Open Your Toys Cast

R

We cover a lot of rumors this time around, but none more interesting than a bunch of new Mandos. They have a bunch of names I can’t remember. More rumors with even more interesting names are what could possibly be wave 3 of the Classified figures. MOTU had some big names in very small packages. That’s right, the World’s Smallest Masters are available for pre-order. The biggest news for Transformers, unfortunately, is for a big bot that I bet most people wish was bigger. However, at least he has a nice memorable short name.

As mentioned on the show, the man himself, Captain Rex, is pure joy in doll form. We get a really depressing God Neptune. Joe is once again a no-show, so the best thing we can do is talk about a Joe-scale Power Loader. Same with MOTU, so how about some Back to the Future figures?

If there are two words Mrs. McFavorite hates to hear it's I'm sick. It basically means I'm going to be a whiney bitch for 3-5 days. Since this is like 5 days late, no introspective prose, no favorite news items from each franchise, just episode 189.

The Transformers live-action movies seem to be getting a lot of new attention. Even Newage is getting into the game with an MP Soundwave with a couple of minions. Since the Origins line doesn’t seem to have any updates, and the Snake Mountain update was less than stellar, Mondo’s Man-At-Arms official pics, will have to suffice for new MOTU. Speaking of high-end 1/6th scale, I’m curious if Hot Toys completists are happy with their new direction of doing repaints like a vintage figure inspired Boba Fett. And after a few shows with some action figure news, nothing new for Joe except for more movie news.

Will 6 inch Joes kill the 1/18th scale? Probably not, but I’m warming up to them. Original designs are almost dead in Transformers 3rd Party, but the Magnus redeco of Generation Toys Optimus Primal is as close as it gets and I love it. I don’t think Mafex will be killing off SHF or TBS anytime soon, but their Mando is a thing o beauty. MOTU is definitely not killing anything as the only news was a teaser and pics from the final season of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.

I’m pretty excited for the Magic Square Soundwave, even more so the tapes. Even smaller, but just as anticipated is The Child, TBS-style. Masters gets the smallest of updates in Pixel-Dan’s interview with Bryan Flynn, as in nothing is coming. Lastly for Joe, we’re getting an amazing piece made up of a bunch of little pieces. Mondo’s 1000 piece puzzle featuring Cobra propaganda artwork from Jason Edmiston is a great buy at only $20.

And just like that, we are now officially a live streaming video podcast. Still extremely rough as I learn how to run the show while doing the show. However, not too shabby if I say so myself. Thanks to Lotus we have brought the cast into the modern age. This has tons of added benefits. The biggest is being able to see what we’re talking about. No more having to follow along with the show notes. With less editing needed we’re going to shift to weekly casts. Going weekly will result in much shorter/more consumable shows. We’ll be shooting for 1 hour to 1.5 at the most. The show will be live-streamed on YouTube with real-time chat then published immediately. The new streaming platform is so easy we can add people to the show on the fly. This will hopefully make it much more interactive. It truly is pretty miraculous.

Unfortunately, the would-be TFCon 3rd Party slides were in very precedented territory. With nothing really standing out, even a Unicron couldn’t save it. Something that seems par for the course, but is still super interesting, is a possible six-inch retro line for Joe. Now, this easily could be the current designs with just vintage cards. Maybe redecoes? Another status quo release, but that isn’t a bad thing when it comes to Hot Toys, is the Mando and Child. They’re absolutely gorgeous and one of those defining pieces for the show. Then Super7 releases yet another shipping delay email and it’s right back to the bad kind of normal. Isn’t that funny how it works that way.

Without a bunch of activities to go to I have had a ton of time to open and sell toys. I’ve been enjoying my toys more than ever. Especially since the last Toy Fair, while not too much originality, really delivered on some nostalgia feels. Mattel made a strong Master’s Origins showing right after our last show. However, I think I’m most interested in their new Mega Contrux. What’s crazy is we got a ton of new news and leaks right after Toy Fair, but probably nothing so exciting as a bunch of TRU shelf tags. We got confirmation of 6″ movie Joes, a TBS Luke and Yoda 2-pack, and seekers galore.

I have to say that it was a pretty good Toy Fair. Nothing jaw-dropping amazing, but consistent. As usual, most things were spoiled in some form or fashion ahead of time. However, some things caught us unaware. How about the vintage reissues of the Ghostbusters? That got a lot of people excited. Much less so for their new Plasma (i.e. Black) Series counterparts. The Turtles made another huge showing. From Super7 to NECA, there are so many collector-grade choices for our favorite amphibious martial artists. Speaking of NECA, they continue to do their thing. So many Aliens, Predators, and serial killers, oh my. When you start to think about it’s a lot of the same. The one thing that did deviate from its vintage source material got grief, not a ton, but enough to prove that what we really want is exactly what we had. I’m sure you know we’re getting a new Joe line. It’s not close enough to vintage ARAH line for many people, including me. They tried something new and we don’t even give it a chance. I can really sta

The big new in Transformers this time around is MP 50 and 51, e.g. Tigatron and Arcee. Here’s hoping the Arcee is mistransformed. Also big, for 3.75″ Star Wars collectors at least, the “Duck Boat” was revealed to be The Mandalorian Imperial Troop Transport. This stuff is what keeps it fun for me. Will the new Origins line keep it fun for Masters collectors? With what looks to be a great line-up, I think it will be. While we had the leak last show, we get 100% confirmation of the big G.I. Joe news this time around. 6 inches is big right? Right?!

Is there anything today you see as being truly nostalgic for kids 20-30 years from now? We are getting figures exactly as we remember them with the new Empire Strikes Back Retro Collection. They’re even striking the nostalgia feels with the box for the $600 Snake Mountain that’s literally too big almost everyone’s collection. Speaking of toys too big for your collections that strikes the feels, Unicron got an update. Probably the “biggest” news was the “confirmation” of Joe Classified, the new Black Series-style line for G.I. Joe.

Especially in this day and age with companies finally acknowledging that action figures are becoming an adult-driven industry, there is just too much. It’s not as bad if you focus on one franchise. If you’re a Joe fan, there’s next to nothing. Even when stuff is available, it’s literally a tiny amount. MOTU has the second least amount of collectibles right now, but even it is shipping $350 worth of figures this month in a single scale. Now Star Wars has never been a slouch. However, even with 12 to 13 $20 figures coming out for the anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back, it’s still no match for Transformers. With the proliferation of 3rd party Masterpiece scale, now Legends scale figures, in addition to very active retail lines, there are literally hundreds of figures on the market at any one time. This even includes amazing non-transforming figures such as those from 3A.

Right before 2020, the biggest news for Transformers Masterpiece is going to be a throw-back to mostly old school trains. Probably the most popular thing to come out of our community in 2019 is The Child, The Asset, or most commonly, yet incorrectly known as Baby Yoda. However, Hasbro/Lucasfilm was not on their game and we won’t have anything in our hands until 2020. Masters is on track to have a huge coming year. Two cartoons, a movie, and a new line of figures. However, all we are getting are teases. While we’ll be getting a new Joe movie next year, we’ll have to wait another couple of years for the first Joe amusement park.

Not often a statue makes into this part of the post, but if you feel like indulging, the new Rancor statue from Sideshow is a good start. Something you still have a chance to splurge on is Super7’s Snake Mountain. The new video shows just how amazing this piece is. If the Studio Series Devastator is not doing it for you, maybe a 3rd Party, $800 version, will satiate you. While probably on the opposite end of indulging since Evergreen Line usually means low-budget, but at least Joe has action figure news.

Let’s see how quickly we can do this. Eighteen bucks is too much for a 5 PoA figure, even a Transformer, just saying. The Super7 Snake Mountain is too big, just saying. The Mandalorian is as amazing as everyone is saying, ask Lotus, just saying. As much as I actually liked the first two Joe movies, rebooting with Snake Eyes is probably not a bad idea, just saying.

The “big” news this time around was the TFCon 3rd Party panel. However, I think Matthew “Deluxe” Baldwin sums it up well with his latest t-shirt offering. Hasbro shows off its latest level of packaging QC, with multiple errors of perhaps the most popular proper noun in toy history. While not a fail, more so a WTF, Super7 comes out of nowhere with Deluxe (i.e. $45) Japanese Wrestling figures. Lastly, while maybe not the greatest fail, just not what it could have been, is NECA and their street team/ambassador program.

All right, enough bitching about my life lets bitch about toys. The only thing to bitch about in regard to Ed’s Galaxy Edge toy run, is the sheer amount of stuff. I can’t wait until our visit next year. I bitch plenty about these Masters of the Universe skate decks from Super7. When it comes to G.I. Joe joining the Transformers Earth Wars game the only reason to bitch is the fact that it is the only news for Joe. Probably the most positive news out of this show is the possibility of getting a new Raiden toy from Takara Tomy. Who doesn’t love a cool train or six?