One of the surprise announcements out of SDCC 2011 for Mattel was the discontinuation of DC Universe’s distribution to retail in the form of connect n’ collect/build-a-figure waves. No more build-a-figures would be offered at retail and instead the line would shift to more popular character selections shipped on a unique schedule. That left a hole for MattyCollector.com to fill by selling the figures of characters the line had not yet gotten to along with the more obscure character selections that tend not to do well with retail, but are popular among collectors.

  

In theory, this wasn’t a bad idea. Mattel set up a 9 month subscription that would feature nine monthly figures starting in April of 2012. There would also be three quarterly oversized figures and one club exclusive oversized figure as well. The latter, of which, would be decided by online fan poll based on a selection of revealed characters including, but not limited to, Black Lantern Swamp Thing and Shaggy Man.

The linch pin of this subscription, though, was that a specific number of subscriptions would need to be sold to make it viable. Mattel setup a thermometer to keep track of the relative number of subscriptions on MattyCollector.com to give people an informed view of how close they were to the goal.

Read more about the state of the subscription after the jump.
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Yeah, I know I’m a bit late, so lets not waste too much more time. Right after the jump is this week’s $20 GOTW and Lost Classics, so click and enjoy.

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Since the alphabet is the building block of our language, the Powet Alphabet is the building block of what makes us geeks.

The early 90s bought gamers a new genre of video games: the one-on-one fighter. This new genre of games was the offspring of sports games and beat-em-ups. You took one fighter against another, and it was up to you to take him down. These games weren’t controlled by the simple joystick plus 1 or 2 button setups. No, there were anywhere from 3 – 6 buttons, and you performed special moves by pulling off combinations of the joystick and these buttons to pull off special attacks. The key to winning these games was mastering and utilizing these special attacks, stringing them together in combos. To the best fighting game players, this became both art and science. It wasn’t uncommon to see crowds of players standing around a heated fighting game contest that was going on at the local arcade, weather it was Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Power Instinct, or X-men. Capcom was the undisputed leader of the genre, although beside Midway’s Mortal Kombat, there was another competitor, SNK. Of all the game developers who made fighting games, SNK had the most acclaim after Capcom. The developer had released a collection of fighting games for its Neo Geo arcade system/home console, among them were Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting. These two games enjoyed a deep storyline and an interesting cast of characters who were every bit as memorable as Capcom’s fighters. In 1994 however, they would release something that had never before been seen in gaming, the King Of Fighters.
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The 90s were such an awesome time for comic books (not). Who didn’t love those holo-foil stamped gimmick covers, stories about clones, female versions of our favorite heroes and villains (She-venom anyone? She-thing? *shudder*), the Ultraverse, and the legions of extreme-badass muscle bound gun-toting characters who were the bastard children of Rob Liefiled and the Batman Dark Knight Returns? Remember when they tried to replace all the popular heroes with ‘cooler’ and more badass versions of themselves which lasted all of 1 year (or 3 in the case of Spider-Man)? Remember when most of the Avengers wore generic brown jackets? Speaking of the Avengers, remember that awesome Avengers beat-em-up that Data East did some years back? Of course you do. Well, a few years after that, Data East created this semi-follow up, a fighting game that’s based on the obscure Avengers crossover Galactic Storm. Basically a poor man’s Killer Instinct with Marvel characters, Galactic Storm brings us what we loved the most about the mid-90s. Obscure second string characters, confusing storylines, and lame gimmicks.
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“No”, says Nolan emphatically and unhesitatingly. He resists elaborating simply because, quite understandably, he says, “I just don’t feel comfortable talking about it”.

The above quote is taken directly from Empire magazine, currently on sale. Nolan also rules out Mr Freeze and The Penguin for his next Batman project, due in 2012. Though its less likely those omissions are a tribute to performances by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Devito.

By process of elimination, Riddler and Catwoman are still on the table, though more obscure characters could still prevail. Black Mask? Bane? Johnny Depp as Mad Hatter?

Regular host Sean Orange is absent so Zac Shipley rocks the mic with aDam and Zero in tow. You’d think this would yield a shorter show, but we’ve still got almost 2 hours of news, obscure references, and jokes about serious illnesses and genitals.

Join us, for an unexpected, unplaned, and unrehearsed podcast! Regular shows will resume in 2 weeks!
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Direct Download Link: Powetcast: Revenge Of Teen Wolf

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Hit the jump for show notes!
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In New Super Mario Bros Wii, Nintendo has brought back the long dormant “Koopalings.” These seven characters are supposedly Bowser’s children and appear as stage antagonists in several Mario games. It is said that during the production of Super Mario Bros 3, Shigeru Miyamoto based each of them on a member of the design team.
But when Super Mario Bros 3 was released in 1988 to Japan, the kids were not given names. Only a year and a half later when Nintendo Of America released the game did they get names. The localization team did their best to match their appearances with some obvious, and less obvious names. See how obscure they get!
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Since the alphabet is the building block of our language, the Powet Alphabet is the building block of what makes us geeks.

This column poses the question, “What makes us geeks?” To that, I say obscurity. As geeks we thrive in the obscure. Be it obscure objects, information or experiences involving our niche interests, we Obsess Over Obscurity.
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