News surfaced in recent days from a pre-order listing at BigBadToyStore.com of a Masterpiece Grimlock possibly getting a release in March of 2009. It has been long rumored that Grimlock would join the ranks of this highly detailed and articulated line, but not much beyond that tidbit. Today, it seems the first image has come to light and it certainly looks to impress.

Its no secret that there are a lot of Transformers fans on this site. So I’m happy to be able to pass along news that the Transformers Animated Season 2 dvd set will be released on January 6th, 2009. TVShowsOnDVD report that extras will include a season 2 photo gallery and 3 animated shorts. The picture will be in full frame.

Following in the footsteps of Transformers Cybertron: The Ultimate Collection, Transformers Energon will be offered in an ultimate collection as well. The release date for that set will be December 16th, 2008. Packaging will be very similar and the set will include all 52 episodes. No word on extras at this time.

Diamond Select Toys has announced the next box set of minimates will commemorate the upcoming Marvel Comics’ Punisher: War Zone. From DST’s site:

Marvel Minimates Enter War Zone!

Looks like Minimates are about to enter a War Zone of their very own! Based on this year’s Marvel sequel, the Punisher returns to the Marvel Minimates line with this Punisher: War Zone Minimates Box Set!

Due out on December 5, Punisher: War Zone reunites us with Frank Castle – this time played by Rome’s Ray Stevenson – as he embarks on a war of his own against his new nemesis, Jigsaw. Up against the Punisher is mob boss Jigsaw and a literal army of hired goons, thugs and mercenaries dedicated to wiping out the Punisher once and for all!

This set contains Frank Castle, Jigsaw, Assault Punisher and a Mob Thug as well as a wide array of damage-dealing high-powered weaponry perfect for those pesky Minimate mob wars. Each of the two-inch Minimates were sculpted and designed by Art Asylum and feature 14 points of articulation as well as accessories from the upcoming film.

Look for this set in the October issue of Previews at your local comic book store!

Today we take a look at the Voyager Class Bulkhead figure from Transformers Animated. I managed to pick him up at Botcon and barely put him down since.

Show Notes:
Marvel figure close-ups from: MarvelLegends.Net
Bulkhead close-up photo from: Aftimes.com
Lugnut close-up photo from: TFU.Info

Show Clips were taken from the series as aired on Cartoon Network. Go watch the show! Its really great!

And the Pilot movie can be found here (it is NOT included in the Season 1 dvd set):	You can buy Season 1 here:	The figure can be purchased here:

Hasbro has some neat character bios up on their Transformers Animated site:
Transformers Animated Character Bios

There seemed to be a lot of hype around SDCC about Mattel’s new online-only exclusive Masters of the Universe Classics line. The first figure, King Grayskull, sold out in a relatively short span of time. We saw our first glimpse of He-Man and Beast Man. We were also told Merman, Skeletor and Zodac were on the way. The He-Man.org forums were abuzz with delight at the relaunch of their long desired property.

Many of the other online toy forums, not so dedicated to a single property, were not so keen on what was seen. While it was said that the character choices could come from any line of the He-Man property, we wouldn’t be seeing any of those other lines for at least a year. It was also stated that all figures would match the chunky retro style of the original 80’s toys. Even if a character was chosen from a different line with obvious style disparities from the original show such as New Adventures of He-Man or the 2002 version of Masters of the Universe, the sculpting style would remain in the classic chunky look of the 80’s figures.

This disparity among collectors has a lot of people wondering what will happen to the line now that these details have come to light and those not a part of the ‘hardcore 80’s audience’ is turned off by what they’ve seen thus far. Will the sculpting style change to match the style the character is originally from? Its certainly with in the sculptors’ capability since its none other than the Four Horsemen at the helm on that end. Ultimately though, its Mattel’s decision.

He-Man.org is running a poll to try and determine what fans think of the new line and I think its highly important for all fans to respond. The choices basically ask if you would collect the line, if you would collect the line if certain figures showed up from different series, or if you would not collect the line because of the classic sculpting being used for every figure. Go here to vote and be heard.

The post title pretty much sums it up. I came across this video on BamKapow.com. I was pretty much mesmerized. No dialogue either. Have a watch!

Image courtesy of Figures.com.

The other day I posted that He-man and Beastman would be the next two figures in Mattel’s new exclusive Masters Of the Universe Classics (MOUTC) line. I jumped the gun a little because I was pretty sure I had a scoop since hadn’t seen the info anywhere else. It turns out, they were on display at SDCC and a bunch of additional info was revealed and posted to He-man.org. Here’s some of the highlights:
– King Grayskull sold out on both MattyCollector.com and at SDCC
– Availability will be:

• He-Man – October 31st
• Beast Man – November 15th
• Skeletor – December 15th (was not on display at SDCC)
• Stratos – January 15th (was not on display at SDCC)
• Merman – February 15th
• Zodac – Sometime in 2009

– He-Man will have both a normal Power Sword as well as the classic toy half-sword
– From the 12 regular figures released in 2009, two will be characters who never were available as toys ever, and two will be characters who were released in the vintage line but not in the 2002 line
– Figures are limited to 3 per household
– Mattel produced two “Spirit of Grayskull” figures (blue translucent versions of King Grayskull). One was raffled off on Saturday at the con to a lucky fan. The other one will be auctioned in October for Dream Halloween 2008
– No Chase figures are planned right now (THANK GOODNESS!), but they are still a possibility
– Convention exclusives are being planned in 2009 for both NYCC and SDCC
– Some figures will have multiple heads, like Mer-Man
– Bios on the card will be based on the story arcs from the classic toy mini-comics and 200x line
– Mattel is currently looking into the possibility of including mini-comics later in the line
– BAFs (Build a figures) are only a possibility if the toyline is successful
– Mattel is exploring the possibility of a subscription plan for the toys
– Mattel is exploring the possibility of a comic book series available via mattycollectors.com
– No news about the movie; they are still in script developement

I have included some more tidbits from He-Man.org that came up from a Q&A outside of SDCC after the jump.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

Tomorrow at 11am PST, Mattel’s collectors’ website, MattyCollector.com will go live. They will have up for sale the exclusives offered at SDCC. Included in those is the first figure in Mattel’s new Masters Of The Universe Classics (MOTUC) line; King Grayskull, which we first mention here.

The next two figures in the line will be He-Man and Beastman. Both are listed as coming soon this Fall.

From Mattel’s collector’s site for He-Man:

The most powerful man in the universe is back as a highly detailed, fully articulated action figure in the new Masters of the Universe® Classics series. He-Man® comes complete with power vest, axe, shield, the Sword of Grayskull as both a full sword and the light half of the Power Sword®. A must have for any MOTU fan! Coming this fall only on MattyCollector.com. While supplies last!

  

Beastman:

Skeletor’s right hand, um, Beast, will soon be available as a highly detailed, fully articulated figure in the new Masters of the Universe® Classics line. Comes complete with classic armor and whip. Check back soon for availability. While supplies last!