Another week goes by and here we are back again with 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! Spring is here and in full swing! Depending on where you are, the weather has certainly been picking up in the last week or two, which means it’s the perfect weather to get out of the house and go toy hunting! There’s lots of great new stuff hitting the market right now, and plenty of new items being revealed in the Toy News for the week of April 4th, 2017!
Spiderman Minimates Are Coming Home Too!
In what is easily one of the years most highly anticipated moves, this summer we can look forward to Spider-Man making his way back into theaters starring in his first full film entry as a part of the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe in ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’! Thanks to the team at Diamond Select Toys, we can also look forward to seeing him make his way into our own homes in the form of new ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ themed Minimates! The new Marvel Minimates series will be released at both Toys R Us and at Comic Shops with varying assortments available depending on where you buy them. Toys R Us will be your exclusive destination for a set including Iron man Mark 46 and Happy Hogan, while comic shops will have exclusive sets featuring Peter Parker with May, and Battle Damaged Spider-Man with Tinkerer! Meanwhile, the sets containing Spider-Man (Homemade Suit) with The Vulture and Spider-Man with The Shocker will both be available at either retailer. This wave is set to hit stores this spring!
Drink Up!
While the majority of you reading this are toy collectors that pick and choose the lines that you collect, one thing we all almost certainly have in common is our need to consume refreshing beverages from time to time! The team at Diamond Select Toys knows and understands this, and that’s why they’re bringing us some awesome new sets of themed glassware for those of us who like to drink in style and keep our geekdom in every aspect of our lives! Hitting stores this week are new pop culture inspired glassware sets from ‘The Muppets’, ‘Nataional Lampoon’s Vacation’, and ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’! Check out the full releases from Diamond Select Toys below-
Muppets Muppet Show Glass Tumblers
A Diamond Select Toys release! It’s time to get things started! It’s time to pour the drinks! You can’t help but smile when you’re drinking a tasty beverage out of these nostalgic glass tumblers featuring the cast of The Muppet Show. Inspired by fast-food glassware of yesteryear, these tumblers sport all-new original artwork spotlighting main Muppets Kermit, Fozzie, Bunsen, Beaker and the Swedish Chef, as well as their supporting casts! Each glass comes packaged separately, in a full-color window box.
National Lampoon’s Vacation Movie Reelware Pint Glasses
A Diamond Select Toys release! Who’s the moosiest moose we know? Marty Moose! Who’s the star of our favorite show? Marty Moose! Relive the craziest road trip you never went on with these two pint glasses that are straight outta Walley World! With one depicting Roy Walley’s famous creation Marty Moose, and the other showing the full cast of Walley World characters, both glasses are the ultimate in cinematic souvenirs, inspired by the movie National Lampoon’s Vacation. Be the first in your neighborhood to drink like a Griswold! Each glass comes packaged in a full-color window box.
Nightmare Before Christmas Glass Character Tumblers
A Diamond Select Toys release! Raise a toast to the Pumpkin King with these four tumblers celebrating The Nightmare Before Christmas! Featuring all-new artwork inspired by the film, these fast-food-style glass tumblers also have mini-biographies of each character on the reverse side, and spotlight Jack, Sally, Oogie Boogie and the Mayor, along with some of Halloween Town’s other residents. Recommend hand-wash only. Each glass is individually packaged in a full-color window box.
Mighty Morphin Choo Choo Rangers
The team at Saban is always trying to find new and interesting ways to bring the ‘Power Rangers’ to fans, and this newest mashup may very well be the weirdest one they’ve ever done. Saban has teamed up once again to bring more Mighty Morphin Power Rangers collectibles to the world of Fisher Price’s Imaginext line, but the biggest surprise is perhaps that they will also be combining the world of ‘Power Rangers’ with the world of ‘Thomas The Tank Engine’ for a full line of Power Rangers themed Train characters! In all there will be a total of thirteen Power Rangers Train mashups, with sets of the Train Minis available as 4-packs and 9-packs (priced $7.49 and $15.99 respectively) later this spring.
As we mentioned, there will also be a few new Power Rangers Imaginext sets coming this spring as well, including a fantastic looking Command Center playset, a ‘Warrior Mode’ White Tigerzord, Battle Bikes, Battle Armor Rangers, and even more bad guys like Squat and Baboo! These are all heading to stores now!
Easy Breezy Beautiful
While there isn’t much information available just yet, the team at DC Collectibles revealed plans for an all new statue line dubbed ‘DC Cover Girls’! So far we only know that the line is based on the DC Cover Girls brand and that the initial three statues that we can expect to see launching the line are of Harley Quinn, Batgirl, and Supergirl! These are all set to be based on artwork from artist Joëlle Jones. Check out an early look at the new DC Cover Girls Harley Quinn statue, as well as some sketches that the next few statues will be based on below-
DC Icons Cancellations
When a line isn’t doing as well as a company had hoped, sometimes they start to pull the plug a little early. With DC Collectibles ‘DC Icons’ 5″ line of figures, it looks like a major re-working for the brand is in order to try and salvage what they can from the license. According the team at TNI, the line is in for some major change ups after DC revealed that a number of previously announced figures for the ‘DC Icons’ line had indeed been cancelled! The team at DC Collectibles have confirmed that the DC Icons single release figures of Deadshot, Sinestro, and Captain Marvel have been cancelled, as well as the Booster Gold & Blue Beetle figure 2-pack. While they were not specifically singled out, it is looking more and more like plans for the single releases of Catwoman and The Demon have also been scrapped.
The culprit in this case of cancellation appears to be a lack of fan and retailer interest, which is shocking considering how many people have been raving about the quality of this line! There was a similar situation with DC Collectibles ‘DC Movies’ line, which ended after just two figure releases! It just goes to show that if you want your favorite lines to stay alive, always pre-order!
While these figures have been cancelled, the line isn’t quite dead yet! A number of figures hit stores this week including Deathstroke, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Static Shock, and Swamp Thing! Plus there are still single figure releases planned for Nightwing (‘Hush’) and Supergirl (‘New 52’), as well as figure 2-packs of Robin & Superboy (‘Super Sons’) and Superman & Doomsday (‘Death Of Superman’) as the line shifts away from single releases and into multi-packs.
“I Don’t Care What You Smell, Get In There!”
This year marks the 40th Anniversary of arguably sci-fi’s biggest and most beloved franchise, ‘Star Wars’! The team at Hot Toys is celebrating the anniversary of the release of ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’ accordingly with a new 1:6th scale figure of Han Solo in Stormtrooper Disguise! This new figure features a striking likeness of actor Harrison Ford, and comes packaged with a blaster rifle, a thermal detonator, a communicator, several sets of interchangeable hands, and a specially designed figure stand! Check out the full release from Hot Toys below-
Originally a smuggler, Han Solo’s life has changed after his encounter with Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi where he assisted the young Luke Skywalker on the Death Star to save Princess Leia from a terrible fate and took on a new path to become a great hero of the Rebel Alliance. In Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, Han Solo disguised as a Stormtrooper to infiltrate the detention centre where the Princess is held captive. Now Hot Toys is excited to present an all-new 1/6th scale collectible figure of Han Solo from this memorable scene as an exclusive item only available in selected markets.
The highly-accurate collectible figure is specially crafted based on the image of Harrison Ford as Han Solo disguised as a Stormtrooper in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. It features a newly developed head sculpt, finely tailored Stormtrooper armor, an interchangeable Stormtrooper helmet with mechanically detailed interior, blaster rifle, a set of binders , figure stand, and a specially designed Death Star wall panel diorama backdrop with LED light-up function! Star Wars fanatics shouldn’t pass up on the opportunity to add this special version of Han Solo figure to your treasured collection!
McFarlane Faces Their Exclusive ‘Destiny’
The team at McFarlane Toys have revealed several new retailer exclusive figures from their new 7″ scale toyline based on Bungie’s hit video game franchise ‘Destiny’! Each of these figures shares the same sculpts as the standard releases, but these feature exclusive color-ways as well as exclusive accessories!
- Hunter – Million Million Shader – Walmart Exclusive (Thorn Hand Cannon and Bolt-Caster Sword)
- Hunter – Blacksmith Shader – Walgreens Exclusive (Thorn Hand Cannon and Invective Shotgun)
- Titan – Amduat Ink Shader – Target Exclusive (Gjallarhorn Rocket Launcher and Hung Jury Scout Rifle)
- Warlock – Hallow Shader – Gamestop Exclusive (Touch of Malice Scout Rifle and Ice Breaker Sniper Rifle)
These exclusives are set to release alongside the rest of the main ‘Destiny’ toyline from McFarlane Toys later this July! They are expected to retail for around $19.99.
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!
Don’t Touch That Dial!
The team at Funko are always doing their best to keep up with the latest trends, and this week we’ve got a look at new POP! Vinyls based on one of your favorite trending television series, ‘Mr. Robot’! We first saw some of these at Toy Fair 2017, but this week we’re getting the full line announcements for the fan favorite series! Characters confirmed for this line include Mr. Robot, Darlene, White Rose, Angela Moss, and Elliot Alderson (with a special ‘Hooded’ Chase Variant!). These are set to release in June.
Expecto POP-Tronum!
Well, while not actually POP! Vinyls, the team at Funko are bringing us new vinyl figures from the world of ‘Harry Potter’ as a part of their Rock Candy line! New ‘Harry Potter’ themed Rock Candy figures include Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna, and Bellatrix! What’s most interesting, is that with the inclusion of Harry and Ron, we have seen the introduction of male characters to the Rock Candy line that has been exclusively female character driven. Could we maybe be seeing an evolution of the line, or is this more of a one off situation? Only time will tell for sure. Either way, these new ‘Harry Potter’ Rock Candy figures are set to hit stores this May!
“Holy POP!s Batman!”
The team at Funko is revisiting the fan favorite world of ‘Batman 66’ with a new wave of POP! Vinyls and a full action figure line! Most of these were first seen at Toy Fair back in February, but now we’ve got a full lineup and glamor shots of the upcoming ‘Batman 66’ POP! Vinyls as well as a new Batmobile action figure set! New POP! Vinyls include Batgirl, Penguin, Mr. Freeze, King Tut, and The Riddler (with a special ‘Suited’ chase variant!).
As we mentioned above, in addition to the new POP! Vinyls Funko is going to be releasing a full line of ‘Batman 66’ action figures! These were on display at Toy Fair, although the full figure line and series lineup have not yet been confirmed by Funko at this time. On the brightside, they have released this new image of the upcoming Batmobile playset that includes a set of new Batman and Robin figures! This set, along with the new POP! Vinyls, are expected to hit stores early this summer.
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 Staff Writer & our resident Toy Columnist 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.
