After spending a whole day shopping at NYCC, I decided that I wanted to experience the full Comic Con Experience, which meant attending events that weren’t on the main floor (as well at eating from vending machines and getting smacked across the face with a backpack full of hardcover comics). Luckily, Saturday had a numbed of panels in isolated meeting rooms.

[ Example of a panel ]

If you’ve never been to a ‘panel’, here’s how it goes : a handful of professionally related people sit at a long table with microphones and bottles of water. In a small meeting room, you might get squished into a folding chair in between a couple of larger gentlemen with breathing problems. If you end up in a theater, you’d be pretty lucky to get a seat where you could still see the stage without a telescope. The assembled professionals talk about an aspect of their trade or craft, and the audience asks questions. This lasts for about 30 minutes, or until the room gets hot and sweaty, and everyone squeezes out when it’s all over. Being given new and exclusive information is not an unpleasant experience, but the ‘panel’ is almost always a static, stilted presentation, with rare exceptions. PowerPoint never helps anything, guys, unless you’re trying to sap my will to live.

On today’s schedule was ‘DC and Mattel’ (a discussion of the ongoing line of DC Universe Classics action figures), a discussion with Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, a panel featuring talent from Hellboy II, and a panel with the creators and voice actors from The Venture Bros. - my favorite cartoon of all time. Fortunately, and against all odds and disorganization, I made it into all four events, but not without a great deal of trouble and uncertainty.

The ‘DC and Mattel’ panel was held in the aforementioned hot, unventilated little room and featured members of DC marketing team, a few members of the popular sculpting team of The Four Horsemen, and a brand manager for DC Comics. The assembled crowd was given a PowerPoint presentation that featured lists and images of some of the upcoming DCUC and JLU figures, each ‘new’ item being greeted with the suitable ‘ooh!’ and ‘aah!’, or silence if the pictured item was a re-paint or re-release of something else.

We were informed that the JLU line (seen here in our gallery) has shifted from a kid-centric line towards being a collectors’ line, and as such, it would begin to feature characters that were never actually IN the show but are popular with fans anyhow. The line would also be sold exclusively at Target. Upcoming JLU figures include a great Jack Kirby-inspired ‘New Gods’ box set of six that will include characters like Forager and Lashina. Also new will be a classic Batman (in his blues and greys), Galatea (essentially, Power Girl in cartoon form), Captain Atom, a re-release of the rare Gorilla Grodd, and a San Diego Comic Con exclusive Giganta - in both ‘normal sized’ and ‘enormous’ forms. As someone who’s still seeking a few rare figures (and finding them, years after release, due to strange distribution), this was exciting stuff.

Mattel also revealed details about upcoming DCUC figures (also pictured here), which include Batman Beyond, Captain Atom (in two variants), and amazingly huge Ares, and a collect-and-connect Despero. Wonder Woman (from Wave 4) will have an Artemis variant, and there will also be a Wal-Mart exclusive wave, which will include Amazo, The Atom, The Riddler, Black Lightning, Eradicator Superman, and a collect-and-connect Brainiac. Anyone who’s collected toys for a while will shudder at the very mention of anything being exclusive to Wal-Mart, because ‘Wal-Mart Exclusive’ equates to ‘impossible to find and expensive on eBay’ - but Mattel assured the crowd that the wave will ship consistently throughout the year, alongside regular figures. Toys ‘R’ Us will also be getting an exclusive 2-pack of Lightray and an unmasked Orion, as well as a 2-pack of some Batman re-releases. We were also shown a glimpse of Hawkman.

The biggest news, however, is the release of a SDCC Exclusive Lobo. Now, Lobo is a fun character with a hilariously ultra-violent background. Because of this, DC avoids making toys of him at almost any cost, because they just don’t want to present the character to children if they can help it. Because the SDCC environment isn’t general retail, and assumed to be a mostly-collector event, Lobo will be sold there and only there. However, once the NY crowd collectively moaned and frothed at the Mattel brand manager, he promised to make the figure available online also.

Questions were fielded regarding this character or that character, and they were all answered openly and honestly. One thing that did surprise me was the tone of the complaining about not getting figures in NY as quickly as our West Coast brethren - an observation which showed a complete ignorance about how toys are distributed in the US. Most toys come in at California ports, and over the course of a few weeks, dependent almost entirely upon the distribution system of any given retailer, they make their way around, leaving Mattel with little say on what is sent where and in what quantity. To complain to Mattel is a fruitless activity, unless you’re asking them to just make more toys - and even still, the retailers need to order them. For a few minutes, it was like sitting in a whiny message board, and it was uncomfortable.

The second panel I sat in on was a discussion with Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, who wasn’t given anything but a chair and a table. No moderator, no preface - just a guy open questions and answers. Despite the lack of preparedness on the part of NYCC, Mignola sailed through the questions in good time and gave great, casual answers regarding his many projects, inspirations and aspirations. He wanted to break into comics, he started inking things (poorly, by his own admission), and eventually decided that drawing monsters fighting was his true calling - and he never looked back. It really didn’t get more complex than that, and it didn’t need to be. Oh, and using lots of dark shadows on things meant that the comic’s colorist couldn’t screw it up too badly.

I arrived at the Hellboy II cast panel an hour early. As it turned out, the Lucasfilm panel was running 30 minutes late, so the insanely huge crowd of a line waiting outside of the IGN Theater didn’t even really know what they were waiting for, and no one seemed to be able to tell them. This was exacerbated by the fact that the only crowd control was volunteer teenagers in yellow shirts, none of whom could give an answer consistent with the guy standing next to them. I waited on the line for about 45 minutes before I was told that it wasn’t for Hellboy after all (even though it was scheduled to start), and that I wasn’t allowed to wait on ANY lines until 2 PM. Despite this, Hellboy fans started their own impromptu line off to the side, while we all joked and debated as to whether our line was an official line or if we’d again be dispersed by the angry grey-haired guy. I was chatted up by an anime geek while I mostly shrugged and indicated that I had no idea what he was talking about, but wrote down a few ‘suggested watching’ titles anyhow. We eventually wound our way in, sat through a few scenes of the upcoming action movie ‘Wanted’ and enjoyed a short talk with the Russian director - who seemed totally bewildered at the crowd.

The Hellboy panel, presented immediately afterwards, included director Guillermo DelToro, Ron Perlman, Doug Jones, Selma Blair and Mike Mignola, along with newcomer Luke Goss. After an extended trailer, the lights returned and the stage was filled with creatures from HBII, delighting and shocking the whole audience. After this, the audience lined up to ask questions - most of them directed at DelToro. In fact, I don’t recall Selma Blair or Luke Goss (who actually appears in both Hellboy and Wanted) saying a word during their entire stay on stage - with DelToro vibrantly and amicably (and crassly) responding to every inquiry. He expounded on his feelings as an independent director versus being a director working for a major company - and while the big bucks reside in major motion pictures, he likened it to trying to draw a picture while a dozen hands are holding your pencil. He gave out his personal e-mail address in a search for artists and interns, which I quickly wrote down and began to do sketches for. I’m far more enamored with creators than with celebrity, but it would have been nice to get a few more words out of the actors regarding how they felt about the filming process. Perhaps the most interesting revelation was that the voice of new movie creature Johann was to be provided by Seth MacFarlane - creator and talented voice actor from Family Guy.

The Hellboy monsters were going to stick around for photographs, and a limited edition poster was to be given out, but I bolted out of the theater to make it to the Venture Bros. panel on time. I was very surprised to encounter another ridiculously long line that wrapped around the small events hall. Everyone expressed doubts about the size of the line being able to actually make it inside, but after a quick room change and a couple of crowbars to squeeze everyone in (along with irate people from another mysterious line that also ostensibly led inside yelling at organizers), we managed to get a seat in the back of the room, right next to a curly-headed guy who was making every every to not fall asleep on my shoulder. And failing.

The Venture panel consisted of a few scenes from the upcoming Season Three, followed by a conversation with Doc Hammer, James Urbaniak, Michael Sinterniklaas and Jackson Publick. While it mostly consisted of in-talking and a debate about whether one would rather lose a toe or a finger (given the choice), I found the behind-the-scenes personalities very interesting. A couple dressed as The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend asked Doc Hammer to perform their marriage ceremony, and the panel launched into a hilarious and philosophical discussion about the souls of clones. Everyone associated with the show was really amicable, and even gave out prizes for excellent questions or costumes - though the prizes only consisted of really bad DVDs.

The effect of most of the panels was to come away inspired to create things, which is the most that I can ask from anything. There was still one day left, and I was going to round it out with a bit of everything.

Last time, I promised some answers to fan-asked questions that I’d pose directly to Mezco & Mike Drake during my visit. Here’s what I found out :

- Will the Hellboy comic license continue?

While Mezco made two incredible waves of Mike Mignola-art styled Hellboy figures, Mezco has completely closed up shop on the Hellboy comic franchise after their SDCC 2007 Exclusive Abe Sapien figure. Sorry, guys! The movie figures look great, though. You should see the Angel of Death figure. It’ll eat your brain with awesomeness.

- Whay happened to some of the articulation on the Hellboy 2 movie figures?

For the record, we actually stood in the War Room and counted the articulation on a variety of the HB2 figures. Abe Sapien has 19 points, Hellboy has 18 points, Wink has 15 points, and Johann has 12 points. After seeing them in action, I’m confident that they’ll be able to do anything you want them to do, articulation-wise.

Here’s another little tidbit on the HB2 movie figures : they’ll be available at Toys ‘R’ Us, unlike all previous HB figures. While TRU usually balks at anything that mentions ‘hell’, or bears too much female flesh, the Hellboy figures will be on the shelves. This is possible because they’ll be packaged with the name ‘HB’ instead of ‘Hellboy’. Also, look for a soft drink tie-in, which will also eschew the use of the word ‘hell’ by calling Hellboy ‘Red’ and ‘HB’.

- Any word on more Mez-Itz?

Mez-Itz are Mezco’s cute-ish, mini stylized figures from a wide array of properites. Since they’re a signature item of the company, they will continue indefinitely, but there are no specific Mez-Itz planned for the immediate future.

- How about more from their ‘Living Dead’ zombie line of figures?

The Living Dead line is, for lack of a better word, dead. The same goes for the Popeye line.

- Are The Warriors figures still coming?

The short answer is ‘yes’. While we were in the War Room, I had the opportunity to play with the prototype tooling samples of the super-articulated bodies - so, that’s about how far along in the process these figures are. Do not lose hope.

- How about more hip-hop licenses?

As the properties present themselves, Mezco seems happy to work with them. It’s been exceptionally easy to deal with Biggie as a ‘property’ because he’s not ‘owned’ by a large music corporation - all you have to do is ask his mom, who I was told is a very pleasant woman. It’s not as easy to negotiate rights from corporate controlled entity. Also, it was interesting to note that Mezco was the creator of Miles Thirst - one time toy spokesperson for a series of great Sprite commercials. Not only was he an original concept, but a very limited number of Miles figures were made and given to Sprite employees. So you see, the possibilities are wide open.

- Would Mezco consider more literature-based figures like their Captain Nemo set?

Yes, but there’s nothing specific happening at the moment, with much energy going into the great array of stuff that they already have going on.

- Is there any info on the Heroes 4” figures?

There were no sculpts or prototypes around that I saw, but that’s likely because the release date isn’t until November. It’s still full-speed ahead, though!

- What is going on with Future Hiro and Future Peter (from Heroes)?

Both of these figures were removed from the waves that they were slated to be in. While Future Peter has no specific destination at the moment, he will still make an appearance. It will also be revealed here for the first time, anywhere, that Future Hiro will be this year’s San Diego Comic Con exclusive figure. I spied a copy of him in the photography room (where there was no photographt allowed, ironically), and he’s looking great. Also spied were two versions of a clean-cut Peter Petrelli in two variantly colored plaid shirts…..

With those questions suitably answered, my cohort and I hung out on the comfortable Mezco couches for a few minutes. We said hello to Mez himself, president of Mezco, as he walked past - and Mike Drake came back with an armload of toys for us. A stack of amazing proportions - zombies, cinema scenes, the not-yet-released Biggie Smalls from New York Comic Con 2008, Family Guy - more than could comfortably fit on the 7 train…. but before Drake would relinquish these goodies, he challenged me to a duel. Seriously. I’m not making this up.

After it became clear that I couldn’t hold my own in a swordfight, let alone walk up a flight of stairs without feeling faint, Drake took pity on me and just handed the toys over. He probably thought that I could pawn them for a pair of sneakers or an Iso-Flex. At the very least, he didn’t want me to have my inevitable heart attack on their clear floors.

So, we headed back down the charmingly ancient elevator, and as we walked back out into the cool April weather, Drake informed me that he had one more thing for me. Somehow secreted during the elevator trip and walk outside, he pulled a Hellboy prototype figure out from behind his back and handed it to me. Having one of the unique, half-unpainted, pre-production tooling samples from the Hellboy line of figures is probably one of the most prized, neato things in all of my Hellboy AND action figure collections, so I kinda walked a few blocks in a daze, clutching the tiny devil in my hands and just staring.

Many thanks to Mike Drake for having us over & the awesome hospitality that we received. Please enjoy a few more pics from our visit!

(A close-up of the NYCC Exclusive Jason, unmasked)

(The prototype on the right started to droop because the plastics making up the base couldn’t support the weight of the two figures. The prototype on the left now incorporates a metal rod for support.)

(The same figure as above on the left. The figure on the right is a rare 2-up figure, twice the size of the final figure.)

(And finally, Mike Drake himself, and the NYCC Biggie figure. Mike wanted me to remind the audience that he’s the one on the right.)

I’ve been a little in love with toy company Mezco since I blundered upon their Hellboy toys many a Toy Fair ago and found myself completely enthralled with the luminescenet blue-green sheen on a perfectly sculpted Abe Sapien figure. At that point, I had no idea who or what he was - just that it was probably the greatest toy I’d ever seen. I gave it my official ‘Most Awesome Thing of Toy Fair’ award that year - an award that mostly consisted of me saying ‘Man, that’s pretty awesome!’ and posting a big picture of it on my homepage. I was no-budget back then.

So, when Mike Drake, Director Of Special Projects & Administrator from Mezco invited me for a personal tour around their offices in Queens, NY, I tried not to waste too much time hopping a train and a subway to their location, all while clutching a set of directions that involved both the words ‘troll’ and ‘Robocop’. That’s how you know you’re in for a good time. Mike Drake’s probably the most engaging and jovial ‘toy guy’ I’ve ever met, clearly very into the toys as art forms, home decor and collectibles. He warned me not to expect The Wonka Factory, but he probably underestimated how easily entertained I am. I half-expected to meet a Slugworth at the door, imploring me to swipe a Sylar from the upcoming series of Heroes figures.

The Mezco offices, located on the 5th floor of an unassuming building and up a truly ancient elevator, were capacious and lined tastefully with Mezco’s products displayed in rows of black shelves. We traversed the floor’s wide-open spaces designated to design, product photography, toy storage, recreation and other toy-things more technical, and found ourselves in the ‘War Room’ - a whole area filled with bits and pieces of prototypes destined for approval or re-tooling, which is the process of correcting a loose joint, or a not-quite-right sculpt before the figure moves into final production.

Spread across the shelves were tiny Selma Blair heads, super-articulated bodies to be used for Warriors figures, first drafts of things that didn’t quite turn out as expected, accessories, and all manner of things that were works-in-progress. As a collector (and a giant geek-o-nerd for Heroes and Hellboy), seeing the process that goes into these things was pretty damned awesome.

Mezco doesn’t do any sculpting on premises, instead using freelance sculptors at other locations, and while most companies sculpt the original designs for their figures at twice the size that the final figure will be (or, as they’re known to toygeeks, 2-ups), Mezco keeps almost all of their sculpting at actual figure scale - and they actually still sculpt their likenesses from scratch also, while some other companies have gone the way of digital scanning. The accuracy and expressiveness of Mezco’s original sculpts is evident.

It was in this War Room that we were given an exclusive first look at Mezco’s two exclusive figures from the upcoming New York Comic Con, which is only weeks away.

The first of these two items is a rotocast figure of Biggie Smalls, aka The Notorious B.I.G., aka Christopher Wallace. The figure is done in Mezco’s artistic ‘stylized’ style, giving him an urban, grafitti-style appearance. Unlike Mezco’s long sold-out previous Biggies, this time he’ll be decked out in a yellow, fabric jersey (as featured in one of his videos), and include a handful of accessories - a gold chain, a towel, sunglasses, and a microphone. Also, despite being a rotocast figure, he’ll still have a great 12 points of articulation. He’s limited to 2000 units, and will cost $30 at the show. The figure already has a buzz surrounding him, being featured on both MTV and in NME Magazine - so if you can’t get to New York, there’s a good chance that there’ll be a few left over to purchase from Mezco Direct, Mezco’s online store.

The second exclusive item is also a stylized rotocast figure, this time of Jason from Friday the 13th, falling under Mezco’s ‘Cinema of Fear’ collection. His unique deco will include a greener, grave-fresh, mouldering skin tone, as well as a series of ‘Freddy vs. Jason’ slash marks across his battle-damaged mask (though, cleverly, without explicity saying so). He also has 12 points of articulation under his fabric costume, will cost $30 at NYCC, and is limited to 666 units - for obvious reasons.

It took every ounce of restaint that I had to not dart around the offices, excitedly panting “What’s this? And what’s that? Can I touch this? That’s awesome! I have that! WHAT’S THAT OVER THERE?” Scrabble boards, swords laying across chairs, a TV hooked up to video game consoles and comfortable couches belied the attitude of the company - love what you do, love what you make, but take some time to really enjoy it too. I didn’t really expect to find out exactly what the swords were for, but before the visit was over, Mike Drake would make it very clear to me.

Before I made the journey to Mezco, I took questions from a handful of fans to communicate to Mike Drake, all of which were answered - as well as a whole bunch of little along-the-way, exclusive, never-before-revealed tidbits that we gleaned. Stay tuned for Saturday, where all will be revealed!

We’re almost done with the nigh-insurmountable mountain of Toy Fair 2008 coverage (here, here, here and here), but no action figure, TV or movie geek could be satiated without a detailed mention of everything that happened over at the Mezco and NECA booths during The Fair.

[Click here for the full Mezco gallery at our Community!]

Now, I’ve been a dedicated Mezco fan since I first saw their Hellboy movie figures back in 2004. The movie hadn’t yet come out, and comic-based movies (and figures based on comic movies) have had a history of, well, sucking - but the Hellboy figures were outstanding items, and the movie turned out to be one of my favorite films. This year, for the first time in 4 years, Mezco’s booth had new Hellboy movie stuff for me to ogle.

Two waves of 6” figures are planned for Hellboy 2 : The Golden Army, due in theaters on July 11th. Like the figures from the first movie, they’ll be fully articulated and sculpted impeccably. Included in the first wave will be Hellboy, Abe Sapien, and finally, Liz Sherman, who was tragically absent from earlier figures. I have a thing for Selma Blair, and that thing is MY LOVE. Also in this first wave will be Johann Krauss, and bad guys Wink & Prince Nuada. The second wave (which was forbidden from photography, but looked stunning) will include a wounded Hellboy & a t-shirt Hellboy, as well as the beautiful Princess Nuada, the horrific Goblin (who is attached to a rickety wooden cart of some kind), and the huge, ominous Angel of Death. It’s a truly amazing collection of figures that completely blew me away. Even as stand-alone monsters, they’re really, really great.

Mezco is adding onto their usual offerings with small busts of Hellboy and the Right Hand of Doom, 18” figures of Hellboy and Abe, and at least eight 3.75” figures. These tiny, Star Wars-sized figures will have all of the articulation and sculpts of the larger figures, so nothing is lost in translation - an amazing feat that other companies would do well to learn from. Mezco revealed to us that while the tiny figures were cheaper in materials cost, the cost for the molds to cast the small figures was actually greater than the cost for the larger figure molds, due to the intricate details. There’s a certain production number somewhere in the middle where the cost justifies the product, and with all of these companies making 3.75” figures this year, I’m curious exactly how it balances.

Of course, Hellboy wasn’t the only license of note, as Mezco also has the Heroes TV show license. None of these figures have been released yet, but Mezco is already three waves deep into the sculpting, and the likenesses are really staggering. I’ve commented here before on the strange, imperfect likenesses that Mezco released as their PR photos, walking a weird line between photorealism and comic-styled artwork. As it turns out, you just need to see them in person. They’ve applied every ounce of accuracy and skill that made me love the Hellboy figures to these Heroes figures. Forget everything you’ve heard about the figures not being perfect likenesses - they ARE perfect - and the character selection couldn’t be better.

The first set of 5 includes Hiro Nakamura, Claire Bennet, Sylar, Peter Petrelli and Mohinder Suresh. Hopefully, the varied images in our gallery here will clarify some of the misperceptions about the figures that I, too, was guilty of. Keep on clicking around though, as ten never-before-seen figures were also revealed! Included in Wave Two are (and I’ll try to say this with as few spoilers as possible), Horn-Rimmed Glasses guy, Niki & Jessica Sanders (with alternate heads), Matt Parkman & Molly Walker, Mr. Linderman, and Future Peter. Wave Three will include Nathan Petrelli, The Haitian, another version of Hiro from season 2, Elle Bishop, and another character from season 2 that’ll pretty much blow your mind if you haven’t been watching loyally as I have.

Mezco rounds out this license with 9” figures of Sylar, Niki / Jessica, Peter and Claire. Also, like every other company’s been doing with toys this year, wait for a 3.75” line. Sylar vs. Darth Vader vs. Serpentor vs. Doctor Doom isn’t very far off now!

It’s also worth mentioning that Mezco is on their 15th series of Living Dead Dolls - the cute-grotesque series of dolls that pays homage to some of history’s most infamous killers and movie murderers. I suppose they’re all either zombies or about to kill someone, but they’re a very popular collection of higher-end dolls that tend to be collected by cute goth girls - so I can’t argue. The less said about ‘Gangsta Babies’, the better. Seriously - I don’t want to get drive-by’d from a stroller.

NECA also had a presence at Toy Fair. This company seems to pick up an odd assortment of movie-related licenses of all genres, but with a focus on fantasy and horror above all else. In the past, they’ve made action figures for Nightmare Before Christmas (a line that just ended, sadly), Planet Terror, 300, Reservoir Dogs and A Christmas Story. Despite the Christmas Story figure line being ostensibly dead for quite a few years now, NECA has just revealed an additional figure for the line in the form of bully Scut Farkus, sculpted in a perfect, creepy sneer.

[See the full NECA Gallery at our Community by clicking here!]

NECA’s Harry Potter line continues, and likely will continue throughout the release of every foreseeable movie, with figures that include all of the wizard kids, Voldemort, Snape, Dumbledore, the Malfoys, Bellatrix, Mad-Eye Moody and even a handful of the fantasy creatures. I’m no Harry Potter fan, nor have I personally seen the movies, but the figures are another example of the great likenesses that NECA captures for cult-favorite characters. There’s only so much I can personally geek-out over. I need to set limits so that I can be a functional adult - it’s nothing personal against Harry Potter.

Speaking of cult-favorite, my personal highlight at the NECA booth was the figure of Beetlejuice, perfectly rendered with a chubby Michael Keaton face and stained, striped suit. It’s the first time we’ve ever had a Beetlejuice figure that wasn’t from a bizarrely tangential animated show. He’s a great movie ‘monster’ as it stands, and I’d love to see figures of Lydia and the families with a build-a-sandworm - though a few less-than-great figures of the ghost family were released some years back. Let’s just start over. And next time you guys make Ghostbusters figures, make some of the Ghostbusters, okay?

Also an unusual license for NECA, but a great one, is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This isn’t the movie license, or even the cartoon license - this is the license to make figures from the original comic books by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. Believe it or not, these original comics were a fairly complex drama, and drawn in a very different style than what ended up being animated in the 90s. These comic-accurate figures will all come with red masks and different weapons, and be sculpted to look ‘drawn’, with all of the original ink lines intact. April O’Neil will also join the line (but was forbidden from photography), and a series of black & white turtles (colored like the original comics) will also be released. They will all come with interlocking bases to form a scene together.

In terms of even more entertainment properties, Amok Time is a newcomer company with some interesting licenses. Not only are they making 12” figures from the original Lost in Space, but they’re doing the same for the original Battlestar Galactica, and Gort and Klaatu from ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’. Any of these will stand proudly right next to your high-end Sideshow Collectibles monsters, with a few additional B-movie monsters round out the collection, from movies I’ve never heard of, but look visually entertaining.

[Click here for a gallery of toys from Amok Time in our Community!]

The highlight at Amok Time’s booth was the 12” Elvira figure, which sported another perfect likeness, and would absolutely go well in any ironic monster display. I’ve been told that the figure will be solicited in late 2008, so there’s going to be a wait to even order it. On the bawdy end of things, Amok Time is producing bookends in the likeness of adult film star Seka, as well as a 12” figure of the same. True to form, all of these things, even the bookends, will have removable clothing. Two Bettie Page figures are also being produced, to the delight of pin-up fans everywhere.

Stay tuned for one more post about Toy Fair 2008, in which I summarily round up the rest of the awesomeness and finally put these life-consuming toys behind me until next year.

New York Comic Con has begun today, but before any of that can be processed and photoshopped, organized, recovered from and foot-blisters gently soothed, there’s still a good handful of Toy Fair to get through, so expect NYCC coverage this Wednesday. If we manage to get in the doors, and if we aren’t ushered out by fire marshals, and if Peter David doesn’t start eating people at his booth. Which really isn’t that much hyperbole.

Mezco Toys has stood out in my mind for the past several years due to their completely flawless handling of the Hellboy figure lines, from movie figures and into the Mike Mignola designed comic book figures. Somehow, Mezco Toys (one of the smaller action figure companies) had managed to merge form and articulation in a perfect mix beyond what and major company was doing, and still went severely underappreciated. They are a collector company, staffed by incredibly talented fans and toy enthusiasts.

Check out the full Mezco gallery here.

Unfortunately, there are no future Hellboy products planned at this time except for the comic line’s Abe Sapien, which is a beautiful thing. Alas, it will be a San Diego Comic Con exclusive item, because (and say it with me), “Dammit, SDCC gets all the cool stuff!” We were told that it would likely also be available through Club Mez, Mezco’s online collectors club, which I’m still trying to justify shelling out 40 dollars for. Action figures for the next Hellboy movie have not been determined yet, and figures based on the animated movies are not being handled by Mezco. Though they should be. I’d trust them with pretty much anything.

They will continue with their popular South Park and Family Guy figure lines, which have thrived for a few years now. Bringing cartoon characters into three dimensions has always been a challenge for toy companies, and both the successes and failures could be seen throughout Playmates’ hold on the exhaustive Simpsons license a few years back. Mezco’s holding strong with unmistakable renditions of both core and auxiliary characters from both shows, with an Eric Cartman variation planned for every South Park wave. Admittedly, it’s a visually unappealing show that revels in its 2-D-ness, but the figures remain popular. Some excellent fan-favorite cameos of Family Guy’s Peter Griffin as Bionic Peter, Lando Griffin and Astronaut Peter are also planned, most of which appeared onscreen for about ten seconds total. Also included will be the creepy Performance Artist, Chris on a treadmill, Quagmire in a robe, the Black Knight, Bonnie Swanson and Diane Simmons. Creepy old man Herbert was released as a Club Mez exclusive this past year, to much acclaim (and griping that he wasn’t released to the general public). Mezco is also planning a box set of miniature figures in a Drunken Clam pub playset environment. They continue to bring animated characters to life with their upcoming Underdog line of figures, which has nothing at all to do with the regrettable live-action movie of the same name. Pure classic animation here, which will hopefully sell better than the failed Pink Panther line made by Palisades Toys before they folded.

What we also saw, but could not photograph, was a line of Goonies action figures, done up in realistic style, and featuring an enormous Sloth, and amazing renditions of Mikey, Mouth, Chunk and Data. Needless to say, we were giddy. More news and images will surely be forthcoming.

Mezco also dips liberally into the ‘horror’ end of things, being responsible for the popular Living Dead Dolls, the next series of which will feature the theme of ‘bad luck’. Collect all five and you’ll be able to assemble a creepy little charm! Also, that Texas Chainsaw Massacre babydoll thing is probably the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen. Maybe not so much the idea that a small child could obtain a My Size working chainsaw and go on a killing spree, but that they’d have the concentration to be able to sew a mask out of their victims’ skin. In addition to that horrible fare, Mezco presented the usual array of 7” action figures of horror classics, including a tuxed-up Freddy Kreuger and various Texas Chainsaw Massacre figures. Add to that an array of mini-dioramas of horror movie scenes, horror character dolls, more 7” zombies (including a bowling woman and a guy who looks like a preacher, both covered in blood and brains), and you have Mezco.

NECA carries things in a very similar vein and quality, also addressing cult properties in both horror and fun varieties. The first thing that caught my eye was the display of Nightmare Before Christmas figures, which will be entering their 6th and 7th waves of four figures each. At this point in the evolution of the line, they’ll be revisiting Oogie Boogie (previously only available in a box set), Jack Skellington (this time, with his desk), and a third Sally (with cauldron), with the addition of a 2-pack exclusive Sally in Santa suit. Fans of the line will also note the Creature from Under the Stairs (which had three seconds on screen, literally), the Melting Man, and the Corpse Boy & his mother. As usual, these figures will be packed with great accessories. It won’t be too long before we see every single character brought to figural form. Can we see a deluxe Hanging Tree, guys?

The rest of the NECA gallery is here.

NECA has also just released the first four figures from the movie 300, again with the same tremendous attention to detail that they’ve shown the Pirates of the Caribbean line. While no future 300 figures were shown (and the possibilities for figures seem large, especially with army building characters), a few Pirates prototypes were shown, including a 2-up of Slo Feng from the upcoming third movie. Continuing with their movie properties, they’ll also be producing figures from the upcoming ‘Grindhouse’ films, which got the following reaction from me :

“Holy crap, does that chick and a … gun…. for a … leg?”

Yes, she does. And as far as the action figure goes, you can switch it out with her actual leg, which also comes with the figure. Which is a fairly powerful testament as to why I love action figures. As if I needed more convincing, there’s a Quentin Tarantino figure with an alternate head, featuring a gouged-out eyeball. Which I’ve wanted to do to him at least twice in my life, but now I don’t have to, because the action figure sates my bloodlust. This alone is enough to pique my interest in the clearly gory, pseudo-explotation film that this promises to be. And because it’s a natural progression, they’ll also be doing Harry Potter figures. None of them, unfortunately, will have their limbs replaced with deadly weapons, but at least the prototypes looked pretty scary accurate.

Finally, NECA continues to explore ‘classic’ items, such as David Bowie’s Goblin King character from Labyrinth, which is sure to be a ridiculous hit with the ladies, and should be followed up by a handful of Brian Froud-inspired goblins. The Player Select line will also continue to explore popular video game characters, such as God of War’s Kratos, and the ever-popular Lara Croft, all in the popular 7” scale. And all, of course, absolutely beautiful.

These are two companies who have taken figural quality to new levels and kept it there, creating interesting, accurate toys that appeal to collectors of both toys and movie memorabilia, spanning genres and audiences alike. So watch out for ‘em.