|
Art Asylum Coverage
|
 |
ART ASYLUM
Art Asylum has certainly had their ups and downs
and a lot of folks were wondering what direction they would go
when Play Along was bought by Jakks. They seem to have refocused
their efforts, looked at what they do best and picked up some
great license that will play to their strengths. Mini-mates are
still a staple and rightfully so.
Mini-Mates
Street Fighter- The Street Fighter Mini-Mates
are coming as a result of a partnership with Diamond Select Toys.
The main series will consist of 2-packs. The hope is to get the
4-packs into Toys R Us stores. There are 2 previews exclusives
2-packs, and AFX exclusive and a Hollywood Video exclusive 2-packs.
There will also be a series released in Japan in single blind
boxes. Player one decos for the US and player 2 decos for Japan.
Battlestar Galactica-
Here is a license that has not gotten good treatment
in a very long time. With the updated version being a breakout
hit on the Sci-Fi network there are still plenty of fans of the
classic series and Art Asylum aims to please both. Starting with
Mini-mates based on both the classic show and the new version,
many of which were designed by AFI friend Matt
"IRON COW" Cauley. The line will consist of both
figures and vehicles. The vehicles will still be "buildable"
but will NOT be in the style of the C3 construction kits. The
classic Cylon Raider even has the look of the three pilot cockpit
with the two extra heads in front.
In addition to the Mini-Mates they are looking at
launching a series of statues based on the characters and vehicles.
Only the prototype of the modern Galactica was shown, but no photography
was allowed. They mentioned the possibility of connecting set
of Six and Baltar.
Marvel -
Xmen boxed set with the 9 minute animated film "X-men:
Darktide" made by the same studio that made the Batman C3
short last year for Art Asylum. While all of the characters in
the boxed set have been released before they all come with new
heads/expressions. Available now at Target stores.
It appears Target will continue to cary the Marvel
2-packs and they are working on putting together some new assortments
for that.
Also show but not photographable were three new
4-packs of Marvel Mini-Mates that should end up as Toys R Us exclusives.
The direction of the next few sets are based on new comics and
teams- Marvel Knights, The New Avengers and Astonishing X-men.
They are also looking into the possibility of doing
some single packed Marvel Mini-Mates for counter displays at food
and drug stores, but nothing is set in stone on that as of this
writing.
Lord of the Rings -
Don't get your hopes up. While packaged mock-ups
and lose versions of the LOTR Mini-mates were on display it was
really just to show folks what might have been had retailers continued
to support the line. The line would have included: Eowyn/Morgul
Lord 2pack, Ringwraiths 2pack, Witch King/Strider 2pack, and a
Lurtz/Witch King 2pack.
Speed Racer -
Art Asylum has revamped the Speed Racer license
by flinging them all forty years into the future. Speed Racer
now has two kids: Speed Jr and Velocity. They also race and have
teams of their own. Trixi, Chim Chim and Spridle are all still
around, but older. They have hooked up with an animation house
in New York to develop animation based on their new re-imagining
and will start with 7-minute webisodes.
The boxed car prototypes are "The Gyro Cars"
which function much like the old rip-cord Evil Kenevil stunt cycles.
Rev up the wheel and the cars take off. There will be mini-mates
in 2-pack and 4-packs with vehicles. The Speed Racer vehicles
will be solid and not the "build-ups" line the BG stuff.
Also for Speed Racer are 5" figures which will
include classic versions of Speed and Racer X as well as the updated
version and new characters.
The other natural progression of this line they
will be doing are die-cast cars.
Madballs-
Putting another new twist on an old classic is the
Art Asylum revival of Madballs. AA will be updating the classic
designs/characters with better, freakier sculpts and better paint
ops. There's even a ball sculpted by Digger himself.
|
|
|
|
|
| Street Fighter MiniMates Display |
Street Fighter MiniMates Display |
Street Fighter MiniMates 4pack Mock-up |
Street Fighter MiniMates 2packs |
Street Fighter MiniMates Packaging |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Street Fighter MiniMates 2pack |
X-Men MiniMate "Dark Tide" Packaging |
Fantastic Four MiniMates |
Unreleased
Lord of the Rings MiniMates- Ringwraiths 2pack |
Unreleased
Lord of the Rings MiniMates- Eowyn/Morgul Lord 2pack |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Unreleased
Lord of the Rings MiniMates- Witch King/Strider 2pack |
Unreleased
Lord of the Rings MiniMates- Lurtz/Witch King 2pack |
Loose
Unreleased Lord of the Rings MiniMates- 3packs |
Battlestar Galactica Classic MiniMates Concept Art |
Battlestar Galactica Classic- Apollo & Colonial Viper |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Battlestar Galactica Classic- Adama & Boomer |
Battlestar Galactica Classic- Boomer & Colonial Viper |
Battlestar Galactica Classic- Adama |
Battlestar Galactica Classic- Gold Cylon |
Battlestar Galactica Classic- Apollo |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Battlestar Galactica Classic- Cylon Raider close-up |
Battlestar Galactica Classic- Cylon Raider |
Battlestar Galactica Classic- Cylon Raider |
Battlestar Galactica Classic- Package mock-up |
Battlestar Galactica Classic- Package mock-up |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Battlestar Galactica Classic- Package mock-up |
Battlestar Galactica Classic- Package mock-up |
Battlestar Galactica Classic- Package mock-up |
Battlestar Galactica Classic Classic- Package mock-up |
Battlestar Galactica Modern- |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Battlestar Galactica Modern- Cylon |
Battlestar Galactica Modern MiniMates Concept Art |
Battlestar Galactica Modern- Adama |
Battlestar Galactica Modern- Boomer |
Battlestar Galactica Modern- Apollo |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Battlestar Galactica Modern- Colonial Viper |
Battlestar Galactica Modern- Cylon Raider |
Battlestar Galactica Modern- Packages |
Battlestar Galactica MiniFlyers |
Speed Racer Car Launchers |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Speed Racer Car Launchers |
Speed Racer Packaging |
Speed Racer MiniMates 4pack |
Speed Racer MiniMates Speed, Trixie & Mach 5 |
Speed Racer MiniMates Racer X, The Terror & X-1 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Speed Racer MiniMates Package Mock-up |
Speed Racer Figures Packaging |
Speed Racer Figures Packaging |
Speed Racer Figures Concept Art |
Speed Racer Figures Concept Art |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Speed Racer Figures |
Speed Racer Figures Packaging |
Speed Racer Figures Packaging |
Speed
Racer- Mach 5 Vehicle fun car on loan for the display |
Speed Racer- Display |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| MadBalls Display |
MadBalls Display |
Super
MadBall- redesigned by Digger |
Super MadBalls |
Ghoul School Plush |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Jump Tribe Plush |
Back To Toy Fair 2006 Coverage!
|
