February 18th was the release date for the first box set of the 2002 He-Man and the Master of the Universe animated series. Just before that, however, some news started coming in about a defect on the first disc of the set.

BCI Guy a member of the He-Man.org forums and representative of BCI itself (the company producing the sets) had this to say:

“Sorry for the delay getting back to everyone, but I needed to make sure we were totally sure what happened, how we could fix it, and what we could do about it before reporting anything.

The masters that we received from Mattel are complete – the scene is not missing. The problem was in authoring. There is a layer break in the episode (Disc 1, Episode 4) and when the layer switches, it skips over about 3 minutes of the program. Unfortunately, it’s during a transition and there is no visible or audible break, so the only way to notice it’s there is through story continuity. And no one that watched the check discs caught that it was missing. Honestly, that’s not a valid excuse – it should’ve been caught by someone, and the authoring house needed to realize that one episode was running 3 minutes short. It’s inexcusable, and we’re taking drastic measures to fix this problem once and for all. We’re committed to giving everyone the best possible product – content, features, packaging and quality control. 3 out of those 4 is not nearly enough, so we’re moving Volumes 2 and 3 to a new authoring house that has assured us of the quality and depth of their Quality Control department.

We have already reauthored Disc 1 and will have replacements available by street date – Feb 19th. We will be setting up an 800# to request replacement discs which we will ship out along with a new exclusive bonus item for your trouble and as an apology from us.

We appreciate your continued support.”

This was posted here.

As a follow up a few days later, this was posted on He-Man.org, once again from BCI Guy:

“The replacement disc for Mattel’s He Man Volume 1, Disc One can be ordered by either sending an email to HeManDisc@gmail.com or calling 866-641-3472. Please include your name, your address, a daytime telephone number and the store name and location where you purchased your DVD.”

As seen on Anime News Network, Leonardo DiCaprio has been announced to produce Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira manga into two live-action films; one set for a 2009 release, and another that has yet to have it’s release date projected.

“Each film will cover three volumes of the renowned science-fiction manga about a governmental genetic project and a teenager’s attempt to save a fellow biker gang member.

The manga set in Neo-Tokyo, a city rebuilt after being destroyed in a mysterious explosion. Otomo directed his own animated film adaptation that premiered on July 16, 1988 — the same day that the story has the fictional Tokyo being destroyed. The first live-action film is scheduled for release in the summer of 2009 and will move the story’s setting to “‘New Manhattan,’ a city rebuilt after being destroyed 31 years ago.” “

So, it looks like not only will we be getting DiCaprio as a producer, they’re also going to try and adapt the original plot and premise to suit American ideals. Because that’ll go over well with fans of the anime movie and manga, I’m sure.

Warner Brothers originally had rights to the movie, until Executive Vice-President Greg Silverman (300, Batman Begins) had to re-acquire them from Kodansha after a large bidding war ensued. Ruairi Robinson will be making his feature directorial debut with this project, and Gary Whitta (Book of Eli) is taking the reigns of script-writing. Nothing has been mentioned about casting as of yet. Looks like we’ll all have to keep our eyes on this one, though I wouldn’t hold out much hope.

A while ago I featured Taito Legends 2, this game’s console counterpart. For those of you looking for classic action on the go, you can’t go wrong here. It features a smaller selection of games than Taito Legends 2, mostly covering the late 70s to the late 80s. You’ll find classics such as Space Invaders and Rastan along with more obscure games such as Cameltry and Legend of Kage. Similar to Namco Museum for PSP, this disc contains remixed versions of 5 of the games, complete with remade sound and graphics. If you’ve got Taito Legends 2, then you’ve seen most of these games before, but the 5 remixed games, as well as the ability to have these games in your pocket make up for it.

With agents all over the world, its kind of amazing no one from Powet.TV lives in New York City. So unfortunately, we miss going to Toy Fair. But so many sites are getting good photos up, we’ll just use this space to link to them all.
And you can use the comments section to add more links you may find or discuss what you love and hate about whats revealed this year.
ActionFigure.com covers some specialty figures.
TFW2005 has extensive Hasbro coverage
ASM will be getting more photos through tomorrow of everything!
Toy News International has lots of pictures, and a huge focus on Marvel comics toys!
Wizard Universe has press and site photos
Any other sites you know with photos? Been there yourself? Leave a comment and we’ll keep Powet up to date.

This past week, I featured Twisted Metal Head On: Extra Twisted Edition, so it’s only fair that I feature another car combat game. This game was even developed by SingleTrac, the team behind Sony’s car combat series. Due to creative differences with Sony, SingleTrac briefly split with them, developing this game for GT interactive. When this game was created, the car combat genre was full of copy cats. Many of them weren’t very good. Some of the more notable failures included a WWE car combat spinoff and a Star Wars title that forced players to stop and refuel every few seconds. It’s only fitting that one of the few good games in the genre was created by the developers who innovated it.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

Going directly to DVD just before The Dark Knight this summer will be a new DC Universe animated movie featuring the cast of the Christopher Nolan live action films.
Six anime shorts, all produced by DC animation guru Bruce Timm and written by Josh Olson, David Goyer, Brian Azzarello, Greg Rucka, Jordan Goldberg, and Alan Burnett. Each segment will have its own direction and art style and produced in Japan. Think of it like the Animatrix, but with Batman.
The story will supposedly play out in continuity following the events of Batman Begins but before The Dark Knight. Deadshot, Killer Croc, and Scarecrow are confirmed villains.
Thanks to Rabban for the heads up.

Today we have for you the robot and vehicle images of Goldbug from the Botcon 2008 Convention exclusive box set of figures. We’ve already posted about Prime in robot mode here and his alt mode here.

 

Goldbug’s face is colored like his G1 namesake in blue, but the rest of his colors liken him more to the G1 Deluxe Insecticons. Specifically Chop Shop’s general body shape and color scheme.

  

Remember to check out Botcon.com for more information on the exclusives, the convention and all other things Botcon.

Images of G1 Goldbug and Deluxe Insecticons hail from TFU.INFO.

In the current tradition of dragging things out as long as possible before every gets to see the full set, Botcon.com posted the alt mode of the already revealed ‘Shattered Glass’ Optimus Prime based on the Classics mold of Prime. This is the first figure revealed thus far in the Botcon Convention Exclusive box set of figures.

So far I have to say that I’m liking this figure. I love all the detailing in the vehicle mode from the ‘Til All are Gone!’ to the cracked windshield. The color scheme in robot mode reminds me of Black Zarak’s scheme, particularly with the splash of gold on the crotch. Maybe not so much with the pale red, but thats what it made me think.