Comicon Holiday Gift Guide 2024: Toys & Collectibles
by Tony Thornley
Greetings and happy holidays, no matter what seasonal holiday you celebrate! Welcome to Comicon.com’s annual holiday gift guide. Whether you’re here looking for ideas for a geeky family member, for a few ideas for your personal wish list, or just to do a little shopping for yourself, you’ve come to the right place.
Welcome to our second entry, covering toys and collectibles (plus a couple toy related books)! So let’s just jump in!
Big Bad Workshop & Fresh Monkey Fiction’s Operation: Monster Force is one of the coolest new IP’s to come out this year. When a powerful evil force awakens under the sands of Egypt, the world’s military force recruits monster hunter Declan Van Helsing to help stop it. Van Helsing quickly realizes he needs more help than just the resources at hand, and recruits none other than Count Dracula! These figures scale with standard 1/12 scale figures, and are even interchangeable. Watch for more from the Comicon team later this week about this line as well! (Tony Thornley)
JL Task Force McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse
If you ask any DC action figure collector, they’d say they need another Batman like they’d need a hole in the head. But then McFarlane Toys announced this line. Based on the late-90’s Justice League Task Force video game, these four figures are based on the game’s art, and feature pixelized shading and emblems for each of the four characters. Even better, the build-a-figure is a game-styled Darkseid, AND each figure has a Platinum alternate version that features the all red or blue “taking damage” color scheme. (Tony Thornley)
McFarlane Toys Corner Box Statues
These ones won’t arrive in time for this year’s holidays, but it’s never too early to start thinking about next year! Todd McFarlane has turned the venerable comic book corner box into a literal work of art. These 3-D resin statues feature either Batman or Superman and come with the option of having McFarlane autograph them. And at over 16 inches tall, they will make impressive additions to any comic fan’s collection. Each corner box includes a comic book cover metal poster and comes ready to hang. Hurry though. This crowdfunding campaign ends at 3 AM PT on December 11, 2024. (Tom Smithyman)
Transformers Collaborative Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Party Wallop
Two of pop culture’s biggest franchises hit their fortieth anniversary this year. What better way to celebrate than a collaboration! Hasbro’s Transformers Collaborative series has put out some amazing figures over the last few years, but the TMNT crossover figure might be the best year. In robot mode, it can be dressed up as any of the four brothers, with bandanas and weapons to match, or as a mix & match Ninja Turtle. In the alt-mode, the figure becomes the Party Wagon from the 1987 cartoon. It’s a fantastic figure regardless, but even more so if you’re a Turtle fan. (Tony Thornley)
The Transformers weren’t the only 80’s icon toy line that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossed over with. All throughout the year, Mattel released the Turtles of Greyskull crossover toyline, mashing together the universes of He-Man and TMNT. The line has been a massive hit, with collectors getting truly excited about both He-Man and the Turtles on a level that hasn’t been seen in a long time. Our favorites are the first Michaelangelo, Shredder and Skeletor, and another wave of Turtles are coming early next year with mutated versions of more classic MOTU villains. (Tony Thornley)
Street Fighter has long been one of the greatest video game franchises ever. They’ve had some amazing toys produced in their thirty-ish year reign at the top of the fighting game heap. But no one quite expected Jada Toys– a company mostly known for die-cast miniatures and vehicles- to come in and give fans the 1/12 scale figure line of the year. The plastic quality is good, the sculpts are amazing and they’re all highly posable. I’ve personally gotten M. Bison in hand, and he’s fantastic enough that Guile is on his way, and Ryu is on pre-order. They’re that good. (Tony Thornley)
G.I. Joe Classified Storm Shadow
Of Hasbro’s major toy lines, G.I. Joe Classified is probably the least talked about, but deserves much more buzz. The figures all have great designs, either modernizing classic Joe designs or creating whole new versions of favorite characters. My favorite of the year has to be Storm Shadow’s “version 2” look, from when he transitioned in the comic from being a Cobra agent to fully being a Joe. But that’s not the only favorite we had… (Tony Thornley)
I am a sucker for GI Joe’s mid-to-late 80s turn to the fantastic and sci-fi (in part because that was the era when I really became a Joe fan, and in part because I’ve always had a predilection towards sci-fi and superhero stories). Which means I’ve long been a sucker for the more outlandish, goofy-ass Cobras, like this evil accountant-turned-falcon-enthusiast. The G.I. Joe Classified line has turned out tons of great figures that combine the classic stylings of G.I. Joe figures with modern sculpting and accessories, but with Raptor, they’ve really outdone themselves, transforming the original’s “backpack with some cloth wings that slip onto the figure’s wrists” flight apparatus into a “Vulture in Spider-Man Homecoming”-style jetpack, while still maintaining the outlandish spectacle of the original, including the falcon head cowl and pet falcon. If you’re going to put just one toy under — or perched on — the Christmas tree this year, let it be this one. (Austin Gorton)
Super 7’s G.I. Joe “o-ring” ReAction figures
Crossing nostalgia and nerdiness, the first wave of Super 7’s ReAction figures based on the classic cartoon come with all the poseable articulation of their 1980s counterparts. The little rubber band at their center — known in collector circles as an “o-ring” — gives them that retro feel that’s missing from most modern “G.I. Joe” figures. Wave 1 includes fan favorites Snake Eyes and Cobra Commander, and Crimson Twins Tomax and Xamot in their best Wall Street duds as seen on the animated series. (David Lewis)
The Art of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Omnibus
For 80s kids, one of the most captivating things about GI Joe was the art on the action figure cards and vehicle boxes, which managed to capture all the energy of the line and say something about the featured character (or even tell in a little story) in just one static image. The Art of G.I. Joe omnibus is the result of a labor of love from the 3DJoes team, and a perfect gift for the Joe fan in your life. Meticulously researched and assembled, it features nearly every piece of promotional art from the heyday of the line, from action figure cards to the cardback file cards to posters to stuff like Joe video games and sleeping bags, all presented in a glorious full color oversized hardcover. (Austin Gorton)
I don’t think any bit of pop culture in 2024 surprised fans more than X-Men ‘97. The nostalgia-fueled continuation of the classic (but poorly aged) X-Men Animated Series was a surprise hit, telling new stories, and adapting several classic stories that the original series never did. Season 2 is on its way, but until then, you can can fill the X-shaped hole in your heart with some of the figures. Many are sold out, but there are a few you can still get for retail, and reissues of Rogue, Gambit and Wolverine are all coming early next year. (Tony Thornley)
Up until Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, pickings for fans of X-Men and merch were pretty slim; with the film rights of the characters in the hands of a cinematic rival, Marvel had little financial interest in promoting the X-Men via licensed products. While the ongoing monopolization of mega corporations is not, on the whole, a good thing, one side benefit of the Disney/Fox merger is the return to shelves of X-Men merch. Coupled with the success of the X-Men ’97 animated revival, Marvel’s merry mutants are once again storming the toy aisles. The most fun — and most expensive — proof of that comes in the form of this massive Lego set, which features a two story, six room mansion, ten minifigs, and one building-sized Sentinel. (Austin Gorton)
Lego Marvel Cinematic Universe
Yes, if you happen to have a significant human in your life who’s really into all things MCU, loves Lego, and can’t wait for the new Captain America: Brave New World movie (hitting cinemas Feb 2025), I think this could well be perfect. Not one but two new Lego sets released 1 December…
First, you’ve got the Captain America vs Red Hulk battle set, complete with Red Hulk, Cap, Ruth Bat-Seraph, and Falcon mini-figs and buildable jet plane. After that, time to put together the Sam Wilson Cap construction figure, one of Lego’s buildable action figure range. (Richard Bruton)
What are the holidays without poinsettias – those festive red-flowering plant that is ubiquitous this time of year. Marry the cheerful flower with everyone’s favorite Danish toys – Legos – and you have a match made for St. Nicholas. At over 600 pieces, this is not the present you want to give to your toddler, but it still makes a welcome gift for adults who lack a green thumb. Legos offers several other holiday-themed creations, including a wreath and red candle, but the poinsettia seems like the most appropriate choice. And this entry into Lego’s botanical collection has overwhelmingly positive reviews. (Tom Smithyman)
