Welcome back to Toy Aisle, Gizmodo’s regular round-up of all things toy on the internet lately. This week: Todd McFarlane returns to his most iconic action figure, the next Star Wars Hyperreal figure puts a great toy in a bad box, and video game all-stars Mario and the cast of Final Fantasy VII get lovely new merch. Check it out!
The Original Spawn Action Figure and Comic Remastered
Why one of the most famous names in comics, behind one of the industry’s most popular (and presumably lucrative) characters and franchises has turned to Kickstarter for a new 25th-anniversary Spawn figure and remastered comic book is beyond us, but 2020 has so far been chock full of bewildering surprises, so let’s just roll with it. Given McFarlane is officially behind this crowdfunding campaign means there’s probably not much risk, and with a $63 contribution you can pre-order one of the three variants of the remastered Spawn figure, with 20 points of articulation and an intricate folding cape. It also comes in resealable clamshell packaging so you open the figure to play with, and then put it back in for display.
Final Fantasy VII Remake Play Arts Kai Action Figures
After 15 years of teasing, 23 years since the original blew our minds, Final Fantasy VII Remake (or at least, the first part of it) finally came out. Missed out on that fancy-arse 1st Class Edition that came with a figure of VII’s hero, Cloud and too much bike than any reasonable person would know what to do with? Well, good news: Square-Enix is releasing a quartet of figures in its Play Arts Kai line inspired by Remake’s designs of Cloud, Barret, Tifa, and Aerith. While Cloud and Barret appear to be updated versions of previously released Play Arts Kai Remake figures (they’ve been at this a while), Tifa and Aerith are all-new sculpts, replicating their designs from this modernised re-imagining.
Each 10″-scaled figure comes with a stand, alternate hands for displaying, and a handful of accessories. Cloud gets his iconic Buster Sword, Aerith her staff (and flower basket), while, as characters without weapons that aren’t their arms—quite literally, in Barret’s case!—Barret and Tifa come with alternate head and hair sculpts to make up for the lack of an extra accessory. Each will retail for around $230, but don’t worry about your wallet taking a critical hit if you want the full party: Cloud drops in July, Barret in September, Tifa in October, and Aerith in November. [ToyArk]
Hallmark 2020 Nintendo 8-Bit Keepsake Holiday Ornaments
Nintendo’s characters are no stranger to Hallmark’s annual holiday ornament lineup, but this year both companies have fired up the wayback machine and created a trio of ornaments based on Mario, Luigi, and even Donkey Kong’s earliest appearances in video games. The plumbing brothers will be available for around $15 each, but the barrel-touting Donkey Kong will be $25 all by himself, and presumably available as we get closer to the holidays—assuming they haven’t been cancelled yet.
Hyperreal Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Luke Skywalker
We weren’t too sold on Hasbro’s first release in its new, large-scaled Star Wars “Hyperreal” line, an 8″ Darth Vader that felt clunky and unsure of just who it was really for. If it was for you? Well, you might want a Luke to put him up against! That Vader was, specifically, based on his appearance in The Empire Strikes Back, so this Luke clad in his Dagobah/Bespin fatigues is perfect for any father/son duels to the death (or limb dismemberment, they’re Skywalkers after all) to match him with.
Like Vader, Luke comes with a bunch of alternate hands and a base inspired by the grilled flooring of Cloud City’s carbonite freezing chambers, and a ton of accessories, like an alternate “I just learned that this dude who chopped my hand off is actually my dad!!!!” head, his lightsaber with a detachable blade, and his blaster pistol. But while the figure itself looks great in these shots, what has us freaking out is the packaging. Because oh my god, those renders of poor Luke look like he’s halfway turning into He-Man like that giant-chested Hasbro-Kenner Power of the Force figure just without the muscles. Thank god the figure itself looks much nicer, considering it’ll cost you about $125 when it drops in June. [Toyark]
Kings Wild Project VHS-Styled Playing Cards
Demand for playing cards has undoubtedly skyrocketed over the past few weeks, but instead of settling for a set of classic Bicycles, why not play Solitaire in style with this collection of retro VHS-themed decks that look ready to pop into your parent’s VCR. Sadly the $24 VHS Standard Deck is already sold out, but a $55 VHS Limited Edition deck is still available, as is a $80 VHS Gilded Edition with foil printing on the sleeve.