Greetings to all the readers out there! I’m Val and if you’re in the store frequently, you may know me as one of the front door guys. I’m also part of Forbidden Planet’s toy department and want to welcome you to my inaugural toy column. There are some really awesome toys coming out this week and I just wanted to share them with you. If you are a fan of the Batman Arkham videogame series, three brand new figures are making their debut from DC Collectibles on Wednesday. Batman, Harley Quinn and the Scarecrow are the characters in this initial release using designs from the forthcoming Arkham Knight videogame. Each figure in the set is between 6 to 7 inches tall, feature multiple points of articulation as well as dedicated character accessories and come packaged in nice window boxes.
If DC Comics Characters aren’t your thing- there is always Marvel and just in time for the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron this coming weekend, we will have a new blind bag assortment of Minimates from Diamond Select Toys based on the movie. The assortment is slated to include different versions of the titular villain, along with the Iron Legion, Nick Fury and Baron Strucker, we also have a good assortment of Avengers related toys ranging from Funko Mystery Mini Blind Boxes to 6″ Marvel Legends figures and Diamond’s own Marvel Select line of action figures, as well as the exquisitely detailed Hot Toys figures of Captain America, Falcon and Winter Soldier from last year’s hit movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
If you’d rather read about your toys rather than collect them, I have two more recommendations for you- the first is the gorgeous coffee table book sized “The Art of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” published by Dark Horse Books. As an 80’s kid- as evidenced by my heavily 80’s iPod playlist that you might hear when you walk into the store, this book swept me back to my childhood with sections devoted to the genesis of the toyline itself to ancillary products like the official magazine and children’s books, the original animated series and movie are also represented. If you have any nostalgia for the He-Man line as well as sister line, She-Ra: Princess of Power, I HIGHLY recommend the book which for the concept art alone is worth the price of admission.
My second recommendation is the new Jem and the Holograms comic book series by IDW. The second issue hits on Wednesday and though there are variations on the original Jem story in the new comic, I thoroughly enjoyed the first issue and cannot wait to see where Kelly Thompson and Ross Campbell are taking my favorite animated rock group. One of the things I most enjoyed in this new take on Jem and the Holograms is the fact that each of the band members has their own body type. They aren’t all stick thin Barbie dolls and I think it is a nice step in the right direction.
Thanks for reading- see you in the store soon!