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  • Archives for February 2013 (49)

Strange Tales Minimates Box Set

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Categories: Diamond Select Toys
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Published on: February 28, 2013

April will see the release of a new box set of Marvel Minimates; Strange Tales.  It features Dr. Strange, Blade, Werewolf by Night and Morbius along with accessories.  Check out the press release and photos.

The strangest set of Marvel Minimates ever just got a little stranger! Sorcerer Dr. Strange takes the spotlight on the new packaging for the Strange Tales box set, featuring Strange, First Appearance Blade, Werewolf by Night and Morbius the Living Vampire!

Due to arrive in April, the set of four Minimates includes some new, character-specific accessories, like Blade’s wooden stakes (including one with a throwing effect), a flight base for Morbius, and Dr. Strange’s spell-casting hands. Each Minimate stands 2 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation to re-create all of the classic Marvel covers of the 1970s. Check out the comic-book-inspired packaging below!

Lego the Number Two Toy Manufacturer?

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Categories: Lego
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Published on: February 28, 2013

Lego 2x4 Red Brick Held by ChildMattel has been the number one toy manufacturer for years, with Hasbro (a sometimes distant) second.  But according to BMO Capitol’s Gerrick Johnson, by way of Richard Gottlieb’s Global Toy News, things are shaking up at the top.

According to Johnson’s analysis, Lego did $4.137 billion in sales in 2012 to Hasbro’s $4.08 billing, beating them by about $53 million and making them the number 2 company.  What’s interesting is that when net income is tallied up, Lego actually beats both Mattel and Hasbro by about $215 million and $656 million respectively, making it number 1.

It’s not hard to see Hasbro taking a big hit last year, even if their Star Wars line is just one aspect of their business, we all know how badly it fared.  Missteps with the G.I. Joe movie being postponed, Kre-O seemingly doing poorly enough that it’s now a Toys-R-Us exclusive, and even The Avengers line, which sold quickly initially, had trouble finding its way to retail when it came to the later waves.

It’s been our stance that Lego is probably the best overall toy line on the market today and it would seem others agree.  We spent more on Lego in 2012 than the previous three or four years combined.  The Collectible Minifigure line sucked us in but we stayed for Star Wars, City, Harry Potter and the new Galaxy Squad lines.  And maybe some Dino mixed in!  Ninjago has seemingly been a hot seller for Lego and the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit sets have been getting a lot of buzz.  The new Friends line has also taken off.  Having both Marvel and DC in their superheroes line, at a time when both companies have successful movie franchises, doesn’t hurt.

Lego have been increasing sales for nearly a decade and if they continue, could they permanently surpass Hasbro?  With heavy hitting Marvel movies coming for the foreseeable future, and new Star Wars films on the horizon, Hasbro is well positioned to do great things, but they definitely need to change up their formula, because even huge hits like the Avengers and the Transformers movies, don’t seem to have been getting it done.

Gentle Giant Debuts 2013 Premier Guild Membership Gifts

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Categories: Gentle Giant
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Published on: February 27, 2013

Gentle Giant has announced their 2013 Premier Guild gifts and they include three Star Wars offerings and a Marvel bust of War Machine.  All Premier Guild memberships have gone up $10 to $80 for the year.  The 2013 membership will include a 10% discount on all orders for regular releases, a $30 coupon on in-stock orders and a $10 gift certificate good on any one order, including pre-orders.

In order to guarantee your choice of membership gift, you must join the Premier Guild before June 1, 2013.  All four gifts are listed for the fourth quarter but based on past years, we wouldn’t expect them before we ring in 2014.

Mace Windu from Attack of the Clones.  One of Gentle Giant’s earliest busts, released in 2002 sans arms, Mace Windu makes a comeback with his unique purple bladed lightsaber.

Boba Fett Rocket Firing First Shot.  Shot all in blue, with no paint, the J-Slot recreation of the vintage Kenner prototype will ship in a blister card inside a polybag.

Darth Vader Holographic Mini Bust. This release is a copy of the 2005 Revenge of the Sith bust only now in clear blue resin.  The bust also lights up.

War Machine Mini Bust.  Featuring light-up effects, this new bust is based on the Iron Man 2 appearance of the armor, as worn by Don Cheadle’s Rhody Rhodes.

Diamond Select Toys Klingon Disruptor

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Categories: Diamond Select Toys
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Published on: February 26, 2013

Diamond Select Toys is adding a lot to their Star Trek line of toys, including models of the ships, with electronics, and now some new role play items, the Klingon Disruptor.  The new release comes in two versions, one a regular release and one in an Action Figures Xpress exclusive.  Check out the press release and photos below.

Is Diamond Select Toys defecting to the Klingon Empire? First they gave Star Trek fans two insanely detailed Klingon Bird of Prey electronic ships, now it’s two electronic replicas of the Klingon disruptor!

With three different settings, the thumb trigger can activate single shot, rapid-fire and “disintegrate” sound effects, with a flickering red LED at the muzzle. The standard model is based on the weapon’s appearance in <em>Star Trek: The Next Generation</em>, but Action Figure Xpress will have an exclusive <em>Star Trek III</em> version of Commander Kruge’s weapon of choice! Check out the packaging and the demonstration videos below!

Link to AFX-exclusive Kruge edition: http://www.shopafx.com/afxexsttr3kl.html

Link to Standard edition demonstration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr-3kRMe9Ng

Link to Kruge edition demonstration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaANe7NLzsQ

Her Universe Launches Year of the Fangirl

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Published on: February 25, 2013

Ashley Eckstein issued a press release today announcing her “Year of the Fangirl” campaign for 2013.  Full press release below.

Year of the Fangirl

Star Wars Actress Ashley Eckstein and Her Universe Launch

The “Year of the Fangirl” Campaign for 2013

NEW YORK, NY – February 25th, 2013 – Ashley Eckstein, the voice of Ahsoka Tano on the television series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and founder of Her Universe, the groundbreaking sci-fi apparel line for fangirls, announced today a very special year-long campaign to highlight and recognize one of the fastest growing and important segments of the sci-fi/fantasy/pop culture audience…women. Geek Girls, as they sometimes are affectionately known, can be found in every walk of life and beginning today, HerUniverse.com will shine the spotlight on a different fangirl every day showing their diversity, dreams and interests. Featured fangirls will be selected from submissions by way of fans and a team of 5 fangirl contributors, personally picked by Eckstein, who will be searching across the U.S. and the world for individual stories of every day female fans.

“From day one, it’s been very important to me to make Her Universe a positive and supportive community for fangirls,” said Ashley Eckstein. “I’ve traveled the nation over the past 2 years with Her Universe and I have been inspired by so many amazing women. There are several great outlets that highlight fangirl celebrities and pop culture news but I wanted to create a place where we will share the stories of everyday women who are proudly letting their geek flag fly! If she considers herself a fangirl, we want to hear her story!”

Eckstein is encouraging fans to submit their choice for a “fangirl of the day” on the Her Universe website. Fangirls of any age can be nominated and profiled; however, fangirls under the age of 13 must be nominated by their parent or guardian. Starting today, the fangirl form can be found on the Her Universe website (www.heruniverse.com) with questions to be filled out about the female fan to be profiled. Once completed, individuals can submit the form on the site, and attach a photo (optional). Each day, Eckstein and the fangirl volunteers, will spotlight a “fangirl of the day” on the Her Universe website and its social media platforms.

The Geek Girl contributors Eckstein has assembled for this project reflects the variety and creative nature of the fangirl community:

Tricia Barr – a professional engineer, author, and founder of FANgirl Blog, which focuses on discussing Star Wars, strong female characters, and storytelling.

Erin Kelahan – a longtime sci-fi/fantasy fangirl and passionate supporter of Her Universe and fangirls everywhere. Erin’s goal in life is to help as many people as possible find and embrace their inner geek.

Amy Ratcliffe – a freelance writer, Star Wars enthusiast, twitter addict and all-around geek who enjoys most things sci-fi and fantasy. Amy has written about comics, cosplay, conventions, and other topics around the internet and in print.

Victoria Schmidt – a veteran cosplayer “Scruffy Rebel,” and co-founder of the geek girl fashion and style blog, “Set To Stunning.” A geek fashion trendsetter who has spent her life devoted to a broad range of fandoms.

Lillian Skye – a Star Wars fan since before she could hold a lightsaber, now a junior in high school, Lillian writes for a student run publication published weekly by the Tampa Bay Times and has her own blog for geek chic Star Wars fans called “Fangirls in the Force.”

The “Year of the Fangirl” campaign officially launches today, February 25th, on www.heruniverse.com but additional elements and opportunities for Geek Girls will be added throughout the year, including a very special event in coordination with San Diego Comic Con. More information will follow soon.

About Her Universe 

Her Universe was launched in 2009 by actress and entrepreneur Ashley Eckstein, and her partner, The Araca Group, known as one of the most innovative theatrical production and merchandise companies in the world. Her Universe was created to directly address the expanding market of female fans by entering into its first agreement with Lucas Licensing to develop and produce a line of female-centered Star Wars apparel and accessories. The success of that line was followed up with a collection for the Syfy network including such shows as Battlestar Galactica and with BBC America for Doctor Who and with CBS Consumer Products for Star Trek. You can learn more about Her Universe and purchase the current line of fangirl apparel and accessories by going to www.heruniverse.com and by following Eckstein on Facebook (facebook.com/HerUniverse) and Twitter (twitter.com/HerUniverse).

Year of the Fangirl Contributors

Her Universe founder Ashley Eckstein (above left) is launching a very special campaign for 2013, The “Year of the Fangirl,” which spotlights fangirls all over the world on Heruniverse.com. The five fangirl contributors who will be assisting Eckstein in searching for stories of fangirls from around the world for the “Year of the Fangirl” campaign are, from top to bottom (L to R): Tricia Barr, Erin Kelahan, Amy Ratcliffe, Victoria Schmidt, and Lillian Skye.

Naboo Starfighter

by E...
Categories: Hasbro
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Published on: February 24, 2013

Hasbro showed off their excellent new Naboo Starfighter way back in 2011 and it was scheduled to be released last year in support of the 3D release of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.  It never made it to store shelves in the US.

Although online retailers did have it for sale, usually by the case with a Republic Assault Tank and Jedi Starfighter, the widest release for the ship was overseas in the UK and Australia as well as parts of Europe and Asia.  I missed out on ordering a case online but, luckily, Amazon UK ships to New York.  I received my order yesterday and took a few minutes to snap some pictures of this excellent ship.

The upgrades to this ship, from its original release in 1999, are quite noticeable.  It’s longer and more streamlined, for one, the cockpit slides open and there’s now a working  droid slot.  The electronics are gone, but there’s a launching missile underneath along with two that pop out of the nacelles.

With the currency difference, and shipping, it cost about $50 to have this shipped over.  That’s a little less than current eBay rates and less than buying a case.  The packaging has several languages on it, as it’s the European release, but the ship, instructions and stickers are the same.

Hasbro said at Toy Fair that there’s no outlet for the Movie Heroes version of this ship to appear at retail in the US.  While it’s possible that they could find a release for it in the future, it probably won’t be in the Class II Assault Vehicle line which has been downsized.  If you have an opportunity to pick this up, and not pay inflated secondary market prices, do so.  It’s an excellent update to a prominent Prequel Trilogy vehicle.

Checklist Update – Gentle Giant Mini Busts

by E...
Categories: Gentle Giant
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Published on: February 24, 2013

We converted the Mini Bust checklist to the new site layout and updated with new releases, edition sizes and other info.  Also split it out by year of release to help make it easier to read.

Checklist Update – Sideshow Statues

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Categories: Sideshow Collectibles
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Published on: February 23, 2013

The Sideshow 1:4 Scale Premium Format Checklist has been updated with the most current information and has had info for the Mythos statue line added.

The Mythos statues are not listed with a specific scale by Sideshow, but range from approximately 18″ to 21″ tall which is approximately 1:5, or similar in scale to the Premium Format line.  Since the releases for these statues will probably not be as frequent as some of Sideshow’s other lines, we felt a separate page for them wasn’t necessary at this time.

Checklist Update – Gentle Giant Large Scale Retro Figures

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Categories: Gentle Giant
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Published on: February 22, 2013

We moved the Gentle Giant Large Scale Retro Figure (Jumbo) checklist to the new format and updated with a lot of new info, including 10 new The Empire Strikes Back figures that were revealed with the release of the Gamorrean Guard.

While the new characters have not yet been confirmed by Gentle Giant, the back of the card in the Gamorrean Guard Premier Guild Membership figure is good enough for us.

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