This
past weekend presented a nice change for me in terms of San Diego
Comic Con. I didn’t get to go
or anything – I just happened to be off for it, so I was able to
follow the events like a normal human being rather than trying to
sneak quick looks at my phone while hiding in a bathroom stall at
work like some kind of reprobate.
Naturally,
this meant that there was far less exciting news out of the Con than
is normally the case. Honestly, the only thing I felt compelled to
talk to anybody about was Mattel’s Mattypalooza panel, and even
that was not nearly as climactic as years past.
Click the links for pictures.
MattyCollector:
Did not convince me to renew my subscriptions for 2013
– Don’t take that headline the wrong way. I actually feel like
Matty had a pretty good showing all things considered. The rest of Club Eternia for
2012 is solid with reveals like Procrustus, Filmation Randor,
Mosquitor, and (old guy). A character called Castle Grayskullman (above) won
the create-a-character contest. He’s not bad at all, though I will
be painting his blond hair black like Evil suggested. Their 2013
lineup is interesting so far, with Jitsu, Rattlor and Ram Man on the
way. Also coming are Netossa – who I have previously identified as
having the most painfully stupid name of any Masters of the
Universe/She-Ra character – and the Fighting Foe Men – who are a
bunch of made-up weirdos I don’t care about. The big news is the
price increase. Regular individual figures are going up to $25 for
sub holders, $27 for non-sub holders. Also, the Club Exclusive figure
is King He-Man, who looks pretty cool but isn’t nearly enough
incentive for me.
This
sucks ass. I already knew I wasn’t going to subscribe for 2013. The
MOTUC line is great, but it is just too much of a strain on the
budget. I’ve spent two years getting a ton of figures I love and a
bunch of figures I couldn’t care less about. I just can’t keep it
up, especially with Lil’ Troublemaker starting preschool. But I had
still hoped to pick up a figure here and there. Now, with each figure
costing approximately $35.70 thanks to Matty’s expensive and
inefficient shipping I just can’t do it. I’m out. I’m not happy
about it, but I am.
This
has never happened to me that I can remember. I’ve never been
forced out of a line before. I don’t think I’ve ever stopped
collecting an active line while I still enjoyed it. It’s really
going to suck watching all of those figures get released and not
buying them, but that’s how it is. And honestly, it’s not even so
much my finances as my genuine feeling that the prices are
unreasonable. I’ve felt for a very long time that Mattel’s
products are too expensive. This price hike is just beyond what I can
justify, especially with the new TMNT line and how relatively
inexpensive its pieces are.
And
then there’s Club Infinite Earths. To say I have been massively
disappointed so far wouldn’t be an overstatement. Atrocitus and
Metron are very weak figures for the price. However, what Matty
showed for the remainder of 2012 looks pretty darn great – Poison
Ivy, Black Mask, Lead, Platinum & Tin, Constantine, and
Elastigirl all look pretty great. They even fixed Mirror Master’s
hands. I’m happy enough to have gotten the sub for this year if
these all look as good in hand as they do in pictures.
The
first part of next year is very solid, with Elongated Man, Larfleeze,
Saint Walker, Phantom Stranger, and Wally West. The Club Exclusive is
actually quite excellent – Monsieur Mallah and Brain.
But,
just like Club Eternia, the prices are going up for 2013. Sub holders
will be paying $18 plus shipping for regular figures and non-sub
holders will shell out $20-plus. Again, I’m out.
Oh,
and if you’re a fan of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen
(the comic books, not the movie or the prequel comics or the toaster
or the Officially Licensed Watchmen Nite Owl’s “Nite Stick”
Marital Aid), you may or may not be pleased to know that
MattyCollector’s new sub for 2013 is Club Black Freighter – a
line of Watchmen figures. They’re $25 apiece. Plus shipping
(totaling the aforementioned $33.70 minimum). For DCUC-style figures.
I’m not particularly a fan of Watchmen
or of 6” action figures that cost more than my monthly gas bill.
Hot Toys: Made me wish I was a millionaire
– It was announced a couple of weeks ago that the various morons
that hold the rights to the old Batman TV show starring Adam West
finally realized that they could have been making shit tons of money
for the last forty-odd years if they hadn’t had their heads up
their asses. They started licensing the rights to various vendors.
The DVDs are still up in the air, but toys, clothing, toasters, and
Bat Anti-Shark Spray are all in the pike. Hot Toys has the Batman
’66 license. The first product they are offering is a sixth scale
Batmobile. This knowledge tears my soul apart, as I will never be
able to justify spending $700 (or more – who knows?) on a toy. Very
expensive figures are sure to follow.
Marvel: Insist their reboot is not actually a reboot and has nothing to do with DC’s reboot
– This Fall, Marvel is launching a new initiative called “Marvel
Now”. This involves rebooting
reworking a bunch of their titles to freshen things up. Considering
the fact that I have spent the past year steadily dropping DC books
while regularly adding Marvel books, I find this absolutely
mind-boggling. After DC “New Coked” their entire lineup last
year, I can’t imagine anybody thinking such a move would be a good
idea. Granted, Joe Quesada swears up and down this is a different
sort of thing. And it doesn’t seem like Marvel is resetting
continuity or anything, but they are moving around creative teams and
doing the one thing I have been dreading for years – putting Brian
Michael “everybody talks like Spider-Man” Bendis on X-books. This
I am not happy about. Giving Rick Remender a book called Uncanny
Avengers
does sound like a kickass idea, though.
DC
Comics: Is still trying
– Good Lord, I can’t think of a single thing from DC. I guess the
most surprising news is that they haven’t given up on the whole New
52 thing yet. Ooh, wait a minute – Joker’s coming back. After DC
got all 90’s X-Treem and let whoever was writing Detective
Comics
for the reboot cut his face off; enough time has passed to bring the
Clown Prince of Crime back. This might even be some kind of big
Bat-crossover, as DC Big Cheese Dan DiDio stated that Joker was going
to force all of the Bat Family to find their true faces – whatever
the hell that means. While “Night of the Owls” wasn’t quite as
fulfilling as I’d been hoping for, Scott Snyder still has oodles of
good will with me. I trust he’ll craft a compelling Joker story for
us.
Side
Note: This is purely me speculating, but I do not think “Night of
the Owls” under-delivering was Snyder’s fault. My theory is that
it was simply supposed to be a story arc and DC editorial decided it
needed to be a crossover to go along with the ones happening at the
same time in other titles. So it got built up more than it should
have, some sloppy tie-ins were thrown together, and we got a bunch of
throw-away stories in the other books that undermined the main story
in Batman.
But that’s totally me guessing. I have no inside knowledge of the
thing.
Marvel Movies: Bent on world domination
– Captain
America: The Winter Soldier,
Thor:
The Dark Kingdom,
Guardians
of the Galaxy, and
Ant-Man are all happening. Iron
Man 3
is currently filming in Wilmington, NC and the newest suit of armor
was on display.
Side
Note: I will be in Wilmington at the end of the month. I do not know
if Iron
Man 3 will
still be filming at that time, but I will certainly be looking into
it.
DC Movies: Apparently don’t even have shit to get together
– DC’s film division hilariously announced that after the new
Superman
they will not be releasing any more movies until 2015; and that one
will be a Justice League movie. Between now and then DC will be
focusing on the Justice League in comics and other releases in order
to build up to the movie. As opposed to, you know, making good movies
about Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, or any
of their other eminently marketable and well-known characters.
Lord knows that’s never worked for anybody else.
The
Hobbit: Is going to make 84 gazillion dollars on its opening weekend
– No, really:
John Barrowman: Is a fantastic host. And might be just a tad gay
– The man who made Captain Jack Harkness one of the most popular
companions in the history of Doctor Who – and one of only three to
receive their own televised spinoff series – co-hosted G4’s San
Diego Comic Con Special with Candace Bailey. Barrowman did a great
job, despite a Jerry Lawler-sized level of self-promotion. He was a
good interviewer, he danced, he had a great chemistry with everybody,
and he made no bones about scoping the show floor for half-naked
dudes. This was one of the best Comic Con Specials G4 has put on and
I attribute that almost entirely to Barrowman’s fun, gleeful
demeanor. It certainly didn’t have anything to do with that little
Middle Eastern jerk who was trying too hard to be like that gay guy
who loves Madonna on Conan.
He was awful.
Doctor
Who: In the new season…
– The Ponds departure is going to be sad. Very, very sad. Like,
paint your room black and listen to Joy Division while writing poetry
on black paper with a black pen sad. Karen Gillen was crying on set
sad.
Also,
there’s Daleks.
You
know what gets me really psyched up to watch a television show?
People talking about how fucking depressing it’s going to be.
Yessiree – nothing as exciting as a good bummer!
Mattel
Retail: More DC toys are coming! Someday!
– A bunch of of Mattel’s new DC
Unlimited (there’s no limit to how expensive our toys can get!) figures were
revealed – New 52 Batman, New 52 Superman, New 52 Batgirl, Super
Powers Penguin, (other). BBTS has them listed for $18.99 each which
is, of course, ridiculous. There are apparently a couple of series and I am not clear on what they are.
Also,
a Batman
’66 line is coming to retail in Fall of 2013. I might pay a bit
more to own these, but they had better be all-new sculpts. Retooled
DCUC bucks are absolutely not going to be acceptable. I want Movie
Master style.
Hasbro Marvel: Series 3 of the new Marvel Legends is coming in October
– And the variants are going to piss you off just as much as the
ones in Series Two did. The series consists of Deadpool, Sentry,
Archangel, Blade, Dani Moonstar, Mystique, a big, bulky Iron Man, and
Doctor Doom. Okay - it turns out I don't have any better an idea of Marvel's assortments than I do Mattel's DC. There were three or more waves of Marvel Legends shown and I don't know what was what. Also, there's a Hit-Monkey coming.
It’s
worth noting that the MSRP on all of these was $14.99. I still feel
that’s too expensive, but I have finally accepted that that’s
just how much most 6” scale toys cost now. We're also getting a
line of Marvel Legends scale Amazing Spider-Man figures. I'll buy
Spidey, but not that goofy-ass talking Lizard.
Alien: Is getting new toys. That aren’t from NECA
– A company called Super7 made a deal with the devil to get the
molds for Kenner’s never-released line of Alien
action figures. They are releasing them and I bet they will be
SuperExpensive. But they look SuperNeat.
Sideshow Collectibles: Thankfully costs slightly less than Hot Toys
–
Baroness and Major Bludd are coming soon for the GI Joe line. Both
look outstanding. Actually, ever since Zartan these Sideshow releases
have been looking closer and closer to the original figures. They
still look like more realistic interpretations, but are just a bit
more fantastic than some of the early releases. As nice as the Duke
figure was, he was boring.
Sideshow’s
big reveal was probably the first group of offerings in its new DC
Comics line of sixth scale figures. Superman, Batman, Catwoman, and
Joker were all on display and looking superb. But here’s the thing
– as long as DC-branded products continue to bear the traditional
likenesses of the characters I will never take the New 52 reboot
seriously. Yes, there are busts and figures from DC of the New 52
looks, but anything done by DC’s licensing partners features the
classic looks of the characters. I am totally okay with that, but it
does betray a certain lack of trust in the new status quo.
NECA: Had a bunch of rad new toys
– I want Prometheus
toys really bad. Coming soon from NECA are a Fassbinder , the
Prometheus xenomorph, and the crazy disintegrating guy from the
beginning. This is in addition to the two Engineers we have already
seen.
The
Terminator line is continuing with a frosty T-1000 and Kyle Reese.
NECA
is kicking off a line of humans from Aliens
with an amazing sniveling Hudson. I really hope they can get Paul
Reiser’s likeness so they can do Burke. And considering the Kyle
Reese figure above I assume we’ll be getting a Corporal Hicks
sooner than later. I know McFarlane already did one, but NECA’s
stuff is so, so much better.
There
are three new Mogwai coming soon and the electric Gremlin from the
second movie is already in stores.
John
J. Rambo from Rambo is on the way.
A
Robocop with a spring-loaded holster will be out this year.
Two
new Jason Voorhees variants are coming.
But
for me the crown jewels of NECA’s display were the Predator
figures. There’s some awesome red Predator that I didn’t
recognize, but it doesn’t matter because it was probably the
coolest Predator I have ever seen. Two variants of Dutch are on the
way with amazing Schwarzenegger likenesses. One of them is the
mud-covered version. Also shown were the Elder Predators from
Predator 2 (I’m not sure that’s what they are – they’re the
ones that are in the spaceship at the end).
That’s
about all I have to talk about. There seemed to be surprisingly
little movie news, but with so many major franchises concluded or
winding down – Twilight, Harry Potter, Nolan’s Batman –
Hollywood might be a little gun shy. I did see an interview with
Charlie Day and Guillermo del Toro about Pacific
Rim,
but so little was actually said about the movie it was more annoying
than informative.
-Phantom
No comments:
Post a Comment