I ask fwooshmembers questions.
They answer them.
Poe Ghostal “I did have a couple on my honeymoon last year.”
Where do you live?
I live in the greater Boston area in Massachusetts.
Any opinion on Boston?
It’s my home. Love that dirty water.
Where do you work?
I work at a small college library just outside Boston.
Can you do some interlibrary loans and collect the entire B.P.R.D. set and then trade them to me for a mouser? I can query some more barcodes if that works out. win/win.
That depends. It is a life-size, functional mouser designed by Baxter Stockman himself? If so, maybe we can work something out.
Who is in you family?
Right now it’s just me and my wife, Dr. Mrs. Ghostal, who’s a biochemist. My parents and sister live about forty-five minutes away in the South Shore.
Have you met any Fwooshers in person?
Yes! Ed Lee, who often posts on my site, also visits the Fwoosh frequently (although he’s never told me what his username is).
Any pets?
We have two guinea pigs, Tribble and Nibbler. Tribble is obviously named after the Star Trek creature, whereas Nibbler is named for Leela’s pet on Futurama. And before you make any assumptions, it was my wife who picked both names, not me. If we ever get a third one, he’ll be named Gibble , after the creatures that appeared on an early Batman: Brave and the Bold episode.
What are your future plans?
Well, Dr. Mrs. Ghostal has decided to acquire a third degree–a master’s in library science. Once she’s finished with that, she’ll start looking for a job and we’ll see where we end up.
As for me, I’m putting together a plan to write a book, but it’s still in the very early stages.
What genre is your book?
It’s going to be a sort of memoir of my life collecting toys, from when I was a little kid up to now.
What was your first toy? One that had a lasting impression?
When I have to choose a “first toy,” it’s a tiny Mighty Mouse figure. He’s cylindrical with a hole at the bottom, like those “Little People” Fisher-Price toys. He came with a little wheelbarrow or something that he could push. I lost my first one when I was a kid, but I managed to find it again on eBay years ago.
My favorite toy of all time is easily Generation 1 Grimlock. While other figures–including Masterpiece Grimlock–have been superior from a technological and design standpoint, none have ever held the same place in my heart.
Do you customize?
Just a little. I tend to do customs that require very little effort–I have no talent for painting or sculpting. You can find some samples of my meager work here.
Do you cook?
I sure do, daddy-o! Oh, you mean food? No.
What is in your collection?
Right now the main line I collect is Masters of the Universe Classics. Until recently I was very much into DC Universe Classics, but I lost a lot of steam on that in the last couple of months. I’ve got a lot of vintage stuff from my childhood, ranging from Star Wars to the original He-Man to Transformers to TMNT. Other than that, the stuff I have on display right now include: movie and comic Hellboy figures; some McFarlane Conan figures; the Toy Island Universe Monsters; Dark Knight Movie Masters, the first wave of McFarlane’s Movie Maniacs; NECA’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; and some Ghostbusters Minimates. Oh, and the new Mattel Egon w/ Slimer.
Obviously there’s a lot of stuff in storage, too. Our apartment doesn’t have nearly as much display room as I’d like…
What is the difference between Hellboy comic versions and other variations?
Well, the comic and movie universes are very different. For one thing, in the comics, Hellboy and Liz Sherman never had a romantic relationship. Also, Hellboy quit the B.P.R.D. ten years ago.
The Hellboy cartoons sort of feature an amalgam of both the comics and the movies.
Where do you vacation? Where would you like to vacation?
The wife and I just got back from a camping weekend in New Hampshire to celebrate our one-year anniversary. New Hampshire is usually my first choice for a vacation, though I usually prefer just to rent a condo and do day trips. And my wife’s from Simi Valley, so we head out to the Los Angeles area about once a year, usually around the holidays.
Do you take actions figures camping?
No, although I did have a couple on my honeymoon last year.
What other sites do you visit?
The Fwoosh is certainly a regular stop! Other sites I hit at least once a day include Raving Toy Maniac, Toy News International, He-Man.org, the Four Horsemen’s FANtastic Exclusive site, and Topless Robot.
What is your website all about?
Mostly it’s a place for me to sound off about various action figure-related topics and for my readers to come and discuss them. I try to present most of the news and editorials on the site within the context of the industry at large. The toy industry seems to be very–I don’t want to say “secretive,” but certainly insular, even the smaller companies. I’m just trying to demystify the industry a bit and help collectors understand the economics realities as to why, say, a licensed figure costs a few dollars more than a similarly-sized figure based on a homegrown property, or how a popular line like NECA’s Ninja Turtles hovers on the brink of cancellation.
Of course, I’ve also got a large database of figure reviews–with new ones every week; a daily feature that highlights cool action figure photos; and my newest addition, “Show and Tell,” in which any and all readers are invited to write up a little paean to their most beloved toy.
What is OAFE? a predecessor to your website?
Don’t let yo go re hear you say that! No, OAFE (www.oafe.net) is a review website founded in 2002 by four guys from the Spawn.com toy forum: yo go re, Shocka, Rustin Parr and me. I wrote a lot of reviews early on, but over time I became more of a reserve member, and decided to branch out with my own website. Yo go re does the lion’s share of the reviews there these days, ably supported by newer OAFEs like Monkey Boy and Artemis.
Who did the customs at your wedding?
My wife and I made the custom Fry and Leela ourselves. I painted Fry, and she made the dress for Leela. The heads for the groomsmen was actually sculpted by a Fwoosher, Matt Hancock.
What do you spend your money on?
As Dr. Mrs. Ghostal can tell you, almost all my disposable income goes to toys. That’s more a consequence of my somewhat limited salary than extravagance, though I won’t pretend I’m good with money–I’m not. Occasionally I’ll pick up a videogame or a DVD; currently I’m really enjoying Ghostbusters: the Video Game.
What is wrong with you?
I tend to be lazy. Pretty much all my problems can be traced back to that one character flaw.
Thanks Poe!
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