AC Play 1/6th scale Undercover Female 12-inch female aka Black Widow hiding out in the open

Pre-order AC Play ATX023 1/6 Scale Stealth Widow Action Figure from KGHobby Toys HERE

The 2016 superhero movie "Captain America: Civil War" opens approximately one year after the Ultron Offensive, with public opinion of the Avengers becoming increasingly divided due to the events in New York, Washington, D.C. and Sokovia. The team – which now consists of Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Sam Wilson and Wanda Maximoff – learn that former HYDRA sleeper agent Brock Rumlow, who now calls himself "Crossbones" plans to steal a biological chemical weapon from the Institute for Infectious Diseases in Lagos, Nigeria. They go undercover to try and stop Crossbones.

AC Play 1/6th scale Undercover Female 12-inch female action figure is inspired by Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow as seen in the opening scene in "Captain America: Civil War". It features: - Head Sculpt - Female Body - Pea Coat - Tank Top - Jeans - Boots - Hands x7 - Arm Band x2 - Cell Phone - Figure Stand

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Why do adults collect toys? Also a BIG thank you for the 15,000,000 (15 million) page views so far

A BIG Thank You to everyone who has visited and contributed in one way or another to my toy blog TOY HAVEN :) It has officially crossed the 15,000,000 (15 million) page views mark and with all your continued support, I hope to see the numbers continue to grow. It's even more bizarre when my Google+ profile says I've had 372,165,702 views (as at the time of this posting) since I don't quite know how the numbers come about! When I started out in July 2007, I never imagined that this toy blog would ever reach this milestone and now that it has, I only have everyone to thank for it. Guess it's the appropriate time to do some soul searching and ask the question "Why do we still collect toys?" (especially the adults among us haha)

Well, according to wiki: It has been speculated that the widespread appeal of collecting (in general) is connected to the hunting and gathering that was once necessary for human survival. For some people, collecting things may be a symbolic way of asserting power over them.

The hobby of collecting includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever items are of interest to the individual collector. The scope of collecting is unlimited: "If something exists, somebody somewhere collects them." That is true even for toys as they come in all forms, shapes and sizes.

Some collectors are generalists with very broad criteria for inclusion, while others focus on a subtopic within their area of interest. Some collectors accumulate arbitrarily many objects that meet the thematic and quality requirements of their collection, others — called completists — aim to acquire all items in a well-defined set that can in principle be completed, and others seek a limited number of items per category (e.g. one representative item per year of manufacture or place of purchase). The monetary value of objects is important to some collectors but irrelevant to others. Some collectors maintain objects in pristine condition, while others use the items they collect, and still others collect items that once belonged to famous people.

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Top Ten (10) Greatest Avengers of All-Time

Today, the world at large knows the Avengers from not only comics, but their exploits on the small screen, in theaters and beyond. But 50 years ago, AVENGERS #1 saw Earth’s Mightiest Heroes assemble for the very first time to combat the threats none could overcome alone.

In the five decades since, dozens of men, women, aliens, machines, etc. have called themselves Avengers. From villains who once opposed the team to ordinary humans rising to the challenge and every form of hero in between, the top team in the Marvel Universe boasts the most impressive all-time roster around. To celebrate the Avengers’ 50th anniversary, Marvel.com called upon a panel of experts that included fans and professionals alike to pick the 50 al-time greatest members of the team. (source: Marvel.com)

So who's in the top ten list of the greatest avengers of all-time? Well, you'll just have to scroll down to find out :)

Avengers Assemble!

The title says it all :) With the recent release of Marvel Studios' official "The Avengers" trailer and the film set for full release in May 2012, everyone is EXCITED! I would never have dreamt that I would live to see the day when "The Avengers" movie would be made and yet, here it is, coming to a theatre near you! What makes it even more exciting is knowing that Hot Toys would most likely be producing 1/6 scale "The Avengers" figures and that will break the bank for many collectors. Let's hope it'll be worth it. There have been some quality issues with Hot Toys releases lately :(

In the meantime, while waiting for the figures to show up, I could not resist taking pictures of these ToyBiz Famous Covers 9-inch figures who are part of the new Avengers line-up :) The Avengers 2012 film is based upon the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. It is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which crosses over several Marvel superhero films including Iron Man (2008), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011) and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011).

T is also for THOR - god of thunder

continued from previous post...

2011 has been a good year for Marvel superheroes, with the release of "Captain America: The First Avenger" only just yesterday in Singapore (my verdict: Go See It! and remember to wait till the end of the credits for something AWESOME!) and "Thor" earlier this year. These two will be part of the May 2012 "The Avengers" film which promises to blow your socks OFF :) Let's not forget "X-Men: First Class". Now that was certainly a most interesting take of the X-Men origins. That's Marvel Studios "3" and DC "0". DC's "Green Lantern" didn't really do it for me even though I wanted it to, was hoping it would :(

In Norse mythology, Thor (from Old Norse Þórr) is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, destruction, fertility, healing, and the protection of mankind. The Marvel Comics superhero Thor (based on the Norse god) debuted in the science fiction / fantasy anthology title "Journey into Mystery #83" (cover-date August 1962), created by editor-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, and penciller Jack Kirby. [ source: wiki ]

Captain America: The First Avenger opens today in Singapore

Steve Rogers is a sickly young man who is enhanced to the peak of human perfection by an experimental serum in order to aid the United States war effort. He is chosen as the first in a "super-soldier" experiment. There is no spoiler since all the official movie trailers pretty much show us how Steve Rogers gets transformed and become Captain America.

Since the Hot Toys 1/6 scale Captain America 12-inch figure has not been released (all we've seen are PREVIEW pictures), I guess this 9-inch tall version will have to do.

Red, White and Blue plus Green

What does the hammer, stars and circles have in common? They are all symbols used in some of the logos of the political parties contesting in Singapore's General Elections of 2011, of which today May 7 is polling day. Serious stuff but on a lighter note, the hammer, the shield (circles and star) and the green lantern are all an integral part of the comic-book superheroes making it to the big screen this year :) And that is why the same symbols are now a part of my new ToyHaven banner and will remain till the end of the year.

Thor and Captain America hail from Marvel Comics while Green Lantern is from DC. You will never see these three characters all in the same frame since they belong to different companies that created them. While Thor and Captain America will appear in "The Avengers" film, I doubt we'll ever see Green Lantern in any Batman movie, let alone the Justice League, because I doubt that there'll ever be a film made of them.

I collect Action Figures! And here are some of them

Eric Stettmeier aka Bubba Shelby of Toyriffic recently posted an entry "Action Figure or Doll?" on his blog :) It made for some interesting reading and generated quite a response. I thought I'll jump in with my two cents worth.

Definition of Action Figure from Wikipedia - Ac•tion Fig•ure: An action figure is a pose-able character figurine, made of plastic or other materials, and often based upon characters from a movie, comic book, video game, or television program. These action figures are usually marketed towards boys and male collectors. [source: wiki]

The term "action figure" was first coined by Hasbro in 1964, to market their G.I. Joe figure to boys who wouldn't play with dolls. It featured changeable clothes with various uniforms to suit different purposes. In a move that would create global popularity for this type of toy, Hasbro also licensed the product to companies in other markets.

So let me state here that I collect Action Figures (NOT dolls) and am darn proud of it :) So proud in fact that I've posted 24 pictures of action figure group shots in this post alone to show how much I enjoy collecting Action Figures! Scroll down to see all ENJOY ;p

Over 1,000 posts and counting!

If somebody had told me that I would go on to post more than 1,000 entries on my blog at the very beginning when I started in July 2007, I would never have believed it. Well, as of today, I have actually gone beyond 1,000 blog posts and that's due a large part to all you readers out there who have been most supportive with your encouraging words and compliments. The written word is a very powerful tool, and well intentions and comments plus compliments make one's day, acknowledging and giving the writer/blogger (that's me) your stamp of approval at what I'm doing RIGHT, so a BIG thank you to all who have written or chosen to follow my blog (which has grown to 104 as at this post although the StatCounter shows an average 500 daily returning visitors :>)

I'd started my blog on one of my favorite subjects - BATMAN and that was pre-HOT TOYS days




And Batmobiles - I love me some Batmobiles and Batplanes; they are way COOL

Toy Biz MARVEL "Famous Cover" series offered authentic fabric costumes and articulation. And the Kubrick Marvels are a hoot!







And here are some action figures from the Captain Action line. Interestingly, Johnny Depp was slated to play Tonto in a new Lone Ranger film as (surprise! surprise!) Depp is part Cherokee Indian. After his turn as a pirate in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy, it would be fascinating to see his interpretation of Tonto.

And the new Green Hornet film is scheduled to be released on December 22, 2010. Starring Seth Rogen as Britt Reid / The Green Hornet and Jay Chou as Kato with Cameron Diaz as a reporter and Britt Reid's love interest, this movie should be rather interesting. Hope it doesn't pan out like "The Spirit (2008)" which was a commercial and critical failure in theatres.

Kato was made famous by Bruce Lee whose portrayal of this character popularized martial arts in the United States in the 1960s. In Hong Kong, it was popularly known as "The Kato Show" and resulted in Bruce Lee starring in the feature films that would make him a pop culture icon. Both Medicom and Enterbay have released 1/6 action figures of Kato but no Green Hornet is yet in sight!

The Phantom is an American adventure comic strip created by Lee Falk. While the Phantom is not the first fictional costumed crime-fighter, he is the first to wear the skintight costume that has become a hallmark of comic book superheroes, and the first to wear a mask with no visible pupils, another superhero standard. [ source: wiki ]

Dr Evil (who is Captain Action's arch enemy) as Kabai Singh. There were only two villian costumes for Dr Evil to change into, the other being Ming the Merciless.

Marvels

And here are the group shots




Altogether now, say "Stan Lee"

Green Goblin by Toy Biz

The Green Goblin is one of Spider-Man's most recognizable foes and is widely considered to be his archenemy, much like Joker is to Batman in the DC universe. So it was apt that Green Goblin would feature in the first Spider-Man film (2002). The Green Goblin was portrayed by the brilliant Willem Dafoe, also famous for his role as the compassionate Sergeant Elias in Platoon (1986). The Green Goblin was one of Toy Biz's first four figures released from their "Famous Covers" line and has the most accessories compared to the rest, being equipped with his Goblin Glider and sling bag which is supposed to contain a variety of bizarre portable incendiary devices. The Green Goblin also has a Pumpkin Bomb.

Invisible Woman, Susan Storm by Toy Biz

One of the reasons for watching "Fantastic Four" - Jessica Alba

Toy Biz's Invisible Woman was done way before the movie came out 

Here, she looks like Angelina Jolie from the movie "Life or something like it"