Swords and Spaceships

I'm not a fan of Kubricks at all, but I'm just tickled by Phantom Menace merchandise. I know that if I bought these, it would be a slippery slope that could only lead to bankruptcy. So I cribbed this image from JediDefender and put it here just to gawk at occasionally. Having is not so pleasing a thing as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true.

'Transformers' score by Steve Jablonsky It should have been out a long while ago. But as it is, it ties into the DVD release which is rumored to be October 16th. These things usually turn out to be true, so I'm going with that. Alas, no tracklisting yet. If it doesn't have the music accompanying the Autobot's arrival on Earth, there will be pandemonium in the streets. But that would be stupid. That would be like releasing the Grindhouse films WITHOUT the fake trailers. Aw, fuck. I can understand releasing them seperately, since Grindhouse effectively tanked at the BO and they need to recoup some benjamins, but keeping the fake trailers from folks? I think they're just asking for these DVDs to tank at retail.

clicky. This stinks of something I've seen before. Man, if only I could think of what it was... Now I remember!

clicky. Man. What an odd choice for a reissue. But hey, TFs that aren't from 1984-5 are always welcome. I like my pre-movie 'formers, but they've been done to death. The TFC was starting to get interesting with Broadcast, Kup, and Perceptor being reissued (granted, Broadcast and Perceptor are US '85, but whatever...) Plus, Lynx is a pretty big TF. I wonder if I'll be able to afford this one since I couldn't afford Predaking when Takara reissued him.

I'll bet you didn't know it, but Wal-Mart, bane of the American retail landscape, has an exclusive set of 12" Adventure Team GI Joes, reissues of the ones from the 1970s. A little background. I myself have an affinity for these big guys. I bought the Land Adventurer that was a Hot Topic exclusive last year, and I was looking forward to buying a couple more. But I come to find out that they're exclusive to Wal-Mart, and more importantly, my local branches aren't going to be getting these (or the 25th Anniversary small Joes either). I ask you, what's the point of conquering the competition and taking an exclusive if you're not going to sell it to everyone who wants it? This happens all the time. Some WMs that aren't in huge cities get nothing when it comes to Hasbro exclusives, and other stores just can't get rid of them, eventually being forced to clearance them. Wal-Mart has ruined GI Joe before, and it seems like they're looking to do it again...

DC Universe series 2 I really can't afford superhero toys any more (since both Marvel and DC toys cost $10 a crack these days) but I am buying Aquaman, Red Tornado, and Harley Quinn from this line. I'd buy the monkey if it was available seperately, but I don't think I'll be able to bring myself to buy Supermen Red and Blue. To me, they represent the lowest point in comics in the 90s, aside from killing Superman. But, Mattel is still doing something great. I like their DC line since the toys aren't over-articulated like Marvel Legends tend to be. Hopefully, they avoid the pitfalls that have plagued their DC Superheroes, Batman comic, and MOTU lines this time. They're doing OK on DCSH, and if you're going to offer a BAF, you have to have sane distribution. Even Mattel knows that.

Thank your dear and fluffy lord for Target doing their fall reset in the toy aisle. I was finally able to get my sweaty hands on some 25th Anniversary GI Joe 5-packs. I only found the Joe set, and it was the last one there. I scooped it up, and made threatening gestures to anyone who looked at me funny as I walked to the checkout. And people will look at you funny, since the box is big, shiny, and noisy. When you see one of these on the shelf, you know beyond any doubt that Reagan's America is alive and well somewhere. Well, not so much that. If you were to take a look at the back of the box, it should fill you with pity, especially if you're standing in the aisles of a big-box retailer as I was. You get a twinge of sadness that this new generation is allowing the bar to be set so low for themselves when it comes time for recreation. Instead of Terror Dromes, space shuttles, boats, tanks, jeeps, 7-foot aircraft carriers that can house your entire Joe collection, or toys of bike...

100 posts of madness! And what better way to ring it in than a couple pics of what may be a Masters of the Universe anniversary line? Mattel is holding a MOTU-related panel at SDCC this afternoon, so we're going to have to wait. Edit- 8-4-07. Well, it was a big nothing. Mattel didn't say anything about it or even acknowledge its existence, even though they had a couple display cases chock full of vintage MOTU toys. Apparently, it's a kitbash from DC Superheroes parts, and it was in my opinion someone's idea of a practical joke. It's a shitty joke, but hey, Mattel and shitty are like chocolate and peanut butter. All of this was to announce that the 2002-3 cartoon will be on DVD soon. Which, of course, means that they should display vintage toys because they have exactly nothing to do with that cartoon.

Color me excited. Between this and the new He-Man shown yesterday, I might end up having a nerd-related heart attack this weekend.

Finally got my hands on some 25th Anniversary GI Joes from smalljoes.com today. I've only opened Flint and Cobra Commander so far, but I'm digging them. Almost-orgasmic digging. I opened those two first since I had them as a kid, and these updated versions don't disappoint in the slightest. I have yet to open Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, and the Cobra Officer, but I'm patient. I still have yet to find the 5-packs. No rush, I guess. I'm at the mercy of online and brick-and-mortar retailers for those.

Clicky. Oh my dear and fluffy lord, I'm going to be so broke. Two of my favorites are in the next wave (Serpentor and Beach Head) plus there's Shipwreck, Stalker, and others. It's a pity about those custom jobbies Hasbro is showing off. I'd pay good, hard-earned money for all of them to be made. I'm sure it's inevitable. I just think they're showing them off to show us what they can do with this new body style, and when this line really takes off (which it looks like it already has) these will eventually be made. I don't think I could live without that Range Viper or Shockwave. I don't think I've been as excited about a new toy line since the modern Star Wars line debuted in 1995.

Soundwave Wins TF Movie Sequel Character Poll I swear to some deity, fans just have NO imagination whatsoever. Soundwave's function was pretty much used up by Frenzy in this year's movie. Instead of voting for some character that could give the Autobots the edge (like, I dunno, Jetfire?) they go redundant. Of course, the moviemakers aren't going to give this any real credence (and they shouldn't), so the point is moot.

Maybe a more apt name would be "Ape-Plane." I'll admit, this was an iffy purchase for me. Sure, I want action figures of all the TFs in the movie, but since Starscream was one of my two least-favorite designs in the movie (the other being Megatron), I was a little unsure. But seeing that F-22 toy in that neat box put me over the edge, and I picked up Screamer instead of Ironhide. Well, the toy is great until you get it out of the box. Then you notice all the robot guts hanging off the bottom. The problem with TFs that turn into jets is that they're never sleek. They're always going to have this problem. G1 had this problem, hell, even the Classics line had the same problem, to a lesser extent. But there's a lot of stuff hanging off this Starscream, and it's just going to happen since it's a mere physical toy and not a CGI illusion that costs millions of dollars to pull off. No, the jet mode isn't all that exciting. But, the robot mode is great, in...

We here at S&S lurv our GI Joes. Specifically, those big-headed turd-sized ones made between 1982 and 1994. Since Matt hooked me up with a Cross Country recently, and with the 25th Anniversary line finally making its way to retailers (we don’t have ours yet), it’s time to take a gander at one of the crown jewels of the Real American Hero line, Cobra Commander version 2. Yes, you know this one. Cobra Commander in his casual Friday attire. (You can only handle a explosive-laced helmet a few days a week, after all.) Anyone who owned a few Joes owned this one. He was readily available for ten years, starting in 1984 and going all the way until the end of the line 1994. You got him by sending in your Flag Points, little pieces of cardboard found on the back of every GI Joe toy made in the 80s. You may have lost the filecard that you clipped off of every figure or vehicle, but you sure as hell didn’t lose those Flag Points. I remember my mother telling me to cut them out and give them to...

Nothing much to say, really. I only have two more TF movie figures to get (and while I'm considering more, the jury's still out on them), I'm hooked on Robot Heroes, my Pepsi Prime still isn't here from HTS, and Star Wars is all caught up. I'm going nuts looking for the new GI Joes. People have been finding them at retail for two weeks now, and I have squat. Hell, they're even sold out everywhere I trust online. So we continue to wait. I suppose I could buy some stuff that's been on my someday list for a few months, but I'm finding that one particular piece has completely disappeared from the secondary market. And I'm not telling you what it is, since I don't need any more competition for one.

It's about all we talk about anymore: Transformers. But that's OK. Sign us up for a Soundwave and Convoy. Been waiting for a Soundwave in a G1-ish box for a very long time. Here's hoping Hasbro follows TakTom's lead and does something similar. If they had any plans, they'd have let us know at Botcon. Alas, all we really know is the Alternators and Titanium are dead, Classics are going to be back in Fall 2008 (the hell?) and don't expect to see the Thundercracker, Thrust, and Dirge figures ever again, Masterpiece Starscream is coming to the US as a Wal-Mart exclusive, and Hasbro's dumping most of their resources into the new cartoon.

That's a mouthful. Yes, one of the much-maligned Star Wars Celebration IV exclusives is now in my possession, by way of HasbroToyShop.com. I had to jump through a few hoops to get it, but in the end, it beat the hell out of driving to ten different stores or ordering a whole case of figures just to get this one McQuarrie-related one. Hell, at this point, I almost wish this whols subset was exclusive to somewhere. It comes on a card just like the rest of the McQuarrie stuff. The only way you know this was a C4 exclusive is the sticker on the clamshell or bitched about it on message boards for weeks leading up to HTS offering them. The figure itself looks great. As depicted on the package, this particular rendering had Luke facing Darth Vader with his side/back to the viewer, which is probably the one piece that really sold 20th Century Fox on making this little movie then called "The Star Wars." The face underneath the breathing mask doesn't really look like anybody. J...

the smell of inevitability. Anyway, I'm stoked. I just hope that the Hasbro action figures are 3.75" so I can have my Han Solo and Indy toys face off with each other. Not that I do that, mind you. I just hope I can is all.

Man, Mosquitor and He-Man are fantastic. Jitsu, well, I could leave him. Never a big fan of the guys-with-big-right-hands in my MOTU. The line has been dead since November 2003, but every time I see a fantastic new series of these things, I have to lament how awesome action figures of these would have been. I have the first two series of these mini-statues, and while they look great, they really just don't mesh with my 2002-3 action figures. This Battle Armor He-Man should have been out in place of that truly awful Smash Blade He-Man that basically ruined the line single-handedly, with a little help from Spin Blade Skeletor. It is kind of dumb to offer a version of He-Man that was solely reliant on an action feature as a toy in a statue line. Hopefully, with the Transformers movie coming out and doing big bucks, all those 80s cartoon property rights that have been bought up in the last few months will be put to use, and He-Man and his motley band of goofballs go along for the ride....