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Well, it's the first of the month again. Here's all the news to keep you
updated. As always, comments, questions and other matters can be sent
to the e-mail address above.
First off is a name that has not mentioned in this column in a long time
(if at all) and that is Star Trek. Playmates lost the Star Trek license a
few years ago and another company is trying out the line for size. This
time Palisades Toys is giving the line a shot with a special Captain Kirk
and Gene Roddenberry two figure pack. Kirk will be in a meticulously
designed captain's chair and have somewhere along the lines of 12 points
of articulation. For those of you that actually play with your action
figures, Kirk will have a phaser and a communicator. The Roddenberry
figure will be slightly less articulated (maybe about 6 points) and be
standing beside the captain's chair with a hand on it. The two-pack
should be in stores sometime in early November. It'll have a run of at most
50,000 figures and cost about $20 retail.
The license for the fast food promotion of Lord of the Rings movie has
gone to Burger King. Little is known in what kinds of tie ins they will have, but as
soon as I find out, you all will be the first to know. While on the
subject of the Lord of the Rings movie, the first four figures will be
hitting stores some time in September. The first four are going to be
Frodo, Strider, Gimli and Gandalf. It looks like each figure will be
packed with two items, a sword and another item like a torch or wand. I
have seen pictures of these figures and they look great.
The He-Man line, by Mattel, is getting an update just in time for its
20th anniversary. In 2002, look for He-Man figures to start having a much more modern
sculpt. I am personally against this sort of thing. They tried
re-launching He-Man in a modern sculpt in the early 1990's, but it was a
big failure. Meanwhile, look for more re-releases in the fall. This time
look for Battle Armor He-man and Skeletor, Stratos, Zodac, Buzz-Off and
Clawful. Also two-packs of He-Man and Battlecat and Skeletor with
Panthor should be out.
The whoo-who of the month goes to Toynami for their announcing a
line of Robotech toys. Just in time for the holidays, look for versions of the
VF-1J fighter (Max, Miria and Rick before he took Roy's place.) Ben's
VF-1A and Roy's VF-1S. There are also plans to have a transformable
series made from die-cast metal. They are going to be sold in a `Masterpiece'
style. One of the five mentioned above will be released every 60
days starting in November. The packaging will be kind of like a book that
you can open and look at the figure.
As I may have mentioned a few months ago, Art Asylum has the license
for the movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and is putting out the first
four figures for the line. The figures will have somewhere between 12 and
14 points of articulation, interchangeable hands and stand about seven
inches tall. The four figures to be released will be Lo, Yu Shu Lien, Jen
Yu and Li Mu Bai. These figures should be hitting stores sometime in
September.
Sideshow Toys is releasing the Monty Python and the Holy Grail toy
line sometime this year and have released details about the figures. They will
each be twelve inches tall and be based on the King Arthur characters.
Look for Sir Bedevere, Sir Galahad, King Arthur, Sir Robin (He is brave
Sir Robin.) and Sir Lancelot. Somewhere down the line the Patsy the
Squire figure will be released.
That looks like all for this month. Be sure to come back for more next
month.
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