ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected

Good goddamn, there was some big news today. If you’re a jerk, go ahead and skip to the bottom. Otherwise, read all the other great stuff that happened including Leecifer and Strangekiss, some big (and small) news for both mainstream toy companies Hasbro and Mattel, and even some Transformers updates that a couple people might find interesting.

Attaboy showing off his work.

Simple Pleasures – I ran into Leecifer over at the Strangekiss booth, and once again, photographs can’t do his customs enough justice. I think the textures and grit don’t get across. His pieces for the Simple Pleasures show looked especially great in person, and I was completely floored by the Ho Chi Minh clown face which I hadn’t seen before. Also over there was David Lanham and his Zog, and tons of Ryan Crippen customs that I previously wrote about. Crippen and Leecifer’s styles couldn’t be more different, and both artists exhibits were a great highlight of the booth. After that, I swung by Hi-Fructose where Attaboy was finishing up a signing right before Perdee stepped in.

Mattel – To further continue ongoing battles of light and dark, good and evil, Marvel and DC, is the battle of Mattel or Hasbro. Mattel came out early this morning talking about the upcoming CD figures. Mattel is going to be insanely busy between the new Masters of the Universe figures (all sculpted by the Four Horsemen) and dozens of DC characters. The DCU line itself will have over 40 figures. That makes it quite a busy year. The most impressive figures to me were some of the large 12″ characters like Booster Gold, Big Barda, and…Killer Moth?

Hasbro – Sure there were some good announcements like Legends and Mighty Muggs (but more Marvel Transformers? Yikes), but the big news was the launch of a new 3 3/4″ series! I have to say, I was really worried that these characters were going to be difficult to make properly (articulation without looking distorted, detailed sculpts at such small size, etc.) but I was so damn wrong. From the images, they had more points of articulation than a regular Joe figure, and the facial sculpts are amazing! So detailed and full of expression, these characters could be the coolest thing Marvel toys has done yet. And when asked if they could expect oversized scale characters (Giant Man? Galactus? Epoch?) the answer was a resounding “maybe” with a dash of “probably.” To me, signs point to “yes.”

Here’s a list of the figures they have slated to come out (including images) and even a couple that were leaked! Iron Man, SpiderMan, Silver Surfer, Punisher (great, wry, Steve Dillonish face), Black Panther, Bullseye, Daredevil, Human Torch, Human Torch Variant as Johnny Storm, X-Force Wolverine (black and silver; red eyes), Ultimate Cap, Green Goblin, Hulk, Grey Hulk Variant, Iron Fist, Ronin, Black Spidey, Red Ninja, Iron Man w/variant retro head, Ms. Marvel, Classic Ms. Marvel (“Farah Fawcett” version, according to Vonner), the Thing, SHIELD Agents, Blade, Hobgoblin, Moon Knight, Red Hulk, Union Jack, and ACCIDENTLY LEAKED were Thor, Colossus, and Daredevil.

This is clearly going to turn into a fan project, so pretty much any cool character in the forefront of your mind (including Deadpool) will be on the way. Expect them March ’09.

So who wins between Marvel/Hasbro and DC/Mattel? You decide.

IDW Transformers – Ok, and now time for the news I hyped at the top of the page. IDW showed images of the upcoming All Hail Megatron issues and it will feature an all new, all original character! Before any G1 traditionalists and zealots burn down the IDW offices, you really need to see the design. The character, Drift, created by Shane McCarthy and Guido Guidi is a Japanese drift car and looks like it’s straight out of a Takara sketch book. Holy shit, I’m a tough Transformers fan to impress, but I think IDW might have nailed the design for something that fits right in with the 80′s characters. So how does this relate back to toys? Word has it that Drift is in development to be produced by Hasbro! Yes, the design direction has reversed, and this will be the first character created at IDW and made into toys by Hasbro. If you need more convincing, then check out these amazing concept designs! Thanks to Chris Ryall and Shane for giving me the images.

That pretty much wraps up the day! And now…your moment of Zen: