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Last week I talked about the new VS Series of PVCs with thematically matching bases, but that’s not all the Marvel Gallery goodness that Diamond Select Toys had to show off at New York Toy Fair 2020! Alongside the new Marvel Gallery Agent Venom and Rocket Raccoon statues that launched Toy Fair week, there were an additional half-dozen new traditional PVC statues shown– including a new Spider-Gwen, Storm, Taskmaster, Bishop, Nova and more!
Diamond Select Toys never, ever lets me down at NY Toy Fair, and this year’s event was another show where they managed to blow my mind with an expansive showing of never-before-seen Marvel figures and collectibles.
I’ve already discussed the new Marvel Gallery VS series of figures, and I’ll discuss the Animated Mini Busts, Premier Collection Resin statues and Minimates this week. But for now, let’s check out the latest additions to the ever-popular PVC Gallery statue line…
Let me start off by talking about the two pieces that are actually up for order already, as I didn’t have the opportunity to do so when they were solicited during Toy Fair itself.
First up, we’ve got the Marvel Gallery Agent Venom statue. Flash Thompson is my favorite iteration of the character by a humongous margin, so I am completely thrilled to see him getting some more love in figure form despite his untimely death in the comics at the end of Dan Slott’s run.
I love the contrast between the smooth main torso on Agent Venmo’s body and the heavily textured limbs–it looks terrific. I’m also cool with the museum pose for this, as the Koto Agent Venom from a few years back was really dynamic. This was an instantaneous pre-order for me, and easily one of my favorite reveals from all of Toy Fair.
The one new MCU movie Gallery at the show was the Avengers Endgame Rocket Raccoon, which is the smallest and cheapest Marvel Gallery figure ever done in the line. He’s standing on an Asgardian-themed base and, well… that’s about it. I love Rocket and this is cheap and looks nice, so this is a ‘buy’ for me.
There were two new additions for X-Men fans, and both of them are ones likely to be met with wide-open arms. First, we get a rare piece of merch for Bishop, the time-displaced 90s X-Men member who’s carved out a healthy fan following and place for himself in the comics to this day.
Bishop is a character that generally doesn’t get the statue treatment (in fact, his only resin statue to-date was by Bowen Designs many years ago), so I’m tickled to see a cool Marvel Gallery Bishop PVC greenlit for this year. The pose and design with the Sentinel hand base are great–this really puts the Kotobukiya PVC from last year to shame.
Marvel Gallery Storm also had her DST statue premiere appearance at NYTF, and she’s sure to be a best-seller in her iconic first appearance black costume. I would’ve liked something flashy like some lightning effects, but this is still a nice, elegant piece with Ororo hovering above a wind storm.
Although no Black Widow movie products were displayed by DST at Toy Fair (the Marvel Select Taskmaster wasn’t fully approved to be shown just yet), an unexpected comic book Taskmaster Gallery statue did appear displayed at the show. He’s as classic as you remember him and not in his movie Power Ranger-looking outfit, which is actually my preference for this character.
The dynamic pose with bullets reflecting off his shield and cape flowing at his side looks solid, and I think this is a nice piece overall. Good timing by Diamond Select Toys with this one.
Marvel Gallery Nova was definitely the most surprising piece that I saw in the new lineup, as we don’t generally get many comic book-based cosmic characters in the series. This is the classic Richard Rider Nova, hovering above the ground via a translucent effects piece. I’m more of an Annihilation Nova kind of guy, but the levitating effect here looks really cool–I’ll take it.
I also wasn’t expecting to see a new Ghost Spider (Spider-Gwen), but I am thrilled to see Gwen getting revisited here! Her original PVC was one of the first in the Marvel Gallery line, and I just don’t think it holds up anymore to the current high standards. This hand-standing dynamic pose is just awesome–love this, as it’s wholly different from anything else we’ve seen in the series.
Comic book Spider-Man also gets a revisit with a wrinkle–the base will have a slot on the back so that you can actually affix it to your wall and have Spidey flying out of an explosion mounted on your wall! I dig seeing these kinds of innovations in the line, although I’m not entirely sold on the design here of pumpkin bombs flying out from all sides of Spidey. This is my least favorite of the new reveals (although I love the mounting innovation).
These Marvel Gallery PVC statues will all be available for order online in the coming months, with Rocket and Agent Venom currently up for PO and the rest following soon. All of the ones shown at Toy Fair 2020 are scheduled for a release this year (although who knows if the Coronavirus outbreak might back that estimate up a bit or not).
As Diamond Select Toys enter into what looks like another big year for the Marvel Gallery statues line, where do you stand? Is there anything in this year’s announced offerings you’re really excited about, or are you starting to burn out on these PVC figures?