Have no fear though, this isn't going to be some big milestone article. 150 columns ain't all that much of a milestone - if I live long enough to hit 500, let's talk. But unique ideas rarely come up when you've been involved in a particular hobby or industry for years, and yet every so once in awhile, someone does something different.

So rather than postulate on 150 columns that are past, let's talk about a unique opportunity you, the toy collector, have in picking out a completely unique and unusual action figure exclusive for the San Diego Comic Convention next summer. Yep, you have the power, not that wimpy He-man. Intrigued? Read on!

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, you can always reach me at mwc@mwctoys.com. If you enjoy this review, take a minute to check out my other site at Michael's Review of the Week, and let me know what you think. Now on to the review!

"The FANtastic Exclusive 2006!"

The Four Horseman are some of the best toy designers in the business. Originally, the four met while working at Mcfarlane Toys, but struck out on their own when Mattel was looking for some fresh designers to work on their Harry Potter, Masters of the Universe, and comic based Batman lines. I just recently reviewed their Clawful "Staction" figure, and also reviewed the first exclusive of their new independent line, Magma CORPS. Yes, the Four Horseman are busy boys these days.

But they still have time to execute on one of the coolest ideas in quite awhile. You have the chance to participate in the selection of a new exclusive action figure for the next SDCC. And I don't mean new as in pick a character from an existing license. Oh, no, you get to start right from scratch! Right now, you have the chance to select from six different unique, independent ideas. There's a line based on alien life, one on a goth horror/adventure line, one on signs of the Zodiac, etc. The Horseman sit around all day coming up with this stuff, and they thought it would be great to get you involved!

Head on over to the web site and click on the logo. The list of the six possible ideas runs down the right of the screen. Click on each one to read up on the background for that line. You're going to get to vote for your favorite to least favorite, not just for one choice, so it helps if you write them down in that order as you read through the descriptions. Then, just hit the Vote Here button on any description page, and it will take you to the screen to rank the six ideas in order from Most Favorite to Least Favorite. The line that gets the most votes will be the one they move forward with!

That's not the end of your control though. You're going to be in control of the ENTIRE process. Once the line is selected, they will put up a set of characters to choose from. Then, once that voting is complete, they'll move on to the other critical decisions, like scale, paing scheme, packaging art, accessories, articulation - everything will be decided by voting! This will be the first action figure completely decided by the democratic process. Let's hope it works better than it does for picking politicians.

As an added bonus, they are going to do something I've been begging a company to do for years - document the entire process, from concept to final product. We'll get to see all the steps, in their gory and often mundane detail.

There's also a forum for you to post comments, drum up support for your favorites, and discuss the idea in general.

At the end of all this, you'll get to buy the final product as an exclusive at next year's San Diego Comic Con. Just how cool is that? Now go do your civic toy duty - the Four Horsemen want you!

Related Links -
Just in case the links above weren't obvious enough for you -

- here's the official site for the FANtastic Exclusive.

- you should also check out the home of the Four Horsmen for more info about all their work.

- and check out my recent reviews of Commader Argus of the Magma CORPS, and Clawful.