It Came From San Diego Comic Con 2013: Masters of the Universe Classics Rokkon And Stonedar

Now this is ridiculously awesome.Back in my childhood, Rokkon and Stonedar were two of my favorite characaters in the whole Masters of the Universe pantheon. And now they’re back…in San Diego Comic Con exclusive form.

These guys came out right at the tail end of the Masters of the Universe line and sadly don’t have much of a lasting impression, but they’re still really cool characters. They are part of a species of rock people called, well, Rock People. They never appeared in the He-Man cartoons properly but did make some appearances in She-Ra.

Rokkon and Stonedar were so much fun to play with. The original figures transformed between a humanoid form and an asteroid . The sculpting–for 1986 standards–was really well done, but sadly the articulation feature made them really fragile.

The 2013 version of the figures solves that. The bodies are the really cool modern version that the Four Horsemen sculpt and it solves the problem of the original figures. Their rocky exterior is clip on plate armor!

I’ve not been collecting the new Masters of the Universe figures, save for Faker and the Sorceress, but I am really tempted to get these…what do you think?

Toy Review: Sheamus

I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t had a chance to do any toy photography in a long time! So while hanging out and watching wrestling on the DVR, it seemed the only thing appropriate was to take some wrestling action figure pictures. I went to my trusty toy box and pulled out none other than Sheamus of WWE fame!

Sheamus was a gift a while back from the girlfriend, as she’s one of the wrestlers that we both think is awesome. But taking pictures of him by himself at ringside is no fun! Sheamus winds up fighting with Randy Orton!

And because Sheamus is a strong brawler, he would like nothing more than to throw poor Randy around! Sheamus is picking him up for a brutal looking bodyslam outside the ring!

Orton fans don’t have to worry because he countered the move into his RKO neckbreaker!

A little motion and radial blurring in Photoshop only makes it look a little more brutal.

But getting back to Sheamus, one or the reasons we like his character so much is that he’s like an old timey strong man. He’s a huge guy whose likely to kick your ass if you cross him. That said, I played around with the color values to make it a black-and-white image.

The result? Pretty cool but not old timey enough. It’s getting there, but it feels like there is still something missing.

So with some searching on Flickr’s creative commons pictures, we made it a super old timey photo by merging it into an image of a family watching television. I bet these guys are betting on the big guy from Ireland.

So who do you think wound up winning the match?

Masters of the Universe vs. WWE?!??!??

 

Masters of the Universe and the WWE have a lot in common that go beyond both of them having toy lines produced by Mattel. Even Triple H likes He-Man. Over the years, he’s had several He-Man/barbarian themed ring gears for the bigger events. At this past Wrestlemania, he came to the ring by walking out of a large Castle Grayskull-looking stage. After a little poking around wwe.com, you could see that there is some synergy ablaze between the two companies.

They’ve posted a bunch of photos of the Masters and wrestlers teaming up, as well as some short write ups about what would happen if they encountered each other.

But what was really cool is the sections where they have the wrestlers sharing their childhood stories about being He-Fans, whether it be the Miz wishing he was He-Man or Brodus Clay sharing his fondness for the villains. I think my favorite was Sheamus talking about his obsession with getting a Stratos figure.

SDCC 2012 Exclusives: Tiny Titans Figurine Set

This San Diego Comic Con exclusive from Mattel is really cool. It’s a figurine set of the lead characters from Tiny Titans. I’ve been a huge fan of this series and have been sad to see it go. But this set is really cool.

I try to avoid getting non-posable toys, but I just might have to get this.

Marvel Secret Wars Commercial!

Let’s look at a classic super hero toy commercial! This comes from 1984 and it is for Mattel’s line of Marvel Secret Wars toys! This one is for two vehicles, Doctor Doom’s Doom Roller (which looks like the gerbil ball from hell) and Captain America’s Turbo Cycle.

Those figures were pretty cool due to their simplicity and super durability. But the one thing that sticks out to me was how unenthusiastic the children are. They’re playing with some cool toys! Let alone, a Doctor Doom action figure! I bet they were too impressed by the RDI Halcyon to play with such simple toys.

Just make Barry the Blue Lantern already!

With Mattel’s DC Universe Classics Wave 17 being the Rainbow Lantern wave, I’ve come to a realization. Barry Allen should be the Blue Lantern of sector 2814. After all, he’s the embodiment of Hope–the emotion that powers the blue power ring.

Barry is a product of the Silver Age. He’s upbeat and positive. That is what makes him stick out in the modern DC Universe. He’s eternally optimistic; Barry always thinks that things will work out for the best. He was never the brooding, grim and gritty type like Batman. He wasn’t the socially conscious one; that’s Green Arrow. Instead he was the one who believed in himself.

If hope is defined as being the feeling that something desired may happen, Barry gave a whole universe hope during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Barry believed he could stop the Anti-Monitor’s cannon from destroying the multiverse, and that is ultimately what he did.

He gave his life to the hope that he could stop the Anti-Monitor, and that act of selflessness inspired the other heroes and gave them the hope to stop the Anti-Monitor once and for all.

Now that Barry is back in the land of the living, he doesn’t need to be the Flash any more. Wally does a good enough job at that. Here’s to making Barry the Blue Lantern…full time.

Of course, I do think that Flashpoint will throw a wrench into my plans 😉