Hasbro is just killing it with their HasLab projects. The Razor Crest becomes their most successful one yet. Joe product is slowly being revealed, but the 3rd parties are stepping up to fill the void. Speaking of 3rd parties, 4 Horsemen continue to absolutely kill it with the lack of 6-7 inch new MOTU being revealed. I’m a little sad that we’re not getting a new transformable Wheelie, but I’m still not mad at this Grimlock and ’86 Movie line.
The votes are in and TFCon’s 3rd party panels are officially boring. I think the most riveting discussion was about HasLab’s Razor Crest’s newest stretch goals. Are you going to vote with your dollars? Classified gets some new/old news. I think the fans have been heard in regard to this line. Hopefully, that doesn’t mean the end of 4 inch super-articulated Joes and if does, can we at least get better distribution? Lastly, the only thing for MOTU doesn’t even have a link, just the sound of millio...
On this episode, we learned a lot. Sometimes in real-time. Like we’ll be getting an entire wave of Mandalorian Retro Collection figures. Mattel is doing some pretty cool things at Mattel Creations, including a clear Origins Skeletor. Just wish I would have learned of it sooner. We had heard rumors about the third wave of Classified, but now the trusted source that revealed earlier waves including the Cobra Island exclusives, confirms it will be Lady Jay, Flint, and Major Bludd. Finally, Transfor...
Nothing fancy this time, just a good long discussion about selling.
Hasbro had no problem selling their latest round of Joe Classified exclusives. Once again, it was us that had a hard time buying them. Something we all would love to buy, but won’t be sold here is an amazing life-size Megatron water gun. Super7’s Snake Mountain is still for sale, but you’ll probably need to sell at least a few toys to make space for that thing. Hasbro has now sold over ten thousand Mandalorian Razor Crests for a total of 3.5 million dollars. Now that’s what I call selling.
This time around I’m going to address what we talked about in comparison to actual reveals via Pulsecon instead of my favorites. First up, is the complete absence of ’86 Studio Series. With multiple figures leaked already, why not at least address it? We’ve been covering the Holiday Troopers. Wow, that is some awful deco. They even joke about how Lucasfilm was super-hesitant about this, for good reason. For Joe, we knew what was coming with the “Retro” line figures, but I hadn’t seen anything ab...
My hoarding isn’t more evident than in my defense of the Studio Series Devastator Boxset. Something that is also a little ridiculous is the price of this 3rd party Bantha. As cool as it is, I don’t know how people can rationalize it. The new Joe movie is getting pushed back again, but that’s not stopping the new movie Classified figures from coming soon. There’s no new MOTU news, so let’s go with something Lotus thought was ridiculous, 1/12th scale accessories.
If you were born in the late ’80s, maybe Beast Wars is your thing. If so, WFC Kingdom looks to have you covered. For a kid born in ’75 like me, Return of the Jedi was probably your sweet spot for Star Wars. Well, the Retro Collection has got you covered. No matter when you were born hopefully, you can appreciate this amazing Arctic Scarlett and Sabertooth. Nothing new for MOTU since the amazing reveals at Power-Con, but stayed tuned, Mattel continues to impress.
How bad do you want a Quintesson? $180 bad? That’s what the new MP-scale X-Transbot Dr. Egg will set you back. The new Hasbro Pulse Livestreams have not been a friend of people’s wallets either. Usually dropping at least one new toy, if not ten, these streams no long are simple “here’s what’s coming soon”, they are full-on ads for temptations available to order right then. Star Wars has one coming up. Movies studios are definitely being cheap, even a smaller movie like the Snake Eyes origin movi...
It was 12 years and one day ago that Mrs. McFavorite and I announced we would start a podcast. 2 months later Open Your Toys Cast was born. I meant to have this out yesterday so I could say “12 years on this day”, but as the title implies, time certainly moves faster than we could ever imagine. I’m actually sneaking this post in on Mrs. McFavorite’s birthday. It was just under 20 years ago that she and I met. In just a few short months after that, we would never be away from each other for more ...
I can’t believe we’re almost to 200. Can you? See you at the bicentennial.
Well, it’s as close to con season as we’re going to get this year. Hasbro has bet on Walmart. We spend a good amount of time decrying this decision, but we’ll find out in two short days how it goes. As the Walmart listings increase for the ’86 Studio Series, I am getting very excited. I think we’re a little tired of these coded Star Wars listings showing up, but at least it means lots of stuff is coming. We debate whether yet another new Cobra Commander listing will finally be a hooded version a...
The future holds a Back to the Future Transformers crossover. About two thousand of us got our first shot at it, but the rest of us will have to until October for Gigawatt. It’s also been confirmed that we will be getting a Cobra Trooper in the Classified line. Can’t wait to see the army builders run with that one. Even if you don’t have kids, never hurts to plan for the future with these great MOTU Little People. Lastly, the coming Lego Art sets may not be for everyone, but I personally think t...
I think a lot of people had some good feels over all of the announcements over the last week. Hasbro is giving us a Black Series for Transformers. Star Wars 3.75 collectors are getting another playset. I loved it, Cliff hated it. What are your thoughts? Nothing for MOTU, so I’ll just promote the 4Horsemen’s 20th anniversary. My favorite reveal by far all week was a Classified Pimp Daddy Destro.
This is super late and I still have a lot to do. So I’ll just leave this here.
If a 3rd party MP-scaled Astrotrain can be $80, I definitely think there’s something to this whole price control rumors that have been circulating for years. I love that the people at Star Wars loosen their control every once in a while and allow things like the “Certain Point of View” series. The second installment is due out soon. I think collectors wish they had a little more control over the styling of the new Classified figures but the new Cobra Commander shows it’s not always that bad. Sin...
R
We cover a lot of rumors this time around, but none more interesting than a bunch of new Mandos. They have a bunch of names I can’t remember. More rumors with even more interesting names are what could possibly be wave 3 of the Classified figures. MOTU had some big names in very small packages. That’s right, the World’s Smallest Masters are available for pre-order. The biggest news for Transformers, unfortunately, is for a big bot that I bet most people wish was bigger. However, at least he has ...
As mentioned on the show, the man himself, Captain Rex, is pure joy in doll form. We get a really depressing God Neptune. Joe is once again a no-show, so the best thing we can do is talk about a Joe-scale Power Loader. Same with MOTU, so how about some Back to the Future figures?
If there are two words Mrs. McFavorite hates to hear it's I'm sick. It basically means I'm going to be a whiney bitch for 3-5 days. Since this is like 5 days late, no introspective prose, no favorite news items from each franchise, just episode 189.
The Transformers live-action movies seem to be getting a lot of new attention. Even Newage is getting into the game with an MP Soundwave with a couple of minions. Since the Origins line doesn’t seem to have any updates, and the Snake Mountain update was less than stellar, Mondo’s Man-At-Arms official pics, will have to suffice for new MOTU. Speaking of high-end 1/6th scale, I’m curious if Hot Toys completists are happy with their new direction of doing repaints like a vintage figure inspired Bob...
Will 6 inch Joes kill the 1/18th scale? Probably not, but I’m warming up to them. Original designs are almost dead in Transformers 3rd Party, but the Magnus redeco of Generation Toys Optimus Primal is as close as it gets and I love it. I don’t think Mafex will be killing off SHF or TBS anytime soon, but their Mando is a thing o beauty. MOTU is definitely not killing anything as the only news was a teaser and pics from the final season of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.
I’m pretty excited for the Magic Square Soundwave, even more so the tapes. Even smaller, but just as anticipated is The Child, TBS-style. Masters gets the smallest of updates in Pixel-Dan’s interview with Bryan Flynn, as in nothing is coming. Lastly for Joe, we’re getting an amazing piece made up of a bunch of little pieces. Mondo’s 1000 piece puzzle featuring Cobra propaganda artwork from Jason Edmiston is a great buy at only $20.
And just like that, we are now officially a live streaming video podcast. Still extremely rough as I learn how to run the show while doing the show. However, not too shabby if I say so myself. Thanks to Lotus we have brought the cast into the modern age. This has tons of added benefits. The biggest is being able to see what we’re talking about. No more having to follow along with the show notes. With less editing needed we’re going to shift to weekly casts. Going weekly will result in much short...
Unfortunately, the would-be TFCon 3rd Party slides were in very precedented territory. With nothing really standing out, even a Unicron couldn’t save it. Something that seems par for the course, but is still super interesting, is a possible six-inch retro line for Joe. Now, this easily could be the current designs with just vintage cards. Maybe redecoes? Another status quo release, but that isn’t a bad thing when it comes to Hot Toys, is the Mando and Child. They’re absolutely gorgeous and one o...
Without a bunch of activities to go to I have had a ton of time to open and sell toys. I’ve been enjoying my toys more than ever. Especially since the last Toy Fair, while not too much originality, really delivered on some nostalgia feels. Mattel made a strong Master’s Origins showing right after our last show. However, I think I’m most interested in their new Mega Contrux. What’s crazy is we got a ton of new news and leaks right after Toy Fair, but probably nothing so exciting as a bunch of TRU...
I have to say that it was a pretty good Toy Fair. Nothing jaw-dropping amazing, but consistent. As usual, most things were spoiled in some form or fashion ahead of time. However, some things caught us unaware. How about the vintage reissues of the Ghostbusters? That got a lot of people excited. Much less so for their new Plasma (i.e. Black) Series counterparts. The Turtles made another huge showing. From Super7 to NECA, there are so many collector-grade choices for our favorite amphibious martia...
The big new in Transformers this time around is MP 50 and 51, e.g. Tigatron and Arcee. Here’s hoping the Arcee is mistransformed. Also big, for 3.75″ Star Wars collectors at least, the “Duck Boat” was revealed to be The Mandalorian Imperial Troop Transport. This stuff is what keeps it fun for me. Will the new Origins line keep it fun for Masters collectors? With what looks to be a great line-up, I think it will be. While we had the leak last show, we get 100% confirmation of the big G.I. Joe new...
Is there anything today you see as being truly nostalgic for kids 20-30 years from now? We are getting figures exactly as we remember them with the new Empire Strikes Back Retro Collection. They’re even striking the nostalgia feels with the box for the $600 Snake Mountain that’s literally too big almost everyone’s collection. Speaking of toys too big for your collections that strikes the feels, Unicron got an update. Probably the “biggest” news was the “confirmation” of Joe Classified, the new B...
