‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Characters Revealed in Action Figures and Concept Art

From slashfilm, Toys are a necessary part of blockbuster filmmaking, but they’re also the bane of its existence. On seemingly every single major Hollywood film, it’s the toys that reveal our first look at something major. For Jurassic World it was the D-Rex; for Transformers 4 it was Grimlock; the list goes on and on. It took longer than usual but the same thing has begun to happen for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. An image has appeared online that shows Finn, Rey, BB-8, Chewbacca and a mystery character that may or may not be Kylo Ren. However, an additional piece of concept art was released that almost certainly is Ren. Find out more about The Force Awakens toy leak below. A Chinese Star Wars site (via Making Star Wars) posted the image.

Basically, you’ve got Finn dressed in a vest a la Han Solo; Rey dressed in sort of a cloak/robe, like a mix of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia costumes; Chewbacca and BB-8 looking as you’d expect; and then a mystery character with an almost “Stormtrooper meets Darth Vader” helmet, a cloak and then indented fabric robe. There’s no guarantee that this is Kylo Ren, but it could hypothetically be the character we’ve seen in the trailer. The Stormtrooper helmet also could suggest Phasma, the rumored name of Gwendoline Christie’s character.So who is it? Well, Indie Revolver is at it again, posting a concept image of a very similar looking Stormtrooper meets Darth Vader helmet, with yellow marks around the eyes, making for a very menacing look. Like an evil bumble bee. They claim this is Kylo Ren. Again, we aren’t going to post it here, but check it out on their site.

Pretty cool stuff if you’re a Star Wars fan. On the other hand, it’s a little disconcerting that we’re just under year away and the toys are already starting to leak. At least, in this case, it’s characters we’ve already seen – just in different outfits. Next, it could be a major spoiler.

What do you think of the image?

Want: Egg Chamber Action Playset

From toynewsi, The highly anticipated playset that will pull on nostalgic heartstrings of 70’s youth will be exclusively released at this year’s San Diego Comic Con. Now you can relive the excitement of the Nostromo Crew’s journey into the Derelict Alien Spaceship! Venture with Kane deep into the mysterious Egg Chamber ReAction Playset and pose your sturdy ReAction Figures on the detailed, egg-covered base. Inspired by the playsets of the 1970’s and packaged in an era appropriate photo box, the playset provides the perfect backdrop for all of your ReAction Adventures. The playset comes complete with classically styled action base made from durable hand-cast resin and corrugated cardboard, full-color Alien Egg Silo backdrop that slides into the base for display. ReAction Figures sold separately. Limit to one per person for the entirety of the show. Limited run of 250/numbered. $100 ea.

Tim Burton's 'Batman' is 25 years old today

Must Have! Klaatu Barada Retro - Old-Style The Day the Earth Stood Still Action Figures Arrive

From toplessrobot, Now in the perfect 4" scale to take on the Return of the Jedi aliens who stole their names - or get shot by G.I. Joes who mistake their intentions - Gort and Klaatu come to toy collections courtesy of Amok Time collectibles for the not-especially cheap price of $25 a pair. Words alone won't stop them this time - only the spiffy plastic prison of a package that you may choose to open or keep sealed.

Klaatu comes with an interchangeable unmasked humanoid head. Gort features movie-accurate non-talking action.

New Black Series Bespin Luke looks very anxious

I saw this in Target the other day and couldn't get over how pathetically worried the action figure's expression is.  I like to imagine the toy understands completely the events Bespin Luke action figures are created to re-experience, and he's upset at the thought of repeatedly losing his hand, discovering who his father is and basically being the epicenter of Fail in The Empire Strikes Back.  Silly Luke.

Want: 'Twilight Zone' retro action figures!

[via entertainment earth]

600 new Lego pictures from the 2014 International Toy Fair!

Go here for tons of fun.

Octo adds:

Stash that lightsaber and this is basically the Cantina Hammerhead, right?

Man, the Dewback!  How is that thing cooler than any given character from the prequels?

A toy story

Last August I did a decent job of letting my nieces and nephews play with the toys I'd snagged from my storage pace.  I had everything accounted for until the last day, when my Luke Skywalker X-Wing pilot vanished.  My suspicion that Luke wandered off gripped in some tiny fist was confirmed when we arrived home and I found my sister Casey's old iPhone in my kid's Lightning McQueen suitcase.  One of her boys had wandered in to my room, spotted Luke, and made a trade.

Shortly afterwards we received the photo above...

I repsonded with the following.  Han and Chewie arrive too late; the phone is being carried off by Jawas.

Leia arrives, fixing the situation.  Han jumps like Shaggy into Chewbacca's arms.

The getaway.

Both items were returned unharmed.

Presumably the arsonist has a motorcycle, too.

I love LEGO of course but this made me laugh:  a motorcycle fireman with a single extinguisher would ONLY be useful to put out fires in trash cans, which this set hilariously includes.

ReAction reveals dozens of new figures!

There are a number of interesting figure lines coming from ReAction.  One of the reasons that I haven't been posting here for a long time is because I haven't found any interesting toys out there.  ReAction understands that toys are more fun when they are (a) Star Wars-sized and (b) not EXACT copies of the property.  Here are some of the horror offerings (go to the link to see many more!).

Check out many more here,http://www.entertainmentearth.com/hitlist.asp?spotlight=3447

Worst toy line ever?

Ah, 1989.  Tim Burton’s Batman was a smash-success and D.C. was looking for a way to jump on the Bat’s action figure coattails.  Sure they put out some crappy Batman figures and even poached a few from the Super Powers line (shoddy revisions) but D.C. wanted to expand the new line even further.  Relabeling and combining the Batman movie figures and Super Powers figures “D.C. Comics Super Heroes”, D.C. unleashed arguably the single worst action figure line of all time.  At the time they were noticeably bad but 25 years later it is astonishing to look at how bad this line actually is. 

The first wave was from the Batman film and included new sculps of Batman and The Joker.  In addition we were offered “Bob the Goon”.  Batman is serviceable but the Joker looks ridiculous and Bob is simply awful.

The second wave included Superman, Mister Freeze, Robin, The Penguin and Wonder Woman.  These were Super Powers retreads and you might argue that they are really not that bad, however that would simply be your Super Powers nostalgia kicking in.  This wave also included The Riddler, a fairly bland Robin repaint, and Lex Luthor, which might be the single worst action figure ever created.

Wave 3 consisted of revised Super Powers Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern and Hawkman and perhaps the second worst figure ever made, Two Face!  I mean, look at that GIANT coin.  It has a “flipping” action but I imagine it is either always heads or always tails.  1989-1990 was indeed a dark time for action figure enthusiasts.

 

Yoda is the best Kenner Star Wars action figure - Want to fight about it?

Yes, Yoda.  While I adore my vintage collection of Kenner Star Wars figures, my favorite has always been the diminutive Jedi.  Sure, you might attempt to argue that there are better choices (e.g. Boba Fett, the Cantina denizens, etc) but you would lose that argument.  Why is the Yoda figure so great?  There are many reasons, and I will go through them all.

Accessories!  Yoda comes with a cloth cape, a cane, a removable belt (with lightsaber hilt), and a fucking snake!  The orange snake is better.

That cloth cape!  Yoda is the rare instance where the cloth cape works.  Many times the cloth cape can make an action figure look like the Michelin Man , but Yoda's cape perfectly complements his small frame.

Scale!  Yoda is perfectly scaled with his taller brethren.

Color!  The bright green and the orange snake make this figure pop like no other.

Face!  His face is a close facsimile to the "real" thing and his peaceful expression reminds you that everything is going to be ok.

Packaging!  The perfect picture was chosen to showcase this perfect figure.

I have had Yoda on my desk at home for a decade and his presence always makes me smile.  Yoda is the best Kenner Star Wars figure.

Reaction!

From doomkick, In case you missed the original news a company called Super 7 is producing Alien figures based on the original Kenner prototypes made all those years ago. These figures have the 5 points of articulation that was standard at the time and basically fit in aesthetically with the Kenner Star Wars figures from the late 70′s and 80′s. They have even produced vintage style packaging and have come up with some incredibly creative ways of selling them including an Early Bird set in an homage to the original wave of Kenner figures. Now that alone would be great but it’s just about to explode from there into something I can’t even wrap my vintage 5 POA-loving head around. Enter FUNKO!

You should all be familiar with FUNKO. They produce some really great toys and have shown that they know how to scoop up an insane amount of licenses. They also know what properties collectors want and have proven time and time again that they mean business in the toy world. Their line of POPs is growing more and more popular and is easily available and affordable. The partnership of FUNKO and Super7 is like the joining of Hawk and Animal. These guys are going to be the Road Warriors of the toy world.

The plan is to take all of our money by producing 12 to 14 lines under the ReAction banner a year. You read that right, 12 to 14 lines! A YEAR! The lines that have been announced so far is like a dream list that most would never have thought to actually come to reality. Back to the Future, Aliens, Predator, Universal Monsters, Terminator 1 and 2, the Goonies, Escape from NY, Firefly, Dark Crystal, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV Series) and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Most of these properties have never had a toy line and now they get to become what will surely be the biggest thing to hit in 2014, ReAction.

[JPX]  These figures are a delightful throwback to a more innocent toy era.  I prefer these to any modern Alien toys.  They are designed to fit seamlessly with Star Wars-sized figures.  Finally I can have my Love Boat Issac figure serve the Alien in my creature cantina!

Toy Moments

Why do I love toys?  Toys are the only objects besides works of art that exist just to be themselves; every other object I can think of has some main function.  Toys are solid dreams; little chunks of The Adventure that you can take home with you and put on your nightstand.

I'd like to get this blog rolling again, so I'm combing through my photo library for all the toy-related pictures I've amassed.  Both these pics are from our old apartment.  Above you can see our cat Washington pondering some serious disruption.

And here's my son doing a much better job.