Toy Bender

Remember that big lawsuit where Barbie maker Mattel was suing MGA? Well, Mattel won. A court ruled that the inventor of Bratz, Carter Bryant, was an employee of Mattel when the thought of the idea for Bratz and therefore Mattel was the one in the wrong.

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If you are alive, then you’re no doubt aware of the massive success that the Bratz doll line it has had. The Bratz line has been such a success that it has nearly crushed Barbie as the number one choice of dolls for young girls after many years of iron fisted dominance. In a legal maneuver by Mattel that can only stem from jealousy in the success of the Bratz line, Mattel is looking to get ownership of the line from MGA.

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I’m running this toy ad for about only one reason and that is because it’s fugging awesome:

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I’m full on board supporting DC Universe Classics and as soon as they make a figure that I really want, I’m buying one. I love the variety of figures Mattel is making and I also enjoy the fine sculpts from the Four Horsemen, so I was looking forward to seeing what the San Diego Comic Con exclusive was. Well it’s DC’s resident bad boy, Lobo (You can find a full pic of Lobo here):

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This last weekend was the big old New York Comic-con and there were some updates for any He-Man fans out there. The toy news was a little sparse, but gave some insight into the future of everyone’s muscled up barbarian whose name isn’t Conan. The toy line will be independent of the new live action He-Man film in development (yes, I said FILM not movie) and will be called Masters of the Universe Classics with the first wave hitting stores this Fall. The Four Horsemen are again sculpting the line which will be in scale with the DC Universe figures Mattel is currently producing.

What should send He-Man toy fans into a frothy mess is that at this San Diego Comic Con there will be an exclusive He-Man figure, King Greyskull along with a King Greyskull statue. I’m not familiar with the character, but I do know that if you aren’t one of the lucky people attending the con expect to pay big bucks for him on eBay.

Other He-Man related news included info on the release of Volume Two of the 2002 He-Man cartoon on DVD and that Mattel is considering releasing the mini-comics that came with the vintage He-Man line in trade paperback form. That’s a graphic novel or a fancy comic book for those not into such things.

Thanks To: Toy News International for posting the image of King Greyskull.

*Yeah, I don’t know what the F is up with the title of this post, but it makes me laugh.

In honor of Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors first session hitting DVD, I figured that it was high time I said something about the line and shared a couple of TV ads from it.

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I guess it wouldn’t be any surprise to a regular reader of this blog to say I’m a total whore for the 3.75 inch scale. Hey, my most beloved toys from childhood are in that scale so it kind of makes sense. That’s why I’m pretty excited about Mattel’s new line shown at the ‘08 New York Toy Fair, DC Infinite Heroes. I really like the idea of the DC Universe line, but the six inch size and really limits how many of the figures I’m going to get. Aside from a few that would be my must buy characters (Power Girl, Dr. Fate) I have no real interest in a new variant of Batman. However, this DC Infinite Heroes line which clocks in at a petite 3.75″ inches looks fantastic. At that scale I can collect a whole slew of figures and not have to worry about limited shelf space or budget.

One of the coolest things about the line is the wide selection of figures shown at the 2008 Toy Fair. Not only do you get your power hitters like Batman, but you get lowly members of the Gotham City Police Department and Commissioner Gordon. What’s not to love about that?

Here’s my top wants for the line (thank you TNI for the pics):

Captain Marvel:

I love me some Captain Marvel. Did you know he used to outsell Superman in the comics department? He sure did, then at one point DC bought him. He’s been losing fights to Superman ever since. Coincidence? No.

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For those of you still wondering what’s going on with the Justice League Unlimited figures, the future of Mattel’s Justice League Unlimited toy line was finally revealed in the pages of the latest ToyFare.

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Mamas Don’t Let Your Girls Grow up Without Boy Toys

Super Ginger is confused and frightened by his sister’s bounty of non-war mongering Ken dolls.

I’m grateful to wrest control of this blog away from my fiancé long enough to speak about an important consideration when buying toys for children. Parents, please buy your daughters some male gendered toys. I grew up in the 80s, an era that saw the rise in gender neutral ideals like pink could be a boys color or that girls could play with trucks. My parents were no exception to this new wave of parenting ideas, as I had Matchbox cars and a few He-Man figures in addition to my Rainbow Brite and Care Bears. I happened to prefer buying my toys in the pink aisles, but they still did their part. Good job, Mom and Dad!

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According to a press release on Toy News International, Mattel is starting to get serious about bringing back He-Man by partnering with a marketing agency. TNI highlights in the press release that several brands that will have “entertainment based marketing programs” build around them that includes Masters of the Universe. Sadly, it also includes Max Steel in the line up. Ugh.

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It’s been awhile since the last Toy Ads that Time Forgot and even longer since I had a comic book ad as some fodder, but no longer! I made a trip to my local comic book shop (Treasure Island Comics), dug through the quarter back issue boxes, and came up with a few issues of comics that contained several good toy ads in them. To reward you for waiting so long for a new TAtTF, I’ve included not one, but two ads in this update. Here’s the first:

Remember when it was acceptable to have an illustrated image in a comic book instead of a picture of the real deal? You could never get away with that now. This ad, of course, is for some Secret Wars action figures. If you have no idea what Secret Wars was or don’t have any clue what the toy line was like, be sure to check out the previous TAtTF post that went into these details (it also includes my favorite image based joke on this site ever that nobody noticed… sigh). Regardless, this ad is great because even though most of the figures are drawn much like the toys appear, Wolverine has decided to ride Dr. Octopus like he’s a cowboy breaking a wild bull.

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I like the Justice League Unlimited figures a lot, but they’re really hampered by the fact I can rarely find any of the interesting ones and the multi-pack special sets are made up of 90% of figures I don’t want. This JLU Target exclusive set is a bit different, but still contains some undesirables. (Check out Toy News International for dozens of pics of the set):

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A “victim support” group in Australia is calling for a ban of Naruto toys. Why? Because the toys have punching and stabbing motions. Now, I hate Naruto more than a normal person should, but I hate stupid people even more.

The spokesperson for the group, Homicide Survivors Association, Peter Rolfe stated:

“I think there’s a link between playing with these toys and violent behaviour later.

Think?

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It looks like Mattel emulating Hasbro’s openness when it comes to answering questions from fan sites. Somehow this missed my radar, but they’ve been having Q&As with some toy collecting websites just like Hasbro does. I collected what I could find and am sharing the best ones here much like I do for Hasbro’s Star Wars and G.I. Joe questions. I do this as a service to you. Well, I also do this because it’s kind of easy to do, but let’s put the focus more on you.

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While Hasbro bathes in the glory of G.I. Joes 25th Anniversary, the run away success of the Transformers film, and the 30th Anniversary line of Star Wars figures, Mattel’s most successful boys toys line is still waiting on the D.L. Sure Four Horsemen is busy making super awesome
He-Man statues like crazy, but there is no He-Man toy line.

This did not deter Mattel from engaging in a little nostalgia with their He-Man displays. I captured pics of most of them for your viewing pleasure. (Click on the pics to make them larger)

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