Hasbro

This Christmas, I decided to make all of my friends and relatives a series of customized designer toys. It’s a medium I’ve been working in for a few years, I’ve had similar pieces in shows, and I’m just getting good enough at the techniques for these things to be acceptable presents. My sister, however, requested a completely different kind of custom toy : a My Little Pony. I quickly decided that the more pure and innocent something is, the mroe fun I’d have destroying it to re-mold it in my image.

While many My Little Pony collectors (not unlike action figure collectors) stick to the core MLP collection, the customization of Ponies has been around for years. Any toy can be seen as a blank canvas for redesign, and there are many toy artisans out there who repaint their Ponies to display colors that they prefer, or make their ponies look like superheroes or other fictional or non-fictional characters. This act became so prevalent and popular that Hasbro recently started releasing My Little Ponies in their pure plastic form – solid white and ready to be customized any way the owner saw fit.

This kind of appreciation for interpretations of licensed, copyrighted properties didn’t exist just a few years ago. The advent of buzzwords like ‘2.0′, ‘crowdsourcing’, and ‘mash-up’ have all lent a certain credibility (as well as remove the taboo from) taking an existing property that you love and interpreting it how you see it, or would like to see it. There have been no official My Little Ponies done up in solid black, or wearing a spiked punk collar, or an Iron Man mask, or brandishing a bloody murder weapon – but fans around the world have taken the Pony form and constructed these things, with Hasbro’s implied blessing. While I don’t mean to imply that they’re commissioning My Little Satans, they’re certainly willing to look the other way when these pop up on eBay. Other companies have not been so kind when it comes to this type of reconfiguration of their properties.

I’ve had pieces in a number of custom designer toy shows throughout the world based on these same principles. The companies that create these forms have always had enough of an understanding with their audience that they understood that these forms will be reinterpreted. More than a few artists who worked independently on destroying and reconstructing various designer toys have made careers out of the process, and been hired by large toy companies to ply their design skills. So, it’s nice to see a toy juggernaut like Hasbro embrace the philosophy that made the designer toy market so great.

Just one look over at Animeamy’s DeviantArt page reveals the scope of what’s possible with the basic My Little Pony form – everything from the horrific, to the licensed, to the adorable. Mari Kasurinen’s website shows off an impressive number of beautifully crafted Ponies (with more than one Batman, so I’m automatically a fan). A set of Ponies based on the four horsemen of the apocalypse recently sold on eBay for about $100, and you’ll see a wide selection of customs on any given day. Most of them remain affordable.

My creation for my sister, which is still a work in progress, is probably a little farther afield. Once you rip the head off of a Pony and replace it with a ghost, you’ve probably alienated most of the My Little Pony purists. So, take a look around you at your toys, your clocks, your everything.

And then mess ‘em up and reconstruct them.

US culture has gone through its fair share of ‘retro’ periods, but none has been quite so enduring and tenacious as our revisitation to the 1980s. I believe that this is because our attachment and willingness to return to our innocent childhoods in the 80s is directly proportional to how dissatisfied we are with the way the world operates today. That, and Men Without Hats were pretty amazing.

The recent 25th anniversary of GI Joe surely brought my generation a bit of cognitive dissonance. While our general unhappiness with the government seems to dominate our mindset (until recently), GI Joe also represents that same government. Of course, GI Joe actually represents the government what we wish we had – America’s secret fightin’ team faces off against hissing terrorists with a penchant for stealing the Statue of Liberty and emerge victorious, mitigating damage to the point where the whole situation ends with a hearty laugh and the bad guys sulk away, soundly humiliated. Those guys got stuff done, dammit.

Do we need all of these re-envisionings of our childhood heroes into super-exploding, larger than life, realistic movies? Absolutely not, but maybe the eleven and twelve year olds of today do. Cel animation just doesn’t charm like it used to.

Shout! Factory’s release of GI Joe Season 1.1 has all of this, plus gigantic rub-on tattoos. Unless your kid has serious glandular problems, it’s pretty obvious that these are meant for the adult collector. These would dwarf lesser arms. This is just one of many indications that this set has been made for the collectors.

All 22 episodes remain firmly intact across four discs, complete with animation blips, ‘we’ll be right back’ bumpers and credits that feature the original Hasbro logo. It’s as close to the original airings as possible, which collectors will definitely appreciate. The set also includes a booklet with handy episode synopses, which might help you pinpoint that favorite episode across one of the many 5-episode arcs. Given how often we have to suffer through poorly ‘remastered’ versions of things, this is awesome.

DVD bonuses include a three-part interview with one of the original authors, which runs for about 20 minutes in total. While an insight into the process of writing something both narrative and toyetic is interesting, it’s a little dry and definitely for dedicated fans.

Of special interest to me is the original 1963 GI Joe 12” figure presentation that Hasbro showed to press and investors at the 1963 Toy Fair. As a Toy Fair attendee, I am very comforted by the fact that Hasbro’s been boring the living snot out of people with patronizing presentations for decades, and that it’s not just me. I loves ya, Hasbro, but 2 hours of Powerpoint? I got a cramp in my everything and I never wanted to see another toy again.

The DVD also presents some original, and oft parodied (warning : link NSFW!), ‘Knowledge is Half the Battle’ PSAs – six in all. Future anthropologists will surely wonder about the IQ of the 20th century, what with animated kids swimming in thunderstorms and eating glass and playing in traffic.

With this release of GI Joe on DVD, we’re one step closer towards completing the holy quartet of 1980s boy cartoons. We already have handsome editions of Thundercats and Masters of the Universe, so with Shout!’s GI Joe and Transformers reissues, both pure in their content and presentation, we’re almost there.

And, appropriately, happy Fourth of July.

Sure, there were plenty of toy heroes at Toy Fair, but if I had to pick my personal heroes, it would be The Maestrosities.

See, every year, Toy Fair has the very unique distinction of having a band of sorts march around the main entrance hall of the Javits Center during opening day. As big a toy nerd as I am, the quirky marching band (usually comprised of monsters and / or figures from varying degrees of fantasy) is something I look forward to seeing a lot more than the 75th iteration of Luke Skywalker as an action figure. Oh look, this one has a raised eyebrow, as he appeared in that one deleted scene for a second! (Meanwhile, I’d be the first in line for the Darth Vader from the Scene Where He Had That Bit Of Lint On His Cape.)

This Toy Fair band, unfortunately, is usually wildly out of place, ducking and weaving between the men in business suits who are there to buy buy buy or sell sell sell. Said band is usually casually ignored by all but the most self-assured businessfolk, and it’s a strange site. I, however, am delighted like a 5 year old. Every year.

This year’s band was a group of haunted-looking musicians, carrying heavy tubas and accordions and other improbable instruments. I watched them move around the floor for a while, but the real act of heroism came later.

My pal Brian and I were eating lunch at a balcony full of tables when we heard the theme from 2001 cresting an escalator. As it came closer, we could see the Toy Fair band moving in slow motion, giving the pace of the escalator the importance of a rising sun, and again, exciting me as if I were a puppy. We applauded and hooted from our perch, and the band noticed us. What came next was perhaps the most perfect moment of all of my collected Toy Fairs. While I ate my overpriced sushi, the band stopped at the foot of the escalator and began to serenade us with one of my favorite songs – the Star Wars Cantina Song. Just for us.

We later encountered the band on the floor of the show and thanked them for the barrage of awesomeness, and despite sore feet and the pressure of keeping appointments and getting clear photos, I was reminded why I got into this job in the first place.

I did it for the accordions.

That anecdote aside, the proximity of New York Comic Con to Toy Fair meant that most major producers of superhero toys had already shown off most of their new stuff just a week previous – leaving few surprises for the geek media. I venture that it’s also worth noting that 80% of all major toy companies have dropped all toy concepts that don’t immediately link in with a film or TV show.

While Hasbro could be building on the immense popularity of the long-running and encyclopedic Marvel Legends 6” action figure line, they’ve opted to drop it almost completely and focus on a brand new line of 3 3/4” figures. In our economy, I have to question the effects of asking collectors to start a new collection instead of helping them complete an ongoing one. I think that the powerful collector’s urge to finish a set of something almost trumps the need to save a few bucks, whereas I don’t think we’re quite as compelled to start a new collection without a really good head start. Hasbro, give me a dozen of your new 3 3/4” figures and I’ll be compelled to go and buy a hundred more – but I’m just not really in a position to collect another Wolverine in yet another scale.

To that end, Hasbro premiered a few new 3 3/4” figures from a subset of the new line titled ‘Secret Wars‘. For the uninitiated, ‘Secret Wars’ was a comic event created by Marvel in the 80s, arguably for the purpose of selling action figures and playsets. The ‘Secret Wars’ subset seeks to recreate all of the original Secret Wars figures and characters in this GI Joe-friendly scale, and all in classic, fan-friendly costumes.

Also premiering were figures tied to the X-Men Origins : Wolverine film, the Wolverine and the X-Men cartoon, and the Iron Man Animated Series. I admit that I’m quite ready for any new interpretations of Iron Man, after being hit in the brains with Hasbro’s repaint after repaint of the same two Iron Man figures and calling them different things. Marvel has such a rich and diverse range that can be culled from! It’s a disappointment that it’s not more financially feasible to create a greater depth of product, but I understand where they’re coming from.

DC Direct’s reveals weren’t many after last week, but each new product was exciting. Most importantly, they’re continuing their Museum Quality line of statues with a gigantic Hal Jordan Green Lantern, who joins Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. The base of this sculpted-and-fabric figure also includes a removable Ch’ip figure – the squirrel-creature of the Green Lantern Corps. It’s a clever in-joke from the geeks at DC, and it’s nice.

DC Direct’s 1/6th scale figures are some of my favorites, as it’s obvious that they’re given the royal treatment. For $75 or more, they’d better. Last week, Wonder Woman was shown off for the first time. At Toy Fair, DC showed off Zatanna, everyone’s favorite backwards-talkin’ magician – fishnets and all. She’ll come with a rabbit-in-a-hat accessory, among other things. She’s another great, classic character choice from DC Direct – I can’t wait to see who’s coming up next. Can I wish for an Alan Scott Green Lantern? Go, Justice Society!

Tonner and Mattel, also holders of DC licenses, didn’t have a large increase in new products from the week before. Tonner was showing off their re-designed Wonder Woman figure, now with a bustier, more ‘heroic’ body type. Mattel had the usual DC Universe Classics, Dark Knight and Justice League Unlimited figures on display, as well as a few interesting figures from the animated Brave and the Bold line, which include a scary looking Joker and a very nice Gentleman Ghost. Who’s Gentleman Ghost, you ask? A guy with a few action figures this year, that’s who.

This year’s Toy Fair felt like a personal demonstration of how my tastes are changing from the complicated, exciting world of superheroism towards a deeper affection for the tranquil domesticity of Lego and Playmobil. Maybe this shift is subconsciously motivated by a combination of finances and space, but I’m starting to be okay with limiting myself to all of the new Batmen, while developing a hankerin’ for Lego Space Police.

More fun, as always, to come.

Collectors have definitely noted the shift in toys based on Marvel Comics since ToyBiz collapsed and Hasbro took over the creation and production of the once-popular Marvel Legends line. Hasbro has different ideas about what makes an action figure great, and those ideas don’t always sit well with collectors who’ve dedicated a whole bunch of money and time towards building a consistent collection. You want a Beast that will look right next to an Iceman and a Gambit on your X-Men shelf, and that’s all there is to it. Two She-Hulks in completely different sizes is just a little strange.

Hasbro, showing off their stuff at the Marvel booth, showed off their three main toy lines based on Marvel characters. The continuation of the 6” scale Marvel Legends line seems to be tapering away, with almost no new figures shown, and most future figures being distributed in 2-packs containing re-re-releases of characters that most collectors already have. Most of the future Marvel Legends are eschewing the classic Marvel characters that comic fans would genuinely appreciate (Inhumans, please!) and instead making figures from very current characters and comic situations. This is great if you’re into the strange synergy between seeing your favorite new character in plastic and perched on your desk, and it also sells well to newer collectors who actively read comics, but it lacks the history and endurance that Mattel’s DC Universe Classics hold.

I know that as a collector of goofy little plastic figures based on imaginary people, I enjoy ‘iconic’, not ‘popular’ – but I’m also an adult collector, not the kid who these are probably being sold to because he thinks they look neat. I understand my place in the collecting chain.

The common sentiment among many figure collectors is that Mattel spends a lot of time existing for the fans, and Hasbro is more about the profit. Anyone who’s witnessed the quality decline between past and current Marvel Legends will probably express the same idea. Hasbro’s fourth wave of Marvel Legends, a set of five with a giant ‘Nemesis’ buildable figure, is already months late and has dropped a figure from the lineup for unknown reasons. Stuff on display at last year’s NYCC has still not seen release.

Instead, Hasbro is focusing their energy on their new 3 3/4” scaled line, which is designed to fit right in with your GI Joes and Star Wars figures. While it’s awesome to be able to pit a properly-scaled Dr. Doom against Darth Vader, I’d almost prefer that we finally, at long last, get a 6” scaled Darth Vader. If you go back into toy history, the arbitrary 3 3/4” scale was created for the express purpose of saving money in the production process, and it’s hard to not see that happening here. On the positive side, Hasbro displayed a whole ton of characters, the look great, and variety is the key to any successful toy line. No one wants to collect the same character over and over again (unless said character is Batman or Iron Man, and your name is me), so the vast variety of characters that will soon be available will push the line forward. And there’s at least one Iron Man in there, so count me in… partially. It’ll be hard to beat the amazing Marvel Legends Showdown figures that ToyBiz made, though.

Finally, Marvel and Hasbro love their Mighty Muggs, and for good reason – they tap the urban vinyl toy craze at a much, much cheaper price that your average urban vinyl piece. They’re cheap to produce, as many figures are simply repainted decos of the same body. They’re cute and accessible, even if you’re not completely into every character. And somehow, despite the dark history of toy distribution and availability, they’re not hard to find. No one’s going online to rant about how they can’t find Iron Man at Target and why every Target should subsequently burn down and how Hasbro executive should walk in front of trains (which are common things said by some toy collectors when they can’t find what they want – spend some time on toy collecting forums!) Hasbro’s been spot on with creative, cartoonish and effective interpretations of classic characters onto the round, chunky canvas of the Mugg – and the only miss seems to be with the upcoming Phoenix figure.

Perhaps the Mugg form only can aesthetically coexist with the male form, but Hasbro cranked out a Princess Leia Mugg without such a negative reaction. Maybe it’s the hair, but something is funky. Hasbro had one big Marvel reveal at the Con, and that was the Target-exclusive Iceman and Magneto Muggs, which should hit sometime in the first half of this year. I’ve always like Iceman.

Marvel also has toys produced through Sideshow Collectibles, but unfortunately, Sideshow has begun to decline attending any conventions on the East Coast, as their home base is over in California, and the cost of safely shipping their museum quality (and very heavy) products is prohibitive. The stuff that Sideshow makes is exceptionally beautiful, but the company makes periodic reveals throughout the year on an irregular schedule, so NYCC wasn’t a time of anything new and spectacular.

Marvel and Hasbro, just give me some Inhumans figures, and I might come back on board. I have to say that as a collector, I’m a little out in the cold over here. I’m not feeling the collecting buzz after seeing the NYCC display, but maybe that’ll change after Toy Fair.

More NYCC awesomeness still on the way, including space vixens, space aliens and barely enough space to walk around.

[For Part One, please click here!]

Wizards of the Coast, owners of the whole Magic : The Gathering card game (as well as the patent for the very concept of collectible trading card games), holds events throughout the world for Magic players to congregate, play, and win prizes that range from free packs of cards to cars and $50,000+ jackpots. These events have been broadcast on ESPN and they’re pretty serious about the whole Tournament thing, but neither of these things makes attending an MtG event any less fun – even if you’ve never played before.

I was traveling with fellow writer Brian, who is an avid Dungeons and Dragons player and former Heroclix player, but who has never played Magic. As I mentioned previously, I hadn’t played since my mouthbreathing high school ‘friends’ started meticulously sanding the clothes off of their female action figures and I decided that my real-life girlfriend was superior in most aspects. This particular demographical observation isn’t a reflection upon Magic players, but it IS a reflection upon living in an isolated area in upstate New York. Brian and I arrived at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago (on the shores of the beautiful Lake Michigan) and set to work to learn the game properly.

We didn’t have to go further than the entrance to the event before we found a ‘LEARN TO PLAY’ area, all set up and ready to help us learn the ropes. Behind the desk was Christian, a volunteer from Canada and unofficial ‘Magic Cheerleader’, whose ebullience made the Learn To Play Booth a hub of activity and an interesting place to retreat to between games and interviews during the course of the entire weekend. With the excellent and studied teachings of Christian and Jeff, Brian quickly picked up on the game and before I knew it, we were entered into a mini-tournament on the main floor. I suddenly became very nervous. I hadn’t summoned a Benevolent Unicorn in over a decade, my old collection of Slivers and Angels was way back in New York, and my Serpent Generator was rusty. I could barely turn the crank.

Brian and I were placed into a group of eight players, and we were all handed three booster packs of cards. Brian began to tear open his first pack, much to the horror of the accompanying players, and we quickly learned that there were rules and decorum for this kind of thing. When the DCI Judge asked if anyone at the table hadn’t played Magic before, Brian raised his hand and was dismissed as the resident smartass – which he was, just not in this specific case. We got things sorted out and we began to play.

Despite having no cards at the beginning of the day, these 15-card boosters were here for us to make gaming decks out of – and to keep! Each player would take their favorite or most useful card from the pack, and pass the rest of the pack on to the next player, in a process that would be repeated until there were no cards left. Out of these completely random cards, the players were forced to test their skill at building a viable 40-card deck out of a limited palette (as well as bonus of potentially discovering a valuable card). Mostly, I just grabbed cards that looked neat – with a focus on cards that used white magic, using the strange Godhead of Awe as the focus of my deck.

When we were done assembling decks of cards, we were paired off by the DCI Judges. The DCI, or Duelists Convocation International, is an omnipresent force at these Magic tournaments. They provide decisions when cards might not make perfect sense to both players, they organize rounds, and they prevent cheating. Yes, despite all of the fun, there can be cheating, as with any event where a prize is at stake, but I was informed that sneaky players were very rare and not something that had to be dealt with often. Should any two players remain unsure about how two or more cards interact, a hand would fly up to the call of ‘JUDGE!’, and a DCI judge, in full referee regalia, would be fast to respond and resolve any issues presenting themselves. It was an efficient, powerful system to see in action.

I ended up playing against an amazingly patient guy named Patrick, who calmly explained everything I was unsure about. Honestly, any player who was paired against us was pretty much guaranteed a spot in round two, so I’m sure that they were pretty psyched about contending with bumbling idiots – even while they remained completely honest and even suggested better moves when one of our choices was not well-made. The game was played in ‘best two out of three’ terms, and when my resurfacing Magic skills actually won a match and Patrick & I went into a third round, it felt pretty good – even when I finally lost. It was just fun to play again, and mostly know what I was doing. It was like riding a bike. The very strong core rules, designed by mathematics PhD Richard Garfield, inform everything else within the game, and they’re easy to remember.

When it was all said and done and we were both removed from competition, another player walked up to Brian and handed him a stack of at least 300 extra cards that said player didn’t want to lug home with him. It was a moment of camaraderie and generosity that would encapsulate the entire weekend and everyone we’d meet there. Can I stress enough that these are events that you want to go to, even if you have only the most remote interest in games? It might not be the best place for a guy to go looking for a date, but if you’re a chick, you pretty much have the pick of the litter. Also happening nearby in Chicago were a gathering of Masons, Lollapalooza, and the Black Womens’ Expo – and more than a few attendees of these events wandered curiously into the gaming hall.

My gaming loss marked the temporary end of my professional Magic career, but that didn’t stop Brian and I from procuring packs at the Magic Pro Shop booth and playing until 2 AM up in the hotel room. Down on the main floor, a ‘Gunslinging’ area was set up during the day for players to match decks against champions, designers, and even Richard Garfield himself – so even if you weren’t close to being in a tournament, you could claim the glory of playing against one of the game’s luminaries, win or lose.

The idea that the genesis of this was all in a small collectible card game was staggering.

By Sunday afternoon, the top eight players had been sorted out. WotC was liveblogging every deciding game onto their website, where they catalogued every match-up and crucial move to the captive audiences at home. Crowds gathered, people were forced out of competition, and professional gamer Michael Jacob from Livonia, MI came out on top, having beat out 8th place contender and close hometown friend (and guy with awesome hair), Mark Herberholz, early on.

Herberholz, a former $40,000 Magic winner, and recent graduate from Michigan State University, who was suitably crestfallen. “So close, but so far!” said Herberholz, “I think I’ve reached a certain level where I’m considered to be one of the best in the game that’s still playing, so right now the goal was to make the National team and finish in the top three, but since I didn’t do that and I came really close, it’s almost more disappointment than if I had just lost early on.”

Despite Mark’s disappointment, his position in the World Championships is already assured, so things remain both onward and upward. He seemed content to have at least been bested by a friend, and he told us that his interest in Magic has not waned. He has plans on hunting down a job at Upper Deck so that he can continue to compete in Wizards tournaments as a non-employee. Like many players, he was introduced to the game by bored friends who had found an excellent outlet for themselves. In his case, it was a $40,000 outlet.

Mike Jacob was thrilled to have won the final match against Sam Black, netting a prize of $5000, a big trophy, and a place in the World Finals. In our post-game interview, he credited a card called ‘Skred‘ in his ultimate victory over Black. He quickly launched into MtG language in the interview, and for as much as I understood at this point, I felt officially initiated into the club.

“It was a choice that nobody else in the tournament had done. I usually do play a lot of unique cards. Like, there’s a 3 mana 4/4 that can’t block that most people dismissed, and there was a 3/3 haste available, and I played this one instead because I thought it was better against the field”, said Mike. “It feels pretty good. I made a lot of really tight plays, and that’s how I got here.”

When we asked what his favorite part about the game was, he quickly replied, “Definitely the people. I just have so many friends that I met through this game, and I get to see them once a month, maybe twice a month at the other tournaments I go to. If I was gonna go to San Francisco, I could call three people and have a place to stay. How many people can say that they have friends all over the United States?”

This was an answer that we heard many times from many players. Even above the idea of free lodging across the US, the friendships that were made through the game were the most enduring, solid aspect of the gaming community. When asked if he’s let his friend Herberholz hold the trophy, he jokingly said “No, definitely not! He’s had enough accomplishments!”

As fellow players walked through the hotel lobby, they frequently shouted congratulations to Mike, who accepted them modestly. As a professional gamer who often wins $20,000 to $40,000 in various gaming systems, he has no plans on stopping anytime soon. Good luck in this year’s World finals in Memphis, Mike!

While crowning the US Champion was the purpose of the weekend, it wasn’t the extent of everything the weekend held for visitors within the complex world of Magic. Stay tuned for more, including an interview with Richard Garfield himself and some of the more collectible aspects of the game.