Toy Fair 2013: McFarlane Toys

    Stopping by the Mcfarlane Toys booth at Toy Fair one thing was made quite evident:  it's all about The Walking Dead.  Just look at the prototype for the Season 3 Blu-Ray set.  It's a reproduction of the Governor's tanks full of heads.  All you have to do is add water to it and the heads and various other bits and pieces float all around.  I don't even care about the discs, I just want the case!  They also had all of the newest action figures from the series but nothing compared to this:

    It's a life-size Michonne statue!  She had one of her pet zombies attached to a chain and the other chain was open so you could stick your head through it and take pictures.  I'm sure this will crop up at every convention they're at from now on, which is good cause they were still putting it together when I was there.  I know, it sucks that I didn't get what would have been the best Christmas card photo ever, but what can you do.

    They are still heavily focused on their sports lines too, which is cool but not really my thing.  I did however take a picture of Claude Giroux cause I love the Flyers.  Gretzky is lucky he's a legend or I'd be pissed he was in the background trying to ruin my shot. 

    I also felt obliged to take a picture of this dude in his sweet viking get up.  But these aren't the only pictures I took.  If I put them all on here you would have to scroll for a decade, so check out more Toy Fair pics at www.facebook.com/thetoyviking and on Instagram @thetoyviking.

Toy Fair 2013: Kidrobot

    I made my first trek up to Toy Fair in New York yesterday not really knowing what to expect.  Many of the booths didn't reveal a lot that you couldn't already find on the internet to begin with.  So I was kinda bummed about that until we stumbled upon Kidrobot.  I didn't even know they were going to be there, so that in itself was a pleasant surprise, but then I saw the awesome stuff they had in their cases and was ready to hand over my credit card information on the spot.  

    The first picture you see up top there has caused quite a stir on my Instagram.   It's a huge, upright Smorkin' Labbit from Frank Kozik.  If I remember correctly it should come out around May and will be available in two different color schemes.  This is a must buy for me.  

    The other big reveal that I was able to get a picture of was of this second color way of the Frank Kozik and Chuckboy Cyborg Labbit.  The first one was released at San Diego Comic Con and has since been one of those holy grail pieces for me.  Thankfully,  this guy is set to have a much wider release in March so hopefully I'll be able to snag one there.  You can also see he is surrounded by Huck Gee's new Post Apocalypse Dunny Series.  These guys are sicker in person and made me even more excited for their release.  

    I was able to get a complete tour of the booth from their sales manager and got to meet their head artist as well.  We seriously talked forever about toys, the business of toys, and a collaboration this Summer that will blow your minds.  They involve Labbits and Munnys and something you would never expect but will want to own every one of.  They only had a mock up of those available and no actual samples, but it's going to be huge for both Kidrobot and collectors.  I'm sure someone will leak the information, but I didn't have permission to do that so I don't want to be that guy.  

    They are also continuing the Street Fighter, South Park, and Futurama lines and they will include not only blind boxes, but bigger figures also.  Again, there were no samples, but the mock ups looked pretty cool.  

    Toy Fair is really geared more towards people with stores that will spend a ton of money buying product, so the fact that everyone was so nice and excited to talk to me really blew me away.  I have a newfound respect for the entire company and the insight into their business was really interesting.  

Custom Toy of the Week: Skinner

    You can buy these Guumon customs from Skinner today at noon Pacific time.  There are only 3 and they are $200 and they will sell out instantly.  Why?  Because they have been blessed by the paint of bizarre art royalty that's why!!  Skinner just has to look at them a certain way and their value increases.  I met him at New York Comic Con and after he shook my hand I cured a child afflicted with rabies.  True story.  

    I mean, look at the love and care he put into these guys.  He even hand made the header cards.  Sure he could have sent one of his dozen minions down to Kinkos, got them to use the "chiller" font from Microsoft Word, and called it a day.  But no, he sat down, with cat in lap, and hand painted them.  Even the packaging is art!  Invest in the best toy you will ever own by visiting http://shopcriticalhit.com/.

Cavey Goes Vinyl

    When I heard that Cavey was going to be have a vinyl edition I got worried that maybe he had fallen in with a weird crowd and started hanging out at fetish clubs or something.  The internet has poisoned my ability to think anything other than the worst at all times.  Not able to picture these adorable critters in  gimp masks, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that they will just be made from vinyl and not actually wearing shiny little suits and dog collars.  Whew!

     The first two colors of these plastic buggers are purple and white and you can start preordering them right now for $14 each.  And if you preorder from now - Valentine's Day you are entered to win a special one off purple pearlescent Cavey!  Get 'em now at http://www.heycavey.com/.

Brain Bug Boogieman from Lulubell Toy Bodega

    Holy crap this guy is cool.  While he is unpainted and I'm not a hug fan of that, I can think of about a dozen people that I would beg to add some color to this guy.  Cure and James Groman are releasing this special open edition of their Brain Bug Boogieman figure through Lulubell Toy Bodega on February 9th starting at noon Pacific.  They're $95 and you can order as many as you want.  The catch is, they are only available for a 24 hour period of time so you can't debate about it, you just have to act!

Valentine's Frederick the Beetle from Super7

     Who knew that Valentine's Day was the greatest reason in the universe to make new toys?  Can't Leif Erikson Day get any love?  I guess since Leif didn't have a specific color he is associated with it makes it a bit harder, but that's what creativity is all about.  It could be green for Greenland, or red, white, and blue because we all know that he discovered America 400 years before that bum Columbus ever showed up.

    For now, it's back to the pink toys.  This pink Frederick the Beetle from Super7 will be available February 7th for $35.  It's cheaper than a meal at Red Lobster, but comes with a drastically less amount of cheddar bay biscuits.  

The Walking Dead Michonne Statue from McFarlane Toys

    So The Walking Dead comes back on tv pretty soon, which is good because the whole spilt season thing drives me insane.  I've been spoiled by Netflix and DVD box sets and am now used to watching entire seasons of shows in a matter of a few days.  So waiting a week between episodes, let alone a few months, makes me a bit twitchy.

    This statue from McFarlane Toys is based on the character designs from the comics rather than the show.  It's pretty cool and the picture will sell it to you better than I could.  You can preorder this sucker February 11th for $295 which includes shipping in Canada and the U.S.