Welcome back to an all new edition of Toy News Tuesday! We’re the one weekly column right here on ScienceFiction.com where we seek out all of the awesome news you need to know about any announcements and cool happenings in the toy industry and put them all in one easy to find place for you! ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ theatrical release is still months away, but the toys are due to hit shelves in just a few weeks! What’s even better, is a few of them has hit quite a bit early! With new ‘Black Series’ and Funko POP! Vinyls to look forward to, these weeks cannot go by fast enough! All of those, plus a ton of other cool new stuff make up the Toy News for the week of August 18th, 2015!
Gamestop Nabs New ‘Arkham Knight’ Exclusives
*WARNING! SPOILER ALERT for ‘Batman: Arkham Knight’*
While it’s been out for a few months now, DC Comic’s ‘Batman: Arkham Knight’ video game is still one of hte hotest properties on the market and is storming game consoles worldwide! This week DC Collectibles announced two brand new figures from their ‘Batman: Arkham Knight’ toyline that will be sold exclusively at Gamestop Stores!
The two new exclusive figures are going to be ‘Battle Damaged Batman’ and ‘Red Hood 1.0’, both of which come with their own character specific accessories to bring the game characters to life in your collection! Previously, DC Collectibles had released a Gamestop Exclusive ‘Red Hood’ figure in this series. These figures are due to hit Gamestop stores next February.
(via TNI)
Move Over ‘Black Series’!
For the last two years, ‘Star Wars’ fans have revelled in knowing that they had finally gotten what was probably the best ‘Star Wars’ toyline they were ever going to get from Hasbro with the 6″ scale ‘Star Wars Black Series’. This week at Disney’s big D23 Expo, Disney proved them all wrong with the reveal of the new 6″ scale “Star Wars Elite Series’, which is a new series of hand painted die cast action figures! This new line will be sold exclusively at Disney Stores, and premiered at the D23 Expo with a special Expo Exclusive box-set! The set, which is limited to 500 pieces, includes several fan favorite characters in their new 6” fully articulated form!
Figures in the Expo Exclusive box set include Darth Maul, Anakin Skywalker, General Grievous, Stormtrooper, Darth Vader, C-3PO, R2-D2, and Boba Fett! It is expected that each of these figures will see individual release later this year at Disney Stores.
(via ToyArk)
The Force Woke Up Before It’s Street Date!
According the the Facebook Page ‘The Ultimate Toy Collector Facebook Page’, a few stores have already broken the ‘Force Friday’ Street Date of September 4th! The page has a ton of images of the new ‘Star Wars Black Series’ figures from ‘The Force Awakens’, including Kylo Ren, Chewbacca, Finn, Rey with BB-8, and a First Order Stormtrooper! Check out the full photo gallery here.
Fresh From The Pit Of Carkoon
As if we didn’t get enough Boba Fett news last week, now we’ve got a whole new reason to be excited about the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy! Hot Toys has announced their all new 1:6th scale Boba Fett figure to add to your Hot Toys Star Wars collection! Naturally, with a character this popular, Hot Toys couldn’t just make it easy for you by releasing just one version of this figure. There is both a standard release, and a special deluxe edition that includes two jet-thruster attachment effects, as well as an exclusive Sarlacc Diorama display stand! Check out the full releases from Hot Toys below-
Star Wars EPVI 1/6th scale Boba Fett Collectible Figure
Equipped with a customized Mandalorian armor and deadly skills, Boba Fett is a fearsome bounty hunters in the Star Wars galaxy, but also one of the most popular characters among fans! After its reveal at various toy fairs this year, Hot Toys is excited to officially present today the new 1/6th scale Boba Fett Collectible Figure based on Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi!
The highly-accurate collectible figure is specially crafted based on the image of Boba Fett in Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. It features finely sculpted Boba Fett helmet and armor, his signature jetpack, detailed weapon, accessories, and figure stand.
Star Wars fans shouldn’t miss the opportunity to add this notorious bounty hunter to your prized collection!
Star Wars EPVI 1/6th scale Boba Fett (Deluxe Version)
In Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, Jabba the Hutt has sentenced Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Chewbacca to death by casting them into the Great Pit of Carkoon on Tatooine, but Luke Skywalker has saved themselves from the terrible fate by fending off the fearsome bounty hunter Boba Fett and Jabba’s minions! In a memorable moment in the film, Han Solo accidentally hits Boba Fett and knocked the Mandalorian down into the Sarlacc’s pit.
Today, Hot Toys is excited to officially present the new Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi 1/6th scale Boba Fett Collectible Figure (Deluxe Version)!
The highly-accurate collectible figure is specially crafted based on the image of Boba Fett in Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. It features finely sculpted Boba Fett helmet and armor, his signature jetpack, detailed weapon, accessories, and figure stand. This deluxe version will exclusively include an additional specially crafted Sarlacc diorama figure base and two real-like jetpack thrust fire accessories!
This iconic bounty hunter deserves a spot in your Star Wars collection!
Thunder, Thunder, THUNDERCATS!
A few months back at San Diego Comic Con 2015, Matty Collector announced their new ‘Thundercats Classics’ toyline that would carry on in the same vein as their ‘Masters Of The Universe Classics’ line. While most fans were wowed by the all the awesome new ‘Thundercats’ figures we saw on display at the convention, apprently Matty Collector themselves just wasn’t 100% happy with these figures! So they’ve gone back and retooled Lion-O with a new sculpt! The full post from Matty Collector Representative ‘Skeletors Love Child’ on the Matty Collector Message Boards is below-
Good day Thunderians!
Remember the Lion-O we showed at Comic Con this year? We loved him and you loved him too, but after hearing from the fans and doing a little thinking we decided to take a trip back to the sculpting table to make him a little more cartoon-esque.
Per the Four Horsemen: “Between the sculpting and paint there were a lot of changes, but we feel like it was well worth it! The figure looks much more animation accurate, and it fits the look of the rest of the figures much better.”
I thought he was pretty breathtaking before but now? Thundercats hooo, indeed. Smiler
Skeletor’s Love Child
(via AFI)
All The Evidence Is There
BBC’s ‘Sherlock’ has been a hit series for the better part of the past decade, with only a handful of seasons under it’s belt and a limited quantity of licensed merchandise on the market to satiate the fanbase. The team at Underground Toys, who most of you probably know for their handling of another popular BCC property, ‘Doctor Who’, has announced an all new 5″ scale ‘Sherlock’ figure based on actor Benedict Cumberbatch’s appearance as the series star.
This all new 5″ scale Sherlock figure features standard articulation and several character specific accessories like a violin, Sherlocks cellular phone, and more! He should be perfectly in scale with all of your 5″ Underground Toys ‘Doctor Who’ figures. This figure is set to hit stores this December.
EndoCop On The Horizon
NECA has blown fans of both the ‘Robocop’ and ‘Terminator’ franchises away with their support of either franchise in recent years. Earlier this year we received the special treat of a ‘Robocop vs. Terminator’ toyline based on the classic video game of the same name, but now NECA has teased a whole new crossover toy that will have fans of either franchise squealing with joy!
The team over at NECA have posted a teaser image over on Twitter of an all new ‘EndoCop’ figure, based on the character from Dark Horse Comics classic ‘Robocop vs Terminator’ comic book series. As youc an see in the image, EndoCop is a combination of the Robocop armor on a T-800 Terminator Endoskeleton. This figure is expected to hit stores sometime in 2016.
Funko Forecast
Get ready for the Funko Forecast! This is where we’re going to be showcasing all of the cool new announcements and reveals from Funko! With all of the awesome that consistently seems to be flowing out of those guys, it shouldn’t be hard to keep this section alive each and every week!
The Force Is Strong With Funko
While all sorts of neat new ‘Star Wars’ goodies are leaking early, Funko has had a much better control on things besides a few preview images of their upcoming products for ‘The Force Awakens’! Rebel Scum has a ton of images up of the new wave of Funko POP! Vinyls based on the upcoming film, featuring characters like…
- Finn
- Rey
- BB-8
- Chewbacca
- Kylo Ren
- C-3PO
- Poe Dameron
- Captain Phasma
- First Order Stormtrooper
- First Order Snowtrooper
- First Order Planetrooper
Most notably missing from this character lineup are series fan favorites Han Solo, Leia Organa, R2-D2, and Luke Skywalker, all of whom are expected to appear in the film. These figures are expected to have wide release on September 4th.
FINALLY
Well, someone had to say it! Funko has announced that later this year we will finally be adding our very own Felicity Smoak to our Funko POP! ‘Arrow’ collections! Felicity currently has no release date set.
(via Pop Vinyls)
Visit Crimson Peak
While Guillermo Del Toro’s latest cinematic opus doesn’t hit theaters for a few weeks yet, you should be able to snag the all new Funko POP! Vinyl figures based on the film any day now! The series is a short wave consisting of just three figures; Sir Thomas Sharpe, Edith Cushing, and Mother Ghost! These figures are expected to hit in late August.
Walgreens Strikes Back!
Pharmacy chain Walgreens has been diving headfirst into the collectibles industry in recent years, and now they’re striking out in full force, literally! This time their latest round of exclusive collectibles are all ‘Star Wars’ based, with an all new wave of exclusive Funko POP! Vinyls! The newewst series includes GITD Force Yoda, Prototype Boba Fett, Snowtrooper, and Imperial Guard! These are due in stores this fall.
(via Pop Vinyls)
This is Halloween!
As they seem to do every year around this time, Funko has announced a few new ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ items for you to add to your collections this Halloween Season! Check out the full listings from Funko below-
Pop! Disney: The Nightmare Before Christmas
We have some new additions to our The Nightmare Before Christmas line! Jack Skellington returns in his Pumpkin King costume just in time for Halloween, when he joins the land of the living! Our latest Sally figure includes her jar of deadly Nightshade and her black cat from “Sally’s Song”!
Mopeez: The Nightmare Before Christmas
Boys and girls of every age, wouldn’t you like to see something strange? Our The Nightmare Before Christmas Mopeez are coming soon! The series features Jack Skellingon, his ghost dog, Zero, and his beloved Sally! Jack also comes in his Pumpkin King costume, as well as the Mayor of Halloween Town! Don’t forget to add Vampire Teddy and Oogie Boogie to your collection, too!
These four and a half-inch plush figures are weighted on the bottom to retain a slouchy posture and adorable frustration. Mopeez are available for pre-order in the form of a PDQ or as individual pieces. Each PDQ comes with the below assortment of 12 pieces.
(via AFI)
And with that, we bring this week’s Toy News Tuesday to a close! What do you think about the new items announced this week? Do you plan on picking up anything we mentioned in this week’s column? Are there any lines or brands you’d like to see more coverage of? Let us know in the comments section below! Until next week, happy toy hunting!
