Seen at New York Comic Con: Weta Workshop

    It can be hard to grab attention at New York Comic Con.  There's so much to do and see that even if you don't have an issue with your attention span, you can find yourself quite overwhelmed by the whole experience.  So if you're an exhibitor, how do you cut through all of the visual noise and make sure people notice your products?  To start, it's not the worst idea in the world to put the life-size head of the most famous dragon in literature right on top of your booth. 

    Weta Workshop was not only responsible for bringing the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies to life, but they also make some amazing products from the films that you can own.  Granted, they aren't cheap, but you'll never own anything as high quality or breathtaking.  I could have spent the entire convention sitting in this booth a nerding out on all things Middle Earth.  Check out more pictures at www.facebook.com/TheToyViking.  

Seen at New York Comic Con: The Jelly Empire and Argonaut Resins

    I hope you're sitting down right now, cause I'm about to overwhelm you with cuteness.  If you're reading this I don't know what else you could be doing but sitting.  Unless you have one of those harnesses like Bob Dylan has for his harmonica and you're wearing your internet device around your neck.  In that case you might wanna stop whatever activity you are doing and sit down for a moment so you don't pass out and hit your head.  

    What's cuter than little robots that go on adventures and egyptian cats?  Don't say your kids, cause we know that most of the time you wanna beat them with a shoe.  No trip to New York Comic Con can be considered complete without visiting The Jelly Empire and Argonaut Resins.  They teamed up again this year to offer tons of resin made goodness.  Check out their respective sites in case anything remained from after the show.  

Seen at New York Comic Con: Tenacious Toys

    What's this?  Is it a picture of the elusive yeti?  The Loch Ness Monster?  No, it is you humble narrator, looking quite studious in the midst of conversation about some toy or another.  This rare image was snapped by Benny Kline of Tenacious Toys and thankfully I wasn't doing anything embarrassing at the time.  Though I was caught with my man purse, which comes in handy when you're trying to get rid of money like it's covered in ebola.  You gotta put all those toys somewhere.

    Each year Benny takes the time to put together a giant collective booth of artists and companies that is kinda like it's own sustainable village.  They have their own fire department, sanitation system, and currency.  Ok, not really, but if they get any bigger the post office is gonna force them to get their own zip code.  Not that I'm complaining because you can never have too much stuff to look at.  

    My favorite thing at the booth was Bigshot Toywork's Four Horsies of the 'Pocalypse line.  I'm a little biased though, because I did support the Kickstarter for Maddie and have one of those coming my way any day now.  After getting to hold it I'm even happier to have supported its creation, because it is an amazing looking toy.  I already have a spot in my display case reserved for its arrival.  

    Take a gander at some photos I took and check out www.tenacioustoys.com for anything they might have left over from the convention.  Many more photos can be found at www.facebook.com/TheToyViking.

    Things got weird after the second Death Star blew up.  

Seen at New York Comic Con: Kaiju Monster

    One of my first stops at every New York Comic Con is the Kaiju Monster booth.  The inspiration for a thousand movie about giant creatures destroying coastal cities could be found right here.  I could easily have gone into serious debt just within their three walls, as there was nothing I didn't want to take home.  Even my wife, who tends to prefer the cuter side of toys, was falling in love with the technicolor beasts.  Evidently there are some leftovers from the show, so check out www.kaijumonster.com to get a hold of anything you may have missed.   

Three New Releases from Toy Art Gallery Happening Today!

    Sweet Jesus what on earth is this thing?  It looks like something that would chase you down a hallway in some horror film, laughing like a demented school girl as it thinks about what part of you it will eat first.  If I were to somehow own this, I think I would look in a safe before I went to bed at night, just in case it was as haunted as it looks.  I have learned that it's called a Smalmack and this is the "Uncle Woman" edition.  I now nominate "uncle woman" as two words in the english language never to be paired together ever again.  

    This freaky thing is part of a triple release of figures today from Toy Art Gallery.  If you need something to scare your kids into staying in their room when they're being punished, then you my friend might be in the market for an uncle woman something or other.  Just put it outside their door, and no kid with a healthy fear of anything will dare cross the threshold of their temporary prison.  For $70, it seems worth it.  

    Oh thank you lord it's just a cat figure.  Just look at him, all cute in his little shorts and little suspenders.  Do you know if you happen to die in your home and you own cats that eventually they will start to nibble on your corpse?  It's true, it was in a book written by a former medical examiner in New York.  My cat Jorah bites me on the nose every night while I sleep.  I'd like to think it's because he misses me being awake with him, but I'm realistic enough to know that he's checking to see if the buffet is open yet.  Do you see what that first figure did to me?  It made me a sicko.  $30 will get you one of these cute little guys from T9G.  

    Luftkaiser! Luftkaiser!  I like this little dude.  Maybe because he's German and I've always wanted to visit there.  Or maybe it's the bat wings.  Who doesn't love a good set of bat wings?  No one I know, that's for sure.  This dude sprung from the mind of Paul Kaiju and is kinda giving off a Skeletor vibe with this paint job.  I dig it, and you can too for $45.  

    You can snag all three of these toys when they go on sale at noon Pacific time from http://shop.toyartgallery.com/.   

Seen at New York Comic Con: 3A

    3A's toys are always beautiful to see in person and luckily for me they partnered with IDW Publishing to have a few of their upcoming releases on display during New York Comic Con.  Check out their take on Doctor Doom.  I'd love to see Marvel go a little crazy and do an entire movie with character designs like this.  Maybe if we put up a Kickstarter and raise $100 million it will happen, but probably not.  We still have that not at all eagerly anticipated Fantastic Four film to look forward to right?  Moving on.  

    This little dude was t heir exclusive for the convention.  I was well beyond broke by the time I even made it to this part of the show, so unfortunately I left without one.  He looks like he'd be fun to play with.  You could change his poses up, have him wrap those four legs around your cats and watch them head off into battle.  I don't think that's an officially endorsed use of this figure, but I'm not the imagination police, so you do what you want.  Just make sure you record it for the rest of the internet to see.  

    These were by far my favorite things they had on display and they're some of the most clever figures I've seen in a while.  And could you pick a more perfect place than a convention to show off a line of figures that are all cosplaying as iconic moments in pop culture?  You can't, I already tried.  Isobelle Pasha looked right at home next to a thousand girls dressed as Harley Quinn or some other half-naked comic book character.  My favorite part about these is how the references for their clothes are pretty easy to spot, yet done with a great deal of creativity.  The most interesting this about cosplay to me is when people put their own spin on a classic character and that idea is captured here perfectly. These figures are available for preorder now through your favorite toy retailer.  

Seen at NYCC: Sons of Anarchy from Mezco

         

    What timing I have!  A new episode of Sons of Anarchy airs tonight, and to get you in the proper mood to watch it, I present to you some toys from the show that you will be able to own very soon.  Like this twelve inch tall Jax figure.  While far from life size, I can imagine a lot of women that will all of a sudden be compelled to collect toys.  From what I understand, he can't take his shirt off though.  Sorry ladies.  

    You remember that time that Gemma picked up a skateboard and did some impromptu reconstruction on that girl's face?  It's my favorite scene from her, and now I can ensure I never forget it when old age sets in and makes my memory worse than it already is.  Either that or I'll be really confused why the hot biker lady looks like she's about to shred a half pipe, or whatever it is people are normally supposed to do with a skateboard.  

    And now Jax can have his best friend Opie to chat it up with as they stare at you do all the bizarre things you do in your house.  You should probably wear pants more.  

    The plush line is kinda funny to me.  Funny in the fact that it doesn't include everyone's favorite transgendered hooker with a heart of gold, Venus.  Obviously it was an oversight that I'm sure someone is rushing to correct as we speak.  If I had a lot of money I would absolutely make on of those 80's kids commercials like "My Buddy" only it would be with these stuffed characters.  Some cute little girl would be playing outside with them when her older brother comes out to bully her.  Then she pulls out a knife and shanks him right in the kidney.  The brother falls down, clutching his wound, and we have this exchange:

Boy:  "I can't believe you stabbed me, I'm telling mom"!!!!!

Girl:  leans down close to his ear and whispers "Snitches get stitches, punk."  

    She then grabs her Tig doll and skips away.  Fin.  

    My genius knows no bounds.  

You can preorder most of these right now at http://www.mezcotoyz.com/.