Welcome back to Toy Aisle, our round up of the best toys we’ve seen all week. This time we have a ton of new LEGO minifigures, the most amazing Magneto cape, entirely unrelated magnetic building blocks, a spectacularly poseable Spider-Man: Homecoming figure, and yes, the best grin on a Han Solo action figure ever.
LEGO Collectable Minifigures Series 17
It turns out that blind-bagging rare LEGO Minifigures so that collectors have to buy duplicates and triplicates to complete a set is a great idea — if you’re LEGO. The plastic brickmaker has just revealed its 17th collectable Minifigures set that includes easy-to-feel characters like Corn Cob Man and Retro Spaceman, and a few you’ll regret accidentally buying, like the Yuppie. When available starting on May 1, there will also be an additional secret character revealed. [LEGO]
Hot Toys Sixth-Scale Stormtrooper Disguise Han Solo
At times it’s difficult to distinguish Hot Toys’ sixth-scale, 30cm figures from the real characters they’re based on. The toymaker employs some of the most talented sculptors in the business, which is incredibly apparent in the way they have managed to perfectly capture Han Solo/Harrison Ford’s smirk. This new figure, featuring Han in his Stormtrooper disguise from Star Wars: A New Hope, includes a tiny helmet, blaster rifle and a light-up Death Star diorama backdrop. Expect it to be available later this year, or early next, for $US220 ($293) to $US250 ($333). (The mysterious character in the background has yet to be identified.) [Facebook – Hot Toys]
S.H. Figuarts Spider-Man: Homecoming
Despite standing just 15cm-tall, S.H. Figuarts’ forthcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming figure features more articulation than what you’d find in most figures twice its size. Accessories include interchangeable hands, a mobile phone, backpack, webbing and, most important to Spider-Man fans, swappable eye pieces to create different facial expressions. Pre-orders started on Monday, but you’ll have to wait until August 11 for this ¥6264 ($75) figure to finally ship. [S.H. Figuarts via Toyark]
Play Arts Kai Magneto
One of the biggest complaints we’ve had about the Marvel Play Arts Kai series is that Square-Enix’s designers never really pushed each character interpretation as wildly as they did for some of their DC Comics toys. While its latest effort still doesn’t top something like Bahamut-Batman, Square-Enix’s new 25cm Magneto figure features one of the coolest ideas we’ve ever seen for a Magneto character design: His cloak is made out of metallic shards, contorted and controlled by the master of magnetism’s mutant powers (sadly the cape itself doesn’t appear to be poseable). The rest of the design is fairly standard, but the cape is a really cool choice. Magento and his myriad accessories will set you back about ¥15,984 ($191) when he releases in Japan in August. [Toyark]
PIXIO Pixel Art Magnetic Construction Set
Pixio building blocks are brightly-coloured plastic cubes, featuring six tiny magnets inside, can be assembled into custom 3D pixel art creations that don’t require glue or heating to stay together. They’re also harder than Buckyballs for little kids to swallow (though you’ll still want to keep them out of reach) but are currently only available through a Kickstarter campaign. A contribution of $US19 ($25) gets you 50 tiny cubes to start with, but as with any crowdfunded product, it’s buyer beware. [Kickstarter – Pixio]
Nintendo Game Boy Notebook
This isn’t the first notebook designed to look like the original Nintendo Game Boy, nor will it probably be the last. But the reason you’ll want to jot down notes and cheat codes in this 15cm-tall $US8 ($11) notebook is because its simulated screen uses an animated hologram that recreates a level from Super Mario Land. It’s a mere second of action, but it’s more than enough to get our credit cards at the ready. [ThinkGeek]
Hand-a La Vista Terminator Mug
In addition to a fuel cell that keeps them powered for decades, apparently Terminators still need a little pick-me-up in the morning before hunting down and wiping out humanity. But before this Terminator could finish its coffee, it was destroyed, probably by one of John Connor’s rebels, leaving only its endoskeleton hand wrapped around this $US23 ($31) ceramic mug. Unfortunately the mug doesn’t currently ship to Australia, but you could always use a mail forwarding service if you have a burning need. [Merchoid via That’s Nerdalicious]