Alter Ego Comics Chronicle » diamond select toys

Heroes and Villains of the Week

admin — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 20:40:06 +0000

It’s been a few weeks since the last H&V post, so I’ve got a little catching up to do:

Villain: Diamond Select Toys – DST has announced a new partnership with Toys R Us which means that this formerly comic store exclusive company is spitting in the faces of the stores that helped build their business. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that DST is a business and has to do what it can to survive, but as a specialty store, we’re not happy with this announcement.

Villain: Hot Toys – The Hot Toys Dark Knight Batman, Joker and Bank Robber Joker were all supposed to be available in the United States before Christmas. We learned yesterday that all three of these highly anticipated figures are being allocated to retailers, shipping approximately 25% of their orders on Christmas Eve, with the balance of retailer orders shippping 2nd quarter 2009! Now we’re hearing rumors that the allocated shipment may not show up until January 2nd. Way to turn what should have been a Merry Christmas for retailers and consumers into Bah, Humbug.

Hero: Ethan Van Sciver – The comic book artist has a new weekly column at Newsarama that has the Alter Ego Comics staff doubling over with laughter. He’s done five columns so far, and each one is laugh out loud funny.

Hero: Santa Claus and the Baby Jesus – It is Christmas, afterall.

See ya next time!

Heroes and Villains of the Week

admin — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 14:27:22 +0000

Welcome to the first edition of a little column that I like to call “Heroes and Villains of the Week.” In this (hopefully) weekly column, I’ll be giving a thumbs up or a thumbs down to items from the world of popular culture. Since “thumbs up and thumbs down” are copyrighted, and since I was looking for something that would work well with Alter Ego Comics, I’ve settled on heroes and villains. So, here we go…

Hero: Sideshow Collectibles, for their wicked cool Toht 12 inch action figure.

Villain: Master Replicas, for delaying most of their products, (including the Halo Energy Sword), until 2009.

Hero: Kotobukiya, for releasing their Incredible Hulk Movie Fine Art Statues ahead of schedule.

Villain: DC Comics, for the twisted mess that was Batman: RIP.

Villain: Diamond Select Toys, for going with a repaint, (Pilot Episode Sulu), instead of a new figure in their Star Trek TOS line.

See ya next time.

*The views expressed in Heroes and Villains are those of Marc Bowker, and do not reflect the views of Alter Ego Comics.

More Star Trek Goodness from Diamond Select Toys

admin — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:48:44 +0000

Diamond Select Toys has been the torchbearer of Star Trek collectibles for years. They are still actively producing Star Trek action figures, Star Trek ships, Star Trek props and Star Trek Minimates. They even resurrected the classic Star Trek Mego figures from the 1970s.

So, it should come as no surprise that Diamond Select Toys (DST) is releasing an upgraded version of the classic Star Trek bridge playset in early 2009. Among the classic elements returning are the working spin-around Transporter mechanism, fold-up design with carrying case handle, interchangeable view-screen graphics, do-it-yourself decal sticker sheets as well as plastic chair and table accessories!

Expected retail on the bridge playset is $60.00, and Alter Ego Comics will have it up for pre-order as soon as we get solid solicitation information from DST.

Diamond Select Toys Making Captain Kirk’s Chair

admin — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:46:37 +0000

I had the opportunity to visit the headquarter of Diamond Select Toys in Baltimore, MD about two years ago, and in the corner of one of their offices sat a mock up a Captain James T. Kirk’s command chair from Star Trek the Original Series (TOS). Being a life-long Star Trek fan, I eagerly asked what the timetable was on this must have piece and was told that they were negotiating with manufacturers.

Lo and behold, today I found out that Diamond Select Toys attened the annual Star Trek convention in Las Vegas last week and had a prototype of the Captain’s Chair on display and a tentative release date of 2009. The price tag is expected to be $1000+, so it won’t be for everyone, but with working lights and sounds, it will be mine!