SDCC 2013: Play Imaginative Super Alloy (Preview Night)

Singapore’s Play Imaginative is poised to compete in the United States on a number of fronts with its high-end diecast collectibles. To fit into the crowded Marvel and DC licensed product markets, they’ve had to pick out niche scales that were available. For Marvel, they’ve got Iron Man in the 1/4 and 1/12 scale, while for DC, it’s 1/6. All look great, but for those of us hoping for one company to have Marvel and DC under one roof in compatible scales, we’ll keep waiting.

On the DC front, I have been more and more impressed with each figure they’ve revealed. Those of you that found the Superman head too stylized, Play Imaginative showed a third head today that I think hits the mark. And its Hal Jordan Green Lantern, aside from the shoulder pads, hits enough notes on the comic design to make it a strong want for me – plus it’s just loaded with constructs. The diecast premium is not going to be easy to swallow, with the $300+ price tags.

Play Imaginative hopes to jump on board the Iron Man money train that Hot Toys has been riding for so long. While it has 1/6 scale product outside the US, we’ll be getting 1/4 and 1/12 scale here. In quarter scale, that puts them up against NECA, who will probably have a smaller assortment of figures, but at likely a small fraction of the price (plastic vs diecast).

And I’m not sure what kind of market will be there for 1/12. I didn’t get info on price points for either scale. I’ll have to take a closer look at the smaller figures – I’d like to know what kind of articulation we can expect out of 1/12 scale diecast figures.