Welcome back to Toy Aisle, our regular roundup of the cool toys and merchandise we tried to furiously add to our Christmas wishlists this week. We’ve got some excellent new Pacific Rim robots, the General of the Resistance herself, and even environmentally-conscious Jenga. What more could you want?
Diamond Select Pacific Rim Uprising Figures
The world could always use more giant robot figures, and Diamond Select is happily obliging with another set of 7"-scaled figures based on the upcoming Pacific Rim movie. The three figures making up the wave include the dark green Titan Redeemer, who wields a giant mace (yes please); the red-and-white Guardian Bravo, who wields an electric whip with 16 points of articulation (yes, please); and then the mysterious Obsidian Fury, who looks a lot like the old Gipsy Danger, but with some slick updates — as seen battling the other Jaegers in the first trailer, with its twin wrist blades (god, yes, please again). If we haven’t made it clear just yet, we’re very excited for these robots to hit our shelves in June next year. [Toy News International]
Star Wars Admiral Ackbar Coin Bag
Do people still carry coins around instead of just dumping them into the nearest fountain? They would if they had this lovely Admiral Ackbar coin bag in their pocket. Made from intricately stitched faux-leather, the bag also features a fabric lining with a repeating Star Wars logo pattern on the inside. If you sift through the mountains of coins on your dresser you’ve been hesitant to carry around all day, you can probably easily scrounge up $US24 ($31) in quarters and dimes to add this to your collection. [ThinkGeek]
Kaiyodo Zootopia Nick Wilde Figure
Disney proved that it doesn’t necessarily need Pixar’s help to make a successful CG animated film with Zootopia. The characters might not have been as endearing or memorable as Buzz and Woody, but I’m going to have a hard time passing up this Complex Movie Revo Nick Wilde figure from Kaiyodo. Why? When available come April of next year, it will include 14 points of articulation that make it incredibly poseable, plus three swappable facial expressions, replaceable hands, and a pair of Ray-Bans. That makes it slightly easier to cough up $US70 ($91) for a five-inch tall figure. [BigBadToyStore via Toy News International]
Hot Toys General Leia Organa
After a few truly jaw-droppingly good Leia figures, Hot Toys has finally given us a sequels-era Leia and… it’s fine, but it’s not quite the perfect encapsulation of Carrie Fisher as its previous figures were. There’s something off about the face — there’s almost a little too much young Leia in it, and not enough of the stately former senator Leia has become by the time of The Last Jedi. But if you can look past some of the sculpt’s misgivings, this is still a gorgeous figure overall, complete with Leia’s spectacular robes, and even her trusty blaster. She’ll set you back $US220 ($285) when she releases early 2019. Just in time for that Episode IX hype! [Sideshow Collectibles]
Blitzway International Space Station Astronaut
We’re usually not fans of collectible statues that take the action out of action figure, but Blitzway has changed our hearts with its quarter-scale ISS astronaut engaged in a perpetual spacewalk. It stands almost three feet tall, and the amount of detail on this statue is staggering, including functional LED lights on the astronaut’s space helmet. There’s a good reason it will set you back almost $US1,200 ($1,555) when available next June — space exploration isn’t cheap. [Blitzway via GeekAlerts]
Jenga Ocean
Does your family love stacking and re-stacking wooden blocks, but deep down feel guilty that a tree had to die just so you could have a games night? The makers of Jenga have teamed up with an organisation called Bureo to create Jenga Ocean, a new version of the game made from 25 square feet of recycled plastic fishing nets. Players still stack and re-stack blocks, but the individual monoliths now look more like black dominoes, adorned with images of threatened marine animal life, and the $US50 ($65) game adds “special edition” rules to mix things up, and teach players about ocean cleanup efforts. [Bureo]