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Toys & Collectibles

Go Figure: Mezco Toyz 2017 “One:12 Collective” Preview

mezzo toyz, one:12 collective, doctor strange
Strange Days Indeed. This beautiful rendition of Marvel Comic’s Dr. Strange will join Mezco’s One:12 Collective.

The Toy Industry Association’s (TIA) 114th North American International Toy Fair in New York City is less than 24 hours away and as always we are preparing to bring you coverage of the newest products and toy trends for the latter year gifting season. Cameras are packed, lenses are polished, and we’re stocking up on energy bars for the 4 day foray that encompasses the entire Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and parts beyond.

Another Fine Mez…
Thanks to the fine folks at Mezco Toyz we got an amazing head start. Their recent sneak peek event (held at their outer borough Fortress of Solitude) afforded the opportunity to grab lots of unfettered photos of their upcoming offerings. This post will reveal the additions to their One:12 Collective, but you can expect plenty of pix of Living Dead Dolls and other licensed goodies to appear here as well. Keep in mind this is an advance look and many of these prototypes are still pending licensor approval.

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Toys & Collectibles

Into The Woods: Folkmanis Hand Puppets

Wanna Talk Turkey? You can with this Folkmanis hand puppet.
Wanna Talk Turkey? You can with this Folkmanis hand puppet.

This past weekend CBS2 Sunday Morning News in New York featured Toy Insider Mom and Founder Laurie Schacht’s presentation of playthings of note for the 2014 holiday season. To keep Black Friday commandoes fore-warned and fore-armed with information Laurie spotlighted a cross-section of goodies from the electronic and ergonomic to the eco-friendly and economic.

Along with the ubiquitous singing Queen Elsa from Disney’s Frozen there were fun entries from Crayola, Dora The Explora, the new Flick-n-Stick Bungees game, Paw Patrol, the Nintendo Amiibo toy-based video game and the Kurio Xtreme Tablet especially curated for kids. I was especially happy to see she included some examples from one of my favorite toy producers Folkmanis Puppets.
Lend A Hand…
Puppets are a wonderful method to give the young entertainer in your house a voice for their imagination. Think of them as non-digital avatars. From behind the theater curtains, or more likely the living room couch, your kids can stage any number of creative scenarios.

Just a small sampling of the menagerie of friendly faced Folkmanis puppets.
Just a small sampling of the menagerie of friendly faced Folkmanis puppets.

Folkmanis has an expansive line of puppets that range from finger to dual hand styles with hyper-realistic to fantastic designs. The baby owl puppet featured on the CBS segment reminded me of how much fun it was to peruse the beautiful Folkmanis display booth at Toy Fair with its cornucopia of engaging creatures peering out from every nook and knothole in their fantasy forest setting. I’m always tempting to bring a sleeping bag and just move in. Take a peak at the images below and I think you’ll agree.

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Toys & Collectibles

The Dark Knight Rhizomes! Hasbro Potato Personas Abound

Batman gets the Hasbro Potato Head Treatment

Some totally tube(r)ular Mister Potato Head personas have just been released or are on their way. As you can see from these images, Hasbro Toys has plenty of new personalities to adorn your root cellar this coming season. The ability to morph the old spud into a plethora of popular characters has kept the franchise fresh – and tasty.

I Was A Pre-Teen Tator-Tot…
I’m old enough to remember when the kit came minus a potato replica and my parent’s refrigerator was regularly raided for real food to bring the gent to life. Depleting dinner menu items wasn’t really high on most Mom’s lists of great things, but the inclusion of the faux-tato in the early 60’s did limit your ability to make recombinant DNA stlye creations.

Mash-Ups…
The members of rock band KISS are available separately and in a limited edition collectors set that includes 3 parody album covers. Elvis is depicted in both white Las Vegas jumpsuit version and ’68 Comeback Special black leathers. The newly minted Three Stooges were a perfect choice for spud characterizations and come with their own weapons of mass disruption, a wrench, clobbering mallet, and ubiquitous pie. Star Trek’s Mr. Spock and Lt. Uhura join the already available Captain Kirk and are an absolute scream. Hasbro has just announced that Superman and Wonderwoman will hit the stores this August.

Battle Ready Batata…
Toy Fair 2012 also afforded a sneak peak at the Batarang wielding Dark Knight which will appear around the time of the third installment of the Batman trilogy The Dark Knight Rises. Makes me wonder… if Batman is represented in potato form is his alter ego Bruce Wayne being played by Christian Kale?

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Toys & Collectibles

Diamond Select Busts Out Marvelous Spidey Collectibles

The Amazing Spider-Man Vigilante Bust from Diamond Select Toys

The 2012 movie blockbuster season has officially begun with last weekend’s “Hunger Games” box office rout and it will be fun to see the battle ramp-up through the summer. Based on what I got a peek at during the recent New York Toy Fair, collectors will have a dizzying array of choices as the roll-out progresses. In particular Diamond Select Toys has just announced a series of busts to salute the re-boot of Marvel Entertainment’s The Amazing Spider-Man! franchise. I suggest saving space on your display shelves because these are some mighty nice offerings. Thanks to Diamond Select Marketing Supervisor Zach Oat for the opportunity to capture these images for all of you.

The sculpts were rendered for DST by Gentle Giant Studios from the film production’s digital data. There are four busts in the series which range 9-10 inches in height. A classic web-slinger pose is joined by movie specific items. The Vigilante Spider-Man is very cool with the character dressed in a leather jacket, wool cap and shades over his classic mask. Dr. Curt Conners in the form of The Lizard has a huge arm span terminating in deadly claws the power of which is evidenced in the rips across the costume of the unmasked and “battle-scarred” bust. That bust, a striking likeness of Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker, includes swap-outs for the head and right hand to cloak the character’s true identity.

In addition to the busts, DST has a real gem of a statue depicting Spidey perched on the side of a glass windowed skyscraper ready to spray his webs and swing. Along with the vigilante bust that one is my favorite. Last but not least two action figures of the hero and villain will be available, and there will be a movie tie-in Mini-Mate.

All collectibles are scheduled for sale on June 26, 2012, a few days before the film’s July 3 release date.
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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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