In the spirit of "Hey, look at this cool thing I found!", I wanted to pass along a link to a brilliant look back at some awesome old-school action figure backing cards in a post entitled 25 Action Figure Card Backs from the good folks over at Secret Fun Blog, that is both a blog and extremely fun, but not that much of a secret.

The article talks about some of the best of the best of the action figure lines from the 80's including Star Wars, Super Powerrs, Dungeons & Dragons, Tron, Thundercats and many more. Looking back on these old card backs took me right back to the good old days of my youth when after liberating the small plastic hero from his or her confines, one could flip the card over to make a mental note of which figures were next on your list. With their stunning artwork and vibrant colors, action figure card backs are a pop-cultural category of their own that are due their moment of recognition.

So swing by Secret Fun Blog and take a walk down memory lane.

The folks over at Mattycollector are either unbelievably conscientious about their customers, gluttons for punishment or the bravest people since Flash Gordon took off for planet Mongo, because in the midst of several flame-wars on their Facebook page, due mostly to unending (and all alleged) reports of mishandled orders, improperly charged credit cards, shoddy quality control and poor product stocking practices, they have held their collective head up high and carried on with the launch of their official Mattycollector Discussion Forums.

Now, I personally have had pretty good luck with Matty, despite not being able to get a Skeletor figure (grumble, grumble, grumble). The figures I have ordered from them were charged correctly, shipped quickly and appeared to be of top-notch quality (I so love my MOTUC He-Man reissue figure, it's ridiculous), so I can imagine that the new forum will be an excellent place for fans to talk, trade, and show off their collections.

However, I can just see the raging neckbeards now, cracking their knuckles in anticipation of their manically typed rants and manifestos. Complaining about product availability, scalpers swiping up all of the toys, Evil Lyn's repainted Teela body, and Orko knows what else. Still, I'll give it a whirl and invite everyone else to do the same, because a community is only as good as the people who choose to inhabit it.

Now if we could just get my forums cooking again (hint, hint).

Raise your hand if you're excited about the new Iron Man movie! Okay... let's see... that looks like about a gazillion of you. Okay, now raise your hand if you're just as excited about the upcoming release of the new Iron Man 2 action figures from Hasbro! Yep, just as I thought; pretty much all of you.

Well, I for one am right there with you all, not just because the first movie rocked my brain like no other superhero flick has before, but because the highly anticipated action figure line is going to be released in 1:18 scale! That's right, 3 3/4", baby! I know that this is mostly a personal preference, but I stand by my belief that the classic 3 3/4" scale is the action figure scale of the gods. It's simply a more elegant size and leaves room for better portability (not that I take my action figures anywhere), better displayability, often more accessories (unless your a DC Universe Infinite Crisis figure) and far better suited to fit into a veritable arsenal of killer vehicles and play sets.

Wave 1 is already available for pre-order at Entertainment Earth and boasts some brilliant renditions of Iron Man, War Machine and my personal favorite, Mach 1, which looks like a steampunk version of the Tin Man from OZ who's carrying a grudge. You can bet you Avenger membership card that I'll be grabbing one of these.

Now, when are we going to get a Pepper Potts figure?

Our good friends over at Toy News International posted several pics of the upcoming Prince of Persia line of figures from McFarlane Toys due out this may.

The buzz I'm hearing so far concerning this line of figures is mixed at best, considering many peoples' feelings towards McFarlane's habit of producing toys that are more like statues than action figures, but word on the internet is that the house of Spawn has learned their lesson to a degree and they will be releasing a series of 4" fully posable figures, boasting a full 12 points of articulation, along with the highly detailed sculpts and paint applications for which McFarlane Toys has become known.

Having now taken a peek at the figures, I'm afraid the jury is still out, as far as I'm concerned, but I am grudgingly looking forward to checking these figures out for myself once they hit the stores. I will admit that the aforementioned sculpts and paint jobs on the figures is exquisite, but let's just hope that the articulation holds up against it.

There will also be a line of 6" figures released in conjunction for those of us collectors who are more "statue friendly".

To get a peek for yourself, visit, TNI.com and swing by ToyWiz.com if you'd like to pre-order (if you're feeling brave).