July 2005 - This year's San Diego Comic Convention marks the largest undertaking in Diamond Select Toys' history! Plans for the event include several exclusive figures, a wide selection of celebrity guests, contests and even a blood drive! Below is a schedule of events as well as a summary of this year's exclusives and activities.
Preview Night opens on Wednesday, July 13th and gives convention attendees their first chance to pick up their favorite exclusive figures. The long-awaited Dark Phoenix & Cyclops Minimates will be available for $9.00 while the limited-to-1,000 Black Queen Bust will be on sale for $45.00. In addition to those exclusives, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer "Welcome to the Hellmouth" Vampire Darla figure and the Serenity Jayne unpainted T-1 figure will both be offered in conjunction with appearances by Julie Benz and Adam Baldwin.
The full roster of celebrity guests includes several cast members from Buffy, Angel and Serenity, sure to be a hit with convention attendees. Buffy alum Amber Benson (Tara Maclay) will be Thursday's special guest, Clare Kramer (Buffy's Glory) will be featured on Friday, Adam Baldwin (Serenity's Jayne) will both be available on Saturday and Julie Benz (Angel's and Buffy's Darla) and Mercedes McNab (Harmony) will appear on Sunday. Other special guests appearing throughout the weekend include Buffy's George Hertzberg (Adam), James Leary (Clem), Camden Toy (Gentleman, Ubervamp), Angel's Mark Lutz (Groosalagg) and Serenity's Ron Glass (Book). Each morning, a limited number of free autograph tickets will be distributed, entitling the bearer to a free autograph from a selected guest.
Diamond Select Toys continues its summer Minimates promotion by offering free blank Minimates with the San Diego Comic Convention logo each day. In addition, one lucky winner will receive one of only fifty Silver Spider-Man Minimates!
In addition to the exclusives, the Angel Wesley and Lorne assortment, the Deluxe Buffy and Faith assortment and the new Star Trek DS9 figures will all be available for the first time in San Diego. Two more exclusive Minimate sets will be offered through retail partners, with Art Asylum offering their Fantastic Four Minimates and Action Figure Xpress selling their Thanos & Silver Surfer two-pack.
Along with the American Red Cross, Diamond Select Toys has organized a Blood Drive which will be held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. In exchange for participating, all donors will receive a strictly limited Spike unpainted T-1 figure, limited to only 500 pieces. The only way to receive this rare collectible is to roll up your sleeve and donate in an attempt to break the previous donation record. More details will be available at the Diamond Select Toys booth.
ABOUT DIAMOND SELECT TOYS AND COLLECTIBLES, LLC
DIAMOND SELECT TOYS AND COLLECTIBLES, LLC was founded in 1999 by sister company Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. Envisioned to create unique and exciting collectibles for children and adults alike, the company has licensed a variety of pop culture properties to be turned into merchandise. With partners such as Marvel Enterprises, Viacom, Dreamwave Productions, Twentieth Century Fox, MTV, Bliss House, and MGM, Diamond Select Toys and Collectibles produces a large range of products based on a wide variety of properties, and is headquartered in Timonium, MD. For more information, visit www.diamondselecttoys.com.
ABOUT ART ASYLUM
Manhattan based Art Asylum was founded by Digger in 1996 as a creative studio providing premier work services to the toy industry. In 2000, this award winning studio joined forces with Play Along Toys and transformed itself into a fully functioning toy new force in the boy's action toy business. This new company launched toys for popular licenses such as Star Trek, Tony Hawk, Eminem, Lord of the Rings and Batman. Currently still working with Play Along-Jakks as a licensor, the Napster license is the company's first acquisition in their new venture.
ABOUT ACTION FIGURE XPRESS
Honolulu-based ACTION FIGURE XPRESS is the mail order and online premier toy and action figure collectible shop since 1997. Offering easy, one-stop shopping for today's discriminating toy and action figure aficionados, Action Figure Xpress prides itself on bringing innovative exclusives to the market as an alternative to "getting those rare figures without fighting the crowds." For more information, visit www.shopafx.com.
