September 1, 2002 - Boston, MA - Here come the oafs: today a new toy-oriented website hits the web, offering comprehensive reviews of action figures and other toys to help collectors make wiser use of their toy budgets.

OAFE, which stands for Online Action Figure Evaluators, is the brainchild of three collectors: "Shocka," "Yo Go Re" and "Poe Ghostal." The three met several years ago on the McFarlane Toys Message Board. In 2001, Shocka and Yo Go Re began writing action figure reviews at Epinions.com; they coerced Ghostal into writing them shortly thereafter. Eventually they realized their reviews weren't reaching the right audience and decided to build a site around their reviews (oh, and Shocka wants it pointed out that the site was really all his idea).

Their efforts come to fruition tonight, when for the first time toy collectors will be able to access an archive of all the reviews written by the three self-dubbed "Oafs," with many more reviews to come and consistent updates as more toys are released. Each has a background in toy commentary: Yo Go Re has written a column entitled "Breaking the Mold" for various websites, while Shocka has written reviews for the Armchair Empire and also scribed guest reviews for a variety of other sites. Poe Ghostal wrote toy reviews for the now-defunct IGN.com SciFi section as well as a column, "Points of Articulation," which has since been moved to OAFE. To ensure the best reviews and opinions possible, the Oafs plan to review as many figures as possible, often getting two or even three reviews on each toy to make sure their readers get the best information and opinions possible.

In addition to toy reviews, OAFE will offer toy news, commentary, and "Figuretoons" - comic-strip-style cartoons starring action figures and, if Shocka ever gets around to it, figure-based movies.