TOY NEWS FOR 1/24/2013 - BANDAI - S.H. FIGUARTS - KAMEN RIDER DEN-O AXE FORM

Den-O is getting the full treatment from SH Figuarts with yet another of his forms. This time it's his Axe Form, which he dons when he's possessed by the Kintaros Imagin.

UPDATE 2/6/2013 - OFFICIAL PICS!!!

He will be a Tamashii Web Exclusive.

Look for him in June for Y3,675 (approx $44.00)

TOY NEWS FOR 2/6/2013 - BANDAI - S.H. FIGUARTS - KAMEN RIDER FOURZE - SAGITTARIUS ZODIART

Kamen Rider Fourze was one of my favorite KR series because I really loved the crazy hyper-taku designs. (A lot of people hated Fourze's design for the same reason that I loved it.)

But this isn't about Fourze's design-- this is about one of his very cool adversaries, the Sagittarius Zodiart.

It's great to see that Bandai will be releasing all of the Zodiarts in the SH Figuarts line.

Look for him in June for Y3,990 (approx $45.00)

TOY NEWS FOR 2/5/2013 - FOUR HORSEMEN - OUTER SPACE MEN WAVES 5 & 6 COMING SOON (FINALLY!!)

One of my favorite-- and often over looked-- action figure series is The Four Horsemen's remake of the Outer Space Men (originally done by Colorforms in 1968).

 Series 4 & 5 - Gemini, Cyclops (dlx. figure) and Orbitron

The figures are brilliant recreations of the originals, except this time out, with fully articulated joints (using the Glyos System) and the sculpting talents of The Four Horsemen at the helm.

The Outer Space Men's original creator, Mel Birnkrant, even works with the Horsemen on the line and has recently began creating new characters for future assortments.

Aside from the sculpting and designs, what really gives this series an amazing retro feel is the recreation of the original packaging. Knowing how integral the packaging is to the over-all line, The Horsemen have made it "collector friendly", meaning that you can take the figure in and out without any damage to the packaging.

Waves 1-4 are already available at The Four Horsemen's store, and Waves 5 & 6 are planned to be available in March. Personally, I couldn't recommend them more. They are great as modern action figure, retro-style collectibles and also as art toys, as there are many art-toys-styled limited edition variants available as well.

Buy yours direct from The Four Horsemen here-- the only place they are available!

TOY NEWS FOR 1/5/2013 - PREMIERE TOYS - ARMS DEPOT - 1/6 SCALE DIORAMA

Does this unlicensed diorama look familiar?

If you don't remember something very similar from Hot Toy's recent "behind the scenes" reveal a few weeks ago, then you'll certainly recognize it from the Dark Knight films.

Very little info is available on this set, but the pictures certainly show it to be pretty freakin' badass. In reality though, it's impossible to know if it lives up to the quality show in these pics. I've also never heard of this company, so there's no previous track record to go on that I know of.

At $240, getting this dio is a bit of a gamble. Not to mention the only place it is currently available it on e-bay, and from China.

I'd be interested to see if any one does an in-hand review of this set. It sure as hell looks like it would make a great companion piece to your HT Batman. Of course, you could always wait for the Hot Toys version to come out. At least then you'd pretty much know what you were getting.

TOY NEWS FOR 2/5/2013 - SQUARE ENIX - PLAY ARTS - DEAD SPACE 3 - ISAAC CLARKE

This is the kind of figure that Play Arts excels at. High-tech armored figures are definitely their forte'.

Aside from that, Dead Space is an absolutely awesome video game series. Certainly one of my personal favorite new franchises.

While I've enjoyed NECA's figure from the series, this one certainly blows them away, but for five times the price, it damn well better.

Look for him in Aug for 79.99

TOY NEWS FOR 1/30/2013 - HOT TOYS - 1/6 SCALE POWER POSE SERIES - IRON MAN 3

UPDATE 2/4/2013 - IRON MAN Mk 42 POWER POSE SERIES REVEALED!

Hey kids! Do you like Hot Toys' awesome action figure but really wish that they didn't have all that cool and pesky ar-tic-u-lation? I mean, who wants to take a 1/6 scale figure and create your own poses when Hot Toys can do that for you?

Oh, wait, now that I think about it-- that's a completely shitty idea.

But, that's exactly what Hot Toys is doing with its [misleading and poorly named] Power Pose Series. 

This will be a series of 1/6 scale statues with limited articulation and swap-out parts to create slight variations on the main pose.

I guess that this might appeal to the statue crowd, but I'd think that there would be enough cross-over between 1/6 scale buyers and statue collectors that they'd have both markets about 90% covered with just their regular 1/6 scale figure releases, but apparently not.

Maybe Hot Toy is trying to move in to Sideshow territory and create a varied line of collectibles and not just "figures". Hard to know what Hot Toys is thinking with this particular move.

Well, I guess I will digress and show you the damn thing that I'm talking so much about. For the most part, all this does is make me anxious to see the actual Mark 42 figure.

 

Price will be 164.99 (which actually isn't all the bad!) with a release date for sometime in Q2 of 2013.

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Yes!!! The "Power Pose Series" is finally here!!!!

Now, can someone tell me exactly what the hell is the "Power Pose Series"-- because I have no idea!

This pic is all the Hot Toys is saying at the moment and I guess we're supposed to be...... excited? Confused? I don't know.

My personal guess is that these will actually be statues. I'm sure we'll find out soon enough.