TOY NEWS FOR 9/4/2014 - THREEZERO - GAME OF THRONES - 1/6 SCALE NED STARK

UPDATE 9/11/2014 - NEW PICS & INFO!

ThreeZero's Ned Stark figure will go up for pre-order on their site starting 9/14 at 9AM HK time. He will be an exclusive version only available through this pre-order and will include the greatsword "Ice". The regular release will be the same, but without the sword.

No firm release date yet, but the pre-order cost-- which include shipping-- is $160.00. 

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I was wondering if/when we'd get another Game of Thrones figure announcement from ThreeZero-- and here is! The man whose fate set into motions so many of the stories on the show/novels-- Ned Stark.

As soon as I laid eyes on this pic I was immediately stunned by how amazing it looks. I'm kind of glad that they picked Ned in his original Lord of Winterfell garb. He spends much more time in his Hand of the King outfit on the show, but I do prefer this much more regal look for Ned.

There have been some "eeehhhhh" comments online in response to the head sculpt, but ThreeZero says it's still being refined. Given how dead-on the Tyrion looks, I image this figure of Ned will be of the same caliber-- not that I personally have any major problems with it as it stands now.

We should have more info on the figure-- like price and release date-- soon.

TOY NEWS FOR 9/4/2014 - FANS TOYS - 3rd PARTY TRANSFORMERS - IRON DIOBOTS No.2 - FT05 "SOAR" (AKA DINOBOT SWOOP) - NEW IMAGES

At least we get a look at the awesome Fans Toys version of Swoop!

These days there are countless 3rd party Transformers companies out there, many of whom make outstanding product, most of which is in the current TF Classics scale. But, when it comes to 3rd party TF companies that make figures in the Masterpiece scale, I find that Fans Toys stands head and shoulders above the rest. Their version of Shockwave ("Quakewave") is such a perfectly crafted quality piece that it feels like it was made by Takara themselves. The same can be said of their first Dinobot (or "Diobot") figure Slag ("Scoria"). In fact, when I added him to my collection he was clearly a better piece than even Takara's own Grimlock figure.

So, if you're a TF Masterpiece collector, I can't recommended adding Fans Toys' version of the Dinobots to your collection.

Next up in the line is Swoop-- or as Fans Toys calls him "Soar". This is the cartoon version (blue) but a G1 toy version (red) is also coming. Seeing these new pics only has me more excited to display this figure with my Grimlock and "Scoria" and I love that Fans Toys is also giving us a flight stand for him!

He's scheduled to be out by the year's end, but Fans Toys won't release anything until all the quality control is as perfect as possible, so if they need to hold it back for a while longer, they will. He's priced at $199.99

TOY NEWS FOR 9/4/2014 - THREEZERO - MAZINGER Z - APHRODITE A

I don't report much on Japanese toys for two reasons-- 1) It's a nitch collector's market and chances are, if you're into Japanese toys, there are many more places that specialize in that stuff that makes me reporting on it sort of moot, and 2) I don't have as much time as I'd like to put into the blog here, so rather than cut back on more mainstream stuff or keep reporting on things late, I cut out [most] of the Japanese stuff to give me more time.

That being said, there are times when a Japanese toy-- of which I collect many-- is so cool that I think it has cross-over appeal and want to share with the regular US toy collectors. Such is the case with ThreeZero's Mazinger Z figures. (You can see Mazinger himself here.)

Some of you who aren't familiar with the original Japanese character may either remember him from Mattel's Shogun Warriors line or from the US imported version of his original cartoon series renamed "Tranzor Z".

ThreeZero, in conjunction with Mazinger's creator GoNagai, have re-imagined Mazinger in a steampunk form, and now they show us Mazinger's companion robot Aphodite A-- who I think actually looks way cooler than the Mazinger re-imagining. She even has her famous "boob rockets"!

I wasn't too keen on picking up the Mazinger, mainly due to how ThreeZero placed his hips which I thinks makes him look to much like a gorilla rather than the heroic character he's always been, but this Aphodite A is so amazing that I might be tempted to pick up the pair as I have to admit look awesome together in the final pic below.

She stands 15" tall and is scheduled to ship in 1st Q 2015 for around $290

TOY NEWS FOR 9/4/2014 - FUNKO - LEGACY COLLECTION - FANTASTIC MR. FOX

I've never seen this film but I hear really wonderful things about it. The film was based on a children's novel of the same name and George Clooney provided the voice for the titular Mr Fox.

This is the second line in Funko's Legacy Collection series with rumors of The Rocketeer and Firefly to be next up.

These should be priced the same as Funko's Game of Thrones figure (about $19.99 each) with the release date still to be announced.

TOY NEWS FOR 9/4/2014 - HOT TOYS - MMS - BACK TO THE FUTURE - DELOREAN TIME MACHINE

For those of you who want or pre-ordered Hot Toys' Back to the Future Marty McFly figure and wondered how long you'd have to wait to get the DeLorean, the answer is: not long.

I saw it at SDCC this year and it is an absolutely amazing piece. complete with tons of light-up features.

While this isn't anything I'd be interested in, I imagine that any BttF fan would consider this their prized possession.

It has a release date of March 2016-- that's right, 2016, not 2015-- and is priced at $689.99, so you've got plenty of time to save up for this one.