I mentioned that I wanted to experiment with lens flare for drama when I posted the quick fixes for common lighting problems yesterday. Here is my first no-planning-involved attempt, using the Square Enix Play Arts Kai Batman (who is totally awesome, if you actually need me to tell you that). I’ve intentionally set up one of my LED book lights
My setup time for pictures is usually pretty quick, because I find it more efficient to start snapping and correct on the go, than trying to get it perfect right off the bat. With this before and after shot of the Square Enix Play Arts Kai Arkham Asylum figures (they are really awesome, by the way), I’ll highlight some lighting issues you might come across and give you some quick and easy solutions for them.
Bill has shared his latest comic, featuring Robin and Nightwing, with us. Be sure to check out more of his comics at Bill’s Comics.
A couple of days back, BigBadToyStore listed the second waves of Batman Unlimited and DC Unlimited, with estimated arrival in the 1st quarter of 2013. For Batman Unlimited, we’re getting the garishly colored Planet X Batman (I guess “Zur-En-Arrh” isn’t packaging friendly) and the Dark Knight Returns Batman. And in DC Unlimited, we’re getting Batman from Injustice: Gods Among Us and Wonder Woman in her New 52 costume.
There’s been a lot of flux in Mattel’s DC collector-oriented retail offerings – here are the five key takeaways from these reveals:
1) Thank Grodd that the DC Universe Club Infinite Earths subscription went through, because Mattel’s DC collector-oriented offerings at retail haven’t been this limited since before Classics launched five years ago.
It wasn’t that long ago that we were seeing waves of seven figures, with retailer exclusive waves and two packs – so we’ll be suffering withdrawal going down to waves of four figures. The first waves of Batman and DC Unlimited had 3 figures each, but if retail has pushed that down to 2, Mattel DC is at the stage in the retail channel that Hasbro was at a few years back with their 2-pack offerings. It took a couple of lean years before Hasbro came back with a reinvigorated Legends re-launch, and we’re probably just at the start with DC.
Continue reading “Five Takeaways from the Batman and DC Unlimited Reveals”
Square Enix is totally killing it when it comes to action figures for video games. With licenses for Halo, Metal Gear Solid, Mass Effect 3, Tekken, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Tomb Raider, Hitman, Kingdom Hearts, Arkham Asylum, and more, they’re marking their territory for super-articulated, 8-inch scale premium figures.
But watch out – they’re also making the move from the little screen to the big one. It was a natural jump from properties like Bayonetta to Cowboy Bebop, but they also teased the license for Superman: Man of Steel. It seems a more daunting task to take on the likeness of a real person than a computer generated image. I can’t wait to see what they do with it.
Continue reading “SDCC 2012: Square Enix Play Arts Kai Dominates Video Game Action Figures”