Playmates has been getting slammed for looking not so hot:

It was feared that Playmates wouldn’t have the experience to put out a product of the kind of caliber seen in other toy companies that are used to making toys for collectors with high standards. So far those fears look to be correct. The Terminator Salvation figures revealed by the company looked decent, but weren’t up to the current toy standards collectors expect and get from many other toy companies.

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I realize that this news is fairly old, but I’d wanted to talk about it before and didn’t get the chance. Mattel released info a few weeks ago on their upcoming figures in the Infinite Heroes 3 3/4ths inch scale figure line. While some of the picks on the list found at Action-Figure.com have already been announced or released previously, there’s some tantalizing figure choices in the selection that I’d want including Black Canary, Dr. Fate, The Spectre, Black Adam, Mary Marvel, and The Brain (not of Pinky and the Brain). This is of course with the attached “Why oh why did they make the male figures so sucky? This line would have been so much more spectacular if they would have given the figures normal hands” clause.

Fun Fact: Mallah the giant ape there and The Brain (the robot) are lovers, which caused some people to be upset thinking they were a gay couple. Think about that for a moment.

via Topless Robot