Tamashii Nations

Though it may be a little behind the theatrical release of Doctor Strange's Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, SH Figuarts won't be too far off from the home video release with its newest action figure. Then again, SH Figuarts is often just a tad bit beyond the curve when it comes to timeliness in action figure releases. When the figures are as impressive as the typical Figuarts release is though, the wait is more than worth it. That looks to hold true here for Doctor Strange as well.

Next month, the annual fall gathering of the greatest comic, movie, television and collectible companies --- not to mention hundreds of creators --- will return to New York's Javitz Center for the 2016 New York Comic Con. As follows tradition, there will also be a great deal of exclusive goods at the event. To help you prepare for weekend-long deluge, we've put together this handy list of toys and collectibles that will be at the show, and more importantly, where you'll be able to find them. There's a lot of cool stuff that'll be at the show, and thankfully, it won't be quite as massive a list as there was at San Diego Comic-Con. Still, tracking all of these toys down won't be easy, but with this little collection, the burden on your shoulders might be a bit lighter.

The Movie Realization series from Tamashii Nations has been one of the most excellent re-imaginings of characters --- particularly in the Star Wars universe --- in the figure realm in quite some time. It was such a success, Tamashii turned its attention to comics for the next Realization line, which kicked off with Spider-Man as a samurai. Though I wasn't a huge fan of the figure's design, I could appreciate what the company was trying to do, and was eager to see what other Marvel characters would get the Manga Realization treatment next. It shouldn't have come as any surprise that Iron Man, one of the most popular action figure characters in Marvel's catalog, would follow Spider-Man into the Samurai era. Fortunately, all the issues I had with Spider-Man aren't present here, and Tamashii has delivered an impressive new twist on the armored Avenger.

If you thought the SH Figuarts Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated figure set was ending with all four turtles, you couldn't have been more wrong. The evil Shredder made his full color debut at San Diego Comic-Con, and he looks just as perfect as the sewer-shredding do-gooders. It's amazing how well the animated show has translated to the SH Figuarts line from Tamashii Nations, and if these five figures are as successful as they're likely to be, there's a chance we could see the likes of Casey Jones, April and even a Krang (in the Robot body obviously). A guy can dream, right? The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles weren't the only incredible Figuarts toys on display at SDCC, however, and there are plenty of other reasons to look forward to Tamashii's presence in 2017. Namely, all the fantastic DC and WWE Figuarts that debuted last weekend.

If you can sense that feeling of excitement, panic and salt in the air, you know San Diego Comic-Con is near. There's just something about this annual gathering of fans, creators, actors and cosplayers that makes the summer that much more special. Oh right, it's all the toys. In addition to being host to all manner of awesome announcements, reveals, teasers and trailers, SDCC is also one of the biggest collectible events of the year. Every company big and small rolls out their best and most limited in the hopes of capturing your attention and those dollar dollar bills, y'all. Collected here for you is a comprehensive list of not just what will be available, but where it will be available, and how much it will cost you (where prices have been provided). This is every comic book-related toy and collectible exclusive for San Diego Comic-Con 2016.

If you're even tangentially into anime or tokusatsu, then you're probably already familiar with SH Figuarts, the high-end line of action figures from Bandai and Tamashii Nations, but if you're not, let me tell you how much I love them. They've been around for a few years now, and with their dedication to high levels of articulation, screen-accurate sculpts and an incredible amount of interchangeable hands, faces, and accessories, they're arguably some of the best action figures you can get --- and since most of their output has to do with Super Sentai, Kamen Rider, and Sailor Moon, I'm always keeping an eye out for their next big release. And now, it looks like I've got to clear off another shelf. This December, as part of what I can only assume is a mission to target me, specifically, they're releasing the first two entries in a line based on late '90s WWE Superstars, starting with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock. And yes: Austin comes with a beadazzled skull vest and a couple of Stevewiesers.

There have been a lot of Iron Man figures released since the armored Avenger launched Marvel's Cinematic Universe into the stratosphere. Strangely, there haven't been many Tony Starks released. Granted the guy hasn't changed all that much, save for his goatee styling, but you'd think there'd be more than just a few figures of the man behind the machined mask released over the past eight years. In fact, if it wasn't for Hot Toys, that number of plain clothes Tonys would be all but null. But not for long, thanks to SH Figuarts. Finally, three years after Iron Man 3 hit theaters, the Japanese company will be bringing the test chamber version of Tony Stark to shelves. There are a number of different memorable looks from all the Iron Man movies, like Monte Carlo Racetrack Tony, Rose Hill Cowboy Tony, Bootleg Hoodie Iron Man Tony, but the test chamber version is still a solid choice. Hell, I have the Hot Toys version, and I might double down on this one because I like the idea of that "in progress" armor so much.

Over the past year or so, Tamashii Nations' Movie Realization series for Star Wars stormed onto shelves and became one of the most sought-after lines in the collecting community. While the standard Star Wars figures will always suffice, Tamashii's bold interpretations took the brand back to its own inspirations, and gave us some of the most unique Star Wars toys ever. Now the Japanese company is turning its eye to comics, and putting heroes like Spider-Man through the same feudal era lens.

After 65 movies, Black Widow is finally getting her own SH Figuarts figure. Tamashii Nations has been teasing the addition of the SHIELD super-spy for some time now, but with the coming and going of Avengers: Age of Ultron in theaters and home video, it seemed like the best shot she had was with the upcoming Captain America: Civil War line. Fear not though, as the version from last year's big Marvel mash-up will get her due overseas this summer. That should put her on pace to arrive in the states just in time for the Blu-ray release of Civil War. Progress. To be honest, this figure actually looks like the wait may have been worth it. It's highly articulated, and actually looks something like Scarlett Johansson. That's more than we can say for the "Chris Evans" Captain America SH Figuarts has on deck for this year. There's a lot of great detail in the costuming, too, which is to be expected from Tamashii's offerings. Nothing against Hasbro's budget-friendly and hard-to-find Marvel Legends AOU Black Widow, but this figure might be the definitive 6" version of Natasha Romanova.

Ant-Man hasn't been a major fixture of the Captain America: Civil War promotion, but we've known he was going to be in the film ever since Falcon teased his imminent arrival with a post-credit blurb. Interestingly enough, there might be certain story reasons that Ant-Man's been absent from a lot of the toy line attention to this point, but we won't spoil that here today. No, instead, we're just going to take a look at the updated Ant-Man suit the character is apparently donning in the film. Tamashii Nations' SH Figuarts Captain America: Civil War line already has its two biggest guns up for pre-order, but for the third character in the series, the company went with arguably the least well-known hero of the bunch. The SH Figuarts Ant-Man beats characters like Black Widow and Falcon to release, but that's sort of okay with us. It would be nice to get that Black Widow Figuarts after like sixty movies. Ant-Man doesn't exactly have a million toys exploding off of shelves either, but at least this time we know a Black Widow is almost definitely, probably, assuredly coming and not just a pipe dream. But hey, Ant-Man!