By Chris Troy
My 2012 is off to a brutal start, as the first day of the year started with me having no power in half of my apartment for 4 days, but rebounded when I went down to DC for MAGfest 2012 for another 3. The latter was rad, but explains my absence. NO WORRIES, NOW I’VE RETURNED, I CAN TALK ABOUT TOYS THAT CAME OUT LAST YEAR, SEVERAL OF WHICH YOU CAN STILL PURCHASE AT FPNYC!! So without further delay, my ultimately meaningless list:
Let’s start off with some import goodness shall we? While not the strongest year for Figma as a brand (IMO, people who love them some Madoka may disagree), Max Factory managed to pop out a few rad figures this year, one of them being the Figma based on Evangelion 2.2 ‘s Mari. In a sea of Asuka/Rei merchandise, Mari was a welcomed addition and her Figma, which came with a cockpit and a ton of variant parts and accessories, was great. In addition to that, the Dorothy (of Big O fame) Figma dropped as well, and I am bias as hell towards Big O merch, so that makes the list. Also Robocop, because, well, he’s Robocop; why wouldn’t he, right? 2012 looks solid too, as we’re expected to get a Figma based on Guts from Beserk, as well as Samus Aran of Metroid fame. This is best in life. We still have the Eva girls and Dorothy in stock BTW, as well as several other characters I couldn’t tell you about.
Revoltech had a stellar year, especially if you’re into giant robots. Evas? A ton of them, all of them rad. Zone of the Enders finally got some love, with the release of Jehuty, and more are on the way apparently, which pleases me to no end. A ton of American properties got some love as well, including the likes of Iron Man, War Machine, Optimus Prime, and Bumblebee, rocking their Michael Bay designs. 2012 looks to be full of more giant robots AND more movie stuff, including the likes of Pixar movies NOT named Toy Story. In the words of Achewood‘s Ray Smuckles “That’s alright, coz that’s okay.” And wrapping up the super pose-able import toy trinity is SH Figuarts: which, while delivering awesome Godzilla, Gundam, Dragon Ball Z, Megaman X, and One Piece figures, stole my heart with the release of their Tiger and Bunny line. This line is hot, and I think we had the Tiger and Bunny Figuarts in for like a few hours before they sold out. We do have a nice variety of non-T&B Figuarts still in stock though, so hey, it’s not a complete loss if you come in looking for some. We also got a ton of new Gunpla in this year, including kits from the new series Gundam Age.
Wrapping up our rad toys from Japan section, we come to Square Enix’s Play Arts line. Squenix came through big this year with several BIG non-Square licenses like Street Fighter IV, Metal Gear, and various Halo figures. Regarding in-house properties, they killed it with the Dissidia line, as well as the Deus Ex Human Revolution line. 2012 looks bright with more Street Fighter, Final Fantasy XIII-2, Uncharted 3, Batman, and a whole ton of stuff that has been yet to be announced. And needless to say, we still some 2011 releases in stock.
That wraps up part 1. Part 2 will be chock full of dudes in spandex, not all of which are super heroes.
