Mega Bloks is going to be releasing construction sets based upon Blizzard Entertainment’s hugely successful World of Warcraft MMO game. I’ve covered this before in my blog here at AFi, so it should be no surprise that I’m really looking forward to this line. Let me be clear. I’m REALLY excited about this line! (more…)

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Mars Attacks is making a comeback in 2012, and as a fan of vintage sci-fi, I’m pretty excited by the imminent invasion. (more…)

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As we prepare for Toy Fair, NECA and Wiz Kids are not taking a break.  Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday they have been previewing more pieces from their upcoming sets of HeroClix.  Star Trek tactics – which involves ship battles has just released.  The big push now is Galactic Guardians, their next upcoming major release.

Master of the Mystic Arts (follow the link for more details!)

More Strangeness after the jump! (more…)

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The Han Snowlo Project: part II.

So I started this goofy experiment in my last blog entry.  Over the course of Thursday through Sunday, I tracked the rate of snowfall using a broomstick and my son’s Han Solo.

You can see the progress of the snow below, along with the anguished plastic cries of the non-carbonite frozen Corellian.

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As a player of video games, I was so happy to see Unimax launch their Gamestars line last year. While the 3-3/4″ revolution was going on strong at a variety of toy companies and with a variety of properties, it seemed video game-based action figures were only being made in the 6-7″ scale, with the exception of McFarlane Toys Halo lines which started at 5″ and later bumped up a bit with the release of the Halo: Reach line.

But then along came Unimax. Seemingly out of nowhere the Crysis 2 figures started showing up in Targets around the country. Nicely sculpted and articulated they caught the attention of a lot of 1:18 scale figure fans like myself. While I’ve been a fan of Unimax for a few years now with their Bravo Team, Dino Warriors and Ages of Action lines, I couldn’t get myself to pull the trigger on any of the Crysis 2 figures. No fault of Unimax’s, I just didn’t care at all for the look of the Crysis characters. At all. So, I passed on the assortment.

But, that little Gamestars logo up in the corner got me thinking that maybe, just maybe, Gamestars would prove to be an over-arcing brand encompassing multiple video game licenses. Sure enough, that’s exactly what came to be. Soon we found out about Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, and Red Faction: Armageddon with Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon yet to come. What fantastic news! I really dig the Assassins Creed line, and from pictures I’ve seen Red Faction looks pretty sweet, too. It just hasn’t shown up at any stores around me yet.

Recently, online retailer Big Bad Toy Store posted some product listings for upcoming Gamestars assortments. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon is still on the way, but it seems we can also look forward to some assortments based on a couple of upcoming Capcom properties: Dragon’s Dogma and Asura’s Fate. Plus, there’s more Assassin’s Creed coming, which I’m excited about.

But, the big one that took my breath away? Starcraft II. I played the original Starcraft back in the day, and loved it. I love Blizzard Entertainment and the worlds and games they’ve created. Starcraft would make an excellent, excellent toyline. Now, I did a little checking and the BBTS listing may be a bit premature, but from what I understand, Unimax and Blizzard are wrapping up negotiations for the license. I’ve got my fingers crossed all goes through as planned.

What I’m really hoping for, and there’s no signs of this happening – so this is just rampant fanboy conjecture – is this new found relationship between Unimax and Blizzard (again, assuming all goes well) could maybe, just maybe, lead to a 1:18 line based on World of Warcraft. Now, that would be truly awesome.

I’d also love to see Unimax tackle a 1:18 Gears of War line. The NECA figures are beautiful, sure, but they refuse to do smaller scale figures.

But, all wishlists aside, we’ve got some great stuff coming from Unimax and their Gamestars lines in 2012. I can’t wait!

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Well, not that it has been all that missed, but I have not done a blog in a long time. With the demise of LOST, I was just too depressed to go on. But at mid-season Fox debuted Alcatraz!

But anyone expecting the next Lost might be disappointed by Alcatraz – with its eccentric scientists, government agents and icy blonde female lead, the show more closely resembles that previous Fox/Abrams collaboration Fringe.

The Premise – Alcatraz has a strong premise that is effectively set-up in the pilot episode: the entirety of the island prison’s inmate population vanished decades ago without explanation, but now, one by one, the prisoners are coming back, without having aged a day. It’s a simple idea but one that allows for both a ‘villain of the week’ procedural element and a developing series mythology.

The Scientist, Comic Geek and Spy – Jorge Garcia is very much on form in the Alcatraz pilot, and provides some much-needed humor. OK, his character Dr Diego Soto is basically just Lost’s Hurley slightly better dressed, but Garcia is nevertheless a charismatic presence.

The Shady Government Agent – Sam Neill is also fun in the somewhat limited role of Emerson Hauser. Now I confess that I really love Sam Neill. I was first introduced to him in the BBC/PBS program Rilley Ace of Spies; A dramatization of the missions and adventures of the greatest spy in British history- Sidney Rilley, back in 1983. And as a sidebar, if you’ve never seen it I cannot recommend it enough to you. But I digress, Sam doesn’t get a lot to do in the pilot, but there’s a twist at the end of this opening installment that suggests there’s more in store for this character. Plus, he gets to head-butt someone, and if that doesn’t get you excited, nothing will.

Alcatraz Prison Warden aka: The Villain – E.B. Tiller is, to me, the whipped cream and cherry on the sundae of this program! He’s a tyrannical authority figure who may be even worse than the criminals he mistreats. The actor Jason Butler Harner, is playing the part perfectly. Tiller is creepy and detestable and he knows more about what is going on in the mystery that the rest of us do. Destined to be this program’s Ben Linus, the guy you love to hate.

The Cop/Hero – Unfortunately, of the three lead performances, it’s Sarah Jones as cop Rebecca Madsen who’s the weakest. It’s possible that Sons of Anarchy actress Jones is simply struggling with a flatly-written role. To draw that Fringe comparison once again, let’s not forget how viewers judged Anna Torv early on, only to marvel at her talent and range once she was actually given something interesting to do. I hope that the same is true of Jones, but as it stands, Madsen comes across as a rather dreary character.

So should you give Alcatraz a chance? Overall, yes, the show gets my vote. Going on the evidence of the pilot, the series is slick, silly fun. It remains to be seen whether Alcatraz will break out and develop an ongoing mythology strong enough to draw in viewers like Lost did, or if the show will fall back on the reliable procedural format. Personally, I’m hoping for the former – Alcatraz may not be the next Lost, but with a few tweaks, it could easily become as compelling.

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One of the 2012 toylines that I am most awaiting and most nervous about is The Hobbit (and the Lord of the Rings). I’m a huge fan of the books and the films, and cannot wait for December to roll around so that we may all be transported back to the magical and wonderful world of New Zealand…um, I mean Middle Earth. I have huge expectations for Peter Jackson’s return to the world created by J.R.R. Tolkien. But, what about the toys?

Frankly, the toyline is a huge question mark. I’ve no idea what to expect. Are we to judge the output of The Bridge Direct based soley upon their Zhu Zhu Pets and Justin Beiber products? Is that fair? Only, I suppose, if the same people who worked on those are working on the Tolkien lines. But, we don’t know that. Likely it’s a different brand manager, different sculptors, etc. The Bridge Direct has said they want their work on these products to put them on the action figure industry map. They must have done something to wow WB Consumer Products and be awarded the license in the first place.

What am I hoping for? C’mon. You know what I’m going to say. I want a solid 4″ line based on the new movies and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Yes, Toy Biz did some amazing work on the original figures and I understand fans would like Hobbit toys to be compatible. I get that. But, I still hope for an extensive 4″ line. We know they are planning Basic Figures and highly-detailed Collectors Figures, so maybe there’ll be 4″ and 6″ figures and everyone’ll be happy.

I just pray they’re good!

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One of my favorite lines going right now is Hasbro’s Marvel Universe. Marvel characters in my favorite scale. Doesn’t get much better than that.

So, it is with great anticipation that I look forward to what David Vonner and the rest of the intrepid Marvel Universe team is going to unveil at Toy Fair 2012. I’m trying to manage expectations, ‘though. If memory serves, there hasn’t been very much shown at Toy Fair the past couple of years, with a much bigger splash coming in the summer at Comic Con. However, there’s bound to be a few surprises. But, what? (more…)

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If you’ve watched the news today, you may have seen the weather forecast for Denver. Snow, wind, snow, wind, snow…you get the idea. The NOAA has predicted between 12″ – 24″ of snow for the Denver area, along with near-blizzard conditions overnight through tomorrow.

Fun.

So anticipating that schools will be closed tomorrow and wanting nothing to do with household responsibilities, my son and I settled upon our own homemade snow measurement system…

The Han Snowlo Project.

(more…)

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I’m starting to wonder if anything is going to be left for Toy Fair itself. Yesterday, MTV Geek revealed a bunch of the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys, which was another of the lines I was most looking forward to coming out of Toy Fair. (more…)

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It’s the 1st of February, and that means that Toy Fair 2012 happens this month!

Every year, it seems, the Big Dance of the toy industry is a mix of elation and disappointment. But, for even the most jaded collector there is always something to look forward to.

So, every weekday between now and the start of the show on February 12th, I will be looking at some expected items that I am optimistically looking forward to.

Since some of this got spoiled this week, we’re going to start off with products based on this year’s sure to be blockbuster motion picture: The Dark Knight Rises! (more…)

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Batman: Brave and the Bold was scary for many reasons: it had a light tone, it was not a Timm-verse Batman, and Oswald from “The Drew Carey Show” was BATMAN!!! The toys were even scarier, they weren’t in scale with JLU and they had crazy peg-holes, PEG-HOLES!!!!! The magic of the show won fans  over, its great stories and diverse cast had viewers of all ages coming back. And for some of us, the magic of the show managed to make the toys fun to collect.

Granted I only own 5 Brave and the Bold figures, but still much like they show I was surprised by how much I liked them. The toy-line is still going pretty strong and is much easier to find than other Mattel lines. New figures are hitting the pegs, and one in particular caught my eye. It has a removable cowl! Revealing Bruce Wayne is the Batman!

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Since ordering the 1/6 scale Blind Cowboy and Ghost Horse Super Set from threeA Toys many months ago, I have been anxiously awaiting the delivery of the enormous box…and yesterday it arrived.  I haven’t been able to stop messing with it and nearly took the day off work to play with it, so I thought I’d provide a quick review for those wondering what the big deal is with this magnificent beast.

For those wondering, threeA Toys (3A) produces limited-edition products based on the crazy-cool creations of the artist Ashley Wood and the universe he’s imagined with his paintbrush.  Blind Cowboy is part of the ‘Popbot’ section of the threeA universe.

You can read more about 3A and the various toylines here and here.

Here’s the specific entry on Blind Cowboy from the ThreeA wiki.

His family killed by a gang of deranged robots, his eyesight taken as payment for someone else’s debt. He now wears the rag reputedly used to mop the bloody brow of the assassinated JFK, the turgid rag now giving a clarity of vision, a clarity of justice and revenge to the Blind Cowboy. His is only friend, a horse named Ghost!

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Yes, you read that right. Apparently, I’m not the only nerd who thinks Bruce Lee and, in particular, Bruce Lee’s appearance in Game of Death is the coolest thing ever. Whoever is behind the Industrial Toy Werks Super Powers bootlegs is obviously a fan, too. Oh, for more about this kooky series of customs, please see Julius Marx’s blog about his ITW Mirror Master. I’m not a Super Powers collector but I do love weird kitschy stuff, and so these things have caught my eye on several occasions. I know you’re squirming, Chip. Well, seeing as how I’ve done everything but dress up as Bruce Lee in the yellow track suit, it was only a matter of time before I finally picked up one of these customs. (more…)

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I’m hoping you didn’t come here looking for facts. Or statistics. Or anecdotes from former toy company big wigs. All you’re gonna get is a flimsy theory pulled from CantinaDanny’s Action Figure Observer’s Field Guide. But it is true that, from the early days of the little plastic people, action figure lines have been light on the lady folk. Granted, the Star Wars movies themselves were pretty male centric but its funny to note that out of 100 vintage Star Wars figures, six were female. Five Princess Leias and a Sy Snootles. Somebody is probably going to correct me by saying something like: “The Death Star Droid was really a fembot!”

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