- Mattel revealed two new Dark Knight Rises Movie Masters figures: Alfred and Officer Blake. I remember being very excited for the MM line in 2008, but I’m not quite as enthused this time around – maybe because I’m just not as into Batman at the moment, maybe because an action figure of Joseph Gordon-Levitt wearing a cop outfit just isn’t that exciting. It’s great that we’re getting Alfred, though, and the new packaging looks a lot more dynamic than the DKMM stuff.
- It seems the Flash and Larfleeze have been removed from DC All Stars Wave 1 and the new lineup is JLA Superman, JLA Batman, Red Robin, and Superboy Prime. No word on why this has happened; perhaps they’re just shuffling around the lineups.
- On a related note, you may or may not have noticed that Hot Toys is doing Arkham City figures. Given that I can’t think of a single Hot Toys figure that wasn’t based on a movie character, I’ll be interested to see how these turn out. I won’t be getting them, though, because I don’t make enough money. Or collect 12″ figures.
- I didn’t put up a post about the passing of Ralph McQuarrie, mostly because better tributes have been posted elsewhere and this isn’t really a Star Wars site. But it definitely deserves to be noted, given the legacy Mr. McQuarrie’s designs have had for all of us, especially toy collectors.
- This somehow flew under my radar until now, but C.S. Moore is apparently getting back into the action figure business. First up is a line of articulated 6″ figures based on the Zenescope comic Jurassic Strike Force. You can see in-design pics here and preorder them from BBTS here. They’re also making articulated Monster Hunter figures from the Monster Hunter Survival Guide. I am all aboard for a 6″ articulated Sasquatch. ALL aboard.
- Weekly Roundup: This week in PGPoA, Doc Thomas reviewed the Star Sisters, Poe reviewed Hurricane Hordak, Shadow Weaver and the Mutant Gorilla from Papo, and discussed the bios of Megator and Leech. Toy Aisle Trolls here and here, Odds ‘n Ends here, and Figure It Out here.
Dead Man Walking
BTW, I might be the only one, but I am PSYCHED about the Joseph Gordon Levitt figure.
Dead Man Walking
Moore is also doing an Alice in W-land fig: http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/search.aspx?se…
Zach S.
Those CS Moore figures look awesome! I'm always happy to see smaller companies come out with interesting stuff…there's very little risk-taking and fresh ideas out there nowadays. And I will buy 2 articulated Bigfoot figures–one to repaint Yeti-white–and I will be forever happy.
Theblooyawfulpoet
Mattel can cancel all the dcu figures they want. It just means less money out of my pocket. I was on the fence about larfleeze and was curious about the new batgirl. Now, I don't have to worry about them. The new bats might be interesting and, if it looks, good in person, I may pick it up if I see it.
So, I take it this means that matty is falling back on the "boys only buy big name chars and dayglo variants but never buy girl figures" sales mentality. Companies always say this is tried and true fact, but have we ever seen actual market research results to back that claim? Whenever I hear that from a toy rep, I immediately imagine that he/she is simply parroting what someone above them told them and so on and up the corporate foodchain until you find the source: one executive over the age of 50 who believed that in the 1980s and, by god, no one's going to tell them different now.
Thebloodyawfulpoet
And, re: hot toys.
They've been producing resident evil figures based off the last 2 r.e. games for several years now. I always thought those looked great and they sometimes ran cheaper than their movie lines, but I'm not enough of a fan of the property to have ever bought any (though I was sorely tempted by Wesker):
http://www.cooltoyreview.com/HotToys_WeskerMidnig…
Im anxious to see what they'll produce from arkham city. Still, the only figures I could see myself actually buying might be catwoman or a blue&gray variant batman.
zach
I haven't seen that Batman figure yet. Definitely going to be painting some black trunks on that on.
Kevin
I just got a message from BBTS that said:
BBTS – DC Universe All Stars Series 03 – Batgirl Cancelled
Date: Mar 9, 2012 2:24 PM
Hi – Mattel has just informed us that this item has been cancelled, and as a result they will not be able to fill our orders. We apologize for the inconvenience. We have cancelled all preorders and removed the item from our site.
megaduceflare
I got that email too, as well as one for Steel.
Mysterious Stranger
My guess on the DCU cancellations is that retailers bawked at Larfleeze and Batman Beyond seeing as there isn't much public knowledge of these two characters compared to new versions of regular flavor Batman and Superman. So Mattel bumped a couple figures from Wave 2 to Wave 1 and Larfleeze and Bats will get moved to the DCUC subscription (well at least Larfleeze, not sure what will happen with Bats)