Pre-Toy Fair 2012 Round-Up
MOTU / DC News (& Spoilers?)

This evening I was starting to put together a quick round-up of Pre-Toy Fair news for the lines I collect, primarily MOTU & DC. I was really in a groove when Mattel/Digital River inadvertently made their Toy Fair images available early. I tossed out what I’d written and started over from scratch.


MOTU (now with… NYTF Spoilers, seriously don’t read any further if you want to be surprised…)

Maybe it’s just me, but it feels like MOTU’s been somewhat off the radar sin- oh, never mind, Mattel’s just inadvertently spoiled (probably) all of their NYTF reveals. We’ll have to wait until Sunday for the specifics, but based on what we’ve seen my money is on Castaspella & Mantenna being the Club Eternia reveals while Icer, Shokoti, & Batros will be for… something else. Maybe a mini-sub, maybe a multi-pack, we’ll have to wait and see. Regardless of how the figures are released, everything looks pretty spectacular. MOTUC is getting a little long in the tooth and the character selection doesn’t wow as much as the old days, but it’s still one of the sharpest toy lines out there.

Out of everything, Mantenna looks to be the hit of the group. It’s going to come down to the articulation with him I think, but the visual is there, the bugging out (or swappble & bugged out?) eyes look great and he’ll make a great fifth pillar to our Horde displays. Castaspella looks similarly sharp – I love the colors. NA He-Man also gets back in on the reveal action with our first look at the techno-vest and helmeted head which appears to let the figure replicate not one, but two figures from the old NA line.

Of the Filmation group, I think Icer might be the coolest (har, har), but I’ll wait for the big Toy Fair pics to make a call. It doesn’t hurt that he has the Staff of Avion. I’d love to get more Filmation “props” for the upcoming figures. No word yet on how the three Filmation figures will be released, but I strongly suspect they won’t be part of Club Eternia.

Last up is that pesky Castle. A few minutes ago I was planning to write about Mattel slowly leaking out the various parts of the castle with extreme close-ups, but this latest slip-up has gone and shown the whole kit-and-kaboodle. Granted, the 300px image isn’t nearly big enough, but plenty of the details are spilled now, including the presence of the Grayskull Robot/Armor (please let that be articulated, please let that be articulated).

The Castle dimensions appear to have been altered a bit, but it looks sharp and I’m still eager to see more on Sunday – even with the leaks, Mattel’s Sunday presentation should still be a really big deal. In addition to the details on these releases, we also might see some newer items that weren’t pre-photographed in time for this update. For more pics than the few here, check out Mattycollector’s Facebook page.

In non-Matty MOTU news, Icon Heroes also sent a teaser image of a new piece that looks to be compatible with their Castle Grayskull: a Filmation base. We’ve only seen the one pic so far, but if it’s anything like the Castle, it should look really great when it all comes together.

DC Comics

Speaking of leaks, some DC figures have also ended up with an expanded section in this article thanks to the Mattycollector leak. Filed under we-knew-he-was-coming-but-its-still-cool, is the Comedian from Watchmen. The figure looks sharp in these early pics, but I hope we find out about an alternate head on Sunday. Oh, and yes you will need a fine-tip sharpie to draw the happy face on Blake’s button.

For the Club Infinite Earths, we get a look at Huntress fully painted (but not fully covered, Jim Lee’s open-midriff gets the nod for this figure) and Fire from the 80s Justice League. I’m kinda surprised they didn’t go with the cooler “flame on” version of Fire, but the figure looks sharp nonetheless. And now we’re probably going to need that 2014 sub to go through if we ever have a hope of getting Ice. (And Doc Magnus, Zauriel, Aztek, Zatara, Gangbuster, Sarge Steel, Dr. Occult, Lady Cop… I could go on and on…)

These leaks come on the hills of plenty of pre-Toy Fair news for Mattel’s DC license. The 6″ Vampire Batman in the Unlimited line. The Superman Movie Masters Reveal (Superman, Zod, & Jor-El). Of the three shown, I’m only down for Superman proper without an incentive like the Bat-Signal. Mattel also gave some details on their 60s Batman figures including a 6” figure assortment, a 2-pack, and possibly an in-scale Batmobile. I don’t want to collect that line, but honestly, how can I not? Ugh!

And in non-Matty DC news, DC Collectibles unveiled plenty of new figures in their two scales and.. hardly anyone cared. I don’t want to trash a game I haven’t played, but I’m just not interested in Injustice: Gods Among Us or any of the tie-in merchandise. The Mattel figures have looked particularly awful and the tie-in comic preview was downright annoying. Truthfully, these 3 ¾” figures from DC Collectibles are probably some of the best tie-in stuff, but getting those costume designs in plastic isn’t important to me. The 6″ line continues with more New52 designs (which look much better than the Injustice stuff), but those are no go for me too. It’ll be a sad day when the Club Infinite Earths subscription finally comes to an end.

NoisyDvL5

62 thoughts on “Pre-Toy Fair 2012 Round-Up
MOTU / DC News (& Spoilers?)

  1. I think all the characters revealed for the MOTUC line are fantastic! Mantenna definitely takes the cake for the best but the rest of them are completely unexpected and most welcome! Shokoti’s packin demon is the coolest thing ever and they need to sell packs of those guys cause I want more.

    I’m really hoping they do a sub for these Filmation guys because that seems like the only way I will be able to combine orders with my other subs. Unless Matty finds some magical way in the next few months to combine early access with sub shipments, but I’m not holding my breath on that.

    The Castle looks great but does look a bit underscaled from the blueprints we were sold. I’ll hopefully be able to get to NY this weekend to see it in person. But I do like the accessories we see on the inside, and the robot armor looks like its own sculpt which is totally awesome!

    1. The Castle looks much better in the three-quarters pic than the head on one, so I’m curious to see the million pics that of the Castle that should pour out of Toy Fair.

      Everything MOTU does look sharp – the roster is getting near or below my knowledge/interest going into Filmation, but at least everything looks good!

      1. Well, MattyCollector’s Facebook page seems to have purged all the leaked images. GUess we’ll have to wait for the OFFICIAL official reveals. Heh.

  2. Anyone else kind of disappointed that these got leaked and then someone had to go and spread ’em around? I’m not talkin’ about you, Noisy, they’ve been out all evening. I guess nobody FORCED me to look, still, someone had to be “that oh, so clever” guy and let the cat out of the bag.

    Oh well… at least its official pics, and not just a list and then have to spend another day or two speculating about whether or not the leaked list is right or not.

    As far as the MOTUC reveals, I don’t know… I’m going to have to sleep on it to make up my mind about them, maybe wait for the official word, but at first blus I’m pleased with NA He-Man and Mantenna at least. I don’t know about the others yet. Really don’t care for Castaspella. Icer leaves me a little cold, but is definitely a cool figure. Thanks for identifying the Staff of Avion, I couldn’t figure out what it was and didn’t want to have to go looking. Too bad Stratos won’t be able to hold it. I do like Shotki a lot, and Batros is cool too. Part of me hopes they’re not in Club Eternia tho.

    1. Yeah, I know what you mean. I was working on this article when the pics hit; I think I knew in the first five to ten minutes about them. I could’ve posted them right away and easily been the first site to have something up, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be “that guy” or not. It was only later in the night after seeing them at Fwoosh, ToyArk, TNI, etc that I figured I should go ahead.

      Sunday definitely has some things to look forward to, but by-and-large most of what I wanted to see at Toy Fair is taken care of.

      And, I’m pretty sure they won’t be in Club Eternia. Maybe one of them, but not all three.

      1. thanks for the heads’ up on those sites.

        Casta looks like DynaWoman for the modern age! LOL
        Shokti looks like a good stand in for Sadow Lass in the Legion, if not for her, ah, “bulkier build”?

        Comedian – not bad, but the lack of smiley is INEXCUSABLE, esp as it REPRESENTS THE SERIES.
        Fire – not bad, I think the only thing I would have changed is giving her her jacket (Canary had one to borrow from!) outside of the transp.green variant.

        Huntress – again, hate the Hush midriff. I prefer the full body outfit we got in the TJ/JLA line.

    2. I’m not disappointed at all! I don’t enjoy the Toy Fair day-of nightmare of slow-to-load websites and initially disorganized news about reveals. This was a very pleasant surprise, like the Toy Fair suddenly happening early.

  3. I like the DC reveals, I don’t really collect MOTUC, but that line has some fine Ladies. Castaspella and Shakoti are neat. So now we have seen protypes of all the Watchmen except for Ozymandias. I’m hoping the production figure of The Comedian has the smile printed on his button. I really like the Man of Steel Superman, it’s a shame he will be an undersized Movie Master.

    1. There won’t be a smile on the button you have to license it to put it on products and Mattel will surely just skip it dealing with it.

      MM Supes looks good. It’ll be neat to put with him DK Bats.

      1. so DC Direct was able to put it on their figure, both even use it as the packaging logo, but to actually put it on the character, Matty can’t? wtf?

        1. The Hot Toys Comedian went without too on the smiley face. 🙁 I don’t recall, but I think the DCD stuff was covered under a larger WB license umbrella. I highly doubt we’ll see Mattel spring for it and its not much to me, those stickers are everywhere!

  4. I said it before, and I’ll say it again: How is Mantenna a fan favorite character? he looks like a venereal disease on legs. And personally I like Jim Lee’s huntress with ab window. Now to know is she’s retail or sub. And Vampire Batman?! That means they can do ANY Elseworlds, like Red Son or Kingdom Come!!!!!

    1. I like Mantenna because his design is so wild and unlike the average action figure. Four legs and pop-out eyes, not to mention enormous ears, a scolex mouth flanked by tusks, and he’s a bit skinny, but can hold his own against the muscle-men. Cooooool.

      The rest of these MOTUC reveals are also seven shades of awesome with a side of bitchin’ sauce, but I’m not a fan of Batros’ wings. May have to add those to my ever-increasing backlog of Soft Goods projects.

    2. Mantenna is my favorite Hordesman! He’s this incredibly wimpy guy, but so incredibly vicious, I love ‘im!

      1. I’m glad that I am not the only one who feels that way about the Filmation figures. When ToyGuru announced they got the Filmation rights it was some pretty exciting news, and I’ll admit, getting Shadow Weaver and Marlena was pretty awesome. Now that we’re getting into some very obscure characters I’m not sure how great it is.

  5. I clean forgot that Toy Fair is on this weekend. The feeling I’m getting is that both MOTUC and Club Infinite Earths are going to be mixing and matching characters from various eras from now on. It’s going to be more difficult getting the subs if you’re only a fan of the original Masters stuff and Golden Age DC but not POP, NA, or pre-DCnU modern designs from the last 20 years or so.

    1. Club IE is always a hard sell because of the mixing and matching I think. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of collectors who would want figures from all eras there. I still like the idea of subscription toys, but post-move I’m feeling a lot less friendly to having massing spanning collections of one toyline sit around. I want my new display to be more eclectic.

  6. Looking forward to these. Love Mantenna, Castaspella (though was hoping for Glimmer), NA He-man looks cool if Captain Power-e, Icer, Batros, and Shatoki (however spell her name) look nice, if can see stuff vaguely through Icer will be a plus, I want a hanging upside down.stand just for Batros now.

    The DC, love Bea think she looks great but agree we kinda need the flame on version, maybe the nude.woman deal turned them off. Makes you wonder how Johnny gets by huh. Huntress iffy on. Like her look but looks like first Geoff Jones and now Jim Lee influence figs. So many outfits to chose from for her and go right to Jim Lee, yeah you can guess. Still glad she got made.

    Gotta stary saving up.

        1. Wait, wait wait.

          Is that Captain Power as in ‘old syndicated kidvid show written by JMS that was actually really cool’ or is that Captain Power by a different name or is that someone confusing Power Lords with Captain Power or maybe even Max Steel and where’s my Major Matt Mason relaunch… 🙂

          (actually, given how Mattel can botch things up I’m really not sure I’d want them to relaunch Major Matt Mason. I have very very specific ideas on what they should do, see…)

          1. There’s been talk of work on a new Captain Power TV series for a year or so now, but I’ve not heard anything about toys. And at this point, it looks like the official “Captain Power Returns” website no longer features much mention of a potential reboot, and instead is just an official site for the 80s series:

            http://www.captainpowerreturns.net/

  7. Filmation figures, eh.

    Icer does look cool, but I think it’s in large part due to the translucent plastic and it’s cool we finally get an accessory for Stratos too. The rest I can absolutely live without. Batros is a character that could be cool if allowed to be reimagined, but as is he’s incredibly lame and Scooby-Doo-ish.

    Mantenna is rad, improved on the excellent precedent set by the Staction.

    The rest, I’ll wait on CG to see better pics, but one thing I don’t get at all is people saying it’s too small. Do these people want a 1:1 replica?

    1. Scooby-Doo-ish — THATS the word I was looking for to describe him! They were able to take Mantenna and make him look slightly less goofier than his Filmation model. The toy is pretty doofy too. I’m glad it has more elements of the awesome staction, which still holds up pretty nicely today.

      1. Well see to me, Filmation He-Man is only like 2 baby steps removed from being EXACTLY Scooby-Doo.

  8. Why do you suspect the Filmation figures won’t be a part of Club Eternia? Maybe I’ve just been easy out of the loop, but given the overall tightening of the MOTUC budget this year, I find it hard to believe these would be non-sub items. It’s too late for a Filmation-only sub.

    1. Maybe they’re getting some Filmation characters out of the way before they start the final, vintage-only sprint on MOTUC. Or perhaps these will be offered the same months as some He-Man / Skeletor quarterly variants for budgetary reasons.

      If they want to do a Filmation sub-line next year, I’d happily sign up for it, if it got me Lizard Man, Strongarm, Lord Masque, Melaktha, General Sunder, and General Tataran.

      Then, roll on a Club Etheria subscription so I don’t have such a sausage-fest of half-naked muscular men in leather harnesses and furry underpants on my shelves.

    2. Mostly the math. There’s not enough spots for these all to fit in the 2013 sub unless one of them is in an Arymbuilder 2pk. And Mattel surely won’t show 2014 figs this early, so there’s not many places left for these to go.

      I agree on your assessment about the timing, but I think they’re going to do it anyway. Ideally, they should be able to sell more Filmation subs than 30th subs, right?

      1. I would think a Filmation sub would be an easier sell than the 30th with characters never made before over characters that never existed. The only thing that worries me is that the end of this year ends up like 2012 where every month has like three figures (and an oversized with them usually) shipping. Gets expensive!

        1. Also Darkdream, Old Woman Disguise Evil-Lyn, Dylamug, Wyrd of Crystal Man-At-Arms, Kothos, Dragoon, Huntara, Scorpia, a maroon-coloured Trap Jaw Weapons Pak . . . .

          I could do this all day. };D

  9. Out of all the reveals, the only thing that I can guarantee I’ll be going for is Huntress. “Birds of Prey” is one of my all time favorite books, and this is the first figure Mattle’s released since they’ve had the DC license (for a decade or so now) that satisfies that collector’s itch (they released a Black Canary, but it was based on her crappy silver age costume and had those hideous fishnets, which also reduced the leg articulation. On one of the DCU’s top martial artists. Yeah. Not only that, but on mine the hips were so damn loose the figure couldn’t stand on her own). Huntress is really a figure that could/should have been done back in the DCSH line. I’d have preferred the Ed Benes design, but Jim Lee is close enough (Benes’ design was very similar to Jim Lee’s but more symetrical and with less weird 90s-esque flairs, though it looks like those have been toned down considerably for the figure, so I’m happy).

    Fire looks cool, and if she were at retail, I’d definitely pick her up (as has been the case with many of the CIE figures), but it’s not worth the hassle or cost for me to get figures off the website. Plus, as has been said, who knows when/if we’ll be getting Ice. It wouldn’t surprised me even a little bit if Mattel couldn’t even manage to finish a two member team.

    I’ll probably get at least Superman to go with my Movie Masters collection. He can hang out with Dark Knight Batman and Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern, who looks woefully out of place because the figure is actually realistically proportioned, since the figure was crafted from body scans of the actor rather than being a 4H build.

    MOTUC is a line I pretty much gave up on over a year ago, and the current line up doesn’t really mae me regret that. Though I will say, could some of Icer’s parts be an indication that Ice Armor He-Man is on the way?

  10. People are speculating on the Filmation figures because during the last panic/threat/complain-off that is subscription deadline, there was the impression that people’s interest in the line was waning and finishing off the vintage line in the sub was top priority. Somewhere down the road, they’d look into another format of possibly pre-orders for ancillary characters. I think I’m getting this straight, this is cobbled together from Toyguru appearances on Roast Gooble, Youtube and Matty. So that’s why several people are questioning the bulk of Filmation leaks from last night. One of the biggest proponents for more new characters was Noisy himself, I’m surprised by the “I’m not super excited, but they do look really nice!”

    1. These aren’t new. They’re a new pool of old characters. 😀

      It’s cool that they’re doing them that’s for sure though. I think my MOTU interest is really just at an ebb right now. Packing, moving, and the prospect of resetting my collection has sapped a lot of my energy. I’ve probably got a truetorial about it coming up.

  11. I’m sure it is just me and my meh attitude towards most of the horde, but these reveals seem lacking to me. A possible film action sub would be great, but like POE said the timing is weird…are they going to do a mid year sub or make us wait til next year to get these guys….in any case lets get a feeling Lizard Man already if this happens.

    A lot of people seem to be upset about the possibly smaller than expected castle, but it looks pretty sweet beyond the fact that te interior looks unsculpted….again some bigger official pics will relly clear things up

  12. Wow, if thats the 6″ Movie Masters Superman Im down for that. I’ll have to go pick up DKRises Batman to go along with him. And maybe a Ryan Reynolds GL? (Nah!) Does anyone know if they fit in scale with the MM Ghostbusters?

    Thats sweet news about the Fire figure. Do we know if its the orginal leotard costuem or the more JLI tube top version?

    1. Tube top. There are pics of her too if you go hit up ToyArk. I just ran outta space!

      And yeah all the MMs but the human GL figs are pretty well scaled to one another.

  13. I think this is a great reveal. I’m surprised even the non-Filmation folks aren’t more cheery. These are great looking figures. Snap out of it, folks!

  14. Y’know, I really look forward to these big cons and the slow parade of reveals throughout the weekend, so this photo-leak is kind of a bummer. Oh well, I’m sure there’s some more coming our way that we haven’t seen.
    As for the figures, I’m not a MOTU subscriber, but I’m a huge Masters fan from when I was little and really love the mythology of that whole universe, so it is pretty exciting to see figures of these Filmation characters. They look really nice, too. As for Mantenna, he was always kind of dorky looking. i mean, the Horde are these Heavy Metal badasses, and then you have this skinny dude with this bulbous, red Muppet-head. He just looks out of place to me, but at least the Horde is nearly complete.
    The DC figures look terrific. Not a huge fan of the Jim Lee-style Huntress, but it’s not a bad look either. Plus, she’s a crucial name to check off the list. Fire looks good, too. Hopefully they give her some snap-on flame accessories or something. With any luck this means we’ll be getting Ice, as well. best of the bunch is the Comedian, by far. Awesome head sculpt!
    That “Vampire Batman” thing, however, is completely craptacular. Those ridiculous looking wings are about pathetic. Is this turd based on a look from an actual comic? Here’s hoping some better stuff is coming up for the Unlimited line.

  15. “And Doc Magnus, Zauriel, Aztek, Zatara, Gangbuster, Sarge Steel, Dr. Occult, Lady Cop… I could go on and on…)”

    NOT happy about Hush Huntress, and I will campaign to get FA Zauriel as well as WILL PAYTON STARMAN (black/red costume) made until the day I day. (and considering this past week, it might not be long. 🙁 ) Props to the Gangbuster shout out, but do we want three swappable heads for him? (helmeted and both secret IDs?)

    now I need to go look for these pics online, esp Fire (which I do agree that the transp.green “powered up” version would work better than arguing over her various Guardians vs JL vs JLI vs Checkmate costumes!)

  16. Looks like you have to up-date this post already. The Batman TV show figures of Riddler and Penguin just got leaked as well.

    I think there is still more for Matty to show on Sunday:

    Batman, Robin, Joker and Catwoman for the TV series line. The last three characters for the CIE 2013 line. ( you forgot to add Dr. Light, Weather Wizard, Felix Faust, Dawnstar, etc. to your suggestion list) And I’m sure Ozymandias will be shown.

    I think the leak of the Castle has got to be hurting them.

    Not sure what else they will show but there might/should be more.

    1. All great suggestions to the list!

      I’d be happy to be wrong, but I don’t think they’ll be too much more. Ozymandias and the remaining CIE figures are more likely to be seen at SDCC

      1. It think we will see the 2013 figures this week. SDCC will most likely be a reveal of 2014 figures that they will use to beg us to sign up for again. There will be the drama of people pleading to sign up and others saying they are jumping off the bandwagon.

        Mattel needs to up their game a bit if they want people to continue. Try some stuff out like a few 2 pack or 5 packs (which could even be variant characters to save on money) to create interest. Heck, try running an ad in the comics to announce the clubs, which they haven’t done in ages. The Legion 12 pack sold out like crazy, twice. Why not try a sub group like they are doing with the Watchmen.

        Like I said, we will see what happens this week.

  17. i think the MotU lineup is pretty ace! And i hope the Filmation ones won’t be in the sub – how stupid would that be…though, yeah Matty, bwa bwa.. Anyway, i wish this lineup would have been in last year’s sub 😀

    AND NA He-Man is just simply NA He-Man since the first version had a detacheable helmet and technovest, which i think were just his space gear of sorts (but never appeared on the show), but you are able to turn him into both looks he has also in the Classics version now.

    i don’t know if i can resist this one here http://thefwoosh.com/2013/02/mattels-1966-batman-and-batmobile

    1. I hope the Filmation ones ARE in the sub. Or, at the very least, in a separate sub, like with the 30th Anniversary figures.

      I’m usually at work when these things go on sale (5 p.m. GMT), and I hate getting home at 9 at night to find something sold out, for which I then have to pay an extra 75% on top of their already-inflated MayyCollector prices from some online e-tailer to get them.

      Grrrrrrr . . . .

      1. seperate sub for filmation is up now on Mattycollector site and 6 fgures from july to the end of the year. July: Batros, Aug: icer, Sept: Shokoti…and so on.

  18. Dear Matty,
    We the fans, who keep you going.
    Emotionally and financially..
    Are tired of third party mark ups.
    The 10 ten Classics Teelas you made were not enough.
    Will you please run more of her, Queen Marlena and
    several people have asked about the Lions.
    You do want to make money right?
    I’m sure theres enough demand to do another run,
    Id be willing to bet on it.
    Thank you for your time and the Castle looks great.
    David

  19. I glad that brought 3 subs for this year. 2013 seems like the best year Classics is having. Filmation is finally getting long over due. Mantenna design W O W!!

  20. I wish to go on record that if Mattel does, indeed, make that TV Batmobile in scale with the TV Batman figures, I WILL, I WILL find a way to buy one.

    If they do the Batcycle they’ll likely have to do new tool bucks because I don’t think the standard DCU articulation allows for the kind of sitting and kneeling that is called for.

    And they’ll need a Batgirl cycle when they make Batgirl.

    *sigh*

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