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Movie Toys Play Up Summer Releases

'Wolverine,' 'Star Trek,' 'Terminator' Among Toys Of Summer

Posted: 12:43 pm PDT May 4, 2009

Movie geeks have more than reason to be excited over this summer's blockbuster movie releases: blockbuster movie toys. Here's a look at what playthings and memorabilia fans can pick up in stores now to relive their favorite movie moments from the films coming out in May.

'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'
Hasbro acquired the Marvel universe license and made a big splash with the release of "Iron Man" toys last year. This summer movie season it's all about "X-Men," and the toymakers have come out with a 3 ¾-inch action figure line with characters from the movie, including Hugh Jackman as Logan and Wolverine (each come with interchangeable hands and clawed hands), Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber) and Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds).

Jackman said in a recent @ The Movies interview that he's a big fan of the "X-Men" toys, as long as people don't go all voodoo on him.

"Since 'X-Men' the toys have gotten incredibly life-like. It's little creepy now, actually," Jackman said with a laugh. "I think if someone didn't like me they could shove me in a freezer or stick pins in me."

There's no word yet on what "Wolverine" movie figures Hasbro will be producing next, but Gambit (Taylor Kitsch), John Wraith (Will.i.Am) and the Blob (Kevin Durand) are screaming to be made. In the meantime, Hasbro will have its hands full as it prepares to produce products in conjunctions with two more big summer releases: June's "Transformers: Revenge of Fallen" and August's "G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra."

While "Transformers" will include such favorites as Optimus Prime and Soundwave, also look for a figure of Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) to be packed in with one of the Bumblebee releases. "G.I. Joe" will have figures of all the stars of the film, from Channing Tatum (Duke) to The Baroness (Sienna Miller), and the first-ever figure of Dennis Quaid (Gen. Hawk), an exclusive pack-in with a Pit play set.

'Star Trek'
Fans of the "Star Trek" universe will want to beam themselves into the new movie products from Playmates Toys, which have produced a slew of action figures and play sets, and role-playing toys and the Enterprise ship -- each with sounds and dialogue taken directly from the new movie.

In stores already, the action figures come in 3 ¾-inch, 6-inch and 12-inch scale. The play sets are in scale for the 3 ¾-inch versions, which include Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), Old Spock (Leonard Nimoy), McCoy (Karl Urban) and the film's villain, Nero (Eric Bana). Taking a cue from the build-a-figure approach that's been popular in the last few years, Playmates have cleverly taken the concept one step further with including pieces of a play set in each of the 3 ¾-inch releases. Each figure comes with a piece that can help expand the Bridge or Transporter play sets -- an enterprising move, indeed.

The Transporter play set has perhaps the coolest feature of all the toys, where you can place a figure in a chamber to create a beaming effect. Through the creative use of lights and mirrors, the figure actually seems to disappear. It will certainly have kids and fans of the toys beaming with excitement.

The great thing is Kirk and Spock aren't the only figures that Scotty (Simon Pegg) can beam up. The initial wave also includes Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Chekov (Anton Yelchin) and Capt. Pike (Bruce Greenwood) -- who's excited about his action figure debut.

"I can pretty much retire now," Greenwood enthused. "I've been in Mad magazine and now I have an action figure."

While being immortalized in plastic is a first for Greenwood, it marks the umpteenth time Nimoy has become an action figure. Still, after all the years and all of the figures, (Nimoy) said he never tires of it.

"I have six grandchildren, and its great for me to be able to pass that stuff onto them so they can look at it and say, 'Wow, that was my grandpop,'" Nimoy said.

The company plans on producing figures and products based on the movie well into the fall.

Mattel is also getting into the act with a series of "Star Trek" items, including remote control Enterprise and Romulan Bird of Prey ships from the original series, a Hot Wheels versions of the Enterprise and other ships, and movie dolls of Barbie as Uhura (Saldana), Ken as Spock (Quinto) and Ken as Kirk (Pine).

'Terminator Salvation'
The Terminator is back -- without Arnold Schwarzenegger -- with a fourth "Terminator" movie, and there's a host of toys to come with it. Much like it did with its "Star Trek" line, Playmates Toys has produced action figures in three sizes of action figures, in 3 ¾-inch, 6-inch and 10-inch scale, along with ships in the 3 ¾-inch scale.

The role-playing toys are sure to be a hit now and at Halloween, as armies of Terminators are bound to hit the streets with Playmates' Voice and Vision Masks and Power Fists. The mask features the likeness of one of the T-600 cyborg from the new movie, and includes several cool features, including light-up red eyes that appear to rove. If that's not cool enough, the mask has a low-rumbling voice-changer to make you sound like you're going to, well, terminate something.

The Power Fist has multiple capabilities as well. The fist actually fits half-way up your arm, and a trigger inside allows you to shoot the clenched hand at your target. There are no worries of hurting anybody, though. While it looks like it could be hard plastic, the fist is actually made of soft foam. The arm also has a variety of smashing and hydraulic sound effects.

For those patient to wait for their "Terminator Salvation" products, Sideshow Collectibles is distributing 12-inch collector figures from Japanese toymaker Hot Toys. The figures are intricately detailed with likenesses of Christian Bale (John Connor) and the Terminator cyborgs from the movie, including the T-600, the T-700 and a diorama of the T-700 factory. Most of the items will be available in late summer.