Bangalore ComicCon is one of the coolest Pop Culture related events in India and this year Bangalore fans got double treat as we got two ComicCon, one in January and one in December! December one was cooler and very exciting as there were far more cosplayers and way more stalls that are selling action figures and toys. This is my coverage of all the toys and action figures and statues portraying pop culture in one form or other.
Me being an action figure collectors and toy collector, focused on characters that I know, so you make see a lot of Marvel and DC related content alone with Amine/Manga products that are aplenty. The first store that got my attention is a well known toys store Fatcat Collectibles, who recently opened a store in Bangalore and I captured it with my camera few month back, check it here. Oh yeah this guy (Dhaval) in the stall was very helpful and remembered me from my earlier visit, which felt good!
They always FC had a very big stall and bring in all their best sellers and something to wow us collectors… This year it is the Doctor Strange 1:1 Bust and oh boy you got to see it in real to admire its full potential. The details are just out of the world and it also carried a whopping 6,00,000 price tag making it the most expensive piece here.
Apart from that mammoth Doctor Strange bust, they also had some very detailed statues that could easily burn a hole in your wallet, like this Green Lantern, which by the way is a piece with high level of details and worthy of your money. They also have a Joker Statue, 1/4 scale Batman and Catwoman statues and a beautifully crafted Hellboy on a highly detailed base!
Fatcat got you covered even if you are a collector who has decent wallet and small space to display. I personally liked the Deadpool figures and the Fantastic Four figures the most, these figures are small but packs a punch for its price, btw these I have see them on their Bangalore store also.
There was a small collection of Spiderman villain series statues as well on display too and Doc Ock is the best floating on his mechanical arms. There were some more Marvel Comic statues on a jazzy base, which are very cool on their very own dynamic poses!
What got my attention is the Quantum Mechanix Batman, who is quite small but looked badass in a sea of big statues and figures. This one is very nice and at a pocket friendly price but somehow I couldn’t convince myself to bag this so left him there some other collects this scale figures.
Next big player is “Nerd Arena”, who had been part of Bangalore ComicCon for as long as I can remember, this year their presence is quite remarkable and they took a dynamic approach! Let me explain… Fatcat got their big badass bust to pull crowd, Nerd Arena, did it by using rotating display and kickass poses.
The background is mostly filled with boxed action figure from McFarlane to Funko Pop to Hasbro to BanDai to everything in-between! So if you are a boxed collector and you are interested on picking up a figure then this is a place to be. And this guy in the store who is very helpful and shared prices of many in stock without breaking a sweat.
Coming down to their collection, what I liked the most is their Wolverine static figure on a rotating pod along with Hulk in a very dynamic pose! I guess these are McFarlane looking at the details and pose but I could be wrong. I have seen lot of statues of these two and thanks to NA for putting them together and creating a movie/comic scene like vibe in limited display space they had. There also was a Punisher figure in comparable size, which is stealing some eyes.
Next up is my favourite character in all of superhero verse, Ironman by ZD Toys and not just any Iron Man (as ZD makes sea of Ironman figures) but a MK VI with an Avengers Tower Gantry. I have seen multiple of this particular toy in Hamleys and other Toy stores but in boxes, I have to thank Nerd Arena for taking one out and displaying them for us collectors to admire. This immediately got into my Wishlist and plan is on for pickup soon!
There also a Marvel Legends Emperor Doom right behind Superman, fighting for attention! McFarlane Superman got more eye as he was put on a rotating peg and also accompanied by couple of super dogs with a cape and all. I personally liked the dogs more than the figures itself as it felt nice seeing a cute rendition of Super Dogs from the recently released “Superman” movie.
As a norm, NA also had very good collection of anime figures and this one on their display case got my attention and you should know by now why! Yes I don’t know who these guys are as I don’t follow anime but I liked them both for the details and size. Fire and smoke effect around them are extremely good as well.
Moving away from the series player, we have Tinkle store, which by the ways is not a toys store but a comic publisher. These guys have an array of products apart from promoting comic like the soft toys, merchandise, posters and even bobbleheads that I was very impressed with.
And these guys had a secret marketing gimmick, which is a life-size mascots of their famous comic characters like Shikari Shambu (a bumbling hunter), Suppandi (a village simpleton known for his rectangular shaped head) and Mapui (a regular teenager who hates doing her homework) and these three mascots attracted more eyeball than any other cosplayers as they look so perfect and very welcoming.
I have been seeing this stall for the last few year and the newest addition is the bobblehead collection and I personally love the Shikari Shambu and Suppandi, which seems like newest addition and I absolutely love it. I would anyways pick one for my personal collection as my entire family is a fan of these two guys.
They also had a collection of bobbleheads, with religious connections and they looked quite impressive! These were intended to be placed in car dashboards but could work in any collectors display as well. Even though these are religious figures they all look so cute with their unique characters embedded.
Then there is a small stall called “Lil Tara”, which had just about anything from Katanas to posters, Hotwheels to framed diecast cars, cosplay masks to statues! I was particularly pulled into this for this one Ironman bust, which kind of was visible from far off.
This Ironman bust slightly bigger than what I have seen in local stores, so I got curious and asked for the price! At 4,000 this is a steal and I was sold for it… Then again I moved to other shops thinking I will come back and take it before leaving CC, but forgot as usual to pick him. Will keep my eye on this guy and pick him up on the next opportunity I get! This stall also had some very detailed masks and that joker mask is so detailed.
This stall also had lot of small figurines that are meant to be your desktop buddies without breaking a bank! I personally liked the dead pool with a “$uck It!” plank card. Most of the other figurines are already there in many toy shops so I dint pay much attention there! But the display shelves is a quite nice to display your Lego mini figures and likes, unfortunately it is not for sale!
Then comes a rather unheard of stall, which I guess is new player… The stall had a name card as “Ruvido Caso” and their collection is mostly merchandises and I guess their top selling product is the anime themed Hat especially the One Piece Ace Hat, which I see lot of fan are proudly wearing. Even the sellers are wearing these fancy hat and having fun in ComicCon!
This stall had so many Anime and Manga figurines and statues but what I was bit curious is the Joker in a chair! I have seen one like this made by McFarlane, which is quite expensive in India. But this looks like copy of that and looks impressive and also gets an alternative head. The best part about this Joker is his price, at 3,000 this is a worthy piece. There was one other joker who is showing up everywhere now and keeping a watch.
If Joker was there then there has to be Batman and this time around he has Superman on tow. Yeah these two guys have taken the top shelf as these are one of the biggest statue they have on display. These are not from licensed brand as the price is not upward of 50k. Standing at over 1.5feet tall, this is a piece that will tower anything in its price of 8,000! The paint job is spot on and the base is detailed as well, I would have take him home only if had the space that this XE suit Batman demands.
They also had a beautiful Mermaid with a yellow fish in hand, I was not sure from which movie or show this one is from but looked so beautiful so clicked a few pics of her. I and most pop culture fans would know Po from Kung Fu Panda and his dynamic pose is grabbing some attention… but he is steadily losing over years to other newer figures from anime world.
Though I am not a Dragonball Z fan, I know Goku… at least most of his looks. This store has a quite a few variants of Goku and they were available in multiple sizes pick. What was interesting in that sea of Goku is this Master Roshi on top of a turtle and doing a cool pose.
I keep seeing this green dragon in lot of anime stores now a days and figured who it is… its is called “Shenron And Son Goku” from DBZ and this time this is available in every size possible, this one you see here is a over foot tall earring a price tag of 2,500. There was one other smaller version and there was a bigger version I saw somewhere here.
Apart from these they have figurines for everyone, with a small budget to big wallet. I loved these characters but not going open my wallet for non Marvel/DC yet! But guard is slowly coming down as with every passing year these anime figures are becoming more and more appetising.
This is store kind of lost because of its location disadvantage… Yes this is located right next to the stage but facing outward, so most fans would have missed including me. Well I almost missed till I decided to take a leak! This store had a variety of stuff from diecast cars to anime figures.
In a sea of anime figures I found some crazily detailed Ironspider with his tentacles out. There were few distinct posed ironspider all of them are very dynamic and their bases are just impossible to ignore. The paintwork on the base is far nicer than the original figure itself.
There also was a Black Panther, in his typical pose but he is kind of in stealth mode as he is over shadowed by bright colored anime figures. Talking of anime figures this store some of the coolest figures and statues all at a decent price.
There are a lot of figures and statues to admire and take home from this stall, few are very unique like this guy in a armchair with a massive sword and beautiful outfit. I have never seen this in any stores so far so I clicked few pics of him. The other DBZ figures is also a nice action scene capture so I decided shed some light.
The back wall of this store is loaded with big scale statues mostly from anime world! What I like the most is their base and poses that are just out of this world. Hope someday DC and Marvel will step up their statue game and challenge these anime statues which are a world apart.
I was a lost soul in events like ComicCon as my only purpose is to have fun and this year, with so many toy store to explore and equipped with 40mm macro lens on my Nikon Z30, I was have too much fun. So some photos I clicked, I couldn’t back track it so dropped them here as these figures are too good to be a back benchers.
ComicCon over time started attracting more and more kid so the toy stall also cater to them as well… This year this is one of the coolest toy that both kids and adults can enjoy equally. The beds are a separate piece and characters are a separate piece making them playable as well.
Finally this Deadpool was one that my daughter wanted but this is not a for sale item but you need to enter into enrolling and pick a chit to win this or few other cool toys… This is new but I don’t believe in luck so I skipped it and started my hunt for the figure online! Overall this version one Bangalore ComicCon is definitely a worthy one for the entry fee of 1k and for me I travelled 500kms for this day and that is well worth it. Hope you liked my coverage, till next time… Ciao.
