Hey there toy fans! Here we are once again for another edition of the always exciting Toy News Tuesday; your weekly stop right here at ScienceFiction.com where you can find all the toy news and product announcements that you need to know! Pretty much, we cover everything that’s going on in the wide world of the toy industry. Let’s cut to the chase and dive right into this week’s news– it’s a bit of a doozy! Here’s the news for the week of May 27th, 2014!
Yo Joe! The Passing of a Legend
Unfortunately, this past week the toy world lost one of our very own living legends. It was a sad day on Thursday, May 22, 2014, as the toy world mourned the loss of Hasbro executive Donald Levine, who was one of the men credited with the creation of G.I. Joe; the world’s first mass marketed action figure. Levine, who was 86 years young, passed away this past week in his home hospice care due to complications from cancer.
While you may not recognize the name, if you’re a fan of toys at all, it’s impossible not to take a moment to appreciate this man for what he did for each and every one of us. Donald Levine was a true pioneer of the toy industry, designing and developing the original G.I. Joe action figures for Hasbro while working as their head of research and development. The original figures were just under twelve-inches tall with over twenty points of articulation; coming accessorized based on various branches of the armed services. Levine envisioned these figures as a way to honor the men in the armed forces after serving in the army in Korea. The first versions of G.I. Joe figures hit shelves during the Christmas season of 1964 and were priced at around $4 each.
Levine is survived by his wife, Nan Levine, as well as three children and four grandchildren. May he rest in peace.
(Via Yahoo)
Minimates Forging Their Own Path
While we’re used to seeing much more mainstream areas of pop-culture addressed by Diamond Select and Art Asylums highly acclaimed Minimates toyline, this time they’re doing something kind of special. This week Diamond Select proudly announced the release of an all new box set based on the well known fantasy RPG, Pathfinder! This set will include characters Valeros, Harsk, Merisial and an unnamed Goblin Warrior! This set is sure to be a big hit amongst the gamer crowd I wouldn’t recommend waiting to see if you roll a twenty before deciding to pick this one up! It’s expected to hit stores this October. The full release from DST is below:
A Diamond Select Toys Release! From across the world of Golarion come representatives of four of the most well-known races of the Pathfinder RPG! This four-pack of 2-inch Minimates mini-figures includes the heroic Valeros, Human Fighter; the heavily armed Harsk, Dwarf Ranger; the mysterious Merisiel, Elf Rogue; and a vicious Goblin Warrior. Each Minimate features interchangeable parts and accessories. Packaged on a blister card. Designed by Art Asylum! Look for it to be released in October 2014.
(via TNI)
Cast Your Vote for Infinity
While the story itself has wrapped up fairly recently, people haven’t forgotten about Marvel’s ‘Infinity’ crossover event! What’s awesome for comic book readers and toy collectors though (which we’re kind of assuming you are if you’re reading this), is that the team at Diamond Select Toys is planning a four-piece Minimates box-set to celebrate the storyline’s culmination! The real icing on the cake, is that they’re letting YOU choose who goes into the box set through a fan poll on their website. Fans have six character choices to choose from, with space armored versions of classic Avengers Captain America, Iron Man and The Hulk, as well as the villainous Thanos, Thane (Son of Thanos) and Ronan The Accuser! You can Vote Here! The full release from DST is below:
One of the biggest events in the Marvel Universe last year was Infinity, in which the Avengers protected Earth from imminent destruction even as the world-conquering Thanos cut a path through the galaxy in search of his mysterious son. This year, Diamond Select Toys is excited to announce an all-new Marvel Minimates box set based on the crossover, and you get to pick who’s in it!
The box set will be available this fall exclusively at Toys “R” Us stores and online at Toysrus.com, and will include four different Minimates. You’ll get to pick which four by casting your vote below. Pick four out of the six possible characters — Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man, Thanos, Thane and Ronan — and the four with the highest number of votes will be included in the box set!
(via Marvel)
Hasbro’s Intergalactic SDCC Marvel Offerings
This July at San Diego Comic Con Hasbro looks to be blasting off into the world of Marvel’s expanded galactic universe with two all new box-sets!
The first set will be a five-pack of 6” scaled Marvel Legends figures (much like last years ‘Thunderbolts’ box-set) and will comprise of characters prominently featured in Marvel’s ‘The Thanos Imperative’ storyline. This set will have Black Bolt and Medusa from The Inhumans, Gladiator, Blastaar and of course the soon-to-be-fan-favorite Star Lord from Guardians of the Galaxy. The whole set is going to be packaged inside what looks like the Galactus Engine from the comic storyline and will cost $99.99. It hasn’t been said if the Black Bolt included in this set is a new sculpt, or a re-colored version of the sculpt released several years ago when Hasbro first took over the Marvel license.
The second set will be four-pack of smaller 3.75”-scale figures from Hasbro’s ‘Marvel Universe’ line. This set will be based on the classic ’Infinity Gauntlet’ storyline and is comprised of Nebula, Starfox, Mistress Death and of course Thanos; who naturally comes with his very own Infinity Gauntlet! To sweeten the deal (and justify the $74.99 price point) Hasbro is throwing in a life-sized foam Infinity Gauntlet that you yourself can wear! I’d imagine it’s something akin to the ‘Hulk Hands’ we’ve seen in the past, albeit much cooler looking!
(via USA Today)
NECA Set To Scale SDCC
The crew over at NECA Toys recently made another big SDCC reveal with the announcement of two convention exclusive Scaler two-packs! These exclusive two packs will feature fan favorite comic book characters, with one set of Marvel characters, and one set of DC characters. The Marvel set includes color variations of Spider-Man and Iron man, while the DC two-pack features a black and white Batman and Joker! Each two-pack will be available for $9.99. The full release from NECA is below:
The Marvel SDCC Scalers 2-Pack includes Silver Centurion Iron Man and “Marvels” Spider-Man. Premiered in issue #200 of Iron Man, the Silver Centurion armor marked Tony Stark’s big comeback as Iron Man (a position which Rhodey had been filling while Tony was mainly drunk). Spider-Man’s black and red suit appeared in the 1994 Marvels mini-series written by Kurt Busiek with illustrations by Alex Ross.
The DC Comics SDCC Scalers 2-Pack includes black and white versions of the comic series Batman and his arch-nemesis, the Joker. These collectible, 2″ mini figures grip headphone cords, cables and more, and feature an amazing level of detail!
(via AFI)
Magic The Gathering… Action Figures?
The fine folks over at Funko have kept up their usual awesomeness and revealed their all new series of action figures based on the iconic Magic The Gathering trading card game! Yes, you read right, we are getting toys based on a card game- and they are awesome! This all new 6”-scale line of Magic The Gathering Legacy figures is based on the mythology and characters from the MTG Planeswalkers storylines. The sculpts all look fantastic and about on par with Funko’s Game of Thrones Legacy figures. The full release from Funko is below:
Funko is excited to bring you the newest series from The Legacy Collection…
Magic: The Gathering Planeswalkers!
Funko is excited to expand the existing licensing agreement with Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS) to produce Magic: The Gathering Planeswalker Legacy Collection Action Figures.“We are deeply honored and very excited that Wizards of the Coast chose Funko as a partner to develop truly cool collectibles for Magic: The Gathering. I know the fans of Magic have been waiting nearly 20 years to get their hands on some fantastic Action Figures and stylized Vinyl figures. I promise that we won’t disappoint them!” said Brian Mariotti, CEO of Funko.
“We are excited to bring the world’s best strategy game to life with these figures,” said Elaine Chase, Brand Director for Magic: The Gathering at Wizards of the Coast. “Funko has been a great partner, and we’re looking forward to giving players yet another way to enjoy Magic: The Gathering.”
This is the first time fans will be able to have all of their favorite Magic: The Gathering characters in action figure form.
“In Magic: The Gathering, a Planeswalker is a powerful mage who is able to travel across the planes of existence. There are infinite worlds across the Multiverse, and Planeswalkers are unique in their ability to move from one world to the next, expanding their knowledge and power through the experiences they collect there.
The Multiverse—a boundless expanse of worlds, each different from the last. These worlds, called planes, differ as widely as the imagination. One plane might be covered entirely in dense jungle, for example. On another, city has replaced nature entirely. Still others are volcanic, icy, barren, or more like our own world, with many varied elements.” -www.wizards.com
The Magic: The Gathering Legacy Collection is a line of deluxe action figures featuring 20+ points of articulation and removable accessories.
These figures have highly detailed and premium sculpts. This allows for each Planeswalker to feature a very accurate and realistic design.
The line features the same iconic Planeswalkers that were released in the Pop!: Magic: The Gathering series.
Guard Your Mini-Galaxy
It looks as though Funko wants to continue along their running streak of releasing awesome toys that collectors can’t get enough of (and really, why wouldn’t they?), because now they’ve revealed yet another set of the highly collectible (and mildly addictive) Mystery Minis! This time the new set is based on Marvel’s ‘The Guardians of the Galaxy’! Included in this wave are Two versions of fan favorites Starlord and Rocket Raccoon, as well as Gamora, Groot, Drax, Nebula and Ronan The Accuser. Ronan, Drax and Nebula are also all getting glow in the dark or color variants, just to keep things interesting! These 2.5” scale blind-box figures are set to hit this June.
(via Marvel)
Threezero’s Tyrion Lannister Debuts
By now you’ve likely heard (or experienced first hand) a lot of the hype surrounding HBO’s epic miniseries ‘Game of Thrones’. Now thanks to the crew at Threezero, you can take home your very own 1:6 scale (or is that 1:12 scale in this case?) Tyrion Lannister figure! This highly detailed figure is the first figure from Threezero based on their recently acquired ‘Game of Thrones’ license, and will hopefully be the first of many! The full release from Threezero is below:
Announced earlier this year via social media, Threezero’s 1/6th scale toy line featuring characters from the hit HBO® series Game of Thrones ® launches this May. The first fully-articulated, highly detailed figure of this series to be released will be Tyrion of House Lannister standing at 9” tall. Pre-order for this figure will begin on Monday, May 26th 09:00am HKT (Previous day at 9:00pm EDT) at Threezero’s online store. SRP for the figure is $130. Wholesale pre-orders can be placed on the same day with Threezero directly. This figure will also be available at a later date via the HBO Shop and select retailers.
DC Collectibles Announce a Winner
Last week we told you about an a fan poll that DC Collectibles was running that let YOU decide who the next character was that DC Collectibles would release in action figure form! Well the results are in now and DC has revealed not one, but THREE new figures to be coming out of this contest! The top three characters are listed below in this excerpt from the DC Collectibles Blog:
Of course, for a lot of you, the highlight of the week seemed to be the polls. We asked you to vote on how much articulation you prefer in your action figures as well as which DC Comics – The New 52 action figure you’d like us to release next, and thousands of you responded. Well, you’ve been very patient as we’ve tallied the results, argued about the results, retallied the responses a second time, argued some more, retallied one last time and sent a few folks home early to recover emotionally (some people over here just REALLY want a Bunker action figure). Anyhow, it’s time to reveal the results, starting with our articulation poll.
With over 1,400 votes, you clearly are in favor of as much articulation as possible when it comes to action figures. That’s great, as we love articulation as well, so you’d better believe we’ll be keeping this in mind going forward. (If you’re curious, in second place was a more moderate level of articulation, with the lowest level of articulation coming in a distant third.)
On to our second poll, where we asked you to help us choose our next DC Comics – The New 52 action figure. Here we gave you twenty different choices. (Check out the poll, if you want the full list). Just for fun, we’re going to list off the top three…
#3 – Black Canary: We can’t say we’re too surprised here. Black Canary’s always been a favorite among fans, and she’s more prominent than ever after this past season of Arrow. However, the second choice surprised us a little…
#2 – White Lantern Kyle Rayner: Let’s hear it for Green Lantern: New Guardians! Yeah, we love Kyle as well, and we agree it would be cool to see him in action figure form now that he’s a White Lantern. But I don’t we’ll be putting the green paint away any time soon, particularly considering which popular character won the poll…
#1 – Poison Ivy: With a kiss, Pamela Isley can capture your heart. Or without a kiss, apparently, since she managed to win our poll without puckering up. Poison Ivy is one of the most enduring, popular villains in all of comics, so we’re not too surprised that she won and hopefully we’ll be seeing Ms. Isley in action figure form very soon!
On that note, we’re bringing this week’s Toy News Tuesday to a close. There’s lots of cool new stuff coming our way, are you planning on picking up any of the figures we talked about this week? Let us know what you think in the comments section below! Until next week, happy toy hunting!