The merch world has been ablaze recently with talk of the annual Toy Fair, which as ever has teased some fantastic products set for release within the next year or so, with big news coming for the Amazing Spider-man and Avengers lines, and a lot of frankly mind-boggling non-movie related toys that seem to come from a totally different planet than the simple blocks and cars I used to play with in the Time Before Beard.
As usual, here are the finest merchandise discoveries of the week, two of which come directly from the Toy Fair, as well as the usual T-shirt of the week, inspired by the increasingly exciting upcoming release of Prometheus, which I will hopefully be seeing at Cannes for FSR if all goes to plan (and it’s actually there). Booby traps negotiated, angry native tribes dodged, I emerged blinking into the light, victorious and mucky with the treasures that you should all go and buy. Keep the industry alive. Bally-ho! Assemble! And other such rallying calls.
1. The Lizard
The most personally exciting reveal from the Toy Fair for me was the revelation of Spiderman’s latest adversary, with Diamond Comics Distributors’ Marvel Select Lizard action figure, which is spectacularly detailed, and offers a hugely exciting tease of what we can expect Rhys Ifans’ character to look like (complete with eye-wateringly large organic cod-piece). No word yet on the price of these beauties, but I’d hazard a guess at $25 to $30 for the action figure (and rightly so, based on the quality) and considerably more for the bust.
The unfortunate contradiction these days for kids is that this kind of exceptional quality in toys makes them entirely unplayable-with, so mint in the box it is. Dictatorial? Possibly. But toys like this aren’t for sticky-handed nippers anyway.
2. The Walking Dead Season 2 Special Edition Set
Consider the humble Blu-ray box: cruelly never heralded as anything but a receptacle to be handled without care, and sometimes even thrown away in favour of disc wallets or hard-drives. But the special edition will keep physical distribution and the box alive, and the medium will no doubt continue in limited scope well beyond distributors’ decision to move to digital distribution for 99% of sales. And there are some really very prestigious Blu-ray box sets on the horizon, like this one. Believe it or not, that image is indeed of a Blu-ray box. The best damn Blu-ray box set in all the world, and another one from the Toy Fair, which featured a raft of upcoming Walking Dead products.
With crafting almost as impressive as the prosthetics used on the TV series itself, the box features an ow-y to end them all and would make a fantastic center-piece for any real collector’s special edition display (alongside the Alien head box set, Hogwarts set and Night Owl Watchmen collector’s edition). Astounding that this much work has gone into a box, and price will surely be no object for those who want it. I know it won’t be for me.
3. Monty Python Bunny Slippers
Cute and terrible at the same time: such is the oxymoronic existence of the The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog of Monty Python fame, which has now been immortalized by BunnySlippers.com with irresistible results.
The mouths open and close when you walk, for God’s sake. And yes, it is wholly appropriate for grown men and women to wear fluffy slippers – comfort should know no age restrictions.
You can pick a pair up here.
T-Shirt of the Week
As worn by Alien-bait Pvt. Frost. Tell people that in bars, they’ll be hugely impressed with how much you know about minor characters in Ridley Scott’s superior sequel…
Buy it here.
Spend your allowance with more great items in the Merch Hunter archives.