BBTS has provided the first pics of the upcoming Square Enix Play Arts Kai Superman and General Zod figures from Man of Steel on the BigBadToyStore Facebook page. What do you guys think? At $79.99 a pop, I think I’ll need to see these in person (and probably the movie too) before deciding if they’re must-haves for my collection.
These figures are expected to arrive in August this year. Man of Steel opens June 14, 2013.
Speaking of Square Enix Play Arts Kai, BigBadToyStore posted some cool pics of the color variants for Ryu, Chun Li, Cammy, and Akuma. You can pre-order from the Super Street Fighter IV Play Arts Kai figures here, and click through to BigBadToyStore’s Facebook album for more pics.
I am getting around to posting pics in the backlog from Toy Fair. My tag team partner from Fwoosh, Hagop, did such a great job with coverage that the pressure was off to get things posted – but I realized that I had more stuff in the backlog than I actually posted.
Here’s a look at the Play Arts Kai offerings from Square Enix. The 8-inch scale is a bit of an anomaly for the rest of my collection, but between the quality of sculpt and articulation scheme I put the Play Arts Kai Street Fighters on my Best of 2012 list. They’re continuing the line with more Street Fighter 4 figures – just not fast enough for my liking.
It’s almost February, so I figured I better get to my picks (and pics) for Best of 2012! I’ll get us started with one of the choices I included in the Fwoosh Best of 2012 post – the Marvel Legends Build-A-Figure Arnim Zola.
2012 was a great year for Marvel Legends, with Hasbro finally getting the flagship line back to retail. And it was an especially great year for Marvel villains. In the three 2012 waves, we got: Terrax, Constrictor, Klaw, Madame Masque, Madame Hydra, Daken, Mystique, Dr. Doom, Thunderball, and Piledriver. You could even throw in the Marvel Select Ultron.
But none stand above Arnim Zola, the Build-A-Figure for wave 2. C’mon! It’s Arnim Zola!
The World War II WMD dealer looks like he popped out of a Jack Kirby drawing. He’s got the classic orange and purple color scheme, with the tunic and skirt. His legs are ribbed for your pleasure, and he’s got the trademark Kirby flare on his crotch flap. And that Zola face? Pure evil.
To top it all off, via the Madames and Wrecking Crew running changes, you can give your classic Zola a modern twist – the BAF pieces that came with Madame Hydra and Piledriver let you build a Red Skull trapped in a Zola construct. That’s why Zola is the best of 2012 – quit arguing and just accept it.
As we close in on the end of the year, I’ve been trying to figure who will make it to my short list of best action figures for 2012. I think I’ll have a tougher time this year than I had choosing my Best of 2011 figures, topped by the Marvel Universe Sentinel.
With one of my favorite lines, DC Universe Classics, scaling back, my collection became a little more varied this year. Masters of the Universe Classics remained a mainstay, but I also branched out into Square Enix’s Play Arts Kai lines, especially Street Fighter. And with more 3A Toys releases coming in the 1/12 scale, the Adventure Kartel Zombs became an expensive army building exercise. It also helped that this year saw the relaunch of Marvel Legends – oh how I’ve missed you, ML! There’s more – I had to pick up the fearsome foursome from the Nickelodeon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line from Playmates. And Diamond Select Toys’ Marvel Minimates continued to put out tiny offerings that were too cute to pass up.
I’m sure as I look through the stuff I’ve picked up throughout the year, I’ll find even more figures that could top the list. But if you’ve got some obvious winners that I’ve missed, be sure to let me know. I’ve got some Free Stuff that could head your way, as I make room for the New Year!
