A steal on a cool vintage playset!

Sometimes, looking around on Ebay late at night really pays off. Just randomly searching the Toys category, I came across a vintage playset that I've been wanting to add to my collection for an amazing price!

The Super Naturals Tomb of Doom playset! With two Super Naturals action figures! And guess how much I paid for this beauty. FIVE DOLLARS! You just cannot beat that!

It's not complete, but it's in great shape. It just needs a little bit of cleaning. But this is such a cool looking set that will make an excellent back drop for my Super Naturals toys. And eventually, I'll have to do a video on these guys.

Have any of you ever got an awesome deal like this on a cool toy or playset? Let's hear it!







An awesome haul of unique MOTU items!

He-Man.org forum member Joseephus sent me an awesome package that contained several unique Masters of the Universe items! The stuff he sent me was so cool that I had to share with everyone! And to brag just a little bit. ;) Let's take a look at what all was included:

He-Man and Skeletor figure erasers! I LOVE these guys! I actually have a small collection of these erasers already, with a few of them still MOC. But I did not have a nice, clean He-Man or Skeletor. So adding these to my MOTU shelf is fantastic!

A Battle Cat Stamper! I have never had any of these before! Stampers like this were once very common. It's a small, non movable figurine on top of a little stamp pad.

Of course since he's nearly 30 years old, he's all dried out. But he is awesome to have nonetheless!

Now these I have never seen before! They are miniature knock-off Metorbs! How freakin cool is that? They are tiny...about an inch or so tall. They are made of a very flimsy, cheap feeling plastic. But they function just like the meteorbs, able to fold up into eggs. The set includes an alligator, a bird, and two things that are quite difficult to identify. I'm guessing a bulldog and a bear! I LOVE these!

And now for some really unique pieces! Joseephus sent along a few custom creations of his very own! First up is this awesome Horde Logo shield that snaps right on Hordak's wrist! Hordak always needed a shield, so this is awesome!

And then, it's two custom versions of Imp, Hordak's sidekick from the Filmation toon! Both of these represent shapes Imp took in the show: a bush and an apple! These are such cool and unique little pieces, and they are now proudly displayed on my shelf next to Hordak and Grizzlor!

A HUGE thanks to Joseephus for his generosity! These pieces are all a lot of fun! I love adding fun and unique items like this to my collection!

The return of Crystar?!

Wow! Check out this amazing exclusive coming from WorkingClassVillains, with a weapon by SpyMonkeyCreations!

Here's the info:
WorkingClassVillains are proud to present the first 'official exclusive' Backyard Legends action figure kit called: The Emerald Dragonrider. Exclusive to the Emerald City Comicon 2011 (March 4th-6th in Seattle), each hand crafted kit features 20 points of articulation, axe accessory by SpyMonkey Creations, and exclusive packaging featuring a special BYL logo designed by Jon Wesley Huff!



Limited to just 15 pieces, the kits are $40 each (including tax/cash only).

Attendees can stop by the WorkingClassVillains' table at 1PM on Saturday & Sunday for a 1 hour meet & greet with the folks from SpyMonkey Creations, who are making their ECCC debut.


(Figures are limited to 1 per person, per day, and are available in limited quantities per day. Final colors may vary.)
Available at Artist Alley table #H-20

SIGN ME UP! I have always loved the classic Crystar figures. If there will be more of these, I am in!




Feel the magic, hear the roar!

I received a pretty amazing box in the mail yesterday. A box I was anxiously anticipating! After ripping open the massive box, and some minor assembly....behold....

The Thundercats Cat's Lair Playset!

This one has been on my "most wanted" list for quite some time, so I am quite happy to finally have this one in my collection! And what great timing, what with all of the recent influx of Thundercats related news from the new toy line approaching! The Thundercats excitement is definitely building!

A very special thanks to my friend speedracer852 on the popculturenetwork.com forums for the hook-up on this one! I guess now I have no excuse not to do an episode of TNTS on the classic Thundercats line, eh?

What to do on a snow day...

So you may have heard already, but the Midwest got hit with a pretty huge snow storm. I think we ended up with around 10-11 inches of snow, which is less than the 20 inches they were predicting. Even still, it was quite a nasty storm. Because of this, most business in the city were closed today, leaving me with the day off.

Here's some images of the chaos left behind by the storm. It may not be very easy to tell by the images, but in those shots of the sidewalk (post shoveling), you can see just how deep the snow is. In some areas, it is up to my knees.

Now I understand that in some parts of the world, and even some parts of the country, this isn't so uncommon. And while snow is definitely no stranger here in the Midwest, it's not too often we have to deal with this much of it. So with no work, and after spending too much time trying to dig our cars out of this white crap, I needed something else to do. What could that be?

I cleaned my toy room!

I know, I know. It doesn't look all that spotless. But trust me, it was much, much more cluttered than this before today. Every since Christmas time, I have been randomly piling stuff in this room. That couch you see there was completely buried in stuff, and there was hardly any room to walk. So trust me when I say that this is a huge improvement!

One thing I like to do is collect a lot of random carded figures. Generally, I'm an opener. But from time to time I'll come across some random carded toy for a good price, and buy it. So one thing I really wanted to do today was change things up in my room a bit. So I took down most of the carded figures I already had hanging up, and changed them out for others that have either been in my closet for a while, or were sitting in the massive piles that used to be on that couch.

I'm pretty happy with the way things are displayed on the walls! Now I just need to get to rearranging my shelves again...

Sights from my toy room!

I thought it might be fun to go and snap some rando shots of my toy collection and post them here. I might keep doing these, as I often get new things and change my displays. At any rate, enjoy the photos!



A sneak peek at the next MOTU Classics figures

I came home late last night to a nice surprise sitting on my porch. It was full of the latest review samples from Mattel! Included were several new Masters of the Universe Classics figures. I was quite shocked to see more than just Bow in there!

My computer has been giving me some issues tonight, so I haven't been able to get the editing done I was hoping to. I did spend the time I was off my computer getting all of my filming done, however. So until I am able to get the review videos done and uploaded, here are a few sneak peek photos I snapped.

I am absolutely in love with that Cosmic Key! It's damn sexy! I award this best accessory in the line so far. Ranked even higher than Scare Glow's key.

Expect to start seeing these videos pop up tomorrow evening on www.popculturenetwork.com and http://www.he-man.org/!



An idea for Mosquitor's "blood" in Classics



I've had a few days to stew over the realization that when Mosquitor is released in Masters of the Universe Classics, he won't have any liquid in his chest. While I still think that sucks, I've been talking with folks about possible ideas that would work instead. One of the most popular ideas seems to be a clear red resin complete with air bubbles inside his chest, so that it looks like liquid. I do really like this idea, and I would deem this acceptable if this is the route that Mattel goes.

But as I was thinking, another idea suddenly struck me. An idea that I really like. And who gave me this idea?

This guy.

Mutagen Man from the classic TMNT toy line is among my favorites. He features a hollow, translucent body filled with organs that you could fill with your own water! If a similar method was used for the new Mosquitor, I think it would actually look very cool! Just give us a removable, translucent red chest cavity that we can fill with our own water if we want to. This way if we wish to do so, we can still display our figure with a real liquid inside!

Do it, Mattel! You know it's a good idea!

Hangin' in Glyos Heaven!

Over the past couple of weeks, I have received several packages containing some awesome new toys utilizing the amazing Glyos system of design! Among them is stuff from Callgrim, The Four Horsemen, SpyMonkey, and Onell Design!

With so many awesome figures, I definitely need to do something with them, as far as videos go. So I think I'm going to spend several weeks making some short videos checking out each of the cool items I received! Maybe February will be Glyos-Mania on PopCultureNetwork.com! What do you think?

All I know for sure is that I can't wait to get all of these opened up and play with them!



Mosquitor won't have blood-feature when he is released in MOTU Classics...

We just got our most recent Ask Matty answers from Mattel over at PopCultureNetwork.com. When I read their answer to question #2, I felt my heart break a little.

2) If you guys ever do the MOTU characters Slush-head & Mosquitor for the Classics line (which Im quite certain you will do the latter at some point) , do you think it's possible that these figures still have their "inner liquid" feature, and if so, are you concerned about possible leakage?

It is very doubtful they will have water in them. More realistically they will be handled like Battle Armor figures with swappable plates.

No liquid at all? That is a serious disappointment for me.

As most of you are well aware, Mosquitor is my absolute favorite MOTU figure. As a kid, he was the figure I always carried around with me, and it was that awesome blood pumping action feature that made him so appealing. I have been dying to see this guy get the Classics treatment. I always feared that the chances of him having this action feature were slim to none. But after seeing Roboto get his rotating gears, new hope was found.

But no we get this announcement. *sigh* Don't get me wrong, Ill be happy just to get Mosquitor in the line. But the lack of real liquid in his chest cavity is always going to be a bit of a disappointment for me.

So what do you think? How do you think Mattel should handle Mosquitor sans real liquid?

Ten Playsets I'd Like To Add To My Collection

I've really been into grabbing playsets for my collection this past year or so. I really like having backdrops for displaying my figures. The problem is that I don't have the room to display these huge hunks of plastic. But that hasn't stopped me yet.

Playsets are a bit of a lost art these days. You just don't see the same large, exciting fortresses and bases any more. I think that is part of their charm for me.

So, here is a list of ten playsets that I really want to add to my collection, in no particular order.

Crystar Crystal Castle

Everything from the Crystar line is just so cool. It's no secret that I have a bit of a thing for translucent action figures, so how could I not love this line? I have a few of the figures, and hope to get more, but what I really want is the Crystal Castle! It's one giant hunk of translucent blue plastic in the shape of a castle! The problem is that these are pretty hard to find, like the figures themselves. And when they do show up on the 'bay, they usually get pretty pricey. One of these days...