TOY NEWS FOR 4/27/2014 - DIAMOND SELECT - KILL BILL and PULP FICTION FIGURES (C2E2 DISPLAY)

Fellow toy fans over at toynewsi.com have brought us these photos from C2E2 featuring upcoming figures from Diamond Select's "Tarantino" line.

First up is two of the three figures in Wave 1 of the Kill Bill series-- The Bride and Go-Go Yubari.

I'm not too sure about that likeness on The Bride (Uma Thurman)... It's passable, but not really the most accurate likeness. Strangely enough, it actually is a better likeness for Uma's stunt-double Zoe Bell than Uma!

But, since I absolutely love Kill Bill Vols 1 and 2, I will definitely be picking up these figures.

Bill himself, although not shown here, will also be included in Wave 1.

The second figure line shown was from Pulp Fiction.

I'd be interested in a Jules and Vincent (who will be coming in Wave 2), but I'm not too sure about the rest.

Kill Bill Series 1 is slated for October while Pulp Fiction Wave 1 is slated for a release sometime in Q4 of this year, all for $24.99 each.

TOY NEWS FOR 4/27/2014 - DIAMOND/MARVEL SELECT - X-MEN DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (C2E2 DISPLAY)

Thanks to the good folks over at MarvelousNews.com, we get to see Diamond/Marvel Select's first figure from this summer's X-Men: Days of Future Past film-- Mystique.

This prototype sports a very good likeness of actress Jennifer Lawrence. Here's hoping that the final factory product will look as good.

I expect that this won't be the only figure we'll be seeing from the film.

The figure is set for an October release for $24.99

TOY NEWS FOR 4/25/2014 - FIGURES TOY COMPANY - 8" RETRO - SUPER POWERS ANNIVERSARY FIGURES (SERIES 1 & 2) and BATMAN ACCESSORY SET

Even though I'm not a fan of retro figures, I have to admit that both these announcements are very cool-- and kinda of tempting, as well!

First up are two series of DC figures in Super Powers 30th Anniversary packaging. There's a great choice of figures here, but what's even cooler is that they will all feature the "Fist Fighting Action" that certain MEGO figures also featured, for extra retro goodness.

Shown here is Series 1 and 2, with, hopefully, more series to follow.

Also announced is this very cool Batman (1966) accessory set. It features many of the iconic props and weapons from the classic television show.

  

Pricing and release dates to be announced. 

TOY NEWS FOR 4/25/2014 - NECA - 8" RETRO CLOTH FIGURES - FRIDAY THE 13th, IRON MAIDEN and SCREAM

UPDATE - 5/1/2014 - GHOSTFACE ADDED!

NECA has shown pictures of some of their new and upcoming 8" "retro cloth" figures of Jason from the second Friday the 13th film, Iron Maiden mascot Eddie (as mummy) and a photo announcement of an upcoming Ghost Face from Scream.

No release dates announced yet.

TOY NEWS FOR 4/25/2014 - KAIYODO - RECOLTECH - REVOL-MINI - METAL GEAR SOLID - SOLID SNAKE

Revoltech is releasing a new line of figures called "Revol-Mini", a 4" figure line. First up will be Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid.

Revoltech have packed in samples of this scale figure in some of their prior regular scale releases. I've owned one, and I can tell you this-- the joints are very delicate. The knee joint on mine broke as soon as I tried to bend it, so if you decide to purchase this figure, be very careful with it.

If Revoltech is smart, they'll include a few replacement joint parts in case any snap.

The figure looks okay to me. Nothing all that special, but a decent choice for a first figure for the line.

He'll be released in July for $32.99

TOY NEWS FOR 4/25/2014 - TAKARA/HASBRO - TRANSFORMERS MASTERPIECE - GRIMLOCK (RE-RELEASE - TOYS R US EXCLUSIVE)

For those of you who just can't afford the over-inflated after market prices on the original Takara Masterpiece Grimlock, you're getting a second (third, if you count the original TRU release, too) chance to add him to your collection.

Later this year, Grimlock will be released again as part of Hasbro's Transformers Masterpiece line.

No word on a specific release date or price, but I expect he'll be under $100. The big question is however: will anyone be able to find him at retail? MP Optimus was near impossible to find, as was MP Soundwave. Meanwhile, Thundercracker and Acid Storm were much easier to find on the actual shelves.

I suppose only time will tell. Hopefully, at this point, TRU has learned how to more accurately order exactly how many they can sell through without them either clogging up the shelves of disappearing the same day they're stocked.

More info as it becomes available.

TOY NEWS FOR 4/20/2014 - BANDAI - S.I.C. (SUPER IMAGINATIVE CHOGOKIN) - KAMEN RIDER WIZARD - FLAME STYLE

UPDATE - 4/25/2014 - OFFICIAL PICS!!

Hot damn, SIC did a perfect job on Kamen Rider Wiazrd! After seeing these new pics, I'm more excited than ever to get my hands on this figure. I think this is one of SIC's finest looking interpretations yet!

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I don't do much reporting on Japanese toys anymore. Yes, I still love them myself, but I didn't receive a great deal of feedback from anyone here that indicated that Japanese toys were anything that interested them. Plus, with so much other stuff to report on and the fact that I barely have enough time to keep up with the US toy news, I decided to cut back on it quite a bit.

But, that doesn't mean that there aren't things out there that I'm not excited about, and from time to time, I still want to share those things with all of you here.

SIC's rendition of last year's Kamen Rider series-- Kamen Rider Wizard-- is definitely one of those things.

Even if you know nothing of Kamen Rider, Japanese toys or SIC, I don't know how any action figure collector can look at a figure like this and not marvel at its design sheer badassery.

Here we have the euphonious character from Kamen Rider Wizard in his "base" style-- which is Flame Style.

KR Wizard has a multitude of rings which, when worn, will transform his "style" into the ring's attributes. He receives many rings over the course of the series, but the first four are flame, water, hurricane and land-- all of which SIC has planned, as shown in the second photo below.

I do hope that we also get to see a Kamen Rider Beast and what SIC will do with his design. He's certainly a character that's right up their alley.

I wonder how many of his other styles will end up being Tamashii Web exclusives....

Kamen Rider Wizard, Flame Style, is set for an August release. No pricing info has been made available yet.

TOY NEWS FOR 4/25/2014 - HOT TOYS - AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 - RHINO

Hot Toys is doing the damned Rhino!

Since they only made Spider-Man from the first film, I wondered how much support they'd throw behind the new film beyond the new Spider-Man. I figured that we might see Electro, or possibly the Green Goblin, but the Rhino is a huge surprise!

A lot of the shots we've seen of the Rhino in the trailers have been quick action shots, so it's been hard to get a good look at what he really looks like, but now we know exactly what he looks like and just how huge and beastly he is.

There's been no announcement on a release date or price, but I'm thinking that this thing is gonna be about $499. I hope he's more like $399, though.