Threezero

There have been a lot of action figures made for a lot of superheroes over the years, but I don't think there's ever been a figure made of a hero less suited for "action" than ThreeZero's brand-new 1/6 scale figure of Saitama from One Punch Man. I mean, at least the Man-Eating Cow from The Tick --- who actually did get an action figure --- ate a man once or twice.

It's been just a bit over two years since Respawn Entertainment's Titanfall arrived on the Xbox One (and PC). While the developer is readying the sequel for release later this year, ThreeZero's been plugging away at bringing the fantastic mechs from Titanfall's spacefaring future to life. Since 2014, ThreeZero's released an Atlas Titan and a Stryder Titan, but the Ogre has been waiting patiently for its chance to get in on the action. As my preferred mech of choice for the game back when I was playing on the regular, all I can say is it's about damn time. Now obviously when you're making figures at this scale with this much detail and moving parts, it's going to take some time to get everything in order. ThreeZero has a number of other projects its involved with as well, so getting the equivalent of one Titan mech a year since 2014 isn't necessarily a bad pace. The Atlas and Stryder were tremendous collectibles, but with that excellence in execution comes a hefty price tag. Titans aren't cheap to produce in Titanfall (though the IMC and M-Cor go through them like napkins on rib night), and the same goes for them in action figure form. The final products are something else though, and the Ogre looks to keep up that positive trend.

Bethesda has always been rather reticent to license out its properties for merchandising, and to an extent I can appreciate wanting to maintain that kind of control. As a person who constantly wants to display his fandom to the detriment of every shelf and open space in a home, it's been frustrating. For whatever reason, the release of Fallout 4 brought about a change in policy for Bethesda. It wasn't long after the release of Fallout 4 that we soon saw Bethesda properties finally getting their moment in the collectible sun. If ever there was a video game that was deserving of its own action figure line, it's Fallout. The series has been around for decades, and the current incarnation under Bethesda is both widely acclaimed and a fan-favorite. Like many other Fallout fans, I picked up the Funko Pops and looked over the company's action figure offerings. They were solid efforts, but in my eyes, not quite enough for my own investment in this game franchise. For the hundreds and hundreds of hours I'd spent in the wastes, I craved something more substantial. Fortunately for me, so did ThreeZero.

Until Fallout 4 came around, collectibles based on the franchise were few and far between. There were hoodies and bobbleheads, but if you wanted a vault dweller or Brotherhood of Steel action figure, your options were basically non-existent until this latest sequel arrived. Unlike previous entries, Fallout 4 brought with it a number of apparel and collectible options. Though some made it to market early enough to capture the hype and momentum of Fallout 4's release, ThreeZero's Fallout 4 Power Armor figure is going to be a little late to the party. Not that it matters all that much, because as any Fallout fan can attest, there ain't no party like a Fallout party cause a Fallout party never stops. The T-45 Power Armor is just the first of a planned line of power suits from ThreeZero, but it being the lead-in makes sense given how prominent the "standard" suit is in the game. Previous Fallout titles all just had you get the armor and slap it on, but with Fallout 4 came the Power Armor frame. Without one, you couldn't assemble your own suit, but with one, you could customize each and every aspect to suit your particular needs. Instead of just giving us the suit all articulated, ThreeZero's gone one further and replicated the frame as well, giving you just as many options for customization as you have in the game. In theory.

Last summer, ThreeZero and Kevin Eastman unveiled a collaboration to create new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle figures. In the months since, a number of TMNT developments have gone down, including a crossover with Batman, Mondo's figures all becoming available, a new movie trailer (and figure line), and some potential video game leakage happening, too. But there's been radio silence from ThreeZero about the state of its planned collaboration with one of the Turtles' founding fathers. This week, a new issue of Clutter (a niche toy/collectible magazine) broke that silence. In a new interview with Eastman and ThreeZero's founder/owner Kim Fung Wong, Clutter was able to share some of Eastman's concept art and give us our first look at the painted prototypes. While we've had a lot of different Turtle toys over the years, seeing how Eastman would interpret the characters today gives us a perspective on the characters we'd otherwise never have, even if they only will exist as toys.

After what seemed like years of teasing, ThreeZero is finally bringing some of the human characters from its The Walking Dead line to market. While we've already seen Michonne's zombie bodyguards released, the collecting world has been waiting for characters like Rick Grimes, Daryl Dixon, Michonne and more to make their debut. It wouldn't have been such an excruciating period had ThreeZero not hinted at the line numerous times over the past few years, but with the formal announcement of the Rick Grimes figure, it would seem the rest of the fan-favorite characters won't be far behind. Based on his appearance in the fourth season of AMC's The Walking Dead, Rick Grimes is already looking pretty haggard. That's to be expected considering all the things he'd been through to that point in the show, though it could be argued the things that have happened since have pushed Rick even closer to the brink. Still, this version of Rick still has a slight glimmer of hope in his eyes, which is something you don't often see on his face during the tumultuous events of the show. The prison provided respite enough for Rick, and ThreeZero's head sculpt captures his cautious optimism well enough.

While the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have somehow always managed to maintain relevance since their inception, there were some truly lean years for the franchise. Now however, the mutated martial arts masters appear to be on the cusp of a renaissance. At least from a collectibles standpoint anyway. The Playmates line has been kicking for quite some time, but every week, it seems like more companies are offering fresh takes on the familiar faces of Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo. We've seen the new retro-inspired takes from Mondo, which has both a classic interpretation and a more recognizable line of Turtles coming, as well as statues from Good Smile, mini-vinyls from The Loyal Subjects, and a variety of items from Funko. ThreeZero's also been in on the action with a line of sixth-scale figures based on the recent live-action films produced by Michael Bay, but soon the company will be dipping its toes into the comic world. What's more, ThreeZero's doing it with one of the original creators, Kevin Eastman, spearheading the line.

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