Toy Bender

I’ve been rather impressed with Mattel’s take on Marvel Legends with their DC figures. So far the only negative is that all of the heroes and villains have been released so far are all related to Superman or Batman in some manner. Well, it looks like they’ve been impressed with their results as well as they’ve entered into an agreement with DC to open the floodgates of awesome and start making figures from DC’s entire stable.

Don’t hold your breath for a Mattel Pied Piper, because you’ll die.

While DC Direct is already making figures from every strata of the DC Universe, there are a couple of reasons why this is a great move. The first is that DC Direct is a collector’s line. There are many figures that come out of DC Direct that would never see the light of day in a line from Mattel. Secondly, DC Direct has very selective distribution. Unless you frequent a comic shop, you’ll never see a DC Direct figure on a store shelf or peg. With a cheaper wildly available variety of figures, kids will have a chance to get sucked into the greater DC universe, something that Marvel has done very well and DC has done a spotty job at best.

Action Figures, comic book, toys, action figures, DC, Mattel, DC Direct

For fans of the Superman/Batman comics, there’s a new wave of figures in the Ed McGuinness style(real link) available February 13, 2008.

Yep, I’m really only posting this because of the new Supergirl and the new Powergirl figures in this wave. Sue me. I haven’t gotten the trade to this one yet, but if those two are in it I guess it’s a must have. Oh yeah and there’s the really bizarre combination of Superman and Batman who I’m assuming got that way because of some funny business between good old Mr. Mxyzpltk (who I always absolutely hated until seeing the Gilbert Gottfried version in the 90s Superman animated series) and the Joker.

toy, toy collecting, action figure, comic book, Batman, Superman, Joker

This one is a bit odd… but I suppose I don’t put up enough stuff for the ladies or the homosexual fellas out there, so here’s a strange little Justice League Unlimited custom job of the Leaguers in locker room attire… i.e. a towel:

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DC Direct has got a really awesome looking Powergirl coming out that’s pretty pants rocking awesome. The other day I mentioned that I had a thing for Powergirl as well as Supergirl. Partly because Powergirl is Supergirl in a way… please don’t get me started though, her history is so complicated that it would take about ten posts to even try to sort it out. The other reason I think Powergirl is Hot Pants McHotty should be fairly obvious:

Yes, Powergirl has traditionally had the biggest breasts in mainstream comics, and even they have a rich and storied history. It’s almost unbelievable how much this figure captures her likeness and incredible booby power.

You know, one thing I always wondered about Powergirl was that if she was Superman’s cousin (i.e. Supergirl), then does that mean that Supergirl would somday “blossom” into the figure that Powergirl has? The world can only hope.

toy, toy collecting, action figure, DC Comics, DC Direct, Comic Book, Powergirl, Supergirl

DC Direct is making some cool superheroes in armor, because everyone knows that sometimes having crazy cool super powers just isn’t enough to take down the bad ass super villains. Regular Toy Bender readers know my obsession with Supergirl, so it won’t be a surprise that these figures jumped out at me:

These armored up hotties are none other than Supergirl and Powergirl (who I also have an obsession for) in their superhero disguises from the Supergirl comics where they were freedom fighters in Candor. Normally I’d totally think that these were awesome, but in this case Supergirl abandoned everyone in Candor to an oppressive and tyrannical government just so she could figure out her past. Not her finest hour by any means, and one that I really don’t need to remember in toy form.

Source: Toy News International

toy, toy collecting, action figure, DC Comics, DC Direct, Comic Book, Powergirl, Supergirl

Japanese toy maker Kotobukiya has a Supergirl coming out that is hot with a capital *boing*.

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I’ve been watching a lot of items on eBay lately and I ran across one that was sheer madness. A Batman toy collector was attempting to sell his vast collection of 63 Batman figures with a starting bid of 40 bucks. The real kicker here was that he had set the buy it now price for 999.99.

I understand setting a “Buy it Now” high in the hopes of some rich guy buying your item at a higher price than you might otherwise get, but why set it so ludicrously high that no one will ever pay anything close to that amount? As my roommate Shawn said, “He’d be lucky if he gets 62 dollars for them.” And Shawn was dead on because the auction expired with no bidders.

To make this even more hilariously bad, the seller had no pictures of any of the figures. Instead he wrote this:

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I recently ran across a blog this last weekend that, besides having one of the coolest names ever, is a great spot on the internet for toy collectors that you should go to. Right now.

The Fortress of Testicular Fortitude contains a ton of pictures of toys that blog owner Shaun Wong has collected. Yeah, there are a lot of people that post pictures of their stuff online, but Shaun’s got some really great, dare I say, mouth watering pictures of TONS of great figures. Checking out his blog is like taking a trip to the musuem, the Fuggen Awesome Museum.

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Way back last November I brought you an ad for a set of less than super Superman die cast cars. I’m proud to say that I found another ad for Corgi superhero cars, and this one is a lot better:

Now that’s a collection of supermobiles anyone would be happy to own. Sure there are more than a few duds in this set, like the boring Superman van and Daily Planet truck, but they are overshadowed by that sweet ass Batmobile, Batcycle, and Batcopter. Even Wonder Woman gets a classy ride, and Captain Marvel’s got a great car too. Wait… how does that work when he’s really a little kid? I guess the rules are different if you can punch a crook’s lungs out with a single blow.

Toy, toy collecting, car, Corgi, Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman, Superman, Batmobile

I was recently flipping through a copy of Previews when I spotted an action figure that almost made me sick. For those of you who don’t know what Previews is, let me get you up to speed. It’s a giant catalog of everything nerdy with a focus on comic books. If you see something you like in Previews, you simply tell your nearest comic book store owner who writes it down and orders it for you. Previews has a lot of great stuff in it and I enjoy looking through it occasionally. I was interested in this DC superhero box set until I looked a bit closer at it:

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For this installment of Toy Ads That Time Forgot, we’re going back to a comic book print ad and to the world of superheroes. Namely, the superhero to end all superheroes… Superman.

“Shhhh…. don’t tell Lois Lane you’re a friend of Superman, because she’s a real bag.”

Sorry kids, I had to get that dig in there. Lois Lane has always annoyed the hell out of me. She’s such a rag to Clark Kent, but gets all nicey nice when the man in the skintight red and blue underwear shows up. You know she’s only looking for a good time. Watch out Superman, she’s a man eater! Also with Lois around, Superman can’t get it on with Wonder Woman. Come on, this is the perfect pair! The world needs a Superman/Wonder Woman hook-up!

Regardless, since Superman isn’t a superhero normally associated with vehicular action, his car collection isn’t so super. The helicopter isn’t too bad, since helicopters are inherently cool. But a newspaper delivery van? Talk about super lame! (Okay, I promise I’ll stop with the super puns) I do enjoy the black kidnapper van with the Superman planted on the side. It’s a good way to lure kids to their doom AND throw off any suspicion of your crime. After all, you couldn’t POSSIBLY be a bad person if you have a Superman on the side of your van.

The real gem of the collection is the Supermobile. No, your eyes do not deceive you there are two fists on that thing just like in this picture:

Now, he only used this thing when he didn’t want to get hurt by Kryptonite. He didn’t just take it around when he was extra lazy, although that’s what I’d do. Why break a sweat when you could punch a dude sitting back with a cold one and push of a button?

This vehicle is about as tough as Superman, thanks to the fact that it was built with supermanium as this handy wiki article will tell you. I’m guessing that the indestructible alloy is named after Superman; otherwise that’s one hell of a coincidence. It’s more likely Superman named it after himself, after all he is a dick.

Toys, toy collecting, Superman, Toy Ads That Time Forgot