ItsAllTrue.Net Turns…
FIVE!

NoisyDvL5

Oh my, doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun?

It seems like just yesterday that I was writing our Fourth Anniversary column and not too long before that that I was originally contemplating starting up another site in the first place. I still remember it clearly. I was submitting a custom figure to AFI’s Custom Super Powers contest and it had that little box on the entry that said, “website”.

“I should have one of those,” I thought. Of course, I was thinking more about a personal one to promote some of my non-toy projects, but fate had other plans. And now, here I am, five years older (I think I’ve aged 10 years in blog years) with a pretty kickass website (if I may say so). Looking back, I don’t imagine it ever crossed my mind that I’d still be doing this this much later, not to mention how popular the site could become. It’s always humbling to see how many of you visit each day. The reviews aren’t that great, but you just keeping coming back for some reason!

Speaking of reviews, we crossed an important milestone this last year – we posted our 1000th review! I believe it was MOTU Classics Sky High & the Jet Sled! That was pretty awesome; even if I didn’t realize until later! And we’re still chugging right along having just posted our 1100th review (that was the Hot Toys Iron Patriot review)! Reviews have slowed down a little this last year. I just have too much going on to keep up the daily pace (And I think I’m buying less, though spending more – I’m special like that), but I’ll be striving to maintain what I call the “MWC schedule”. That’s where I copy the magnificent Michael Crawford and shoot for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday reviews!

And, I know I say this every year, I will endeavor to get some more fun stuff on the site besides reviews. My heart is still set on those ReCollect articles featuring older items in my collection. And, as you may have noticed in our latest soft update, I did remove the dedicated News Column in favor of a color coded system. I love having the News Section, but since we’re not carrying comprehensive toy news, it had a tendency to sit on the same article for days at a time. This new layout will be much more dynamic. And I love the colors!

There will be a few more site changes coming up too. My friends always tease me about wanting to rearrange the furniture every few years. The site suffers similarly. This article is filled with images showcasing how I revamp it every year. I missed my deadline for having the latest redesign in place for our Birthday Celebrations this week, but you’ve surely noticed the new grid!

Of the latest facelift, I think that’s the part I’m most excited about. It’s a much cleaner browsing experience and leaves a lot more articles easily accessible. The color coding system is pretty similar to our old one: green=reviews, blue=news, red=sponsors, purple=event coverage, and a few other colors may crop up along the way too! More changes will be coming in the next few weeks as I roll out the design, so pardon my mess.

Wow. Five years. I don’t know if that leaves me whimsical or it’s just 3am. (It is 3am…, damn it!). Let me wrap this up with my usual call for any any great ideas for content you’d like to see here at IAT. What do we need more of? Less? What’s been your favorite thing from our “first” five years? I’d love to hear what has stuck out in your mind. I always still chuckle at one of the original jokes featuring Batman & a very white Gentlemen Ghost, “First, the detergent! Then justice!”. And I’ll always remember Deadman’s “Aaaaagh” even if we haven’t made use of it in awhile.

Finally, one big shout out to you. Yes, you, reading this. If you’re a site regular, I really do need to thank you for coming back every day or even every so often. If you’re a commentor, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. If you’re relatively new here or this is your first visit… Hi. I love running IAT even if it means some late nights, jokes that bomb, reviews that no one looks at, because I know you guys are gonna come back. It’s that knowledge that thousands of you are going to be here every day, rain or shine, update or no update (sorry). That’s what keeps me going. It drives me to do the next feature. To put a little more effort into what I’m working on. Heck, to just get better (we’ve come along way from those horrible early yellow-tinted pics!). So thank you. We may not always interact directly, but you’ve helped enriched my free time (albeit with lots of work!) and I hope I’ve enriched yours back. Thanks for a great first five years.

Let’s go do it again.

NoisyDvL5

73 thoughts on “ItsAllTrue.Net Turns…
FIVE!”

  1. Happy Fifth Anniversary! I always enjoy it here, Noisy. My helmet is off to Vault and yourself for keeping it great. The friendly atmosphere and casual tone of your reviews make for a continued pleasant experience.

    I’m looking forward to seeing the site further evolve after Mattel’s DC and MOTUC lines wrap up for good over the next year or two. They’ve been the meat and potatoes of many a review for so long now. I will miss them! I’m in for more ReCollect articles and anything on stuff that you don’t usually find elsewhere online.

    And by all means, keep the captioned pics and jokes coming! They’re the true heart of IAT and the reasons why this site is always fun to visit each and every day.

      1. Will do, SG! The caption pics are my favorite part of the site too (As long as I can think of one, some of these figures I just stare at for awhile and nothing comes to me – you guys can prolly spot which ones!).

    2. Thanks, Clutch! I look forward to your early morning comments! 🙂

      I’m as curious as anyone to see what directions the views go after MOTU wraps up too. I’ve slowly dipped into more DCC, which is the easy thing to do… lol

      I love my Hot Toys, but they’re long reviews. Same with MPs. And I did sign up for the new Joe FSS (I’m a sucker).

      Well, at least there’s no shortage of subject material! lol

  2. Congrabulations! Love the site, worthy of all the attention it gets, and your reviews are great. Always look forward to updates. Keep up the sterling work!

  3. I don’t really collect action figures anymore but I still keep reading your reviews as I enjoy them. 😀

    1. Thanks, Jon! I’m really liking the new buttons too. I still want to play around with frame, but I feel like I got something nice done for the 5th! 😀

  5. Happy 5!

    I hope the one thing that will never change is the sense of honesty and friendliness. I don’t see any of the bitterness, angst or entitlement that seems to be de rigueur. I kind of wish the forums were a bit more active and lively, not that I post there much at all or even check them out anymore. I really don’t know why and maybe others have the same odd feeling, like some kind of subconscious barrier, or Jedi mind trick is in place.

    I don’t mind if there isn’t daily content. I appreciate whatever comes up when it comes up. I think reviews of older toys is a great idea or “I used to have this and it went missing long ago and I found one by stumbling over it while I was looking at this store here it is” kind of essays.

    And ‘comic’ strips. There’s many loose threads over in Noisy’s Eternia to be picked up. 🙂

    I like it here. Thank you for the work 🙂

  6. Happy 5th year! I’m proud of you and all you have accomplished! Here’s to many more to come!

  7. Have*… It’s 7 am now and I’m still rubbing sleep from my eyes, but this was the first thing I came to see when I woke up (and was conscious enough for the capacity of thought). 🙂

      1. to be fair, it’s been 5 years… if anyone hasn’t figured it out thusfar, your secret is probably safe.

  8. Man, I don’t know how you do it. Over 200 reviews a year (with Vault’s help, but still), complete with pictures. I’ll never stop being impressed by people who can keep turning out quality content so frequently for so long. You’ve earned every accolade and more.

  10. Five years already? Wow, that flew by! Just yesterday I hit up your DCUC archive since I forget who was in what wave–another valuable service you provide! Thanks for everything and keep it up!

  11. Congratulations and keep up the good work! Many thanks for the effort to entertain and inform the reader

  12. congratz IAT!!! been checking your site, love your reviews. happy 5 years and hope to keep going for 5 more.

  13. Congrats; you do the funniest toy pictures on the web. It’s rare for a website to look better with each upgrade, but you manage to do it.

    May I suggest for the first ReCollect article that you cover Ice Armor He-Man and Fire Armor Skeletor since 2015 looks to be the most variant-heavy of MOTUC and those were the best of the variants back then.

    In 200X; for every Teela there were 50,000 Smash Blade He-Mans. Ah, the good old days.

    Keep the jokes coming!

  14. Happy birthday! Keep up the great work! A Lego Minifigure review brought me in. Your quality and humor has kept me here.

  15. Happy 5th! I don’t often comment here, but this is easily my favorite Toy site to visit, and I have yet to read a review here I didn’t enjoy, even of figures I absolutely loathe! Keep up the good work!

  16. Happy 5th Birthday IAT!!! This is one of my favorite toy sites to visit and I stop by at least once every day. Your toy reviews are great and the jokes with them are always too funny! The checklists are a great resource as well.Its great to find kindred spirits on this site and I love hearing everyones opinions and insights into this awesome hobby of ours. Congrats Noisy & Vault, Keep up the great work!!!

  17. Congratulations! This site has been part of my daily routine for some time and I don’t see that changing. It’s pretty much like being able to read all of my thoughts on these figures but someone else has taken the time to write them up and build a website to show them in a more clever way than I ever could.

  18. Happy birthday, guys! You’ve been part of my daily internet routine since I stumbled across the site a few years back, and I always enjoy the upbeat, positive attitude of the reviews here. Looking forward to seeing what’s next. Here’s to five more years of IAT!

  19. Happy 5th Anniversary Guys! Congrats.
    I’m sure running and maintaining a site like this is not always an easy task, especially during unexpected crises(the Joplin Tornado incident), but you guys manage to make it look easy…and very, very fun.

    Your skits with the various figures has greatly influenced what I do, causing me to create my own blog.
    (Free Plug)
    Mr. Morbid’s House Of Fun:
    dbsuniverse.blogspot.com

    I don’t know if you guys know or it not, but I swear, no lie, the spirit of those old Wizard/Toyfare bits live on here. Love ’em!

    Here’s to many, many, many more years!

  20. Happy 5th Anniversary!

    Honestly, I used to visit a lot of toy sites on the net for years and initially this was just one of the ones on the list I went thru, but it began to stick out more to me with the reviews having jokes and stuff similar to how I remember Toyfare magazine being like before they went away, and I ended up visiting this site more than the others.

    Eventually, a lot of the other sites either closed shop, abandoned, or changed for the worse, and yet this one has for the most part been pretty consistent and a good read.

    Here’s to many more years of great reviews and news!

  22. Happy 5 years home slice…I believe 5 is the plastic anniversary, is it not?

    1. 5th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
      Traditional Anniversary Gift: Wood
      Modern Anniversary Gift: Silverware
      Travel Anniversary Gift Ideas: Airline Tickets, Cruise
      😉

        1. man, you got a dirty mind! give a guy an imminent baby of roughly vegetablian size, and suddenly he thinks he’s a sexpert. 😉

          so when roughly is the baby due, and is vault aware of the load he will have to shoulder for a couple months while the baby gets adjusted to that big glowing nuclear furnace that keeps superman from being the worst victim of seat jacking in history?

          1. We’re looking at early October if he cooperates. I need to put an announcement up for that too really. And ideally, I’ll have quite the buffer built up… O.o

            1. Ohhh, don’t worry, with all the nights up you’re gonna go through, you’ll be writing all kinds of stuff, between changings and burpings and random yelling patrol… 🙂

              And late to the game (but I think I said this last anny) This is my Toyfare methadone. Thank you for all the fun. 🙂

    2. They’re all plastic anniversaries around here! Thanks, DR!

      (And I owe you some BAF/C&C parts, I need to remember that!)

  23. Congrats! Your site has been a favorite of mine for about 4 years now. The great reviews convinced me to start collecting MOTUC.

  24. Congratulations and best wishes to all the IAT crew.

    I came for the “Rise of Cobra” reviews, stayed for the rest.

  25. Happy Anniversary!

    Thank you for all the great review service you’ve done throughout the years for us habitual figure collectors. This is still my #1 goto review site on the web, simply the best hands down!

    Here’s to the next five and plus years to come. Cheers!

  26. just think, a few months and you’ll be sending the site off to it’s first day of kindergarten! 😉

    Seriously, Congrats on making it this long! here’s to another five and beyond!

    I think the only thing I would change is bring back the gag banner headers. Those helped your site stand out. that, and more Maneko reviews! 😉
    I d like the ReCollect reviews idea. Grab a Great Flood survivor and review it, compare/contrast it to any updates there may be, if you have them, as well.

    1. Thanks, Brainlock!

      I really do miss those old headers. I keep thinking if I plan ahead a little more, I could get ’em into the content slider…

  27. Happy 5th Anniversary! Even though a day late! Ive been coming this way for quite some time myself, not day one, but it’s entirely possibly it was like week 3. Its been a great time, I enjoy all your reviews and checklists and commentary. Def keep up the hard work guys!

  28. Happy Fifth, Noisy! I really enjoy your user-friendly, personality-filled corner of the internet. To paraphrase Fleetwood Mac (something I didn’t expect to do today, really), “You Make Toy Collecting Fun”. More, please!

  29. Happy Anniversary! Thanks for the great site, and I appreciate all the work you guys put into it! IAT just keeps getting better. Here’s to many more!

  30. Happy Birthday! I read quite a few toys-review websites and this one easily remains one of the most fun and amusing (especially those picture jokes) – Definitely my personal favorite. Keep it up!

  32. Keep up the amazing work! Love the site and love all the work you put into your captions!

  33. Congratulations on 5 successful years! I remember coming to this site on a recommendation for a visual guide to the DCUC line. I still use it every so often, and wait for continued up-dates until the line is completely dead. I’ve come to enjoy your reviews on other toy lines that I don’t collect but am curious as to what else is out there. I think it is your sense of humor and honesty about the toys that I enjoy. It always keep me coming back week after week. Here is to another 5 more years! I look forward to what you will have to offer.

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