After a month off to refresh and relax, I'm back with
lots of new information and much more. As always
e-mail me with article ideas, questions or just write
me for the love of mike.
First off, I don't think it would be an article
without mentioning the Star Wars line. By the time
this hits the net, your local Target store should have
marked down their B-Wing fighters to the unheard of
price of $19.60. I'm getting one of my own this
weekend, if I can find one. Next up, a few weeks ago,
I went to the Toys-R-Us web site and put myself on the
waiting list for the Toys-R-Us exclusive TIE
Interceptor. After weeks of waiting and almost
forgetting all about it, I got a happy little message
from them saying that they could not fill any more
orders and saying they were sorry. Looks like I'm
going to have to beat the hoarders and speculators to
get my own. Lastly, It looks like the Wal-Mart
exclusive TIE Bomber and Crashed Snowspeeder are going
to be available early in 2002. I'm still trying to
decide if I should get the bomber, but so far, I am
leaning towards the no side.
Also on the Star Wars front, the deluxe line of
figures should be hitting the store shelves in time
for the Christmas shopping rush. There will be the
shirtless Darth Maul with training droid, Leia (in
gold bikini) with sail barge cannon that really fires,
Luke with bacta tank (based on the scene from Empire
Strikes Back) and the runner up in the first online
voting poll Amanaman (who should have won that poll.)
Coming up in early 2002 is going to be a line of
standard Star Wars figures that I'm excited about.
This group of six includes FX-7 (medical droid from
Hoth), Rebel Trooper (a better done version than the
one in the Power of the Force 2 line), Queen Amidala
Royal Decoy, Eeth Koth (who is this guy?), an Imperial
Officer and Snaggletooth (or for those of you who like
alternate names, Zutton) This will fill up three big
holes in my "get the originals" collection.
Lastly, for those few of you who have not heard this
little bit of information on the Star Wars front
here's a link to the new packaging for the figures for
the next movie:
I really don't know what to say except that it is a
lot of packaging for one figure. It's almost harking
back to the days when the first figures came out in
1977 with the border and things like that. To bad they
are going to the generic Star Wars name rather than
the name of the movie. I would really like to see them
go back to the old way with a nice large screen shot
from the movie of the character on the front of the
card so you can see who you are getting with out
having to troll the pegs reading the cards to find
what you need.
I'm torn on this next bit of news. The GI Joe line is
going to be re-done and re-launched in early 2002, and
they are not going to be the ones that I knew and
loved. Sure they will have the same names like Snake
Eyes, Duke, Cobra Commander and Destro, but they are
not going to be like they were in the 80's and early
90's. This time around they are eliminating the "O"
ring to make the figures more modern, and increase
articulation. If you do that than you might as well
just eliminate the name GI Joe from the line. It's
just not the same to me without the basic articulation
and O-rings. I guess I might as well go onto E-Bay and
start getting the older ones that I really want before
the costs shoot up again. Anyway, look for special two
packs of figures (one Joe and one Cobra per pack) next
year. So far the line up looks like Duke vs Cobra
Commander, Snake Eyes vs Storm Shadow, Gung-Ho vs
Destro, Frostbite vs Neo-Viper, Wet-Suit vs Cobra
Moray and Heavy Duty vs Claws.
Playmates Toys has released their tentative list of
toys for 2002, and it looks like there's no stopping
the Simpsons juggernaut:
February sees the release of their first Celeberity
series of figures. There will be the late Phil Hartman
as Troy McClure, Danny DeVito as Herb Powell and Joe
Montegna as Fat Tony. As well as two 10" figures of
Homer Simpson and Mr. Burns.
March has the 8th series of normal figures. Kearney,
Uter, Sherri and Terri, Daredevil Bart, Superintendent
Chalmers and a "ripped" Groundskeeper Willie. Two
playsets: The Springfield DMV with Aunt Selma and
School Cafeteria with Lunchlady Doris. Celebrity Two
Pack #1 with Colonel Homer and Lurleen Lumpkin.
June has the 9th series with Nick Riviera, Herman (he
runs the war store), Busted Krusty the Clown, Prison
Side Show Bob, and High School Marge and Homer. Two
more playsets of the Police Station with Officer Eddie
and the Springfield Retirement Castle with Jasper.
They also have two more 10" figures of Krusty the
Clown and Barney Gumble.
September has the 10th series with Marvin Monroe,
Mother Skinner, Disco Stu, Rod and Todd Flanders,
Duffman and a yet to be determined Bart variant. Two
more playsets of Burns Manor with Maid Smithers and
the Town Square with Jebediah Springfield.
October has two more 10" figures of Apu and Grandpa
Simpson.
Toy Biz has announced their second wave of figures
from the Lord of the Rings movie. There will be
Newborn Lurtz, Legolas Greenleaf, Witch King
Ring-Wrath and Samwise Gamgee. Look for them in
November and the first wave is out now so go buy, buy,
buy.
A few months ago, I mentioned something about the
Robotech Masterpiece collection coming soon. Well it
is now supposed to be out in Early 2002 by Toynami.
Well, more info has come in and I'm going to be
passing on this line. The masterpiece editions will be
made with die cast metal be transformable and be sold
in a special packaging that looks like an old
fashioned book. The big turn off for me on this line
is the $100+ cost per figure. For those of you that
want the Robotech experience without all the cost, can
go for the slightly less expensive Robotech:
Super-Poseables. These will be the Veritechs of the
main characters in battleoid mode and have 18 points
of articulation and stand eight inches tall. Look for
them in December.
Moore Action Collectibles is doing the new action
figure line based on the WB television show Angel.
Look for Angel with sword, ax and Scottish Dirk,
Cordelia with stake and handbag and Faith . Why Faith?
I think she was only in two episodes of the show. The
figures should be out now.
For those of you who are fans of the original Tron
movie will love this bit of news. The collectibles
company NECA is coming out with figures from the Tron
movie next year. They will have re-releases of the
first four figures (Tron, Flynn, Sark and Guardian) as
well as the cool light cycles from the movie. There
will also be new figures based on the release of a
newly remastered Tron DVD.
Just in time for the movie's release, the Harry Potter
action figures will be out. There will be figures of
Harry in normal clothes as well as in his Quidditch
Robes, Draco Malfoy, Professor Snape, Ron Weasley,
Hermione Granger, Hagrid and the Mountain Troll. There
will also be three limited edition figures of
Invisible Cloak Harry potter (he'll be all clear),
Professor Dumbledore and Professor Quirrell. There
will also be an electric spell casting playset. Look
for them in November.
Also out this month will be the new Masters of the
Universe line. Look for all new versions of He-Man,
Stratos, Man-At-Arms, Skeletor, Beast-Man and Mer-Man.
All of these figures sport new looks based on the
figures from a long time ago. They will be slightly
less bulked up, but still look like the ones that we
used to know and love. From everything that I have
read, these figures will retail somewhere around the
$10-12 mark.
That's all for this month. If you live in Dallas or
are coming down for UncommonCon then come by the
Collector Times table and say hi. I'll be there from
time to time along with our editor, a few of our
writers and CT artist Joe Singleton.
