Toy News and Updates

By: Mathew Bredfeldt torach@hotmail.com

Well it's another month for me to crank out an article for Collector Times. This month, I want to make some clarifications on things that I have said in articles I have written, and just fill in some things that I need to vent on.

First, in my "Secondhand Toy Fair Report" from a few months back, I made mention that McFarlane toys was making a second line of Movie Maniacs figures and mentioned that there were supposed to be six new figures, but they only listed five. Well in the latest issue of Toyfare (issue # 25,) they show the sixth figure and it is Norman Bates from the movie Psycho. It appears that he is dressed in drag (grey wig and long grandmotherly dress.) and wielding a knife. Much like the dreaded Austin Powers in underwear, this figure disturbs me. The other thing is from the Austin Powers line, when I mentioned in the same article that there was supposed to be five figures, and I only listed the four I knew at the time. Well, it appears that the fifth figure was the character Mini Me. I've known about the existence of this figure, but have not had the chance to get one as of yet, but I have to check out the local Toys R Us to see if there is one there. Also if you want to get the Austin Powers figures for a lower price, then check out your local Target stores. They have already put them on clearance along with some of their South Park merchandise. A rumor floating around is that McFarlane Toys is doing another set of Austin Powers figures. Hopefully, there will be nothing as repulsive as the Austin Powers in Underwear figure.

Second, May 3 was the first wide spread release of the action figures for the new Star Wars: The Phantom Menace line. The second wave of action figures has arrived in my neck of the woods. Again, there are three different collections of figures. In the first collection (yellow border card), they have a Darth Maul with his cape and single blade light saber, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon in their robes with two different lightsabers each (one with just a handle and one with the blade extended.), Queen Amidala in her council chambers outfit, and another Anakin Skywalker figure, this time he comes with a comlink and maybe a robe. The second collection (Orange border card) has had significant additions to the line. With figures like R2-D2 (who should have been in the first wave darnit!), Yoda (with big chair), Nute Gunray and Rune Haako [packed separately] (The funny looking diplomat guys from the beginning of the movie), and the ultra cool Destroyer Droid (it does not fit on it's chip, but it's still cool.) Finally the third collection (red border card) has the least additions to the line with Ody Mandrell & Pit Droid (one of the pod racers), Captain Tarpals (a Gungan), and OOM-9 (a battle droid). I have gotten most of the new first collection figures and they are somewhat of an improvement over the first wave of figures. When I saw the new versions of Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon I knew that I had to get them. The best thing about these figures are the fact that the lightsabers without blades fit into small holes on the belts of the figures. The chips seem to have more lines on them. For example the new Qui-Gon Jinn figure has a chip that has five separate lines, and the R2-D2 has seven different sound effects. I guess this means that the COMMtech technology is getting better. The only thing I do not like about the new line is that some of the figures need a bit more work done. The Yoda figure does not fit into his chair that well, and the Pit Droids that come with both Ody Mandrell and Gasano (he's in the first release, and should be everywhere) cannot stand to save their lives. Overall, these figures are great and are going to be scooped up ASAP. Also rumor has it that there are going to be more figures made from the Jedi Council, as well as some Naboo Guards.

Third, just some basic ramblings by me. Wrestling action figures are still as big as ever, but frankly, I cannot understand why. I do watch it one day a week when I can, but what is the appeal of the toys? The face of my favorite wrestler, D'Lo Brown, they cannot get correct to save their lives, and don't get me started on the Ken Shamrock and The Rock figures, they just look plain goofy. I will be getting a D'Lo Brown figure because I want to support him because he's already been through a lot. There's also the Vince McMan figure from the Summer Slam line that is so buffed up it looks like he's been on a steroid binge. The only one that I have seen that has been even close to the wrestler is the Mankind figure.

I've seen an ad for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer action figure line, and it's a 50:50 split on how they look. Of the four figures, the Angel and Vampire look the closest to the characters on the show. The Buffy figure looks bad. Her jeans still have the little holes in the pants that I guess are supposed to be battle damage, and it looks nothing like Sarah Michelle Gellar. The Willow figure can go either way, it has the innocent looking face of Willow, but there is something about her having the long legs that Moore Action Collectibles is known for that just does not seem to fit in with the petite Willow character. If I had to get the figures, I'd get the Willow and Buffy figures (but then that is just me.)

Hopefully, this quenches your toy thirst for this month. I'm still waiting for the toy lines that you think need to be made from last month's article. Don't tell me that the only lines that are missing are the ones that I mentioned in my article. Come on people, I know there are at least two other people who read my articles each month. Payday is this week so hopefully the next article I do will be about my hunt for Mini-Me.

[As always this is my work and is only to be posted on Collector Times and nowhere else. If I find it anywhere else without my consent I will have someone hack your site into something mean and evil. Like Barney the big purple dinosaur.]