Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9’s regular round up of the coolest toys around on the internet. This week: Star Trek’s 1/6 figure line goes to Deep Space Nine, the hottest anime of the season gets a hot new figure, and sit back and relax Pokémon style. Check it out!
EXO-6 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Quark Sixth-Scale Figure
The latest addition to EXO-6’s Star Trek line tackles its first major alien addition to the series: Deep Space Nine’s beloved, irascible Ferengi bar manager, Quark. Aside from a host of alternate hands, Quark naturally comes with a few bars of gold-pressed latinum to add to his coffers, a Ferengi-style PADD device, and even a book of the rules of acquisition. He’s set to release in autumn 2023, and will cost around $215. No haggling! [TNI]
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Pokémon Slowpoke Armchair
With a large chunk of the 1,000+ Pokémon creatures being amorphous blobs, we’ve seen quite a few of them mish-mashed into furniture pieces, including Slowpoke who’s now a beanbag arm chair that looks like a comfy place to plop down and let life slow down. Inside the pink polyester sack is nothing but polystyrene beads which means that over time Slowpoke’s shape is probably going to shift and change, possibly looking nothing like an arm chair eventually. We’ve got nothing against bean bag chairs, but dropping $200 on one is a tough sell. Ikea’s cheap furniture might not last forever, but at least a chair will always look like a chair.
S.H. Figuarts Chainsaw Man
Bandai is also hopping aboard one of the biggest anime of the season with its own figure of the titular devil hunting fiend. Unlike Figma’s recent reveal, the Figuarts Chainsaw Man is strictly that—no parts to swap him between Denji and Chainsaw forms. What you get instead is alternative hand parts to have Denji with closed fists or splayed out and ready to carve, an alternate tie posed to look like it’s fluttering in the air, and an alternative lower jaw to display Chainsaw Man either with an open or closed mouth. The figure will cost around $50 when it releases in Japan next April—but good luck finding pre-orders still available for it. [AmiAmi]
Blitzway Kurt Cobain Sixth-Scale Figure
Action figure makers tend to stick to fictional characters, but many real-life personalities have had just as much an impact on their fan bases. So while we’re used to seeing Marvel heroes or DC villains painstakingly recreated as detailed and lifelike 12-inch collectibles, Blitzway has given musician and alt-rock icon Kurt Cobain the same treatment. The worn sweater and torn jeans are a perfect recreation of Cobain’s iconic look, while Blitzway has created a pair of swappable head sculpts inspired by Cobain’s performances. The $319 figure, expected to be available sometime in the second quarter of 2023, also comes with all the accessories needed for posing the figure as if it was performing, including stage gear and an electric guitar.
Rubik’s Phantom
The secret to the Rubik’s Cube’s enduring success is a simple design that will continue to make it a challenge to puzzle solvers for generations to come. It doesn’t get any easier to solve with age. But that’s not stopping companies from coming up variations to increase the challenge, like a Rubik’s Cube with tiles that change color as you move it around. The Rubik’s Phantom’s twist is tiles printed with thermochromic ink that all look black until heat from the solver’s fingers causes them to change color, revealing how the cube is scrambled. It’s diabolical, and for $15, a solid gift for that one family member who’s convinced they’re a genius.
