Company secrets are worth killing for

Let me get this out right off the bat. I don't like Mattel. I use to, in fact I've reviewed some of their 6" figures a while back and they get high, high marks. In fact they still do, the DC Universe line is one of the best out there....if you can find it. But let me tell you why I don't like Mattel. Here's a fine example where Points of Articulation has a Q&A with Matty.

Q: PrfktTear asks: How long will Wave 10 be shipping to Wal-Mart?
A: Until the entire order is shipped.

..... Well shucks, I thought it was until the clown dancing on the corner with the open house sign too his coffee break. Thanks for clearing that up Matty. Here's another gem.

2.) Tom-Tom asks: Regarding DCUC 10: Mattel has said that Wal-Mart ordered more figures than in wave 5. However, many collectors are still having troubles, claiming it to be worse than wave 5. What is Mattel’s view of the situation?
A: Sorry, I cannot discuss particulars on retail distribution! That is up to each retailer not Mattel.

Seriously? You can't say "Yes, WalMart ordered more of that series." or "No, you're screwed, no more shipping." ? I remember Hasbro being able to tell us if more of their exclusives were shipping and who ordered what. How else would we be able to know to stop looking for something. Apparently Walmart's distribution records are Top Secret. All the other 'interviews' with Mattel cough up the same canned, vague responses for just about anything asked. Phrases like "could be possible" and "wait and see" are apparently tattooed onto the arms of Matty's reps so they don't forget their lines.

And please don't get me started on MattyCollector.com. From botched orders to frozen servers, scalper loopholes, it was a mess. I like many others tried and tried to get our orders in for the initial figures and were denied, only to see buyers with 100+ of them in stock selling them on Ebay. I particularly love the way Matty sold CASES of this year's SDCC exclusive to one individual at the show, thus relieving fans of being able to purchase that figure. And let's not forget the fiasco where people who bought the Wonder Twins were missing their Gleek monkey, only for Matty to find the missing case and give it to the Fwoosh to 'pass out' to those who missed it. Let's just say there were plenty of happy mods and good ol' boys there with fat ebay accounts after the week was through.

Oh yeah, LEAD PAINT. LAWSUITS. Not that any of that bothers me but Mattel has just gone downhill in customer service and intelligent decision making in the last year. What can we do about it? Since they're obviously giving the middle finger to their fans it's only fair we take our finger and jam it in Mattel's weak spot, their wallet. Man I love how those Avatar mechs look...but they'll sit on the shelf. You know I could suggest all sorts of great customs from Captain Cold...but he's going to be warming the shelves for now. There's He Man figures still in stock in Matty Collector?? They can stay in stock, I like most of you don't have any of the first ones, why bother collecting now?

And that about sums up my feelings. A good ol' boycott is what Mattel needs, and definately deserves. I may even be in the minority here, I mean who could pass up a Super Powers themed Joker or Man Bat if they saw one? But at least I'll feel better at night knowing I didn't bend over and take it from a company that no longer cares about informing or pleasing its fans.

NINJA ASSASSIN

I can't even begin to tell you how psyched I am about this movie, Ninja Assassin that's coming out. Nevermind that I don't recognize any of the star's names, directors, writers. I did notice that the Wachowski brothers of Matrix fame are producing it however. But let's forget that for a moment. -THE MOVIE TITLE IS NINJA ASSASSIN- That is absolutely all I needed to know in order to want to see this movie. Then I caught the trailer with the grizzled wise-man narration. I was hooked. I'm talking Quentin Tarantino style hooked. Katanas clashing, shurikens flying everywhere, and those evil looking chain-sickle things!

IT IS AN ENTIRE MOVIE WITH NINJA IN IT. (Notice I didn't say 'Ninjas' because the plural for Ninja is the same as the singular like fish or deer.) Ninja, in the shadows, popping out everywhere, epic battles...a 99 minute slashfest of the one stereotype that's been out of synch with American movies for ages. When was the last time you saw a Ninja in a live action movie? And Snake Eyes/Storm Shadow don't count either, I'm talking traditional black-cloth-gi Ninja. Exactly. So prepare yourself for Ninja Assassin. The ultimate date movie. (ok, I made that last part up)

Astro Boy to save the world!

Well maybe not the world, but at least your boredom, it's something new and the line comes in three scales so far. I picked up three of the 3 3/4" scale figs, the Astro Boy with cannon arms, the bulky Peacekeeper bot, and the Metro City Soldier. They're all pretty well made like a Ben 10 figure is and I'm impressed with the designs. The Astro Boy line is made by Jazzwares which had me scared for a bit. They're the ones who are responsible for many a long night counting the days until they'd give up their Megaman license so someone else could make decent figures. Or wondering why you had a pile of broken parts when you opened up one of their figures. But hey, these are pretty spiffy! Looks like they've stepped up their game.

The paint apps are clean, they're well built, and the design is nice. The articulation could be a bit better on the figures (rotating biceps or hips) but they're good for basic posing. The 6" figures I saw all had some sort of light-up feature and I snagged the Buzzsaw Samurai robot because it reminded me of the Hutzil robot from Darkstalkers to a point, cool design. Press the button on the front and the eyes light up bright yellow! Odd that the button would be smack dab in the front with all the figures instead of on the back where you could hide it from disrupting the sculpt. The regular Astro Boy of that line had the classic look and the little opening panel. Instead of a heart tho he has a blue 'power core' which you can also purchase in a 1/1 scale as a bouncy light-up ball.

I saw the larger figure of Astro Boy, 10" or maybe larger, I didn't check the scale but he had all the bells and whistles. Maybe I'll snag him later but for now I just stuck with the smaller 3 3/4" and 6" figures. The Metro City Soldiers look like pretty cool army builders for a robot revolution scene. Pat yourselves on the back Jazzwares, you did a good job on these. In fact if you added some more articulation I don't think anyone would mind seeing Megaman figures return in this format.

Need some DC Universe figs cheap? Hit your 99c store!

I was pretty surprised to find literally hundreds of DC Universe figures hanging on the rack of my local 99c store in Lancaster CA. They had an entire endcap full of at least 15 figures deep on each peg and even more on the bootleg toy wall in the back. Every one of series 1 and 2 were there including some from the other series like the Joker and Green Arrow. The only one I didn't see was that Manhunting robot. Get cracking to your 99c store and snag these up! You can still use the Anti-monitor points for something right? At a buck a piece you can't go wrong!

Cheap Revoltechs anyone?

Just in case anyone is looking for some Revoltechs to pick up cheap to use as battle armor (like my Cobra Commander in the pic) there are a couple of places to snag them from.

NeweggMall.com and Cosmic-King.com have some for $6-$12. I picked up a few from each and shipping isn't that bad, around $6 for the lot of them.

CornerstoreComics.com has added a lot of action figures to their clearance too and they stated that their credit card problems have been handled. They still accept PayPal tho and that's the safest way.

And the Winners Are...

The winners of Win Jin's Stuff are:

1st: Catherine Sulich Tim Peters

2nd: TG Kua

3rd: Adam Gatarell

4th: Matthew Midgette

Everyone has been contacted and I'm waiting to hear back from 1st place for their prize decision, then 2nd place, 3rd, etc. Thanks for entering everyone who did and who knows, you might see this contest pop up again in the future!

**Update** Remember I said the winners had 3 days to reply back with their choices? Unfortunately first place hasn't returned any of the emails and I have sent multiples. Another drawing was held for 1st and Tim Peters now claims the throne for his own!

The moral to this story: check your email on a daily basis people.

Roger Ebert, it's time to retire

Rarely do I call out individuals directly, or for that matter actors/internet personalities/etc. I'll Twitter about someone, name-drop in my LiveJournal, or something light to that effect. But Mr. Ebert here deserves his own entry into my blog. And why? Because it's time to retire, I'm talking to you sir. I will admit I'm still shaking my head at the ruckuss you and your critic-collegues caused about Transformers Revenge of the Fallen. The backlash you received was the bell tolling for you. Then Paramount gave you the finger by not even bothering to invite you and your buddies to see the movie early.

You must be fuming mad, so angry that you're seeing red and not the screen as you had to sit shoulder to shoulder with the regular crowd. Let's take a look at your review and spot the glaring errors.

"The Joes, as they are called, are needed to counter a secret nano-tech weapon which is a green liquid that eats up people and buildings and stuff. This weapon has been invented by the evil disfigured scientist named McCullen (Christopher Eccleston)who steals it back from the people he sold it to, and plans to use it to conquer the world. Why is McCullen so pissed off? His Scottish clan was insulted centuries ago. Those Scots."

You mean Rex Lewis "The Doctor" right? He's the one who's all disfigured, unless you're giving away movie spoilers.

"How fast are these missiles? They rocket into space and zoom down to earth. A Joe named Duke (Channing Tatum) commandeers the enemy's rocket airplane and, even though he's never seen it before, flies it so well that he catches up to the Moscow missile and destroys it, and then he turns around and flies halfway around the globe to chase up with the missile headed for Washington."

Unless you're making fun of Tatum speaking with a ghetto accent, you clearly missed the fact that Snails, aka Marlon Wayans took the Night Raven out for a spin. Color blind much sir?

"What is Cobra? What nationality are its leaders, other than Scottish? What will it gain by destroying world capitols? Reader, I do not know."

I'm sorry, did you mean to say what is M.A.R.S.? You know, the logo/letters plastered across EVERYTHING in the movie? I didn't see anything that said Cobra on it. There are more inconsistencies in there but I'm too tired to copy/paste them all here. Case in point, you didn't even pay attention or perhaps didn't even see the movie and gleaned all your information from someone elses review.

Strike two Mr Ebert, you have failed us yet again.