The PopCult Toybox

So, if you’ve been following PopCult the last few days, you know that we do not currently have the ability to embed video in our blogs. I’m sure that this will be cleared up soon, but it does put a bit of a damper on our “Sunday Evening Video” feature that’s been part of PopCult since June, 2008.

Rather than just post a link to a cool video, this week we’re bringing you a bonus PopCult Toybox Alert. Some really cool DC Comics toys have shown up locally at regional retailer, Magic Mart. You can find this stuff at their Teays Valley and Madison locations right now.

First up we have the NJ Croce Batman Classic TV Series bendy figures, plus The Flash, a new addition to their Justice League New Frontier line.

Last year I reviewed the Batman Classic TV Series boxed set, and Magic Mart has that, but they also have the individually-carded figures of Batman, Robin, The Penguin, Catwoman and The Joker.

In addition, they also have a carded figure of The Riddler, who is not in the boxed set. This figure has his mask pulled down so you can see that he sports a decent likeness of Frank Gorshin. It’s really cool to see that they didn’t forget the Batman villain who had a creepier laugh than even the Joker had.

Another toy in the Batman Classic TV Series line is a 10″ Batmobile, which comes with small bendable figures of Batman and Robin.

This is the George Barris Batmobile, the first vehicle officially-designated as such, and is a really cool, iconic toy.

The Flash is unofficially based on the designs of Darwyn Cooke, from the legendary New Frontier graphic novel, and fits right in with the first figures in this series, which I reviewed HERE.

We spoke with Nick Croce at Toy Fair last February, and it was one of the most fun times we had at what was an incredibly fun event. The man loves what he’s doing and is obviously having a blast. It’s cool to see these toys finally making it out to traditional brick-and-mortar retailers, because they are hard to resist once you see them in person.

Also making their way to more retailers are the DC Comic figures from Schleich. These were shown off at the 2014 San Diego Comic Con, but weren’t officially announced until January. They showed up online and at some Toys R Us stores, but are also now in the distribution pipeline to hit Magic Mart. The sculpting is great, but they are non-articulated, in an unusual scale (averaging around three-inches tall) and depict the current comic-book incarnations of the characters, which leave a lot to be desired. They are being marketed under the Justice League banner.

Still, it’s cool to see them in stores, although the bendy figures are bigger and have more play value for about a dlooar less. This series has two two-pack sets, Batman vs. The Joker and Superman vs. Darkseid. There are also single figures–three each of Batman and Superman, plus The Flash and Green Lantern.

There is a really cool display cardboard dump for these, which you can see at the head of this post. It’d be nice if this line does well enough for them to expand into doing DC characters wearing their legacy outfits, instead of the awful ones they have now.