ToyFare #105 is the annual NYC Toy Fair coverage issue. It's easily the best issue of the year, every year. The cover shouts "Over 286 pictures!" So, does that mean 287 pictures total? Morons.
Anyway, here's some stuff I liked that's coming to the toy aisle.
The 14th Marvel Legends series has Mojo as the giant build-a-character piece. What this means is, if you want the wildly awesome Mojo figure, you need to buy all the other figures in the wave. Previous build-a-characters have included a Sentinel and Galactus. If this was ten years ago, there's no question I would have all these, because the big figures are terrific. These days, I'm satisfied just to look at the pictures and wonder if anybody is out there selling completed giant figures on eBay. Because I just don't need or want all the third-tier jerks that populate these waves, like Longshot, Baron Zemo or the Falcon. In every wave, there's maybe three guys I want and five that stink. Which, if I only bought the cool ones, would leave me with Galactus's right arm, upper torso and left big toe. Rather than having 1/3 a Galactus lying around, I choose to buy none of them.
That Mojo is freakin' sweet though. And Series 15's build-a-character is MODOK! MODOK!
These, however, I do definitely buy.
Something about these cutesy Marvelites is irresistible to me. Most of the line is packed with alternate Spideys like Karate Chop Spidey, SCUBA Diver Spidey and Extreme Surfer Fireman Spidey... but they usually sneak in some other chibified characters that I always stalk. Look at Baby Beast! He's great!
ToyFare did an interview with the people behind the Spider-Man And Friends line a bunch of issues back, where they said that they can't do figures of characters like Human Torch and Ghost Rider because of the fire element... which is far more reproducible for kids than adamantium claws. The article ran some concept art of a rejected Friends-style Ghost Rider that was adorably incredible. Shame there's no way they could offer Ghostie as some kind of adults-only mail-in. There's huge adult collector support behind this line... which is evident every time I check the racks and find all the non-Spidey figures missing. Toy Biz, we would all send you envelopes of cash for that Ghost Rider toy and sign waivers promising never to give it to children under 3. Start sculpting that mold!
I don't particularly like the DC Direct line, because they're almost always unposeable little statues. They're also mad expensive. They look great, sure. You just can't do anything with them.
So I'm happy to see DC sneaking out a new retail line (DC Direct only provides to collectible shops) that is their answer to Marvel Legends. They're not up to the Legend standard yet... the packaging is dead boring, and the included free comic book muddies up the line's presence on the racks (I'd turn the backboard into a folder and slip the comic inside). But the figures themselves are a nice surprise - comics-accurate, detailed, articulated - given that most of DC's retail toys are cartoon tie-ins.
That Darkseid will be in my cart as soon as I find him. Can't tell from the image if he's in scale with the various Superman and Batman figures, but I have high hopes.
The last time I mentioned ToyFare, it was to bitch about their annoying Monthly Rag feature. I'm happy to report that they have apparantly received a lot of negative feedback about this division of the mag... so they changed it up. The Monthly Rag (Which, by the way, is an awful title. And they wonder where all the female toy fans went!) is now all comedy. No real news reports in there at all. While I'm glad I no longer have to browse this Daily Show-ripoff to try to guess what is real toy news and what is lame amateur comedy, I'm still pissed that it takes up 10 pages each issue.
