Welcome back to Toy Aisle, Gizmodo’s weekly round-up of toys and collectables. San Diego Comic-Con 2020 didn’t quite deliver all the wonderful toy surprises we’d hoped it would, but it still brought us a terrifying line of cyber-animals from the mind of Todd McFarlane, a snazzy new Thor with some dangerously sharp armour, and our beloved Baby Yoda turned into a stylish sedan. We’ll take what we can get!
McFarlane RAW10 (Robotic Animal Weapon) Figures
While we’re all worried about super-advanced robots turning on humanity, Todd McFarlane imagines a future where foolish scientists have created animal-robot hybrids that are eager to replace humans in the food chain. The new RAW10 (Robotic Animal Weapon) line will be accompanied by a comic book series (do we really need a backstory for animal cyborgs?) when it exclusively hits Walmart on August 1, and will include four characters at launch: CY-GOR ($28), the silverback gorilla; FREN-Z ($28), the great white shark; RAPTAR ($14), the velociraptor; and BATTLESNAKE ($14), a king cobra/rattlesnake hybrid.
Editor’s Note:Â Aussie buyers may be able to purchase these online or use a service like ShopMate to ship locally.
Hot Wheels The Mandalorian The Child Character Car
Mattel’s mission of turning every last pop culture icon into a four-wheeled ride continued at San Diego Comic-Con 2020. During a livestreamed panel with Hot Wheels designers, the brand unveiled not only new die-cast vehicles based on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, but also cars based on The Mandalorian. We’ve only got a concept sketch for now, but this Baby Yocar will undoubtedly be yet another sought-after collectible when it’s available later this year, if only because as the vehicle rolls along, the Child’s head bobs up and down.
Square-Enix Bring Arts Variant Thor Figure
We recently got a look at Square-Enix’s line of action figures in which noted Final Fantasy designer Tetsuya Nomura created his own version of Marvel’s most iconic heroes. Turns out what Nomura had in mind was, err, “armour, and lots of it.” Our latest 6″-scaled figure in the line is Thor, and it’s basically Thor But With Some Very Sharp Armour. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, because the armour is very cool, especially that helmet. But it doesn’t really feel different enough from your typical version of the God of Thunder to really stand out.
That is, except for the accessories. Thor comes with the standard oodles of hands to pose with, as well as some lightning VFX pieces to wrap around Mjolnir. Speaking of which, of course he comes with his trusty hammer, and his axe Stormbreaker. But coolest of all? There’s a bonus connecting piece you can use to turn Stormbreaker and Mjolnir into some kind of absurd axe-hammer-quarterstaff that is incredibly silly, but rad as hell. Bring Arts Thor will set you back around $190 when he releases in January next year.
Mattel Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous Epic Roarin’ Tyrannosaurus Rex
In Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, a new animated series heading to Netflix on September 18, it turns out that while the theme park itself was descending into chaos in the Jurassic World movie, on the other side of the island a group of teens were about to have a summer camp experience involving rampaging dinos. We’ll take as much Jurassic content as we can get, because it also means a new run of dino toys, including Mattel’s Epic Roarin’ T-rex, which was first revealed at Toy Fair 2020 earlier this year. It’s available now for $60, the T-rex’s tail doubles as a sort of joystick that controls the dinosaur’s head movements, including a button that open and closes its jaws while triggering roaring sound effects from the movies.
Megalopolis Toys Premium DNA Madballs Figures
Back in the “˜80s, it seemed like companies tried everything imaginable to make their products seem cool and desirable to kids. That included a gross-out phase, with figures, trading cards, and even grotesque bouncy balls that featured unsettling designs that parents found revolting (which was the whole point). Madballs were one of the most memorable toy lines born from this trend; they eventually grew bodies to become full-fledged action figures, which Megalopolis Toys is bringing back.
As sculpted by the original toy’s designer James Groman, Splitting Headache, Oculus Orbus, and Bruise Brother Horn Head each stand six inches tall and feature 25 points of articulation, swappable body parts, and accessories like skateboards and weapons. They’ll be available for pre-order starting August 1, but nostalgia doesn’t come cheap: each figure will set you back $50.
Asmus Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Aragorn Figure
Asmus’ line of figures based on the beloved Lord of the Rings films continues with a take on Aragorn as he appeared bloodied, rain-soaked, and ever-so-slight-peeved-to-be-fighting-tons-of-Uruks at Helm’s Deep. The figure is relatively spartan when it comes to accessories ” he has his ranger sword and elven dagger, a loose replica of the Evenstar pendant to dangle around his neck, and several alternate hands to pose him. Hell, if you want a face that doesn’t have him glancing slightly to one side, you have to get the deluxe edition of the figure from Sideshow that costs nearly a hundred bucks more. Why? Because it also comes with an (admittedly pretty cool) 18″ base designed to look like a chunk of Helm’s Deep. If you don’t want that, the standard figure will set you back around $273 when it releases later this year, or $399 if you want the fancy version.
Mattel UNO Minimalista Card Game
Back in February, before the entire world flipped upside down, Target’s website for $14, with shipping slated for September 7. But instead of letting your family getting their greasy Doritos-stained fingers on the cards come games night, you might actually get more enjoyment from this deck by framing it on your wall.
Editor’s Note:Â Again, Aussie readers may need the services of a U.S. shipping service like ShopMate here.