At this year’s Toy Fair, the attendees were treated to an early preview of the upcoming Art Asylum Minimates released by Underground Toys based on the new Doctor Who series.
From the Doctor and Martha to all the aliens including The Cybermen, this series should take off like gangbusters. Action Figure Insider has the full scoop.
Designs were also shown for a minimate based on Doctor #9, Christopher Eccleston. It’s a great design, down to the short hair, facial expression and the buttons on his leather coat!
In addition, the off-Broadway start of the spin-off program Torchwood, John Barrowman’s Captain Jack, will be immortalized in 2 inch plastic as well (they even replicated his over-quaffed hair!).
Just looking at this face, you’d never guess that it’s the face of a man destined to conquer the world, would you? But it is, and so is he. Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt has just been revealed as the face under the hood of Cobra Commander in the upcoming G.I. Joe feature film.
The raspy-voiced megalomaniacal figurehead of the international terrorist organization known as COBRA, Cobra Commander has long been one of the most revered villains in modern pop culture (amongst men in their 30’s who were once in their very easily influenced pre-teens during the 1980’s).
For those not in the know, G.I. Joe was one of the most successful cross-market franchises in the history of paper money. A child would watch the cartoon which contained advertisements for the toys which reminded you to read the Marvel Comic Book. Many a non-comic book reading fan lived by this comic book series until it’s cancellation or until they became bored (whichever came first). The revived series by Devil’s Due is still raking in the cash and delivering a much-loved monthly comic that hits all the right notes for the fans.
Genius.
If the mind-controlling power evident in this marketing project were properly harnessed, you could convince the children of the U.S.A. of just about anything, couldn’t you? Oh wait, I think that’s been done.
Unlike the Transformers film which could lean on special effects to draw in the public, this G.I. Joe feature film is running exclusively on the nostalgia market (one of the biggest and most easily win over demographics ever made… just show a face or image that an audience member recalls from the ‘better days’ and rake in the dough). So far, the cast consists of a mish-mash of character actors (Ray ‘Darth Maul’ Park as Snake Eyes?) and relative unknowns (Christopher ‘Dr Who’ Eccleston as Destro?), leaving many to wonder what this Frankenstein monster of a film is going to look like.
The line-up for the 22nd release of Marvel Minimates has been revealed in living color. Straight from the 2008 Toy Fair Convention (and Superhero Times) come these amazing preview pics of the upcoming little heroes destined to sit on my desktop.
With so many great characters chosen, it’s difficult to pick which figure is the most exciting! The dual War Machines (Tony Stark and Jim Rhodes) are very welcome as is the newest hot megastar of Marvel Comics, Nova the Human Rocket (though he does seem a little overly designed for my taste)! And what about Cloak & Dagger! Straight from 1980’s obscurity to the toy shelf!
Minimates Headquarters have produced several more fantastic pics of other minimates from the convention, including new Star Trek minis and take your pick between Platoon and Desperately Seeking Susan as the weirdest movie to spawn action figure immortality.
As the mega motion picture juggernaut that will not be stopped known as the InvincibleIron Man nears its summer release date, so do the tie-ins.
Straight from action figure manufacturer supreme Hasbro come these images of the action figures based on Marvel Comics‘ prize industrialist and knight in shining armor, Iron Man.
So far details are slim, but in addition to the Mark I and Mark III suits I have seen the two figures below (Mark II and Snap-On Armor Prototype) as well as the villain of the picture, Iron Monger (played by ‘The Dude’ Jeff Bridges in the film).
These action figures are of the high standard I’ve come to expect of the Marvel Legends line, although they do come complete with wacky missile-firing parts which always reduces the dignity of the character for me.
Enjoy the images:
The full set of toys are expected to hit the shelves around March, but you can pre-order the whole lot at Toy Rocket.
With Ben Grimm (AKA The Thing) now a major movie star, it’s funny to think that he used to be the subject of many a desperate tie-in to gain that devious dollar. You’d think these projects would be easy wins given the subject matter. With his cursed life and easy going/explosive rampage personality, Ben Grimm has always been one of my favorite Marvel Comics characters. Yet… these projects seemed to miss the mark.
In 1979, toy manufacturer ‘Fun Stuff’ developed the ever loving blue-eyed Thing into an inflatable toy… no it’s all true.
In addition, the character starred in his very own solo cartoon series. Great, right? Not so much. See, this version of the Thing was a teenager named Benji who used a magic ring turn into the Thing and fight crime… or do whatever he wanted, really. Fred and Barney from the Flintstones co-starred.
In 1994 the master of schlock filmmaker Roger Corman made a hasty Fantastic Four film in which the Thing was very similar to his inflatable toy persona from Fun Stuff.
Marvel Comics has created many colorful and charismatic characters over the years and these characters have been used to sell everything from breakfast cereal to toilet paper. They’ve been in children’s TV programs and big budget motion pictures. Some of them have been great, others… not so much.
In the very words of Aunt Petunia’s favorite nephew, Ben was robbed.
One of the most memorable heroes of 1970’s pop culture died yesterday, daredevil stunt man, Evel Kneivel.
The man described his life as full of adventure, saying that he had done it all in his time. Starting out as a car salesman daring customers to beat him at arm wrestling for a discount on a used car, Evel became a symbol of the American dream and its unstoppable momentum. I know how that sounds, but the man was dressed head to toe in red white and blue and survived a catastrophic level of personal injury but kept on getting back on his bike or custom-made ’sky cycle’ to astound fans and folks around the world.
According to Evel, the secret of his success was that the people wanted to see someone try to succeed against the odds. It wasn’t the success or failure of the stunts he performed, it was the simple act of bravery that he attempted them.
In the 1970’s, his likeness was merchandised by Ideal toys, launching a flurry of youthful fans who would at first fire up their toy stunt figure then get the crazy idea to launch his Huffy bike off a dirt mound in the backyard. It usually ended up in a skinned knee and a second thought the next time the idea came around… but we all tried it at least once.
But for many young boys of my generation, Evel was the walking talking Marvel Comics super hero, complete with swagger stick, indefatigable sneer and unstoppable motivation. You could say he was Captain America, Daredevil and Spider-Man all rolled up in one human being but truth be told, I bet Cap would be a little freaked out by Evel if they ever met.
But Cap would give him props.
Here is a selection of videos to pay homage to a living breathing comic book character that will forever be remembered as the epitome of the indomitable will to succeed… in flared trousers.
“…a stunning visual experience that will leave you weeping like a nine-year old who just misplaced Robin’s removable mask.”
— Chip Kidd, author of Batman Collected
“I’ve waited thirty years for this magical, beautiful book. And now, Benjamin Holcomb has given it to us.”
— Brad Meltzer, author of NY Times Best-Selling The Book of Fate and DC’s Justice League of America
“This book, so full of fond memories both personal and professional, could be improved only if it included footy pajamas and a Christmas tree.”
— Ken Abrams, son of Marty Abrams and
grandson of Mego founder D. David Abrams
Available this week at your local comic shop, or look online!
For any of you who remember the joy of the Mego 8 Inch line of action dolls, this is a treasure trove of information and nostalgia. I’ve been following the development of this book on the official site for the past year or so and it’s just so heartening to see someone who has this much love for something get his work out there… and in quite an attractive book I might add!
Publisher TwoMorrows is also offering a special limited edition version only available for purchase on their website. The limited edition version is signed by the author, contains a postcard featuring the alternate cover and customers will also receive a full color 1978-1982 reproduction Mego catalog!
Oh, and TwoMorrows is having a 50% off sale until November 30th.
The most enduring comic book character of the 1970’s, Parker Brothers’Rom the Spaceknight remains one of the stranger cross-promotional projects from Marvel Comics (next to Dazzler, originally conceived as a deal with Columbia Records).
The mainly stoic and immobile protector of the space-ways arrived with a set of noise making electronic sound producing instruments that would assist him in hos war against his enemies… not included. The story goes that Rom, a Lord of the Solstar Order, was on a life mission to seek out the shape changing wizards from another dimension, the Dire Wraiths. The trick was that the wizards were shape shifters capable of deceiving anyone of their true nature.
Luckily Rom had a device that could sniff them out with a gong sound, alerting him to quickly switch devices and zap the nasty wraith to nothingness.
Seeing as how there were no Dire Wraith action figures, it left Rom as a kind of exterminator sniffing out and hunting down your other toys as the devious shape shifting monsters they really were.
Rom sounds a little crazy, doesn’t he? Not a bad crazy, but… okay, maybe a bad crazy.
Created by Bing McCoy (interviewed here), the toy remains one of the most fascinating electronic action figures ever made. While the final product differs some from McCoy’s initial ideas, the Rom toy is something that I imagine many electronic music gurus had on their shelves at one point or another.
Marvel Comics, in participation with Parker Brothers, launched a long running comic book series that took Rom on deep space adventure. The series by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema remains one of the most commonly complete titles in any comic book fan’s collection. While you may meet a few fans with only a handful of Spider-Man or Batman comics, it usually falls that if a collector has one Rom comic book, he has all 75.
The fallout from Rom has not exactly been much. Marvel Comics assimilated the Dire Wraiths into their comics (they even appeared in Uncanny X-Men!) and attempted a relaunch of ‘the Spaceknights,’ but it didn’t really stick. Jim Krueger included an older distraught Rom in his Earth X trilogy where the one of Rom’s devices was revealed to be an important cosmic power device.
According to a recent interview with Johnny Darrell at Halfsquatch, Bing McCoy is in the process of acquiring the rights to his creation, perhaps for a relaunch. That might be something to see.
In the meantime, we have this video below to marvel at:
Back when toys were made for children, the world was a different place. Toys came in all shapes and sizes, rarely a tie in for the newest blockbuster or flop in the cinema, they had entire worlds of vehicles, playsets and outfits to entertain kids for hours on end as their parents drank highballs and watched the Dean Martin show.
Vintage toy ad compendium- 1 hour long
(featuring Kung Fu GI Joe and the Great Garloo!!)
Toys actually taught kids something and often did things, like this 4 in 1 wood shop.
Mattel 4-in-1 Shop
Ofcourse, there were also the inexplicably strange toys as well.
The Thing Maker (Creepy Crawlers)
Witch Doctor Head Shrinking Kit
Space exploration used to be the ideal dream job for kids… before web designer in the 90’s and marketing or ad executive in the 00’s.
Back in the 60’s and 70’s, space was where it all happened… and little Billy Blastoff had a friend in Major Matt Mason.
Billy Blastoff
Major Matt Mason
In the end, the business went to the franchises, in this case comic books and sci-fi movies such as Planet of the Apes and Star Trek. It was really something to see so many characters that were loved by boydom in the 70’s transformed into one gigantic line of toys. To have Spider-Man and Dr Zaius in the room at the same time… it was magical.
Mego Superheroes
Mego Elastic Toys
(almost all of these great ads can be found on the “70’s toy explosion”DVD from PlaidStallions, my favorite website ever)
It’s strange to think that today toys and collectibles are mostly purchased by grown men, often in their mid to late 30’s, nostalgic for their lost childhood.
I recently bumped into a teenage kid at a Toys R Us, looking through their scant Star Wars display and traded tales of good finds and sad losses. In the end, I wanted to urge him to get a hobby, meet girls or turn to crime. This way lies a large basement full of labeled boxes, I would urge him… but kids don’t understand the siren song of plastic men.
Wizard’s Toyfare just ran an article on the best toys of the past 10 years.
I’m more of a vintage toy collector, but nonetheless, it is nice to be reminded of some of the many triumphs in plastic from the past decade including the Four Horsemen’s much needed revamp of the Batman design and the inspired design of the Iron Man minimate.
Included in the long list are re-imaginings of many classic toys such as Optimus Prime (complete with the Matrix of Leadership and an actual moving ‘mouth’) and GI Joe’s Storm Shadow.
Click here to read the full article and let me know what you think should have made the cut.
One of the most memorable heroes of 1970’s pop culture died yesterday, daredevil stunt man, Evel Kneivel.
The most enduring comic book character of the 1970’s, Parker Brothers’ Rom the Spaceknight remains one of the stranger cross-promotional projects from Marvel Comics (next to Dazzler, originally conceived as a deal with Columbia Records).
