John Ary here with a look at a few action figure lines making headlines recently. As always click on the photos for an embiggened pic and for more information follow the pre-order links...
Injustice Deathstroke and Green Arrow from DC Collectibles
DC Collectibles plans to expand its action figure line into the realm of 3.75-inch toys and they’re going to do it with the upcoming Injustice: Gods Among Us video game. The first series of two-packs will feature Green Arrow and Deathstroke. Also they plan to release another set with Wonder Woman and Solomon Grundy. Although these aren’t the first 3.75-inch toys (2012 SDCC Exclusive Green Lantern set) the company has put out, this definitely signals a clear move into producing more action figures in this scale. Look for the first set to release in April for $30.
Gears of War from NECA
Further evidence of the 3.75-inch movement throughout the toy industry comes from NECA and their first action figure line dedicated to the smaller scale. Each character will feature 20 points of articulation, blister card packaging and character specific weapons. The new game subtitled Judgment will arrive March 19th with this series of figures hitting retail around the same time. The set is also up for pre-order here.
Predator Series 8 from NECA
Happy 25th birthday Predator! You are an awesome film and deserve a new wave of action figures based on Arnold Schwarzenegger and the original bad guy from the movie. Maybe NECA could create an updated version of the Masked Jungle Hunter Predator, featuring an additional ball-jointed hip and double knee joints, over 25 points of articulation, extendable wrist blades, and a removable backpack? Or a Jungle Extraction Dutch complete with military shirt and vest, featuring over 20 points of articulation, a M-16, pistol, machete, and knife accessories? Then again a Jungle Patrol Dutch immortalized in his camo muscle shirt and vest would be great too. We need 7-inch versions of these three characters and I want them to be here by March. How’s that sound NECA? You already have them in production and up for pre-order here? Thank you very much. Now get to the choppah!
Granamyr and Jitsu from Mattel
Granamyr the Dragon lives by the sea and frolics in the autumn mist and a land called… Eternia. Here is a packaged pic of this upcoming oversized Masters of the Universe Classics offering. The “Great Magic-Wielding Dragon” releases this month exclusively at MattyCollector.com priced at $80. In a totally unrelated note, do you think Granamyr and Draego-man could ever have babies? Matty also released two new packaged pics of another MOTUC figure. Have you met the guy who took over Snake Mountain after Skeletor launched himself into space? His name is Jitsu and he has an oversized golden hand. This master of martial arts will serve as MattyCollector.com’s Masters of the Universe Classics subscription figure for February.
The Beatles Yellow Submarine Set from Factory Entertainment
The Beatles had a contract with United Artists to make three movies. Their first film, A Hard Days Night (1964) is a classic. Help (1965)… not so much. In an effort to fulfill their promise with as little effort as possible, they agreed to lend their likenesses and a few rejected songs to a wonderfully psychedelic animated film. Factory Entertainment has taken the designs from Yellow Submarine and created a new set of 12-inch action figures. John, Paul, George and Ringo each feature 32 points of articulation, movie-accurate fabric costumes, an interchangeable hand with movie ‘souvenir’ accessory, Nowhere Man business card, Pepperland apple, and a personalized display stand. They will release in January or you can pre-order them here.
And finally this week, I was recently contacted by a company that specializes in the creation of custom action figure heads. ThatsMyFace.com offered me a free one if I reviewed their product. Well, Mini-Me and Mini-Mini-Me arrived in the mail last night and here are the results.
That's it for this week. Just another reminder, if you have a few bucks to spare this holiday season, please consider giving to your local Toys for Tots or Salvation Army toy drive. It's a great way to bring some happiness to a kid who could really use it. For more toy news updates follow my toy blog ArticulationTimes.com on Twitter and Facebook and subscribe to the AICN Youtube channel.
