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Jacob Javits Convention Center, New
York, NY |
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DAY 2: IT'S
GOING TO BE A GREAT YEAR!
We took a look in the Funko booth, and they had a large selection of Star Wars bobbleheads on display. Very cool looking new items like the Jawa, Greedo and Gamorrean Guard. Plus 3 new bobbleheads from the Family Guy/Star Wars crossover episode "Blue Harvest". Pretty neat stuff. We kept walking, and came across the Amok Time booth. Some fantastic 12" Battlestar Gallactica figures were on display here, along with some Universal Monsters 24" Vinyl figures (Creature from the Black Lagoon and Frankenstein), Lost in Space 12" figures, Dawn of the Dead 12" figures, and even a small MonstersHD figure collection, containing the mascot himself - Zombie Uncle Sam. MonstersHD is a staple in my house, and my TV rarely ever switches from that channel. Our next stop was the Mezco booth, and these guys had some really neat stuff on display as well. Lots of new Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th and Texas Chainsaw items, along with some new Family Guy stuff (talking Peter Griffin!), new Living Dead Dolls, and a new line of Gangsta Babies... lol. They also had the highly anticipated Heroes action figures on display, along with a display of new figures from the upcoming Hellboy film (no photos please).
Shingo then pointed to a poster on the wall of the new Clone Wars television show, and told me that Kotobukiya would be making product for the show characters as well. He had no information on what they would be making, or what characters, but you can rest assured that whatever they can come up with have all the quality and detail that Kotobukiya is famous for.
Also for Indiana Jones they will be creating two of the 12" ArtFX statues - Indiana Jones, and Henry Jones. Indiana comes with a removable hat and changeable hands, one open, one holding the Idol, one with his six shooter and of course, one holding a flexible whip. Henry Jones comes with his umbrella - or, actually two umbrellas - one open, and one closed, as well as his briefcase. They had some of their other product on display as well, including Pirates of the Caribbean, HALO, some new Marvel pieces that they just acquired the rights for, as well as a poster for the new Batman film, which they will also be making some products for. None of these were on display at the show, unfortunately. That wraps up the Kotobukiya report, and with that done, we stopped over at the Diamond Select room, and got another look at some of the new 18" talking figures. Each figure has a cloth outfit, and will contain anywhere from 15 - 20 points of articulation. Each figure also came with a large accessory, which was very nicely detailed as well. Obi-Wan had the training remote, Darth Maul had his probe droid, and Han Solo had his Hoth communicator/binoculars. I was not allowed to photograph the samples on hand, but they had a blank body sculpt that each figure uses, and they gave me permission to photograph that. As you can see from the pictures, the articulation looks pretty cool. These reminded me a lot of the Sideshow Premium Format figures, only with the ability to move and pose them as you like. And each figure will have a voice chip that will allow movie phrases and sounds. And the best part is the M.S.R.P. - $75 each. I also overheard some talk of a young Obi-Wan, Smuggler outfit Han Solo, and Darth Sidious being created for this line, as well as an image I found of a Jedi Luke from Jabba's Palace. While they had no other actual products on display for the Star Wars line, they did have some mock-up artwork and information on several other items coming out this year. A few new banks were shown, including Boba Fett, R2-D2 and C-3P0, and a Millenium Falcon. A 1/3 scale (24") Clone Trooper was also shown in a concept sketch. They also had some info on a lifesize Yoda, complete with cloth clothing, and retailing for around $125 - $150. Can't wait to see what that looks like in person. The rep said they should have it available by SDCC. In addition to the Star Wars license, Diamond Select is also going to be offering several Indiana Jones items this year as well. Another 18" talking figure with real cloth, Indiana Jones looked incredible!! In addition, there was a 1:1 scale replica of the Golden Idol from Raiders of the Lost Ark, only this time it's a plastic bank!! Again, no photographs were allowed, but everything looked amazing.
Some Star Wars exclusive items were also shown: the Clone Trooper classic bust being used as the Premiere Guild Membership gift for 2008 was on display. A new ROTS Anakin mini bust was on display, available at SDCC later this year. A camo deco Scout Trooper on Speeder Bike from the Customz line will also be an SDCC exclusive later this year. And of course the Rebelscum exclusive Imperial Officer mini bust was on display.
One thing I noticed was the lack of any new Star Wars bust-ups. They had new Harry Potter and Indiana Jones pieces on display, but no Star Wars. When I inquired why that was, I was told that last year at Toy Fair they showed a series of what they hoped the SW Bust-Up line would evolve into, which was a combination of the mini bust style and the full figure style. But they said they thought that was a mess, and wanted to go back and re-think the line. But it will be returning. I was then asked which version of the bust-ups I personally preferred, to which I answered the original versions, not the full figure/small diorama versions. One thing I also mentioned was that the Harry Potter series has a series of Death Eaters bust-ups that uses poses similar to those used for the Classic busts - i.e. half figures with torsos and heads, but no arms. I noted that Gentle Giant could create some series of bust-ups like those for the Star Wars line using the 12 members of the Jedi Council as subjects - two sets of 6. Or, if they wanted to go deeper than that, they could create a set of bust-ups in that classic style that depicted the Lost Jedi as seen in the Jedi Library. Both ideas seemed to interest the GG reps, so once again, if either of those two products ever make it out, you can thank me for them as well. That wraps up my coverage of Toy Fair for 2008. It was fun, as it always is. This is the 5th year I've covered Toy Fair for one of the Star Wars websites out there in cyberspace, and it never ceases to be a fun and rewarding experience for me. It's just ended (for me, at least) and I'm already looking forward to next year!!
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Today
started out with a trip to the Jacob Javits Convention Center, to
make a few quick stops and see what I could find before heading
downtime for my meetings with Gentle Giant and Kotobukiya.
Unfortunately, there aren't too many other companies that have the
Star Wars license, so there wasn't much Star Wars product to see. We
walked around for a bit, and took some pictures of random stuff, but
nothing particularly exciting. Until we got to the JUN Planning
booth, and they had the most amazing - and huge - Halloweentown/Nightmare
Before Christmas display I'd ever seen!! And they had some really
cool Gremlins figures as well. I took a few pictures of both. 
Then,
we stopped off at the small Diamond Select booth. And all I can say
is WOW!! They recently announced (like two days ago) that they have
acquired the license to create a handful of Star Wars items, and on
display here they had a small selection of 18" talking figures. And
they look amazing. The likeness of Han, Obi-Wan and Darth Maul that
was sculpted was absolutely fantastic. They also had an Indiana
Jones that was out of this world as well. Unfortunately, no
photography was allowed. But, a little more information on Diamond
Select later on in my report. 
After
this, it was time to run downtown to 1115 Broadway to finish off my
appointments for the day. Unfortunately, Howie was nowhere to be
found, so we had to take a regular cab ride. It wasn't nearly as
fun, let me tell you. ANYWAY, our first stop here was to visit the
Kotobukiya booth, where we were shown some really great new
products. First up is a new line they are creating called the
Cross-Section 3D line, which basically shows the X-Wing being taken
apart. Shingo told me that the X-Wing created here was based on
artwork from the Incredible Cross Sections line of books. I asked
him if there were any other ships in the works for this line, and he
told me no. But he then asked me if I were to make the next one,
what would it be? I answered that out of all the Star Wars films,
what's the one ship that we see being worked on most? The Millenium
Falcon, of course!! Han and Chewie are constantly taking her apart
and putting her back together. So if the next ship in this line is
the Falcon, you can credit ME with the idea behind that one. 
Next
up was the ArtFX 12" scale statue line. While nothing really "new"
was shown, they did have the production Boba Fett piece that is
shipping this April on display. And it looks very, very nice. A few
of the prototype pieces were there as well, but were not allowed to
be photographed. They had some images of the pieces, along with an
image of the build-a-figure of Darth Vader that will be included
after you purchase all 6 of the Bounty Hunters. The bases on all 6
of the Bounty Hunters (and Darth Vader) are all interlocking, and
can be placed in any combination that you desire. If you build all 6
bases around the Darth Vader base in a polygon, it forms a large
Imperial Cog Logo. Very cool. 
Next
up for Kotobukiya was the new Indiana Jones line. For this line they
have developed a new series, entitled ArtFX Theatre, which is a
small diorama type statue piece. But it's not really a diorama, as
the one prototype that was on display was the Raiders of the Lost
Ark piece. The main thing that makes these dioramas different from
all the rest is that instead of focusing on a single scene from a
film, they basically look at the film as a whole. In other words,
this RotLA piece shows the Golden Idol on the dais at the very top
of the piece, and then right below it is Indiana running from the
boulder with the Idol in his hand, flanked on the side by the corpse
with spikes sticking out of it. While it was the only piece on
display for this line, it looks like a great start to the line, as
the detail that Kotobukiya is famous for is all there. I can't wait
to see what they can come up with for the other 3 Indiana Jones
films. 
Our
final stop on the Toy Fair 2008 tour was the Gentle Giant booth.
Unfortunately, there weren't any real surprise new products
revealed, with the exception of 1 or 2. Classic Busts series 1 - 2 -
3 were on display, along with the finished Asaaj Ventress and Count
Dooku statue. Some new animated maquettes of Obi-Wan Kenobi and
Darth Maul were very cool, as I love the Animated Style line of
maquettes that Gentle Giant has done so far. The R2-D2 statue was
back, let's see if it actually gets released THIS year, lol. Final
painted mini busts of Aayala Secura and Shaak Ti were also on hand.
A new addition to the Customz line was shown, and it's a great one.
Two Jawas in a Sandcrawler dragging a Gonk droid behind them...
absolutely fantastic and hysterical sculpt on this one. 
Some
new exciting Indiana Jones items were also on display, but mostly
off limits for photography. Mini busts, statues, bust-ups... all
looked great. The only Indiana Jones item that I was allowed to
photograph will be this years summer exclusive item - available at
BOTH NYCC and SDCC later on this year. Basically, it's a paperweight
of the crate from the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal
Skull teaser poster. Just a wooden crate that says "Property of Dr.
Jones" on the side, with his trademark fedora and whip hanging on
the corner. What's inside the crate, however, is where the good
stuff is. Apparently there will be 3 different versions (blind
packed, of course) that will each contain different "artifacts" from
all of the films. Each crate will contain some rubber snakes, and
then you will either get a) the Golden Idol and an Egyptian tablet,
b) the Sankara Stones and the Holy Grail, or c) the Crystal Skull
(which I was not allowed to photograph). It really was a neat little
item. There will also be a line of Indiana Jones desk accessories,
including the Ark of the Covenant business card holder, the Golden
Idol pencil holder, and the Holy Grail paperclip holder. All 3 of
these will be found on my desk at work later this year. 
They
also had lots of other goodies from other licenses on hand, like
Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Hellboy, 30 Days of Night, the new
Horror line (including a very cool, very creepy statue of Freddy
Kreuger sitting on a large arm chair surrounded by children's
dolls... but no photographs please), some new Disney lines and HALO.
One thing that I found odd was that the LOTR line has a Classic mini
bust line coming up, and will (most likely) include a mail away
offer for a free Bilbo bust. The Harry Potter line ALSO has a
Classic Mini Bust line coming up, which features all 4 of the Tri
Wizard champions, and a mail away offer for the Tri Wizard cup. I
inquired why there were no mail away offers for the Star Wars line,
and they didn't really have an answer, except to say that the mail
away offers on the other lines were to entice people to buy them
all, so they could send away for the free pieces, while with the
Star Wars line they didn't feel the need to get people to buy all of
the pieces, they would anyway. Huh. 
