Welcome back to Toy Aisle, our weekly round-up of the best toys we’ve seen that are currently trying to swipe our hard-earned wages (earned by writing about toys, of course). This week: Tyrion Lannister gets the booze-wielding figure he deserves, Funko gets overtly muscular with retro Thundercats figures, and more!
Threezero Game of Thrones Tyrion Lannister Sixth-Scale Figure
Proving that Hot Toys isn’t the only toymaker that can make disturbingly lifelike miniature replicas of famous characters, Threezero’s new 23cm Tyrion Lannister figure features a near-perfect sculpt of Peter Dinklage, capturing both the sadness and determination in the character’s eyes. The $US200 ($273) articulated figure comes with multiple swappable hands, including a pair specifically designed to hold goblets and jugs. It won’t be available until April of 2019 at the earliest, but that will probably still be well before the final season of Game of Thrones airs.
Mezco Toys One:12 Collective Cyclops
A maybe (?) controversial opinion: 1990s Cyclops was the best Cyclops design. The open top mask is a vast improvement on Scott’s original look, the added straps break up the blue undersuit, and the classic visor is still far superior to the dumb X-face he had until he died. So it’s good to see that Mondo’s line of excellent 1:12 action figures apes the ‘90s design, albeit with a little extra lining on the suit for old times’ sake. Cyclops comes with a light up visor (because of course!) and alternate head masks showing him screaming as he releases an optic blast, or neutral, complete with a very cool “sizzle” effect to show he’s just fired a shot off.
Hollywood Collectibles Group Ghostbusters Ghost Trap Prop Replica
Ghostbusters was not only a really fun movie, it also had some of the coolest film props ever created, like the iconic Ecto-1 and the distinctive proton packs worn by Ray, Egon, Winston, and Peter. Also, who could forget the ghost traps—which Hollywood Collectibles Group has now painstakingly recreated as these life-size replicas? Limited to just 500 pieces, HCG’s ghost traps are hand-painted with meticulous weathering and feature limited functionality. They don’t actually trap evil spirits, though, which makes the $US500 ($682) price tag a bit of a tough pill to swallow for anyone but die-hard Ghostbusters collectors.
[h/t Toyark]
Joining the ranks of other popular pairings like sweet and sour and chocolate and peanut butter, Funko has revealed a new line of Savage World figures that are essentially a mashup of ThunderCats with the ridiculously muscled physique of He-Man. Available starting in October, the line will include Lion-O, Panthro, Mumm-Ra, and Slithe—but we’re keeping our fingers crossed for a beefcake version of Snarf as well.
[h/t Action Figure Insider]
Diamond Select Toys Star Trek Select Borg
One of our favourite action figures of all time was one of Playmates’ Star Trek: The Next Generation borgs, who often found himself fighting alongside our collection of G.I Joes and Transformers. That explains why Diamond Select Toys’ new Star Trek Select borg figure lit up our radar. It’s also based on the character as seen on TNG, and for $US25 ($34) you get 16 points of articulation, detailed and swappable Klingon and human heads, multiple arm tools, upgradeable eyepieces, and a vest that can be removed to better show off his cyborg upgrades.
[h/t Toy News International]
Boss Fight Studio Sam & Max Freelance Police Figures
Steve Purcell’s loveable crime-fighting dog and bunny team started their careers in a comic book series that debuted way back in 1987, but are probably best known, and most fondly remembered, for their point-and-click LucasArts graphical adventure game, Sam & Max Hit the Road. That game is what will have collectors excited for Boss Fight Studio’s upcoming Sam and Max figures, which have only been previewed as renders at this point, so there’s no pricing or availability details nailed down just yet. Let’s turn more of the characters in LucasArts brilliant adventure game series into collectibles—please and thank you.
[h/t Toyark]
Harry Potter: A Pop-Up Guide to Hogwarts
It’s hard enough having to abandon books with pictures when you grow up, but pop-up books too? They seem childish, but the amount of technical know-how and engineering that artist Matthew Reinhart used to create 3D models of Hogwarts that self-assemble on every page of this book is staggering. Sure, kids will love flipping through Harry Potter: A Pop-Up Guide to Hogwarts, but it’s the adult Potter fans who will truly appreciate the level of detail and craftsmanship in this $US75 ($102) book when it’s available near the end of October. Not only are the various sections of Hogwarts recreated, but the entire book opens and folds flat to create a sprawling 3D map of the castle’s entire grounds.
Assouline 50th Anniversary Hot Wheels Book
To this day we can’t walk into a store with a toy section and not scan the racks of hanging Hot Wheels cars. We’re not really looking for anything, in particular, these days, but with 10 million tiny die-cast cars still rolling off the assembly line every week, collecting the replicas gets in your blood and stays there. Hot Wheels, Assouline’s $US50 ($68), 300-page ode to a toy that’s remained popular for 50 years now, includes lavish illustrations, drool-worthy photos of famous collections and memorable models, a history of the collectible, and a foreword by Mario Andretti who apparently knows a thing or two about cars. But it’s totally understandable if you’d rather just spend that money on 50 more Hot Wheels cars instead.
[h/t Cool Hunting]