He-man.org has announced that NECA and the Four Horsemen unveiled the next character in line for the 14″ line of statues. Trapjaw. Just like the other statues, he will be produced in a limited supply and incredible detail. Prices and availability are expected to be announced by the San Diego Comic Con where the prototype will be on display.

The Four Horsemen have revealed the fully painted 2-up of the FANtastic Exclusive for 2006. Over the past several months, they have posted polls allowing the fans to choose many different aspects of the figure from concept designs for the character to be made to the weapons it will be wielding. The last of those polls have closed and they started work on the figure. We know get to see the fruit of their labor and our choice. Without further ado: Xetheus, 7th Kingdom Minotaur.

The first 3 pictures on that page look heavily photoshopped, so I included the non-altered ones below.

  

TNI is reporting that Majestic Studios will be offering an exclusive for the San Diego Comic Con. The exclusive will be a Battle Damaged Cylon from the new incarnation of Battlestar Galactica. The figure will not be just a repaint of upcoming line they will be offering but instead featuring a whole new head sculpt. Includes figure, interchangable arms so regular arms can be switched for the turret gun arms, stand and base featuring head and parts of another fallen Cylon. Articulation includes shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, hips, and knees. These figures will be extremely limited to 400 pieces, 100 of which will be available on preview night with the rest available at the normal start of the convention and none will be held back. Figures are on a first come first serve basis.

TFW2005 is reporting a RUMOR, and I emphasize that this is just a rumor at the moment, that Alternators Nemesis Prime will be a San Diego Comic Con Exclusive. Nemesis Prime is a black repaint of the currently available Alternators Optimus Prime. This might not be that far of a stretch since last year Legends of Cybertron Skywarp was a Hasbro exclusive at the convention.

Remember, this is strictly speculative at the moment and has not been confirmed.

Marvel.com has a page up describing some of their future movie plans. Among the many movies on slate for Marvel, Iron Man is one of the top of their current list to get into production. They’ve taken on Jon Favreau of Swingers and Made fame to direct the Iron Man film.

Jon Favreau To Direct Iron Man

Los Angeles, CA (April 28, 2006) – Aggressively pursuing its strategy to develop and produce a new slate of feature films, Marvel Studios – a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: MVL) – has engaged director/actor/writer Jon Favreau to direct the highly anticipated big screen adaptation of Iron Man. Additionally, the studio has tapped several screenwriters to pen scripts based on some of its marquee Super Hero franchises. The projects to which screenwriters are now attached and have officially begun development include Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Ant Man, Captain America, Nick Fury and Thor. The announcement was made today by Avi Arad, Chairman of Marvel Studios.

Check out the page for more information on the franchises mentioned. Most of it is background stuff. The real announcement was having Favreau direct Iron Man.

Marvel, in an unprecedented push for viral campaigning online has posted a second trailer for their hot Civil War story arc going on right now.

The new trailer features the comic shop locator info, Civil War Checklist and will be available through Marvel.com as well as Youtube.com so you can share it with friends, post it on your MySpace page, or simply just watch it over and over. To view the trailer, go to http://www.marvel.com/news/-1.413.

Its unfortunate they chose to say MySpace page instead of the more correct and more general term ‘blog’, but its nice to see a major company actually using the internet in a productive way. Without further ado, the second Civil War trailer from Marvel…

Nintendo has granted First4Figures a 3 year licensing agreement for the Metroid franchise. This coincides with the release of Metroid Prime: Hunters in Europe. Plans seem to be for several individual statues standing about 9 to 12 inches tall based on ‘original game data’.

 

For the full text of the announcement continue below.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

In a slap to the face of all comic fans in the New England area, Wizard World Boston has been cancelled.

CANCELLATION NOTICE
Wizard World Boston 2006 cancelled

After speaking to our exhibitors and partners, all of whom shared our concerns about the outside costs of doing business at this time, Wizard World Boston has been cancelled. This is an industry decision, and we want to do what’s best for the industry.

We are thankful to the 8,800 fans that attended last year’s event and hope to return to Boston in the near future. We’re now focused on making sure that our other scheduled 2006 events in L.A., Philly, Chicago and Texas are the best Wizard World shows ever.

The East coast has once again received the shaft from the Comic Cons. As a resident of the area, I am ready to get all my friends and start a good old fashioned Red Sox riot.