Roast Gooble Dinner - Episode 034 Discussion!

[josh]

EPISODE 034
Runtime: 1 hour, 38 minutes, 08 seconds

Fan Art of the Week: None this episode.
Fan Site of the Week: Masters of the Universe Classics Facbook fan page
Collectible of the Week: Filmation Style Guide - 1983

Items of Note:

• Featuring guest co-host Jason Clarke, A.K.A. Poe Ghostal!
• Toy Fair talk
• Classics Mosquitor with swappable chest plates? Or more like staction Mosquitor?
• Captcha talk
• Keldor swords!
• Dan's YouTube battles!
• Under the Influence: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe art show at Gallery1988
• Remco made Warlord figures styled very much like vintage MOTU
• Conan has some copyright issues
• THQ and ToyFare's scoop
• Video games make lots of money!

Nice show. Thanks guys.

As for what Poe said, about the conan/he-man origin, that was interesting. I did know that. Thanks. In listening to that it reminds me of the lawsuit between the comic book characters Superman and Captain Marvel (Dc version). And the funny thing about that is he goes by Shazam. Which was the name of the wizard.

DC's Captain Marvel has to be referenced as Shazam on product packaging -- including comic book covers -- due to Marvel having registered the trademark after it had lapsed. He can be referred to as Captain Marvel within the comic stories themselves. [I'm not a lawyer, and that's not legal advice.]

[Toyguru]

Happy to jump in and explain why we are not doing Castle Grayskull like we are doing the Hall of Justice in the fall 2011 YJ line.

The "Hall" is a sculpted backdrop. It is not an actual "playset". It is a plastic backdrop of the Hall's front with a pegged display in front for figures.

If we did Grayskull we would not want to just do the front as a flat sculpted display. We'd want to do it right and do a real playset.

The problem is the tooling for this would be through the roof and we just don't have the sales yet to justify this. The reason we don't want to do the Castle broken up into rooms and sections that can be built into the Castle is because that would make a difficult project (a 6" scale playset is not an easy design!) even more difficult.

Designing a bunch of smaller rooms that can interconnect and build up is just a huge amount of design work and a small line like MOTUC just does not have the resources to do something like this.

What limited resources we have are being put into the figures to make them the best they can be!

No one wants a Grayskull around here more then me. If we ever have the option to do one you bet I'll push for it.


Hope that helps.

Scott

[Lefty]

@TG:

You may not want to, but a sculpted backdrop Grayskull seems like a great idea, especially for a collector's line. A lot of collectors (and apparently you) may want a full Grayskull playset, but if that is not on the table, then a sculpted backdrop is a more than suitable replacement. Just one man's opinion.

[Met-Hild]

Doing modules for Castle Grayskull on Matty may not work as successfully as certain parts may sell better than others...as insane as that sounds.

Yes, and I admit I'd be one to buy just some parts. I have no illusions of being able afford the whole castle, but if I could just buy part of the facade (the door and the skull for example) to put behind my MOTUC collection, that'd be enough for me. I bet there are others that feel the same.

THQ made Darksiders. MOTU could use a similar engine.

Thanks, I was wondering if I remembered right when I though they had done it. I haven't played the game but I've watched other people play it and it looked really fun. (I hear it's a rip-off of some Zelda game, but I don't know anything about Zelda games.) I think you could build a pretty good MOTU game by using it as a basis. Maybe just less emphasis on battle and more on exploration and character interaction.

[zodak74]

Happy to jump in and explain why we are not doing Castle Grayskull like we are doing the Hall of Justice in the fall 2011 YJ line.

The "Hall" is a sculpted backdrop. It is not an actual "playset". It is a plastic backdrop of the Hall's front with a pegged display in front for figures.

If we did Grayskull we would not want to just do the front as a flat sculpted display. We'd want to do it right and do a real playset.

The problem is the tooling for this would be through the roof and we just don't have the sales yet to justify this. The reason we don't want to do the Castle broken up into rooms and sections that can be built into the Castle is because that would make a difficult project (a 6" scale playset is not an easy design!) even more difficult.

Designing a bunch of smaller rooms that can interconnect and build up is just a huge amount of design work and a small line like MOTUC just does not have the resources to do something like this.

What limited resources we have are being put into the figures to make them the best they can be!

No one wants a Grayskull around here more then me. If we ever have the option to do one you bet I'll push for it.


Hope that helps.

Scott

I guess I'm appreciative of the fact that if Mattel does do Grayskull, they want to do right by it and make it a proper big-ass playset. But I certainly wouldn't mind a flat front piece ala the Hall Of Justice to whet our appetites until 2014, '15, '16, or whenever a real one hits cyber or retail shelves.
But let's say Mattel sticks with their current views on Grayskull and wants to hold off on any sort of Castle Grayskull set until they can "do it right". In the meantime, would Mattel ever consider starting small... not Grayskull bits and pieces, but rather some small sets like a MOTUC version of Point Dread or the Slime Pit? Or perhaps something along the lines of the 2002 line's Battle Station? Basically- something... ANYTHING... besides the (no offense) somewhat subpar Grayskull stands?

[josh]

[...]We'd want to do it right and do a real playset.

The problem is the tooling for this would be through the roof and we just don't have the sales yet to justify this. The reason we don't want to do the Castle broken up into rooms and sections that can be built into the Castle is because that would make a difficult project (a 6" scale playset is not an easy design!) even more difficult.

Designing a bunch of smaller rooms that can interconnect and build up is just a huge amount of design work and a small line like MOTUC just does not have the resources to do something like this[...]

As I was listening, I was thinking about this and had assumed this was the case. Not just designing the rooms to fit together (though modular interior rooms similar to the Micro Machines playsets could be amazing) but sculpting them to be sure they actually fit together and match would probably have be a multi-year project for budgetary reasons alone.

[He Man 12]

hey! Emiliano.... as I heard in the podcast, you are a stranger to video games...But if you play one, you would like to have missions, adventures, characters development and stuff.....

If you have a friend with and XBox 360.... You WILL love to play Fable 3..... Awesome.....Become a king, complete missions, characters development, make desicions to save/doom your country...etc. Epic game!

Hope this helps you and then you can say you have at least one experience in video games!

[SCB]

Scott, while I appreciate you guys wanting to do all or nothing with Castle Grayskull, a backdrop for display purposes would be amazing. This is an adult collectors line and a backdrop would be more fitting than a full castle playset which I think is more for kids.

[Lookie]

Scott, while I appreciate you guys wanting to do all or nothing with Castle Grayskull, a backdrop for display purposes would be amazing. This is an adult collectors line and a backdrop would be more fitting than a full castle playset which I think is more for kids.

I agree with this 100%. I do setup my figures, but I don't play with them (no offense to those of you that do). I would love to have a flat backdrop for my displays.

[Lay Ze-Man]

Yeah, an in-scale, 4H sculpted facade of Grayskull would be good enough for most MOTUC collectors.

Save the "playset" for the movie version, IMO.


But good episode guys, though I did miss Eamon!

Enjoyed the different takes on the movie. I actually had the figures (Blade, Saurod, Gwildor) before I saw the movie, so for me they were just more MotU characters. And even as a kid, I never loved Filmation so I wasn't all that offended by the vast departure. But I also recognized the B-quality and campiness of the movie itself, and never really took it all that seriously.

But to this day, Blade remains one of my favorite MotU characters.

On Mosquitor, I think that's really the wrong battle to fight.
The 4H will no doubt make him awesome as already seen by the Staction.
No need for liquid whatsoever.

Though, if enough people are really that adamant about it, maybe you guys could campaign for a removable chest insert that has a somewhat hollow cavity inside, with a small pinhole on the top, so for those who want to add colored water, they could do so. But trying to get Mattel to do it seems like a huge waste of time IMO.

And yes, the head pack in an adult collector's line being deemed "too morbid" is absolutely idiotic, but also very much par for the "that style is retired" course.

And lastly, totally agreed with Val's disdain of our über-litigious culture and its contributions to worse toys over the years.

[RavenousPuma]

I'd say Mass Effect or Dragon Age:Origins are good video games to get someone into it as well. They both had as much epic adventure and character development as Fables with the same type of decisions but I enjoyed the story-lines and fight mechanism better.

hey! Emiliano.... as I heard in the podcast, you are a stranger to video games...But if you play one, you would like to have missions, adventures, characters development and stuff.....

If you have a friend with and XBox 360.... You WILL love to play Fable 3..... Awesome.....Become a king, complete missions, characters development, make desicions to save/doom your country...etc. Epic game!

Hope this helps you and then you can say you have at least one experience in video games!

[tmc1984]

What limited resources we have are being put into the figures to make them the best they can be!

fake-blood in mosquitor! ... ...

[RockinHard]

Happy to jump in and explain why we are not doing Castle Grayskull like we are doing the Hall of Justice in the fall 2011 YJ line.

The "Hall" is a sculpted backdrop. It is not an actual "playset". It is a plastic backdrop of the Hall's front with a pegged display in front for figures.

If we did Grayskull we would not want to just do the front as a flat sculpted display. We'd want to do it right and do a real playset.

The problem is the tooling for this would be through the roof and we just don't have the sales yet to justify this. The reason we don't want to do the Castle broken up into rooms and sections that can be built into the Castle is because that would make a difficult project (a 6" scale playset is not an easy design!) even more difficult.

Designing a bunch of smaller rooms that can interconnect and build up is just a huge amount of design work and a small line like MOTUC just does not have the resources to do something like this.

What limited resources we have are being put into the figures to make them the best they can be!

No one wants a Grayskull around here more then me. If we ever have the option to do one you bet I'll push for it.


Hope that helps.

Scott

I want a playset, not a backdrop. If the line continues to grow and sell out, Scott, is there ANY chance we'll get one without a movie? I know vehicles are coming (and we know a Wind Raider, Battle Ram, etc.. will sell out).

[Minion]

Good episide guys. Thoroughly enjoyed that one whilst I was down the gym - if only the other trainers knew I was sweating to the sweet sounds of your voices rather than some motivating tunes ....

Also, thanks for jumping in on this thread, ToyGuru. Your insight is always appreciated, even if it does cause more hair pulling. I guess we're all just chomping at the bit for as much MOTU as we can get, and the castle is always going to be a holy grail.

I like what Hasbro are doing with the new Transformer stuff. I haven't seen pics yet, but from press releases and news it seems like they are doing playsets for the legends (mini £3.99 or equivalent) price point:
http://www.transformertoys.co.uk/con...formation.html

As much as i'd love a Castle Grayskull to go with the MOTUC line, i'd also love to see a small scale line if it meant we could get even more vehicles, steeds, playsets, etc.

[Ealo]

If it is between a facade or nothing, i´d rather take the facade - but I guess Mattel doesn't see it as that choice currently.

[Ghost of Vapor]

Just now hearing this episode and the bit about Eternian Daze. Man, that seems like ages ago.

[JVS3]

Eternian Daze was most awesome! I was super bummed out when they had us stop the strip.

[oICEMANo]

I vote for more Eternian Daze!

[Penny Dreadful]

I vote for more Eternian Daze!

Indeed! Bring back Eternian Daze! I used to get a big kick out of it.

[Seamatty]

Where are the new episodes!!

[Underling]

Hey I remember these podcasts. They were pretty cool if I recall correctly...