TOY FAIR 2012: Kotobukiya

Kotobukiya was on location at Toy Fair to showcase all of their exciting products for the year! In addition to plenty of great statues from their ongoing brands like Marvel, DC and Star Wars, Kotobukiya also had plenty of surprises in store, with new Bishoujo, Art FX statues and more from properties like Mass Effect, Alines, and even Elvis Presley! Check out our full look at Kotobukiya’s 2012 plans…

Kotobukiya was very pleased to announce a new full license for DC Comics statues, and this year in addition to their awesome DC Bishoujo line we will see both Art FX and Art FX+ statues.

On deck for 2012, fans can expect to see a movie-based Dark Knight Rises Batman statue, as well as a re-release of their Jim Lee-style Batman statue from 2006, now with a brand new black and grey paint deco. Rounding out the trio of Bat-statues, we will also see a Dark Knight Returns Art FX+ statue, based on the original artwork by Frank Miller.

The rest of the DC Universe will also be represented– Debuting in November will be an entire series of 1/10th scale statues based on the Justice League in their current New 52 designs. Superman will be the first statue released in November, then one new League member will be available each month going forward.

Tekken is a new property for Kotobukiya, and they will release three Bishoujo from the popular game series. Look for Emilie, Asuka and JC… plus a Fine Arts statue of Yoshimitsu, limited to only 500 pieces (so if you want one, order it early!).

The company is looking to branch into the premium 1/6th scale as well with their upcoming Elvis Presley figure. Inspired by 1/6th work by Hot Toys, Kotobukiya’s new figure features tons of detail, a strikingly accurate portrait, alternate hands to hold his guitar, plus a speaker. Look for Elvis to be released this April.

Kotobukiya has been making novelty chopsticks for the past few years, and last year they launched their property-themed ice cube trays, which were pretty cool (pun intended)… This year both lines are being continued, with new Star Wars ice cube trays including Vader’s helmet, a Stormtrooper helmet, the Millenium Falcon and the X-Wing. A new property being thrown into the mix is Alien, and fans can check out ice cube trays shaped like the Alien’s head and Egg, as well as chopsticks modeled after the Alien, the Face Hugger, and the Chest Burster.

Star Wars statues will continue in 2012, including a Return Of The Jedi-styled Boba Fett, a new action-posed Vader, Darth Maul with an alternate head sculpt included, and new Clone Troopers 2-packs. The Clones will be feature some store exclusive variants as well, including a Blue trooper two-pack at Diamond (2,000 pieces) and a Red Shock Trooper pack only available through AFX (1,000 pieces).

Marvel statues this year include the Classic Avengers– Thor, Captain America and Iron-Man. There will also be a Spider-Man series including both Spidey and Venom. While it may be the only Avengers movie item we see this year, Kotobukiya’s upcoming Iron man Mark VII looks outstanding, and includes a light-up arc reactor and a removable chest plate. Two more X-Men Fine Arts statues will be released this Spring… both Magneto and X-Force Archangel look pretty great.

My personal favorite product from Kotobukiya is their long-running and very cool Bishoujo series, and there’s a lot of cool stuff coming in 2012.
In addition to the standard version of the Black Widow revealed a few weeks ago, Kotobukiya unveiled a new grey variant as an exclusive, which will feature a knife instead of a gun, and a different base with new colors and a Hawkeye mask instead of the Daredevil mask draped on the ground of the standard version.

The Mystique Bishoujo is available now, with X-23 coming in just a few weeks. Storm is being manufactured presently, so while she wasn’t on display at Toy Fair, she should see shelves this Spring.

Not to be outdone, Kotobukiya’s DC Bishoujo line also had some new reveals: Harley Quinn and Power Girl. These two will join past statues such as Batgirl, Wonder Woman and more.

Mass Effect is a property new to the Bishoujo treatment, with Liara as the incredibly cool-looking premiere figure, to be followed by Commander Shepard (who will feature two different arms with alternate weapons). In late 2012, an Art FX Shepard statue will also be available. As an added bonus, each Mass Effect piece will include an exclusive code for an in-game bonus!

With so many great properties to choose from, and some incredibly cool and unique new products, 2012 is already shaping up to be an exciting year for Kotobukiya… and I for one cannot wait to see all these products hit the shelves!