With all the commotion of Toy Fair and Wonfes, some might completely forget about Matty Collector's February sale. Not me, of course, it's been hanging over my head like the Sword of Damocles. Unfortunately, time constraints and reporting overload means that I won't be devoting the usual level of attention to this Matty Sale alert.

The main attraction this Matty Sale is Ram Man, the figure whose delay messed up my January plans (ie, the reason I won't own a DCU Saint  Walker). Ram Man, besides being a much beloved Masters of the Universe character for most '80s kids, was among the handful of He-Man figures that I really remembered owning as a kid (one of the others I remember, the Sorceress, had a MotUC that I missed out on and ebay prices top US$100 for her now. Given that Matty is seemingly eschewing reissues this day, I'm kind of boned. Let this serve as a word of warning for anybody not preparing themselves to buy a Ram Man the second the sale goes live). Although Matty held off producing Ram Man for a long while, he's definitely worth the wait: the figure looks fantastic. Ram Man, being a larger figure, will run you US$33 during the sale.

The second new Masters figure is Jitsu, evil master of the martial arts. He's a character I don't remember at all but he seems to feature solid sculpting. He'll be available for US$27.

Phantom Stranger is the latest addition to Club Infinite Earths / DCU. He's a mystical supporting character with a seemingly mysterious past... which I vaguely remember to involve something about a fallen angel who refused to take sides during Lucifer's Rebellion and was subsequently damned by both sides (although that might have been from Vertigo and thus non-canonical). At any rate, Phantom Stranger is definitely one of those characters who deserves inclusion in DCU collectors-only series. He'll run you US$20 during the sale.

The sale's final items are Kobra Khan and Faker. Both are just drawing from remaining inventory rather than receiving a production run and, given the smaller quantities, may sell out quickly. They're US$27 apiece.

Personally, I just wish that Ram Man fell into a different month given he's the only thing I plan on picking up this time around. I would've also bought Saint Walker had Ram Man been offered in January and had it instead been March I likely would have caved on Elongated Man. Times like these I wish Mattel would just do larger, bi-monthly sales.

[ Matty Collector ]