Visiting the NECA booth last week at San Diego Comic-Con, I was disappointed to not see more Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and not until after the show did I find out why. I am not familiar with many of NECA’s licensed video game properties. Sure, I know Street Fighter, but my gaming in my old age is limited to NHL games. Still, there’s lots to appreciate here just from an action figure fan perspective.
Bio Shock – Industrial from TheFwoosh.com really dug these – he hasn’t played the game either.
Mattel held its “Mattypalooza” panel today, in which they recapped the Mattycollector.com offerings, including DC (which was a recap from the earlier DC Universe panel), Ghostbusters, and Masters of the Universe Classics. I’ll be covering the latter in this update.
MOTU Classics is performing better than Mattel expected, so the line is expanding. Beyond the standard monthly figures, we’ll be getting much more. On selected months, there will be bonus figures consisting of reissues, repaints, oversized figures, and even army builder 2-packs. Also, Mattel will make an accessory pack, once per season.
Masters of the Universe Club Eternia Exclusive Won-Dar
The subscription, now called “Club Eternia,” is coming back for the full year of 2010, with some minor changes. Because interest was low, they’ll no longer have the “hold for combined shipping” option. Also, there will be a $20 subscription fee – and they’ll provide an exclusive figure, Won-Dar (a remake of the extremely rare vintage Wonderbread He-Man), and posters of an Eternia map and a character roster.
Club Eternia is available to order on Mattycollector.com. Subscriptions will close in about 3 weeks.
Mattel held their DC Universe Toys panel today, and aside from a few gripes about distribution woes, it was a veritable lovefest. Of course, they took questions and answers *after* showing the crowd a bunch of new figures. In this update I’ll cover the 6-inch scale, including DC Universe Classics and Superman / Batman: Public Enemies.
DC Universe Classics
Wave 10 – Batman (Morrison), Beast Boy, Forager, Joker, Man-Bat (brown), Power Girl, Robotman, and Imperiex Collect & Connect
Mattel had teased the Joker at New York Comic-Con and revealed Power Girl on ActionFigureInsider.com, and some groaned as they learned this wave will be exclusive to Wal-Mart. Mattel assures us that these will be easier to find, as Wal-Mart has increased their order size.
Beast Boy’s accessory is a reuse of the eagle from the Wonder Twins 2-pack. Batman is based on Grant Morrison’s run on Justice League of America. Forager is from the New Gods, and adds another essential piece to my nearly complete Cosmic Odyssey collection (WHOOOO!). Man-Bat is a repaint of the white Comic-Con exclusive a couple years back. Robotman starts the Doom Patrol. And, honestly, I don’t know anything about Imperiex.
The Four Horsemen are all such nice guys, and it’s good to see them succeeding with their non-licensed properties.
7th Kingdom – The Four Horsemen had production figures of the Queen and her court on display. They turned out fantastic, and I’m not just saying that because this line is the Fantastic Exclusive this year. Although I had toyed with waiting to get an entire set, they had Queen Alluxandra and Isadorra on sale, and couldn’t resist. Look for a more in depth review of those when I get back from Comic-Con.
Gothitropolis – This (mostly) Egyptian-themed line is shaping up. The Four Horsemen revealed some of the variant heads a couple of weeks ago, and there were a few more on display at their section of the AFX booth. Scarabus is still the only named figure at the present time. I’m hoping one gets named Fwooshius.
I stopped by the DC booth today to see what was new with DC Direct. I got a chuckle out of an irate fan who was demanding to see Jim Fletcher, DC Direct’s Design Director. I guess he didn’t know he was ranting at Georg Brewer, VP Design, and the guy who ultimately calls the shots.
Hal Jordan Exclusive – DCD had 2 of these sets on display, but the figures were on sale at Grafitti Design’s booth. I didn’t even try to pick these up, because it would require hitting them up each day of the Con. I’m not sure if Hal’s been in all these colors yet in the comics, but each figure sports both a Green ring on his right hand, and the respective other color ring on his left. I must have been too afraid to take a close-up of the Yellow Lantern version.
