Hope you had a great holiday, because now it's time to get back to business... the business of toys and collectibles, the most serious business of all. Even with a midweek celebration of America's independence taking up time, there's plenty of hot news to soak up, including new Ant-Man and the Wasp figures, some new Comic-Con surprises, and Big Trouble coming to your tabletop.
Credit: Hot Toys
Ant-Man and Wasp Get Some Hot Toys
More Ant-Man and the Wasp
Where have Ant-Man and Wasp been since Civil War? They sure as heck weren't in Infinity War. That's okay though. We wouldn't have wanted to be on the front lines during the fight against Thanos either. Turns out Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne were just busy getting their likenesses captured for the upcoming Hot Toys figures that tie into their new adventure, the conveniently titled Ant-Man and The Wasp.
Both Ant-Man and the Wasp will be getting the sixth-scale treatment from the Japanese manufacturer, which has built quite a roster of Marvel's cinematic heroes and villains over the past decade. This is hardly the first Scott Lang/Paul Rudd figure, but it is a delight to find that Evangeline Lilly's Hope Van Dyne won't be left out of the action this time around. As strong as the Ant-Man figure is, there's not all that much difference in the costume and articulation from previous Hot Toys' interpretations. There will however be a new Paul Rudd portrait, but it still hasn't been approved, so Hot Toys can't show us what it looks like just yet.
Credit: Hot Toys
That's not the case for Hope, who gets a spectacular figure complete with terrifically accurate Evangeline Lilly head sculpt. If that portrait isn't quite your style, the alternate helmeted head does include LED lights inside to make it look like Ms. Van Dyne is ready for action at any size. Combined with the elaborate wings and dynamic posing stand, Wasp is going to be a great figure. Both Ant-Man and the Wasp are currently up for pre-order, and are expected to arrive in Q4 2019.
Credit: Gaming Heads
Renegade Shepard
Gaming Heads has long been in the business of making wonderful and massive statues based on video games like Fallout, Doom, Ratchet and Clank, and more. While they're often expensive, the pieces are beautiful and would be the focal point of any collection. Now the company is returning to its Mass Effect license, and offering a 20-inch statue commemorating the one true savior of the galaxy, Femshep.
As a customizable character, Commander Shepard took many forms across just about every gamer's playthrough of the original trilogy, but everyone knows Femshep was the best possible version of the spacefaring hero. There will be two versions available for $399.99 each, with the exclusive edition coming with more weapons to pose Femshep when on display. The pose could be stronger, but it does look very accurate to BioWare's original design.
Big Tabletop in Little China
There's a Big Trouble in Little China board game out right now from Everything Epic. The officially licensed adventure comes complete with 40 miniatures, tons of dice, and a quest book so that you and your friends can take the fight to Lo-Pan just like Jack Burton and the gang did in the classic John Carpenter film. If you can't find any friends to play as Gracie Law or Egg Shen, you can shake the pillars of heaven all on your own, too.
San Diego Comic-Con Surprises
Until San Diego Comic-Con actually begins, and probably even as the show is going on, more and more exclusives will continue to be revealed. Not that we're complaining, because SDCC brings out the best in collectible company creativity. It should be noted though that many of us will be complaining about having to pay outrageous prices on the second-hand market since we can't all be at the big show. But I digress.
Credit: Super7
Super7 often has some of the most clever toys at SDCC every year, and 2018 is no exception. Already we've covered the memetic He-Man figure they'll have on hand, but this Hammerhead-by-way-of-Alien retro figure is quite inspired.
Credit: Toynami
Toynami will have some dope Robotech figures on hand, which is incredible simply for the fact that we haven't seen figures based on the mecha anime stateside in decades. That they also look good is just icing on the cake.
Credit: Hasbro
Credit: Hasbro
Hasbro, already with a number of exclusives on deck, announced even more items including the Netflix Defenders box set and a delightful '80s-inspired My Little Pony set. Punk rock Rainbow Dash for the win.
And hey, Mondo looks like it's going to have a sweet new Shredder figure and mayhaps a Gordon Freeman from Half-Life 2 to show off too. Don't count on them going up for pre-order until well after the show though.
Credit: Funko
Funko Goes Breakfast
As if Funko didn't already have its hands in just about every aspect of geek culture with its wide array of licenses and products, the Washington-based company is now hoping to join you for breakfast. That's right, Funko is getting into the cereal business with the sugary snack, FunkO's. Available in red, blue, and green, the multigrain cereal will come in boxes themed around Freddy Krueger and Jason Vorhees (FYE), Mega Man (Gamestop), Cuphead (Hot Topic), Gollum (Boxlunch), and the company mascot Freddy Funko. Each box comes with edible cereal and a miniature Pop vinyl figure of the character on the outside of the box.
More cereals are planned too, so be sure to leave some room in cupboard if you hope to collect (and eat) them all.