San Diego Comic Con is something of a mecca for anyone remotely interested in pop culture, and it’s again come and gone, and I’ve again remained firmly nestled in the green crevices of the Hudson Valley. And that’s okay. Crowds give me the screamies.

I skimmed the reports from the safety of a computer in an air conditioned room, which is a far more ideal situation than being undulated against by a tightening, after-lunch-burbling nerd crowd. While newsbits filtered in about upcoming movies and toy lines and comic stories, I was really only interested in one thing : exclusive toys. Those magical and elusive things that can usually only be obtained if you’re in attendance - rewards for making the journey and standing on long lines - and up until recently, there were only three options to get these things : go to the convention, pay a premium on eBay, or have a friend on the inside.

Alas, this collecting hassle resulted in an enormous toy collector upheaval and a surge of complaints. Unable to complete their toy collections with these rare (but important) pieces, collectors would quit their collections. Making something ‘exclusive’ would be certainly special for those who obtained it, but aggravating to those who could not, and with conventions spread across the US, someone was always going to be unsatisfied folks. Toy companies heard the collective moan, and responded using the wonders of the digital age.

There were about 300 different ‘exclusive’ items at this year’s SDCC, from comics to posters to toys and dolls and variations on existing things. Fortunately, almost every ‘exclusive’ toy that I coveted was offered up for sale on the internet by the very companies who were distributing them, and very soon after the convention wound down. Buying company-direct always a more reliable, less expensive option than eBay. Here’s what I scored online from SDCC, and how I got it.

Sideshow Collectibles was offering a miniature, metal Iron Man helmet that I needed to have. Don’t question it. Sideshow has dealt with collector demand by offering a ‘Priority Pre-Order’ system on their website, weeks prior to these events. Comic Con attendees place their orders for the limited items via the Sideshow website and pick them up on the day of the Con. However, Sideshow also opens up online orders to non-attendees at a very specific time and date, and for about five dollars more. The website shuts down except for an order page, people swarm to the site, and orders come in by the hundreds. After a few server crashes and website deaths early on, Sideshow has adjusted their technology to reflect the demand for these items, and the ordering process is a pleasure - just make sure you’re signed up for their newsletter 24 hours ahead of time, or else you’ll be booted from the pre-order line. Sideshow send my helmet, and I’m the proud owner of #100 out of 2000 produced.

Other exclusives offered by Sideshow included a Star Wars Jedi Aayla Secura in 12” scale. No, she’s not original trilogy, but she’s a Jedi AND a Twi’lek - two of my favorite parts of Star Wars, post-Lucas Insanity or not. Also, be sure to check out the Diane Kamahele Memorial Auctions being run by Sideshow this week, which include incredibly rare original sculptures, prototypes, and signed items. As someone who knew the awesome Diane Kamahele from many Toy Fairs, these annual auctions are an excellent thing that Sideshow does to help support her family after her untimely death.

Mezco also offered some exclusives via their website, among them ‘Future Hiro’ from their Heroes series of toys, and a clear, blue version of Hellboy II’s Liz Sherman. These have not yet shipped, but were available through Mezco’s website, with absolutely no ordering hassles at all. NBC’s booth (and website) offered an exclusive ‘Painter’ Sylar figure from Heroes.

The Four Horsemen’s ‘Time Keepers’ mini figures were available at the convention, but have yet to arrive on their website for the ol’ post-SDCC shopping rush. They’re creepy little skull-faced guys, so of course, I’m all up on that.

Of all of the summer toy exclusives, Hasbro’s and Mattel’s were the most coveted. Hasbro offered, among other things, an exclusive My Little Pony, a GI Joe Cobra Commander with a COBRA podium (in both blue and black), Mighty Muggs featuring an Indiana Jones fertility idol and a movie-based Iron Man, and an excellent Marvel Legends set based on The Savage Land, featuring Ka-Zar, Shanna the She-Devil and the tiger Zabu. Also offered was a large boxed set of eight Hulk action figures and the mighty Fin Fang Foom, as well as a small Star Wars diorama of Darth Vader talking to a giant holographic Emperor. There was a lot to take in, and a lot to hunt for, and Hasbro never seemed to give a clear answer about whether or not they’d sell these from their website, post-Con.

At noon, on the day after the convention ended, the items appeared on the website, and hundreds of collectors descended like plastic-hungry locusts. The site was brought to a stuttering crawl, and by the end of it, after many ‘page cannot be found’ notices, I emerged with my Savage Land Set and the two Mighty Muggs. I didn’t suffer the same woes as other collectors, whose items sold out just as they were trying to get the checkout page to function properly. I commend Hasbro for making these things available, but their servers need to be able to handle the frantic refreshing of pages by their fans.

Plus, I kinda need a fertility idol. I’ve been lonely.

Mattel has offered convention exclusives in the past, but has never offered them online until this year. Responding to fan inquiries (and protests, whinings, frothings, and the occasional body part sent through the mail), they whipped up the brand-new MattyCollector.com, announced the launch date and time, and in a Hasbro-esque feat of internet power, collectors converged and pushed the site to a crawl. Mattel offered four exclusives : a He-Man figure of The King of Greyskull, A DC Universe Classics Lobo, a Justice League Unlimited Giganta, and a Pixar’s Cars ‘Lightning McQueen’ car. It seems that everyone who was present at the launch emerged with exactly what they wanted - and MattyCollector only promises to expand. They’ve already announced a site-exclusive set of He-Man toys that’ll be produced at a rate of one per month, and more DC Universe Classics, including Adam Strange and Starfire. For a first effort at a storefront for such a popular company, it looks very exciting.

So, SDCC was just as exciting for us at home, and I’m going to keep on telling myself that. I got the stuff I wanted, got to buy it while wearing nothing but my underpants, and no one was the wiser. They weren’t so thrilled when I tried that at Target.

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.

While they’re not due out until May of 2008, Mezco (one of my favorite companies for many, many reasons) has released press images from their upcoming series of action figures, based on the Emmy Award-winning show Heroes - which I love, no matter what any entitled internet nerd message board says. The writers may be on strike, but my loyalty is strong, for now.

Mezco’s figural output is very diverse, ranging from horror to cartoon to classic movie properties, and their figures from the first Hellboy movie were some of the best character likenesses I’d ever seen. This, paired with great quality control and excellent articulation, makes Mezco one of the quieter companies to watch. While the license to make Heroes figures was long-rumored to to have shifted between McFarlane Toys and NECA, both great companies in different ways, I’m pleased that Mezco ultimately landed it.

One might ask, “Why do we need action figures from a show that really doesn’t have THAT much action?” Historically, that’s not such a bad question, especially when the show in question is complex, episodic, and on in prime time. McFarlane’s Lost figures went unsold in many areas, and eventually hit discount aisles before fans of the show expressed any interest. At this time, the line is barely making it through a second series, leaving the cast woefully incomplete. Lost viewers as a whole, it would seem, just aren’t toy buyers. McFarlane released a scene-specific statue or two from 24, and China-based Hot Toys made a few 1/6th scale figures based on Prison Break - all very specialty market items, produced in relatively low quantities. Mezco is hoping that Heroes’ decidedly more nerdy audience IS of the toy-buying ilk - which I’m also hoping, because I don’t intend on collecting a toy line that dies halfway through again, leaving families and teams incomplete. You burned me, Adult Swim figures, and I’ve never recovered.

The first line of Heroes figures will have five characters. Because they’re regular people who change clothes and get haircuts, there’s no ONE outfit that suits them best and makes them more recognizable (something which is a lot more obvious when dealing with costumed heroes or cartoons) - but Mezco does a pretty good job making them all unique in their personality-appropriate clothing. And satisfying their messenger bag fetish by giving them to three of the male characters, and nary a purse to the one female. And non-viewers? Beware of spoilers below.

We have Peter Petrelli, the mimic who absorbs and retains the powers of anyone around him, whether he likes it or not (or is even aware of it), as well as stealing the hearts and underpants of just about every female viewer. Peter is seen with his first season bangs. There will also be a second version of him, exclusive to retailers who order from previews Magazine, which will include a base to make him appear to be flying.

We have Hiro Nakamura, the Japanese sci-fi and comic nerd who can move through space and time, his altruistic motives sculpted gracefully by the comic heroes that he admires. And yet, despite what the uninformed media might imply about comic book readers, his attitudes towards women are completely healthy.

There’s also Claire Bennet (later, Butler), whose blood has powers that can almost instantly heal herself and others. While she’s rarely seen in her cheerleader outfit, the whole ‘save the cheerleader, save the world’ thing was too pervasive to ignore.

Next is doctor Mohinder Suresh, who has no obvious powers of his own, but (usually) works towards the preservation and privacy of these people with special powers, with or without the aid of The Corporation, whose secretive motives keep him guessing.

Finally, there’s the series villain, Sylar (aka Gabriel Grey), who eats the brains of anyone whose powers he wants. He’s unrepentantly selfish and creepy, barely sympathetic, and we all love him. Again, he’s sculpted in an outfit that we rarely see him in, but is darkly appropriate to his character.

The first series lacks everyone’s favorite Noah Bennet, Hiro’s friend Ando, Matt Parkman, Isaac Mendez, Mr. Linderman, Nathan Petrelli, The Haitian, Adam, or even Mr. Muggles, so it’s vital that the line sells well, else we’ll never get the rest of these important characters. Being such a character-driven story, it would be a shame to miss out on any. Each figure in the line comes with a handful of accessories, as well as small reproductions of the paintings that played vital clues in the show.

As far as the character likenesses are concerned, fans have already expressed displeasure at some of the unusual appearances. We can tell who they’re supposed to be, but they’re not really floored by the accuracy. Others have commented that they appear to be half-realistic, and half-Tim Sale - the comic artist who provided and lot of the art for the show, as well as the clue-paintings. Sale’s artwork has been made into figures before, in DC Direct’s Batman : Long Halloween and Dark Victory series, and a Batman Black and White statue as well, and it’s true enough that these figures bear some of the same telltale angles. And yes, Mezco has also shown a proclivity towards some very interpretive figures.

Will this public outcry cause Mezco to revisit the figures before the scheduled release date? Will they settle on one style or another, instead of this odd hybrid? Will I buy them anyhow? I think we all know the answer to that last one. Come May, keep an eye out at your local FYE, Spencer Gifts, or comic shop, where these are most likely to pop up.

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