SDCC14: Yes Anime

[Malevolus]

Going Beyond Importer To Toy Manufacturer With TMNT And More...

CLICK HERE FOR A LOOK AT THE YES ANIME SDCC 2014 BOOTH IN OUR PHOTO GALLERY!

Most toy collectors know Yes Anime as an importer, and while they're continuing to do that side of the business with highly sought after collectibles they're also branching out into creating their own. At San Diego Comic-Con 2014 we got to speak with Jason Malig from Yes Anime for the full scoop. We started with an all new Yes Anime property that we first saw teased at Anime Expo, the Super Armor Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! This cool new take on the TMNT brand brings the turtle warriors with wicked armor and accessories that are of course color-coded to the character and feature his iconic weapon. At SDCC Yes Anime had 3D printed prototypes of the figures which, although rough, looked very cool. The four turtles will be sold individually (not blind boxed!) for $15.99 each, and they will come with parts to build the fifth figure Shredder. They're due out late this year, and there are already tentative talks about a second series.

Yes Anime is also expanding with several new series of Trexi figures capturing anime characters! Prototypes on hand featured Tiger & Bunny (which are in production right now), Naruto (which they're still tweaking - including adding the split toes), Death Note, and Bleach. One important thing to note about these new Trexis is how much new tooling was involved; instead of sticking with the standard round head and painted hair they've gone with all new sculpts of hair, helmets, etc. Look for the first releases around the holidays. Side by side with the Tiger & Bunny Trexis were the stuffed 12" Alpacas from that series, which look absolutely adorable. Also in the anime section was a collection of Attack on Titan plush items made possible through a deal with FUNimation. From Yes Anime you'll see plush cylindrical pillows, gloves, body pillows, mallets, and more. The Colossus Titan plush will be limited to only 500 units (across all sizes) in the US, so make sure you grab 'em when they go on sale.

Among the big items imported by Yes Anime are Play Imaginative's amazing superhero figures, and we got an update on what's happening with the Iron Man 3 lines. Despite some delays the figures are coming, and maybe sooner than you thought. The 1/4 scale War Machine Mk II (on display at SDCC) will close pre-orders next week and ship in September or October! The massive 18 inch figure has a high die-cast content, fantastic articulation, tons of lights, and weighs six pounds. Next up will be the first two 1/12 scale releases, War Machine and Iron Patriot, $105.99 and $109.99 respectively. The new release schedule will follow that format with one large figure then a couple smaller ones, and with keeping it realistic Yes Anime and Play Imaginative are confident of their ability to follow through.

On the EZHobi Toys front Yes Anime had on display the Hyper Gokin 1/10 Mk III Iron Man (clean and damaged) along with Ghost Rider. The latter is available for pre-order now ($219), shipping in a couple months. We learned that it will come with a little chibi Ghost Rider, and all Hyper Gokins will have this added bonus! Iron Man is still in the licensing process. Finally there was a new figure we hadn't seen before, a 1/6 scale Harry Potter from Star Ace! With tons of accessories, great articulation, and a spot on sculpt this is going to be big with the muggle crowd for $199.

-Scott Rubin

CLICK HERE FOR A LOOK AT THE YES ANIME SDCC 2014 BOOTH IN OUR PHOTO GALLERY!

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