NECA Unveils Some Comic-Con 2012 Exclusives!

In light of the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con 2012 starting July 12th-15th, tons of companies are starting to unveil their products exclusive to attendees. NECA has shown us two of their exclusives which is a "Cloaked City Hunter Predator" and a "Hero From The Sky Ash". Plenty more to come from many companies. We'll keep you updated.

Hot Toys - Another Joker Is On The Way!

From Hot Toys:


“You have nothing, nothing to threaten me with. Nothing to do with all your strength.”


The Joker 2.0 collectible is coming soon! Stay tuned!

FUNKO - Pop! Heroes The Dark Knight Rises - Batman & Bane

About a week ago, Jon bought me two of the new FUNKO Pop! Heroes - The Dark Knight Rises vinyl figures, Batman (19) and Bane (20). I was pretty excited to get these due to the fact that I've been a fan of FUNKO Pop! figurines for awhile and when these arrived in the mail, I was not disappointed.



Batman comes in the Nolan TDK styled suit and bright white eyes and gold utility belt. As opposed to the Series 01 classic Batman Pop! Hero, they decided to actually give him definition and detail on the mask. They carved a lot of detail into the actual suit as well and even included the cape. I'm very happy to have this in my collection and absolutely adore the figure, though I did find a few cons on my specific figure. There's what looks like to be a dent on the back of his head. It's very small and barely noticeable, but I feel like FUNKO should take better care in quality control because these are things collectors notice. Also, the black paint on the torso is a little bit more of a matte paint finish than the mask, legs and arms. I haven't seen others in person, so I'm not sure if others have this similar problem. It's not a huge deal, but again, it's something that might turn off collectors into purchasing more of FUNKO's products. If they'd work on some consistency, these would be flawless simplistic figurines. While there are a few cons, I still absolutely love this Batman and I'm very happy.













Bane on the other hand, came with absolutley no cons. He comes in his mask, black eyes with rather expressive eyebrows, a trench coat and even the harness he wears under the coat. What I'm most impressed about is the actual detail FUNKO put into the mask - They did a great job adding as much detail as they could around the entire sculpt. As a collector, I can already say that this is one of my favorite peices and would reccomend all Pop! Hero/Batman collectors to grab one of these as I can tell these will sell out quick!

















Articulation on both is very limited and only allows you to move the head side to side. It's not anything I typically would mind since I adore the classic Pop! Heroes pose FUNKO sculpts them in anyway. I would definitely recommend people to purchase these figures if you're a Batman fan. These are timeless pieces and will look great in anybody's collection.

Hot Toys give us a glimpse into their secret base in Korea

From Hot Toys,


"It is our first time to unveil our Hot Toys’ secret base in Korea, where over a hundred of our real-like head sculpts are born with soul and handcrafted by our talented Korean artists! Check out these photos of our team of Korean artists sculpting each of their amazing masterpieces on hands! Discover more about their secret projects there!
These secret base photos shall be highly expected by our fans for a long time, besides those of our offices in Hong Kong and Japan!"







View their original Facebook post here.

NECA - Friday The 13th - 18" Jason Voorhees (Repaint)

Since we were on hiatus around the time I purchased this figure back in January, I hadn't had the chance to post about it. Well the title pretty much says it all. I bought the 18" Jason Voorhees from 2009's Friday The 13th by NECA. The figure is massive at approximately 1/4th scale and doesn't even come close to fitting in my detolf glass cabinets. I knew before purchasing that I wouldn't be happy with NECA's factory paint apps before I actually got it. So I was prepared for the repaint job. So here it is, completely repainted from head to toe. Another modification I did was I cut off the plastic hair that came attached the mask and glued some synthetic hair in its place. Im happy with the outcome. =]









Check out the last repaint job I did. NECA - Jason Voorhees Mask Prop Replica (Repaint)

Custom Handmade 1/6th Figure - IMINIME & Rainman - Ra's al Ghul

Recently came across a truly awesome figure while browsing through Sideshow Freaks. It's a completely handmade custom 1/6th scale figure of Liam Neeson as the terrifying villian from Batman Begins, Ra's al Ghul. The figure was being sold as a small run of just 50 pieces, and quickly sold out. No question as to why it's limited, because this figure is truly breathtaking especially being a figure from a private producer rather than a large established company such as Hot Toys. The project was commissioned by a sculpter by the name of Denny Kim and produced by Rainman and IMINIME.



The set includes: hand painted 'Ra's al Ghul' headsculpt with likeness to Liam Neeson in Batman Begins, Narrow Shoulder True Type equivalent body, Batman Begins (Wayne's Birthday Party/Final Battle) 2 in 1 outfit, Gas Mask, Cane/Sword, one(1) pair of gloved palms, one(1) pair of relaxed palms, and an individually numbered certificate of authenticity signed by all the people involved in this project.















This figure is a truly spectacular piece. Hopefully this company can gain more notoriety so they may produce this figure on a larger scale so more collectors can enjoy this exquisite piece of art in their collection.

WE'RE BACK!

Hello everybody! We have wonderful and exciting news for all of our loyal readers. After nearly a year of hiatus for personal reasons from posting or photographing we're very pleased to announce that we are coming back to the high end toy and collectible community. For nearly 3 years we have been bringing our readers the most up-to-date news on all the latest releases by companies such as Sideshow Collectibles, Hot Toys, NECA, Mezco Toys, Mattel and everything in between. We've also been photographing high end toys and collectibles for just as long. So we're very excited to come back to something that we love so much. We've truly missed it.


You may have noticed a few changes. For those of you that have been reading our blog for the last 3 years you have known us by the name Wicket Toy and Collectible Photography. Well as a new chapter in a book changes titles, so are we. This is a whole new chapter in this little project's life so we have decided on a new name, as well as a new mascott. Another change is that we have slimmed down our social media to just this website, Flickr, YouTube and our Twitter. We felt we had too much clutter. We hope you enjoy the changes as much as we do. We invite you all to read our blog, see what we're all about, and share our love for toys!

We're taking a break...

Some of you may have noticed that we've been pretty absent from the toy world recently. A couple of weeks ago the laptop that we do most of our work on had a malfunction in the screen. We assumed it was going to be a quick easy fix with the repair shop, but ended up costing quite a bit of money. We've been trying to save up the money to get it fixed, but just can't seem to find a break with costs in other parts of our lives. We've just been feeling a bit of the money pinch lately and need some time to get out of the hole that we're in. So we're taking a break indefinitely, meaning no blog posts, no toy photography, no collectible purchases, etc. This will only be for awhile, no idea how long though, but not too long. We apologize to our regular readers, and we hope that you'll all stay with us. We promise that when we do come back, we'll come back as strong as ever. Our 2 year anniversary is coming July 22nd, and we plan to celebrate it well. Thank you all for sticking with us, we'll be back soon.


-Wicket Toy & Collectible Photography

Hot Toys - SDCC 2011 Exclusive Figure Revealed!

Hot Toys has announced and released a photo of their San Diego Comic-Con and Toy Fairs exclusive figure: Iron Man 2: 1/6th scale Mark IV Limited Edition Collectible Figurine (Secret Project). The figure features every detail the regular Mark IV figure, but a nice matte gray finish. The figure is meant to mimic the look and them of the Mark IV in production. Surely an awesome piece to add to any Iron Man collection.

Sideshow Collectibles - Stormtrooper - Premium Format Figure

The Stormtrooper Premium Format figure captures every detail of the iconic armored soldiers from the original 'Star Wars' film, A New Hope. Each piece is individually painted and finished, each with its own unique quality and detail that is the trademark of a handcrafted Sideshow Collectibles product. Crafted in 1:4 scale, this dynamic figure features a real fabric bodysuit and hand-cast trooper armor. The Stormtrooper Premium Format Figure is the perfect addition to any Star Wars display.

One Sixth Xpo 2011

Deep in the valley of City of Industry California, about 30 minutes outside of Los Angeles, lies a little hidden gem named Frank and Son Collectible Show. Essentially an indoor swap meet, the features over 200 collectible and memorabilia dealers all spanning in a 60,000 square foot building. And did we mention that admission and parking are both completely free? No, it's not a fantasy, it's reality.Frank and Son's was the epicenter of California's 1:6th figure community this past weekend, May 28th through the 29th, for the 1:6th Scale Xpo. The event was organized by a company called Q's Toys and Collectibles, and featured many different dealers showing off their best collection pieces and merchandise for sale. All while the usual collectible show took place around the expo.
Drea and I attended the first day, and due to scheduling conflicts didn't attend the second day. We decided to bring along a couple of friends, a cooler full of subway sandwiches and soda, and hit the road. We arrived a couple of hours after opening and gazed in amazement as we looked for a parking spot. The place was packed! We eventually found a parking spot and and soon after entered the building. The sights and smells of fresh plastic and fabric were overwhelming at first, but we soon felt right at home with our fellow collectors. There was much to see, plenty of 1:6th scale figures, accessories, weapons, clothing, vehicles and more. The first thing that caught our attention was the giant display cabinet showcasing custom 12" figures entered in Sunday's contest. Each figure was finely detailed and definitely showed each creator payed close attention to detail.
After checking out all the awesome custom 12" figures, we walked through the expo. The farther around the loop we got, the lighter our wallets seemed to get. But that was just fine for us. When we finished checking out the expo, and after a much needed lunch break with our friends and fellow collector Jed Thomas, we started to travel into the rest of the building. Words can not describe how amazed Drea and I were by what we saw. Up until this time we had only seen the collectibles we obsess over at a few places and the internet, so this place was a blessing to us. There were so many different dealers to visit it took us hours just to see everything. We then visited the expo one last time to speak with some fellow collectors and soon after headed home.
In all, we had a wonderful time. There were so many different thing to see and do, and the whole experience renewed our love for collecting. Meeting all these new people that share a love for toys with us was such a pleasant and rewarding feeling. We will definitely be back for next year's expo, and will also return to Frank and Son Collectible Show very soon. Huge thanks to Q's Toys and Collectibles, Jed Thomas, Juan Diaz, Melina Drake, Betomatali, and all the Sideshow Freaks members that we had the pleasure of meeting in person. We hope to see you all next year. Enjoy the pictures of our day.