With our 2013 Retrospective Week behind us, it’s time to look into the future, to see what toys will empty our wallets, anger our significant others, and bring joy to our hearts for those fleeting five minutes between opening it and putting it on display! It’s time to look ahead!!!
Well, as far ahead as we can. Toy Fair isn’t even til next month after all. But there are is already a nice mix of toys announced for the first quarter and some hints as to where the awesome will really be next year.
Both Vault and I have put together a list of five things whether they be toy lines, toy companies, or vague toy categories that we’re most excited for in 2014. Think of like a preview of the end of year articles. Unless, we’re completely wrong. Then it will be no preview at all!
| Noisy No. 5 – Hot Toys! | Vault No. 5 – Movie Inspired Toys! |
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| I almost didn’t put this one on the list. I’ve only bought six Hot Toys over the last two years… and I didn’t open them right away. I just didn’t feel like I had room to display them properly. With the new house, and the |
There are some fantastic looking movies coming out this year, and a nice chunk has something to do with toys in one way or another. I was at Target the other day and picked up an AIM Agent from the new Captain America Legends line, and I know there’s a cool looking Carnage running around on the Spiderman side. We’ve also started seeing toy solicits for the upcoming Godzilla movie. I’m also really looking forward to the merchandise that Guardians of the Galaxy is going to inspire. (There’s no way I could ignore a Hot Toys Rocket Raccoon!). Then there’s the LEGO Movie. The LEGO sets inspired by this movie are insane and amazing, with a good majority of inspirations from long past series like Blacktron, Pirates, Fabuland and other vintage childhood goodness. |
| Noisy No. 4 – Four Horsemen! | Vault No. 4 – Ori-Toy’s Acid Rain! |
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| If you know me at all, you know the Four Horsemen are going to make this list! The Horsemen had a huge, HUGE, 2013. Their Kickstarter garnered four times the support asked for and the end result was better than anybody anticipated: the much-requested wings, new accessories, and heck, whole new figures! Gorgeous sculpts & great articulation, but the Ravens aren’t all the Four Horsemen have going on. The Outer Space Men line should soon include Infinity Editions of the last remaining original OSM. The Power Lords line is likely to have some fun releases, including the classic characters. And never mind their Mattel work! 2013 was big for the Horsemen, but 2014 might just be their best year yet! To keep tabs, check out SourceHorsemen! | I’ve been keeping my eye on the indie Chinese toy company Ori-Toy for a while now. Over the last few years they’ve been developing a new line called Acid Rain, which is a military line that uses soldiers and mechs and is set in an over-polluted future. (Kind of like a mix of GI Joe and Transformers.) I was entirely blown away with one of the early samples they sent me last year, and I’m equally excited to see that they’ll be soliciting the first wave of vehicles and soldiers soon. This may be a small company, but with the amount of work they put into each figure they’re a definite up and comer in the industry. |
| Noisy No. 3 – NECA! | Vault No. 3 – NECA! |
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| Vault and I always manage to line something up it seems. NECA has been around for years, but they made their strongest their bid yet to overtake my toy shelves in 2013. Clubber Lang & Robocop have been joined by all manner of Predators & Aliens (and not to mention a few Dutches)! I was able to pick them all up at TRU (a rare treat) and have been impressed by just about everything I purchased in 2013. 2014 looks to be even more jampacked with ED-209 & NES Robocop (that still cracks me up), Trix Yogurt Dutch, more Aliens (Kenner versions, anybody?) and their human protagonists, Sgt. Windrix, more great Predators, frggin’ Planet of the Apes, and the one I’m probably most looking forward oo (fingers crossed on the head sculpt!) John Rambo from First Blood II. | Just to give an example of how well NECA has done this year, I’ve purchased thirteen figures from them. I know that doesn’t sound like a lot, but from 2011 to 2012 I bought zero. The quality of their sculpting, painting, and articulation has gone up so high that I could no longer ignore the great products they’re putting out. And let’s not forget the fun factor! Repainting iconic characters like Jason, Freddy, and Robocop in their bizarre NES colors was genius. Then there’s the Kenner Predators, inspired by one of my favorite childhood toy lines. They’ve proven that adult collectibles can be just as crazy and fun as a kid’s toy, without losing the high levels of sculpt and detail that we all want. I can’t wait to see what these folks have in store for 2014. |
| Noisy No. 2 – Transformers (Masterpiece & Third Party)! |
Vault No. 2 – Onell Design! |
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| When the MP line first (re)kicked into gear with MP-10, I had a particular guy on my MP-wishlist. I decided that if they did make this guy, I’d want the others, so I’d better start buying now. As a result, I have gotten some amazing MP toys like Sideswipe, Prowl, Soundwave, etc., but I’m still most excited about this year’s prospect: Ultra Magnus! There are four of my favorite versions throughout my shelves. I can’t wait for the fifth! The other MPs like Wheeljack & Bumblee will be sweet too! And even though I declared “MP or Bust” when I started buying the big boy toys, third parties still have their clutches into my wallet. The Fan’s Toys MPs like Scoria, of course, but also the Combiners! Intimidator/M3 & Feral Rex should be completed in 2014. And my all time favorite, Computron, should get his start as MakeToy’s Quantron! It’s a great time to be a Transformers fan! | I’m pretty sure Matt Doughty, founder of Onell Design, is slowly trying to take over our shelves and maybe the entire toy world. He’s been plugging away at his wonderfully inspired Glyos line for years now, slowly assembling a small plastic army that’s fully modular and has a very unique design. But over the last few years he’s |
| Noisy No. 1 – Long Live 6″ Figures!! | Vault No. 1 – Gothitropolis Ravens! |
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| A few years ago, it seemed like everything was all set to get smaller (and in some cases it has), but the 6” scale is still going strong. I may flirt with sixth scale and love my eighteenth scale Joes & other little guys, but I love 6” figures. Most of my collection is in this scale. And it’s looking like 2014 will be another great year to collect it. DCUC has shriveled up but there are four more releases, one amazing Aquaman in particular, still lined up. Star Wars Black has gotten off to a fantastic start and we have Funko promising a SWB-like line called Legacy that will feature properties like Game of Thrones & Firefly among others. That line could be insane, but the real gem in 2014 might just be perennial favorite Marvel Legends. I’ve already bought 3 amazing MLs this year (and I’d buy four more if I found ‘em) and I’ve got a laundry list that I want from what’s been announced (and we’re not even to Toy Fair yet). I’m definitely excited to pick up some Marvel figures with the money not being spent on DC. | This year the Four Horsemen pulled off an amazing achievement with their hugely successful Ravens Kickstarter. They’ve been tempting us with pictures of this figure for a few years now, and it was astonishing to see it and all the variants and add-ons get the funding they deserved. Scarabus and his brethren turned out to be some of the best figures of 2011 and a shining example of what a true “adult collector” toy line should be. With all the work being poured into the Ravens, I wouldn’t be surprised the high bar that Scarabus set. Either way, I have a feeling these birds are going to be near the top of everyone’s Best of 2014 list. |
What are you looking forward to in 2014? Let us know below!
3rd party Transformers, especially the gestalts. Mega expensive at $500+ for a complete figure but totally awesome.
The further releases in the S.H. Figuarts line that will complete the Zyuranger/Mighty Morphin Power Rangers team and Sailor Moon’s Inner Scouts.
The first live action TMNT movie Classics figures Playmates teased us with a brief look at movie Leonardo.
Really lookibg forward to the new Marvel legends soon as I see’em.
The last DC offerings well I await a final look at Ice and Superboy. Doomsday dunno on.
Alot of whats listed is out of my wallet range but dunno what the new year could bring.
Oh yeah forgot the figuarts, await a finished Zyuranger, Jetman, Kyoryuger, Dairanger, and hopefunny starting Goranger cause that AkaRed I saw was very nice looking. Also Baseball Mask. Kamen Rider Gaim has grown on me and await those as well. Even the Duran arms glad creepy fella.
Next year I anticipate I’ll be spending money on
1. Lots of DC Collectibles Batman figures- there stuff has really improved and they’ve got some great stuff on the way.
2. MOTUC- another given.
3. I have a feeling that after the two SWB waves, I’m going to be heavily in Star Wars again. I feel like by the end of next year, SWB is going to be an amazingly hot property or it will be dead- I don’t think there will be any middle ground.
4. Nerf Guns- I really want more Nerf Guns. More, more, more!
5. Minifigures- S.U.C.K.L.E.S. Mystical Warriors of the Ring, OMFG, generic plastic soldiers, I just love these guys and they keep popping up everywhere!
I haven’t seen much NECA stuff that I’m excited for moving forward, although the dominated this year. Hopefully Toy Fair will reveal some good content. I’m sort of losin interest in Playmate’s TMNT line. I’ve had fun collecting it, but I’ve had a lot of buyer’s remorse there. I’m really trying to cut my buying habits down so I’m not planning on picking up the new Marvel Legends, but darn they look good!
dude, the nerf centurion. i can not overstate the wish fulfillment aspect of this blaster… it’s the most manly, substantial, badass feeling nerf blaster ever produced, or at least, the best one i’ve ever fired. the darts are the new mega darts, the nerf equivalent of a .5 cal round, and it fires them a truly heroic distance, all while having a cocking mechanism and weight that makes you feel like you’re trying to snipe a predator out of the columbian jungle. seriously… get this gun. you’ll want to hold it up in the air and light a cigar, then scream at passers-by that they need to “GEHT TO DA CHOPPA!!!”
seriously, if guns are an analogue for a penis, this blaster will make you feel like john holmes.
Yes MOTUC is a given and kost of Marvel Legends. A few Diamond Select.
I only got the TMNT 4 turtles and stopped there. Gotta slow down because I ran out of space and money.
i like both lists… you guys are on a roll here.
vault has me tickled with the acid rain line, and i hope to see/hear more good things on this line. i hadn’t heard of it at all when he reviewed the stronghold 4 eyes, and it is easily, far away, my most “damned!!! i missed a cool toy!!” piece of 2013. hoping he can keep abreast this year PRIOR to sales dates, so the rest of us get a shot at toy coolness too. 🙂
looking forward to NECA stuff too, like you both mentioned ED 209, who is way up on the list of must-haves, but the pac rim line, for me, holds more promise of toyetic goodness than any other license they have left on their rosters (that we know about currently, at least) between the standard scale, and the incredible temptation of 1/4 scale kaiju… holy crap.
the horsemen and the gothitropolis line… so far, so good, they’ve been incredibly successful thusfar w/ the promise of the ravens, now we only have to hold on to hope that the QC remains high and BOOM, toy of 2014. they look great, and i can’t wait to lay hands on them.
one toy i’m saddened didn’t get more traction ’round the web was the US release of the attacknid, the cool spider-bot the crazy guy on youtube invented… i snagged one, and holy crap is that thing fun. my only chafe points are that you have to stop walking to fire, and that there’s no figure sized seat on it… working on one of those things as we speak. skeletor needs to be able to mount it triumphantly as he assaults castle grayskull, especially if he’s going to be turned away by the zombihamma custom grayskull tower cannon (which sadly, includes no launching item… really? no one of the 3rd party develops is making any kind of balista/cannon/trebuchet for castle grayskull so a kid behind it could actually fire “castle defenses” outwards at oncoming enemies using nerf blasters or a marauding attacknid or the bud k amphibious r/c tank… seems kind of a major dearth there.)
lords know, if i had the official castle grayskull, i’d put my kids behind it, commanding he-man’s legions, and i’d sit back about 70 feet with a nerf centurion, which i challenge anyone of our generation to hold and not feel like they just joined dutch on a predator hunt, and lob massive missiles via skeletor’s army, till i knocked everyone off the castle (or the boys, knocked skeletor off the attacknid, whichever came first)
I’m looking forward to:
– The rest of MOTUC, including the announcement of a new mini-sub(s). I’m also hopeful that Toy Guru will unleash a new brand or two as the Flagship for Mattel, maybe Thundercats or something else that tickles the ’80s spot.
– Some of the ARAH-style concept case figures will sneak their way into our collections via the 50th anniversary of GI Joe.
– Masterpiece Transformers and wishing upon a star that we get word of Galvatron and/or Kup, two figures well-deserving of the MP treatment.
– The possibility of a solid WWE Elite ’80s Hulk Hogan should he so choose to show up at WM 30 and the unveiling of a Legends rebirth that includes Big John Studd and Junkyard Dog.
– DC Multi-verse Burton films figures. I’ll embrace the smaller scale if it means a more fleshed out cast — enough for a proper display. The first wave of the Multiverse figures are rather beautiful.
The black, blue and yellow rangers!
Isn’t that Rescue figure in the 6″ image effectively canceled? If wave 3 hasn’t made it out yet, I’m doubtful it ever will. Which sucks, because Rescue is one of my most-wanted figures, and the IM3 War Machine would have been a definite purchase as well.
ML – those “missing” variants/production changes like Moonstar, as well as new stuff like T-bolts. (WHERE IS MY BAF ATLAS v1???????)
other 6″ stuff – yeah, I’ve fallen hard for the SW Black 6″ after swearing off SW around EpI.
random WWE is slightly taller, but still works for me as fodder. (that I never use. esp right now. ugh.)
TF – has become pic & choose with me. I’ll likely buy the TF4 Dinos, but not much else I know of coming.
Acid Rain – got any more pics/info on these? growing up, 90% of my collection was Joe/TF (plus odd SP/random/Clash figs), so they all inhabited one universe, and from the description, this IS what I grew up with.
Power Lords – I signed up for the Volcan Rock sub even though I never collected the old Revell line, but it’s the 4H on a 3 3/4 line! I can’t see them going wrong there.
Marvel Legends – The comic stuff, variants included. This means I hope to get Batroc, Tiger Shark, Radioactive Man, Blizzard, Boomerang and so forth.
Avengers Infinite – The successor to Marvel Universe promises improved availability in case pack-ins but I’m not convinced yet seeing how the first Wasp 3 3/4 figure is already one per case. Also hoping they don’t cut back on articulation. With classic pre-New 52 DC Comics dead in the water, Hasbro and Marvel are my only sources for a superhero fix nowadays.
Star Wars Black – Anything OT in both 6 and 3 3/4 inch form. More obscure vintage vehicle updates like the Imperial Troop Carrier or others which I never had as a kid. (Like the Death Star Playset!)
Mattel – MOTUC: Anything from the vintage line still to be made. Blade in particular looks awesome indeed. Everything else: The 3 3/4 Chris Reeve Superman and Terence Stamp Zed that I would have gone nuts for back in 1981.
NECA – Hopefully, the rest of Dutch’s crew from Predator. I’m betting on Dillon being next but would love to see the entire squad at some point. I went from buying zero NECA figures to seven in 2013 alone. I’m getting great vibes from this company and looking forward to what licenses they pick up next.
Transformers – I’m thinking of selling my Legends/Generations collection and putting the money into (Wheeljack! Bumblebee!) Masterpieces. The Third Party scene continues to compete for said income however: I started with iGear’s Not Minibots but then ToyWorld began redoing the Not Throttlebots and now I’m looking at TFC’s Not Protectobots project. It’s too much to process I’m telling you!
I’m sure there will be more surprises to come via Toy Fair and SDCC, but this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the modern toy industry.