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DC Universe Classics Mirror Master Headlines Matty Sales Day on 8/15 and Young Justice 2-Pack Gets a Reprieve

It’s sales day on MattyCollector.com – something I often and gladly forget because I’m subbed up like a toy gangsta – and DC Universe Classics Mirror Master from Club Infinite Earths is the headliner. Here’s the link to the handy August 15 bundle page. Due to our arch-enemy, Logistics, there’s no figure from the Club Eternia subscription, but if you still need a Masters of the Universe Classics fix, you can pick up this month’s figure from the 30th Anniversary sub, Sir Laser-Lot.

I’m not a big fan of the design Geoff Johns came up with when he was 8 years old. To some of you I know that means I’m a cranky old guy who doesn’t doesn’t know how to have fun with toys (yes, I also was underwhelmed by Vykron). But to each his own – if you’re a Laser-Lot fan, I’m glad Mattel made him for you.

Also, with Young Justice subscriptions at the halfway point to hit the minimums for the green light, Mattel extended the sub order window by 2 weeks – and delayed the ship date (only if YJ fans buy enough, we keep getting reminded) by three months. I’ll keep hoping that Mattel eventually gets to the point where they’ll do a true pre-order – that means no thermometer – because it will mean they’ve made a good enough product that they trust we’ll buy in mass quantities.

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Play Imaginative Super Alloy Batman is Coming to America

The fity points of articulation, Jim Lee-based, 1/6 scale Batman that I have been salivating over is on its way to the US via BigBadToyStore. The specs look identical to the one being offered as an exclusive at the Singapore Toy, Games & Comic Convention in early September, with the exception that this version has a matte finish, while the exclusive will be glossy. At 18.2 lbs. shipping, I can believe this behemoth is 85% die-cast metal.

You can pre-order the matte version of the Super Alloy Batman at BigBadToyStore for $269.99, due to arrive in September.

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Five Takeaways from the Batman and DC Unlimited Reveals

A couple of days back, BigBadToyStore listed the second waves of Batman Unlimited and DC Unlimited, with estimated arrival in the 1st quarter of 2013. For Batman Unlimited, we’re getting the garishly colored Planet X Batman (I guess “Zur-En-Arrh” isn’t packaging friendly) and the Dark Knight Returns Batman. And in DC Unlimited, we’re getting Batman from Injustice: Gods Among Us and Wonder Woman in her New 52 costume.

There’s been a lot of flux in Mattel’s DC collector-oriented retail offerings – here are the five key takeaways from these reveals:

1) Thank Grodd that the DC Universe Club Infinite Earths subscription went through, because Mattel’s DC collector-oriented offerings at retail haven’t been this limited since before Classics launched five years ago.

It wasn’t that long ago that we were seeing waves of seven figures, with retailer exclusive waves and two packs – so we’ll be suffering withdrawal going down to waves of four figures. The first waves of Batman and DC Unlimited had 3 figures each, but if retail has pushed that down to 2, Mattel DC is at the stage in the retail channel that Hasbro was at a few years back with their 2-pack offerings. It took a couple of lean years before Hasbro came back with a reinvigorated Legends re-launch, and we’re probably just at the start with DC.

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Playmates Nickelodeon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Shellraiser Quick Pics

I recently picked up the new Nickelodeon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shellraiser and had to snap a few quick pics. These kind of show off how this vehicle is practically a small playset for your figures, as you can find a place for each of them plus a bad guy and make a really nice display. The last pic shows just how large this thing is – it barely fit in my lightbox!

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NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Using Photoshop Levels to Enhance Dramatic Lighting

As much as I love what Playmates is doing with their Nickolodeon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lines (stay tuned for some quick pics from Talyn coming up tomorrow), I have a special place in my collection for the NECA TMNT figures from a few years back. I had a picture of my TMNT setup from back when I added tap lights to my display cubes, but that picture was from before I had April.

Since then, the shelf and figures had gotten pretty dusty, so I took the opportunity to clean them up and take a new picture. In this article, I’ll also show you what I did in Photoshop with the Levels tool to enhance the lighting effects for this particular shot.

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