AFB Previews Picks - September

Yikes, so many weird, wild and wonderful things to report on from this month's Previews. Best get started:

The **YAWN** Award for most boring company in September goes to DC Direct. I'm really not sure what DCD's game plan is at the moment. I think that DCD and I have that in common. After being totally blown out of the water by Mattel at SDCC, DCD really needs some sort of exciting reveal to regain any momentum, and I'm sorry, but 13" Sgt. Rock and Gigantor JSA doesn't cut it, fellas. The 1:6 Scale line is skipping a few beats with Sandman and Sgt. Rock two months in a row. Each will have its fans but something exciting in the mainstream hero vein would be very helpful to keep excitement alive, especially for those of us who have already invested alot in this line.

I'll give them one pip for adding an unmasked head to the Thom Kallor Starman in the Justice Society of America Series One Set. Brace yourselves for much wailing and gnashing of teeth about the scale of this line, especially since DCD is promoting these as in scale with JUSTICE and KINGDOM COME, which aren't even in scale with each other. Oy. I'll be putting mine in their own spot and treating it as a separate collection if it's as glaring as I suspect. It just saves pain.

The one potential bright light in DCD's solicits this month is the Heroes of the DC Universe Green Lantern Bust, which sees DCD taking a page out of the excellent Bowen Bust Series (more on those later) by including an interesting base, giving the mini-bust more height than the earlier JLA Bust Series. I'll be checking this one out, however I do wish that DC would make their busts a bit bustier - err.. bulkier. As with the Women of the DC Universe line, some of the detail of the better sculpts gets a bit lost in the small scale, not to mention they end up feeling like a bit of a rip-off for the price. The second concern is whether or not DCD will see this line through long term, since we've already seen the JLA Cover to Cover series come and go. If only DCD could commit!!!

Still on busts, the "I Want" Award goes to the Bowen Designs Marrina Mini-Bust. While DCD churns out the same 5 characters over and over (and over...), the Marvel Mini-Bust line somehow manages to give us an ever expanding range of characters from the obvious to the obscure. Any fan of the original Alpha Flight would have to be happy with Bowen's recent efforts - I am eagerly awaiting my Northstar and Aurora Two-Pack, and now I have this lovely sculpt of one of my favourite minor characters to look forward to as well. Shame I didn't cotton on to these earlier as the eBay prices for some of the first busts in the line are pretty hair-raising!

Speaking of hair, the "I Know it's a Dolly but it's Almost Okay" Award goes to the Tonner DC Stars Black Canary. DCD could take a few pages out of this book to improve the costume and body sculpt of it's 1:6 Scale Dinah, but at the end of the day, I just can't get what people see in these hollow-eyed, rooted hair Scary Marys. And jeez, does this Tonner version of BC look like a Children of the Corn version of Joely Richardson or what? Spooooooky.

The "Leaping Right Off the Page" Award goes to the Dark Horse Deluxe Savage Sword of Conan Bust #3, simply for the outstanding way that Tony Cipriano has captured John Buscema's classic Conan art. There's a whole series of these if savage statues are your thing. I don't even like Conan (shhh..... don't tell my mate Andrew, he'll deck me!) and I want this statue.

The "I Almost Wish" Award goes to the DST Star Wars 1:4 Scale "Hoth" Han Solo. As much as last month's 1:4 Scale Darth Maul freaked me out, the detail on this fella is just amazing. I can't come at the size tho, especially not considering the extra shipping costs to get them here to Oz. I wonder if devotees of the 1:4 Scale end up feeling like Dorothy with the Munchkins once they've filled their house with these. Ha. Munchkins, Oz...... nevermind.

The "I Really Do Wish" Award goes to the Medusa Painted Statue. It's beautiful, but I have a mortgage. And kids, and a cat, and other fragile statue-unfriendly things. I do wonder with some of these more intricately designed statues how stable they can be, and how long they will last when there must be a fair bit of pressure being put on the support system like Medusa's strands of hair here. I'd be pretty bummed to shell out the zillion pretty pennies required to get an item like this to Oz and then find it broken. Anyway, since Mrs AFB finally let me have the 13" Power Girl, I'm not going to push my luck with this scantily clad hirstute beauty. Sigh.

And finally, the Freakiest Way to Blow Fifteen Bucks Award is a tie between the Ghostbusters Slimer Action Figure and the Barack Obama Six Inch Action Figure. One is a kitschy blast from the past. The other could become a novelty toy of an historic also-ran, but here's hoping people will be buying it to have their own version of the next U.S. Commander-in-Chief right on their desk. That would be cool.

Well, that turned out to be a very bust-y month. Not much happening in the 6" stakes at all. Personally I'd like to see DCD pull something special out next month to get a bit of spotlight back, but there doesn't seem to be much on the cards. Always happy to be surprised!

Until next time...