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Tue 5 Aug 2008 |
COMIC CON 2008
AFI’s Behind the Plastic: The Golden Age of Toy Biz/Marvel Toys Panel
 True innovators in the world of action figures are few and far between. The team at Marvel Toys/Toy Biz has been bringing articulation to American action figures in their ground breaking lines: Marvel Legends, Spider-Man Classics, Lord of the Rings, Legendary Comic Book Heroes and other Marvel movie lines. At Comic Con 08 I brought the people that poured their blood, sweat and tears into these toys and had them talk about what might have been and their future plans for these line. Among the stories we had a slide show of NEVER BEFORE SEEN PLANS for unproduced figures from their Marvel, LCBH and other lines.
I’ve been friends with most of the Toy Biz/Marvel toys guys for going on seven years. Some of them I just see twice a year at Toy Fair and Comic Con, some of them are friends where we email, talk on the phone and see each other when in town.. In talking with them and seeing them in their post-"Toy Biz" lives … you can see that they are mourning the loss of this "family" they had at Toy Biz/Marvel Toys. It’s a palpable thing. They "lost" their dream job. Sure, some of the are still making toys, but the team work, the collaboration, the family has split up. And it’s had an effect on all of them.
Talking with Jesse, I had heard the things, that up until now, he hasn’t been able to say. It was a decision by the Marvel board of directors to scuttle the toy making arm of the company, it was a business decision, and as much of a drag as it is, the way the world/industry is now it’s maybe not such a bad decision from a stock holder point of view.
I didn’t put this panel together to rub it in anyone’s face the toys that we won’t get now. I really did it to give my friends some closure. Even though they saw it coming, the rug was pulled out from under them way too fast.
We loved this stuff, they loved this stuff. These guys, Jesse, Damon, Eddie, Phil, Steve, Dave and several others… they aren’t marketing guys, or businessmen.. they were toy makers… and damn good ones. And overseeing it all was Joanne. She doesn’t get a lot of props or press like the other guys, but as they said at the panel, she was the heart and soul of Toy Biz and she had the vision to let these guys do amazing things. I wish she had made it to SDCC. She deserved to see the fans, and hear the gasps.
These guys will do other amazing things, but it will be hard for them to do it all together again. That was like catching lightning in a bottle.
Go check out our gallery of all the awesome toys that will never be made!
Thanks to everyone that came out to the panel. I hope it was entertaining and informative. We needed more time to cover everything we wanted to talk about, and had to rush a bit at the end, but I hope it gave you some insight into the behind the scenes working and I hope it gave them some closure to be able to talk about it.
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Fri 21 Mar 2008 |
 On Saturday I spent a few hours wandering around Wizard World LA. It’s still a very small show, so it was a perfect time to introduce my daughter to the world of comic book conventions. She even went in costume! We ran into a few special folks, such as Aaron Douglas aka Chief Tyrol on Battlestar Galactica, and her first love… R2-D2.
There wasn’t much this year as far as action figures go. Not even Diamond Select was in attendance this year. Wizkids was there with a cool Daily Planet display/board for their Heroclix game. Marvel and Top Cow had booths, DC Comics was not in attendance.
You can see the pictures here in the Gallery section of AFI.
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Sun 2 Mar 2008 |
By John Charles
Recently, I had the good fortune to once again be invited to Mezco’s headquarters in Queens, New York. There, a stone’s throw from the famous Silvercup Studios and a short ride on the 7 train from the legendary Times Square, I was greeted by Mezco’s gregarious Administrator and Director Of Special Projects; Mike Drake, or as he prefers to be called, Drake. He led me into one of Mezco’s meeting rooms and gestured towards a table upon which sat to seemingly identical busts of Hellboy. These were not busts of the animated or comic Hellboy, but of the Ron Perlman directed by Guillermo del Toro brand of Hellboy. They were magnificent. As I reached out to touch one, Drake struck my hand with a riding crop. “Not yet” whispered Drake, “first look at them carefully, tell me if you can see the difference”. He turned on an additional light and directed me towards an empty chair. I sat staring at the two seemingly identical busts. The vibrancy and life of the sculptures is uncanny, Mezco’s artists and design team seemed to have worked some form of likeness alchemy, capturing not only the technical aspect of their subject, but the elusive essence of Hellboy.
 Time and time again I hear people talk of scanning as the wave of the future and the path to perfect likenesses and over and over again I see that technology fail to live up to the hype. The recent Willy Wonka figures (not by Mezco) were designed using scanning technology, and the likeness were somewhere between disinterested mannequin and ennui filled zombie. Mezco sculpts the old fashioned way, with clay and wax, using classically trained artists who rely on their tactile senses and a skill honed by what can only be years or perhaps decades of practice. After nearly twenty minutes I turned to Drake and made a feeble guess; “Are the stones on this one painted a bit more gray?” He chucked and simply replied, “Pick them up”. After nervously checking to ensure his riding crop wasn’t poised to strike, I reached for one Hellboy in each hand. The look that must have come over my face caused Drake to guffaw loudly. I was astonished. In one hand I had a Hellboy that must have weighed close to 15 pounds, in the other I had a Hellboy that was comparatively light as a feather. One Hellboy, it was explained to me, was the prototype, cast in solid resin. The other was a production sample, made of rotocast vinyl. With a simple demonstration it was proven to me that a rotocast statue could truly look as beautiful as a solid sculpture. “I want this product to speak for itself,” said Drake, “So I’m going to leave you in here alone for a bit, play with the bust and holler if you need me”.
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Sun 17 Feb 2008 |
I know it can be a rare thing to find a significant other that tolerates your hobbies, much less participates in them. I always read with a bit of jealousy the posts from other collectors about their wives or significant others that would hunt for toys for them when they were out on shopping trips and the like. Well, now not only do I know what that is like… I think I’ve got some of you beat!
You see, while I was all the way across the country covering Toy Fair 2008 for AFI, our latest "cub reporter," my girlfriend (whom we shall call "Cubbi") agreed to go to the LA area Dr. Who convention and cover it for AFI! That’s right, you heard me… while I’m out of town she goes to a Dr. Who con armed with her camera and a notebook to file this report for us.
One other point of note, she was also the one that shot and edited our April Fools Mattel commercial, so she’s seen me at my absolute dorkiest and still wanted to hang around with me.
She’s a keeper, eh fellas?
Here I present to you her report on:
The 2008 Gallifrey One Convention
By: Cubbi
It’s Sunday. I throw on that union jack t-shirt I have been saving for a special occasion. Comb my long blonde hair, put on “my ass looks amazing in these” jeans, lace up my chucks and look in the mirror. Nice. I totally look like I could be the next companion. Wait, I look like Rose. Okay, KIND of like Rose. Damn, they aren’t going to want an assistant that resembles a past one. Reality check Cubbi – you are not auditioning today.
I arrive at Gallifrey One (my very first Doctor Who convention) not having any idea what to expect. What if David Tennant is there? Not for a panel, but just there walking around in disguise. I tell myself he would totally want to hang out with me. Or, what if they have a life-size dalek? OR…OR…what about a life-size weeping angel statue? Now that would be cool.
 The convention is underwhelming considering Comic Con was the last convention I was at. Where is everybody? I know it’s Sunday, but come on! Where are all the people in costumes? Oh wait! Wait! I see a man in gold metallic spandex bodysuit sitting in a forum. I rack my brain trying to figure out if this was loosely based off a costume from the old Doctor Who. I don’t think so. I think it’s just a dude wearing gold spandex. Snap. I had to take a picture.
I secretly keep hoping David Tennant is around.
All the panels have started so I walk around a bit. I go into the Dealers Room hoping I can find some of the series one figures for cheap. Instead I find a load of books (who knew there were so many books on Doctor Who?! This is cool!), DVD’s, some “Renfaire-esque” type jewelry (for the fellas to bring home to their ladies), and Bob May. Yes, Bob May the Robot from Lost in Space. I walk by his table and he flags me down and starts chatting me up. Asking me where I am from, how I like the show, you know the usual banter. I can’t tell if he’s going to give me sales pitch or ask me to meet him for a cocktail in the hotel lounge. I’d pick the cocktails.
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Mon 21 Jan 2008 |
Diamond Select Toys and Art Asylum
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: I LOVE THE "Re-Imagined" BATTLESTAR GALACTICA SERIES on the Sci Fi network. I watched the Mini-Series and thought it was OK, but as soon as I saw the episode "33" I knew I was hooked. I’ve been along for the ride ever since.
Then you add to that my love of Mini-Mates and you have a match made in heaven.
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Sun 23 Dec 2007 |
Welcome to the Shelves!
or
How ROUND 2 Saved Christmas!
 As many of you know I was a HUGE fan of Playing Mantis’ holiday "Memory Lane" lines of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Peanuts lines back in the day. As a result theirs was always one of my favorite showrooms to visit each year at Toy Fair, not just to see the new product, but for the elaborate displays they would build each year. A few years back Playing Mantis was sold to RC2/Ertl and the lines lasted a year past that, but eventually .
I own just about everything Playing Mantis put out in the 5"-6" lines of Rudolph, Peanuts, and the K-Mart exclusive "Santa Clause is Coming to Town lines. These ARE my Christmas decorations every year.
I was surprised to walk into a CVS Pharmacy this October and see some "Great Pumpkin" product from a new company called "Round 2, Corp." I wrote down the web address from the back of the package and looked it up that night and was delighted to see the rebirth of lines like Peanuts and Rudolph with new product and refreshed product with new accessories and features under their "Forever Fun" banner. But that wasn’t all! There was a NEW line based on one of the Frosty the Snowman holiday specials.
My holidays were shapeing up with this news, but I needed to know more! What was coming? Who was this mysterious new company? What’s next?
I contacted Bob Plant, Creative Director of Round 2 Corp to get the straight scoop on who they are, what they are doing and what’s next from Round 2.
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Sat 22 Dec 2007 |
Hey there! SpyMagician here!
Like our fearless leader, Julius Marx, I am a HUGE fan of Disney Pixar’s Cars! And I finally got around to doing a custom "figure" I’ve been meaning to make for ages… Now I love my real car, a Black Cherry Pearl ’05 Scion xA.
So what would be cooler than a toy xA toy done in the style of the Cars Movie? Now a diecast of my car is not that common, most Scion toys are of the xB. But in Japan there are a few toys of the Toyota ist, the Japanese version of my xA.
So I finally tracked one down and finally could start my project! Step 1: The first step was to disassemble the toy , sand it a bit for repainting (I was fortunate that the original Ist Diecast was silver, so I didn’t need strip the paint, I’d just paint right over the silver) and sculpt the 2 key details, the Cars Movie style eyebrow and mouth.
To do this I needed some putty that could be sculpted but would adhere to diecast. I was in new territory here as my normal work involves action figures that are all plastic so I can use polymer clays. In this case I found some Quicksteel Putty at Pep Boys. It sets VERY FAST however, so I only had about 5-10 minutes to do the sculpt!!! Unlike with Sculpey, which won’t set until you heat cure it, giving you hours and hours to work the sculpt, I had to do a quick rough sculpt and finish the rest by carving and sanding. The Quicksteel sanded very well though, and I got a good seamless bond to the metal. To sculpt the eyebrow, I used some more Quicksteel Putty and sculpted right onto the plastic windshield after removing it from the car body. This was much easier as it was a simple shape. Step 2: Step 2 required that I paint the body and eyebrow in the Black Cherry Pearl metallic paint. I checked Pep Boys for the exact color but it was not avaiable but I found a similar color. It’s a touch darker than my actual car but not so much that it doesn’t work.
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Wed 31 Oct 2007 |
All we want to do is eat your brains….
We’re not unreasonable, I mean on one’s gonna eat your eyes.
By: Daniel "Julius Marx" Pickett
The fine folks at Diamond Select Toys, Toy Biz and Dig Deep Entertainment have given us a KILLER subset of figures in the direct market Marvel Select Line- Marvel Zombies have come to feast. These figures were based on the 2005 five-issue miniseries was written by Robert Kirkman and illustrated by Sean Phillips , with painted covers by Arthur Suydam .
The Zombies (which we now know to have originated in Earth-2149) have appeared in several Marvel books and are currently appearing Marvel Zombies 2
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Sat 6 Oct 2007 |
Glyos System Series:
Pheyden Phase Version
Excellis Gear’s Edge Version
By ONell Design
by jeremy sung & bill murphy
Welcome to the second column in an ongoing series called “A Discussion that looks Inside the Mind of the Insane Ramblings of Spy Magician & the Fresh Monkey”
INTRO:
SPYMAGICIAN: Today we’re gonna review a great little toy line "Glyos SYSTEM SERIES" by ONell Design. Warning: I will be a bit biased, as it’s a line 100% conceived and financed by my good friend Matt Doughty. It’s not your average mass-market toy line, or even an "indy" toy line but something really unique.
CHARACTER SELECTION:
FRESH MONKEY:I thought there was a pretty good selection for wave 01. Considering they are basically the same sculpts There are 6 figures based on 2 characters and all look vastly different.
SPYMAGICIAN: Yes, it’s amazing what you can do with creative use of color using the same basic molds. Only 2 sets of unique heads and torsos and you get a pretty wild selection of figures. The use of molded color, especially the clear is great.
FRESH MONKEY: Yeah, I mean they could have done just 2 figures but they did the right thing by trying to create a solid line-up for their 1st wave.
SPYMAGICIAN: Indeed. More characters, more interaction. Plus you have to point out that these are 100% original characters that Matt Doughty came up with. Original toys designed just to be toys are a rarity in this age of licensed characters.
FRESH MONKEY: This is true, you really don’t see that at all these days, especially for figures that ARE not just one-offs. He really went ALL out, each figure comes with it’s own trading card and unique packaging that explains who the characters are.
SPYMAGICIAN: Indeed. Hopefully the line will expand. I know Matt has at least 2 other characters in the works and more characters, with interchangeable parts would really make the line take off.
FRESH MONKEY: We only have 2 pieces for this review but you can tell they tried to make the line as diverse as they could.
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Fri 21 Sep 2007 |
YO JOE! 25 years later
by jeremy sung & bill murphy
Welcome to the fist column called “A Discussion that looks Inside the Mind of the Insane Ramblings of Spy Magician & the Fresh Monkey”
SPY MAGICIAN:
Howdy! SpyMagician here! You may know me from the boards here at AFI and on Toymania. Well, the mighty Julius Marx was kind enough to offer my good buddy Fresh Monkey and I the chance to share our thoughts on some toys for y’all! Just think of us as the Siskel & Ebert or Hannity & Colmes of the Toy Review world
FRESH MONKEY:
Julius has graciously let us play inside his sandbox and we couldn’t be more excited. A few weeks back he asked us to write a review of some of Hasbro’s new 25 th Anniversary G. I. Joe figures. Knowing we are 2 of the biggest Joe geeks in the world he knew we couldn’t resist.
We thought for quite a while how best to tackle a review. Most reviews have some sort of rating system. We thought that this would be best, but we knew we couldn’t top Michael Crawford. That guy writes the best reviews on the planet (next to Julius, when we can get him to write one). If you haven’t checked out MC’s reviews you need too here. ( http://www.mwctoys.com)
So as we knew we didn’t want to rip off the master, we figured the best way to review this stuff would be to just discuss it. So we don’t rate things we just ramble on about them. But we’ll try to make our points the best way we know how and hopefully you folks will tag along with us for the ride.
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