Coverage of the 2013 New York International Toy Fair begins this Saturday, February 9th! Be sure to stay tuned right here to Pixel-Dan.com for video coverage of the event! Interviews and footage of the many different toy company displays and new toy reveales will be coming at you all through the next week!
Pixel-Dan.com is also partnering up with ToyNewsI.com this year for the 2012 Toy Awards, which include among other things the award for “Toy Of The Year” and “Toy Company Of The Year.”
And of course, I’ll be working alongside He-Man.org for the latest on Masters of the Unvierse!
So be sure to stay tuned to the following for the most comprehensive coverage of Toy Fair:
Recently on Facebook, Cornboy of Four Horsemen Design posted that they had just finished the initial sculpt of the Castle Grayskull playset for the Masters of the Universe Classics toy line, and was hoping Mattel would be able to show it off at Toy Fair. Well, it looks like Mattel will indeed be making the big reveal, and to tease us they have been posting very small, close-up shots of the Castle.
If you’re like me, then one of the characters you no doubt are excited to see get the 6″ treatment in the new Star Wars Black Series is the infamous bounty hunter known as Boba Fett.
Now hold on…before you get too upset, the folks at Rebelscum do make a very good point. The past few years, many of Hasbro’s SDCC exclusives have been offered later at retail. This has been the case for some of their Transformers and Marvel Legends exclusives in recent years, and even last year’s Star Wars exclusive. So I think it’s safe to say that a regular 6″ Boba Fett will be released at retail after SDCC. The SDCC version will most likely be a repaint, have special packaging, include an extra accessory, or any combination of those things.
All of this is nothing more than rumor and speculation right now. We should know more details this weekend at Toy Fair.
So what say you? Worried about this rumor? Feel it’s nothing to fear? Let’s hear it!
It’s been a while since I’ve done a Round-Up post. There’s been a lot of toy news heading into Toy Fair 2013, so I figured now was as good a time as ever to bring this column back. So here are some of the noteworthy pieces of toy news for the past week:
Update: Well, it’s official! MTV Geek has now posted new images of Bebop and Rocksteady, along with several other new images of other TMNT toys, and a video walkthrough! You can check them all out here!
Original: MTV Geek posted a few pictures to Twitter this morning, seemingly showing off portions of Playmates’ display being prepared for next weekend’s New York International Toy Fair. Seen in this display is, what appears to be, the Classics Bebop & Rocksteady figures!
Now, this can’t necessarily be considered a true reveal since it hasn’t “officially” been stated by Playmates yet, but I think it’s safe to say we’re looking at the upcoming Classics versions of Shredder’s duo.
Personally, I feel like these guys don’t look quite as cartoon accurate as the four Turtles do. Something seems off with their shapes, almost as if they are slightly stylized. Then again, this isn’t the best angle, so it may just be the photo. We definitely need to see some more photos of their head sculpts, especially from the side angle. But those pics will be hitting the net very soon, I’m sure. After all, Toy Fair is only a little over a week away, and yours truly will be there. I’m anxious to check them out in person.
So, what are your early impressions of Bebop and Rocksteady?
Like many collectors out there, Star Wars figures played a big role in me becoming a collector. I have always joked that Star Wars was sort of the “gateway drug” of toy collecting. While not true for everyone, it seems like many folks out there started their toy obsession with one of Hasbro’s (or Kenner’s) 3.75″ heroes from that galaxy far, far away.
Eventually, it just got to be too much for me. For the most part, I still really like the figures Hasbro has been releasing. But I turned from a die-hard Star Wars collector to a casual collector once I started getting more heavily involved in other toy lines. There were just so many Star Wars figures, many of which were variants of variants, that I just could no longer keep up.
I’ve often said that the one thing that could bring me back in to buying Star Wars figures regularly again would be a really well-done 6″ scale line of figures.
Well, I guess it’s time to say goodbye to my money.
Hasbro has officially announced the Star Wars Black Series, a line of 6″ scale, highly detailed and articulated action figures based on the heroes and villains from Star Wars! The line kicks off this year with 8 figures priced at $19.99 each, and will include characters such as Luke Skywalker in his X-Wing gear and Darth Maul.
That one image of the Luke figure already has me drooling! I cannot wait to see more!
So, how about you guys? Excited? Rather stick with the 3.75″ line? Indifferent? Sound off!
Toy News International and Pixel-Dan.com are joining forces to bring you The 2012 Toy Awards!
All awards including “Toy Company of the Year” and “Toy of the Year” will be presented to the winners at the 2013 New York International Toy Fair which will take place starting on February 9, 2013.
Let us know who you would like to see win, and then check back next month to ToyNewsI.com and Pixel-Dan.com for complete coverage of the 2013 New York Toy Fair, and to see who wins what award.
Update: Well, it’s official! MTV Geek has now posted new images of Bebop and Rocksteady, along with several other new images of other TMNT toys, and a video walkthrough! 
