James Cameron’s Avatar Movie Toys Hitting Stores

If you’re confused about the Avatar figures from Mattel that are hitting shelves right now, I’m right there with you.  James Cameron is making a new sci-fi epic coming out this December called “Avatar,” which has nothing to do with the cartoon called “Avatar: The Last Airbender.”   M. Night Shyamalan is adapting the Airbender cartoon to the big screen, coming out next summer.  Adding to the confusion is that Mattel made the toys for the cartoon.  It’s so convoluted that the cartoon adaptation has dropped “Avatar” from its name, and will go by simply “The Last Airbender.”  Clear as mud!

Avatar Movie Masters  - Jake Sully (712x1024)Avatar Movie Masters - Col. Miles Quaritch (680x1024)Avatar iTags (1024x996)

The toys hitting shelves right now at Toys R Us are for Cameron’s Avatar.  Mattel has let us know that the first allotment of figures will feature an exclusive sticker on the packaging, if that’s your kind of thing.

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DC Universe Classics Gotham City 5 Available on Walmart.com

Wal-Mart has made available online the DC Universe Classics Gotham City 5, the exclusive 5-pack that includes Batman, Superman, Catwoman, Two-Face, and all-new classic jump-suited Lex Luthor.  This set was very difficult to find a few weeks back, and I’ve heard lots of reports of folks finding sets that had been tampered with, so this may be the best option for you to track this down.

They also have the DC Infinite Heroes Teen Titans 6-pack, containing Robin, Cyborg, Raven, Arsenal, Monsieur Mallah, and the Brain.  There’s only a couple of guys I know that are collecting these, but I know of a few more that are looking to pick this set up just for the Brain, as it’s large enough to work in the DCUC scale.

They have the Site to Store option on both items, if you want to save on shipping costs.

Dark Knight Movie Masters Jail Cell Joker – thefwoosh.com

VeeBee continues his seemingly endless Mattel first looks with the Dark Knight Movie Masters Jail Cell Joker.  The Dark Knight series continues as Mattycollector.com exclusives for $20 each.

I’m not sure when the Joker will go on sale – originally Mattel announced that they would be selling one Dark Knight figure each month starting in September, with the Jail Cell Joker coming in December.  However, the first figure, the Bank Robber Joker, was pushed back from September to October.  When I find out more I’ll let you know.

The sculpt of this figure is very, very nice (if you haven’t figured out that the Horsemen have a knack for doing amazing sculpts, now is the time) and the likeness in the head sculpt is by far their best effort. At this scale, it is amazing how close to Heath Ledger they came. We have seen some very strong likeness to real people lately with Egon and Ray but they really nailed this one. In fact, it kind of makes the old figure obsolete. The expression, the hair, everything is just spot on this time around, and you really need to have him in hand to see just how nice it is. So with the head sculpt being as purdy as it is, it is easy to miss something like the hands but they are really well done as well, with lots of lines and folds to them. The one spot that I would fault the overall sculpt/engineering of the figure is that his head looks down a little too much for my liking. It is not terrible but he does not have a lot of movement in the neck joint (something that we have been seeing quite a lot of lately).


However, perhaps the area seeing even more improvement than the sculpt is in the paint department. Wow. The paint on the face is what really makes this figure in the end, I think. I still believe that the original Movie Masters Joker has a great head sculpt too but is got a bit lost with the thick white paint they used for his make-up. This time they really got it though, especially with the white and black grease paint. You can see past it to flesh and it is really messy, just like in the move. It also works very well in bringing out the nuances to the face sculpt instead of hiding them. The on spot people might take issue with is the red lip make-up, but it has come a LONG way since the previous figure. The paint on the hair is really well done too, it looks ratty and shabby this time instead of like a big green wig. Finally, the paint detail on the Joker’s shirt is unreal, I mean, they hit it pattern for pattern and some of the dots and lines are so small, they had to have had one heck of mask in order to get them all right.

via First Look – Movie Masters Jail Cell Joker | thefwoosh.com.

Ghostbusters Ray Stantz 6-Inch and 12-Inch Figures – thefwoosh.com

VeeBee at the Fwoosh has Ghostbusters Ray Stantz times two.  Both the 6-inch and 12-inch versions of Ray go on sale on October 15 on Mattycollector.com.

I got the 6-inch Egon Spengler at San Diego Comic-Con.  I was on the fence at the time, but was compelled by the old psychological fallacy that if I was standing in line as long as I was, then there must have been something I wanted to buy.

I’ll probably continue picking up the 6-inch line but pass on the bigger figures.

Ray Stantz – 6-inch figure – $20

The likeness to Aykroyd is pretty good, certainly not as strong as Ramis, but it is not as far off from the figure I saw in the booth at SDCC. I do think the head got a little pinched in production. I am thinking that perhaps Aykroyd will end up being the hardest likeness to master (this is also evident to about the same extent in the 12 inch figure), but I hope that the Horsemen get to take another crack at him for a future variation. Toy Guru spoke of perhaps a “Sedgewick Hotel” version with the Ecto-Goggles, that would be a great place to try out a new head sculpt. Overall though, this one is not bad.

Ghostbuster 6-inch Ray Stantz - cardGhostbuster 6-inch Ray Stantz - with Egon SpenglerGhostbuster 6-inch Ray Stantz - closeupGhostbuster 6-inch Ray Stantz - Logo ghost

Ray does come with a fun accessory in the Ghost Busters logo “No Ghost”, complete with removable slash sign. It is cool to finally get this little guy though I am a little torn on the glow in the dark feature. It is neat (not quite as neat as Scareglow) but I think I would almost have preferred to have had the ghost cast in a bright white plastic to better resemble the logo. Perhaps we will be seeing that sometime in the future and I am happy to have this one. It does include a stand just like Slimer’s.

via First Look – Ghost Busters Classics Ray Stantz | thefwoosh.com.

Ray Stantz – 12-inch figure – $60

The figure itself is an all new body developed by Mattel for their large scale figures. It does provide a lot of movement for Ray and I am able to put him into just about any natural and relevant pose. The build is also appropriate which is good since I imagine that they will be using this figure for all four of the regular Ghost Busters. Unfortunately, I do not own any Side Show or Hot Toys 1:6 figures so I cannot compare the bodies point for point but, as I said, you can get great movement from all of the joints and the figure is balanced well so he stands up with little effort.

Ghostbusters 12-inch Ray Stantz - cardGhostbusters 12-inch Ray Stantz - with lockerGhostbusters 12-inch Ray Stantz - closeup with trapGhostbusters 12-inch Ray Stantz - proton pack

The sculpts for this line are being done in house by Mattel (e.g. NOT by the Four Horsemen) and I have seen mixed reactions to the Aykroyd likeness in the head sculpt of this figure. As mentioned in my previous six-inch Ray review, Dan must be a hard guy to capture as the upcoming 1:6 Egon seems to have a stronger likeness to Harold Ramis. That isn’t to say that this head sculpt doesn’t measure up, it actually looks more like Ray than I originally thought it would, but it is still a little soft. I think the thing that throws a lot of people off is the hair sculpt, it is in an odd shape and makes his head seem a little tall. As you can see from the pictures, he looks much more like Aykroyd with the Ecto-Goggles on his forehead, I think that is because it covers up the hair.

via First Look – Ghost Busters Movie Masters Ray Stantz | thefwoosh.com.

Mattel WWE Update

Mattel has at long last released information on its upcoming World Wrestling Entertainment product lines, due to launch January 1st next year. WWE will be a huge franchise for Mattel – some of the early reports have said the plan is to release over 100 figures in 2010, just for the Basic line, which should retail for $9.99 each.


I am most interested in the Elite Collection, which features additional points of articulation, like ab crunches and ball-jointed hips.  Elite Collection figures should retail for $14.99 each.  We’ll hope to have more information in the next round of Ask Matty.

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