Diamond Comic Distributors has unveiled a major lineup of imported toys, busts, and statues in the March edition of Previews. This broad assortment of Japanese toys draws from three main groups of properties--American movie and comic properties, vidiogames, and anime/manga properties.
Imports Based on American Properties
Though the majority of the items in this large load of imports are based on Japanese properties, the exceptions are notable, such as the Fewture Models Dawn Bust based on the sexy comic created by Joseph Michael Linsner. This pre-painted beauty, which stands some fourteen inches high was sculpted by Shigeru Yamazaki. Of course the most popular American license among Japanese toymakers has got to be Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas, and Diamond has three great new NBX products including the fourteen inch plastic Jack Coffin Doll With Lock, a Jack Skellington Action Figure #3, which comes with two additional PVCs, and a Santa Jack Medium PVC which comes fully painted and mounted on a brick-style base. Another American license -- Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 -- gets the Japanese 'Kubrick' treatment with two-inch building block type figures of Erica, Jeff, Kim, Stephen, and Tristen.
Videogame-based Toys
Creating video games is a huge industry, and some of the best character designers from the Japanese anime studios have been lured into the field. The results are often spectacular as in the Soul Caliber Nightmare Resin Model Kit and Statue, which stands a full twenty-inches tall and grips his hugely impressive living blade. This figure is available in both a model kit form (which requires assembly and painting) and as a statue (which doesn't).
Final Fantasy is one of the most popular video games of all time, and the Final Fantasy VIII: Guardian Force Series 2 Clear Figure Set features transparent versions of the god-like creatures summoned to do battle for the heroes of this intense game.
Schneider Figure
Anime/Manga Figures
Speaking of 'Kubricks,' the March Previews also contains a listing for the fifth series of these two-inch building block toys based on the hit anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. These five toys come complete with accessories, and packaged in the original Japanese fifth-window display box.
The Fist of the North Star, which began as a manga series by Tesuro Hara, was turned into a very popular anime series by Toei Studios (Dragonball Z). Though this series is of a considerably older vintage than Evangelion, it still has a following. Now the U.S. fans of this action/adventure series will be able to purchase a six-inch figure of the wild-haired Shinn, who comes with variant head (and hair-do) and hands.
Another vintage manga series, Bastard!! by Kazushi Hagiwara, which began in 1988, yields what is perhaps Diamond's most spectacular import offering of the month -- the Dark Schneider Action Figure. Produced by Koto Inc., this seven-inch beauty features ten points of articulation and includes a sword (with scabbard), a variant hand, and a back full of protruding tentacles.
Kosuke Fujishima's Oh! My Goddess is another classic manga/anime with a proven track record in the U.S. Diamond is offering both painted and unpainted versions of a seven-inch bust of the beautiful Bell Dandy, who comes complete with a flower-covered display base.
Cowboy Bebop is a much more recent anime success -- and Diamond is offering a very flashy twelve-inch Spike Speigel doll from Medicom. This superb likeness of the outer space bounty hunter features fourteen points of articulation and a real cloth outfit.
