“I save all of my calories for martinis” by Orbital Ox is one of several watercolor paintings I’ll be bringing to WonderCon 2014. Look for Supahcute & Vanessa Ramirez at Small Press table 113! Is there anything cuter than a … Continue reading →![]()
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WonderCon 2014 Starts Friday, 4/18! Visit Us at Small Press Table 113
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AIM Soldier
If I had to name one character from the Marvel Universe toy line I actively avoided to purchase for years, it would be hard not to mention the 2010 AIM Soldier.![]()
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Custom-Feature: "Garl Vinland" Munny by Fiona Ng
From Fiona Ng comes a commissioned 4" Munny piece; based on the character "Garl Vinland" from the videogame "Demon's Souls". The finished custom piece includes his shield and ridiculously huge hammer, 'Bramd'. Love it when they name their "hammers" LOL
But let not my seemingly "frivolous" commentary take way from this splendid piece of work from Fiona, folks! Truly showcasing her spectacular work with armors reproduction here!
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Iconic toys evoke childhood memories | Australian Toy Hall of Fame
DO you remember those days of marble competitions at school when kids played 'for keeps', and that was perfectly acceptable or long, summer holidays of backyard cricket, possibly with a home-made cricket bat?
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Customs-Feature: Acid Rain Mini Munny & Dunny Set by Josh Mayhem
Josh Mayhem shares with us images of his Acid Rain Mini Munny & Dunny Set commissions for a private collector. Want to score your own? Hit him up at www.joshmayhem.com or www.facebook.com/joshmayhem1
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Kizuna Yumeno
Since Chitose got an upgrade to her profile page on her birthday, many Kizuna fans have asked me to do ...
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Furry Feline Creatives "Walking Like Dead" Wondercon 2014 Exclusive Plush
Alvin Ong of Furry Feline Creatives shares with us what exclusive plush they'll have made available via booth 1161 at the owing 2014 Wondercon, starting with the above teaser trailer!
"We love making stories and these characters represents us in certain times. We go through zombie mode or do look like zombies without being one. This is what we call "Walking Like Dead". This year at Wondercon, we are releasing four (4) Limited Editions in the quantities of eight (8). They measure 12" and at $50 each. 100% handmade by Cheri Ong using soft fleece, felt and polyfill and lots of love. Officially licensed by SDCC to use its trademark and logos, This will bear the official "Wondercon 2014 Exclusive" mark. This will be signed and numbered on the hangtag."
Never let your guard down around Zombie Plush, folks! LOL
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'Opening Battle' in 'X-Men: Days Of Future Past'
The mutants face off against a strange new enemy (*cough-Sentinals-cough*) in this "MTV exclusive" featuring the 'Opening Battle' in 'X-Men: Days Of Future Past'! You'll get to see Blink's powers in action, Sunspot, Thunderbird, Bishop and Shadowcat, Colossus, Iceman - ALL using their powers! ... okay, maybe NOT Thunderbird, he was just carrying a really big drum of whatever ... LOL
Source: MTV.com
(More Screengrabs posted in THIS dedicated album on PopcornX FB)
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Mattel Disney PLANES Fire & Rescue: Playset Preview
Here’s a look at one of the first playsets for PLANES: FIRE & RESCUE. I hope they improved that guide rail system as the ones for PLANES worked exactly like you think it would if you clip a plane to a thin plastic “wire.” And remember if you borrow your younger brother’s playset to empty […]
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Zulily CARS & PLANES Sale
Zulily has some fun CARS & PLANES products on sale … (scroll down to the bottom). I would totally wear this retro t-shirt – sadly I’m taller than 2′ tall. Cool wall stickers. Kids today have all the fun toys.Potty training kit … I’m presume the Piston Cup is the reward and not a mobile […]
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Toys ‘R’ Us Leveraged Like ’05 as Loss Mounts: Corporate Finance
Toys “R” Us’s debt ratios returned to levels last seen following its $6.6 billion leveraged buyout in 2005, underscoring heightened concern among investors that the retailer may not be able to recover from its biggest loss in nearly three decades.
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set database: LEGO 79118 karai bike escape
set database: LEGO 79118 karai bike escape
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set number: 79118
set name: karai bike escape
theme: teenage mutant ninja turtles
year: 2014
pieces: 88
price: us$13
minifigs: 2
new teenage mutant ninja turtles theme set.
image courtesy of amazon.co.uk
image courtesy of argos.co.uk
set name: karai bike escape
theme: teenage mutant ninja turtles
year: 2014
pieces: 88
price: us$13
minifigs: 2
come with a motorbike, a skate board and a newspaper vending machine.
also included road signs, a fire hydrant, a manhole and a roadwork sign.
minifigs included a karai minifig and a leornardo minifig.
great playability.
overall design is great.
overall design is great.
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Will JAKKS Pacific (JAKK) Continue to Surge Higher?
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New book takes a look at the indie toy scene
I love a good read here and there, and it looks like I have a new book to check out in Louis Bou's We Are Indie Toys! The book is a look at the indie scene, specifically resin figures made by independent artists and studios. There's 30 artists covered in the book's 208 pages, including names you've seen plenty of times on Tomopop: Emilio Garcia, Jon Knox, Le Merde, Patient No. 6, Plaseebo, Dave Pressler, Cris Rose, Paul Shih, Suckadelic, TADO, and Tesselate. There's a few interviews mixed in with the artists, so it's something that seems like it could be a good coffee table book at the very worst.
In case you're interested in picking We Are Indie Toys! up, it's available on Amazon for US$22.43 (below it's retail price of US$29.99).
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Custom Delights: JFury's Ninja Pitbull
JFury has a new custom Dunny in his shop, a furious little ninja pitbull. He hasn't done any real sculptwork on the figure, instead wrapping the design around the Dunny's surface, but he still does resemble a little pitbull. You might not be able to tell from the karate gi and polesword that he's wielding, though!
You can pick it up from JFury's shop for US$80.
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Get Ready to Moon Over Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel from 2K, Gearbox
2K Australia and Gearbox Software are co-developing Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, a standalone game set in-between Borderlands and Borderlands 2. The game will be available worldwide this fall for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 consoles and Windows PC. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel takes place on Pandora’s moon, where players will experience gravity-bending gunfights in zero-atmosphere environments [...]
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Toy-Review: GARDEN(PALM)ER by Michael Lau x How2Work
Produced by Hong Kong's How2Work, featuring the character designs of Michael Lau, the 1/12th-scaled GARDEN(PALM)ER series is a scaled-down reproduction of ML's iconic 1/6 GARDENGALA figures. The average height is 7 inches tall, with 'Box B' slightly shorter (which I frankly appreciate the variety, really haha).
To be released in a total of 13 sets, each set/series/season includes 10 figures (9 x previously seen characters + 1 x bonus character per season), making a total of 130 collectible figures when the season "ends"! Check out the full product deets HERE in my previous post.
Season 1 was released November 2013, with most retailers selling an entire set rather than separate single pieces (not counting online auctions, which I refused to check for LOL) … Last blogged, the Suggested Retail Price was pegged at approx US$487 to US$520 = folks need to check in with their fav retailers for actual pricing. And while I could not own the set, thanks to Hadrian Ng, I managed to now pick up "Young Maxx" and "Box B"!
Season 2 has since been solicited. And while I may be "late to the game", this is my personal review of both pieces :)
First off, permit me to contextualize this product. As mentioned above, this series is an adaptation of Michael Lau's oft revered figures since his early days of exhibiting the characters via his solo shows, but not really producing them for "mass" sales, until the recent couple of years - like Black Tattoo in 1/6 for Korea, and the recent BB Orange and Black - and this is the first time his original series is being manufactured mass and made available for folks and fans worldwide to access to, with no quantity limitation mentioned (that I know of).
And the importance of this product and accessibility is not taken lightly, at least for me. And while the likelihood of seeing them in 1/6 made mass remains a dream still, having them in a smaller scale is yet another "dream" made real, IMHO.
The "genius" of the piece, is in the figure's "packaging". Each figure is housed in a literal metal spray can, with printed surfaces, and a red plastic top - like a regular spray can - which pops open to reveal the "head" of the figure within, sticking out the top where the nozzle is meant to be! (FYI: Not all figures are like this, figures like "Box" had a flat surface instead). Quite ingenious, this! And this is where the "cleverness" of the product ends, unfortunately …
I'll talk about the "positives" first.
The fabric tailored clothes, are pretty impressive, in that, nothing is just as it looks on the surface. Underneath Young Maxx's hoodie-sweater is another sewn tee! And underneath both figure's shorts, are sewn boxer shorts. The belt(s) might be ill fitting visually, but they exist! The chains are of metal-make and are not plastic pieces. If the shoes these guys are wearing were hand-made ones, I would've flipped! But no, they are painted plastic moulded haha
I remember "playing dress up" with my "man-dollies" - whispered in the same breath as "Barbie dolls" - back in the day of 12" figures (somehow "Military" themed figures do not get as much flak LOL), and fondly remember being on a toy-forum aptly titled "Man With Dolls" … and fast forward to the "now", which I am unsure if the stigma still holds these days, I personally am now not given to have two hoots about what others think LOL … I like me some "playing dress up my man-dollies" MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA :)
Loving Young Maxx's headsculpt, which to me epitomizes THAT Michael Lau design. Details such as the ear-ring was much appreciated too! Box B's molded plastic box head was utilitarian in comparison tho. Nothing earth shattering here.
I'd be frank, if not for the headsculpts featuring ML's iconic character design, I would feel hard-pressed to identify the body as a ML-product … maybe the proportion of the size of shoes to body would provide the hint, but clothes itself, could simply be likened to a
Now let's get into the articulated bodies, for which complaints were/are aplenty online too! A lot of collectors' grief seemed to do with the "quality" of the joints:
"My biggest problem with these guys are the Revoltech joints they comprise of - those are really fragile when they're that small (as demonstrated by a couple breaking on me already)" -shared Kev Hill.That said, it is the joints themselves, which provide this piece with the playability, and uniqueness to the figures' feature, IMHO. And while I've not stripped down the boy's clothes (a look at "Tattoo" would provide an idea- which parallel's Michael Lau's 12" figures' = awesome), here are some snaps of the elbow and wrist joints for Box, and exposed leg/knee joint for Maxx. You can't argue effort was not put into providing articulation, especially for a figure of this size, IMHO.
As impressive as the range the articulation provides, it too is not the most "compliant" of joints which makes it harder than 'usual' to pose these guys AND to hold that pose. So far my guys have yet to be able to stand up alone by themselves (needing to be propped against something instead), and Box has been nothing less than a challenge to have his poses remain such for long (which suspect has to do more with the thicken layering of clothes instead).
The irony would be, I would have even be simply happy to own Michael Lau in 1/12th-scale with less the multiple articulation. One line of similar scale has been pretty "successful" so far for me (which means nothing has broken) is the Action Portable / WWRp series from 3A Toys. If How2Works' Garden(Palm)er line's body integrity could match 3A's? Hooo-boy, collectors would be in for a real treat!
In short, the integrity of the articulation would have made this a spectacular series to PLAY with, but it is because of such, I personally would not be gagging to procure any further pieces in this series, or the next. Unless things change for the better in the second series to come? And frankly, the price point deters my own personal decision to continue collecting, as much as I adore Michael Lau's characters, it is simply just not within my financial efforts to forgo the flaws to accept the positives.
Cheers
Andy TOYSREVIL
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WeLoveFine's Dota 2 Shagbark plush unlocks a digital version
WeLoveFine is quickly becoming a company to watch for in the world of plush toys. They are now branching beyond their recently-released Talking Puppycat and several Catbug plushes into the realm of Valve's Dota 2 with the all-new Shagbark plush. Made in collaboration with Matthew Bailey (also known as Cyborgmatt), the original creator of the Shagbark character, this adorable critter is currently available on WeLoveFine's online store for the price of US$45.
Shagbark is 11 inches-tall and 7 inches-long. He features two removable plush owls that rest on his antlers (they re-attact by magnets), a poseable tongue, removable sunglasses, and a faux leather belt with a plush pouch and blanket roll. The plush will ship with a coupon code that nabs you your own "Genuine Shagbark the Plush" in Dota 2. Between the unlock code and the lovely toy itself, I would say this is a package that many gamers will find hard to pass up.
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New Transformers 4 Age of Extinction "Truck" TV Commercial #2 - 1092 HD Version
Just up on the official Michealbay.com Vimeo channel is a brand new Transformers: Age of Extinction TV commercial titled, "Truck," that debuted at the MTV Movie Awards last night. Paramount are following up with second TV spot that shows most of what we have seen already with the addition of more a few new angles and Grimlock scenes at the end. Read on the see the 1092 HD version of the second TV spot for Transformers: Age of Extinction.
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Marvel Now Avengers Thor ARTFX+ Statue Revealed By Kotobukiya
As you should already know by now, Marvel Comics is the next major property to get the ARTFX+ statue treatment. The first series is none other than The Avengers, based on their appearances in Marvel Now! The new Marvel Now Avengers Thor ARTFX+ statue is going to be the fifth statue in this series, following […]
Action Figure Fury - Action Figure and Toy News, Reviews, and More!
Marvel Now Avengers Thor ARTFX+ Statue Revealed By Kotobukiya
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