Toy companies often use SDCC as a way to make big announcements and I’ve seen everything from the fanfare of new product to the sad cancellations of favorite action figure lines. With SDCC right around the corner, I’ve been thinking about what kinds of things I would love to see in action figure form. Click through for my Top 5 Most Wanted Action Figure lines!
I’m a guy who likes his action figures six-inch scaled and super articulated, so most everything I want to see is in that format. Now, I’m not suffering under the delusion that any of this stuff will be made, this is more fantasy than anything. As usual, I’m going to start with a few runners up and the first one has been something I wanted for a long time, but Articulated Icons has really scratched that itch for me.
I’m talking about a line of 6-inch scaled Samurai figures. AI has really hit that mark for me, but I would still love some specific movie-based figures like characters from Lone Wolf and Cub, The Seven Samurai, Zatoichi, and Yojimbo.
The next one would be Gargoyles. Gargoyles was a really fun cartoon from Disney TV in the ’90s. The main characters are a bunch of cool Gargoyle designs that would be really toyetic, perfect for a super articulated action figure line. The only reason it’s not higher on my list is that I don’t remember any of the villains being all that great.
5. Captain EO
Yeah, I know. This is a weird one and will never ever happen. Even setting aside the controversy surrounding Michael Jackson, the Disneyland Captain EO attraction is a bit of an acquired taste. But as a Southern CA kid in the ’80s during the height of Michael Jackson’s popularity, I could not get enough of that movie. I even had a bootleg tape of the thing. Due to the production materials featuring George Lucas and the attraction’s proximity to Star Tours, in my young mind EO was part of Star Wars. I’d love a line-up of Captain EO (he’d come with the butterfly/bear creature, Fuzzball), Hooter, The two-headed Idy and Ody and the Droid major Domo.
I can imagine a deluxe set of Angelica Houston’s Gieger inspired Supreme Leader (not Snoke) that could attach to the bottom of the shelf so she could hang down, spider-like over your collection.
4. Bruce Lee
I thought for a minute that we had a bit of a Bruce Lee line of figures going since Bandai released an annual Bruce Lee Figuarts figure two years in a row, but they didn’t continue last year. I’d love if they would continue with their periodic releases of different Bruce Lee figures in different film-specific outfits, adding new weapons and portraits along the way.
Eventually, when they run out of Bruce figures, they could add Mr. Han, Bolo, Roeper, and Williams from Enter the Dragon, Kareem from Game of Death and Chuck Norris’ character from Way of the Dragon.
3. Western
One of my favorite action figure lines as a kid was the Gabriel Legend of the Lone Ranger line of 3.75 inch scale figures and horses. They also had a similar Zorro line up as well. I’d really love an updated version of these figures, but in the six inch scale and focused on some of the western icons I love like Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood’s “The Man with No Name” trilogy or John Wayne from Rio Bravo or Kurt Russel’s Wyatt Earp.
Wave one would be Blondie, Tuco and Angel Eyes from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
2. GI Joe
Man, I loved this show and the comics and toys when I was a kid. My mom wouldn’t let me play with Joes for some reason which made them even more appealing.
I’d love to build an army of super-poseable Cobra troops who could cross over and fight Marvel Legends. Give me Zartan, Dreadnoks, Scarlett, Rock N’ Roll, Tomax and Xamot, Crimson Guards, Duke, Flint…and so many more.
1. Indiana Jones
VeeBee mentioned turning a General Veers into a Walter Donovan custom and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about a six inch scale Indiana Jones line since then. I was always really tempted by the Indy line that accompanied Crystal Skull, but I could never pull the trigger because every figure had great big googly eye paint. With the new face printing, I think that would no longer be an issue. I’d especially like to get Mola Ram, Indy, and Short Round from Temple of Doom, but I’d buy characters from across all four movies.
That’s my list, what would you like to see in figure form? Let me know in the comments or on our forums!
