by Christopher Troy
Sorry for the later article everyone, but I came back from PAX East in Boston late this past Sunday night, and I still haven’t had time to recover, what with work and the new Marvel vs. Capcom 3 DLC dropping. For the 3 of you that care, the show was massive, with nearly 70,000 people in attendance! There was many an awesome game on display, with publishers like Ubisoft, EA, Bioware, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft on hand. I’m still running on my post PAX high, and if you read the title of the article, you’ve probably figured out that this article will be about video game action figures! Aren’t we quite the genius?!
The highlight for me this week on the Playstation Network is the release of the $3 demo/prologue to next week’s Dissidia 012: Duodecim Final Fantasy for the Playstation Portable. And, no, I haven’t the slightest clue what a Duodecim is either. Regardless, I’m excited for the upcoming prequel/sequel of the original Dissidia (which is also packaged with the game), and Square Enix is of course willing to cash in on that excitement with product. The first wave of Dissidia Play Arts won’t drop until later this year, which features new sculpts of fan favorite characters Cloud Strife, Squall Leonhart and Gabranth. For the time being though, Square has released a 2nd series of Trading Art figurines. The intial set released back in 2009 were decent, but the American versions were pre-assembled, and didn’t look so hot to be honest. This time around, the pre assembled figures look much better, and the line up consists of Sephiroth, Terra, Cecil and Firion. Bartz/Butz is a Japanese exclusive for some reasons. Don’t ask me why Square continues to do this, but they do, and it’s really annoying. I guess they figure there’s no love for Final Fantasy 5 over in the US, despite the fact the game’s been re-released like 3 or 4 times. Regardless, each figure sells for about $16 a pop, which isn’t too bad for a small, highly detailed figurine.
As Square releases toys based on games that have yet to come out, NECA has released 4 new figures based on recently released and 1 upcoming new EA games. Crysis 2, Dead Space 2 and Bulletstorm received the 6″ figure treatment, starting off another solid year for the Video Game Select Series. All 4 figures posses a solid amount of articulation, great sculpts and a nice selection of weapons that do the video game franchise justice. The Crysis 2 and Bulletstorm releases warrant the most amount of articulation, and come with HUGE guns, which should not be a surprise if you played the original Crysis or Bulletstorm. The Necromorph from Dead Space 2 is the weakest of the four in terms of articulation and accessories, but it’s an army builder figure, so that’s to be expected. The revamped Issac Clarke figure however, actually lights up, which explains why he’s not as articulated as the other heroes released in this line. There was also a Sam Fischer from the recent Splinter Cell game released, but it really doesn’t warrant much of a review, as much as I like the game that inspired it, it’s a pretty weak figure, and should only be bought if you’re desperate for some Splinter Cell merchandise. These figures retail for about $20, and we’re having trouble keeping the Dead Space figures on the shelf, so if you want em, you better come into the store immediately to pick them up!
Super post, Was so bored, this post made my night! LOL at some of ya guys!