While Black Friday 2018 has only just arrived,the way things are these days, most of us have already seen all of the big sales for the “event” and already placed our orders before the clock even clicked over from Thanksgiving. So rather than focusing on “deals” this Black Friday, let’s look ahead to the future! Just in time for the holidays this week, Diamond Select Toys released their April 2019 solicitations: Marvel Gallery Ebony Maw & Angela and the Legends in 3D Spider-Gwen Bust are now up for order!

Black Friday has come and gone for me with minimal toy purchases this year, as there just weren’t very many deals on anything I hadn’t already picked up this time around. But while I was rather lukewarm regarding the majority of this year’s sales on old products, that doesn’t mean that I’m not excited about what’s coming up in the way of brand new things in 2019!

And as always, one of the companies I’m most looking forward to seeing the latest round of items from is one of the rising stars of the Marvel collectibles world, Diamond Select Toys…

First up in this new batch of solicits is a piece that Diamond Select has never publicly displayed at any event–the second member of Thanos’ Black Order from Avengers Infinity War, Ebony Maw! This PVC statue follows up last month’s surprise announcement of Corvus Glaive, who unexpectedly kicked off the Black Order team in this line out of nowhere.

I think DST unquestionably picked the two best characters to start off the Black Order with, as Corvus and Ebony Maw have been particularly ignored by toy companies this year (although both will be getting awesome-looking Marvel Legends figures next year).

One hand raised forward and the other giving a whispering gesture to Maw’s mouth is exactly the pose I would have wanted for this, and I’m pleased to see he’s got a New York City street base from his fight with Iron Man and Doctor Strange. A great piece all-around and a PO for me.

The other $40-$45 PVC statue on the Marvel side of things in the new solicitations is one shown earlier this year that many fans have been awaiting rabidly: Angela!

The way that Angela’s character has been used in the comic books thus far has been a little weird (from a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy to Thor’s long-lost sister to the Queen of Hel), but the well-known Spawn character has fared extremely well both as a mass release ML action figure and as an expensive Sidehsow Premium Format Figure 1:4 statue.

I’m not a big fan of Angela, but even I have to admit that this Marvel Gallery Angela statue is one of Diamond Select Toys’ best to-date. The crystalline base is eye-grabbing, and the pose of Angela drawing her sword manages to be empowering while straddling the line between museum and action.

This is likely a pass for me personally, as there’s no comic book versions of the GOTG to pair her with, but this is indisputably a lovely piece DST has put together.

The last of the three items I’m discussing today is the one that I am most interested in by a wide margin: the first female bust in the new Diamond Select Legends in 3D Busts series: Spider-Gwen! While I thought the previously-solicited Legendary Venom and Deadpool 1:2 scale busts looked quite nice for their ~$150-ish price-point, those are characters who have been done to death so I wasn’t quite convinced yet.

But when I saw the expanded display at SDCC 2018 with Iron Man, Captain America, and Spider-Gwen…? SOLD! From the colors on the base to the sculpted texture on Gwen’s mask to the perfect waviness of the hood, this is a picture-perfect 10″ Gwen Stacy Ghost-Spider bust. And if the Deadpool and Venom half-scale busts are any indication, this is going to be a hot item and another quick sell-through for DST!

The Diamond Select Toys Spider-Gwen Bust & Angela/Ebony Maw Marvel Gallery statues are now up for order, and are scheduled to be released in spring 2019. With a low price and an amazing aesthetic paired up with an ultra-low 1000 ES, I think the Spider-Gwen bust will very likely be sold out long before it ever ships. Ebony Maw may end up being a hard piece to find as well since he’s a limited-time movie PVC, but Angela should theoretically be available for a while before she goes out of print.

What do you think of this trio of new Marvel statues from DST? Having now seen Corvus Glaive and Ebony Maw, are you planning to be in for the whole Black Order Gallery set of PVCs? And for those who haven’t jumped on board the Legends in 3D Bust train yet, is Spider-Gwen persuading you to?