You Must Check Out the First Issue of Philip Reed’s BattleGrip Magazine

BattleGrip Issue 1 - pg 22 - 23

If you’re not familiar with Philip Reed and his site, BattleGrip, you should check it out. When I started AFP, somehow Philip found the site, and he’s been a really great supporter from our early days – and he’s just that way in the collecting community – a terrific guy.

Earlier this year, Philip published a Kickstarter-funded book about 3rd-party Transformers called Transforming Collections. (There are a couple of copies of Transforming Collections available on Amazon.) I guess that massive effort kept him hooked on publishing, because his latest endeavor is a free downloadable magazine. I’m re-hosting BattleGrip – issue 1 here (click to download – 70MB) to help get the issue out there. If you’re an old-timer like me and miss the days when you could go to a magazine store to pick up one related to toys (or if you just want to know what that was like, in this increasingly online world), then you’ll love this.

A couple of tips – you’ll need Adobe Acrobat Reader or an alternative PDF reader, and the best way to read this magazine is to set it up in 2-page view (View -> Page Display -> Two Page View) and select the option to show the cover page on its own (View -> Page Display -> Show Cover Page in Two Page View). This will let you see some of the beautiful 2-page spreads, like the Predator Trophy Case above, in all their glory.

Great start to the magazine, Philip, and thanks for the link to my moot-fake-rant about the Club Infinite Earths Doomsday. Can’t wait for issue 2!

SDCC 2013: More Four Horsemen Pics

Screaming American Eagle 1 Screaming American Eagle 2

Update: The Four Horsemen’s Gothitropolis Ravens Kickstarter project is still on a tear. Backers unlocked the secret figure yesterday morning – a screaming American Eagle. Eric Treadaway and Cornboy said that they didn’t think the project would get this far this fast. They said they had to put in an emergency call to the studio to prep the Eagle. In their haste, the figure shown has two left hands, but they say this will be corrected!

More pics from the Four Horsemen booth.

Really love the Kickstarter Gothitropolis Raven stuff!

Continue reading “SDCC 2013: More Four Horsemen Pics”

SDCC 2013: Four Horsemen Gothitropolis Ravens, Power Lords, and Outer Space Men

Four Horsemen (17 of 30)

I had a quick look at the Four Horsemen Gothitropolis Ravens on Preview Night, but with this post, here’s a closer look at the Ravens with my “real” camera, as well as the ongoing Outer Space Men and the upcoming Power Lords lines.

Continue reading “SDCC 2013: Four Horsemen Gothitropolis Ravens, Power Lords, and Outer Space Men”

Toy Fair 2013: Four Horsemen Reveal Power Lords 2-Ups

The Power Lords were front and center at the Four Horsemen’s Toypocalypse event tonight.

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I was telling Hagop tonight that I have no recollection of the Power Lords, and he made the hurtful suggestion that maybe I was just too old. When the Four Horsemen announced the license, I looked at the old ads featuring the figures – since I didn’t have the nostalgic connection I had a hard time envisioning the brand as something that I’d want for myself.

These two-ups, though, are just really smart looking. I really like the re-imagined designs and the color palette. I’m very glad they separated the figures instead of trying to incorporate the “flip the figure for the powered-up guy” feature. The 4H style is unmistakeable. In that sense I wish these were going to be 6-inches instead of 4-inches, just because they look like they’d look great standing next to some DC Universe Classics figures.

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