In Honor of Mother’s Day – the Top Three Moms Who Deserve Action Figures

Friday the 13th 25th Anniversary Boxed Set

It was a slow day for AFP yesterday, as I was on the road taking my wife and her mom to Las Vegas as a little Mother’s Day celebration. As we were sitting at the gate waiting to board the plane, I thought about action figures of mothers. And came up with one. Pamela Voorhees, from Friday the 13th, was the only one I could recall. And actually, there were at least two made of her. In 2005, NECA came out with deluxe set for the movie’s 25th anniversary, with Jason and his dear old mom (pictured above, courtesy of BigBadToyStore). Sideshow made a 1/6 scale version – see Michael Crawford’s review of Pamela Voorhees.

So, what other mothers deserve action figures? Before getting called to board the plane, I came up with three.

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Icon Heroes Announces Filmation He-Man Mini-Bust, Q&A with Designer Joe Amaro

Icon Heroes He-Man Mini-Bust

Icon Heroes has really been on a tear in recent days. Their Castle Grayskull Polystone Environment is coming out this month, and they’ve just announced another Masters of the Universe item – the He-Man Mini-Bust Paperweight.

Keep your papers safe from Eternian winds with the Icon Heroes Masters of the Universe He-Man Mini Bust Paperweight! Based on the 1980’s Filmation television series, He-Man wields his power sword atop a Castle Grayskull tower base defying evil. Designed and sculpted by Joe Amaro and the Four Horsemen, this complete piece comes with sheath and Master of the Universe logo. Cast in high quality polystone, the He-Man Mini Bust Paperweight stands approximately 12 inches tall from the bottom of the base to the tip of the Power Sword. This makes a great addition to any desktop or Masters of the Universe collection. Available September 2013. SRP $60.

We were lucky enough to chat with Nate Baersch, designer of the Icon Heroes Castle Grayskull a couple days ago, and it’s a special treat for us to chat today with Joe Amaro, who designed and sculpted this mini-bust in collaboration with the Four Horsemen. Joe is noted in the collectibles community for his MOTU-inspired creations, like his Manta Raider collaboration with Rudy Obrero. His professional credentials include a stint at Jazwares. Joe was gracious enough to answer our questions about the mini-bust and some of his other projects.

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Mattel Announces San Diego Comic-Con Exclusive DC Universe Club Infinite Earths New 52 Shazam

I’m not quite sure why Mattel went with the “Club Infinite Earths” moniker for their second DC Universe exclusive for this year’s San Diego Comic-Con (the first being the Man of Steel: Superman vs. General Zod 2-pack). Since Club Infinite Earths is the MattyCollector subscription that is targeted for the more obscure collector-oriented choices, it seems like this New 52 Shazam exclusive would fit better with the DC Unlimited branding that has focused on the New 52 and the Injustice video game more than anything else. Mattel had the copyright issue with the Captain Marvel name when they released his classic comic look in the DC Universe Classics line. I haven’t read any New 52 with Shazam in it – is Shazam his name in the comics now, or is Mattel still towing that copyright line?

The second exclusive announced today was the Hot Wheels Atari Beach Bomb with an old school Asteroids deco. It comes in packaging that looks like an old video game cabinet. I miss the 80’s!

DCU Club Infinite Earths “Shazam!” New 52

DC Club Infinite Earths Shazam

Sculpted by the Four Horsemen, this is the first ever figure of the New 52 Billy Batson, the boy turned DC Super Hero known as “Shazam!” Not included with club subscriptions, this figure arrives with a removable hood in Club Infinite Earths die cut packaging with distinctive silver foil. The perfect addition to your DCU collection!

This product will be available for pre-order at MattyCollector.com on June 4, 2013, to be picked up at San Diego Comic-Con (details to come). It will also be available for purchase at the show, then at MattyCollector.com on August 5, 2013.

via Matty | News.

Q&A with Nate Baertsch, Designer of the Icon Heroes Castle Grayskull

heroic 1

You may know him as Baena at many of the toy and collectible forums, but Nate Baertsch is also an accomplished illustrator, and happens to be one of the designers behind the Icon Heroes Castle Grayskull Polystone Environment. Nate recently got one of the Icon Heroes Castles off the production line, shared these pictures, and kindly answered some of our questions.

AFP: How did you get involved with Icon Heroes for this project?

Nate: Dumb luck! Okay, that’s not entirely true. I’ve had a good working relationship with the Four Horsemen since somewhere around 2007? I started out doing packaging art for their Seventh Kingdom line. Ramathorr was the first painting I did for them, and to this day still one of my favorites.  Over time my work with them has increased from packaging artwork for their figures, to occasional design sketches and concepts for figures for the variety of lines that they work on. Over time, and meeting up with them when I could at conventions, we’ve established a good working relationship and friendship, as we all love all things MotU and general super fantastical spacey geeky goodness. A lot of “geeking out” about MotU lore, Seventh Kingdom, their other properties, Outer Space Men and now Power Lords!

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Mattel Announces San Diego Comic-Con Exclusive Masters of the Universe Classics Rokkon & Stonedar 2-Pack

Photographer Dennis Stylist Susan

Mattel has started off their reveals of their SDCC 2013 exclusives with a bang – with fan favorites Rokkon and Stonedar in a Masters of the Universe Classics 2-pack. I think last year’s Vykron appealed to a subset of hardcore MOTU fans, since he and his Space and Tank alternate forms were never actual toy releases or featured in any of the animated shows. The Comet Warriors should have a broader appeal, despite their late appearance in the vintage Masters of the Universe line.

Mattel is revealing two exclusives a day this week (the second is a Hot Wheels Battlestar Galactica Cylon Raider), so I think we may see another MOTUC exclusive before the week is out.

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