Toy Fair 2016: DC Collectibles Has Designs on Comic Book Icons

This year, DC Collectibles had arguably its best showing at a Toy Fair in the past few years. Consistency has ruled DC Collectibles' presentations since refocusing its efforts alongside the launch of the New 52, but 2016's showing added even more depth to an already impressive collection of toy and statue lines. While the new movie and TV-based pieces were nice, they merely served as a complement to the real meat of DC Collectibles' upcoming slate: the comic book figures.

While yes, technically all the statues and figures DC Collectibles makes are based on comics, there's a definitive line between the television and film properties and those that spring forth directly from the pages of your favorite monthlies themselves. There are no Designer Series figures for the creatives working on Arrow, and none of the adaptations have earned Icon status. I suppose you could consider the Batman: The Animated Series line a melding of both of those ideas, but that line is a beast all its own.

Our first glimpse of the new Amanda Conner Designer Series came in the days leading up to Toy Fair. Seeing the figures in person offered a better look not just at the Harleys themselves, but their accessories as well. The "classic" Harley will include Bernie, the stuffed beaver that inexplicably follows Ms. Quinn on her adventures as a confidant of sorts. It's not set in stone, but DC Collectibles wants it to include the option to shoot a "fur ball" out of its chest. Likewise, DCC is hoping to have the pizza alien that comes with the Space Harley feature a scratch 'n sniff option. Of course, the chibi Harley head that comes with the Hero Harley (no butt window, by the way) is adorable as all get out, but the plan there is to have it squirt water to emulate her big tears. Holiday Harley's hammer and bomb are intended to be squeaky toys, but those seem relatively tame compared to the rest of the options.

Harley won't just be getting new action figures either; she's also getting an all-new statue line. Harley Quinn: Red, White and Black will be the equivalent of the Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman lines that currently exist. Two of the first will be revisiting earlier statues from DC Bombshells and Batman: Arkham Asylum, while the third will be a new Holiday Harley from Amanda Conner. No artists have been announced for the line just yet, but given the lineage of the other lines you can muster a guess as to who might be contributing.

While we're on the topic of Bombshells, both Raven and Bumblebee will join the high-end statue line this year. Raven's got a definite femme fatale thing going on, and looks like she's jumped straight off a dime detective novel. I like Bumblebee's more excited piece, too. The Bombshells have all called back to more classic Americana, and her joyous expression is a nice counterpart to Raven's more mysterious characterization. The Power Girl and Superman that have been making the rounds for the past few months continue to look great, and really has me sad we never got a chance to see Freddie Mercury give the Man of Steel a try in some form.

The star of the traditional comic figures for me though was the new Jim Gordon Batman from the Greg Capullo Designer Series. The two-pack features the "new" Batman in his black and yellow suit, which really pops in figure form, and the new mech suit. Inside the suit is a bust of Gordon, which you can reveal by removing the helmet bubble, or leave on to pretend it's in auto-pilot. I know there were some detractors to the idea, but I liked the character and I'm glad we're getting a Gordon Batman before the ol' Rebirth switcheroo made that a pipe dream.