Masters of the Universe Board Game... In Norwegian

Yes, so I got invited to a facebook group for people who collected G.I. Joe figures in Norway. I didn't know there were more than 2-3 of us, but it turns out there is.
Come to think of it, I'm not that surprised. G.I. Joe - or Action Force - was a big thing here, and it had to leave a lasting impression on more than just me and my friend, Runar.
 

So, one of the guys contacted me and said he was collecting anything 80s, but preferably specified to Norwegian releases. He asked if I had anything cool lying around. I gave it a thought, and realized I actually had a very specific item he would appreciate. I had just been digging for treasures in the attic, and managed to find a vintage board game set to the Masters of the Universe universe. -_-

Anyway, it's not nearly complete, and it's missing box, lid and rules of play - in addition to several pieces. But the cardboard of the playing field looks to be intact, as does Castle Grayskull. The interior is made to be elevated an inch, and this function seems to still work. All though I didn't want to break anything, so I just left it lying flat on the floor.

You could play as the heroes, and I managed to find He-Man, Teela, Man-at-Arms and Stratos. When playing, you could end up literally stumbling onto villains, represented by square pieces, but of these I only found Mer-Man.

The more I look at this game, the more nostalgic I get. This was, for some reason, a big deal. It has obviously survived longer than my original collection of MOTUs.
I believe I could make some proxies for some of the missing pieces, and this could easily be a functional game. If my memories serve me well, it was far from the worst game I have played.
I have a vague sense of how we played this game, and regardless of its state, this has to be one of the coolest items I own.

Of course, the guy I was talking with wasn't particularly impressed, as he already had like five of these (among other seriously impressive treasures). But hey, we all have our thing, and that's great.

Here's some more pictures.

Toys and Bacon on Youtube

I'm been planning on going video for a while. It's awkward hearing ones voice in playback, and I'm obviously more comfortable writing English than speaking it. I bet my sister and her English boyfriend would have a thing or two to say about both pronunciation and vocabulary. Never the less, here's my first video.

Basically, it's just me talking about MOTUC for 15 minutes, while showing some of my favorite figures. I rant a bit about the line, but also give praise where its deserved.

Here's the direct link if you're on a mobile that won't show youtube videos.

What I'd like from you guys is to leave comments on what you want to see. I have a big collection of toys, vintage and modern, lots of unopened stuff. Individual toy profiles? Collection videos? I'd also like to do it from an angle, have a twist to the videos. I guess by this time, it's difficult to make something really original when filming toys, but I'd rather not simply do "reviews" or "haul videos".

The Top 10 Greatest Toy Lines Ever!

This is a list I've been thinking of for a good while, and now is as good a time as ever. If you read my stuff, you would think this list could be named "Top ten action figure lines", but that would actually not work. Sure, it's mostly dominated by action figures, but there may be a few entries that just happens to fall in a different category.

I have collected, played with - and ultimately considered a huge selection of toys for this list. Some of the toy lines were rather difficult to leave out, and I feel like mentioning a few of them (but not all, because that would ruin eventual surprises).

 I did consider the original, 1/6 scaled G.I. Joe, for historical reasons, and the great variety of accessories. They were before my time, but I enjoy them whenever I see them today. In the opposite category, when talking about toys that predate the 80s, are the Mego dolls. I just can't see understand attraction. 

A powerful contender was the Real Ghostbusters line. Creative monsters, solid build quality, all over fun toys. There have also been many great superhero lines, like Toy Biz' X-Men, and the various DC Direct lines. I'm also impressed with many of the contemporary toys, whether they're based on movies, like the Avengers figures, or the toys from the smaller, more independent toy companies, like Four Horsemen.

Japanese toys I considered included the various Valkyries based off the Macross shows (like the Bandai VF-25 in my banner), and the range of anime robots in the mighty Soul of Chogokin line.

While the top ten may be familiar to most of you, and in many ways be "obvious" choices, they were the toys that has impressed me the most and given me the most joy.  Essentially, these are my top ten toy lines. 

Agree, disagree, want to share your own list? Leave a comment below!

MOTUC Extendar in 2014

I couldn't be happier. 2013 has been an awful year for the Masters of the Universe Classics toy line. Filled with characters that people really didn't care for, it's clear that they needed to change things a bit to hold on to the subscribers. 2014 and 2015 will be nothing but the remaining vintage toys redone, and key characters from the 200x cartoon.

I'm glad I didn't subscribe in 2013, and I'm even happier I have signed on for 2014. The year starts off brilliantly, with Two-Bad (MOTU), Glimmer (Princess of Power), Hydron (New Adventures), and Modulok. The fan convention Power Con was held this weekend, and four additional upcoming Classics were revealed: We got to see Blade (MOTU Movie), Scorpia (She-Ra cartoon), and Battle Lion (200x cartoon). All look fantastic, and it's good to see that Toyguru has stopped with releasing self customs, d-listers and extremely expensive three-packs of random, obscure prototypes.

Of course, the big reveal to me was that we're finally getting an Extendar Classics figure. Probably my all time favorite MOTU character. I remember exactly where and when I got him. Extendar was part of the 1986 wave of Masters of the Universe, and

I had of course read about him in the comics, but I never found him in my stores. During a vacation in another country, I saw him lying in a bin in a regular department store. I asked to get him, but was told this was not the time. I can't recall if I became sad, but if my mother reads this, maybe she can tell her side of the story. Either way, Christmas was right around the corner, and as you would expect, I got Extendar.

Such an impressive looking toy, with a relatively simple play feature. He's a mechanical knight that can extend his limbs, going from a bulky, robust warrior, to the majestic "Tower of Power". Extendar came with a large red shield, the same shield that was revealed to us during Power Con. There's no question who owns that shield, and this basically Matty telling us: Extendar is coming next year.

I have gone several rounds with my self, whether I would be disappointed or not, should Extendar be a 2015 release instead of next year. Keep in mind, with the current reveals (which is roughly 40% of the entire 2014 subscription), next year is looking amazing, and significantly better than 2013. But I found myself eager, almost impatient when it came to Extendar. And now I know, and this makes me just that bit more exited for next year. This of course means that Rio Blast - the last remaining original Master, will be the 2015 draw.

Extendar will definitely have similar features to Meckaneck. He will have snap on extentions, instead of the sliding features of the vintage toy. I'm ok with this, it doesn't take away from either playability of display value. Sadly, Extendar is a regular release, and not an "over-sized" figure, like the impressive Ram-Man. This means extendar will be the same size as the other, regular figures. At least when he's not extended. I would have preferred him to be just a bit bigger than a normal figure.

What I'm hoping for now is either extensions that will let Extendar be ridiculously tall, or maybe some extra accessories. Since he looks like a knight, he should have a sword, or a lance. Maybe a sword that can extend to a lance?

Extendar may not be everybody's favorite, but then again, he wasn't used to sell the 2014 subscriptions either. I'm at least sold, and I'm counting down till we get the Tower of Power, the mighty Extendar.

Nostalgia and the Reason We Collect Toys

Let me apologize immediately for the pretentious title. I don't plan on writing a scientific article on nostalgia and toys, but I want to put into words something that has been on my mind. I've tried to figure out why I have this fascination for vintage toys, why modern toys fail to bring me the same excitement, and I'm not alone in asking these questions, and for the outsider, it can be very strange that grown men and women still purchase, store, display, and sometimes plays with toys for kids.

Basically it can be boiled down to "Why do we collect toys?", but it's not that simple either. Read on for a rather long article on collecting. Agree, disagree, additional thoughts, personal similar stories? Leave a comment below!

Even more Masters of the Universe Artwork

It's the not first time I've talked about artwork, and it won't be the last. I've mentioned in the past that the artwork was one of the best - if not the best aspect of the Masters of the Universe toy line from the 80s.

Today I'll share what was quite possibly the coolest pieces of art to a kid. I spent hours looking at posters like these, whether they were of MOTU, Transformers or G.I. Joe.

The group pictures. I loved these kinds of pictures back in the day. I still do. Click in to read more.

Good job Mattycollector

This is the right way of causing a figure to be attractive. By admitting that it's a chase figure, by actively making sure it's limited - all the while making sure it's not really a character anyone needs in their collection. And all for the reason of creating hype around the line, and the store that sells these toys, mattycollector.com.

What was the deal you ask? Well, last Wednesday, a random icon picturing the Horde symbol popped up on mattycollector.com. The link led you to a normal shop page, like the one we have become used to, and from there we could order "Spirit of Hordak", a translucent red version of the standard Hordak figure. This was completely unannounced, and fans completely lost their shit. Like seriously. Within an hour, the buzz was all over the internet, and "the org" (he-man.org) had a 20-page thread on candy red Hordak. As usual, the MOTUC community acted like idiots and started complaining. Keep in mind, I have done my fair share of complaining over this line, so I guess I'm one of them as well. But the difference this time was that people were complaining about not being prepared for the release of a figure (one guy even complained he didn't have money), and that makes no sense to me. That was the entire purpose of the figure, to be a surprise.

As expected, roughly an hour into release, Hordak "went back into hiding", and people who weren't logged in to mattycollector.com at that moment subsequently missed out on the figure. Even prolific toy reviewer Pixel Dan was unaware that this would go down, and missed out as well, all though I'm sure someone hooked him up.

KYZEH shares photos of his Spirit of Hordak.

Keep in mind that this is a character we had heard nothing about. Yes, we had heard nothing about action figure, but the character was new to us as well. So there was no desire to own this one before he was released, unlike several other toys we've seen become rare and expensive (SDCC exclusives come to mind).
So no one could claim that they actually needed this in their collection, claiming it was unfair to release Spirit of Hordak as a chase figure. Yet, as usual with translucent toys, it was a cool enough toy for everyone to want. It also helps that Hordak is a cool character, and every variant will become somewhat attractive.

Completists may have a legitimate reason to complain, but then Toyguru went out and said that Hordak actually didn't sell out, but would continue to randomly pop up in their store.
How brilliant is that? They're making sure to always have collectors check their store, instead of checking in monthly like we're used to. From a marketing standpoint, I can't praise this enough. Of course, this doesn't make up for the fiasco that was the Hoverboard or Castle of Grayskull. But it's a start. Continue to positively surprise us, Mattycollector.

Org-user KYZEH was one of the first to receive Hordak, and was cool enough to share pictures. He looks magnificent.

Awesome (and unidentified) Masters of the Universe art

I had promised to publish the Food of New York article today, but it's not completed, and I'm a struggling with a fever today. So instead of writing a lot, I'll share some art I found on a hard drive, with the intention of possibly identifying the artist.

Obviously, they're contemporary pieces, and the file names say "alanleemotu". Which I guess is supposed to be the famous fantasy artist. But it doesn't really look like Alan Lee's style, and the signature says "Deng 2011". Superficial google searches left me no wiser, but I'd like to see more of this artist, as these two pieces are awesome. Leave a comment below if you recognize the artist.

Edit: TimmGleason commented below that this was in fact the work of two artists, commissioned by Mattel, apparently. Link to the original and the artists deviantart accounts are here:
http://ngboy.deviantart.com/art/Masters-of-the-Universe-341634695
http://espeng.deviantart.com/art/Masters-of-the-Universe-The-Bad-Guys-339913222

Additionally: By now, we have all these figures in the Masters of the Universe Classics toy line. For many, the line is complete. I'm personally waiting for a few figures I had as a kid, like the upcoming Snake Face, Clamp Champ and New Adventures He-Man.

How to make a Club Sandwich

It's a remarkable thing, how easy it is to impress people. Just give them what they want. People want a sandwich with chicken and bacon. Why not make just that? Everyone loves a good club sandwich, specially if it's well made, with home-made bread and other quality ingredients. While we're at it, why not make extra bacon on the side as well?

A club sandwich can disappoint. I mean, I could use bad chicken, I could switch out the tomatoes with eggplant. Or just use less/no bacon. But then I would do just that. Disappoint. I will not disappoint. I will make an awesome club sandwich, not just because I want to, but because it's in my power to do so. 

So hop on in for my example of how to deliver what is promised, and Mattel's example of how to absolutely disappoint (Yup, this is another "Recipes and ranting"). 

Expectations

It's better to lower expectations, and blow people away - than it is to create a massive hype train that ultimately derails.

The Top 10 Female Action Figures of the 80s

I felt a bit like an outsider, because my peers certainly didn't share my opinions, but as a kid, I loved the female action figures. They were rare, they were something different, and most importantly, they were usually extremely pretty. I guess I was a victim of... biology.

Looking back at these toys now, as an adult toy collector, I realize three things: The female action figures were severely  under-represented, to the point where it's actually offensive. Secondly, the toy makers struggled to translate the characters' beauty from cartoons and movies. And lastly, I realize that I still absolutely love these action figures. So much that I want to share a list of the ten best female action figures of the 80s. Skip a lot of paragraphs for the list, or simply read on! Either way, click in to read more, and leave a comment if you feel like it. Agree, disagree, how would your list look like?

New York Toy Fair 2013 winner: Lego

Toy Fair has came and went this past weekend. Mostly for the various companies to show off their plans for the future, I'd say this year was decent. Scratch that, it was monumental. I'll not get into detail with the various reveals, as they are easily available at places like toynewsi, toyark. The various specialized forums like seibertron, he-man.org, eurobricks, yojoe all had representatives running around the floor, tweeting their preferred toy news. And reporters like Pixel Dan has made thorough videos that I recommend you checking out.

I'll be brief about what interested me the most:

Mattel is moving along with their Masters of the Universe Classics line, and showed a painted prototype of Castle Grayskull. Undersized, but gorgeous. I'm still on board. Upcoming characters like Clamp Champ, Mantenna and New Adventures He-Man are all looking good.

Hasbro revealed their new Tomahawk in the contemporary G.I. Joe line, now called... Eaglehawk. Looks awfully similar to the 1986 version, doesn't it? Except the vintage one is vintage. Hasbro's Transformers department does it better- They don't just replicate the vintage toys, they do something more. The upcoming Metroplex is far from being a replica of the vintage one. In fact, the new one is the largest Transformer robot ever made. Think about that for a second. It's bigger than Fortress Maximus, over two feet tall, where the vintage Metroplex was barely a foot, if that even.

Someone are making Big Bang Theory Mego-style dolls, all though I can't remember who. I'm interested, not necessary as a customer, but to see them on the show in one way or another. Last episode even featured dolls of some of the characters. Maybe it was planned?

The Lego Group can do nothing wrong. Almost everything they showed at Toy Fair was gold. The upcoming Galaxy Squad line has me salivating. It's the perfect mix between Starcraft, Gundam and vintage Sci-Fi movies.

But the absolute highlight of Toy Fair 2013 was the new Jabba's Barge in the Star Wars line. Obviously, I'm not ignoring the fact that we get an amazing Lego Slave Leia, but the blue orchestral leader Max Rebo, like the little show man he is, completely stole the show for me. Look at him! Look how cute and blue he is. You know those stumpy fingers will play right into your hearts. Not the first time he's being made in toy form, but certainly the best.

Arctic Masters of the Universe?

The winter came suddenly for my buddy JP. Being a resourceful person, he chose to see opportunities, where others would simply complain, barricade the door and hibernate until the spring came and rescued them. JP took his toys outside for a photo session. Now, I have reminded him to get a better camera. Still, these pictures aren't half bad for a phone.

Click on in for pictures of toys outside in the snow!

Recipes and ranting: Turkey Pie/Motuc at retail

Pie is not a dish. It's a concept. Much like the pizza, the pie can be customized in almost any way you can imagine. Maybe even more so than the pizza, the pie leaves you endless possibilities. And I like the thought of that. And I would like to try out more pies in the future.

I'll not show you how to make pie, because I honestly don't know. Obviously, what I make here ends up being a pie, but the main part about the pie has to be the lid of pie dough. And I just don't know how to make that. All I know is that it's actually a bit tricky. Unlike the bread, which is extremely simple, the pie dough can't be made while blindfolded.

So with this dish, using leftovers from the new years turkey, I used a pre-fabricated pie dough.

Read on for "recipe".. and another rant about toys.

Lego + Back to the Future will happen!

Again with the news? Well, I actually have something to say about these news, and you can't really call it news when Lego themselves broke the story.

The next Lego Cuusoo (sets designed by fans) project will be Back to the Future!

Here's my opinion: Lego just can't do anything wrong at this point.

And they're beating all other toy makers in the process. The modular buildings and massive Star Wars sets are doing it for the adult collector. The mini-figures and Ninjago are taking everything away from more conventional action figures. Lego is also beating the others in price, playability, creative designs. Honestly, name one collector who'd rather have the Hobbit action figures than the new Lego Hobbit sets!

The Cuusoo project have been something refreshing, different. Something new. It's basically sets that are designed by fans, and voted on by fans. At 10000 votes, Lego decides if they can more along with the project, realizing it. 

The Minecraft set (to the left) is such a set, and if I had been just a tiny bit interested in Minecraft, I'd be all over it. Multiples. The reason Cuusoo is such a good idea, isn't just that we're getting fan-designed sets, but that fans are allowed to think beyond the regular boundaries of Lego - basically anything goes, anything can be submitted to Lego, and it's up to other fans to promote the set and get the ten thousand votes.

Fearless Photog

In a way, Cuusoo reminds me of a more serious version of Mattel's one-time deal, "design a figure", which led to Fearless Photog. Mattel, acting their usual self, didn't come through with their promise to make Nathan Bitners "Heroic warrior of cameras" back in the 80s. But they eventually made him, earlier this year. A cool figure, but way too late. Picture borrowed from Poe Ghostal, who has a blog worth checking out. 

Obviously, not all projects that reach 10000 votes can be done, since Lego has to work out rights to make the sets. For instance, we'd have a hard time getting a Cuusoo Transformers set, since the rights to Transformers construction sets are at.. Hasbro I believe. 

But Lego and the Cuusoo group are obviously optimistic about the Back to the Future set. And that's a good thing! It's about time we got good BTTF toys!

Remember Mattel's massive fiasco last month, when they revealed the steaming pile of excrement that was their "screen-accurate prop replica" of the Hoverboard from Back to the Future movies? Well, luckily Mattel isn't the only toy maker allowed to touch the amazing BTTF franchise. 

This has me seriously excited at least! Will you be in time for this set? 

The Box Art of MOTU Vehicles

It's really the weirdest thing. Masters of the Universe - the deliciously silly, yet totally awesome 80s toy line, with all its ridiculous characters and brightly colored insanity had quite possibly the coolest box art of any toy line... ever.

And I say this, as a hardcore G.I. Joe collector, who also has a strong passion for the transforming robots, two toy lines with seriously wicked artwork on both figure cards and boxes.

I guess it's the discrepancy that amazes me the most, because even back in the late 80s, I found Masters of the Universe to be a bit silly. Yes, this was a toy line that even to some kids was silly, yet the boxes of the vehicles and play sets had - for the genre - ultra-realistic paintings done by serious artists.

Fright Fighter and Blaster Hawk

The concepts were just hilarious, when you isolate them from the toy line and the over all idea behind MOTU: sorcery, sci-fi and and wonky playfeatures in a happy mix. But with a very limited amount of vehicles and playsets, they all pretty much ended up becoming 80s toy icons. Some more than others, of course.
And the art from the boxes and MOTU magazines? By God, did they help to elevate these toys to a higher level.

I'm going to show the art of a good handful of the vehicles. I guess it would make sense to also show their toy versions, but truth be told, there's not really any differences. The vehicles are depicted surprisingly similar to how the toys looked, which makes this even weirder. Somehow, Mattel had found artists - Rudy Obrero, William George, Earl Norem - that could take utter and total sillyness, paint it the way it actually looked - and still make it cool.

We'll start with two of the later vehicles: Fright Fighter and Blaster Hawk. Obviously two flying planes, one for the heroic warriors, one for the evil gang of Skeletor. What's particularly cool here is that you can see the playset Eternia in the background. The perspective makes it looks huge.

We move on to a favorite of mine, and I've mentioned it a couple of times before: Battle Bones. This great skeletal dragon also served as a carrying case for the figures, and it worked just as well for the heroes as for the villains. Notice how stoic the figures are, as they were painted as close as possible to the posture of the toys. Artist William George painted this monumental image, and he is the pen behind several of these pieces.

The impressive carrying case, Battle Bones. He-Man just has to pump his fist in the air. 

Can Battle Cat really be considered a vehicle? Or is it more of a character along sides the other heroic warriors? I think the latter one. But it does hold a figure, and it was sold in a box, instead of on a card. The original Battle Cat had no movable parts, if you exclude the removable armor. Yet it is one of the best toys ever made. The color scheme, the characteristics from cartoon and comics, the cool details on the armor, the sturdiness of the toy itself.
Probably the art that differs the most from how the toy looked, as the toy had significantly less details. But his pose is fairly accurate. Point of interest: The sky. Look at that toxic sky. You know Skeletor has been out on his business and poisoned the clouds, and now He-Man and his loyal friend, Battle Cat has to save Eternia again.

The mighty Battle Cat.

Land Shark was Skeletor's ride, and it doesn't get a lot sillier, unless you turn to more "funny" toy lines, like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Yes, the Land Shark would fit in with TMNT, which should say a lot. Yet, they took the effort to make a realistic and wicked piece of art to go along with the colorful metal jaws. Twice. First we see it alone, then in battle with He-Man's "Laser Bolt".

That piece is just too cool. Look at those teeth. And look at that creepy, tiny dragon in the front!

The Laser Bolt doesn't look practical, but He-Man doesn't seem to mind.

The vehicles often came in pairs - with that I mean they had a complementing vehicle in the other faction. Battle Cat had Panthor - Skeletor's purple cat. The above shows clearly that Laser Bolt and Land Shark complimented each other. The same can even be said about some figures, like Stinkor and Moss Man, or Jitsu and Fisto.

Fisto can be seen here, in an art piece featuring Stridor - the mechanical steed. Stridor too, had a mirror image in the opposite faction, in Night Rider.
It's interesting to see how full of action this image is, and Stridor does indeed look to be painted mid-jump. The toy was more mid-trot...

Notice how colorful the characters are, without really looking too silly. Well.. A bit silly maybe.

All these figures have so far been made in the contemporary toy line, Masters of the Universe Classics, but I fear we'll never see a Classics Stridor. So far, we've been treated to Classics Battle Cat, Panthor and Swift Wing, the horse of She-Ra. We have also seen the release of the impressive Wind Raider. It would surprise me if we see more vehicles in the line, all though Stridor would be a popular choice for the next vehicle slot. In addition, it would be an easy repaint to make Night Rider.
But I just think Mattycollector will take a different route, and try their best to make all the figures first. Lets face it, Classics is on the verge of being cancelled, and I doubt it will survive beyond Castle Grayskull. We can still hope.

I'll end this with two of my favorite pieces of MOTU art. They are favorites for different reasons. The first is just an impressive painting, with tons of action, and a very creepy depiction of an evil vehicle. The second is just a prime example of what I talked about in the introduction. A hilariously silly vehicle being painted as cool as humanly possible, making sure it retains a tiny bit of dignity.

The first is Monstroid. I'll let the image speak for itself, but I'll say that I love the idea of ancient monsters living in the cold, dark deep of the sea, emerging only when absolutely forced, then causing a complete chaos. A favorite figure of mine back in the day, Extendar, is making an appearance. I like that.

Earl Norem has been featured in a previous article. He's the artist behind this magnificent piece. 

Finally, to show the discrepancy between silly, borderline lame vehicles, and great fantasy artwork: It's the Dragon Walker. In my opinion, the Dragon Walker is by far the lamest among the MOTU vehicles, both for its useless play feature (it could move awkwardly along a plane surface), and for its looks. And that's saying a lot. Yet, I love this art work. There's something about the colors on the walker, and on the sky, the stern look on He-Man, the terrified evil warriors in the background, the tiny monster in the foreground. You see a vehicle where ancient magic and masonry has been blended with technology and science. And the whole piece just has that old time painting feel to it.

I'll get back to more MOTU artwork in the near future, but I'll let you in on something that isn't a secret any longer. I had Masters of the Universe toys as a kid, and I'm enjoying the current Classics toy line. But really, more so than the toys themselves, what I like most about this universe is the idea behind the toys, and the way they were presented to us.

Enjoy your day, people!

Earl Norem Art, Classics Castle Grayskull news

I was chatting with a friend, a fellow fanboy. He's heavily into Conan the Barbarian, and fantasy in general - among other things. He showed me a link to a fan page for artist Earl Norem.

Norem is the one that did several of the greatest comic book covers of Conan, and he also made artwork for Mattel during the heyday of Masters of the Universe. In fact, only last month I showed a few of his Masters of the Universe posters.

Here are the Conan covers. So many epic pieces, it blows my mind. Conan getting jumped by frozen dead soldiers is a great example of Norem's style.
http://earlnorem.com/conangallerypage.html

And here's the link to the MOTU part: http://earlnorem.com/motugallerypage.html

A piece that fascinated me was this one:

It says "the jungle is the setting of this battle between He-Man and Skeletor". Clearly. Except it's not really a jungle, more a savanna. Crazy as it may seem, this image actually makes sense. They are the Masters of the Universe, are they not? It makes sense that they do battle all around the universe, not only on their planet, Eternia.

Indeed it's He-Man vs. Skeletor, the World Tour.

He-Man has found a stand-in for Battle Cat, and Skeletor has found suitable minions. All though I suspect the IQ level of his new horde are a significant improvement over his usual gang of losers.

In related news, Mattycollector got the satisfactory amount of pre-orders for Classics Castle Grayskull. Their nifty thermometer may have been a clever marketing trick, but honestly, I found it exciting and fun.

Now we wait. Rest assured, for the price we're paying, enthusiast will be ready to complain over every single detail that gets revealed, up until release late next year. But at the same time, it's good to see so many fans be really happy about the news that we're getting Castle Grayskull. It's safe to say that it's been the highest demanded toy in this line, and I'm sure it will please almost all of us.

You can pre-order Castle Grayskull over at mattycollector.com up until January.

Figure Friday: Castle Grayskull videos

Neither of these are particularly new - in Internet time. But they are still fantastic videos.

The first is toy reviewer Pixel Dan's informative and entertaining video on the old Castle Grayskull from Masters of the Universe. It just shows what a monumental play set this was, and it should be obvious why many enthusiasts regard this as quite possibly the best play set ever made for a toy line.

The other video is Pixel Dan and Daniel Benedict (winner of this year's Create a Character contest) just goofing off. It's meant to be a encouragement to those sitting on the fence with the new Masters of the Universe Classics Castle Grayskull. And at this point, I too am excited over the possibility that it gets made, so head on over to mattycollector and make a pre-order.

Enjoy your weekend, people!

Masters of the Universe Artwork

Well, I caved - and pre-ordered Castle Grayskull. Extremely expensive, but hopefully worth it. It might not even get made at all.

Riding the high of opting to use insane amounts of money on a single toy, I took out my Classics figures. I still regret deeply that I as a foolish teenager sold my vintage collection of Masters of the Universe toys, but the Classics line gives me that nostalgic feeling - to a certain extent. And to be brutally honest, the vintage toys don't really hold the standards of today. The character designs are cheesy, but memorable. But the toys themselves were.. Well, let's just say that the guys over in Pawtucket, Rhode Island made far superior toys in the early 80s.

The old comics and cartoons are easily available today, and I find myself enjoying them a bit too much. They are awful, specially the cartoon. But I still sat through a couple of episodes without falling a sleep, or being distracted with something else.
It's not like it used to be in the 80s though, where we would rent He-Man on VHS and watch the tape (with four episodes) over and over the entire weekend.

So, the toys may be outdated and the comics and cartoons may cheesy. But there is one part of Masters of the Universe that absolutely holds up today:

The artwork.

Now, most of the pieces are easily available on the net today, so I'll not share them all. But I can say that every vehicle and playset in the line came with absolutely gorgeous art. The promotional posters and images were also nicely done. Here are two posters that are favorites of mine. They both came along with the US released comic magazine, and feature the heroic Roboto and the evil Hordak.

The Hordak piece is absolutely fantastic. It wasn't really clear from the She-Ra cartoon (where he was the main villain), that Hordak was a sorcerer. But this poster definitely shows that aspect of him. Also notice how cool Grizzlor looks in the back there. Will we ever see Modulok and Mantenna in the MOTUC line? Maybe?
The Roboto poster is equally cool, and reminds me a bit about Star Wars, with Tie-fighters coming in for an attack. Robot didn't really get a lot of attention when he got a Classics version. I mean, most people liked him, but there wasn't any big fuzz about it, like with some other releases. Fisto, Trap Jaw and Ram Man comes to mind.  I guess people don't like translucent plastic as much as me.

Figure Friday: Weaponeers of Monkaa

I like being surprised.

While I did expect a certain amount of surprises from Spy Monkey Creations' new toy line Weaponeers of Monkaa, I had not expected to be blown away. And the surprise wasn't just that the toys were well made, and extremely versatile, but also that for an independent toy line, you're actually getting A LOT of toy for your money. 

I'd argue that when quality, price and play value are taking into consideration, this is the perfect Christmas gift for anyone and everyone. 

Read on for details and images.