Toy Fair

A proper Mario figure is something Nintendo fans have been waiting to own for quite some time. Previous attempts have been average at best, even though there have been plastic Marios populating toy stores for decades. Enter Bandai's S.H. Figuarts, and what could be the best Mario action figure ever made.

McFarlane Toys might have been best known for its sports and Spawn figures before Halo 3 came out, but with the acquisition of Microsoft's flagship franchise, the company exploded into the gaming scene. Now, McFarlane reps Halo to an insane degree and has expanded to a successful partnership with Ubisoft and the Assassin's Creed franchise.

When it comes to action figures, few companies are as consistent and reliable when it comes to both quality of the figure and the quality of the license. NECA has been steadily maintaining one of the most impressive streaks in both categories for years, and this year's offerings at Toy Fair were no exception.

We've always been big fans of Kotobukiya, and couldn't pass up an opportunity to see what the Japanese collectible-maker had in the works at Toy Fair. Though the company has always had a fairly diverse line-up, 2014 is shaping up to cover more franchises and licenses than we've seen in previous years.

Though video game licenses aren't where ThreeA built its brand, that's certainly where some of the company's most impressive collectibles have come from. Originally started as a joint collaboration between Kim Fung Wong and Ashley Wood, ThreeA has expanded from publishing and manufacturing high-end books and figures based on Wood's designs into the likes of Metal Gear Solid, Portal 2, Halo and more. At Toy Fair this year, ThreeA had a host of massive creations on display, each of which is more impressive than the last.

It seems like Square Enix has been making collectibles and action figures for video games for almost as long as its been developing the games themselves. This year at Toy Fair, the manufacturing side of Square showed off a bunch of cool new additions to existing lines, including all-new Play Arts Kai figures for Batman: Arkham Origins, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and surprisingly, Titanfall.

Good Smile has long been a favorite of collectible importers here in the States. The company's line of Nendodroids and Figmas are among some of the most desirable at specialty shops, and Good Smile's penchant for dipping into obscure properties (at least in the U.S.) has always made devout fans happy. However, this year, Good Smile is continuing its trend of bringing big time properties to life with new additions from Nintendo and Konami.

DC Comics has been no stranger to the video game crowd of late, what with the wildly successful Batman: Arkham franchise and the upcoming MOBA Infinite Crisis adding new characters left and right. It was no surprise then to find DC Collectibles hosting a handful of new figures based on the company's most recent video game efforts at Toy Fair.

You could barely turn a corner at Toy Fair 2014 without running into someone presenting some new form of video game merchandise. One of the surprise reveals at the show though happened to be Diamond's new Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare line.

Street Fighter just never seems to go out of style. That said, few companies have been able to sustain similar success to the video game with a toy franchise. Since NECA's attempt to revitalize the line SOTA abandoned in 2009, there hasn't been much in the way of Capcom-related combat sports figures. That's something Capo Toys hopes to rectify in 2014.