Toy Bender

Fans of the Justice League Unlimited series of figures sold exclusively at Target might be pleased to learn that they will have the chance to own an Amanda Waller figure in the future. While she might not fit the typical look of a comic book character, she certainly had a lot of impact in the Bruce Timm animated world of the DC Universe:

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Last week, Bratz Doll maker MGA has suffered another stunning defeat by Mattel, the maker of Barbie. A judge in L.A. ruled that MGA can no longer make and sell Bratz dolls. The real tradedy of the situation is that if the appeals don’t work, then there are 1,500 people at MGA that could potentially lose their jobs over this mess, but there’s another side to the story. A reader by the name of “taylor” left a comment on an old post dealing with the lawsuits:

I LUV BRATZ THERE NOT SLUTTY THEIR FASHIOBLE WAY BETTER THAN DUM OLD BARBIES MY DAUGHTER LOVES THEM TO! I THINK THEY SHOULD HAVE A SAVE BRATZ CAMPAIGN TO ALL THE LITTLE GIRLS OUT THEIR WHO DONT DONT WONT BRATZ TO DIE OUT! I LOVE AND SUPPORT MGA

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I finally broke down and bought my first DC Infinite Heroes figures this weekend. I picked up the 3 3/4ths scale DC figures, because it was a three pack that was on sale and… okay I got it because the set contains Supergirl and I’m a Supergirl fanatic. Apparently Target is running a short sale on the three packs and I was lucky enough find the only Superman/Supergirl/Wondergirl power trio that I’ve seen so far.

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Updated: New items added! Blame Esbat!

With the memory this last Halloween fading and it’s crappiest candy on mega-discount, it’s about time to start thinking about the next major holiday. No, not Thanksgiving. That’s for losers. I’m talking about the big Papa of all delicious holidays, my birthday and after that the slightly less cool holiday called Christmas. It’s high time for my family and friends (ahem, you) to start thinking about what you’re going to give me for a gift for both holy days (or a tribute as it would be more accurately described).

For the purposes of this blog, I’ve decided to limit my wish list to toys. To make things easier for you to find the items I want, I picked toys that are more easily found in stores than items like my vintage wants that would require some hunting and extra effort. You can’t say that I’m not thinking about your best interests here. Seriously, it would be a little much to ask for a gift like the Terrordrome, although it certainly would not be undeserved.

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What you’re looking at above is wave 8 of DC Universe Classics. I had seen that wave 8 had been announced over on Poe Ghostal’s blog, but since I’m really not into the line I didn’t really read which figures were in the wave beyond the first picture he posted. Shame on me, for I would have found out that Dr. Fate made the cut.

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Poe Ghostal recently found something cool on MattyCollector.com, the next exclusive Masters of the Universe Classics figure will be Faker!

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Them babies is terrorists, I tells ya. Every last one.

Now from the news from stupid people file comes the story that some paranoid, idiot parents believe that there is a talking doll that promotes the Islamic religion. The doll is the Fisher Price Cuddle n’ Coo talking doll that makes annoying baby noises and says, “mama.” Moron Carol McCroy thinks the baby says, “Islam is the light.”

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Continuing the He-Man related news this week (mostly because I have nothing else), He-Man.org has gotten new pictures of the next figures in the Masters of the Universe Classics line; Stratos and Mer-Man. Stratos is… well Stratos:

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Mattel semi-recently let He-Man fans know that both the new He-Man and Beast Man figures will be delayed. The reason is quality control. In order to provide a sculpt of the new He-Man line that is reminiscent of the old lines, they had removable armor. Apparently it sucked, so they are now re-engineering the He-Man figures to have armor that clasps on their backs.

I also saw that there’s a poll up on He-Man.org asking collectors when or if they’ll buy the figures. It seems like there’s a segment of the He-Man collecting community that isn’t happy with the current state of the He-Man revamp. They want more of the 2002 He-Man line styled figures and not the vintage. Personally, I welcome back an updated vintage line and not the over-the top 2002 line, but what do I know? I’m not really in the target audience since I’m very selective with my He-Man purchases.

Anyway, I’m interested to hear what you guys think. Do you like the updated vintage line or would you want to see a more 2002 look? Or do you not care at all?

While I don’t really count myself as a tried and true He-Man fan, he does hold a special place in my heart. I’m really hoping Mattel’s new attempt at making He-Man fans for collectors is really successful, not so much because I’ll be collecting them (due to a high price point and previous toy line commitments), but because I love a world where He-Man is in production.

There are a few characters that may tip the balance from admiration to a purchase:

Rio Blast

Rio Blast is not only a cowboy in a sci-fi/fantasy world which is ultra cool in itself, but he’s also loaded with enough firepower to take down a city block. This guy has guns hidden everywhere, and I mean everywhere… wink wink. I can only imagine how hard a modernly sculpted Rio Blast would rock with all of his hidden weapons that could flip out to transform him into a killing machine (I wasn’t a big fan of the gigantic gun arm on the statue, I prefer the lower key approach.). Just make sure he comes with a removable hat. Every cowboys needs a hat like they need a sad, sad song.

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Many people cite songs like Run DMC’s “Walk this Way” or Blondie’s “Rapture” as some of the hallmarks of the mainstream world’s acceptance of rap. I’d say it was really the appearance of rap in toy commercials. Take this He-Man commercial for example:

I almost feel my sanity slipping away when I hear that gravely voice associated with so much of my childhood rapping like old school is back in session. Why was rap used in a He-Man toy commercial? Why not, the kids love it! This video fits perfectly with the rapping Transformers commercials I posted awhile back.

As a toy, there’s not much to say here aside from the fact that a motorized spider named Spydor seems like the most logical choice of mount for a living skeleton faced man right after an armored purple panther.

MattyCollector.com opened at 11:00 a.m. PST and quickly crashed while I tried to submit my order. If there’s anything that you’d like to get as far as SDCC exclusive figures go, then good luck to you. You’re going to need it if you want to try to get the likes of King Greyskull and Lobo.

Here’s another round of quick news items that have come out of the San Diego Comic Con. If you require more of my patented in depth opinions, don’t worry. I’ve got picture posts on the way that are loaded with all kinds of sweetness for your reading pleasure. Until then, enjoy these links!

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Sigh, another day where I miss Comic Con. Bah humbug. Well, there’s still tons to cover. I figure that I can go over a few of the cool items that I’ve seen on the interwebs. I plan on doing more detailed posts on particular toys I really like if I can get some pictures of them later. If you noticed anything of note so far, drop me a line in the comments.

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Because it’s a Sunday and I’m super lazy, I decided that I might be able to get away doing a classic post that takes a look back on classic posts from Toy Bender’s storied past. And since I know a lot of you might be new here and don’t want to dig through a years worth of posts that this might not be such a bad idea. So here we are with a link to a Toy Ads that Time Forgot post that dealt with the robotic toy and comic book hero, Rom The Spaceknight.

Not only is there some highlight Rom and all his awesomeness, but it also has one of my favorite “funny” picture captions that I’ve ever made. So what are you waiting for? Click on the damn link already and get reading!