McFarlane Walking Dead Repacks

McFarlane knows how to keep it's Walking Dead action figures fans opening their wallets, especially the insufferable amount of time that goes between series releases. In this case, with the help of Walgreens, which is quickly putting a stake in the ground for toy exclusives, McFarlane released several repacks which included Michonne from Season 3, the RV Zombie from Season 2, and a Daryl Dixon figure.

I didn't get the RV Zombie - there really wasn't anything different about it. What was cool about the Michonne figure was that it came with an aquarium that contained the heads of her two zombie pets - boyfriend and his friend, Mike and Terry. The back of the packaging also gives a shadowy hint of who is coming in Series 6.

The Daryl Dixon figure was cheered because it was the first single figure released since Series 1, when people didn't know much about the show. Daryl, having climbed to the top of the fan favorite pedestal (Kill Daryl and We Riot) was released in a two pack with brother Merle a year or two ago. That Series 1 figure also commands secondary prices around $200.

The Shane figure comes with a new head sculpt in that he is wearing a Police Department cap instead of his bald head which came with the Series 2 set. It is a very static piece. It would be great if McFarlane eventually went back and redid a Shane sculpt that fit in with the rest.

Arrow's Black Canary

Here is another show I need to catch up on. Heard it's great. My local comic shop closed its doors a few weeks ago, so I made the trek to its sister site much farther away. I saw this figure of the Black Canary. It is a very nice piece, well sculpted. Great costume. May just get me into watching the show.

Cases for ReAction Figures

The hard plastic trays and vinyl case that secured many a Star Wars Kenner action figure in the past are greatly needed in today's 3-3/4 inch collecting world. The only thing that was recommended were these Plano 2-3700 Prolatch Stowaway cases that I ordered off Amazon. A four pack of cases ran $26 and each could hold 12 figures. Unfortunately, there is some debate on the message boards on whether the soft plastic can degrade the paint and plastic of the figures. Perhaps several collectors have used these on Kenner Star Wars figures and seen that happen. I hope not.

In the meantime, they are a great way to store and display your ReAction, Big Bang Pow, and Zica figures.

NECA Alien, Aliens and Alien 3

Fans have been waiting for Series 3 for a looooooooooooooooooooooong time. Originally scheduled to hit shelves early last fall, they have finally arrived. This set pays tribute to the first three films with characters and sculpts that fans have been waiting for eagerly. These figures are not your average 6 inches. Coming in at 7 inches, these things are immense.

From Alien - it is Kane in space suit with the facehugger squarely attached to his face. Apparently, actor John Hurt has never allowed the likeness of his face in a toy, so the facehugger gets top billing.

Aliens - still one of the greatest movies ever, NECA has honored this movie with only two great (human) characters - Hudson and Hicks. While fans wait for the entire platoon (will never happen), at least we got Bishop, the android assistant played brilliantly by Lance Henriksen.

Alien 3 - Though Alien 3 is universally panned as one of the worst ever, I actually enjoyed it. It takes a few times to watch the movie to admire the performances by Charles Dutton (Dillon), Charles Dance (Clemens), and snide survivor Danny Webb as Morse, and of course, Sigourney Weaver as Ripley once again. The true performance comes from the Dog Alien. This is the first time we realize that the xenomorph embryo truly takes the shape of its host. A wicked and perfect killing machine, this alien is not a best friend of man. Hoping NECA does some more Alien 3 figures, like the ones mentioned above.

Dexter

I haven't seen the show. Heard it's good. But since the 3-3/4" renaissance is here, and these were dirt cheap on sale from Entertainment Earth, I grabbed them. Pretty cool. I like the blood sample slide that comes with each figure.

I guess I should watch at least the first season and see how good it is? Maybe after Game of Thrones Season 4.

Star Wars Command

Hasbro released some great 54mm Star Wars figures. The scale is perfectly aligned with the standard "Little Green Army Man" figures found in most Five and Dime stores. Do they still have those?

Anyway, these figures are really cool. They've released quite a variety. The sets come in $5 packs, $10 packs, and larger box sets that contain vehicles. I am not a fan of the vehicles because obviously they are not to scale. You can put the vehicles on rolling stands and have battles with them, so I guess that will lure younger fans.

The sculpts are well done. The plastic is solid. Each set comes with a specially colored main character figure. The only complaint is that most of the poses are not combat action poses. The stormtroopers came out great. You can definitely build an fighting army out of those. The Hoth rebels and snowtroopers are pretty darn good as well.

I finally un-packaged these and took a closer look.

FAIRly Satisfied (Toy Fair 2015)

Originally, I was going to title this post - More than FAIRly Satisfied because of the great leaks prior to the show that got me excited.

Even before Toy Fair 2015 started, a few companies leaked some images and blurbs on the upcoming year.

Right off the bat, Funko shared their 6 Inch Rocketeer and Firefly figures. Booyah!

Funko/Super7 showed some of their Classic Star Trek ReAction figures - Spock, Sulu, Bones, Uhuru.

Bif Bang Pow showed off their 1980s styled Flash Gordon 3-3/4" figues.

So I thought this was going to be an awesome Toy Fair. But it wasn't. More on that later.

Day 1 started well. Super7/Funko displayed many of their 2015 ReAction Figures.

http://www.cooltoyreview.com/2015-Toy-Fair/2015-Toy-Fair-Funko-X-Super7-ReAction-Figures-Display/

Photo from Borg.com 

Photo from Sciencefiction.com 

Photo from Borg.com

Jaws - Cooper, Brody, Quint, and the Shark!

Karate Kid

Fifth Element - most excited for this.

Terminator 2

Gremlins

Tomorrowland

Boondock Saints

Big Trouble in Little China

Breaking Bad

Arrow

Flash

Scarface

Taxi Driver

Though not displayed, BigBadToyStore had most of these up on preorder, including Fight Club figures.

McFarlane showed off a ton of new Walking Dead building sets including – prison cell block, RV, boiler room, Woodsbury Truck, Hospital. They also revealed the Series 8 AMC lineup which includes Rick, Dale, Eugene, Bob Stookey, and Morgan. There is also a Morgan/female zombie 2-pack coming.

NECA showed off the Aliens Power Loader and a torn in half Bishop.

And that was about it. 

Hasbro Marvel Legends - lots shown; however, I now take that with a grain of salt because half (if not more) of them never make it to market, so I don't get excited until I actually see them.

No Star Wars from Hasbro other than a few 6" Black Series we already know about. Hasbro is keeping things close to the vest this year, especially with the Force Awakens movie coming in December.

Trying to do a search for new Call of Duty Megabloks sets, I did find this on ToyArk:

http://news.toyark.com/2015/02/15/mega-bloks-pics-toy-fair-2015-153400#images

As long as there are more CoD zombie sets, I am happy.

Bif Bang Pow showed off their Flash Gordon and KISS 3-3/4" figures along with some prototypes of the Big Bang Theory characters in Star Trek outfits.

Bottom line- Funko/Super7 stole the show. My wallet is open for them.

Imperial Walkers

A few Imperial Walkers in a river and forest environment. Who knows what battle they march to?

The Mother of All Evils - NECA's Aliens Queen

NECA has been putting out some great Aliens figures in the last year or so - Hicks, Hudson, Windrix, Bishop, Aliens, etc....but they finally realized the big mama - the Alien Queen.  McFarlane had released an Alien Queen years ago, and it was very well made.

This one is fantastic as well. The detailing is amazing, and it is larger than the McFarlane version. In this age, where any figure is a challenge to get to store shelves, I was very happy to see this one get revisited at this scale.

Now all we need is Ripley in a Power Loader.  Don't worry - it's coming.