Although Toy Biz had a relatively smaller space than Kenner or Playmates (They were part of the huge Marvel area), they utilized it much better, with every inch of their display area covered in figures.
Shown at the Con were packaged samples of upcoming lines like Hulk Transformations and Outcasts, and Spider-Man Spider-Force. Also shown were production samples such as pieces from Web Wars, Avengers, and Silver Surfer. A few details have been changed since Toy Fair, such as now Thor has vac-metallized emblems on his tunic, and a plastic cape, whereas Scarlet Witch still has a cloth cape.
One new thing shown was the upcoming Street Fighter VS X-Men line, based on the popular Capcom video game. These will be two-packs, pairing up a hero with a villain, one each from both licenses.
Amazingly, these figures are just redecos with new heads of existing Toy Biz figures. It is unknown just yet who will be used for Ryu and Magneto, who weren't shown, but as for the others, Cyclops is a Monster Armor Cyclops with a great new jacket, Bison is Tombstone, Wolverine is Fang Wolverine, Akuma is Namor, Sabretooth is Sabretooth 2, and Ken is Archangel 2. If these sell well, Toy Biz plans to make more. Below are closer shots of the great sculpting on these heads.
Also shown were the X-Men: Missle Flyers figures, minus Cable, who is scheduled to be included when these hits shelves. No mention or samples were shown of the X-Men: Star Riders line due for Fall. The Missle Flyers look much better in person than in the pictures previously seen, but we do think that this Wolverine is awfully strange.
Toy Biz was willing to discuss many aspects of their line production. They will be closely watching both the Spider-Force line, which has four villains to one Spider-Man, and the movie tie-in line Blade, the Vampire Hunter to help plan future line strategy. If both do well, Toy Biz may cut back on the multiple Wolverines and Spider-Men, and bid more agressively for movie licenses.
Interestingly, they also wouldn't be against picking up non-Marvel characters, such as Batman, if the current license holder drops it. One thing about Toy Biz, is that they do not like having to reuse molds for repaints and redecos. They would rather have new sculpts, but they realize it is the reality of the business to get the most money out of a mold.
