Remember when a 6-inch Marvel Legends figure cost about $7? Well, for a short time, you can relive those glory days and army build the Marvel Legends Kree Soldier and Skrull Soldier 2-pack for right around that price at ToysRUs.com.

>> Marvel Legends 2-Pack Kree Soldier & Skrull Soldier – $13.98

With new Marvel Legends 2-packs targeted to [...]]]>

Remember when a 6-inch Marvel Legends figure cost about $7? Well, for a short time, you can relive those glory days and army build the Marvel Legends Kree Soldier and Skrull Soldier 2-pack for right around that price at ToysRUs.com.

>> Marvel Legends 2-Pack Kree Soldier & Skrull Soldier – $13.98

With new Marvel Legends 2-packs targeted to hit this fall, and Hasbro aiming to relaunch the Marvel Legends line in a big way in 2012, it’s time to clear these out of the system. For more pics, here’s my review of the Marvel Legends Alien Armies 2-pack from just about a year ago.

The Fantastic Four vs. Iron Man - BillsComics.com

via Bill Sandefur’s [...]]]>

Bill has shared his latest Action Figure Comic with us. You can see more of his comics at Bill’s Comics. Enjoy!

The Fantastic Four vs. Iron Man - BillsComics.com

via Bill Sandefur’s Comics home.

And thank you to all of you voters – we had over six thousand total votes, making this the most popular Top Ten to date.

The [...]]]>

I deputized Hagop for this write-up of the Green Lantern Classics Top Ten results. But I made him give me back the Brown Lantern ring when he was done. Thank you, Hagop!

And thank you to all of you voters – we had over six thousand total votes, making this the most popular Top Ten to date.

The world of Green Lantern has probably never been more popular than it is today. That world has also expanded greatly over the last few years, with story arcs like the Sinestro Corps War and Blackest Night. If there was any doubt about that, just take a look at our Top Ten; just over half of the winners aren’t even Green Lanterns at all! Whoda thunkit?

Without further ado, let’s get to the winners.

We start of with a tie. It was a heated campaign that went all the way down to the wire, with positions switching back and forth even in the final hours of voting. Stel and Brother Warth were right in it until the end. But when the poll closed, Soranik and Saint Walker each had 168 votes to share the #10 spot.

10. Soranik Natu 168 votes

She may be Kyle Rayner’s love interest and Sinestro’s daughter, but make no mistake – this woman stands on her own. Soranik is tough, smart (a neurosurgeon, for crissakes!) and a Corpsmen as capable as they come.

I think her chances of getting a figure are pretty high, considering she’s become one of the primary GLs in recent times, and her costume would need almost zero new tooling.

10. Saint Walker 168 votes

“Please tell your Master Sifo-Dyas that we have every confidence his order will be met on time and-” Er—wait. No. I mean, “All shall be well.” Yeah, that’s it.

Walker: Odym Ranger is visually dynamic and was a key player in Blackest Night. If you can only have one Blue Lantern, you probably want him. I’ll be truly surprised if he doesn’t appear in the second wave of GL Classics.

9. Arkkis Chummuck 169 votes

Arkkis had a relatively short life as a Green Lantern, dying in battle just six years after he was introduced. He’s had some minor exposure in DC’s animated programs, but I think his appeal endures because of the 1980 story in which he first appeared. At the time, alien GLs had been around for twenty years and characters like Tomar Re and Katma Tui had been given some healthy character development as supporting characters. But there hadn’t been a story about an alien GL that didn’t involve Hal, John, or some other lead character. “The Trial of Arkkis Chummuck” by Bob Toomey and Alex Saviuk ran as a back-up feature in Green Lantern v2 #130-#132. For the first time, you have a Green Lantern story with no recognizable characters. And what a fun, original, and compelling story it is! It showed DC that such a thing was possible, and they followed up with more Tales of the Green Lantern Corps stories in future issues. It could be argued that Arkkis is really the foundation for most of the cosmic GL stories that have followed.

As a figure, Arkkis would be surprisingly challenging. The shortcut, cost-saving route would be to re-use most parts from a figure like Hawkman or Martian Manhunter. But to really do Arkkis right, he needs an entirely new sculpt. The proportions of his limbs are non-human. More like an ape. And his trunk really should be thicker than someone like Hawkman or J’onn. But don’t get carried away, Mattel! – He should be a single carded figure and not an overly big C&C like Solomon Grundy.

8. Parallax 188 votes

Mr. “necessary yellow impurity” himself. But which version? I mean, this guy/thing has had some pretty divergent looks. It’s not a question of just throwing out a simple chase variant. The pic we featured in the poll is his Yellow Lantern crab-mask ensemble. But his most recognizable look is “Evil Hal Jordan”. And there’s also his true “yellow energy bug” look…

All I’m gonna say is he placed #8 in our poll. I’ll let you guys tear each other apart on the message boards about which version should be made as a figure.

7. Sodam Yat 207 votes

Yeah- His name’s Sodam Yat. So damn what? (ß Lamest. Joke. Ever.)

You don’t want to mess with this guy because he’s basically Superman (or at least Mon-El) with a power ring. He could probably take out anyone except Batman (time to prepare, and all that). Actually, I’m sort of confused as to whether or not he’s alive. He died fighting Mongul’s corps on Daxam, right? But he’s still alive in the 31^st Century. Is Booster Gold involved somehow? Ah well, you guys will straighten me out on the boards, I’m sure. Yat could easily make use of a repainted Hal Jordan buck and he’s a good candidate for a 50/50 variant with his Ion costume. Mattel: please no 31^st Century version with the goofy hair.

6. Salaak 225 votes

Salaak is a must. I mean, he’s the Lantern of Space Sector 0. He’s the Green Lantern of frikkin’ Oa. Doesn’t that kind of make him THE Green Lantern? Plus he was a member of Earth’s “Green Lantern Corps” in the 80s when the galactic corps was disbanded.

We got a sneak peek of a Ch’p figure at Comic Con. Could he be a pack-in for a wave 2 Salaak figure? Let the rumors begin!

5. Anti-Monitor 239 votes

The extremely limited edition 30” Anti-Monitors that were raffled off at Comic Con ’09 are heavily envied by collectors. But if they ever mass produced this guy, no way in Qward would he be 30” tall. Probably more like 14”. If you’re lucky. Do you still want him?

4. Larfleeze 288 votes

DC Direct has already made a really great Larfleeze, but you greedy bastards want another one. You have to have him! In DCIH too! And Action League! ALL of them!

Yours! YOURS! ALL YOURS!!!

Seriously though, the prospect of a GLC Larfleeze is an interesting one. The different artists that contributed to the Blackest Night arc all had a noticeably different take on Larfleeze. It will be interesting to see what control art DC selects for a Mattel Larfleeze, and how the Four Horsemen interpret it. He has the potential to be one of the all-time gems of the DCU line, or to be a big disappointment if he doesn’t look just the way the fans imagine him.

3. Carol Ferris 311 votes

It doesn’t get more central to the Green Lantern story than Carol. She’s Hal’s soul mate. We definitely need both the classic and current versions of her Star Sapphire get-up. However, as tempting as it may be to create her skin tight costume by way of paint masks alone (a la DCUC Starfire), I would suggest that Mattel go the distance and shell out for some new sculpting. Carol deserves it. And the figure will look cheap if they go with paints only.

2. Arisia 315 votes

Assuming Ch’p is on his way, all we need are Arisia and Salaak to join Hal, John, Katma, and Kilowog in completing our Englehart/Staton Green Lantern Corps. And let’s face it – the Corps we have now is a sausage fest. We need more women! Like many other Lanterns, Arisia can re-use a lot of existing parts and tools, so I think she’s a lock for a figure, either in the GL Classics line or even in the main DCUC line. [Sidebar: Soranik and Arisia show that you want some female Lanterns. One can’t help but wonder how this list would look if Jade had also been a choice instead of a character like Gretti, who got zero votes.]

1. Atrocitus 358 votes

Atrocitus led from wire to wire. He never fell from first place at any time during the poll. Without question, he is your most wanted Lantern character. Some may feel Geoff Johns to be overrated, but one thing he does well is villains. Atrocitus is the most vicious, unyielding, sadistic foe of the Corps… and yet he’s empathetic in his own way. And interesting. A characteristic that can’t be taken for granted in comics today. He really needs to be a C&C though because he should be roughly the same size as our DCUC Kilowog.

So what conclusions can we draw from these results? At first glance, I thought the common denominator was a bias toward modern characters over the Silver Age. But I don’t think that’s quite it. After all, gimmicky figures like Indigo Ray Palmer or Duel Eknhams didn’t make the list. No, I think what these ten characters have in common is that they have all been well written. Sure, some of them are of obvious importance, and some are visually exciting. But those things can be said of a lot of others that didn’t have the support to make the top ten. We’re attracted to these characters because they have been richly drawn in pictures and in words. Their personalities spring to life off the page, and so we’d like to see them in three dimensions right there among our other 6” friends.

GLC: Characters Welcome®.

Sideshow Collectibles has a couple of the upcoming Hot Toys figures available for pre-order – Chris Taylor, Charlie Sheen’s character in Platoon, and Bruce Lee from Enter the Dragon. I might spring for the Sideshow exclusive version of Bruce Lee, since it comes with an extra body and stand for just $20 more. It’s a DX, [...]]]>

Sideshow Collectibles has a couple of the upcoming Hot Toys figures available for pre-order – Chris Taylor, Charlie Sheen’s character in Platoon, and Bruce Lee from Enter the Dragon. I might spring for the Sideshow exclusive version of Bruce Lee, since it comes with an extra body and stand for just $20 more. It’s a DX, so with the extra body, you can have two complete figures since there’s the extra head, many sets of hands, and multiple outfits included already.

• Chris Taylor – $149
• Bruce Lee – $199
• Bruce Lee – Sideshow Exclusive Edition – $219

1) Great showing at San Diego Comic-Con! Many of the 2-ups shown from DC Universe Classics wave 16 and Green Lantern Classics featured double elbow and double knee joints. [...]]]> After missing a round (kind of) two weeks ago, we’re back with our regularly scheduled Ask Matty. Thanks to Toy Guru and the team and Mattel!

1) Great showing at San Diego Comic-Con! Many of the 2-ups shown from DC Universe Classics wave 16 and Green Lantern Classics featured double elbow and double knee joints. Is the plan to carry that through to production? I think the new joints would break up the sculpt less when posing (no awkward break in the knee cap, for example) and would provide more posing options.

We are adding more articulation to some figures where appropriate.  We don’t want to cut up the Horsemen’s sculpts just for the sake of articulation; only when it works for the characters.

See more pics of DCUC 16 and GLC here: San Diego Comic-Con 2010 – Mattel DC Universe Classics – Updates

2) The new Masters of the Universe Classics reveals were awesome. For Club Eternia subscribers, one thing I’ve seen folks worry about is spikes in the monthly amounts. For example, if the subscription was all-in this year, November would be a huge month with Grizzlor (monthly), King Grayskull (bonus), and Eternian Guards (large). That’s a big bill for folks on a budget. How are you spreading things out in 2011 to avoid spikes like that?

We deliberately tried to spread out the “beasts” and A-list variants so they don’t fall on the same month, but this won’t always happen. It depends on sculpting and schedule. But we are trying for this.

3) A couple quick questions – Is the MOTUC Vikor’s helmet removable? Any chance for headgear for Grizzlor, like the Staction, for 200X fans?

No, Vikor’s helmet is not removable.

4) AFP reader Paul asks: I love the fact that MattyCollector recognized the collectors agony when trying to purchase DCU Classics Wave 5 Metallo series and doing a re-release on MattyCollector. My question is how successful was that re-release (and other recent waves) and do you foresee doing that with any of the other harder to find waves (example: DCU Classics Wave 3 Solomon Grundy series). [Note – the Legion of Super Heroes 12-pack seems to be a good sign – are other DCUC products possible for MattyCollector?]

Wave 5 was a success for us and we are looking at other re-releases down the road. We need to clear through some inventory at retail first as there may be some older waves sill out there to release in retailers distribution centers first.

5) AFP reader Paul asks: Would you ever do a “Weapons Pak” like you did for MOTUC line? It would be cool if they did a pack that was full of Green Lantern constructs (a la John Stewart & Katma Tui) that could be various sizes and colors……maybe even a big one that could fit Killowog (ok I’m dreaming on that one but still, AWESOME).

It is something we have looked into, but the trouble is that outside of constructs there are not many weapons that would work. The upcoming Sinestro vs Hal TRU 2-pack will have quite a few constructs done just this way!

Here’s the other Ask Mattel Q&As from around the web (to be updated as they surface):

• ActionFigureInsider.com
• Bzzurkk
• Cool Toy Review
• CriticalMess.net
• DC Collector
• DC Hall of Justice
• Experience the Wonder
• Figures.com
• The Fwoosh
• He-Man.org
• Infinite Hollywood
• ItsAllTrue.net
• JoeAcevedo.com
• Kastor’s Korner
• Pendragon’s Post
• Poe Ghostal’s Points of Articulation
• Pop Culture Network
• SuperHeroTimes.com
• Toy News International

If you’ve been on the fence about picking up a Two-Face from the Hot Toys Dark Knight line, you may not want to wait any longer. Amazon has the Hot Toys Two-Face on sale for $49.99 via specialty retailer Hastings.

>> DC Comics Hot Toys’ The Dark Knight: 1:6 Scale Two – Face/ Harvey Dent Figure

I think Harvey [...]]]>

If you’ve been on the fence about picking up a Two-Face from the Hot Toys Dark Knight line, you may not want to wait any longer. Amazon has the Hot Toys Two-Face on sale for $49.99 via specialty retailer Hastings.

>> DC Comics Hot Toys’ The Dark Knight: 1:6 Scale Two – Face/ Harvey Dent Figure

I think Harvey originally retailed at around $175, so this is a great deal. I’d been thinking about putting together a Bruce Wayne, and a Hot Toys body plus a suit would set me back more than the sale price of this figure.

See more pics from my Hot Toys Two-Face review a few months back.

Hasbro has a long history of putting gimmicks into Transformers, from Mini-cons to Powerlink to Cyber Keys. The next generation of gimmick-driven Transformers are the Power-Core Combiners. In this review I’ll take a look at Skyburst and the Aerialbots.

The Skyburst set includes everything you need for one Combiner. This includes the main Commander figure, Skyburst, and [...]]]>

Hasbro has a long history of putting gimmicks into Transformers, from Mini-cons to Powerlink to Cyber Keys. The next generation of gimmick-driven Transformers are the Power-Core Combiners. In this review I’ll take a look at Skyburst and the Aerialbots.

The Skyburst set includes everything you need for one Combiner. This includes the main Commander figure, Skyburst, and his drones. Skyburst himself is a traditional Transformer with an alt mode and robot mode. The gimmick comes in with his Commander mode.

The drone vehicles however, are not traditional Transformers. These are exactly what you would expect of drones, they have vehicle modes and limb modes, no robot modes. This is mainly because of the gimmick feature. When these drones are plugged into the Power-Core ports on the Commander torso figure, spring loaded mechanisms cause the drones to unfold and expand into spindly legs and arms.

Once fully connected, you have your full Power-Core Combiner. This full figure has somewhat limited articulation, mostly in the limbs, again due to the automatic transforming gimmick.

The real fun of these sets is their “Scramble City” like feature, that all Power-Core Combiners are compatible. So you can take these drones and connect them with other, separately sold Commander figures, and create different torso modes with these drones.

Coming soon – Searchlight with Backwind Commader Combiner!

The figures pictured in this review were provided by Hasbro.

It’s the end of August, and our Top Ten poll to pick our most wanted Green Lantern-related characters for Mattel’s Green Lantern Classics line is closing at the end of the day. There is a very tight three-way race going on at the bottom of our poll – throughout the past couple of weeks it’s been [...]]]>

It’s the end of August, and our Top Ten poll to pick our most wanted Green Lantern-related characters for Mattel’s Green Lantern Classics line is closing at the end of the day. There is a very tight three-way race going on at the bottom of our poll – throughout the past couple of weeks it’s been interesting to watch them trade positions pretty much every day. So, your vote can definitely make a difference.

We’ll have the write-up of the results in a couple of days. Don’t forget to vote today!