Rejected Big Shots: Week 8!

Justin here! Now that Big Shots are back in the magazine, I’m going to be posting a new “new” Big Shot photo every week(ish) and running down some of the rejected (but still funny) captions our writers cooked up for them. This week we’ve got the first Big Shot from issue #136, on sale now in comic shops AND on newsstands! And it’s a special spooky one for Halloween!

STAY PUFT: So, yeah…basically it’s I eat the world or that cookie.
HURLEY: I’m thinking!

STAY PUFT: Oh yeah? How do you think I like being called “Hurley” all the time?
HURLEY: Man, Jabba the Hutt and Grape Ape told me the exact same thing.

STAY PUFT: Don’t worry, Hugo–I’m all in your head.
HURLEY: Like that time when Bendis was following me around?

STAY PUFT: Seriously, why didn’t you lose any weight on that island?
HURLEY: Char broiled monkeys. Oh and Nikki and Paulo.

Mistress of the Dark!

Happy (week of) Halloween, folks! Justin here. While we here at ToyFare HQ are busily trying to figure out Halloween costumes we can piece together on the cheap (I’m currently accepting all nominations for interesting shapes I can shave my beard into), some of the companies we cover are out there doing some really cool Halloween-related stuff. TJ posted last week about Mattel’s awesome Halloween charity auction. Now, Tonner Doll brought us word of a super-limited edition figure they just put out!

That’s right, it’s Elvira, Mistress of the Dark! Says Tonner,
“She is limited to 300 pieces and was done for our Halloween Convention that was in Framingham, MA last weekend. We have a few left for sale on tonnerdirect.com and she sells for $175.”

I love the name “Framingham.” But that’s neither here nor there. The point is, if you’ve got an Elivra fanatic in your life, act now to make this the best Halloween ever for them!

Come On Baby Light My Sunfire: A Marvel Legends A.O.A. Sunfire Review

We here at ToyFare love when a plan comes together. Back in ToyFare #123 we launched a poll so that you the fans could let your voices be heard by Hasbro and help choose an upcoming exclusive on Hasbro’s Toy Shop. The choices were Silver Samurai, Northstar, Aurora, Storm in her original costume, Lilandra, Magneto, Gambit in his X-Men costume and Age of Apocalypse Sunfire. Well, Sunny came out on top and we’ve finally gotten our hands on him (hey it takes a long time to put a whole figure together). So how does he hold up? Read on.

We here at ToyFare love toys just as much as you guys, which is why we got extra geeked out by the “ToyFare Fan’s Choice” sticker on there. Here’s a closer look:

Okay, enough about us. Sunfire here, who first appeared in the Age of Apocalypse event, is a darn good looking figure. Not only did they capture the look and the feel of the character with the black markings on his body, the studded collar and mask, but the translucent body and fire bursts really accentuate the figure and capture his powers well. When you hold the figure up to the light, he looks even cooler. Apocalypse would be proud. As an added bonus, this seems to represent the current, in-continuity Sunfire as well after he got turned into one of Apocalypse’s Four Horsemen. Man, this guy can’t catch a break.

And like all Marvel Legends figures, Sunfire here has plenty of articulation including mid torso and ankle articluation that allows you to roll the ankles to the left and right and not just up and down. I did have a bit of a problem getting the arms to fold down correctly, but I think that’s a result of the way he’s packaged. That being said, some of the joints feel like they’re specifically there so you can make him look cool in flying poses as opposed to standing up poses. It definitely takes some joint manipulation to get him standing straight up.

All and all Sunny here’s a pretty great figure, especially if you’re an X-Men, Marvel Legends, fire or translucent figure fan. Oh, or if you’re a fan of figures that ToyFare helped put in your hands.

–TJ

Big Shots: Week 16

Welcome to our fifteenth installment of classic Big Shots from ToyFare Magazine’s past. Got a particular fondly remembered Big Shot you’d like to see here? Let us know on the Wizard Universe Message Board. Also, take note that some of the fonts were lost in the translation from the older issues, so they don’t look exactly like they did in the mag, but they’re still hilarious if we do say so ourselves.

Mattel’s Dream Halloween Benefit

Hey Gang, just wanted to pass along some info on a cool Halloween event that Mattel’s participating in where you can get your hands on some exclusive one-of-a-kind figures including a Darth Vader themed Mater from Cars and a Spirit of Grayskull variant of the SDCC exclusive Masters of the Universe Classics line.

Here’s the full details from Mattel:

Dream Halloween is right around the corner. This is a fantastic event where Mattel teams created one-of-a-kind collector items to auction off for Children Affected by Aids. This year, among the spectacular toys are two items we showed off first at San Diego Comic Con, the one-of-a-kind Darth Mater and the second and last publicly available “Spirit of Grayskull” figures. Both are fantastic collector items with all proceeds from the auction going to a very noble cause.

If you are interested in attending the event or would like more information about bidding from home please go to CAAF4kids.org.

Darth Mater:

It’s Halloween in Radiator Springs and Mater from Disney/Pixar’s CARS has decided to make his own Darth Vader costume! Using found objects from the local junkyard, he has transformed himself into the not-so-terrifying villain Darth Mater!

Created exclusively for CAAF’s 2008 Dream Halloween auction, Darth Mater is a one-of-a-kind 1:9.5 scale model created by the design team at Mattel in close cooperation with John Lasseter and George Lucas. Armed with a light-up red lightsaber that pivots from his right front wheel both clockwise and counterclockwise, Darth Mater makes lightsaber and Darth Vader breathing sounds, plays the classic Star Wars “Imperial March” theme, and utters dialogue recorded by Larry the Cable Guy especially for the occasion with funny quotes such as “Luke, I’m your manufacturer!”

Darth Mater comes on a custom-built 21.75” wide by 18.75” deep by 4.75” high base decorated like the floor of the Death Star with flashing LED lights synchronized with the sounds. The base includes two clear acrylic plaques, one with the Lucasfilm logo signed by Mr. Lucas and the other with the Disney/Pixar logo signed by Mr. Lasseter. Finally, the model is protected by a 21.75” wide by 18.75” deep by 14.25” high clear acrylic case.

Spirit of Grayskull:

King Grayskull is the first new Masters of the Universe Classic figure from Mattel featuring the first ever highly detailed fully articulated versions of classic Masters of the Universe characters from the world of He-Man and She-Ra. King Grayskull is the ancestor of the heroic warrior He-Man and defended the ancient land of Eternia from the evil forces of King Hssss and Hordak!

To help celebrate the return of Masters of the Universe toys to collector’s shelves, Mattel has created a special variant of their San Diego Comic Con exclusive King Grayskull action figure as a “Spirt” which will forever live in the walls of his castle. Only two editions of this all-clear version of King Grayskull will be made for the public. One was raffled off at SDCC 2008, the second will be auctioned for charity at the Dream Halloween event.

King Grayskull comes complete in a diorama pop out package which folds out to create a mini Castle Grayskull playset featuring flashing energy and the sound of King Grayskull declaring “I have Power!” when the jaw bridge is opened. He includes his shield, battle axe and Power Sword.

–TJ

Big Shots: Week 15

Welcome to our fifteenth installment of classic Big Shots from ToyFare Magazine’s past. Got a particular fondly remembered Big Shot you’d like to see here? Let us know on the Wizard Universe Message Board. Also, take note that some of the fonts were lost in the translation from the older issues, so they don’t look exactly like they did in the mag, but they’re still hilarious if we do say so ourselves.

Go, Miniman, Go!

It’s the 30th anniversary of Lego’s iconic Miniman, which means many of us have never lived in a world without Minimen. Let’s take a second to reflect on how lucky we are.

Back? Okay, in honor of the celebration, Lego has put up a web page, Go Miniman Go, where fans can submit their own Miniman photos and movies. Never one to miss a birthday party, ToyFare made a special two-page Lego TTT in the new issue, #136 (on sale now in comic shops), starring Lego Indiana Jones and friends. And Lego just posted it on the site (there are no permalinks, so look for October 13). Check it out!

The Gourd Apocalypse!

In years past, ToyFare has sponsored a pumpkin-carving contest around Halloween time. Well this year we’re way too lazy to do so, but luckily we don’t have to! The intrepid and talented WUMB user krpykrwly (pronounced “Creepy Crawly,” donchaknow) is holding one!

Follow the link to check out the rules for this year’s Gourd Apocalypse! You might win fabulous prizes!

ToyFare # 136: On sale 10/8!

Hey Gang, TJ here. It’s that time again. What time? New ToyFare time, of course. And boy do we have one humdinger of an issue for you, especially if you’re a video game fan. As you can see, NECA’s new Marcus Fenix figure from the upcoming Gears of War 2 game adorns the cover of issue #136 (available in comic shops 10/8 and on newsstands 10/21) and relates to the huge GOW mamajama therein in which we cover the upcoming new game, comic book, action figures and more. We even got to talk with GOW-guru Cliff Bleszinski who gave us the lowdown on GOW 2. In other video gameyness, you can check out the all time top ten grosses monsters in video games as compiled by the ToyFare staff and written by funny dude Chris Ward. As if that’s not enough, you can also check out a little behind the scenes action for the upcoming Bond game Quantum of Solace.
For classic cartoon fans, we’ve also got a look at IDW’s upcoming G.I. Joe and Tranformers comic book plans with guides like Larry Hama and Editor Andy Schmidt. Check out some awesome character designs and find out what’s coming up in the next few months with your childhood heroes.
Also in this issue, Crystar gets the retro feature treatment as we get to the bottom of the gemstone hero with editors and Marvel bigwigs Ralph Macchio and Jim Shooter.
And finally, after three months of Manly Men of Action TTTs, we’re going a completely different route with three mini-TTTs starring MiniMates, LEGO Indiana Jones and the cassette tapes living inside Soundwave.
All that, plus the usual Incoming, Hot Plate, Calendar, Price Guide, Back Page and more can be yours this Wednesday.

And now, as has become our tradition, here is Editor Justin Aclin’s “art” depicting what the cover should look like. See you next month!

Big Shots: Week 14

Hey gang, sorry about the lack of posting last week. We were experiencing some technical difficulties in house and were also closing the next jam pack issue of ToyFare. Anyway, welcome to our fourteenth installment of classic Big Shots from ToyFare Magazine’s past. Got a particular fondly remembered Big Shot you’d like to see here? Let us know on the Wizard Universe Message Board. Also, take note that some of the fonts were lost in the translation from the older issues, so they don’t look exactly like they did in the mag, but they’re still hilarious if we do say so ourselves.