Great news for all you Ghostheads that have always wanted to enjoy ghostbusting without all that hard work of buildling the props yourself. Master Replicas had this official announcement on Halloween:

“-Ghost Trap Limited Edition 1:1 scale with lights, sounds and other features. ETA: Spring 2009

-Proton Pack Limited Edition 1:1 scale with lights, sounds and other features. ETA: Fall 2009

Other products will be announced shortly. This is only the beginning!

This line is still very much in development and our “scientists” are currently hard at work on the actual processes involved in bringing these screen icons to life. We have already had direct access to original artifacts in the Sony archive and as always with Master Replicas, authenticity and accuracy are paramount and it’s important that we get the detail just right.”

Master Replica has also created an official page for the props, fittingly named 555-2368. For all you lesser nerds, that’s the phone number on the side of the Ecto-1A as well as on tv:

If you visit the site, you are prompted to take a quiz on ghosts. Not Ghostbusters, ghosts. To help everyone get past it, I’ve included a cheat sheet:

1. Anne Boleyn
2. The Haunted
3. A Great Dane
4. The Crying Old Baby

And there you have it. I’ll keep everyone posted as more information rolls in.

Let’s see, should I pick up the regular thumb drive, or the kickass Ghostbusters drive that comes with the movie loaded on it?

There is no word on pricing or release just yet, but I’m sure we’ll all be keeping our eyes open for this one.

Original story from gizmodo.

Today we’re looking at the newest addition to the Star Wars 1/6 scale figure line from Medicom. This Real Action Hero (RAH) Clone Trooper Commander from Attack of the Clones made its debut at Star Wars Celebration Japan this summer. It is a limited edition of 1000 (250 in Japan, 750 in US) and is exclusive in the US from StarWarsShop.com.

The 1/6 toy scene is on fire this year. Major players like Hot Toys, Sideshow, and Medicom continue to blow us away with each new press release. The quality of the figures is going up every day. Unfortunately, so are the prices. This guy retails for about $150 (USD). StarWarsShop.com lists him for $129.99. Medicom figures tend to be the more expensive for what you’re getting.  More on that later.

Medicom’s package is nice in that it only takes 2 slices of tape and the figure is ready to pop out. No stupid twisties or rubber bands! The art on their Star Wars boxes is very simple. It does have a window so you can see the figure in the box. This makes it nice for mint-in-package collectors, if you go for that sort of thing. Personally, I like when a box is simple or has artwork that I don’t care about. It makes it easier to toss it in the rubbish! I have a hard time letting go of rad package designs–my storage is full of empty toy boxes.

I don’t go for a lot of the prequel collectibles. No offense to any prequel lovers out there, but the awful fart stink that those movies left in the room has only just recently started to clear up for me. I’ll spare you the ranting tangent. The armored characters are undeniably rad, though. Particularly the Episode II clones. I totally dig the mandalorian-ish visor and that fin dealy on the top of the helmet. I passed on the Medicom Ep III clone figures, but when I saw this guy solicited I had to snatch him up.

SCULPT, PAINT, AND AWESOMENESS

The armor sculpt and paint on this figure are top-notch! Right up there with the RAH Stormtrooper they released a few years ago. I have no complaints here. The body suit also has a rad ribbed-like texture. Dig that. While the Medicom body itself is amazing and has incredible articulation, poseability is limited due to the armor, but that’s to be expected. Have you ever tried on real trooper armor? Try sitting down!

I have to admit that when I saw the helmet up close the first time I was a little puzzled. The helmet seemed to extend too far down the neck. Check it out:

I honestly couldn’t remember if the helmet actually looked like that in the movie. I mean I only saw it once and haven’t watched it since. I have seen the Clone Wars cartoons several times and played with plenty of 4″ Clone Troopers and in each of those cases, the helmet cuts off before curling down on the neck, like you would expect a real wearable helmet to look. A quick trip through Google images answered my question…

So this helmet is movie accurate. But it begs the question, how did the actors squeeze their heads into those helmets? Looking at this figure, there is no way you could slip the helmet off and on a scaled head. It’s stuck on there. So were the helmets in the movie supposed to be like a two piece deal that locks on around the head like a capsule? Or (gasp!) were all of the clones in the movie CG?! I’m sorry, I don’t know enough about the movie or the real props to answer that.

*UPDATE* Score another one for Google. According to multiple sources, there were no actual helmet props from Attack of the Clones since all of the Clones were CG! Seriously? Come on, Lucas!

SCALE

Let’s take a minute to talk about scale.

Medicom’s RAH figures are notorious for being short, as in, not quite 1:6 scale. This makes it difficult to display them with Sideshow’s 1:6 Star Wars line. Medicom has done something totally weird with their Clone figures, though. They’re taller! Compare Medicom’s own RAH Jango Fett (see above) with the Clone Commander. Is this a decision they made to fit better with Sideshow’s future offerings? Who knows. Does this mean that all future Medicom Star Wars figures will be in this scale, as well? Like that wicked Han Solo and Royal Guard they have coming out later?  We’ll have to wait and see, I suppose.

But these clones do look good next to Sideshow Star Wars figures (pictured w/ Sideshow Obiwan). This is good news for people, like myself, who want to put this guy right next to Sideshow’s highly anticipated General Kenobi coming in October.

ACCESSORIES

Unlike Sideshow and Hot Toys, Medicom figures are usually pretty light on accessories. The Commander comes with an extra set of gripping hands and a blaster. There is also a display stand, but if you’re like me, you’ll just leave that in the box or throw it away since these dudes stand so well on their own.

The extra hands are nice and do their job. For my money, Medicom has the best hand peg system on the market. They fit snugly in place, but they’re easy to swap without worrying about breaking them. Hot Toys’ pegs seem a bit tight and my Sideshow’s hands are always falling off.

The blaster, on the other hand, falls short in a couple of areas. The paintjob is super dull. It looks like a cheap toy more than a scale replica, which sucks a little when you look at the immaculate job they did on the figure. Just compare the Medicom blaster (bottom) with the Sideshow Stormtrooper blaster (top):

As we can see, Sideshow does a much nicer job with the sculpt, paint, and overall quality of the accessory. Pretty amazing for Sideshow considering they charge half the price Medicom charges for their figures. Pretty sad for Medicom, though. Another notch on Sideshow’s belt….the folding stock actually folds!

Whereas the stock on the Medicom blaster does nothing. Boo hoo hoo.
In conclusion, even with its lack of accessories, this figure is super rad. Rad enough to be buried with? Probably not. Worth $150? No way. If you can get it for $100 or less, snatch it up! $130 is okay considering many of us will be forking out upwards of $170 for the RAH Han Solo next year. There is also a plain white Ep. II Clone Trooper hitting importers any day now. Personally, I felt like the plain white ones look a little boring. The yellow on this figure has a better aesthetic. If they were half the price? I’d be buying at least 2 plain whities for the yellow commander to boss around!

Just a heads up to our fellow Star Wars collectors looking for a deal. The Star Wars Shop is having a limited-time discount (one week) on some killer stuff. It’s a new recurring thing they call The Weekly 6.

12 inch Medicom RAH Shock Troopers for 50% off, only $75. If you’ve ever played with one of these guys you know how rad they are and the price is a steal! UPDATE: Shock Troopers sold out in the first day!

Other deals include the Concept Grievous figure for $10 and that Lego Luke X-Wing Pilot Maquette, which was too expensive to begin with, but is now $35–a price that’s easier to swallow.

In the realm of superhero action figures, Mattel’s DC Universe Classics line has been kicking all kinds of ass. The combination of sculpt and poseability is unparalleled in mainstream toys. The newest lineup, wave 3, includes Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Sinestro, Nightwing, Robin, and Deathstroke. Plus it’s a build-a-figure series for everyone’s favorite villainous zombie, the almighty Solomon Grundy!

Marvel/Hasbro should take note. Let’s face it, Marvel Legends figures have been sucking all kinds of ass lately. From their random selection of characters to their wonky ass body sculpts. What’s up with the giraffe necks on everybody and tennis ball boobs on the ladies? Hey Hasbro, boobs don’t look like that. Not to mention that their build-a-figure sets usually require that you track down 7 or 8 figures to complete the damn figure. DC’s BAF? Only 5 figures!

Okay, so let’s talk about those guys. The biggest surprise in the bunch, for me, is Deathstroke. He’s not a character I care all that much about. Sure he pops up here and there in the comics and he’ll kick some teenage asses, but it wasn’t until he became a regular villain on Cartoon Network’s Teen Titans Go!, voiced by the always stellar Ron Perlman, that I even took much notice of him. Of the five main figures, Deathstroke is the best in the set. He’s got everything going for him: awesome costume, amazing sculpt, wicked paint job, and killer accessories! The dude has it all: machine gun w/ strap to hang on his back, bow staff w/ a placeholder on his back (on the ammo belt), big freakin sword w/ sheath, and pistol w/ holster that latches shut. You can totally stow away all of his weapons so his hands are free to do some fist-fighting with Nightwing. It’s great!

The other figures are pretty straight forward. They each have one or two accessories, but accessories aren’t why we buy these figures really. It’s all about the body sculpt and poseability. The Four Horsemen have been rocking these sculpts. Every little detail is there. Just look at the scales and buckles on Deathstroke! And the articulation? Oh my gosh! I was hooked on this line from the first moment I opened up their Superman and Batman figures. Seriously, screw DC Direct. Mattel is where its at. The neck and chest joints make these the only figures of their scale that can get into real flying poses. That may seem ridiculous, but it makes a big difference when you and your friends get down at playtime. The hip joint also allows them to do super high kicks! Hiyaaahh!

That’s not to say that the DCUC figures aren’t without their faults. Paint can be spotty. Just look at the inside of Hal Jordan’s left calf. And before I cleaned him up, my Sinestro looked like a dog took a dump on his face. Some of the black paint for his mustache and eyebrows had smudged on his cheek and mouth. How do you get that off without repainting it? Here’s my secret. Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. These things really are magic. They have saved so many toys. You just break off a piece, get it a little wet, and gently scrub it across the area. Just be careful not to overdo it. This worked great on Sinestro because head plastic is pink (not painted pink) and the black is paint on top of it. If it were the other way around, the Magic Eraser would have just wiped off more pink. Also, if the pink were just another layer of paint underneath the black paint, I would have to be extra careful. But it wasn’t, so I was pretty rough. Paint smudges piss me off.

Oh and Robin’s got a smaller teen body, which is cool, but his hands are huge! It’s like they forgot to scale them down. That sucks a little.

Our only other gripe with these figures is distribution! It sucks! You are lucky to find one case of these at a Target or K-Mart, so you have to be extra alert to beat those scalper bastards to it. And if you happen to get there after somebody who decided they just wanted Green Lantern, then you are stuck searching for him to complete your Grundy and will probably have to cave-in and buy one from one of the aforementioned scalper dicks on eBay. This happened to me with wave 2. I could not find Harley or Black Manta anywhere because some jerk decided they would be good for eBay. It also sucks hitting the toy aisle and seeing racks and racks of untouched Marvel Legends and no DCUC figures. More kids need these. They are so fun to play with. We need to get them into their hands! So Mattel, I know you’re reading this, step it up! Ship more cases and more evenly distribute the damn variants!! All shortpack figures are now is bait for scalpers! Luckily, I was able to choose between the original Sinestro and the Sinestro Corps variant, but I didn’t see an unmasked Deathstroke or I probably would have gotten that, too. His white hair is sexy.

But I digress. Let’s conclude this conversation with Solomon Grundy. He is beautiful. We’ve been waiting a long time for a Grundy this good. He’s huge and mega poseable! He makes it all worth it. Even if you don’t like Nightwing or any of the other characters as much, 5 figures at about $10 each gets you a wicked rad Grundy with little friends to beat up. SO worth it!

BUYING OPTIONS
You can try to bug your local stores about them or you can go online. We try to avoid auction sites as much as possible. It just fuels the fire. If you have to buy online, try bigbadtoystore.com or cornerstorecomics.com. They are both reputable.

If you don’t get it, you can go to Hell.

She-Fett. That’s right, She-Fett.

Any of you hardcore Star Wars fans ever wonder what Boba-Fett would look like with some nice knockers? (Well, maybe not Boba himself, but if he had a hot sister…)

David Johnson with SpectreStudios has fulfilled this wish. 14 hours, lots of Prosculpt, tons of talent, and here she is:

She’s also for sale. One of a kind.

Many of you robot-nerds out there are avid comic readers, and if you’re anything like me, you might even be willing to spend your hard-earned cash on statues and maquettes that portray the art in your favorite comics. What you may not think about, is the immense talent that goes into sculpting Mary Jane Watson Parker bent over doing Peter Parker’s laundry. (seen below)

There are many great sculptors that are behind the scenes bringing the comic-artists drawings to glorious 3D life. When you first see a statue or comiquette in Previews or on your comic collectibles website of choice, you might think to yourself, “$89.99 for a statue?” But once you’ve tried sculpting, as I have, you realize that it is quite difficult to take a lump of Super Sculpey, and create something that doesn’t look like it was pushed out of your dog’s backside. Let alone, all the production work that goes into actually producing the statue.

That being said, next time you’re considering purchasing that sweet Batman Black & White Statue, take time to appreciate the dozens and dozens of hours someone spent sculpting it from a lump of clay. Not to mention that all of the great sculptors that I have had the pleasure of corresponding with online (and hopefully meet at the Comic-Con) are some of the nicest and funniest guys you’ll ever talk to. Some of my favorite sculptors whose work you probably see every time you’re in a comic book shop or browsing ebay, are:

Tim Bruckner: one of the founding fathers of the fantasy and comic art genre and a DC Direct exclusive sculptor. Known for his ability to bring fantasy pieces to life. i.e. Frank Frazetta and other artists.

Tony Cipriano: One of the most versatile sculptors in the business. With pieces ranging from angular, cartoon like sculpts, to realistic and life like pieces. Best known for his amazing work for Disney, as well as his ability to sculpt beautiful feminine statues of icons such as Mary Jane, Bettie Page and vintage pinups.

Every week I will be writing a short article about a different comic industry sculptor, so stay tuned!

For those who haven’t seen the trailer for Wall-E, check it out here. Now that we’re all familiar with this wonderful little robot, let’s take a gander at the replica’s that will be released after his movie:

There you go… Pretty self explanatory.