Don’t Be a Square, This Week’s Toy News Embraces Cubes and Bricks

Don’t Be a Square, This Week’s Toy News Embraces Cubes and Bricks

Welcome back to Gizmodo’s Toy Aisle: our regular weekly round up of the toys and collectibles worthy of a spot on your shelves. San Diego Comic-Con is in full swing this week, and even with all of the convention’s exclusive toys and collectibles already revealed, we’ve still got Hasbro debuting its new Dungeons & Dragons figure line with what is definitely not a figure, a life-size Pokémon plush Spheal that promises to help keep you cool during this heat wave, and a T.rex from Mattel without a lawyer to snack on. Check it out!

Don’t Be a Square, This Week’s Toy News Embraces Cubes and Bricks

Dungeons & Dragons Golden Archive Gelatinous Cube

Although it makes the briefest of appearances in the first trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves revealed yesterday at San Diego Comic-Con, Hasbro has chosen the ominous, but also oddly delicious sounding, gelatinous cube as the first reveal for its new Dungeons & Dragons figure line. You assemble the six-walled cube yourself and then adorn it with 14 included snap-in accessories including weapons, spell books, and various skeletal parts, while the cube is also large enough to hold a six-inch scale figure inside, held aloft with an invisible stand. It’s available for pre-order now from Hasbro Pulse for $US34 ($47), with shipping expected in March of next year, right when the movie hits theatres.

Don’t Be a Square, This Week’s Toy News Embraces Cubes and Bricks

Mattel Jurassic World Hammond Collection Tyrannosaurus Rex

Mattel’s San Diego Comic-Con exclusive T.rex snacking on Donald Gennaro Jurassic Park set is going to be in steep demand this weekend, but like most fans of the original film, all we really care about is the dinosaur. So if you can hold out until next month, you can pre-order the latest addition to Mattel’s Jurassic World Hammond Collection: an elaborately detailed and highly articulated 21-inch long Tyrannosaurus Rex from online stores like Entertainment Earth. Even the T.rex’s tail is segmented and poseable, but if you’ve read this far, you probably don’t need any more reasons to drop $US54 ($75) on this one.

Don’t Be a Square, This Week’s Toy News Embraces Cubes and Bricks

Hot Toys Morbius Morbius Sixth-Scale Figure

As Sony struggles to figure out how to turn Spider-Man’s supporting characters into equally lucrative film franchises, Hot Toys managed to deliver a version of Morbius that fans might actually embrace. The 12-inch figure version of Michael Morbius includes a new head sculpt with red eyes, sharp pointy teeth, and a greyish white wrinkled skin texture, and a body with 30 points of articulation wrapped in a black coat with purple lining that’s poseable too thanks to embedded wires. The figure also boasts alternate swappable hands in various poses, but most importantly, two swarms of bats: an accessory that really goes with any figure. Pricing details are TBA, and delivery isn’t expected until well into late 2023.

Don’t Be a Square, This Week’s Toy News Embraces Cubes and Bricks

Lego Avatar Jake & Neytiri’s First Banshee Flight, Neytiri & Thanator vs. AMP Suit Quaritch, Jake Sully & his Avatar, and Floating Mountains: Site 26 & RDA Samson

It’s been 13 years since Avatar confusingly shattered box office records, but with four sequels enroute, including the repeatedly delayed Avatar: The Way of Water hitting theatres this December, we’re about to be saturated in Avatar merchandise, with Lego being among the first to open the floodgates. We’ve already gotten a preview of one Lego Avatar set, but for San Diego Comic-Con, the company revealed four others based on characters and events from the original film.

The $US20 ($28), 246-piece, Jake Sully and his avatar BrickHeadz set is the cheapest point of entry, followed by the $US45 ($62), 560-piece, Neytiri & Thanator vs. AMP Suit Quaritch featuring one of the film’s menacing mechs. The $US60 ($83), 572-piece, Jake & Neytiri’s First Banshee Flight might be our favourite of the lot with a pair of vibrantly coloured winged banshees, while the $US100 ($139), 887-piece, Floating Mountains: Site 26 & RDA Samson is the most expensive of the lot. All of the Lego Avatar sets will be available starting on October 1, but only the First Banshee Flight is available for pre-order right now.

Don’t Be a Square, This Week’s Toy News Embraces Cubes and Bricks

Mondo Masters of the Universe Sixth-Scale She-Ra Figure

Although Mattel’s ‘80s He-Man line was targeted squarely at boys while She-Ra was marketed towards girls, both were iconic toy lines with equally engaging characters, and while most boys in the ‘80s would never admit it, She-Ra was just as awesome a hero as He-Man was, if not moreso. There has been a major Masters of the Universe revival over the past few years, including a new animated She-Ra series, but Mondo has drawn inspiration from Princess Adora’s original appearance for its new sixth-scale She-Ra figure, with a few minor updates. The 12-inch figure features 20 points of articulation, multiple weapons and swords, a fabric cape, and even a Kowl figure, and even with a $US250 ($347) price tag it’s understandably already sold out, but you can sign up for notifications from Mondo’s online shop for restocks.

Don’t Be a Square, This Week’s Toy News Embraces Cubes and Bricks

Sideshow Collectibles Star Wars: The Clone Wars Ahsoka Tano Sixth-Scale Figure

A year after Sideshow Collectible’s Clone Wars Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi figures debuted, they’re finally being joined by a matching sixth-scale Ahsoka Tano. Standing 10-inches tall, the figure features multiple but seamless articulation joints, two lightsabers with blade attachments, a full fabric outfit based on the character’s appearance in later seasons of the animated series, swappable hands, and a holoprojector with a hologram of clonetrooper Captain Rex. The figure is available for pre-order now for $US260 ($361), but shipping isn’t expected until around mid-2023.

Don’t Be a Square, This Week’s Toy News Embraces Cubes and Bricks

Pokémon Centre Lifesize Spheal Plush

If you’re barely surviving the heat waves making life unbearable in many parts of the world right now, you can spend $US350 ($486) on a nice air conditioner parked next to you, or $US350 ($486) on this life-size Pokémon Spheal plush made from fabric that feels cool to the touch. At 40-inches in size it’s not exactly something you can cuddle up to in bed, but it can easily be repurposed as a big squishy chair you can sink into and forget about the world going to hell, and literally becoming a scorching hell. Just remember that price tag (49,500 Yen) doesn’t include shipping, duties, and export fees if you’re trying to order one outside of Japan.

Don’t Be a Square, This Week’s Toy News Embraces Cubes and Bricks

threezero Game of Thrones Sandor “The Hound” Clegane Sixth-Scale Figure

The hacked together final season of HBO’s Game of Thrones understandably left a lot of fans upset, although it more or less gave fan-favourite Sandor Clegane a satisfying demise as he fought and killed (with a side of vengeance) the zombie version of his brother, Gregor Clegane, as the Red Keep came crashing down around both of them. But if you weren’t satisfied with The Hound’s ending, you can recreate it again and again with threezero’s new Sandor Clegane sixth-scale figure, based on his appearance in season seven of the show. The $US199 ($276) figure, expected to ship sometime later this year, includes an impeccably detailed but weathered tiny wardrobe, as well as accessories like a sword with scabbard, a dagger, an axe, and two extra pairs of swappable hands with alternate poses.

Want more Gizmodo news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.


Editor’s Note: Release dates within this article are based in the U.S., but will be updated with local Australian dates as soon as we know more.


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At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.