When one statue just won’t do!

  

   A few years ago DC Collectibles or DC Direct as they were known then had the brilliant idea of doing a line of statues dedicated to Batman. These Black & White statues each portrayed Batman and occasionally his villains from the perspective of the artists over the years. From Perez, Kubert, Mignola, Miller, & Capullo just to name a few.  After years of success in that line DC Collectibles is trying more favorite characters with similar lines.

   The Man of Steel line will feature different artist versions of Superman. Unlike the Black & White Batman line this line will feature the statues in color all with a metallic paint finish. With 4 or 5 statues available in stores currently this line gives us some great sculpts of our favorite flying hero. My favorite is the Lee Bermejo statue. It’s the first Superman statue I have seen that shows his cape going straight up as if he just landed. Another great thing about this line is all the mid air sculpts gives a nice variety of poses.

   Not to be out done or left out is the Art of War Wonder Woman statue line. Everyone’s favorite Amazon is ready to do battle in every pose. With only 2 statues announced so far we can’t wait to see what other great Wonder Woman statues we will come next.

What other heroes or villains do you want to see get their own statue line? Which artists do you think they still need to do on these?

The Villains Make The Story

  This year DC Comics started something new. They redid every major comic from the view point of the villains as a kick off to Forever Evil. This served as a New 52 introduction to the Crime Syndicate. And as we know with every new introduction is a chance for collectibles gold.

  Over the next 6 to 12 months DC Collectibles will be releasing a whole slew of Super Villains figures from Captain Cold and Joker to the Crime Syndicate itself with Ultraman and Superwoman. Villains figures are usually under produced, especially the more obscure villains. So this makes for a great opportunity to stock up on the rogues gallery.

  With this new direction and take on the characters I for one am very excited.  The villains are always the most interesting part of the story. They add depth and despair to the hero as well as set up epic battles and mind boggling mysteries.  From figures to statues I am excited to see what other new villains we will see leap off the pages of comics into my display case. What villains do you want to add to your collection?

Arkham Games = Collectibles Fun

   

October 25th marks the release of the Arkham Origins game. It is exciting for any fan of the Arkham games franchise. More exciting for us though are all the new figures and statues that come from it. Like Arkham City and Arkham Asylum before it DC Collectibles will be releasing a whole line of figures based on the game. Figures of Batman, Joker, and Bane are joined by new characters to the franchise like Deathstroke, Black Mask, and Firefly. The game itself will even come with an awesome looking Joker statue when you get the collectors edition.

   With the addition of each announced Arkham Origins figure or statue is the knowledge that we still have more Arkham City goodies  yet to come. This winter will see Batman and Catwoman statues as well as some 4″ figures from Mattel. The games are compelling and addicting but the collectibles are long lasting well after you’ve beaten the game. What are your favorite Arkham collectibles?

This Weekend! Fanboy Expo – Tampa!

We are excited to be a part of Fanboy Expo Tampa this weekend!  It’s always fun to be around such a cool group of people at the cons, and meeting the guests is always a highlight, too!

Fanboy Expo originally was scheduled to have Adam West and Burt Ward attending.  Holy Bullseye!  The original Batman and Robin in Tampa?   We were definitely excited for this.  Unfortunately both of these guests were postponed until next year’s Fanboy Expo.

Not to worry though!  There are going to be great guests all weekend!  Chandler Riggs – who plays Carl Grimes on The Walking Dead, Billy Dee Williams – Lando Calrissian from Star Wars Episode V, Elvira, Jerry The King Lawler and more.  Check the Fanboy website for specific details on times for each guest.

For our booth, we always try to step it up a little each time.  We will have a few more display cases, and many more Funko POP figures.  Of course, you’ll always find the latest from Kotobukiya, DC Collectibles, Funko, and other quality manufacturers.  Stop by, say hello, and make sure to enter our Fanboy Expo drawing!  Here are the details:

Fanboy Expo

Aug 3-4

2900 Bayport Dr

Tampa FL  33607

 

Man of Steel is Upon Us!

We are back for another look at the toys and collectibles inspired by the release of Man of Steel.  I for one can’t wait for the movie. Superman movies have had a bit of a troubled past. Superman 4 or Superman Returns comes to mind. This new film looks stunning and the toys and collectibles look just as good.  

First up is the ArtFX Man of Steel statue by Kotobukiya. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, I love Kotobukiya. They do a great job bringing every piece they make to life. This statue not only looks great in it’s sculpt but it also has some unusual features as well. The cape is moveable. You can adjust the cape in nearly any configuration that you would like. That’s definitely awesome, a statue you can basically play with!!

Next is the Funko Man of Steel Wacky Wobblers and POP!s. These are some fun items to use at work on your desk or at home to display proudly next to your other collectibles. The POP!s are vinyl comic like versions of the characters while the Wacky Wobblers are essentially bobble heads of the characters from the film. Either way it is an inexpensive, fun way to celebrate the awesomeness of Man of Steel.

Where would our superhero movies be without action figures. This movie has a wide variety from the not very detailed to the intricately detailed. My favorite figures from the movie are definitely the Play Art Kai figures by Square Enix.  They are 10″ tall and super detailed. They can take on any pose so they are good for those of us kids at heart who want to play with them or for the serious collector looking to decorate their fortress of solitude.

Finally, today we will look at some other statues. These are made by DC Collectibles.  There are a few to choose from with Zod, Faora, Superman, Jor El, and Superman vs Zod available. These statues are great! For the most part they are a 1/6 scale and have poseable capes just like the Kotobukiya version. My favorite though is a 1/12 scale statue depicting Superman fighting Zod. The pictures of this statue were under wraps until a couple of weeks ago. I for one think it was worth the wait to get a look at it. It does a great job of capturing my imagination at what the movie will be like.

In the end all I can say is that toys are fun! If you aren’t in to collecting them or don’t have kids to let play with them, you can at least admit that toys are a fun thing to look at from time to time. See you at the movies!!

Deathstroke is getting some love

You are going to be seeing more of Slade Wilson, better known as the mercenary and assassin Deathstroke.  You may have already seen the 3 3/4″ version from DC Collectibles based on the Injustice: Gods Among Us game.  DC Collectibles also just announced the Super-Villains Deathstroke figure which will be approx 6.85″ tall.  The super-villains figure will be available in December.  Lastly, Kotobukiya has announced a Deathstroke statue for the ArtFX series.  This statue is approx 12″ tall and includes a removable faceplate for the mask, so you can disply him masked or unmasked!  The ArtFX statue will also be arriving in December.

With Deathstroke’s appearance in the Arkham Origins game, we may very well see some other great collectibles for this character in the future.  Which one of these is your favorite?

Toy Fair 2013 Day 1 in Review

We started the day trekking through snow to the Javits Center.  We were excited for the day, and we took lots of pics to share with you.  Once Toy Fair officially opened, we found our way to the Kotobukiya booth.  One of the things that we were hoping to see is the full Justice League ArtFX+ statues, and we were not disappointed.  One thing that we found interesting about the display is that only 5 of the bases were used, even though all 7 include a base.  Also, Marvel is not being left out of the ArtFX+, as there will be an Avengers Assemble set, but that will be 2014 before those are released.  For Star Wars fans, there will be a General Grievous ArtFX+ statue that comes out in the 3rd quarter of 2013.  We shared the full Kotobukiya flyer and a lot of pics on our Facebook page.  You can find them at:

http://www.facebook.com/jmdretailtoys

A few other highlights are a fine art statue of Classic Avengers Hulk and X-Force Psylocke.  For ArtFX, we will see Iron Man 3 War Machine and Iron Patrot, Superman for Tomorrow, and Deathstroke.  Walking around the center made us really appreciate the quality of the pieces offered by Kotobukiya, and we look forward to these new releases.

After Kotobukiya, we found our way to Funko.  Wow!  Funko has a lot of exciting news for 2013, and while much of it has been announced, it was great to see some of the items in person.  The Walking Dead Series 2 POP figures were at the show (which we did get a few pics of) and Series 3 POP figures had some concept drawings of Governor, Prison Yard Rick, Prison Guard Zombie, and Merle.  Also, Funko will be releasing Walking Dead mini figures, which will come in blind box mystery packs.  The detail on these look to be a lot better than most of your blind box mini figures that we’ve seen in the past, although we only saw the sculpts without paint.  Game of Thrones will also have blind box mini figures, but these were not at the convention.  Big Bang Theory fans will see Amy Farrah Fowler added to the POP and Wacky Wobbler lines.  Mass Effect will also be added to the Funko POP figures.  Probably one of the most exciting lines that we haven’t seen from Funko yet is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  No prototypes were available, unfortunately, but there were concept drawings of the turtles, Splinter, and Shredder for POP figures and Wacky Wobblers, as well as a Raphael table lamp.  The Big Lebowski, Pulp Fiction, and Kill Bill also caught our attntion, and we will be excited to see these figures as more news is released.  There are many new preorders on the site for Funko, so make sure to check those out.

We also were able to meet with Factory Entertainment.  We have carried some of their Princess Bride bobbleheads in the past, but we hadn’t had a lot of contact with them in the past.  Looking at their products, they have a lot of cool stuff in the works if you like bobbleheads or similar collectibles.  Factory Entertainment makes “Shakems” which have bobble features, but they aren’t always just on the head.  They are working on prototypes for Ghostbusters, Shaun of the Dead, Archer, and Back to the Future.  They also carry prop replicas from movies such as Men In Black and James Bond.

Those were the only meetings that we had set for the day, so the rest of the time we just browsed looking for companies that we weren’t as familiar with.  One that we’d seen some stuff from was Dark Horse comics.  We stopped and talked to them a bit, and you should be seeing more of their products on our site in the future.  We were really impressed by their assortment of Game of Thrones collectibles.  With highly detailed statues, prop replicas, mugs, pins, and more, Dark Horse has it covered.  They also make ships from the Mass Effect games.  We are looking forward to starting with Dark Horse, and we hope that you like their products as well.  After Dark Horse, we stopped by Mezco to look at the Breaking Bad action figures and novelties.  We will have pictures from Mezco up tomorrow.  Lastly, we talked to Huckleberry about their IPhone covers from Marvel and DC.  They will also be carrying Big Bang Theory phone items.

After that excitement, we decided to head out for dinner and catch some of Times Square.  We’ll be back tomorrow with updates for Day 2.  We will be meeting with Diamond Comics and Paladone.  We’d love to hear what you think of the pictures on our Facebook.  Which items are you looking forward to the most?

Greg & Mike in NYC

JMD Retail

The Dark Knight Rises Statue

I have been a fan of Bane since the famed cover, Batman #497, that showed him breaking the Batman’s back.  I have always wanted some kind of collectible that represented that.  Well we finally have something to remind us of that iconic cover.  In honor of The Dark Knight Rises, DC Collectibles has created a massive 1/6th scale statue showing off that scene from the movie.  What has been your favorite collectible from The Dark Knight Rises so far?  What other classic scenes would you like to see a collectible for?

JMD Retail

NYCC News

So NYCC came to a close a few days ago.  I don’t know about you all, but my twitter feed got overloaded with news from NYCC, whether it was manufacturer news, cosplay pictures, artist interviews, etc., there was always something to keep up with.  The things that stood out to me for JMD Retail were some of the announcements from two of our favorite manufacturers – Kotobukiya and DC Collectibles.

Kotobukiya revealed the Aquaman Justice League New52 statue.  This is the fourth statue from the Justice League series, which is proving to be very popular so far.  Also, Mass Effect also got some attention with the new ArtFX Commander Shepard statue.  Probably the piece that I’m most excited about is the Killing Joke Joker ArtFX statue.  Maybe I’m just a sucker for the Joker statues, but the color and pose on this one look like it will be pretty impressive.  I’m definitely looking forward to seeing this one in person!

DC Collectibles announced the next line of the Arkham City figures, which will include a new Batman, Talia Al Ghul, and Nightwing.  Also, the DC Comics Bombshells statues line of female heroes was announced.  The most exciting news from DC in my opinion is the Superman statue line.  This series is going to features statues from respected artists, similar to the Batman Black and White statue.  The first few statues were revealed, and I am excited to see where DC goes with this series, as there are so many possibilities.

What did you think of these pieces?  What news caught your attention from NYCC?

Arkham City Figures

The Arkham City video game maybe almost a year old but the figures by DC Collectibles are fresh, new, and awesome in every way.  Series 3, the latest wave to release has 6 new figures.  That brings the total number of Arkham City figures released by DC Collectibles up to 16 plus one more in the Deluxe Titan Joker figure set to come out in November.  The new wave features Azrael, Batman, Ra’s Al Ghul, Penguin, Clown Thug with knife, and Clown Thug with bat.  I think Azrael is my favorite.  There aren’t many Azrael figures produced and this one is unique from what we normally get.  The character wasn’t very big in the game but every time I got a glimpse of him while playing I was impressed with the new look.  DC Collectibles has announced that they will be making more of these figures and I’m curious which characters they will choose.  Maybe Nightwing?  Which Arkham City character would you want to see made?  Check out our facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/jmdretailtoys, for updates on the Arkham City figure announcements and other collectible news.

JMD Retail