I had the great honor this morning of beginning the New York Toy Fair 2015 with the LEGO Preview Breakfast Event–two hours in the LEGO booth… with free danishes! Free! Of course, as delicious as the danishes were, that wasn’t the high point of the event. No, the high point was getting to see all of the summer 2015 LEGO Marvel sets in person–including the huge and awesome LEGO Marvel Rhino and Sandman Supervillain Team-Up 76037!
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It seems like only yesterday I was predicting a late release for the Spider-Man Marvel Legends 2015 figures (because it was), but in the last 24 hours the gears have finally begun moving on this year’s Marvel Legends train: the Marvel Legends Spider-Man 2015 figures are now up for order! The case ratios for the series aren’t bad, necessarily, but for once, I actually wanted Hasbro to heavy-pack a Spider-Man figure, and of course, they did not…
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Last week, we finally learned the figures that will make up the second half of the Marvel Legends 2015 Spider-Man Infinite Series wave. Unfortunately, while collectors are drooling over this wave now, they’ll have to wait a few more months for them to hit the United States. But once again here to help tide us over until the figures reach our loving arms, it’s Hong Kong scrappers to the rescue: factory production samples of the 2015 Marvel Legends Spider-Man figures are now being sold online!
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All good things must come to an end, and the popular Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon series is arriving at its end. But in its final season, Ultimate Spider-Man is giving us a similar theme to Dan Slott’s masterpiece comic story-arc, Spider-Verse: Web Warriors! Multiple Spider-Men in the same place at the same time is like Hasbro’s dream, and as such, they’ve now released their latest series of Marvel action figures, including three iterations of Spider-Man… and a new Agent Venom!
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Back in August, a lot of Marvel Select collectors were outraged when an all-new, Disney Store Exclusive Marvel Select Electro figure was released… in a $50 two-pack with a generic Marvel Select Spider-Man figure. Diamond Select Toys couldn’t confirm at the time whether or not we’d ever seen a single-carded Electro Marvel Select figure hit store shelves, but seeing as every Disney Store Marvel Select exclusive ever has been released individually at one time or another, I had faith that we would. And for those who waited, your patience has paid off–the 7″ Marvel Select Electro figure is now available for order all by his lonesome!
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While we got to see the full Avengers Marvel Legends 2015 figures series at San Diego Comic Con 2014 last July, Hasbro was only willing to give Spidey fans a teaser of what to expect from the Spider-Man Marvel Legends 2015 figures series, showing off only half the lineup.
I imagine Hasbro planned to make us wait a bit longer still for the big review, but once again news from Asia has swooped in with the scoop: the full Marvel Legends 2015 Spider-Man series with Daredevil has now been revealed!
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Believe it or not, it was almost a full year ago to the day that Sideshow Collectibles announced the fourth statue in the line of J. Scott Campbell Spider-Man Maquettes: Felicia Hardy, the Black Cat! But while collectors waited patiently for the entirety of 2014 for the first image of the Sideshow Black Cat statue to be posted, ultimately the Black Cat never made her debut last year.
Some wondered if Sideshow had given up on the J. Scott Campbell statues line and quietly (silently) cancelled it, but fear not: the very first image of the J. Scott Campbell Black Cat statue has now been revealed!
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Up until now, I’ve had a futile hope that the Funko Hikari Spider-Man series of vinyl sofubi figures would be a finite collection, easily completed by purchasing the half-dozen Spider-Man Hikari figures that debuted at SDCC 2014. After all, all four of the Funko Spider-Man Hikaris that have been released/announced for purchase up until now have been ones that premiered at SDCC. Unfortunately for our shelf space and our wallets, the fifth Spidey was announced today, and it’s one we’ve never seen before–the Funko Hikari Distressed Spider-Man is now up for order!
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Last month, unpainted prototypes surfaced for a pair of previously unannounced Funko POP Vinyls figures that made me think that a Funko Spider-Man POP! Vinyls wave was in our near-future. And as it so happens, I was right–Funko officially announced a quartet of new 2015 Funko Marvel POP! Vinyls today! Of course, there is a little twist. See, this is going to be an exclusive wave of Funko POP Vinyls, and it’s not going to one of the usual retailer suspects like Target or Walmart: it’s the Walgreens Exclusive Funko Spider-Man 2099, Venom, Punisher, and Black Suit Spider-Man POP Vinyls!
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If there’s one thing out there that adult collectors love, it’s nonsensical variants of main characters like Spider-Man and Batman (right…?). Funko already conquered Batman fans’ wallets with a double-digit number of Funko Hikari Batman vinyl figure variants, and now they’re preparing to unleash their fourth Funko Hikari Spider-Man!
The colors don’t make much sense canonically, but he’s limited to just 500 pieces worldwide–the Funko Hikari Metal Mix Spider-Man figure is now up for order!
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Yesterday, Gentle Giant Ltd. unexpectedly announced a new line of 1/6th scale Jumbo Marvel Secret Wars action figures are on the way in 2015. That was a surprise announcement in and of itself, but I was even less prepared for the primarily negative response I’ve heard from collectors about the line and its price. The first figure in the line, the 12″ Jumbo Secret Wars Black Costume Spider-Man is now up for order–but is he worth 80 to 90 bucks? Here’s my thoughts…
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Just when I resigned myself that there wasn’t going to be much Marvel toy news to talk about before the holidays, word breaks that Gentle Giant Ltd. is launching their first-ever line of Marvel action figures! Yeah, I know–who doesn’t have a license to make Marvel figures these days, right? But these aren’t just any figures–they’re throwback jumbo 12″ figures based off of the vintage Marvel Secret Wars figures from 1984! And the first two figures coming our way will be Jumbo Black Costume Spider-Man and Hobgoblin!
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Funko is a bit of an odd duck in the toy manufacturing business, as they regularly give away and sell prototypes of their figures–oftentimes before they even announce that they’re coming!
Last winter we learned about the Guardians of the Galaxy POP Vinyls from prototypes before they were announced, and this winter the trend continues: a Funko POP Vinyls Venom figure has been revealed in an online auction!
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Of all the Marvel-related toys and collectibles released this year that I swore I’d never buy and then ended up collecting anyway, the most doofy of them all are the Marvel Super Hero Mashers. I resisted this ludicrous concept as long as I could, but Hasbro sucked me in with some of my favorite characters. And now they’re at it again–Marvel Mashers Wave 4 has just been released online, containing Iron Fist, Pyro, Electro and Miles Morales Spider-Man!
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If being a hardcore collector is akin to being an addict (and believe me, it sometimes feels like it is), then the latest form of “crack” to have me in its thralls is called “Funko Hikari”. The Japanese-inspired Funko Hikari Sofubi vinyl figures are way bigger and way more limited than Funko POP! Vinyls (with a way bigger price-tag to match). While Hikari only started to be released this summer, it’s definitely starting to catch on for Funko, and it’s about to become a whole lot more relevant for Marvel collectors, as the first Marvel Hikari was just released this month: Dangerous Spider-Man! Is this Spidey worth the “dangerous” investment he requires in both price and shelf space…?
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