I have saved what I thought was the very best this year for last. What follows is the sleeper hit of Toy fair 2011...
"Make Your Own Zombie" Action Figure Customizing Kit in the 1/9 scale Mego style. Let it sink in...
So it's the third day for myself and Charles in New York City for the Toy Fair shenanigans and we have already seen the bigger toy makers. Announcements announced, surprises unveiled and overall we are pretty underwhelmed. Most retailers looked to be pulling back toy-lines and taking less chances this year with the economy in the shape it is in. Inventiveness and originality seemed to have gotten lost in the scaling back.
Then we stumbled upon EMCE Toys booth. Sure we knew EMCE Toys for their nice Mego style figures everyone seems to be carrying these days but this year the booth is decked out as a Zombie Survival Headquarters. Then I realize the booth is covered in zombified Mego style figures.
EMCE toys is promoting a new kit they cooked up. The "Make Your Own Zombie" Action Figure Customizing Kit. This thing is seriously cool! For $49.99 here is what you get...
- 5 HEADS: Ranging from "just bitten" to just plain "yeech", with ultra-detailed levels of decay.
- 2 PAIR FOREARMS: One pair contains fresh wounds, and the second shows long-term decay.
- 2 PAIR LOWER LEG: Each pair matches the forearms' levels of injury and decrepitude, with torn flesh, exposed bone and withered skin.
- 2 PAIR HANDS: Also matching arm and leg sets for injury and decay, including exposed bones!
- 1 PAIR FEET: Rotten and chewed, with exposed bones.
- 1 CHEST "PROSTHETIC": Decayed skin pulled over exposed ribs and gore!
- 2 CLOTHING SETS: One complete business suit and one set of scrubs, lab coat and shoes.
- 1 1/9 SCALE BODY: With removable joints to add any of the above custom pieces.
- PAINTING AND ASSEMBLY TECHNIQUES Featuring step-by-step instructions on how to make your own custom zombie look as gory and disgusting as possible, demonstrated by EMCE's own art staff
With the kit you can make one raw custom zombie figure from the ground up or/and you can fully modify several existing Mego figures you might have in your collection! How awesome is that?! Never customized a figure before? No problem! The included DVD teaches everything you need to know to turn out a professional looking zombie.
I really was stunned at how simple yet fantastic an idea this was. After talking with Joe from EMCE toys for a bit I was genuinely impressed with their passion. These folks dig what they do, and that is not something you do not see often at industry events like this.
The "Make Your Own Zombie" Action Figure Customizing Kit will be available this Fall through the usual Mego style figure resellers or directly from EMCE Toys.
The sleeper hit of the entire Toy Fair 2011, the "Make Your Own Zombie" Action Figure Customizing Kit are filled with so much cool and passion they made other Zombie action figures look kinda lame. keep your eye out for the kit, I know I will be.
Before I run I did want to point out that they did have several other zombie themed items available in their booth...
Which included a new series of 1/9th scale hyper-detailed War of the Dead figures.
Realizing fans are getting tired of paying close to or over $100 for realistically detailed larger scale figures they turned their attention to upping the detail level on their existing 1/9 scale figures. I think they have succeeded admirably with prices ranging from $29.99 - $39.99 and the detail is stunning.
EMCE Toys is also finishing off its classic style Night of the Living Dead figures with the upcoming release of Barbra and Zombified Karen Cooper as well as reissuing the previously released Ben and Graveyard Zombie.
And last but not least, Kung Fu Master was on display.
He is the first in a series of classic Martial Arts characters packaged with boxed sets of titles from Crash Cinema.
We have our eye on you EMCE Toys, and that's a good thing.
Comments
4 comments postedFirst off thanks to you folks at collectiondx for the interview and footage of EMCE toys.
This new "Zombie Kit" is amazing on so many levels. Not only is it more modern MEGO goodness, it's also 1.) Tons of fun for customizers, 2.) A really good bang for your buck, 3.) Inspiring for the creative types, 4.) and most importantly FUN for the collector and kids alike.
The fourth point to me is the most important seeing that EMCE has knocked it out of the box when it comes to "WHY" a kid would want these. It gives them something to do. IMO kids are so entrenched in video games that a simple action figure doesn't cut it. However the ability to build your own zombie and make it as gruesome as the ones found in "Resident Evil" is a win-win.
Bravo EMCE!
Atom and I walked away sincerely impressed with what EMCE had to offer. Out of the booths we visited they were really the only ones truly passionate with their stuff. They took the time to show us everything and really talk about their products. It wasn't a memorized speech and ok, you're done- NEXT! type of thing. They even spent time chatting with us after shooting our footage and even told us about cool stuff at other booths.
I think what they did with the zombies is an excellent idea. It allows creativity and imagination on the hobbyists part instead of buying a mass produced figure. It be kind of cool to see what you guys come up with if you end up picking up a kit. Maybe make zombies of the CDX staff haha
Atom and ChachiPower. Brilliant coverage!
Every post was as good as the last, and I have a good idea now of what items are going to be released.
That Zombie kit is top notch! Again, I don't collect Zombies but that looks like a hell of a lot of fun to build!
Cheers!
LF