Although I fully expected Terminator Salvation to improve this past weekend, it instead didn't find an audience and continues to bomb. Despite all the hype this could end up being the lowest money making Terminator film in the franchise. More sub par reviews continue to flow in and the film thus far has only made $90 Million dollars. Which sounds good, but the film cost around $200 million to make.

Compare that to the newly released Star Trek which has already made $209 million in the United States alone. Terminator could make some more money on the international market where it's yet to be released. Still I have to wonder if Terminator 5 will even happen now.

Obviously Christian Bale is no Arnold Schwarzenegger. Originally I compared this new Terminator to the 1998 Godzilla which I said was a movie that made tons of money but was still considered a bomb. Well it looks to me like that may have been an unfair comparison, because I'm starting to doubt that the new Terminator flick will make the near $400 million that Godzilla made.

Especially with the summer blockbuster season just starting. Transformers, GI Joe, Land of the Lost and several other big pictures are still coming down the line. To be successful you need to be #1 at the box office for at least one weekend, and Terminator failed to do that. It's resting at #4 this week but I don't think it'll rise any in the weeks ahead.

Next week Land of the Lost and the Hangover will try to take some of McG's money. After that it's a few easy weeks. I have to wonder if Terminator wouldn't have done better opening the week after next instead of against Night at the Museum 2 and then Up.

Box Office for Summer 2009:
Star Trek - $209,500,000
Wolverine X-Men Origins - $170,870,000
Night at the Museum 2 - $105,296,000
Angels & Demons - $104,760,000
Terminator Salvation - $90,657,000

This review comes a little late because I wasn't planning on reviewing anything today but this fellow came along and I decided he'd be a fun change of pace. Actually this review is about 18 years late because this figure came out around 1991. And what was the box office summer smash in 1991? City Slickers of course! This however is not a City Slickers figure review. It'd be awesome if it was though.

No this is of the other box office smash of 1991, ROBIN HOOD! No... No it's not that either. How about the not-so box office smash, The Rocketeer! Yes this is a review of the Rocketeer Bend-ems figure from JusToys that came out around 1991. I haven't been savoring this figure for 18 years, rather I just bought it off EvilBay a while back.



Why review it? Well because this site is all about pop culture baby! And what could be more hip and relevant than a rubber figure from a movie that didn't do so well. But let it be known that the Rocketeer is all kinds of awesome and that's why he's getting a review now! As Cheech Marin said in Ghostbusters 2, "Better late than never".

Packaging:
There are two parts to this package review. First the package as I received it. It's dirty, busted up, stains on it and clearly someone removed a price tag. And now something for our under 18 audience. Kids, before electronics and Skynet ruled the world they had something called "Price Tags". Back then we didn't need computers to tell us the price of anything and we didn't have price scanners in the stores. There were little stickers called price tags that told us what the items cost. And these were on EVERY item. Unless you went to K-Mart, which was notorious for not putting them on their items in order to sucker you into taking it to the checkout in hopes that you wouldn't take it back and would just buy it no matter the price.



Where was I? Oh yeah, so the package is in pretty terrible condition. In fact the bubble has been broken, thus exposing this figure to air for 18 years. Usually I feel bad opening a package, especially something vintage, but in this case I feel GOOD taking poor Rocketeer from his ghetto home.



The package itself though is clearly beautiful. Sure, it's covered in muck now, but in 1991 this thing must have been a beauty. The back of the package tells the story of the Rocketeer and has some great artwork. As does the front. There's even a dark blue image of the Rocketeer's helmet that can't be seen unless you take the figure out.

But if you take the figure out ripping the bubble, the picture would be destroyed. Thankfully I just cut my Rocketeer out. Or finished ripping the middle of the bubble. Perhaps he was trying to escape his home before he biodegraded?



All in all this is a nice package. I don't get too excited by packages often, but this one has a very retro appeal to it. I'm keeping this card, even if it smells like raw sewage.

Articulation:
Technically bend-ems have no points of articulation and yet, EVERYTHING is a point or articulation. See the whole figure is poseable wire underneath rubber. That sounds like a good thing, but often it's total ass. This would be one of the latter accounts. You can move Rocketeer's arms and legs some and twist his torso a bit, but he's not good for a ton of poses.



One of the problems with bendy figures is that over time the wires either break or come out of the figure. In this case, one of the wires is already poking out of Rocketeer's foot! Before I ever even posed him. Where's the quality control?!



Sculpt:
This is a bend-em. He's not going to be a masterpiece. Still even grading on that curve this guy is far from perfect. For starters his body is too fat. He's chunky all over. Apparently ol' Cliff Secord hasn't missed a meal in some time. He's supposed to be 6 inch scale, but he's really more like 5 1/2 or so, which back in 1991 would have made him perfect to fit in absolutely ZERO toy lines.


"C'mon fellas, group hug!"

Still it's not all bad. The helmet and rocket pack are really good representations of what they're supposed to be. This isn't the Medicom Rocketeer but it's got nice detailing on both. They tried to give him baggy aviator pants, but it just sort of looks like fat Rosie O'Donnell thighs.



The paint ain't nothing to be proud of either. Rocketeer's coat is red as opposed to brown, but I can see the comic stylized look they were going for. The gold helmet is actually painted nice and shows some "age" though I don't know if that's because of the package being open for 18 years (The whole figure is dusty and bit funky) or by design. Either way it works.


TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!

The rocket pack is painted pretty plain but looks nice. The rest of the figure's paint is pretty sub par and it's got a fair amount of slop. Such is life when dealing with old bend-ems.

Accessories:
Typically bend-ems don't come with anything. Actually, do they even still make bend-ems? It's like who really wants a bend-em? Aside from Gumby I've always thought bend-ems were dumb. It's "For the parent who doesn't love their child enough to get them a decent toy, get 'em a bend-em!"... But I digress, because Rocketeer does have an accessory!



His rocket pack. It's a separate piece! Why? Who knows but I'm thankful. See, I plan on cannibalizing this bend-em into something else and I needed the rocket pack. The rocket has both a clip and peg to go into the figure. It's quite nice and an almost identical replica to the movie backpack. Thank you JusToys!

Additional Notes:
This guy probably spent the majority of his life in a dollar store. I'm sure he sat on the shelf for a good five years before someone for no apparent reason bought him. He then sat on the shelf of someone's basement and/or attic for another ten years. He was probably carted out on a few yard sale days and no one bought him. He likely ended up on Ebay for probably another two or three years before finally coming to a family that will love him. Or at the very worst chop him up for customs.

Value:
I'm not sure what his original price was (Someone ripped off his price tag!) but I'm guessing about $3 or $3.50. In today's market he's worth $3. Of course back in 1991, $3 was like $8-9 now, so uh... He's not worth that. So for you time machine shoppers, he's a pass. I paid at least two or three times his original retail and guess what? He's not worth that now either.

Score Recap:
Packaging - 7
Sculpting - 4
Articulation - 2
Accessories - Rocket Pack
Value - 3
Overall - 4 out of 10

I've been pretty rough on ol' Rocketeer. But I'll be honest, there aren't very many good Rocketeer toys out there. I've spoken to Shocker Toys about making a Rocketeer, but because the merchandising rights are locked up in Disney it's unlikely we'll ever see one. So what does that leave us with? Well this toy. He's not bad considering there is so little Rocketeer junk out there.



The Medicom Rocketeer is the pinnacle of Rocketeer toys. This little rubber dude is something much less exciting. But with any luck I'll be able to make a decent custom Rocketeer out of him. Still a little life left in Cliff Secord after all.

I mentioned in my last post some silly prices I'd seen on Ebay for rather common stuff. Well I figured I'd share a few with you. Granted these are just the tip of the iceberg. There are literally THOUSANDS of bad deals to be had on Ebay right now. I think since the economy is in the dumps people must think they can sell worthless junk on Ebay for millions.

A lot of these are Ninja Turtle ones, but some aren't. I find this funny because no one is bidding on these Ninja Turtles for outrageous prices. Same for the GI Joes or other items. No one is going to pay these crazy prices for rather average items.

The NECA Player Select series is popular and pretty cool. The Ninja Gaiden figures are probably the best. But Ryu Hayabusa for $87 is a bit steep. Especially since he retails for about $15 and is readily available elsewhere.

Here's three sets of TMNT Donatellos that are neither rare nor sought after and they go for $59.99 but it has free shipping and considering some of the "deals" out there, this one isn't that bad.

The new re-released Rocksteady and Bebop. Sought after figures I'm sure, but worth $50 for the pair? I think not. But it does include some mini Turtles that are also not rare.

Up next we have some World of Warcraft figures. I never collected these, but 23 of them for $1,000 doesn't sound like a good deal. I know my local comic shop had some for much less, but obviously it's a good deal because one has bought it yet.

Here we have a rare mistake figure. April with a Splinter tag on the new 25th TMNT figures. Only $100 which seems a bit pricey to me.

If you're getting April, she'll need a ride. Why not the new TMNT Cowabunga Carl van? You could buy it for $20 at most places but on Ebay it's available for $99.95 Plus $50 shipping It's a steal!

Up next is the "Hot Rod" himself, Roddy Piper. Now Roddy got a special GI Joe made in his honor a couple of years ago at the Joe Con. These Joe Con figures tend to go for quite a bit but Roddy is now going for ridiculous amounts on Ebay. Just look! Needless to say I doubt Piper will go for that much. It's not a great figure and while it is sought after, not to those levels. Again folks, we're in a recession, people aren't gonna drop that kinda money on Piper.

And here's probably my favorite. A NECA Leonardo figure with a Raphael paper insert (I saw tons of these screw ups when NECA released these figures mind you) for the low, low cost of $20,000! I can't believe it hasn't already sold. And I'm pretty sure it costs a decent chunk of change to list an item with a BIN so high. So this guy is rapidly losing money.

All in all, Ebay can be pretty hilarious at times. Although there are still some steals on Ebay, it's becoming harder and harder to find them. I wonder if it's because of the recent inflations in prices or because of people selling items they have no knowledge about.

Some randomness.

I had someone visit the blog from Dhahran, Ash Sharqiyah today. I have no idea where Dhahran, Ash Sharqiyah is and I don't know if that's because I went to public school or because it's really obscure. I'm sure Google could tell me where Dhahran, Ash Sharqiyah is, but I'd rather just pretend it's a hidden province in Latveria.

I'm getting quite pissed off that Ninja Turtle figures from a few years ago (and in some cases LAST year) are fetching upwards of $20 on Ebay. Especially when the rarer, older vintage figures are going for about the same. Please people on Ebay, stop trying to rip me off. Oh and it doesn't cost $9 to ship everything.

Suck it USPS for legitimately raising your rates and no doubt adding to the Ebay shipping-rape-scheme.

I have no idea if I hate customizers or love them. I keep seeing incredible customs of figures I want, but haven't the money to buy or the skill to make. I may dabble some into making some customs myself soon, but I know they'll suck.

Anyone got something specific they want me to cover, review, etc? I'm open to suggestions.

First up David Tennant will be doing a stint on the Sarah Jane Smith Adventures as the Timelord in the CBBC series across two episodes this autumn. Tennant is being replaced as The Doctor by Matt Smith, 26, next year but he is due to appear in three specials, starting with The Waters of Mars in November.

However there could be more in the works...

BBC News recently did a story on David Tennant's appearance on The Sarah Jane Adventures. At the end of the article, a BBC spokeswoman confirms that there is "a script is in development". There are no other details at this time, but speculation has begun as to who will play the Time Lord if Doctor Who makes it to the big screen as David Tennant hands the part over to Matt Smith next year.

Credit: IGN.com

It wouldn't surprise me if they went for some sort of big screen adaptation to push Matt Smith into the new role of the Doctor. Which could be why they chose the Twilight look-a-like to be in the role in the first place. They could have a big Time War style movie planned starring Tennant for half and then have him turn into Smith for half.

Either way it's nice to see that Tennant's 10th Doctor is getting some more screen time, both with Sarah Jane and whatever this "script" could be in terms of a major motion picture.

Prefacing this review I'll confess that I've only seen about 10 minutes of the new Battlestar Galactica. Crazy right? I just have better things to do with my time it seems. I just got caught up with the new Doctor Who, what more do you want from me? Plus I still have Galactica 1980 on my to do list.



But I do have fond memories of the original Battlestar Galatica which is what prompted this impulse buy over the weekend. The Battle Damaged Cylon Pilot action figure from Battlestar Galactica. This is from the new show, but the design of the Cylon is very similar to the old Cylon. That is to say if the old Cylon was a robot instead of a dude in a crappy suit.



I'm a fan of clunky robots and I've said that before. I have no use for a "sleek" robot. I want my robots to look like they were built by General Motors and run on gas. Seriously, that's why Robocop is so cool. He's not sleek, he's a big metal monster. That's how I like my robots and that's what drew me in to this figure.

Packaging:
Pretty average cardback here with a nice durable hard shell. It wasn't too hard to open and the packaging is pretty attractive if not a little boring. I like the fact that the BG logo is present on the top and although it's the new logo it still looks very retro. This is a TRU exclusive so it has that little seal they put on all their exclusives.



Inside is a basic tray with a few twist ties. Not ML crazy, but more than most figures I've had to open in recent weeks. Part of this could be because this figure seems delicate and maybe they knew if it was headed to Toys R' Us, some bratty 8 year olds would be kicking them down the aisle.



Articulation:
I was afraid to buy this figure because I wasn't sure he was going to have any useful articulation. Especially since he's squatted down in the package like he's about to take a mechani-dump. Much to my surprise this guy has a LOT of articulation. So many points of articulation that I very well may miss a few. It's hard to see where all he turns and bends.



Let's start at the top and move our way down. He has a cut neck, ball jointed shoulders, swivel just below the shoulders, elbow joint complete with working piston (Think Movie Maniac Robocop), swivel bicep and swivel wrist!



Going on down the line he has swivel waist which is a bit limited, ball jointed legs but they too have some hindrance so he won't do the splits. Knee joints with the pistons that connect to the ankle joints. That gets a bit tricky to explain but the figure can basically adjust his legs via the pistons and joints to either walk upright like a human or hunker down and walk like ED-209. Very cool.



He also has swivel knees and somewhat limited (because of the piston) rocker ankles. I don't really know how people count up articulation points and what counts and what doesn't, but know this, he's VERY articulated.



Sculpt:
When I first read that this was a "Battle Damaged" Cylon Pilot, I passed on him. I assumed he was missing parts. I've been taught over the years that battle damaged is slang for "missing 2/3 of his body"... But it turns out that in this case "Battle Damage" is simply a dirty paint wash. Although the original Battlestar Galatica Cylons were so clean they sparkled, I actually like the dirty look and he doesn't appear damaged to me at all. Just weathered.


This ain't your Daddy's Cylon... Well he sort of is.

One of the neat features about this robot is that he has the classic Cylon head and backpack, shoved on a body that's a hybrid of the aforementioned ED-209 and the Terminator. It makes for an impressive look and for my money this is what all the Cylons in the new show should have looked like. The Darth Vader head is what most people remember from the classic Cylons and I was sad when the new show's Cylons didn't look like that.



Apparently I wasn't alone and the reason this model of Cylon came around was because many people wanted some Cylons to look like their old selves. Very cool that the show's producers created these metal monsters and even cooler that Diamond Select Toys have brought them to life in figure form. As I often find myself saying, "This is the toy I wanted when I was a kid"... And although the vintage Cylons didn't look exactly like this, it's how a 10 year old me imagined them to look.

Finally someone didn't rape my childhood with their re-imagining, but rather made sweet, sweet love to it.


He's got more pistons than ASIMO!

The full figure ends up being nearly 8 1/2 inches tall when fully upright. Of course he actually looks better a little squatted, so you can probably squeeze him in to any line you choose. In fact, this guy would be a killer 3 3/4 villain. Cobra Commander's new battle droid? Maybe.



Paint on the figure is very well done. Since this is supposed to be battle damaged he has a black wash all over him. I like it, but if you prefer shiny Cylons you might not. Every one in the store seemed to have a different level of wash, so that's pretty cool in that sense. Pick one that you like or buy the undamaged version for shiny Cylons.



Scale wise he's probably a bit big for some folks, but honestly he's a robot. You can fudge his scale a bit. To me, as I said above he'd look good in a 6 inch line or one half that size. It's up to you if this is just a "big" robot or a GIANT one.

Accessories:
The one weak area for this figure is that he comes with nothing but a measly blaster. After all the nice work on the rest of the figure the blaster looks pretty generic and the paint aps on it aren't very good. On the plus side and this is key, it fits perfectly into either hand and is actually sculpted so that his finger is on the trigger every time.



Additional Notes:
I can't find what makes this a "pilot" Cylon, which was another thing that originally turned me away from this figure. He appears to be the same in every way to the Warrior Cylon, but maybe I needed to watch the show to tell the difference. Regardless, if you like big clunky robots (And I do) you can't go wrong with this guy.



Value:
$13 and some change. Hey that's not bad. Marvel Universe runs for almost as much and doesn't include half the plastic. He's articulated out the ying-yang and he's the nicest that any classic Cylon has ever looked. He's a little weak on accessories, but he's definitely worth the price to me. This is just as comparable to a Marvel Legend of DC Universe Classic that would run for around the same price, but he doesn't have any BAF... Your mileage may vary.




Score Recap:
Packaging - 7
Sculpting - 8
Articulation - 9
Accessories - Blaster
Value - 8
Overall - 8.5 out of 10

This is a cool figure. I find his joints to be a little loose and they started getting loose pretty easily. But he holds a pose fine and none of the "major" joints are loose. He didn't have any stuck joints, but I will confess that this is probably a brittle figure. He's not one to give to the kids, unless your kids are responsible future toy collectors. But for us pushing 30 or plus he's a real winner.

As my GF said to me when we were in the line at TRU, "Look he's even age appropriate, 8+ so you qualify". This is the Cylon toy I've wanted since I was 8 and it feels great to get him.

Could it be that the Terminator franchise doesn't have anything left in the tank? First the Sarah Connor Chronicles gets canceled. Which as you know, I think is an injustice. I think the TSCC was one of the best shows on TV and easily one of the best things that ever happened to the Terminator franchise. Now it appears that Terminator: Salvation lost at the box office to "Night at the Museum 2"...

And it makes me slightly happy inside. Now technically Terminator made more money on Thursday and it'll probably benefit from the Memorial day weekend, but I'm thinking Terminator may be on it's way to being a "successful bomb" as it were. As it stands Terminator: Salvation actually opened up making LESS money than T3, which I actually liked. Many fans hated T3 and weren't interested in it, so when your movie does less than that, it's not a good sign.



The movie is also getting ho-hum reviews in addition to the so-so box office, even the Terminator fans seem to find it largely average and it's carefully teetering into the 1998 Godzilla movie territory. If you don't remember that movie, good, but know that it's the most successful bomb in the history of movies. It made like $400 million dollars but turned everything it touched into crap.

I'm not sure why I hate the new Terminator movie so much (Hate is probably a strong word) but I think it's just a combination of factors. A good Terminator movie really needs to focus in on one or two Terminators. Once you blow 900 of them up, the robot beasts just aren't nearly as compelling. Second you really need time to craft a good Terminator. Arnold was able to develop over the first movie and the second as well and that's what made him so fierce in the role.



One of the big problems with T3 is that the Terminator didn't inspire the fear that the previous ones did. T2 got a pass because the T-1000 was creepy on it's own and the CGI effects were so mind blowing at the time that it didn't matter. Now effects can't surprise us. We've seen it all. You have to have clever story telling to make the Terminator seem badass.


Probably scarier than any of the new Terminators. Garret Dillahunt as Cromartie.

That's what this movie seems to be supremely lacking. See, in TSCC for a while the Terminators weren't very scary. They fell into the same trap. CGI robots a threat do not automatically make. But once they started writing the Terminators in a good fashion, they created a really scary entity. This new film just seems more intent to blow stuff up.

Plus I more or less hate Christian Bale. It's weird, I liked him around Batman Begins and his work before that, but then he just went and got too much of an ego for me. I just can't stand to see the guy anymore. He's not at all what I envisioned John Connor to be and frankly after he grunted his way through Dark Knight (Which I've also began to detest) I just can't get behind him anymore.



Bale needs to reinvent himself with a dramatically different role than grunting boring guy around explosions, or needs to take some time off from films. Anyway, since I do love Terminators I'm sure I'll probably eventually see the film and maybe some of my negativity will rub off. But until then I'm off to the theatre, where I'm going to go see Night at the Museum 2... And no, that's not a joke. I'm more interested in that then Terminator: Suckvation.

I've decided to add a new little feature here. Every Sunday we'll add a new little comic to the website. I figure what better way to kick off this little experiment than with some Sigma 6. A little tribute to the man who got me into Sigma 6, Monte Williams.

It's Sigma Six Sunday!












Should I continue this comic? Continue this feature? Let me know...

I'm a big fan of the old pulp comics and Flash Gordon has become a recent obsession of mine. With that I decided to revisit the old Flash Gordon 1980's epic in all its remastered DVD glory this past weekend. Along for the ride was my poor girlfriend who hadn't the slightest clue who Flash Gordon was, despite watching a bit of the Sci-Fi revival TV show with me a few years back. Needless to say it made for an interesting experience.



It's been at least a decade if not longer since I've seen Flash Gordon. I was surprised how well it held up. Now that might catch me some flack, but you know what? Screw it. Flash Gordon is an entirely enjoyable movie. Especially the recent DVD release. Outside of probably a handful of effect scenes, the movie looks REALLY good.

Flash himself is played to be a bit more of a bumbling goof than in previous incarnations and perhaps a lot of the movie is tongue in cheek, but the movie is never directly played for campiness. It's inspired by some camp, it pays homage to the old serials, but it never crosses the line into parody. Thank goodness for it too.

I really loved this movie. It's so beautiful, even by today's standards. The sets, the colors, oh man the colors. Every outfit is bright, blinged out and even the skies of Mongo are like some day-glo tye dye trip. It's impressive.



The plot is a bit weak, though honestly practically 100% true to the origins of the comics and the dialogue is pretty boring and weak throughout. Yet this movie delivers on the fun and light hearted adventure that Flash Gordon should be. In fact if it wasn't for the Lizard people, whose costumes are downright 1960's Star Trek bad, this movie would be playable today.

That's not to say this movie is perfect. It's not. Still, when so many terrible movies come out every week to the theatre, this is perfectly enjoyable. I found myself enthralled in the vintage sets, costumes and old school Flash Gordon feel. I don't think everything has to be so intense and blood soaked. This movie feels like an updated old serial, which is exactly what it's supposed to be.



Flash Gordon is not a great movie. But it darn sure is a fun movie. Flash remains a property that could probably be revisited and brought into modern times in a revolutionary way. So long as it doesn't come about in the crappy halfhearted way that the Sci-Fi series did. That show, was an abomination of all that is holy and quite possibly the worst drek every to be spat up by that network.

No wonder my GF forgot Flash Gordon after that terrible Sci-Fi show. As is, I doubt this movie made her a Flash Gordon fan. Still it reinvigorated my love for the property and I applaud all things Mongo. Even Steve McMichael.

This is a double pingback story. I saw over at Poe Ghostal that he had linked a story from Jason "Toy Otter" over at AFI. Originally I was content to just let it slide, because I enjoy upbeat stories like this that put collecting into a more positive light. I'm really not one to get up in arms about what is afterall, toy collecting. But the more I thought about it, the more it stuck in my craw.

Although I like Toy Otter, I can’t help but feel this blog post of his comes off as insincere. He uses nothing but Mattel toys as an example. He’s a Mattel fan. He runs arguably a Mattel fan website. And he’s saying that all figures have issues. Saying this he's acting almost as a de facto representative of Mattel telling us to enjoy our f-ed up toys.



I'm not super anal about my toys. It doesn't have to be a level of "perfect". It just needs to be acceptable. Painted decent, no broken parts. However I usually give them a once over in the store, because of one company... Mattel.

I really wasn't aware that toy quality had went down so much in the past few years. I collected toys through the 80s-90s and never ever bought a bum toy. NEVER. I gave up collecting for several years and eventually came back.

At first I had no issues, but then I started to notice in packages, that if I wasn't careful, certain Mattel toys were very poorly painted. This seemed to be a JLU exclusive problem for a bit and not one that was too bad so I never gave it much thought.

Now I currently buy a lot of toys. I mean a lot. I buy Hasbro toys, I buy Mattel toys, I buy Playmates toys, I buy Character Options toys, I buy import toys, movie toys, you name it, I've bought one in the past few years. And do you know how many times I've had to put a toy back on the shelf because it looks utterly ridiculous? A lot.



But you know what I've never had to do? I've never had to put a Hasbro, CO, Playmates, etc, etc toy back on the shelf because I couldn't find a decent version. That distinction goes to one company only... Mattel.

But the reality is, 95% of the figures on the market DO NOT have the issues that Mattel’s toys do. Give Playmates all the crap you want, but I have YET to buy a defective Playmates toy. Granted some look like poop to begin with. A little error here and there are okay. My MU’s Hulk has a slightly wonky eye.

But the fact of the matter is, Mattel by and by in large makes toys with tons of glaring errors on them. Arms on wrong. Huge paint smudges. Two left feet.



I've bought some GI Joes with minor paint flaws, but out of the hundreds of GI Joes I've bought, I probably own 2 with major flaws. And even those flaws pale in comparison to the kinds of flaws on Mattel's toys. Just last week I had to buy a flawed JLU figure because he was the only available in town. Either I have a poorly painted JLU or no JLU at all.

Sorry, but all toy flaws are not created equal and Mattel's toy blunders are not something to be accepted or by god, even praised.



I've waited years to have a decent Captain Marvel mass market figure and apparently I'm still waiting, because every time I've seen one in store it looks terrible. I'm not talking minor issues, I'm talking paint all over the chest, cape nearly ripped off...

It's just not acceptable. And you know what? That didn't happen on vintage toys. The idea that this "always" happened is just plain false. Sure, there have probably always been examples of flaws in the manufacturing process but QC used to kick those toys out. Now they make it to the shelf.

And there is something fundamentally wrong with that. Technology has gotten better. Prices have went up. And yet the toys now are worse. You constantly hear companies complain about how they have to live up to new safety standards, but the QC has went into the dumper. The sad thing is, I've seen it permeate all of Mattel's lines. DCIH figures that look like they've been ran over with a forklift and then put into the package. The aforementioned DCUC. The new JLU figures all look like they were painted by watercolors (Cept the ones from Matty's website, naturally).



This is a NEW problem and it's almost a one company exclusive problem. Minor flaws, little errors can have some charm. A slightly loose joint sucks, but life goes on. Toys that have exploding butts right out of the package are NOT acceptable. Figures that look like they've been painted by Helen Keller are NOT acceptable.

Would you buy a CD with a scratch in it? Would you buy a shovel with no spade? Would you buy a car that's got four drivers side doors? Would you buy a telephone that's missing the #2?

I've said it a 1,000 times in a 1,000 places but when I paid $30 for King Grayskull and the first thing that happened to me when I pulled him out of the package was his foot broke off, it was a disgrace. The fact that dozens of other people suffered the EXACT same problem and the only response we ever got from Mattel was basically a "suck it up fanboy at least you got a King Grayskull, consider yourself lucky" is an absolute atrocity of a way to run a company.

If toys are for kids, (which clearly several of Mattel's lines are not) then shouldn't our kids deserve more? No wonder kids want to play video games instead of toys. Toys from my youth can STILL endure hours of play and the new toys can't. At least the video games don't fall to pieces when we take them out of the package.

When did this happen? When did we, as collectors, start expecting perfection in a cheap, mass produced item?

When we started getting this crap.



All Toys Credit to their original owners... And Mattel!