Ram Man - MOTUC

One of the most popular characters released this year for the Masters of the Universe Classics line was Ram Man. The original figure was kind of odd, and he got a goofy treatment in the Filmation cartoon. For the 200x series he was redesigned as a larger and beefier character. He filled the role of the strong, but dumb archetype often seen in popular mythology. This new classic figure is massive. He's not really taller, but thicker. His hands are bigger than many character's heads.

Ram Man is a perfect update of the vintage figure. He features great detailing on his face as well as his armor. This is the first Ram Man to ever have two independently pose-able legs. Since the classics figures do not have action features there is no springing legs here.

In the 200x cartoon Ram Man was occasionally seen without his full helmet on. You could see that the top of his helmet was actually a plate bolted to his head. This version of Ram Man came with two heads. One helmeted, and the other with just the top plate. Both feature the same squinting eyes. This facial feature comes from the original cross sell art.

Ram Man's armor features a clip on his back that can store his axe.  Ram-Man's axe is his only other accessory he came with besides his alternative head. He was a deluxe figure due to his large size. He was a very expensive figure for Mattel to produce because he was 100% new tooling will little change of reuse.

Young Justice: Batman & Robin

Young Justice was a cartoon show that was part of the DC Nation cartoon block on Saturday mornings. Unfortunately after two seasons the cartoon show was canceled. Young Justice focused on "The Team", basically all the teen heroes formed their own Justice League like the Teen Titans. It was in my opinion the best DC cartoon since Batman: The Animated Series.

 Like most cartoons, the show was supported by a line of merchandise including action figures. The figures did a nice job of capturing the style of the cartoon. When I saw the Batman & Robin two pack at Toys R Us I had to get it. After cracking the pack open I was disappointed to find out they had very little articulation. The Young Justice figures, like the toys for Batman:tAS and Justice League Unlimited only have five points of articulation. Their shoulder articulation is further hindered by their caps. They look great, but unfortunately don't really have any posing options.

GI Joe & Transformers SDCC '13 Part 2

Since so many different items were included in this Comic Con Exclusive Set, I decided to break it up into two posts. Check out Part 1 for information on the GI Joe Vehicles decorated like Transformers from this set.

The set included the two Autobot vehicles, a GI Joe, and an Autobot "accessory". Part 1 showed off Jetfire and Hound. So this post focuses on Snake-Eyes and Blaster. Snake-Eyes is basicly just a repaint of a previously released figure. He's dressed in his usual black gear with camo pants. He reminds me a little of a custom figure I made a while ago. Snake-Eyes is armed with a sword and uzi. Blaster, the boom box Autobot comes with three cassettes that can be inserted into him and features a peg that allows him to be worn like a backpack on Snake-Eyes. A similar Soundwave tape deck came with last years Destro with Shockwave/Hiss Tank set. Snake-Eyes has an Autobots logo on his shoulder.

Here you can see a close up of Blaster and his cassette tapes.

The 2013 SDCC set included a Decepticon figure, a Cobra figure, and a Decepticon accessory. One of the bad guys included in the set is Bludgeon. This is a character I was unfamiliar with before getting the set. He's made using the new Budo body with an all new head. Bludgeon was a G1 Pretender figures released in 1989. Hasbro took a lot of liberties with this figure, but he's cool. I wish his legs had a better range of motion, but his armor really gets in the way. The sculpt of his skull head along with his helmet remind me a little of Skeletor from the New Adventures of He-Man. Bludgeon has Decepticon logos on his robes over the armor. He includes a removable helmet and two different length swords.

 The lone Cobra included in the set is the Baroness. She has a reused body, but an all new head sculpt. It's interesting that she has a sculpted on microphone.


Baroness comes with three different guns.One of them screams Baroness to me. One is an updated version of my all time favorite GI Joe weapon, the Viper Rife. The third gun doesn't really do anything for me.


Baroness' new head sculpt looks really great. I like the way her hair is blowing in the wind. Her Cobra logo also looks great on her chest.

Soundwave is my all time favorite Transformer, and all his little cassette buddies come second. Ravage is my favorite of his cassettes. He was a driving factor along with Jetfire for me to buy this set. I was pretty bummed out when I found out he only has one point of articulation. If this guy was fully articulated he's be incredible. His only articulation point is at the back of the neck. Shoulder joints would have been nice, and elbows would have been awesome. He's an accessory, not really a figure.

Here's my best attempt at recreating the image that started the buzz for this Exclusive set. Baroness walking Ravage. The concept is based on a Devil's Due comic cover from GI Joe / Transformers.

Bludgeon and Ravage ambush Snake-Eyes and Hound.

Snake-Eyes neutralized Bludgeon, but Ravage won't give up without a fight.

GI Joe & Transformers SDCC '13 Part 1

For the past three years Hasbro has offered a cool GI Joe & Transformers exclusives. The first one I wanted so bad (Skystriker/Starscream) but never got. The second one was easy for me to pass on (Modern Hiss Tank/Shockwave). This year the set features a Skystriker/Jetfire and a Vamp/Hound and when is showed up on Hasbro Toy Shop I had to pick it up.

The original Jetfire was one of the largest Transformers jet. The mold for the G1 Jetfire came from the Robotech line. Hasbro used their modern (retooled) Skystriker toy with a new piece that can be added to the rear of the plan. There was some talk online about Hasbro getting sued over this toy which looks like the Jet from Robotech. From what I read they settled the lawsuit out of court

Autobot Jetfire retains the Skystriker's mechanical wing and landing gear movement. Although the add on piece covers the lever to activate the feature. Jetfire's add on piece attaches where the rear fins attach to the plane. The back also features a second cockpit. Jetfire comes with about a million stickers. It was a lot of work to get them all on there.

Autobot Hound is just the modern (retooled) Vamp with some new stickers. Hound comes with the rear mounted laser cannon and two gas cans. Just like Jetfire, Hound can not transform he's just a GI Joe vehicle decorated to look the Transformer in vehicle mode. Hound can carry two GI Joe figures inside. His hood also lifts up to reveal his engine.

Jetfire taking off from the USS Flagg

 

 Here is a view of Jetfire with both of his canopies open. One action figure fits in each cockpit. Jetfire also has two panels that can be removed for "maintenance".

Here is a quick comparison shot of Jetfire and the standard Skystriker it is based on.

I'll be posting the figures from this set in the near future...

Wolverine 2nd Edition - Toy Biz

This is the second version of Wolverine released in the Uncanny X-Men line by Toy Biz. This time he is suited up in his blue and yellow get up. His claws don't retract and stay in, they just sort of slide in and out to make it look like he's stabbing something. This version of Wolverine does not have a removable mask, but this helps give him a better appearance.

The only accessory this version came with was a small black gun (not pictures). Why he came with a gun? I really don't know. I bought my figure at a yard sale without his gun years ago. I used him in my stop motion animated show, Action Figure Adventures. He didn't play a very big part, but if you want to check it out there is a tab on the side for that series.

I still remember the first time I saw this figure was the night of the Christmas Program at my Elementary School in 5th grade. My buddy Paul had him in his pocket and played with him before it was our classes turn to go on and sing our song or whatever. Paul played Santa Claus in the Christmas Program in 1st grade. I was his head toy making elf.

Thunder v1 - GI Joe '84

Thunder is probably one of the most forget GI Joes from the early days. He was packaged as the driver to the Slugger. Thunder wears a brown shirt with black pants. He has a green vest over his shirt. He came with a three piece helmet and a monocular. Thunder's helmet consists of the standard early Joes helmet with a snap on visor and headset. His head and helmet were later reused for the Tiger Force character Skystriker.

Hasbro used such an odd reddish/orange for all the gingers on the Joe team. It's hard to take a figure like Thunder or Charbroil seriously with that red hair. His vehicle is a self propelled cannon so his monocular must be for spotting targets far way. I'm surprised they didn't pack him with a calculator accessory so he can figure out the trajectory at which he needs to fire the Slugger.

Thunder has kind of a generic sculpt. This makes his arms and legs decent for making custom figures. I used his legs for a couple figures over the years. Thunder never got a lot of screen time in the toon or very many panels in the comic. As a kid I felt like we was kind of like Steeler and Short-Fuse jammed into one character... and so not that interesting.

End of Wars Weapon Pack - MOTUC

The End of Wars Weapon Pack is the third and final weapons pack to be released for the Masters of the Universe Classics line. This weapons pack is made up of recolored weapons, new weapons dropped for figures in the line, and an all new Kowl mini-figure.


The set came with several gold weapons that can be used as treasure for Granamyr. They could also be used to give Lt. Spector some flashy Palace Guard Weapons. 


Watch out Granamyr, it looks like there is a burglar in your den. He might try to steal the piles of books you had stacked up in the Filmation cartoon.

The End of Wars set also included gray versions of Sir Laser-Lot's translucent weapons. His sword and mace are two of my favorite generic weapons that look great in traditional colors. Vykron looks like a real brawler with an axe and mace. Clamp Champ is ready to train some palace guards with the silver colored sword and shield.

 When Netossa was released many fans were upset she did not include a blue version of the Bubble Power She-Ra Sword. Mattel took advantage of this weapons pack to release this weapon to the fans. The pack also includes Rattlor's armor which was dropped from figure because he had so many paint apps, they couldn't cost out the figure to include the armor.

End of Wars also comes with the gun dropped from Strobos, who is this years traveling convention figure. I don't have him yet, and I couldn't find my Classics Zodac so I took this photo with my vintage Zodac. Of course I found my Classics figure as I cleaned up at the end of the photo shoot.

 

Fans have been asking for repaints of all the different hand attachments for the various figures that have swappable hands. The set includes Trap-Jaw's attachments in gray for Roboto and Hurricane Hordak's attachments in black for Trap-Jaw. I really wish they had included extra hands for mHorde Prime that could be used on Cy-Chop.

The End of Wars Weapon Pack also came with a set of bright green He-Man weapons. I have no clue what the point of these weapons are. Why green? A rusty brown, gold (like the Granamyr Treasure), black, translucent red, or almost any other color would have been better. These are kind of the duds of the set.

My favorite part of the entire set is the Kowl figure. If you've ever seen the She-Ra cartoon you are familiar with this owl/butterfly creature. Kowl was pink in the cartoon, but his vintage action figure was a creamy tan. Mattel has released him in the cream color now, but I'm pretty sure we will see the pink version since they have the tooling. Kowl has articulation at the neck and shoulders. He doesn't move a lot because his wings/ears don't allow his head to move a lot. As a kid, I really liked Kowl, so I'm excited to have him in my Classics collection.

Marvel Subscription Mailer Cards

Yesterday I talked quite a bit about how important comics were to me as a kid and their impact on my life. Today's post shows off a little bit of paper work related to the Marvel Comic subscriptions I had in  the 90's. As a kid I had a subscription to Uncanny X-Men and Spectacular Spider-Man for a couple of years. I first subscribed to X-Men through the promotion on the back of the Toy Biz X-Men figures. I bought my Spider-Man sub through a magazine fundraiser at my sister's middle school.

Each month the issue would arrive in the mail in a plastic back with one of these mailer cards hiding the cover. Each card had artwork of a Marvel hero, my name and address, and a little card to send back if you needed to change your address. I remember there being at least four different mailer cards. Silver Surfer, Hulk, Thor, and Spider-man.  It's possible there were other designs, but I don't remember any others. I found these mixed in with some 90's era comics in my collection. They gave me good memories of some of the best mail days as a kid.

Snake-Eyes - 12" Hall of Fame

As I kid, I remember being shocked when a friend showed he his Dad's GI Joes and they looked like Ken dolls. It was my introduction to the fact that the 3 3/4" action figures I played with were not the first time Hasbro had made awesome army figures. As a first grader I had a hard time grasping the fact that GI Joe existed without characters like Duke and Snake-Eyes. I remember asking my Dad about the larger action figures and him shared a few memories he had of the original action figure with me.

In 1992 I began to see the large versions of my favorite characters showing up on toy shelves as Hall of Fame figures. Hasbro released a 12" version of Duke, Stalker, Snake-Eyes, Destro, and Cobra Commander that year. My interest in the main regular line was starting to fade at this point. I only got four carded 3 3/4" figures that year. At the higher price point I didn't jump at the 12" figures either.

Just last week on ebay I purchased a sealed 12" Hall of Fame Snake-Eyes figure from 1992. He's based on Snake-Eyes v4 from the 3 3/4" line. He is packaged in a beautiful window box that show off the figure and his gear inside. The back of the packaging shows off other fugues from the line and the character's file card.

 This isn't my first 12" Joe, but he is one of a select few. Why did I jump at the chance to purchase this figure if I don't really collect 12" Joes? Well, if you are observant you may notice that the front of the box is signed by GI Joe file card and comic book author Larry Hama.In fact this Snake-Eyes figure comes from Larry's personal collection. Recently Larry asked toy historian and author Mark Bellomo to help his sell off some of his GI Joe collectables. Most of the items Larry was selling were from the early 2000's but the Hall of Fame figures caught my eye. Since I had a small collection of carded Snake-Eyes figure I focused my bidding on him.

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As a kid I had a hard time learning to read. By the end of first grade when my parents and teacher figured out I needed glasses to see much I was so far behind and had to repeat first grade. Everyone knew I was having trouble learning to read, but I hide how bad it was by reading the lips of a kid in my class who moved his lips when he read to himself. This allowed me to know what we were supposed to have just read to ourselves off the board, which I could never see.

My parents took me to an eye specialist who hooked me up with glasses with prisms inside that magnified and helped my eyes to focus. I repeated first grade and was doing better, but not as well as I still should have been second grade was more of the same. Third grade was a big turn around year for me. The school finally determined I had a learning disability and go me extra help. I also had an amazing homeroom teacher who let us, for the first time in school, read what ever we wanted. Finally, I was allowed to read comics at school! Along with the glasses and extra help, I finally had the desire to read on my own. My best friend's Dad, Doug Moench, was giving me copies of all the comics he wrote each month along with a copy of Larry Hama's GI Joe book. Doug knew I was a huge GI Joe fan and Marvel was sending him comps of every book they published each month.

I give credit for a majority of my academic success to my third grade teacher and two comic book authors who made me actually want to read. My parents and sister worked with me a lot to help me learn to read, but it took me wanting to read to be successful. Math still wouldn't click for many years. The comics eventually  lead to reading Goosebumps books and then the Star Wars novels of the 90's.

20 plus years later, now that I am a middle school and high school teacher with a Masters Degree, I still remember sitting at my desk at Bedminster Elementary School sounding out words in a little comic bubble above Baroness's head as she explained her hatred for the GI Joe known as Snake-Eyes.

a special Thank You to Ms. Ross, Doug and Larry

Halloween is over...

Well, this is the last weekend for the Hayride. We actually cancelled tonight because it was raining earlier. A bunch of us from managment went to Fright Land off Route 13 in Delaware to check out their attractions. We got word that there were some pissed off customers at our farm tonight. It cleared up and got beautiful after the call was made to shut down for the night. People who had bought tickets online showed up only to find out we were closed.

We'll see how much stuff they trashed in the morning.