Nestled among the rows of action figures and this years newest pre-schooler "must have" is exhibiting some one very near and dear to this blog's "heart," NECA.
Since acquiring Wizkids this past summer, NECA has had no problem bringing the product to consumers of every level. Their "classics" packs have brought previously released figures out to a wider public, and their dedication to bring what the collectors and core-fans what they want has been proven! And not just by the release of previously planned TOPPS/Wizkids products, but the new items such as the Blackest Night Starter set and the just announced Watchmen Set!
The NECA display at Toy Fair brings more hints at what to expect from the NECA/Wizkids machine as it continues to place established and highly market-identifiable characters out in future "Classics" assortments, as well bring some addition property licenses out with a Clix twist.
In December, Australian distributor, Ikons let slip some upcoming solicitations that have been quite interesting. Well, Toy Fair confirms the plans for these products and will leave us wanting to see th details on them. These images from Figures.com show the packaging a sculpts for the Gremlins, Gizmo's Great Escape game. Note that there are actual sculpts in these package, and yes they do in fact bear an uncanny resemblance to the previously released action figures from NECA. Note from Figure.com's image (detail Left) that the figure's are not in scale with HeroClix figures. But since this is designed to be a stand alone game, there will probably be no direct compatibility with HeroClix in a tournament environment.
However, the sculpts (even the one that appears to be backwards in the package) look fantastic and I see many Clix fans snapping this up for no other reason than it looks great! Let's hope it plays fun as well. Some hints as to what happens during game play appear as you see the Trap" tokens behind a couple of Gremlin characters. More news on this can't come soon enough.
Figures.com also has an in package photo if the Freddy vs Jason - Forrest of Fear game as well. This (as we saw back in December) uses the same sculpts from the Freddy vs. Jason Action Pack for HorrorClix (released Spring 2008), but places the "duo" sculpt up on two separate bases. Since this is a product that is simply reutilizing some previous sculpts for a [potentially] different game design, I'm anticipating this less than Gremlins. Potentially (if there are no stat changes to the figures) this may be something that can be played without any new investment on the players' part.
On both of these items, pricing and market release will have strong bearing on how much interest they will receive from current Clix aficionados.
Wizkids will continue to release "Classics" lines in 2010. In addition to the Iron Man packs we expect to see just in time for Iron Man 2 this Spring, DC will get their own lines of Classics and there will be a continuation of the Marvel Classics series.
More photos show Expansions of the Marvel line. Character like the X-men (From the Danger Room Starter and Ultimates sets) and expanded characters from the just announced the Iron Man Line. (Including sculpts fron Xplosion, Clobbering Time, Armor wars and Avengers...at least).
DC's forays into "classics" include Superman and Batman specific lines. From the images at he show, look to see a wide range of characters running Origins, Justice League, Hypertime, Cosmic
Justice, Unleashed, Icons and Legacy.
Given the figures shown in the packages, expect to see every aspect of the game mined for these theme specific "classic" sets in the future.
Though these "Classic" packs are not geared towards the collector, in fact they are most often found at big box stores like Target and Toys R Us, they do a couple things for organized play. They make the few reissued figures legal again in Restricted play, and they provide character cards for these pre-Avengers/Justice League set figures, streamlining them for play in a modern gaming environment. These are minor perks, but important none the less.
One of the "stunners", though not nearly as big as Friday's nuking of fan boy sensibilities, are the
similar packed Halo "classics." Halo ... in the "Classics" style 3 packs. I don't know how to explain this other than ANYTHING that Wizkids put out previously is fair game to see a resurgence or revitalization.
Credit where it's due: I am very grateful for the work put in by the folks at Figures.com and Cool Toy Review. Their on the ground reporting is a great asset to the "regular" folks like me, to relay information and insight on these upcoming products. All images are from the 2010 Toy Fair coverage at Figures.com.
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