Ahoy, squirts! Quint here... now that Toyfair has come and gone I decided to take a look at the state of geeky toys and holy crap there are a ton of cool as shit toys in the works, especially for us genre fans. I expected this to be a little showcase of a few of the toys/figures/statues that I'm particularly jonesing for, but it turned out I'm jonesing for a whole lot more than I expected. This isn't meant as an end all be all list or something full of exclusive pictures. This is merely a gathering of some really cool shit that floats my boat into one story.
Since McFarlane Toys has spectacularly dropped the ball in their Movie Maniacs line, I'm very happy to see other companies picking up the slack and them some, most notably NECA Toys and SOTA.
Let's start with NECA, the guys responsible for those cool as hell GHOSTBUSTERS toys and the KILL BILL line... For starters, they have a new addition to the KILL BILL series... one of the cooler figures they could make from those films, Pai Mei:
I believe this line ships in July and will also feature Bill, Elle Driver and another version of The Bride... I hope we'll see a Michael Madsen, Vivica A. Fox (complete with knife and cereal box) and O-Ren Ishii (with removable skull cap) in the near future... but that might be too cool for school.
Neca has a lot of upcoming movie lines, actually. The first and foremost in overall coolness factor, to me, is the SIN CITY line. In the first series, to be released late March, is Mickey Rourke as Marv...
Rosario Dawson as Gail...
As well as Michael Clarke Duncan as Manute, Nick Stahl as That Yellow Bastard and Jessica Alba as Nancy. They will be black and white figures, but there will be some chase figures in color. I'm not a huge fan of the Nancy sculpt (which can bee seen here), but I love the Marv, Gail and Manute. The black and white ones are the coolest, I think.
The next SIN CITY series will feature Kevin (played by Elijah Wood... I can't wait to see his turn here), Jaime King as Goldie, Brittany Murphy as Shellie and Devon Aoki as Miho is to be released later this summer. Surprisingly no mention of a Willis Hartigan figure or Clive Owen's Dwight figure or Benicio del Toro's Jacky Boy figure.
Another license Neca has is THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY. The pictures have been released so far aren't up to par, in my opinion, as the other series Neca have released. Martin Freeman as Dentarthurdent looks more like Robert Patrick as the hapless traveler to me, but I love the Vogon sculpt.
And Marvin looks cool, too.
As a horror buff, I'm terribly excited to see their CULT CLASSICS series take off. In their first line, to be released Springtime, we're seeing Mohawk from GREMLINS 2: A NEW BATCH. As well as a new Jason figure from THE NEW BLOOD, a new Crow figure and one that I think is really cool, despite not liking the movie much at all...
I think it's really cool for them to go for a more underground horror figure, one that isn't a mainstream monster... I don't particularly like AMERICAN PSYCHO, but this looks like a good figure...
Now, the line I'm really looking forward to is Series 2 of CULT CLASSICS. With the first line it feels a little... safe, with the exception of Patrick Bateman... Jason, Gremlins, The Crow... all have been done already... Check out who's in Series 2:
Sweet-ass DONNIE DARKO Frank the Bunny figure. Also announced (with no picture yet, dammit) is The Tall Man from the PHANTASM series (complete with a sphere and 2 killer dwarves... finally!), Leatherface from CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 (ie with coat and tie) and the NEW NIGHTMARE Freddy Kreuger... I've been bitching about McFarlane not releasing a Tall Man figure for a long while. I can't wait to see the sculpt... eyebrow has to be raised and the scowl has to be perfect!
Neca also has a few stand alone horror items that make me happy, one being this really too cool bust of Michael Meyers
And the other being a really cool box set featuring Jason from FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2 (bag over head) and Pamela Voorhees from the original which connect at the altar Jason set up for his mother in the sequels, complete with shriveled decapitated head and dingy sweater. Check here for the plans and a pic of bag-head Jason.
Now let's get to some of the stuff being put out by Sota Toys... In keeping with the horror theme, let's look at their Now Playing Series. Supposedly the first wave of stuff has hit the US... I'm in New Zealand and have been out of Austin since the end of January... at the time I left, I hadn't seen any of Sota's figures on the store shelves, but they put out a Nightmare Demon from AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (those creepy Nazi dudes), Toxie from THE TOXIC AVENGER and Darkman.
Available in April is Series 2, which is highlighted (for me at least) by the coolest horror themed figure I can imagine... one I never thought I'd get a toy of... A Killer Klown.
Also in the series is The Creeper from JEEPERS CREEPERS 2 and Imhotep from MUMMY RETURNS. Both of these figures look 10 times cooler as a toy than they did in their respective movies (check 'em here).
For this summer, Sota is also releasing a couple of sweet looking busts, my favorite being...
... the David werewolf from AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON. This series has been long over-due for a figure or two... I want my "Meatloaf" Jack, personally, but I'm happy to get one of the coolest werewolves ever put to film to hold me over until then... even if the bust isn't really scene accurate (The werewolf never busted through the Slaughtered Lamb's wall, of course). The other bust is a familiar and ugly face.
Their third Now Playing series hits around Halloween and is the one series I'm the most looking forward to this year. Firstly, they have a DOG SOLDIERS werewolf which looks really sweet, complete with mutilated body parts at the base. Also included is their badass delving into one of my favorite under-appreciated fantasy flicks, LEGEND. We've had DARKNESS come out in a McFarlane line (and we have a bigger one that I'll get to in a minute), but now they've gone and done it. I can't believe there will be a Swamp Witch figure.
That is too cool! She freaked the hell out of me as a kid. Topping off the regular 7" figures is Baron Vladimir Harkonnen figure from DUNE. But what's really the creme de la creme is the box set. Good God, this looks awesome.
We've had McFarlane do a few THE THING figures that, while I dug, weren't as cool as they could be. The Kurt Russell likeness doesn't seem to be perfect, but the scene sure is and they got the dog thing perfect, complete with the poor mutt being strangled and sucked upon by those tentacles, which are bendable in this box set, so you can manipulate them to your pleasure. I can't wait to put odd figures in with mine... have THE THING attached to my John Saxon from ENTER THE DRAGON toy or my Darkness from LEGEND.
Speaking of Darkness from LEGEND... There's an 18" Darkness to be released late Summer as the first 18" figure from the Now Playing line. Check it out:
I love Rob Bottin's design for Darkness and Tim Curry's classic portrayal of the character. The opportunity to have that giant sucker sitting in my corner makes me happy. Some day I'll tell my children it's alive and watching them. Good way to keep the little buggers in line.
Anyway, that's about it for the lines that caught my eye. I'm wondering what we'll be seeing in terms of the higher end collectibles from places like Sideshow. I got an email that pointed out a line of BATMAN BEGINS high end figures from DC Direct. They look a little plastic-y to me, but I like this sculpt:
The Scarecrow looks a bit weird, though...
See what I mean about it being plastic-y? I'm dying to see what Weta is doing for their collectibles. They have some really great looking fantasy films they've worked on... Will we see THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA statues? Replica weapons? What about KING KONG? Who wouldn't want a giant monkey hanging off the Empire State Building batting at passing biplanes on their mantle?
So far, this year looks to be fantastic for horror geeks like me. DONNIE DARKO, LEGEND, KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE... TALL MAN from PHANTASM. All make me very happy in pants. But what's next? I'd like a Jack Torrance figure from THE SHINING... maybe with the two little girls. How about a Pennywise the Dancing Clown figure from IT, to keep the Tim Curry figures coming? Carrie White in full bloody prom dress attire... I'd kill to have a line of MONSTER SQUAD toys... Wolfman (with nards), Gillman, Dracula, Tom Noonan Frankenstein... How about some Critters? What about a RING figure complete with TV and puddle of water?
What about SHAUN OF THE DEAD? Who's doing a Shaun line? That's what we need... Shaun, complete with cricket bat, throwable Batman Soundtrack LP and removable dart and Ed with his I Got Wood T-shirt, Cornetto and Winchester rifle.
Could I ever live in a world where there's an Angela from SLEEPAWAY CAMP figure on the shelves? I somehow think people may frown upon blood covered nude preteen transgender figures cradling a decapitated head...
What would you guys like to see? I'm curious to what other geeks are pining for. Let me know in talkback below!
That's it from me on this one. I got some exciting stuff for you guys in the coming weeks. I've been traveling... from the black rock beaches of Skull Island to the streets of 1933 New York... I'm also about to embark on a mission that takes me to New Jersey a la LA where some nasty beings with suction cup fingers might be causing some trouble... I got some goodies for you squirts, so keep your eyes on the site!
-Quint
