Welcome back to Toy Aisle, Gizmodo’s regular round up of the coolest toy news we’ve seen this week. On deck: disappearing McFlys! Hot Wheels heads to Mars! And Hasbro celebrates 50 years of Lucasfilm in the strangest way possible. Check it out!
Lego Porsche 911 Turbo and 911 Targa Building Set
Lego tends to stick with its Technic line of building pieces for its larger models of high-performance sports cars, and while they feature lots of functionality, they’re not always easy on the eyes. But like the Lego Aston Martin DB5, Tim Burton’s Batmobile, and the recent Ghostbusters Ecto-1, Lego’s new Porsche 911 Turbo and 911 Targa models feature classic bricks on the outside that do a wonderful job at recreating the iconic sports car’s curves. The 1,458-piece set actually allows either the hardtop ‘70s-era Porsche 911 Turbo to be built, or the ‘80s-era convertible Porsche 911 Targa, but not both at the same time; you’ll need to make some tough decisions when you crack open the building instructions. Pricing will be $229.99 when the set is officially available for all starting on March 1, 2021.
Star Wars: The Black Series Lucasfilm 50th Anniversary Retro Figures
In recent years with big Star Wars anniversaries for the likes of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back (and likely soon enough again, with Return of the Jedi in a couple of years!), Hasbro’s celebrated Star Wars’ long toyetic past by reviving the classic Kenner-style toys that turned the franchise into a merchandising behemoth. But its latest idea isn’t just simply rehashing the sculpts of old: what if the aesthetic and palette of Star Wars’ oldest action figures was applied to modern action figure design?
Kicking off with a trio of figures exclusively available on Amazon, this new “faux-retro” line depicts modern versions of Greedo, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and a Jawa from A New Hope, as you might expect out of a Star Wars action figure in 2021: details like photorealistic face printings, lots of accessories, the 6″ Black Series scale. But aesthetically, they’re rooted in how these characters appeared in Kenner’s beloved figure collection. Greedo is a garish shade of lime green, and absent his jacket. Obi-Wan and the Jawa’s robes are a lurid, vivid brown, and while the Jawa has traded its old, sharp-edged vinyl robe, the Obi-Wan has kept his, folded and jutting in nostalgic, awkward ways. His lightsaber may not telescope out of his arm like the Kenner toy’s did, but it’s still got that blank, blue-white blade like the old (revised from yellow) version! It’s an amazing, brain twisting mashup of the new and the old.
Hot Wheels Mars Perseverance Rover Die-cast Vehicle
The real Perseverance rover isn’t expected to land on Mars’ Jezero Crater until Thursday, February 18, but ahead of that momentous occasion Hot Wheels’ new 1:64-scale replica can touch down on your desk if you’re patient enough to dig through the die-cast vehicle bin the next time you’re out shopping. The tiny six-wheeled replica includes some impressive detailing given its scaled size and its price tag of a couple of bucks, particularly when the real thing cost NASA and the American people well north of $US2.7 ($4) billion when you factor in the cost of the launch and operations once it lands.
NECA Back To The Future Ultimate Marty McFly Audition Version Figure
In the original Back to the Future, watching Marty McFly slowly start to disappear is a fun reminder of the perils of irresponsible time travel. Unfortunately when translated to real life on NECA’s new seven-inch Ultimate Marty McFly Audition Version figure, the effect is kind of terrifying — albeit even more effective at discouraging time travel shenanigans. Available sometime between February at March and exclusively at Walmart initially, McFly, dressed for the Battle of the Bands audition at his high school and not the suit he wore while performing at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance, comes with two swappable heads, an electric guitar, a Walkman, a newspaper, and multiple hands including one that’s supposed to look like he’s fading out of existence, but instead looks like a failed Jell-O experiment.
Medicom Toy MAFEX The Boys Homelander Figure
Antony Starr does a terrifyingly good job at bringing the evil Homelander to life in Amazon’s adaptation of The Boys comics, to the extent that you have to wonder who would want this eerily lifelike recreation from Medicom Toy staring back at them from their toy shelf? The 6.3-inch MAFEX figure is set for release sometime in November later this year, and for $US84 ($109) includes extra sets of posed hands, three face sculpts, a fabric American flag cape, and a swappable chest piece that’s slightly undone for when Homelander wants to appear more casual.
Jazwares Transformers G1 Zōteki Series 1 Assortment
If you grew up with the original G1 Transformers in the early ‘80s, you probably remember the artwork on the back of the toy’s packaging and wonder why the Louvre hasn’t added the various space battle murals to their fine art collection. Jazwares’ new Transformers Zōteki Series 1 collectible figurines are reminiscent of that old box art, but the battle plays out in 3D. The four-inch figures include Optimus Prime, Megatron, Bumblebee, Soundwave, Starscream, and Grimlock, as well as a seventh mystery character not yet revealed. At $US8 ($10) each it won’t break the bank to collect them all, which you’ll want to do because the uniquely shaped bases allow the entire collection to be assembled into an action-packed diorama.