I read a lot of comic books every month, and sometimes I get the itch to review them. As it’s comic books more than any other form of media that fuel my action figure collecting hobby, I’m including comic book reviews here on Marvel Toy News (if you don’t like it, yell at me).
In this installment, I’ll be covering comics released on 9/18/2013, including reviews of Infinity #3, New Avengers #10, Uncanny X-Men #12, Thor God of Thunder #18 and more…
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We’ve known for a little while now that Disney is unleashing the first series of Disney Vinylmation Marvel Series #1 next month (it drops October 11, 2013 in the Disney Parks and Disney Stores), but Disney has been teasing us with details little by little. At last weekend’s Disney Reflections of Evil event, Disney finally put on display the prototype figures that will make up the set–including a previously unannounced Marvel Vinylmation Yellowjacket & The Wasp set limited to 1000 produced!
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Over the course of the last month, I’ve talked about the highs of Marvel Legends Wave 6 (Black Panther and The Wrecker) and the lows of the set (like Jim Lee Jean Grey) in my series of Marvel Legends 2013 figure reviews. So it seems pretty fitting that I end the series of reviews with the figure from the set that’s the most in the middle of the road as neither especially good nor particularly bad. Though he’s not the version most collectors wanted to see first, it’s the Marvel NOW! Marvel Legends Hawkeye figure!
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I guess “exclusives” just aren’t what they used to be. Last month Diamond Select Toys announced that they were bringing back the formerly Disney Store exclusive Marvel Select Classic Thor 7″ action figure as a mass market regular release.
Now, that trend is set to continue in 2014 as the Marvel Select Hawkeye Classic figure will make its way back to stores…
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We saw it painted at the 2013 San Diego Comic Con last month, so it’s not going to shock anyone that the Marvel Now Hulk ARTFX+ Statue is kicking off the Kotobukiya Avengers Now line. While the announcement is an expected one, however, it’s still nice to see Kotobukiya post the official glamor photos of their upcoming ARTFX+ Hulk Statue and let us know that we’ll have to make space on our shelves for this jade giant in March 2014…
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Hasbro has now allowed online retailers like BigBadToyStore to begin taking pre-orders for Marvel Universe Wave 24 (AKA Marvel Universe 2013 Series 5). Based on what was said by Hasbro at the Hasbro Marvel panel at San Diego Comic Con 2013, this is the set that’s expected to be the final wave ever of 4″ Marvel Universe figures. With that in mind, you might be hoping that the case assortment containing Marvel Universe Wave 24 would be, well… good. It’s not. At all…
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A couple months ago Hasbro revealed the first series of their new 4″ Avengers Assemble figure line, which left out certain other high-profile members of the team. Fans had panicked flashbacks to past superhero lines that were cancelled without the teams being completed. Luckily, that’s not going to be the case with this cartoon-based Avengers Assemble action figure line. Avengers Assemble Series 2 will contain all the team members necessary to complete the team, and has one of the best case ratios I’ve ever seen!
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I would love to start off this review recounting my decades of love for the Marvel comic books featuring the Black Panther, but, well… I’ve always been pretty ambivalent toward T’Challa. I’ve read all of his first appearances in the classic stories, but he’s just never struck a chord with me. That said, for the second time he’s been released in a series of Marvel Legends figures with a Build-A-Figure that I want, which means I just purchased my second Marvel Legends Black Panther figure–from the 2013 Marvel Legends Wave 5 Rocket Raccoon Series…
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We knew going into this weekend’s D23 Expo 2013 that that first series of Disney Vinylmation Marvel figures wasn’t going to be until fall, so there were zero expectations for an early release at the convention or anything like that. But sometimes it’s nice to have the bar set low, because then you can be pleasantly surprised!
No, Disney didn’t sell the series at the show, but they did give out free promotional trading cards showing off photos of the Vinylmation Marvel Series 1 figures for the very first time!
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Breathe out a sigh of relief and sing to the heavens, Marvel Legends collectors! This week, Marvel Legends 2013 Series 2 (wave 5 overall) was officially released in the United States! Cases of the series have hit the shores, revealing the exact contents of the cases (variants and all), and I can even do a little dance of joy myself, as I got the notice that my pre-ordered Marvel Legends Wave 5 case from BigBadToyStore shipped out this afternoon! In just a few short days, collectors everywhere will be smiling like crazy while they build their very own Marvel Legends Rocket Raccoon figures…
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If you’ve been holding off on adding the Hot Toys Thor sixth scale figure to your Hot Toys Avengers 1/6 figure lineup, it’s officially time to start thinking about adding him to your collection–pronto!
Though he’s lasted longer in-stock than any of his mere mortal brethren, North American Hot Toys Distributor Sideshow Collectibles is finally “sold out” of the Thor Hot Toys God of Thunder, with online retailers on the verge of selling out as well…
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Kotobukiya made Marvel fans salivate at the start of this week when they revealed the Adi Granov full-color concept art posted for the Kotobukiya ARTFX+ Marvel NOW! Avengers statues lineup.
That tease has now paid off in dividends, as Kotobukiya has shown off half of the lineup for their comic-based Marvel NOW! Avengers ArtFX+ line at SDCC 2013: Captain America, Black Widow and the Hulk statues!
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Hot Toys is preparing to lay siege to collectors’ future dollars when they unveil a multitude of new Movie Masterpiece Series sixth scale figures this week at San Diego Comic Con 2013 including Heartbreaker Iron Man, Gemini Iron Man, The Lone Ranger, Tonto and more. But that’s not all–they’ll also be showing off a now fully-painted final prototype figure to add to one of the most successful Hot Toys lines ever–it’s the long-awaited Avengers Hot Toys Chitauri Footsoldier figure! And could the Chitauri be joined by a Hot Toys gamma-powered alter-ego figure as well this week…?
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Just when I thought we had seen every single one of the 2013 Marvel SDCC Exclusives, a few more sure-to-be-coveted figures have made themselves known! I also run a LEGO and Mega Bloks blog, so I always have my ear to the ground, listening for LEGO news and rumors. And today I heard a pretty loud rumble regarding two brand-new, previously unannounced LEGO Marvel SDCC Exclusive minifigures: a LEGO Spider-Woman Minifigure and a LEGO Spider-Man Minifigure (in movie costume!)
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Bowen Designs has been making Marvel statues longer than any other company, and the result is that they’re now able to dive in and produce legions of secondary and even tertiary Marvel Comics characters to complete teams, rogues galleries and more. One of the most impressive roll-calls in the Bowen Marvel Statues line is the huge assortment of Spider-Man villains immortalized as statues. And Randy Bowen has recently shared a concept sketch of a proposed upcoming piece of a Marvel villain who’s never been done in this form before: it’s the Bowen Shocker Statue!
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