We’ve had some pretty big reveals over the course of the month as far as this year’s San Diego Comic Con 2014 exclusives go, but now it’s time to step back and talk about some exclusives that a bit smaller–both in size and in hype. Among the hundreds (it feels like thousands) of SDCC exclusives, not all of them are for us hardcore collectors. Such is the case with NECA’s thus far only announced Marvel SDCC 2014 exclusive– NECA Scalers Spider-Man and Iron Man!
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Just when Marvel Legends fans thought they were safe… he’s back! If there’s one character that Marvel collectors were reasonably certain would not show his armored face as part of the Guardians of the Galaxy Marvel Legends series, it’s Iron Man. But, well… here is. To Hasbro’s credit, they did choose an Iron Man armor that’s strongly linked to the GOTG, however. For better or worse, we’re stuck with Marvel Legends Cosmic Iron Man, so let’s take a look at the final production version of the figure and see if it’s any good…
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At this point, I’ve come to realize that virtually every company that’s ever made a sculpt for the Iron Man Mark VII armor is going to do a money-grab by repainting that item gold and calling it Midas Iron Man. Don’t fight it–just accept it.
And the latest company to cash in on their old Revoltech Iron Man Mark VII figure sculpt is Kaiyodo! Coming this fall–the Revoltech Iron Man Mark XXI figure is now up for order!
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As a big anime fan and anime figure collector, the annual Bandai Tamashii Nations collector events are some of my favorite occasions to look forward to. Usually I’m looking forward to these shows for news on Gundam or One Piece or Dragon Ball Z, but the last few years Bandai has also had a slight Marvel presence. And at this weekend’s Bandai Tamshii Nations Summer 2014 Collection event, they finally debuted their first two figures from Iron Man 3: the SH Figuarts Iron Patriot and Iron Man Mark 42 figures!
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It seems like everything that Hot Toys produces turns to gold, but even the best companies have a dud sometimes. I was certain the Hot Toys Iron Man 3 Busts Series 1 set was going to flop with the mini-bust market being all but dead in 2014.
To my amazement, not only is the bust line continuing, but I like the second series a whole lot more than the first! Iron Man 3 Hot Toys Busts Series 2 is now up for order!
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For the past couple weeks, I feel like all the news has been about Captain America and the Guardians of the Galaxy. Nothing wrong with that–I love Cap and Rocket Raccoon as much as the next guy (okay, I love Rocket more than most), but I also like to see some less-merchandised, obscure characters get the spotlight. This latest news isn’t regarding one of those characters. In fact, it’s a new figure of a character who’s gotten more merch in the past few years than any other. But this is a good one–it’s the Bandai S.H. Figuarts Iron Man Mark 42 (XLII) figure!
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Considering what a complete and utter pain it’s been in 2014 to track down any Marvel Legends figures that aren’t characters named “Captain America” or “Spider-Man”, I’ve been half-dreading the eventual release of the Marvel Legends Guardians of the Galaxy figures. But no longer!
Not only has the “official” street date for them been revealed, but all six Guardians of the Galaxy Marvel Legends figures (including Nova and Gamora) are now available individually for pre-order!
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This was a particularly crummy week for me, rife with personal illness and a death in my family. Some people console themselves with whiskey and such under similar circumstances. I do it with blind-boxed vinyl figures. And two of the blind boxes that I picked up this week (of many) were my first two KidRobot Marvel Labbit Minis Series 2 “bloxes”. I was aiming for Carnage and Anti-Venom, but this just wasn’t my week (if any regard). I drew the two most common KidRobot Marvel Labbits Series 2 figures: Spider-Man and Iron Man. Were they worth my 20 bucks? Read on…
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Can’t get enough of that awesome War Machine Mark II armor that didn’t really appear in Iron Man 3 at all? Never get tired of pre-ordering $600+ 1/4 Iron Man figures that get delayed for over a year and may not ever actually even get released?
If you answered “yes” to both these questions, Play Imaginative has just the thing for you! The Iron Man 3 Play Imaginative 1/4 War Machine Raw Edition figure is now available for order… and it’s limited to just 200 pieces produced!
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In the aftermath of Figma officially opening orders for their exquisite (albeit excessively expensive) Avengers Figma Iron Man Mark VII figure, Kaiyodo has decided to cash in on all of the interest in the Mark VII Iron Man as well! Though it was first released in early 2013 to mixed reviews and took quite a while to sell through, the Avengers Revoltech Iron Man Mark VII figure will be reissued and flying back to stores in summer 2014! But should you buy one? Maybe, maybe not…
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Considering the Iron Man Mark VII armor is featured in the most popular and top-grossing superhero movie of all-time (The Avengers), you’d think our shelves would be overflowing with a ton of great scaled 6″ Marvel Legends Iron Man Mark VII figures. Instead, we have zero. For whatever reason, Hasbro has never prioritized making a Mark VII Iron Man Marvel Legends-scaled figure, leaving a gaping hole in many collectors’ lineups. But it’s Japan to the rescue! Coming in August 2014, the amazing (and amazingly expensive) Avengers Figma Iron Man Mark VII figure is now up for order!
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I start to get a little antsy if there’s not a new Hot Toys Marvel Movie Masterpiece Series 1/6 figure for me to preemptively drop a couple hundred dollars on every month. It’s been just over a month since the awesome Whiplash Mark II went up for sale, and I haven’t been entirely sure what was next–but now we know! The Captain America: The Winter Soldier Hot Toys Black Widow 1/6 figure is now available for order! They say the third time is the charm, and perhaps that’s the case with this new Black Widow…
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Confession time: As ardent of a supporter of Iron Man 3 and the Hot Toys Iron Man 3 line as I am, there’s one figure that I passed on attempting to pre-order and have no intention of ever picking up. That figure is the Hot Toys Rose Hill Tony Stark figure (which some people affectionately refer to as “Cowboy Tony”). Yes, there’s actually a figure of Tony Stark from the seconds where he walked into a TV van donning a cowboy hat. That’s one surprise–but the real surprise is that this particular just-released Hot Toys Tony Stark Rose Hill figure is selling for $400+ online already!
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One of the few things that I was disappointed to see no-show last week’s New York Toy Fair 2014 was the longtime-coming Figma Avengers action figures. I thought these 1/12 scale figures might show up at the Good Smile booth, but no dice. But fear not, import figure fans! Fairly comprehensive photo previews of the Figma Avengers Thor, Captain America and Iron Man have started to appear in Japanese magazines, giving us our best look at the trio yet! Do they look good? Well, yes… and no…
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Considering that we had seen at least the untainted prototypes of five of the six Kotobukiya Avengers ArtFX+ statues at NYCC 2013 in October, I had an expectation of seeing the whole lineup at New York Toy Fair 2014 this weekend.
I was not disappointed–the Avengers Kotobukiya Iron Man ArtFX+ statue has been revealed, and he brought the painted Kotobukiya Thor statue along for the ride!
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