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By Ron, on March 11th, 2010 
I was chatting with some of the guys about taking pictures of action figures – a hobby near and dear to my heart, in case you hadn’t noticed. We got onto the subject of backgrounds. I’ve used plain dark backgrounds for dramatic lighting and plain light backgrounds to highlight the figures. And there’s guys like Sandman, who build elaborate sets for his photo shoots – see Sandman’s recent pictorial reviews for some mind-blowing shots.
There’s another type of background – the photo backdrop. A simple photo backdrop can provide the effect of a three-dimensional environment without having to build one. That’s the subject of this how-to article.
There’s more… click to continue reading How To Create Your Own Photo Backdrop
By Ron, on March 8th, 2010 In my haste this morning, I mistakenly posted that Trap Jaw, not Tri-Klops, would be on sale at C2E2 – thanks to all of you who contacted me to alert me of my error.
 
If you missed out on your chance at the Masters of the Universe Classics Tri-Klops (see my review), you may not have to resort to eBay or wait for Mattel to reissue him. Residents of the Chicago area will have a chance to pick up Tri-Klops from Mattel at the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, which runs from April 16 – 18.
They’ll also have another sold out item, Ghostbuster’s Ray Stantz (see my review), available. Both items will be in limited quantities, so stop at Mattel first!
Mattel Display at Chicago Comic Expo & Reserve Products For Sale
Toy Fans,
As you know, we hold back product from sales in “reserve” to replace damaged or lost product. After enough time has passed, the product isn’t needed any longer so we’ve decided to start offering that product to you. We’ll begin selling it at various conventions around the country and eventually offer some here at MattyCollector.com.
The first offering will be limited quantities of Ghostbusters™ 6″ Ray Stanz™ and Masters of the Universe® Classics Tri-Klops® figures in April. You’ll find them for sale at the convention sales desk at the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) show running April 16-18.
Even if you’re not in the market for these figures, be sure to stop by the Mattel display. MOTU fans will find favorites like Count Marzo™, Gygor™, Tytus™, Keldor™, Whiplash™, Optikk™, and more! And if you dig DC, don’t miss the Wave 14 figures, Lobo, and Waves 1 and 2 of the Retro-Action™ line. Plus, a spirited Ghostbusters™ collection will be on hand.
That’s just a taste of some of the hot toys you can expect to see. So remember, if you’re in the Chicago area April 16-18, stop by the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo and tell ‘em Matty sent you!
−−Matty
P.S. Please don’t call Digital River asking to purchase the product. It will only be sold as described above.
via MattyCollector.com Online Store.
By Ron, on March 2nd, 2010 As promised in our last Ask Matty Q&A, Mattel has published the schedule for its upcoming MattyCollector.com products through June of this year. No big surprises, but the Masters of the Universe Classics re-issues for each month were revealed: Stratos, Hordak, Mer-Man, and Faker will all get their “The Original” tags.
Product Release Schedule Through June
Toy Fans,
We do our best to plan when products will be released, but sometimes the production and delivery gods have other ideas. We’ve been doing a bit of the release date shuffle lately and thought it would be helpful to print our complete schedule through June:
 March
MOTU Classics: Stratos® (re-issue)
MOTU Classics: Moss Man® – Flocked Ears
MOTU Classics: Moss Man® – Unflocked Ears
(Club Eternia™ monthly figure)
DCUC Wave 12 Boxed Set (Darkseid)
The Dark Knight Scarecrow
 April
MOTU Classics: Wun-Dar™ & Map of Eternia®
(Club Eternia™ subscribers only – items not available for sale)
MOTU Classics: Hordak™ (re-issue)
MOTU Classics: Evil-Lyn® (Club Eternia™ monthly figure)
MOTU Ultimate Battle Ground Weapons Pak
Ghostbusters™ 12″ Peter Venkman™
 The Dark Knight Batman (Night Vision)
 May
MOTC Classics: Mer-Man® (re-issue)
MOTU “Oversized”: Tytus™
MOTU Classics: Optikk™ (Club Eternia™ monthly figure)
Ghostbusters™ 6″ Walter Peck™ (with containment unit)
The Dark Knight: Two-Face
June
MOTU Classics: Faker® (re-issue)
MOTU Classics: She-Ra™ (Club Eternia™ monthly figure)
DCU JLU Lobo
Ghostbusters™ 6″ Peter Venkman™ with Slimer
As always, these dates are subject to change, but we’ll let you know as soon as we know if anything changes.
Happy collecting!
—Matty
via MattyCollector.com Online Store.
By Ron, on March 1st, 2010 Here’s the latest Ask Matty Q&A. Thanks to Toy Guru and Mattel!
1. Great reveal for the Wal-Mart exclusive Green Lantern 5-pack. Some quick questions: Is that Tomar Re or Tomar Tu? Is John Stewart’s Mosaic costume the one that matches Katma Tui’s from Wave 11? Will GL Sinestro have a mask, and if so, is it sculpted or just painted on?
   
It is Tomar Re. The other outfits and look of the remaining three characters will be revealed shortly.
There’s more… click to continue reading AFP Ask Matty Round-Up for 3/1/10
By Ron, on March 1st, 2010
By Ron, on February 24th, 2010 If you’re a Ghostbusters fan feeling a little lack of love from Mattel’s Ghostbusters showing at Toy Fair, take heart – there’s 3 more figures for this year that have not yet been revealed. On top of that, Mattel includes a tease in this update about another item for San Diego Comic-Con.
I’ll make my guess right now – giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man – I just hope they don’t pull an Anti-Monitor raffle on us! 
Ghostbuster Update
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Ray in Lab Coat
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Sewer ghost
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Venkman and Slimer
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Peck and containment unit
- Lab Coat Ray will ship in Aug. He comes with the Ghost Sniffer later used by Peter in Dana’s appartment!
- Ray comes with the sewer Ghost. The eyes will be painted on the final figure and will glow in the dark!
- Slimed Peter features an all new Peter head, untucked pants, gloved hands and comes with a new Slimer sticking out his tongue! He ships in June.
- Walter Peck now ships in May and comes with an in-scale containment unit that opens up to accept the trap that comes with Winston!
Hey Slime Fans,
I wanted to jump in and give a quick update on what is going on with the GB line in 12″ and 6″ scale. We’ve had a few delays in release dates, but all six 6″ figures and the Peter and Winston 12″ figures are still set for release in 2010.
Orignally we had intended for a new 6″ figure to ship ever 2-3 months. But, inevitably due to circumstances well beyond our control we had a few hickups (this is why we don’t do preorders for any of our lines!). But we are back online now and 6″ Walter Peck is scheduled to hit Mattycollector.com in May. This will be followed by Slimed Peter in June and Labcoat Ray in Aug.
12″ Peter will hit in April followed by Winston in Aug.
We’re running a bit behind but by the end of the year we should be caught up and ready for even more Ghostbuster fun in 2011!
There will be three more 6″ figure for 2010 yet to reveal plus a really great SDCC item that will knock your socks off! The Ghostbuster fun has only yet begun – only on Mattycollector.com!
Matty
via Facebook | Mattycollector.com: Ghostbuster Update.
By Ron, on February 15th, 2010 Scott Neitlich, Mattel’s Associate Brand Manager for its collector-oriented lines, was kind enough to sit down with Hagop (my tag team partner from the Fwoosh) and me for a catch-up session following the Mattel Collectors Preview.
This is the second part of the interview – I wanted to title the article “Toy Guru Announces Jitsu” but then common sense prevailed. Part one of the interview is here.
H: Let’s go over what’s in store this year for Masters of the Universe.
   
TG: The line is composed of 12 monthly figures, 4 quarterly figures (although there might only be 3 this year) but ideally 4 standard 6” quarterly figures, and then 4 over-sized figures which could range from $30-$60 depending on how big they are. So Battlecat was the first, Tytus will be the second, and then Gy-Gor will be the third.
There’s more… click to continue reading Toy Fair 2010 – Interview with Mattel’s Scott Neitlich (Toy Guru), Part 2
By Ron, on February 15th, 2010 Scott Neitlich, Mattel’s Associate Brand Manager for its collector-oriented lines, was kind enough to sit down with Hagop (my tag team partner from the Fwoosh) and me for a catch-up session following the Mattel Collectors Preview.
We were all a little tired from the sensory overload, so a big thanks to Scott for taking the time to sit down with us, and to Hagop for recording and transcribing the interview. What follows is the first part of our discussion.
H: In other comic lines, we always hear about how obscure characters are hard to do because the retailers don’t want them. How are you able to pull off so many obscure characters in DCUC? I’m thinking of Killer Moth, Gentleman Ghost, Forager-in an exclusive wave no less.
     
TG: With the refresher cases and “all stars” retailers are getting Batman or Superman or whoever, every time they open a box, even if they’re not “in” the wave. And I think it just helps when the toy is cool looking. I mean, someone may walk by a Gentleman Ghost and just think, “That’s cool, I want that!” I’ve got him displayed in my office getting captured by the Ghostbusters.
There’s more… click to continue reading Toy Fair 2010 – Interview with Mattel’s Scott Neitlich (Toy Guru), Part 1
By Ron, on February 11th, 2010 [Correction - the Venkman figure that was confirmed for April is the 12-inch Movie Masters version, as some of you suggested. The 6-inch Venkman will follow Peck by a couple of months. Sorry for the confusion!]
Mattel posted a couple of updates regarding Ghostbusters on their Facebook page. Originally, Peter Venkman was going to follow Walter Peck – due to production delays, the order is now swapped. I wonder if that will affect sales of Peck, since people will have been able to complete a set of all four main Ghostbusters before he comes out.
 
Good news, Ghostbusters fans… the Peter Venkman figure is confirmed to go on sale on 4/15!
GHOSTBUSTERS UPDATE: The Walter Peck figure is moving to the 5/17 sale. He just wasn’t going to be ready in time to ship for the 3/15 sale.
via Facebook | Mattycollector.com.
By Ron, on January 27th, 2010 
Here’s some packaged pics of the Ghostbusters Minimates series that includes Vigo the Carpathian.
There’s more… click to continue reading Ghostbuster Minimates Toys R Us Series 3 Packaged Pics
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