Archive for the 'General' Category
— January 23, 2006
The time is almost upon us. Yes friends, the annual New York Toy Fair will be here in less than a month. You can find out all the details here at Superhero Sightings. Once the coverage starts, I will post as much superhero toy releated news as I can find. I myself will not be attending but will be patrolling all the major sites and forums as usual.
What to Expect
Toy companies use this time to make major announcements for the year ahead for their respective toy lines. So for the next couple of weeks, don’t expect much toy related news to be released. Most of the toy companies will be saving it for this event. Expect big news from all the major toy companies on the big lines for 2006, Superman Returns, X-Men 3, DC Superheroes, Fantastic Four, as well as the collectors favorite, Marvel Legends, and others.
This event is not open to the public, but only to members of the press. You can still get in though. If you know someone who has a publishing outlet, for example, a web site that may feature toys among other things, you can get a press pass to get in. But, to talk to any toy reps you usually have to set up an appointment. You also may have to have reservations to get into some areas. Some companies only will allow a certain number of people from any given source per day.
The Details
The Toy Fair is in New York at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center from Sunday, February 12th through Wednesday the 15th. Here is the link to the site where you can find out more information about the 2006 New York Toy Fair.
— January 23, 2006
From AlterEgoComics.com,
Now Available to Pre-Order:
Now In Stock:
- DC Direct: Secret Files Series 2 Action Figures
- Marvel Select: Days of Future Past Wolverine Figure
- Marvel Legends Series 12: Sasquatch
- Marvel Legends Series 12: Maestro
- Marvel Legends Series 12: Bishop
- Marvel Legends Series 12: X-23
Arriving This Week:
- Marvel Milestones: Death of Phoenix Statue
- Marvel Universe Thor Bust
- Marvel Universe Bearded Thor Special Edition Bust
- Premiere Collection She-Hulk Statue
- X-Men Dark Phoenix Saga: Colossus Statue
Coming Soon:
- Dr. Doom 1/4 Scale Premium Format Figure
- DC Direct: Silver Age Batman & Robin Statue
- DC Direct: Superman Cover to Cover: Superman #1 Statue
- Women of the DC Universe: Wonder Woman Bust
— January 22, 2006
Superman Returns Movie Toys on Toy News Internation reports that ToyWiz.com is taking pre-orders from the upcoming Superman toys based on the new movie due out this summer. Here is a list of what they have up currently.
Superman Returns Movie Action Figure Clark To Superman
Superman Returns Movie Action Figure Flying Superman
Superman Returns Movie Action Figure Super Breath Superman
Superman Returns Movie Action Figure Super Strength Superman
Superman Returns Movie Dress Up Set
Superman Returns Movie Remote Control Figure Flying Superman
Superman Returns Movie 10″ Roto-Cast Figure Superman
Superman Returns Movie Fight n’ Fly Cape
Superman Returns Movie Punch n’ Crush Gloves
Superman Returns Movie Figure Sky Strike Superman
Superman Returns Movie Plush Action Figure Swingshot Superman
Superman Returns Movie Deluxe Action Figure Truck Lifting Superman
Mattel is doing these toys so the most recent thing to compare what these figures will be like is the Batman Begins line. This worries me a little bit. I did not like any of the 6″ scale Batman figures from the movie line. The sculpting was good but they had way too many Batman variations, and the articulation was poor. Also they were more like a 5″ line than 6″. I don’t own any of the smalle scale figures, but I do own the 13″ figure from Mattel. I happen to like that one a lot so I am looking forward to a 13″ scale Superman figure from Mattel.
I think if they made them more like the new DC Superhero line that is out, they could be a lot better. But they are about to do a Superman series in that line so that wouldn’t make much sense. If the figures do have better articulation, I think that would improve them a lot, but as you can see from the list above, they already have multiple Superman variations planned.
According to ToyWiz, these are planned to ship in March, but I bet we will see prototypes at Toy Fair next month, if not before then.
— January 16, 2006
The Outer Reaches Action Figures & Collectibles has several pre-orders listed for upcoming Marvel Legends, including the Wal-Mart exclusive series. This series is listed as possibly including:
Sentry
Captain Britain
Kitty Pride
Ant Man
Thor
Havoc
AOA Sabretooth
AOA Wolverine
Warbird
Sentry (Variant)
Ant Man (Variant)
This is a total of 9 figures in this wave in a case of 12, in addition to being exclusive. You can bet these will be hard to find! According to the site, they are due to arrive in April with Marvel Legends series 13 due in May. By the way, this retailer is located in Canada.
— January 16, 2006
DC Direct Products For September 2006 at TNI shows pictures and line ups for 2 lines from DC Direct that will be hot with collectors, Infinite Crisis series 1 and Justice League (by Alex Ross) series 4. Check out Power Girl for the biggest boobs ever on an action figure! At least the figures are comic accurate.
Infinite Crisis series 1:
Mongul
OMAC
Alex Luthor
Earth-Prime Superboy
Power Girl
Justice League series 4:
Shazam!
Black Adam
Hawkman
Zatanna
Solomon Grundy
— January 14, 2006
Lionsgate has announced the DVD special features for Ultimate Avengers, which will be released on Feb. 21. Go to the above link to see the box art. DVD Specs:
* “Avengers Assemble” Featurette.
* The Ultimate Voice Talent Search.
* What Avenger Are You? DVD-ROM game.
* A first look at Ultimate Avengers II.
* Avengers Trivia Track.
* Animated interactive menus.
* Trailer gallery.
— January 9, 2006
Rumors began this weekend out of the Hong Kong toy show that the Marvel toy license is expiring and that Hasbro was picking up the license. It has been confirmed that the license does expire this year, but many fans were concerned over the idea that Hasbro might produce Marvel figures. There was also a lot of confusion surrounding this as the current producer of Marvel Toys, Toy Biz, is owned by Marvel.
Well, the confusion still exists, but it is official. In Hasbro Picks up the Marvel License over st Super Hero Times, Hasbro announced that they will produce Marvel toys beginning in 2007. In addition to this, Marvel Press Statement on the Hasbro Deal is a Marvel press release at Action-Figure.com detailing how Marvel has ended its distribution deal with Toy Biz Worldwide a year early effective at the end of 2005. Marvel will produce everything in house until 2007 when Hasbro takes over the license.
What does this all mean? What Does the Hasbro / Marvel Deal Mean? by Adrian at Action-Figure.com is a long article detailing the whole saga including the relationship between Toy Biz, Marvel and Toy Biz Worldwide.
Here is what I think is going to happen. I think that Hasbro will be developing, producing and distributing all of the Marvel toys beginning in 2007, based on what I read. I think that Marvel is getting out of the toy business, and this is the way to do it. What does this mean for Toy Biz? I think Toy Biz will be dissolved and absorbed into Hasbro or Marvel. They do have the licenses for addtional toy lines. I think those will be absorbed as well. I don’t see anyway for Toy Biz to continue without the Marvel line.
What will happen to Marvel Legends and similar lines? I don’t think they will continue, at least not like they are now. I don’t see how Hasbro can continue to produce them in the same fashion as they are now without changing them. Now, I know relatively little about the toy business. I hope Hasbro proves me wrong, and they do an even better job than Toy Biz. I hope we find out more at Toy Fair next month.
— January 8, 2006
Tonight, more superhero action figure reviews! First up, we have Batman: Long Halloween action figures reviewed Michael Crawford over at his web site.
Second, Michael has a guest reviewer on his site reviewing Marvel Legends series 11.
— January 7, 2006
This is a rumor, as I cannot confirm anything official right now, but it has been reported on several toy collecting message boards that Hasbro will have the rights to distribute Marvel figures in 2007. This news is reportedly coming out of the Hong Kong Toy Fair which is going on right now.
Apparently under the current relationship, Toy Biz, the company that produces Marvel toys, is owned by Marvel. However, the license to distribute the toys is owned by a company called Toy Biz Worldwide which is a separate company from Toy Biz and Marvel. It has been confirmed that the distribution license will end in 2006. So the news that Hasbro will be getting the license in 2007 makes sense.
There is a lot of confusion over this among fans. I will continue to report on this as the story develops. But if this is true, I think it will be a good thing as long as it is Toy Biz who designs and develops the figures. It seems to me since Hasbro is a much larger company than Toy Biz Worldwide, it would be of benefit to Toy Biz and Marvel to have Hasbro distibute the figures.
— January 5, 2006
The Sideshow e-newsletter comes out tomorrow but subscribers get a preview a day early. They actually post it online a day early and members can login to their account and read the newsletter. I didn’t actually know this was a feature so this was the first time I had seen it. Anyway onto the news…
Sideshow is really delving into the Marvel license in 2006. They announced the X3 movie license recently and have 2 new collectibles up for pre-order, the X3 Beast Maquette and the X3 Juggernaut Maquette.
I have a few comments about these, first off the Beast figure is based on initial designs for the movie not the final version. That said, look at his unit! Not sure what to make of that, but it kind of reminds me of the Beast version of the famous David statue. Second, Juggernaut really looks like Ram-Man from Masters of the Universe.
I saved the best for last. Sideshow is doing another diorama based on the comic designs, The Incredible Hulk vs. Spider-Man Diorama. This blew me away, and I have only seen the previews. 2006 looks to be a promising year for Marvel and Sideshow.
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