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Film & Television Series Toys & Collectibles

Quack, Quack, Waddle, Waddle: Diamond Select’s 1966 Penguin Bust

DST's perfect Penguin mini-bust is due spring 2015.
DST’s perfect Penguin mini-bust is due spring 2015.

Umbrella Fella…
While I’ve enjoyed nearly everything about the Gotham television series’ first fall season, especially Robin Lord Taylor’s scenery chewing portrayal of the young Penguin, there will always be a special spot in my heart for Burgess Meredith’s version. His emotive squawking got many an imitative 6th grader, myself included, in hot water at school but it was irresistible to mimic.

Color My World…
In 1966 my family was the first on our block to have a color TV which automatically designated our living room ground zero for every friend on Wednesday & Thursday evenings at 7:30. Along with the pop art biffs, bangs and pows, Penguin’s psychedelic purple top hat and tie were the most eye popping things to behold on that fresh CRT.

A Rogues Gallery of Diamond Select Mini-Bust Prototypes. Licensor Approval Pending.
A Rogues Gallery of Diamond Select Mini-Bust Prototypes. Licensor Approval Pending.

Busted…
Keeping “Boomer” generation collectors enthralled (we waited ages for this franchise to license goodies)Diamond Select Toys has announced a late spring 2015 release for their latest Batman related mini-bust. It’s a spot on sculpt of the Burgess Meredith Penguin right down to the monocle. It will join the already released Adam West Batman, Burt Ward Robin, Ceasar Romero Joker, and soon to be available Frank Gorshin Riddler (January 2015).

At NY Comic Con back October, DST was also showing yet to be authorized prototypes of Julie Newmar as Catwoman and Otto Preminger, the blue skinned Mr. Freeze. Yvonne Craig in Batgirl guise would clearly be a welcome addition to the mix.

The mini-busts average six inches tall and share a base that features bat-signal/city-scape artwork from the classic show’s opening credits.

Diamond Select's Batarang and Batman Logo serve double duty.
Diamond Select’s Batarang and Batman Logo serve double duty.
“Boomer”-Rang…
If you are expecting Santa to slide down your chimney with the 1966 Batman DVD box set, you could do worse than add DST’s Batarang bottle opener to your stocking stuffer wish-list. It’s gonna take a raft of six-packs to get you through 120 episodes.

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Toys & Collectibles

Resistance Is Futile: Diamond Select’s Star Trek Line-Up 2013

Mr. Spock Administers Some Pre-Natal Care to the Horta
Mr. Spock Administers Some Pre-Natal Care to the Horta
Slipping Into Darkness…
Set your frontal lobes for the final frontier. With the warp engines revving up for the release of Star Trek: Into Darkness it seems the perfect time to show you what Diamond Select Toys has in store for us old school Trek folk in the coming months.

Action Figure Line-Up…
June will see release of Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock in 7” action figure representations, both offered in stand alone and Select diorama versions. The dioramas capture peak moments in key episodes with Leonard Nimoy preparing to mind meld with the “Devil In The Dark” Horta and William Shatner engaging in battle with Khan Noonian Singh as in the “Space Seed” episode. Expect those in June. Next Generation Captain Jean Luc Picard will arrive in the fall with a great diorama base that features a battle battered Borg.

Capt. Jean Luc Picard 7" Action Figure Arrives This Fall
Capt. Jean Luc Picard 7″ Action Figure Arrives This Fall

Mini-Mates…
On the Mini-Mates front DST adds the Star Trek Legacy Series 1 Set, pairing Captains and their adversaries. I love mini-mates. It always makes me smile to see how DST makes these simple little forms exude the essence of their real life counterparts.
Star Trek II Movie – Captain Kirk and Kahn Noonien Singh
Star Trek: First Contact – Captain Picard and Borg Queen
Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Season 7 – Captain Sisko and Jem Hadar
Star Trek: Enterprise – Captain Archer and Xindi

Diligent collector’s will keep and eye out for Toys R Us (TRU), Entertainment Earth and Action Figure Express (AFX) exclusives on many of these goodies. TRU will have an exclusive Legacy selection, AFX will sell a “Mirror, Mirror” version of the Mini-Mate Starship Enterprise, while Entertainment Earth offers the vessel in “Trouble With Tribbles” mode.

Courageous Star Trek Captains and Their Foes Get Mini-Mated
Courageous Star Trek Captains and Their Foes Get Mini-Mated

If Seven Turned Out To Be Nine, I Don’t Mind…
The Diamond Select Femme Fatales collection which already includes striking sculpts of some of fandom’s most celebrated ladies will get a Star Trek oriented addition with a deliciously sleek sculpt of Geri Ryan as Seven of Nine from the Star Trek: Voyager series. This figure measures 9” tall and is cast in PVC.

Cyborg Beauty 7 of 9 joins the Ranks of DST's Fatal Fems (Photo Courtesy of Diamond Select Toys)
Cyborg Beauty 7 of 9 joins the Ranks of DST’s Fatal Fems (Photo Courtesy of Diamond Select Toys)

Everything Is Ship Shape…
If spacecraft are your focus DST already offers a full line of electronic USS Enterprise models representing the entire Star Trek timeline. There’s also the beautiful Klingon “Bird of Prey”, which comes in a translucent green “cloaked” variant exclusive to AFX.

SkeletonPete Says…
DST is currently preparing Star Trek characters for the popular Bust Bank series. Be sure to hit the link above and check out Diamond’s site for their extensive line of full sized replicas ( communicators, phasers, tricorders, Klingon disruptor) for your role playing delight. Some trouble with a “sound and motion” tribble may be in your future.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a Michael J. Pollard Mini-Mate to play a game of “bonk-bonk” with. I’m not feeling like a “grup” yet.

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Toys & Collectibles

Featured Creatures: Diamond Select Universal Monster Previews @ Toy Fair 2013

DST Universal Monsters Series 5 will arrive in 2014
DST Universal Monsters Series 5 will arrive in 2014

It was a great treat to visit with the folks at Diamond Select Toys during the 2013 American International Toy Fair. They have an upcoming array of items sure to please collectors of franchises that include Marvel Superheroes, The Walking Dead, Star Wars, and Tomb Raider. Star Trek fans are sure to be pleased with the goodies coming their way from DST. I’ll be posting information and photos on those in the coming weeks but I’m going to begin DST NYTF13 coverage with my favorites, the Universal Monster Series.

Fall 2013 Series 4…
As announced in previous posts Diamond Select will be releasing Wave 4 of the series in fall 2013. That includes Lon Chaney Sr. as Quasimodo, from the silent 1923 classic The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Mr. Hyde as portrayed by Boris Karloff in Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. The Quasimodo specialty (large base) package will pair him with a cathedral gargoyle to perch on and include the “King of Fools” accessories. Mr. Hyde will sport a roof top base and include Dr. Jekyll parts to facilitate his transformation.

The Series 4 Toys “R” Us packages will be blister packed with simple bases. Dr. Jekyl will include an interchangeable Mr. Hyde head. Exclusive to Toys “R” Us will be a Moleperson figure from the The Mole People (1956).

Series 3 Legacy Box…
The Universal Monster Series 3 figures including This Island Earth’s Metaluna Mutant, Erik The Phantom of the Opera and The Invisible Man) will be boxed together in a special legacy edition.


New Bust Banks and Retro Cloths…
Also announced for fall, but not on display at the DST booth, are Bust Banks Series 2 depicting the Bride of Frankenstein and the Wolfman. They’ll join their cohorts the Black Lagoon creature and Karloff Frankenstein monster which are currently available in full color and black and white versions. Retro cloth fans will be able to add the Metaluna Mutant and Phantom of the Opera to their collections.

Bust Banks
Diamond Select Toys’ Bust Banks

Super-Articulated Series 5 Announced…
Looking ahead to 2014, the Universal Monsters series will expand with “super-articulated” figures. Series 5 will offer The Creature from the Black Lagoon and Karloff’s monster from Son of Frankenstein.
DST Son of FrankensteinDiamond Select Creature from the Black Lagoon

The Series 5 prototypes as pictured are yet to be approved by the licensor and represent the “large base” specialty versions. There’s some really nice Kenneth Strickfaden inspired lab apparatus with SoF. It brings back fond memories of the gear that came with Aurora’s Bride of Frankenstein model kit. I’m hoping that Inspector Krogh’s wooden arm, nestled at the prototype figure’s feet, will be a separate accessory. I can imagine how awesome the highly posable figure would look brandishing the appendage above its head.

An as yet unannounced third figure will be exclusive to Toys “R” Us. Which Universal Mon-Star are you hoping it will be?

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Toys & Collectibles

Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore: Diamond Select’s Madness Returns! Figures

Cheshire Cat

Go Ask Alice, When She Was Just Small…
Diamond Select releases their first series of Alice: Madness Returns! figures this week. Based on game creator American McGee’s twisted twist on the Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson) penned fairy tale we get the blade wielding main character Alice Liddel, a zombified “Card Guard”, and the gruesomely grinning Cheshire Cat all in articulated 7” form. I’m hoping the old hookah smokin’ caterpillar will be in the next round of characters.

Three Faces of Alice

Weapons In Wonderland…
Alice comes replete with Vorpal knife, her pepper grinder and rocking horse, making her ready for battle with the horrible inhabitants of Wonderland. In addition to the standard characters a special edition “hysteria mode” figure is available via comic shops that pre-ordered the Previews exclusive. This blazing eyed, battle frenzied, beauty is literally covered in blood up to her elbows. Completists will definitely want to seek her out. On the horizon, but with no release date set yet, is the “Royal Suit” clad Alice also pictured here.

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Film & Television Series Toys & Collectibles

Avengers Resembled, Toy Fair 2012 Round-Up

Toy Fair 2012 Was Awash in Avengers Movie Tie-in's

Joss Whedon’s recent denial of writing either The Kree or The Skrulls into the upcoming Avengers movie has fandom buzzing again about who or what the villainous planet attackers that we’ve been seeing in the trailers are. While that little tempest in a teapot continues to brew I thought I would go back to my Toy Fair 2012 photos and pull together a gallery of what was on display there.

Expect a deluge of Avengers themed toys, games and action figures from Lego, Neca, Funco and Diamond Select (I love those mini-mates). Check out my earlier posting on tokidoki for a look at their cool Avengers baseball caps, and the Peavey musical instruments story, illustrated with images of their superhero adorned guitars.

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