You Must Check Out the First Issue of Philip Reed’s BattleGrip Magazine

BattleGrip Issue 1 - pg 22 - 23

If you’re not familiar with Philip Reed and his site, BattleGrip, you should check it out. When I started AFP, somehow Philip found the site, and he’s been a really great supporter from our early days – and he’s just that way in the collecting community – a terrific guy.

Earlier this year, Philip published a Kickstarter-funded book about 3rd-party Transformers called Transforming Collections. (There are a couple of copies of Transforming Collections available on Amazon.) I guess that massive effort kept him hooked on publishing, because his latest endeavor is a free downloadable magazine. I’m re-hosting BattleGrip – issue 1 here (click to download – 70MB) to help get the issue out there. If you’re an old-timer like me and miss the days when you could go to a magazine store to pick up one related to toys (or if you just want to know what that was like, in this increasingly online world), then you’ll love this.

A couple of tips – you’ll need Adobe Acrobat Reader or an alternative PDF reader, and the best way to read this magazine is to set it up in 2-page view (View -> Page Display -> Two Page View) and select the option to show the cover page on its own (View -> Page Display -> Show Cover Page in Two Page View). This will let you see some of the beautiful 2-page spreads, like the Predator Trophy Case above, in all their glory.

Great start to the magazine, Philip, and thanks for the link to my moot-fake-rant about the Club Infinite Earths Doomsday. Can’t wait for issue 2!

SDCC 2013: NECA – Marvel, DC, Video Games, Movies and TV

IMG_1305.JPG

With its expansion into quarter scale figures, NECA has been able to add Marvel and DC movies (even the Batman classic TV series spawned a movie) to its impressive array of licensed action figures. They continue to own classic movies from my youth in the 7-inch scale, expanding its Alien, Predator, Robocop, Gremlins, and more. With the Lone Ranger, Kick-Ass, and Pacific Rim, they’re getting their piece of modern hits too.

On the video game front, they seem focused on Valve games. It’s interesting that they’re Valve split the figure license between NECA and 3A Toys – NECA has 7-inch scale and 3A has 12-inch. The Portal 2 robots are an example of figures that will be available in both scales. With Team Fortress 2, NECA has a broader assortment.

Fans of Playmates’ World of Springfield figures get a new assortment of Simpsons, as NECA has partnered with Fox on a line of 25 of the most iconic guest stars to celebrate 25 seasons of the long-running series. [/Ron]

Continue reading “SDCC 2013: NECA – Marvel, DC, Video Games, Movies and TV”

SDCC 2013: Preview Night – Bandai SH MonsterArts Aliens vs. Predators Instapics

Here’s some quick Alien vs. Predator pics from Bandai’s SH MonsterArts line at San Diego Comic-Con. Hadn’t been expecting this at all – it will be nice to have some super-articulated Aliens and Predators. Will be curious about scale compared to NECA.

[instapress tag=”afpsdcc2013avp” piccount=”0″ size=”150″ effect=”fancybox”]

It’s Preview Night and I am on the show floor at San Diego Comic-Con. To get you the pics you want as fast as I can, I’m hooking you into my Instagram feed. If you’re on Instagram, follow me at afpron – that’s for AFP Ron, not AF Pron :). Stay tuned for better pictures soon.

Win NECA Aliens or Predator Figure by Captioning the Pic

NECA has a great Facebook contest underway right now. Caption the picture below – get Likes on Facebook and have a great entry, and you can win an Aliens or Predator figure. My first though, “If it swings, we can kill it” has already been taken. Drat!

Contest time! Create a line of dialogue to accompany this lovely picture.

NECA Aliens Predator Caption the Pic Contest

Winner will be picked on Monday 7/8, and we’ll take in consideration creativity and # of likes you get on your comment. Winner will pick any 1 figure from Aliens S1 or Pred S9 as prize!

via NECA – N.E.C.A.

Lone Ranger, Pacific Rim, Aliens, and Predators in NECA’s eBay Store

7-inch The Lone Ranger & Tonto Action Figures - Complete Series 1 Set Pacific Rim - 7-inch Scale Jaeger Crimson Typhoon Action Figure - NECA Series 1 Aliens - 7-inch Scale Corporal Dwayne Hicks Action Figure - Series 1 Predators Series 9 - 7-inch Jungle Encounter Dutch Schaefer Action Figure

If you are willing to pay just a little more for the convenience of avoiding the hunt, then NECA’s eBay store is a great place to pick up hard to find items. Toys R Us had been fairly reliable with their aisle for collectors, but the ones in my area have squeezed out a lot of the shelf space that had been allocated for it.

Scroll Up