McFarlane Toys

March 8, 2021March 8, 2021

Diorama Prints – Quickly Class Up Your Photography and Displays

By Erik Weinbrecht

Ok… so you’ve been lurking Toy Instagram, or more specifically #toyphotography, and you are feeling one or some combination of intimidation, intrigue, joy, and if you’ve discovered Jay Hernandez – downright disbelief; all of which is fair. While there are MANY Uber-talented artists out there like DarthDondada who not only stage incredible atmospheric photos, but also create elaborate set pieces and dioramas in scale with their figures. Not sure if you’re ready to take that kind of dedicated plunge? Enter Diorama Prints.

Diorama Prints currently offers 18 different prints, most consisting of two walls and a floor, in scale with 6 and 7-inch figures, covering everything from seedy hotel rooms to abandoned space ships.

The beauty of these super high-quality prints are that they are easy to store, not permanent, and incredibly easy to use. Simply trim the edges and tack them to some foam board or cardboard, prop them up in your light box or as the backdrop of your display, and you’re ready to go.

Diorama Prints is giving burgeoning toy photographers a chance to dip their toes without much commitment – and it REALLY is that easy. We received a bundle from them and no exaggeration, had taken the photos you see here in about 45 min start to finish. You can see they work well with NECA, Hasbro, Jazwares, Storm Collectibles, and McFarlane Toys.

The finish on the prints have a light gloss on them – which is great for basic lighting – and they’re on a great stock. Another thing of note here is that all of these shots were taken on an iPhone 12 and very lightly edited using the Lightroom app. Thanks to the folks at Diorama Prints for sending over these samples, we love them and can’t wait to keep using them with more figures in the future.

Be sure to check out dioramaprints.com to see all 18 of their sets and get yours today!

February 17, 2021February 17, 2021

The 2021 Toy Association Toy of the Year Awards

By Erik Weinbrecht

2020 may be in the rearview mirror, but the global pandemic certainly is not. With this year’s cancellation of the New York Toy Fair, that left the Toy Association no choice but proceed with the first-ever all virtual TOTY awards. And while it didn’t have the same feeling as years’ past and left us jonesing for the annual plastic spectacle at the Javits Center, we were still happy to be able to experience it at all.

Before we get into the one piece of controversy from the award show, I wanted to shout out this year’s inductees into the Toy Hall of Fame – something that is always a part of the TOTY proceedings.

It was really great to see legendary heavy-hitters from the industry like Steiff, Rowland, and Killgallon who have contributed to lasting toy legacies like Steiff plushes, American Girl Dolls, and the Etch-a-Sketch [respectively] get recognition.

Onto the “controversy.” So McFarlane’s highly-anticipated, record-breaking, Kickstarter Spawn made the list, even though few have actually laid hands on it. Yes, at the time of writing this we are told that they have passed customs in the US and will beginning shipping out any day and YES – Dave and I are both beyond excited to get our hands on it. That being said, we’re both on board with it not winning the Action Figure of the Year award that went the one of two ways it should have; that being with Spin Master’s Batman figures, or with the #thankyouheroes line from Fisher-Price (which is where it landed).

Spawn did take home the People’s Choice Award to which we say, “fair.” No doubt an exorbitant amount of people voted for it, pushed by a campaign run by McFarlane Toys and due simply to the buzz the figure has been generating since May.

Below you can find the full list of winners from the show as well as a link to watch the presentation in its entirety.

Watch the 2021 TOTY Awards Here

July 31, 2020August 31, 2020

July 2020 – Top 5 SDCC Toy Moments

by Erik Weinbrecht

San Diego Comic Con’s virtual adventure has come to an end – and even though the venue was certainly something different this year – the events still brought to the toy world MANY an announcement. While a lot of collectors were caught up in the whirlwind that was scalpers swooping in and/or broken and beaten down websites, there were a TON of wow moments from brands, big and small. In no particular order, here are 5 announcements that blew us away during this year’s Comic Con at home.

Hasbro

It’s no surprise with the plethora of IPs that the folks at Hasbro manage that they had quite the showiing. All of their exclusives were revealed, but won’t be available until September through Hasbro Pulse, and whether it was the Star Wars, GI Joe, Marvel Legends, Transformers, or Power Rangers announcements, they covered a lot of ground.

Mattel

I hope you like wrestling – and if you do – I hope you’ve been saving up! WWE basics, elites, and ultimates were all shown off in various stages of development. Notable highlights were all things Bray Wyatt (including the Ringside Collectibles exclusive set), the incredibly detailed ultimate Rock, Hollywood Hulk Hogan, and Fiend, as well as a ton of new faces like Rhea Ripley coming to the line for the first time.

Since McFarlane Toys snatched up that DC Multiverse license, they’ve been getting a lot of feedback from collectors – many saying that the scale and deco is a little “off,” and that their Batman-centric lens has been frustrating; the latter of the two sets of critics will not be pleased with what Todd and Co. had to show off, but it’s hard to argue their new offerings aren’t a MARKED improvement over their early waves. Rounding out the Dark Knights Metal crew, introducing the Flash and characters like Red Hood, many thought the brand, “stole the show.” Also announced were new additions to the My Hero Academia line, as well as DOOM, and a new RAW10 line of monsters.

NECA

Turtles, turtles, turtles, and tension. While NECA revealed more of their Alien, Predator, and final shots of their upcoming Back to the Future figures, it was obvious that the focus was on the TMNT. With their movie realism two-pack of Casey Jones and Raphael unable to stay stocked at Walmart (at the time of writing this) and their con-exclusive Mutagen Tour 4-pack depicting the TMNT in their 90′s concert glory selling out in mere seconds, NECA’s announcements were both parts exciting, and maddeningly frustrating. That being said, they responded quickly to the backlash by announcing the upcoming Tokka and Rahzar two-pack will be subject to pre-order window – something brands like Super 7 have had a lot of success with.

The Major Wrestling Figure Podcast

Not to be left out of the fun, the pro-wrestlers and action figure aficionados Matt Cardona and Brian Myers of the Major Wrestling Figure Podcast had their own slew of announcements during SDCC – firstly they announced that they, as podcast personalities, will be getting Super 7 Ultimate figures – insanely awesome ones at that – and those will scale with Super 7′s other Ultimates like what they’re making for New Japan Pro Wrestling. Secondly, they announced 4 sets of Ringside Exclusive REMCO-style vintage figures in their likeness, along with a ref, and Smart Mark Sterling himself.

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