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San Diego Comic Con HOT and NOT – More Weird Toys
The announcements of exclusive toys for San Diego Comic Con 2014 are coming fast and furious. Two more toys for discussion today:
NOT – Diamond Select Toys Spirit Yoda Vinyl Bank
Checking in at around $30 and limited to 1500 pieces, this is an oddball piece that (in my opinion) will struggle to sell out. I’m not sure that the “collectible bank” crowd is clamoring for a see-through blue Yoda. And it’s not really functional either. If you fill it with coins, it ceases to be transparent.
A weird idea for a toy.
HOT – Hot Wheels® The Homer
Hot Wheels’ “The Homer”, Mattel
I love this car and I love this episode. While “The Homer” didn’t have “rack-and-peanut” steering, it did have the following features (thanks Wikipedia):
- The Homer has two bubble domes; one in the front, while the one in the back is for quarreling kids, and comes with optional restraints and muzzles.
- According to Homer, the engine sound causes people to think “the world’s coming to an end.”
- There are three horns, as Homer claims that “you can never find a horn when you’re mad.” The three horns play the song “La Cucaracha.”
- The car also features gigantic cupholders, which actually became a feature on many cars in the 1990s onward.
- The car has various outdated features such as bubble domes, shag carpeting, and tailfins. It also has a metal bowler as a hood ornament.
While The Homer had a sticker price of $82,000, this one comes in at a much more reasonable $30. At the same price as the Yoda Bank, this is a way cooler exclusive toy to look out for this July at SDCC.
If I can’t snag one in San Diego, I’ll be on the lookout on eBay for this one.
– CCG
San Diego Comic Con Hot and NOT- Weird Toys from NECA
When I say “weird”, I mean it with love. There’s a lot that goes on at San Diego Comic Con. And even though I won’t be there this year, that doesn’t mean I won’t be tracking down the best and funniest weirdness that the Con has to offer. Let’s start with some of the exclusive toys:
HOT! – Super Freddy Retro 8″ Clothed Action Figure
It’s a bird… It’s a plane… It’s a weird Superman/Wolverine hybrid? According to the description, this version of Freddy is from Nightmare on Elm Street Part 5: The Dream Child (a.k.a Nightmare on Elm Street Part 5: Two Parts After You Stopped Caring).
It’s a bird… Oh, wait. Already did that one.
The Freddy action figure is kinda cool. I always love the ones with the Mego-style clothing. And this one’s got a nicely stitched cloth cape to boot.
But, as any casual collector knows, this thing’s going to be sitting on a shelf in its pristine packaging. So how does that look?
Wowza! I love the illustration and the packaging. I’m not a huge horror fan, but this early in the SDCC exclusive toy race, I gotta rate this one as HOT.
NOT HOT: Marvel Scalers 2-Pack – Silver Centurion Iron Man and “Marvels” Spider-Man
I don’t get these things. My kids are 10 and they’ve already outgrown the “big head, tiny body superheroes”.
And why are the DC in black and white?
These seem like variants of variants for absolutely no reason. Did NECA already produce so many versions of Spider-Man and Iron Man Scalers that they’re down to the “Marvels” and “Silver Centurion” costume variants? Why is Iron man even climbing a rope? Are his rockets not functioning, but the rest of the armor is? You’d think his two choices were:
1. Flying
2. Taking off the armor to climb, because if the armor is out of order, no way he’s hauling it up that rope.
That’s too much thought for a toy. Especially when I was able to buy into the Superhero Freddy so easily.
Stay tuned for more SDCC toy commentary.
Thanks! and Cheers!
– CCG
Best of San Diego Comic Con 2013
Today’s the big day. Open registration for San Diego Comic Con 2014. For all those waiting in line, hoping to get a badge today, here’s my recap of the best stuff from SDCC 2013.
Best Art I Bought
Sara Richards
Got this lovely Doctor Who Print from Sara, along with an original piece – Amelie:
Sara Richard. Genius.
Mike Vasquez
You might recognize this art Mike did for me at SDCC.
Mike Vazquez
Bordin Marsinkul
Classic Spidey
Best Panels
Tournament of Nerds: Live
The World’s End – The panel featured Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Edgar Wright talking about the movie for an hour. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Ode to Nerds – You can read more about it, but this was the biggest surprise to me at SDCC 2013. Charlie Jane Anders was a delightful moderator, and the panelists were intelligent and encouraging. I hope to see more panels hosted or featuring io9 staffers at SDCC 2014.
Best Cosplay
You can see the rest at my SDCC Cosplay page.
Best Parties
The Unofficial SDCC Blog’s #UndertheSDCC party
Geek and Sundry
You can read a full travelogue of all the parties and panels here.
Best Comics I Bought
Love and Capes TPB #1
Thomas Zahler is quite a nice guy, in addition to being a very talented writer and artist. I reviewed this TPB here.
Atomic Robo #1-6
Another great find from a terrific publisher – Red Five. Reviewed here.
Vision and Scarlet Witch (Vol 2) #1-12
And to wrap this all up, how can I resist?
Thanks, and good luck to all!
– CCG
Easy Cosplay for San Diego Comic Con
Today’s the big day. Pre-registration for San Diego Comic Con 2014 starts in just a couple hours… and ends in a couple of hours and ten minutes, I’d guess. Wish me luck, folks.
One of my favorite things about SDCC is the super-awesome cosplay.
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- My favorite GL of the convention. I’d totally feel safe if this guy was guardian of our sector..
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- Awesome recreation of the First Class.
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- The intensity was palpable.
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- Hank Pym! Get away from her you wife-abuser. This guy needs a punch in the jaw. Where’s Cap?
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- Lilith is the bomb. And, yes, I am man enough to play a female character in Borderlands.
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- Iron Man, now with Battle damage.
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- A redshirt should always take Batman with them when beaming down. Increases chances of survival by a thousand times.
So, in honor of the big day, I found a super-cool tumblr site: My Half Assed Cosplay Ideas
Artist Patrick Dean presents some pretty cool ideas for cosplay using only stuff you’d find around the house, at a flea market, or a thrift shop. Check out the site for all his designs, but below are a few of my favorites: Read the rest of this entry
SDCC Recap: Friday Night
Warning, this recap contains less than 10% actual comic book-related content! Friday night was when things got a little wobbly. Time started folding in on itself. You’ll recall that Friday morning began for me at 4:00 am, getting into line for Hall H and “The World’s End” panel. (Quick aside, if you haven’t seen “The World’s End”, stop reading and go now. If you have, finish reading this and then go see it again.) Read the rest of this entry
SDCC Artists: Albert Morales
On we go with more cool artists I met at SDCC. I asked Albert if he would do an original piece of the Vision and Scarlet Witch. These are two of my favorite characters, as I have mentioned over and over. Read the rest of this entry
San Diego Comic Con Masquerade Photos
Comic Con just posted the photos for the entrants in the 2013 Masquerade Ball. You can find them online here.
The annual SDCC Masquerade Ball is where the coplayers bring out the big guns (sometimes literally). For my money, though, here’s the best costume of them all.
Femme Doctor. Worn by Hannah Black. Designed and made by Hannah Black; Parasol and Ascot painted by Jarrnell Williams. Winner of the David C. Copley Prize for the Most Innovative Costume and the Century Guild prize. Photo by Barry Brown © 2013 SDCC – See more at: http://www.comic-con.org/awards/masquerade-awards/photo-gallery#sthash.W5BOqGJo.dpuf
Nova Prime is pretty awesome as well:
Nova Prime (onstage). Worn by David Cap Santiago. Designed and made by David Cap Santiago. Photo by Daniel Sakow © 2013 SDCC – See more at: http://www.comic-con.org/awards/masquerade-awards/photo-gallery?page=1#sthash.TJOhkqzT.dpuf
SDCC Recap: Friday Afternoon and Evening
Friday was a dilly of a day. If you’ve read the Friday morning update, you already know I was riding a wave of triumph, having bested Hall H and its mammoth line. Read the rest of this entry
SDCC Recap – Friday Morning
So, back to the business of San Diego Comic Con recaps. Friday was Hall H day for me. And if that doesn’t strike fear into your heart and get your adrenaline pumping, you’ve never been to San Diego Comic Con. Since Friday was Hall H day, that meant I needed to get out of bed around 3:30 am. Read the rest of this entry
What’s Right and Wrong about “What’s Right and What’s Wrong About the San Diego Comic Con” – A Response
So, over on newsarama.com, Jim McLauchlin published a mighty(and lengthy) piece called “What’s RIGHT and What’s WRONG About the San Diego Comic Con”. Somehow my newly minted blog feed picked up the article. Man, the nanobots that power these things are getting good at selecting content. Read the rest of this entry
