New York Comic Con 2012: Toys, Statues, & Video Games by Alan Camuto

My time at comic con was cut short this year due to a personal emergency. Those of you who know me know exactly what happened.  It has been very difficult for me. Time has been moving both fast and slow. Even though we're only a week and half removed from comic con (NYCC), it feels like it took place months ago. During my limited time at NYCC, I did still manage to take in the major attractions, while taking a plethora of photographs. My photo assignments included two photoshoots featuring Adrianne Curry and Tera Patrick, both of which will be available online soon.

Thursday, the first day of comic con, a more laid back atmosphere is always presented. While the cosplayers can be a bit scarce during day one, I instead took the opportunity to walk around and sample the various toys and video games on exhibit. My days of collecting figurines are long over, and the high prices tags on statues have always kept me away. However, it was still great to marvel at the various works of  art on display. From anime and superhero statues to NYCC exclusive action figures, there was definitely a lot to see.

One of my favorite toy lines present at the show was S.H. MonsterArts Godzilla imports. S.H. MonsterArts set up and amazing display case which featured the popular kaiju destroying a cityscape in a giant monster battle royal. It was quite a site to see. My only disappointment was the absence of a Gigan toy. I'm quite partial towards Gigan as he's my favorite Toho Monster, but come on! Even Minilla (AKA Manya and Minira) had an action figure!

DC Direct showed off their amazing line of Statues which were highlighted by the exclusive Dark Knight Returns: Batman on a Horse. Obviously based on Frank Miller's design, the statue was simply stunning. Other DC statues featured Harley Quinn and the Joker. On the Marvel side, I was wowed by the exclusive Captain America vs. Red Skull statue where it looks like Captain America is about to deliver a deathblow to The Red Skull. While I think the industry is going a bit overboard with their anime interpretation of comicbook superhero's, there was a nice selection of anime statues throughout the convention. Plus, you can always be certain that there's always a plethora of "well endowed" statues and figurines on hand.

Legos were also widely popular at NYCC. There was a random dealer downstairs in the autograph area that was creating fantastic Lego scenes which included a Hall of Justice as well as a Hall of Doom!

On the video game side, DC's Injustice for All Fighting game stole the show. Not only was it produced by the same crew at Warner Bros. that gave us my all-time favorite fighting game, 2011's Mortal Kombat, but it features all of DC's most popular Super Heroes. A demo was available on hand. I didn't get a chance to play, but the game looks amazing. I did get to play the Spartacus fighting game, which looked cool, but felt like it could get repetitive very fast. Also on hand was Capcom's new Devil May Cry (DMC) game. Now Capcom is my least favorite video game publisher, which ironically has created some of my favorite games. While DMC looked hot, almost like an exact copy of Bayonetta, the Dante featured within was a far shadow of the great character we've all come to know. I'm currently replaying the original DMC series, and I think I'll stay with that until the new game makes it to the bargin bin. Another big video game announcement was the Street Fighter x Sanrio crossover. I'm not sure if it'll be an actual video game, but Hello Kitty was on hand promoting merchandise, dressed as Chun Li from Street Fighter Alpha.

Injustice Gods Among Us is highly anticipated

The New Devil May Cry receiving a not-so-warm reception from long time fans

Hello Kitty Chun Li style!

Given all of the grief I've felt over the past 2 weeks, I'm glad I was able to feel inspired to sit down and write this blog. It's served as a good distraction, and I'm continuing to edit photos for the rest of the con. I hope to have another write up with my thoughts on the convention itself real soon. To everyone I couldn't meet up with at NYCC, and you know who you are, we owe each other a photoshoot and I hope we can reschedule sometime soon when things settle down. Until then, visit my Flickr Photostream  and also my Facebook Page for more NYCC coverage and Photographs

Also visit the Words from the Master blog for further New York Comic Con toy coverage.