This Month in Toyfare: #121 Sept. 2007
Yes, I’m a tad late again for This Month in ToyFare. I really need to get a normal job with normal hours or at least one that allows me to obsess over ToyFare in a more timely manner. This whole salaried slave thing isn’t so hot right now.
Now, on to the impressions!
Ad Opposite Page 4 - It seems that toy advertising, especially Hasbro’s, is entering a certain stage of legitimacy. Dizzamn, this Transformers ad could be in an issue of Newsweek and it wouldn’t seem out of place.
Page 7 - I’m surprised the idea of a clone guide is dismissed so casually. I’m a huge clone fan and while many of them are repaints, there are enough clones that look different enough to make a visually appealing guide if you were to clump a lot of the closest looking ones together. If ToyFare can occasionally waste page upon page on wrestling figures, why no love for the clones? Hell, even a group photo with fact bubbles around it would be kind of neat. Sorry if I sound like an arse on this one, but I think the fact that I have a special “Clone Watch” logo on this blog is an indicator that I’m a bit partial to all things in Star Wars that are clones.
Page 8 - First off, the guy writing in complaining that ridiculously dumb Alpha Flight characters haven’t been made as Marvel Legends while Howard the Duck and Doop have already been released, here are two facts for you: 1. Howard the Duck and Doop are awesome, while characters like Shaman and Marrina blow sweaty nutsacks. 2. Both Doop and Howard the Duck were pack-in figures, not stand alone toys. If you want a 3 inch Marrina to come with the latest version of Wolverine then that’s fine, but otherwise you’re comparing two completely different things.
As for the dude that opened his toys and put them in a garden, please don’t dictate to me that I should open my toys. I hate that. And while we are on the subject, I can see keeping Star Wars figures on their card, but who in the bloody hell keeps a statue in the box? That’s almost as ridiculous as putting your expensive inside collectibles outside to get ruined… oh wait…
Page 10 - This Wish List is like they went inside my head, ignored all the porno stuff and plucked out my greatest fantasy, Predator Figures. Awesome custom Dutch figure!
Pages 11 and 12 - Yay! Pretty pictures of Star Wars figures!
Page 18 - Star Wars Transformers have seemed to hit a new low with the release of the AT-AT. How can it have a stumpy little head like that and still be considered an AT-AT?
Page 19 - I’m not hot on all these new fangled “animated style” statues coming out when they aren’t actually from an animated series. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Golden Girls… the list keeps growing. Stop teasing me with what a kickass cartoon would look like and make one, damn it!
Page 20 - What?! Star Wars Legos in ToyFare?! Someone was listening to my prayers!
Page 26 - Great job NECA with the Lost Boys figures.
Pages 42 and 43 - I don’t like Metalocalypse. In fact, I think I may detest it. There, I’ve finally admitted it and can move on with my life.
Page 44 - The Punisher’s Captain America-esque costume is cool?
Pages 46 through 53 - Thank you, Toyfare. America needs a guide to Dr. Who. I don’t think enough appreciate the Doctor as they should. I also think someone just getting in the series could use this at least get a grasp of just what the hell is going on in the Dr. Who universe.
Pages 54 through 59 - Yet another handy guide of sorts, this time it’s for the upcoming line of Legendary Comic Book Heroes. Nice! You know, my only problem with this series is that who wants to build a figure of a character 99% of the population has never heard of before?
Pages 60 through 71 - Now, I understand being excited about the Simpsons movie… but I’m not so sure about this guide. Maybe I know the Simpsons too much, but there really wasn’t anything here that I didn’t know before.
Pages 72 through 74 - Finally, a Mask retrospective. It’s about damn time. I’ve been thinking that I’d like to see more in depth coverage of older toys, but maybe that’s just me. Anyway, the best part about this feature is Seth Green’s story. It’s so unbelievable that it must be true.
Pages 76 through 86 - Twisted Toyfare Theater - I’m not sure what’s up with this month’s TTT, but it really didn’t reach me somehow. Oh well. I commend the use of the vintage Chewbacca and I did enjoy the fact that Luke has an obsession with putting manacles on Chewy.
Page 85 - Re Concept Chewbacca: My sentiments exactly.
Page 96 - MODOCKERS… awesome.
That’s all I’ve got for this month, as always feel free to let me know what you thought of this month’s issue of ToyFare or my dumb opinions.
toy, toy collecting, toy collectors, hobby, ToyFare, magazine
July 23rd, 2007 at 9:44 pm
I haven’t read Toyfare in a long time. That Mask guide sounds pretty cool.
July 24th, 2007 at 12:38 am
“please don’t dictate to me that I should open my toys. I hate that.”
I dictate that all the time.
(And re-reading that four and a half years later, pretty confrontational. Dude, I’m a jerk!)
“who wants to build a figure of a character 99% of the population has never heard of before?”
Better question: who WOULDN’T want to build a figure of Monkeyman, the giant gorilla wearing a suit of clothes? That’s a slice of fried gold, right there.
You think 99% of the population knew who MODOK was? Or Mojo? Horsey-Legged Onslaught? These characters may be obscure, but look at them: they’re going to sell just because they look so darn cool. You may not know who Star is (hell, *I* don’t know who Star is), but parents will buy it thinking it’s a Spider-Man little Johnny doesn’t have yet. Bright colors and cool costumes trump unfamiliar names any day. You don’t need to know that Savage Dragon is an amnesiatic Chicago policeman to think that a big green monster is badass…
July 24th, 2007 at 2:10 am
4. I wasn’t sure what kind of Transformers thing this ad was selling at first, but it’s a great ad.
7. I too, am surprised by ToyFare’s don’t care attitude about a Clone guide. I’ve been waiting for a clone guide. There’s too damn many!
54-59. I have to mostly agree with yo go re here. While I have no intention of buying any of these figures, some of them do look cool and it will make fans happy. Although, I don’t think kids will really have much access to these figures because I doubt I’ll ever see them in a Wal-Mart-type of store. Plus, the Witchblade figure has real articulation, although the sculpt doesn’t look nearly as good as Moore’s older, though articulation lacking, sculpt of the character.
72-74. I was very disappointed with the M.A.S.K. feature. There needed to be pictures of all the toys, or at least all the main vehicles.
July 24th, 2007 at 10:46 am
yo go re, you know I’ll never understand that. I open toys, but there are a lot of them I like to keep in the package. I never tell anyone they should keep their stuff in boxes, yet I always hear from those that open all their stuff that I’m wrong and an evil person. Why? I don’t understand why someone would be obsessed with what I do with my own purchases. I like things in the box. I like some things opened, I don’t like being told what to do or how I’m wrong for that.
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As far as your points about the independent line, you make some good ones, but I don’t think the looks cool factor is the only thing that lays behind a toy purchase. The comparison to Modock, etc. is a good one, except the pieces of him came with a lot of familiar Marvel characters, not with a bunch of figures not a lot of people know about. Pitt I’d say is a no-brainer, Monkeyman? Meh.
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Shawn, thanks for supporting my clone mini-rant!
July 26th, 2007 at 1:54 am
“I doubt I’ll ever see them in a Wal-Mart-type of store”
Well, you should - these are aimed at the mass market, with the first “preview” cases showing up now at Wal*Marts in the Denver area.
“the pieces of [MODOK] came with a lot of familiar Marvel characters”
Not really. Sure, they’re familiar to die-hard fans like us, but to parents and kids in the toy aisle? Did any of them know who Beta Ray Bill was? Or Captain Marvel? Or Moon Knight?
“I don’t like being told what to do or how I’m wrong for that.”
Okay, here’s how you’re wrong for that:
No, kidding. But what purpose do the packaged figures serve that couldn’t be duplicated if they were open?
July 26th, 2007 at 11:20 am
“But what purpose do the packaged figures serve that couldn’t be duplicated if they were open?”
They don’t serve any kind of purpose, except that I like the way they look. I like the packaging and I don’t want to just keep card backs. To me its an aesthetic thing that I can’t fully explain, it just works for me. I plan on writing up a whole big post about this issue and while I’m sure I can’t win you over to my side yo go re, I’m hoping I can get at least some people to stop harassing mocers or at the very least me.
July 26th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
oh no, harrassing is fun!
July 26th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Well you get a free pass, it seems to be in your nature. heh