The time has come yet again for an all new 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! The biggest and most exciting thing about this week is that New York Toy Fair 2017, the biggest toy news event of the year, is now just one month away! In the meantime, we’ve got a ton of cool new stuff being teased by some of our favorite companies, but there is just so much to be excited about that the anticipation is certainly palpable. Toy Fair may be coming up, but in the meantime, you’ll have to make due with the Toy News for the week of January 17th, 2017!
DC Collectibles Sneak Preview
Our friends over at DC Collectibles have been keeping busy coming up with some amazing new products to show off in just a few weeks at Toy Fair 2017! The team over at Kotaku were lucky enough to get a sneak preview of a few of these new upcoming items, which include new pieces in the ‘Batman: Black & White’ collection, the ‘DC Super-Pets’ line, and from their fan favorite ‘Batman: The Animated Series’ line! Check out the full listings below for some of the coolest new products to come from DC Collectibles yet:
BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES GCPD ROGUES GALLERY ACTION FIGURE 5-PACK
Packaging concept is shown, but artwork is not final.
Description: A lone cop—Renee Montoya—is surrounded by some of Gotham City’s greatest evildoers in this amazing new action figure 5-pack inspired by Batman: The Animated Series that comes in deluxe packaging with battery-powered lights! Each figure in this set comes with its own character-specific accessories and extra hands. 1:13 – 6 inch scale
MSRP: $175.00
DC SUPER-PETS!: Silky and Whatzit Plush Figures
Description: Two unlikely super-powered beings are the latest DC Super-Pet Plush Figures: The super-speedster turtle known as Whatnot (The Flash’s pet), and Starfire’s pet, Silky, from the pages of TEEN TITANS GO!
Each Measures Approximately 10” Tall
MSRP $15.00 each
Silky comes with two hearts
Batman: Black & White Statue
Designed by Norm Breyfogle
Sculpted by Chris Dahlberg
1:10 scale/measures approximately 7.78 inches tall
MSRP: $80.00
DC COVER GIRLS: ZATANNA Statue
Designed by Stanley Lau
Sculpted by Karen Palinko
1:8 scale/approx 10.2’’ tall
MSRP: $100.00
More Magnificent Marvel Minimates
While we first saw a glimpse of these a few months back at NYCC 2016, our friends at Diamond Select Toys have revealed new images of the upcoming Wave Four of their Walgreens Exclusive Marvel Animated Minimates! The newest wave is once again comprised of figures from Marvel’s animated series on Disney XD, ‘Avengers Assemble’ and ‘Ultimate Spiderman’, and include some of your fan favorite characters like The Hulk, Speed Demon, Scarlet Spider, and Ultimate Green Goblin! Check out the full solicitation below from Diamond Select Toys-
Marvel Animated Minimates Series 4 Revealed; Series 3 Now Available at Walgreens
Diamond Select Toys recently released Series 3 of its Marvel Animated Minimates collection, the latest assortment in an exclusive mini-figure line only available at Walgreens stores. Now they’re ready to officially announce the next assortment in the line! This upcoming fourth series of figures features all-new two-packs from Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man and Avengers Assemble, including new variations on your favorite Super Heroes and five new Super Villains!
Series 4 will hit in Spring of 2016, and will include four different two-packs, each containing two 2-inch Minimates mini-figures. The assortment includes:
- From Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man, Deep Immersion Spider-Man faces off with Anti-Venom! Spider-Man wears the suit he wears for underwater and outer space missions, with a removable dome helmet.
- Also from Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man, the Scarlet Spider goes up against the Green Goblin! Spider-Man’s clone comes with a web line, plus two interchangeable hands with stingers extended.
- From Marvel’s Avengers Assemble, Speed Force Hulk chases down Speed Demon. This Hulk figure glows in the dark, to mimic the episode when he absorbed speed energy from the super-fast Squadron Supreme member. This is the first Marvel Minimate ever made of Speed Demon.
- Also from Marvel’s Avengers Assemble, the Iron Skull (a.k.a. the Red Skull in stolen Iron Man armor) teams up with the last member of the Squadron Supreme, Doctor Spectrum. This is the first Marvel Minimate ever made of Doctor Spectrum!
Each 2-inch Minimates mini-figure features fully interchangeable parts, so you can trade accessories and create custom looks. Minimates also feature a standard 14 points of articulation, to strike a variety of poses, and each Minimate comes with a clear disc base that pegs into the character’s foot to support dynamic poses.
Look for Series 4 to arrive in all Walgreens stores in Spring 2017. Series 3 is shipping to stores now, with Jetpack Spider-Man and Squirrel Girl, Spider-Man Noir with Itsy-Bitsy Spider-Man, Captain America with Hyperion, and Ant-Man with the Falcon! Find your nearest store at Walgreens.com!
In addition to new Marvel Animated Minimates, this week Diamond Select Toys finally premiered the first real look at their upcoming Minimates wave based on this summer’s upcoming ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2‘! This spring you can look forward to new sets featuring Starlord with Yondu, as well as Gamora with Rocket and Baby Groot! The rest of these are set to be retailer exclusive, with a Drax and Nebula 2-pack exclusively at Toys R Us, and 2-packs of Mantis with Taserface and Ego with Ayesha (the latter of which has not yet been shown) coming exclusively to comic and specialty shops. This wave hits stores in May!
Hasbro Shows Off New Marvel Legends
Hasbro’s 6″ Marvel Legends line has been one of the most popular lines on the market since it came back from the dead a few years ago, and Hasbro seems to be showing no signs of slowing down! This week they premiered new stock images of their upcoming X-Men themed wave of Legends figures that is based around a Warlock Build-A-Figure! Figures in this wave include Old Man Logan, Polaris, Shatterstar, Sunfire, Cyclops (Jim Lee style), Dazzler, and a 7.5″ tall Colossus figure! These are due to hit stores this spring.
A Rogue One First
Since it hit theaters last month, fans haven’t been able to get enough of ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story‘. Merchandise has quickly been flying off of the shelves and stores don’t seem to be restocking fast enough! This week Hasbro revealed our first look at the newest figure to join the line, which is the new 3.75″ scale Galen Erso figure! This figure, based on the likeness of actor Mads Mikkelsen, is the first ever figure produced of this new character who is actually the designer of The Death Star! It is expected to be hitting stores any day now, so keep your eyes peeled if you’re a ‘Star Wars’ collector!
NECA Has More ‘ALIENS’ In Store
The ‘ALIEN’ line from NECA has one of the most rabid fanbases out there. The franchise has such a rich history behind it that it makes it nearly impossible to predict just where NECA may be taking the line next, and with the newly announced Wave 11 of the ‘ALIENS’ line, we still aren’t entirely sure! This week NECA revealed two figures from the upcoming eleventh wave of ‘ALIENS’ figures, and each of them comes from a different part of the franchise. One figure is Nostromo crew member Lambert in her spacesuit, which will include an alternative unhelmeted head as well as a pistol and a flashlight. The other figure is a translucent blue Alien Warrior figure that appears to be re-utilizing the ‘Big Chap’ mold from an earlier wave while also being a unique figure that isn’t based on any particular place in the franchise. The card-back shown in the teaser image NECA posted to their social media also shows space for a third figure that has not yet been revealed, leaving many to speculate just what else we can expect from this wave. It is likely we will see more on this wave in a few weeks at Toy Fair 2017. This wave should be released later this year.
Halloween Comes Early
The team at Mezco has revealed yet another new addition to their highly stylized 6″ vinyl horror figures line! This time fans can look forward to Sam from the fan favorite 2007 horror flick ‘Trick ‘R Treat’! Sam joins the recently announced Pinhead and previously released Beetlejuice in what is shaping up to be a horrifically enjoyable new line!
Straight from the cult status film Trick ‘r Treat comes Sam, the enforcer of the rules of Halloween. Part pumpkin, part supernatural being, Sam shows no mercy to those who disrespect his holiday.
This Sam is presented in our signature super-deformed style. He may look child-like and dressed for trick-or-treating, but Sam is the personification of Halloween itself. He stands nearly 6″ tall and features 5 points of articulation. He comes complete with his ever-present trick-or -treat sack, and his half-eaten translucent pumpkin lollipop.
Sam is packaged in a specially die-cut window box suitable for display. Just remember, he can watch you from inside the box, so don’t blow out your pumpkin until midnight.
The 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!
Guardians Gets An Ego
With ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2’ just a few months away, fans are more excited than ever for this sci-fi sequel! Funko has given fans a taste of what is to come with our very first look at Kurt Russel’s ‘Ego’ character thanks to their new POP! Vinyl and Dorbz figures! These are due out in May alongside the film’s theatrical release.
Take A Trip To Silicon Valley
Thanks to the team at Funko you will soon be able to bring home the whole Pied Piper crew from HBO’s hit comedy series ‘Silicon Valley’! This spring you can bring home Richard, Erlich, Gilfoyle, Dinesh, and Jared to complete your Pied Piper team!
Stopping Crime Before Bedtime
After years of dormancy, the PowerPuff Girls franchise came storming back to television last year to much applause! Now Funko is getting in on the action and bringing the PowerPuff Girls to your toy collection with a new wave of POP! Vinyls! This spring you’ll be able to pick up Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup, Mojo Jojo, and Him (along with a Chase ‘Glow In The Dark’ variant of Him) to your collection!
Rebel Rebel
If you’re a fan of ‘Star Wars: Rebels‘, then today is your lucky day! Funko has announced several new figures from the hit animated series will soon be available to add to your collection! Coming exclusively to WalMart stores this spring you can pick up The Inquisitor, The Seventh Sister, and The Fifth Brother!
Additionally, if you sign up for the next ‘Sumgglers Bounty’ subscription box, you can collect the already announced exclusive POP! Vinyl of Darth Maul when he ships this March!
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!
Jordan is a Toy Columnist & Staff Writer here at ScienceFiction! Journalist, Musician, Toy Collector, and Overall Awesome Guy! For more on Jordan’s thoughts, toys, and wacky adventures, be sure to follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
