Amid all the hustle and bustle of the 2009 New York Comic Con, I got an opportunity to speak briefly with Kanji Tashiro of Square-Enix's Merchandising division after checking out their display booth. Certainly one of the spreads we most look forward to checking out at each event, Square-Enix has really come a long way in the relatively short time they've been producing toys and figures, and it was exciting to tug at the sleeve of the man responsible for much of that and ask him a few things I've always been curious about.
SE has a lot of very exciting things in store for its fans, and if you're one of them, you might like to hit the jump and learn a little more about the process of bringing your favorite characters (game-related or not) to life.
I know this is a day late and a dollar short, but when you have to spend all day driving home from the Big Apple to the city that's in bed before 9, you tend to lose the ability to keep up with internet time. Be that as it may, I'm sure what I've got is something you'll enjoy.
Sunday we went back to the Con to see what else we could report on, and what we found was yet more awesome goodies on display at the DC Direct booth, this time in the form of brand new figures for their awesome Ame-Comi line. The next line of characters getting the anime-inspired treatment are Hawkgirl, Poison Ivy, Batgirl, and my personal favorite female villian/heroine, Harley Quinn. I had the chance to speak with Jim Fletcher, the Design Director for DC Direct, and he told me that the Harley Quinn even features a Joker face on the back of her head, and will be available for sale later this year.
In case you couldn't tell from the amount of gushing I've done from this year's Con, DC Direct was my standout winner of best in show. Their line up was extremely impressive and gorgeously crafted, and the people who worked there knew what they were talking about (unlike a certain toy selling company). The earlier figures that were available in the Ame-Comi line were never particularly something I would consider buying, but these new pieces are well worth the wait and the value. If you've been holding off on picking up one until they released some characters you actually care about, now is the time to start drooling. Hit the gallery for some up close photos of each new figure. Are there any characters they haven't done yet that you'd like to see be given the anime look?
I have absolutely no idea how I missed these yesterday, but I'm glad that I got stopped by a stationary crew of overweight cosplayers this morning when I got to the con, otherwise I may have not seen everything DC Direct had on display.
Everything you could ever possibly hope for in the DC universe was on full display, and every single bit of it was gorgeous. Throughout the year DC Direct will be trickling out figures from the JLA, to Superman, to even Batman: Gotham Knight. Yes, you heard that right, figures based on the amazing anime Batman movie are coming very soon. And for all you Dark Knight Joker-philes out there, DC has got you covered with a nice bust of the demented one made infamous by the late, great Heath Ledger.
Be sure to keep an eyeout for some of the Ladies of DC Universe line as well, as they are all brilliantly crafted and all have a very nice pair of...costumes for you to appreciate.
You can see everything DC Direct had on display from the DC universe after the jump. If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go back to trying to figure out why I never fully appreciated Black Canary until today.
If you haven't read it yet, you need to run out right now and go buy The Watchmen book. It is one of the greatest comics ever made, and needs to be read ASAP. I'll wait.
You back now? Good. DC Direct is sending into the wild some awesome 12 inch figures based on the characters from the upcoming movie based on the Watchmen license. The characters on display included Dr. Manhattan, Rorschach, and my personal favorite, The Comedian. Also on display was some replicas of some of the character's weapons in the film, including a mask of Rorschach's face and hookshot, and The Comedian's guns and dogtags.
No price is set for these that I've seen, but you should be prepared to spend some heavy green to get yourself some of these. The release of the figures and replicas should coincide with the release of the movie, so look to get yourself prepared sometime in late February to early March. Hit the gallery to view more.
If you had told me three days ago that I'd be standing in Mattel's booth at NYCC taking pictures for this website, I'd have laughed heartily, and probably hit you with something. But lo and behold, here I am, and I'm shocked to be reporting that Mattel -- yes, Barbie and Hot Wheels Mattel -- actually had one of the most exciting booths we came across.
Why? Take a look at the header image and the gallery photos. These are prototypes for a new line of Ghostbusters figures, due out this fall. There's a 12-inch series, from which we got a look at Egon and Ray, complete with traps and proton packs, and a big rendition of Slimer that's not only badass, but is amazingly true to the film. There were also uncolored prototypes of the 6-inch Igon and Slimer, which are also due out around the same time.
It's really cool to see, and it seems Mattel is becoming uncomfortable with the way so many other smaller manufacturers have been threatening their position in the toy world, and have decided to do something about it. That something is looking pretty awesome, and I'm sure you'll agree when you see the pictures.
Day 2 of the New York Comic Con is here, and that's a sad thing. Not so much because the convention is half over, but because we returned to Organic Hobby's booth today and found that the "good stuff" we'd expected was being reserved for the biggest day of the event was nowhere in sight.
I hate to say it, but the booth we were most looking forward to this year has turned out to be a pretty big disappointment. It's still one of the better spots to visit if you're into anime figs, but to be honest, there's not much of anything here that you couldn't have found last year. Maybe even the year before. The Street Fighter, Idolm@ster and most of the Gurren Lagaan Revoltechs we hoped to see are entirely absent, as well as the entire Fraulein line, save for Asuka and series #008 Ayanami.
No Yoko? No Ryu? Even the Dokodemo Issho characters released last year are MIA. The Revoltech turnout on the whole is a massive let down, and if you're a collector, there's a good chance that anything you'd want from the available selection here has already been sitting on your toy shelf for a year or more. Even the display cases are looking a little sickly. It also doesn't help that the staff on hand at the booth seem to know very little about the products they're selling, and any questions you might have had for the distributor likely went unanswered. Not cool, Organic. Not cool.
Fortunately, it's possible to ignore the failsauce and simply head to the other side of the booth, which will actually yield a look at some of the coolest stuff on the entire show floor. Check out the gallery for some photos of the new Sky Girls figures, some adorable Astro Boy and Leo collectibles, and other assorted goodness from the south end of Organic's setup, which didn't suck.
You know what's disappointing so far about this year's Comic Con? The lack of stuff for me to gush over. From what I've seen so far everything is vendors, and there isn't a whole lot of new or exclusive stuff on display. Thankfully Tonner had a huge booth full of all of their giant dolls...now if only I wasn't so damn afraid of them.
Don't get me wrong, the dolls are extremely well crafted, and Tonner's licenses are very impressive (Pirate of the Caribbean, DC Comics, Tomb Raider, and Twilight just to name a few), but I've seen The Puppetmaster one too many times, and my imagination likes to work overtime sometimes when in the vicinity of lifelike toy dolls. Obviously Tonner goes after a primarily female demographic with these dolls, and I'm sure some of them, like the Twilight line for instance, will sell major gangbusters for them, but some of the dolls just seemed a bit too odd a choice. Case in point, Tonner's doll based on Steve Carrell's Maxwell Smart from the recent Get Smart remake was the odd man out of all the others on display, which may be why he was in the corner of their booth by himself.
Don't take my word as law against Tonner, what they do is done very well, but it's just not something that I would particularly drool over. Check out the gallery and let me know what you think, especially of Aquaman's sequin, sparkling shirt.
There he is! Check him out ladies, Nendoroid Kaito is reporting for duty at this year's NYCC, courtesty of AAA Anime -- Good Smile Company's North Amerian Distributor. He's looking mighty handsome, and like Miku before him, appears at NYCC just days before his release date. My own Kaito should be in the mail about now, so keep an eye on Tomopop for our full review of him soon! Until then, it's sure fun to get a look at him in the flesh. Er ... plastic. Whatever.
AAA has also brought along plenty of other goodies to look at, unfortunately none of which are actually on sale. Still, it's exciting to see some of the upcoming hotness from Max Factory and GSC, and we got a close look at the new Plawres Sanshiro Figmas and the Figma Cycles, among other things; all of which you can check out for yourself in the gallery below.
My entire childhood was spent worshipping one, and only one, thing. That thing was the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series. Every Christmas would bring a new bunch of TMNT toys, vehicles, video tapes, and underoos, and I like to think that it's because of the original Playmates line that I am the enthusiast toy collector that I am today. So you may not find it that much of a surprise to know when I was wandering the floor of this year's New York Comic Con I stumbled upon a booth showcasing the re-release of the original toys, and pretty much lost my composure (ie hyperventilating and screaming like a girl).
The new line, which is available now in KMarts and Targets nationwide, are created from the original molds that Playmates used back in the early 90's. The figures that are available as of right now are all four turtles (that's Raphael, Leonardo, Donatello, and Michaelangelo to those who don't remember), and their teacher/mentor, Splinter. Each figure comes with a DVD featuring an episode from the original pilot of the old Saturday morning cartoon Ninja Turtles series. The next line, which should be coming out sometime soon this year, will feature more of your favorites, including Bebop, Rocksteady, April O'Neal, and Shredder.
Playmates also had on display the original version of the Turtles' van, but currently it is not available for sale (although they're hoping for it to get picked up by a big toy chain relatively soon). If you're at all interested in getting some of these retro classics, you better run out and get them while you can find them. I can guarantee you they probably won't be available for very long. Check out the photos in the gallery, and pray to god we get to see another printing of the Usagi Yojimbo figure.
While many vendors' booths are notably smaller than last year's, one definite exception is Organic Hobby. The North American Revoltech distributor's spread is probably three times the size it was last year, and the figures are stacked high. Most of what we're seeing today is pretty standard stuff that's been available for quite a while, so it's assumed that Organic is waiting until Saturday to whip out their big guns.
Even still, there are enough figures on display to make a collector's head spin, including some awesome stuff from Afro Samurai, and some larger-scale Sky Girls PVCs. Their "buy two, get one free" deal is in effect once again, making the decisions a little easier, but there's still a very hefty selection to choose from, and it's not hard to get lost among the wall of boxes for long periods of time. Check out the gallery below for some of today's offerings, and check back with us again tomorrow to see if they'll unleash anything new on us.
It's certainly one of the more interesting booths if you happen to be into anime, and we'll be bringing you continued coverage of it tomorrow.
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