A Daily Digest Of Useless Trivia

Figure of the Day has updated once again! The daily feature on figures you might have but might not-- either way, here's what you've been missing! Spanning from the original Power of the Force series of 1995 to the latest of The Legacy Collection, it's almost like a history lesson!

The biggest playset in nearly two decades for G.I. Joe is now down to $20. $20! Toys R Us has the Pit down to $19.99 which is nothing short of insane. We bought two. One for the week, one for the weekends. The reviews on this item are largely mixed due to cardboard elements in its construction, but dude, $20.

While print may be dead, USA Today got a great story about the new Back to the Future game from the always delightful Telltale Games. Highlights: Christopher Lloyd is Doc Brown, Bob Gale is somehow involved, and Marty McFly is present. Good enough for us! The game will hit PSN, XBLA, and the PC.

Xbox 360 owners, it's time to look into Dead Rising 2: Case Zero, is the prologue to the game coming later. This cheapo intro is $5/400 points.

The great TVshowsondvd.com has a Shout! Factory press release and photo of MST3KXIX with a picture of the Gypsy figure. If you love Mystery Science Theater 3000, it's worth a look.

Figure of the Day has updated once again! The daily feature on figures you might have but might not-- either way, here's what you've been missing! Spanning from the original Power of the Force series of 1995 to the latest of The Legacy Collection, it's almost like a history lesson!

Series II of the LEGO Minifigures are out-- which is nice, but to be expected. Your local LEGO shop or Toys "R" Us should have these, and prices are slowly creeping up-- expect to pay $2.99 now. More exciting: this custom David Lee Roth made from existing figure parts. How awesome? SO AWESOME.

While not a member of the Zenevas combat team, this swell Die-Cast Metal Liger Zoids Figure is freaking pricey at about $200. With 24 moving parts, if this summary is right, it's 44cm-- or in real measurements, that's about 20-inches. Wow. Nice.

Is it true? Or is it crazy speculation? We don't know but TFW2005 has a report of a rumor that the upcoming Masterpiece Rodimus/Hot Rod from Japan may see a US release minus his "Prime" trailer, which would be, of course, very disappointing if true. The rumor also says he may include a Targetmaster buddy-- which is much less disappointing if true. What's the deal? Read the article... and prepare to wait for news.

New to download this week: Castle Crashers for $14.99 and Sam And Max Episode 5: The City That Dares Not Sleep for subscribers of that game. Castle Crashers is somewhat legendary on Xbox 360, so yeah, why not buy it?

New to download this week: Valkyria Chronicles 2 for $39.99. Sony says "The epic RPG continues as Gallia erupts in civil war against a Rebel army plotting to overthrow the countryıs regime." Sounds like a time.

Figure of the Day has updated once again! The daily feature on figures you might have but might not-- either way, here's what you've been missing! Spanning from the original Power of the Force series of 1995 to the latest of The Legacy Collection, it's almost like a history lesson!

From creator Jackson Publick's LiveJournal, this exciting post is swimming in episode titles for the next season of The Venture Bros. which starts airing in about two weeks and change. Our favorite is "Every Which Way But Zeus."

A Japanese site Akihabara News has word on a new Darius game, complete with blurry spy photos. Awesome! Darius Burst: Another Chronicle should be hitting Japanese arcades by the end of this year. And probably never in the USA, because they hate us.

Chunklet's new book, The Indie Cred Test, is looking for funds to publish its new book-- but they're offering a book or other goodies in exchange for a few bucks. Sensible. Chunklet puts out great stuff so we suggest you check it out.

This week's WiiWare offerings are Tales of Elastic Boy - Mission 1 for $6/600 points, which uh, apparently is it. So one game.

This week's batch: Cosmos X2, Music on: Learning Piano, and myNotebook: Pearl. Each is $2/200 points-$5/500 points.

Galactic Hunter has posted a new Q&A column this week! Be sure to click through and read up on the latest! Also, be sure to send in your questions for next week's thrilling update.

A ton-- and we mean ton-- of new Japanese Transformers were revealed at Japan's C3X Hobby Show last weekend. As usual, they look different (and arguably better) than their US counterparts. Seaspray is now yellow rather than bronze/gold, and most movie characters seem closer to their inspiration. Hubcap looks pretty much the same though, so no worries there.

While we prefer to present you with official products you can buy rather than hypothetical ones you can pine over, this G.I. Joe-based S.P.H.I.N.X. Trooper was too cool to keep secret. Check it out-- and YO.S.I.!

Typically we present material for music nerds, this is, arguably, music for nerds. Electronic group Freezepop has a preview track up from its next album. "Imaginary Friends" hits November 9, and a tour starts here in Arizona in September. So, like the Stan Ridgway show last weekend, we can expect the band to get drunk and forget its lyrics, making for an arguably superior show. (We love you, Stan.) The track "Magnetic" may be downloaded in exchange for a valid email address.

Because you've asked for it, we added a Pursuit of Cobra Checklist with all of the confirmed items for 2010 and 2011 that we did not forget (so far). There are 8 more figures and 8 more vehicles (with figures) as of yet unreleased.

Figure of the Day has updated once again! The daily feature on figures you might have but might not-- either way, here's what you've been missing! Spanning from the original Power of the Force series of 1995 to the latest of The Legacy Collection, it's almost like a history lesson!

The Legends Revenge of the Fallen Transformers Legends-class Devastator has been repainted in green and shipped to a US Toys "R" Us near you. The Japanese issue is pictured, the US one is in slightly different colors. Good hunting!

Ask the teacher for more homework, put on that dorky sweater your mom wants, and then be the subject of the headline Man Raises Concerns Over 'Serial Killer' Doll from a recent news story in Ohio. The crux of it: he doesn't like seeing Dexter at Toys "R" Us-- given that Toys "R" Us carries a number of adult-friendly action figure lines, particularly from NECA and McFarlane Toys, this is sort of surprising given the nature of so much of the stuff they sell.

A few sites linked to this site we've never heard of. Abang.com has an awesome in- and out-of-box gallery of the Cobra Ice Cutter that reveals things like big moving guns and a giant rear wheel, plus a roomy interior for one of your favorite small plastic terrorists from Cobra. We don't think we'd mind seeing swamp-themed repaints, either.

Did you know there were a lot of strange casting possibilities for Star Trek: The Next Generation? Over at Trekmovie.com is an amazing internal memo from Paramount with some weird choices. Wesley Snipes for Geordi LaForge? Rosalind Chao for Tasha Yar? Logan's Run's Jenny Augutter as Dr. Crusher? And Fun House's own J.D. Roth as Wesley Crusher? You gotta read this.

In what may be inside baseball for you (but is our "day job" to us), our friends (ourselves) at Entertainment Earth have a revised case for DC Universe Wave 15 meaning that the first two cases will not be produced. This revised mix has fewer total figures, but stores (or you) will get the entire assortment of characters (variants not guaranteed) in a single box, rather than spreading it across two with added repacks of Batman, Superman, and so forth. So yeah, if you collect all the figures, this may be a good bet for you-- or a sign that all figures should be of roughly equal rarity, except Martian Manhunter (and/or his variant) whose ratios were not disclosed.

Apparently NCS continues to have all the big news. A Japanese import SA-77 Lancer Model Kit from Silpheed is coming for $60 later this year. It's about 10-inches long and will likely be a whole lot more expensive in 1-2 years, so if you're a Sega-CD or Mega-CD fan, and you know what this is, you might want to grab one.

Figure of the Day has updated once again! The daily feature on figures you might have but might not-- either way, here's what you've been missing! Spanning from the original Power of the Force series of 1995 to the latest of The Legacy Collection, it's almost like a history lesson!

The famous (almost) Rhino Handmade label will be releasing Comedy For Gracious Living by The State which, as of a few months ago, was talked up as a lost artifact that you may as well go pirate-- and now they're releasing it. Having heard it, it's a sort of a slog-- but fans of the show may enjoy it. It will be $19.98 and according to the site, likely exclusive to online sales. (Although we have seen Rhino Handmade CDs pop up in new bins at better record stores.)

The always delightful Souther Shelter posted the complete Mission of Burma show from August 18 at the 40 Watt in Atlanta. You know you need to download this-- after all, it has "Max Ernst" on it, which you may as well hear here if you haven't already.

Xbox 360 owners, it's time to look into Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, which is the same game that was on PSN a few weeks ago. This 8-bit inspired beat-'em-up is $10/800 points.

While we are too old to enjoy the license, we can appreciate that you can buy these two very expensive YuGiOh! dragons at $770 each if you are so inclined. They're from the Good Smile Company, are pretty huge, and will probably not be bought by you or anyone you know.

Figure of the Day has updated once again! The daily feature on figures you might have but might not-- either way, here's what you've been missing! Spanning from the original Power of the Force series of 1995 to the latest of The Legacy Collection, it's almost like a history lesson!

Since they so rarely come up we thought we'd share this auction for a carded Pimp Destro which recently ended for $2,500. There are thought to be about 100 known authentic packaged samples of this set.

One of our favorite (virtually) ignored 1980s toy lines is M.A.S.K., so we were quite taken with this Cobra Steel Crusher to M.A.S.K. Jackhammer Sticker Kit which sells for $10. While hardly cheap, it's a very creative enterprise and showcases a great way to repurpose some of the more civilian molds in the G.I. Joe line. Here's hoping to see more!

In the ever-expanding lineup of awesome licenses in Revoltech, now you can see Lupin III which will sell for a pretty reasonable $30 or so. With the articulation and accessories, it's probably well worth the asking price.

New to download this week: Shank for $14.99 and Press Your Luck for $9.99. Game show fans are aware of the latter, but what is the former? Sony says: "Betrayed and left for dead by the only family he ever knew, Shank is back to get revenge on the underworldıs deadliest assassins for killing his beloved. Armed with his knowledge of gang warfare and weaponry, Shank must battle his way through the criminal underground to destroy those who brought his world crashing down around him."

New to download this week: Zuma for $9.99. The now-classic Popcap Games puzzler involves a frog statue spitting marbles at other marbles-- it's a ton of fun. Well worth a look.

Have you ever wondered if a fan would re-create a product catalog show in their own home? A Mego Museum user did, showing off the new Mego-esque figures sold at Entertainment Earth on a recent catalog cover. The shot incorporates a mix of Mattel and Bif Bang Pow! product.

Figure of the Day has updated once again! The daily feature on figures you might have but might not-- either way, here's what you've been missing! Spanning from the original Power of the Force series of 1995 to the latest of The Legacy Collection, it's almost like a history lesson!

A Japanese site Rakuten has posted a new wave of Kabaya Transformers toys, this time focusing on existing toy designs that aren't named Convoy. Ultra Magnus may be based on his recent Titanium design, while Prowl and Jetfire are both clearly modeled after their 2008 and 2007 releases, respectively.

The supposedly final Sun City Girls album, Funeral Mariachi, will be hitting on vinyl and presumably lesser formats at the end of September. Just a heads-up for those of you who actually know who they are.

This week's WiiWare offerings are And Yet It Moves for $1/1000 points, which is described as stylish and as a platformer.

This week's batch: Rytmik, G.G. Series Ninja Karakuri Den, My Farm, and Absolute Reversi. Each is $2/200 points-$8/800 points.

As reported last week, we have also now found the second wave of Pursuit of Cobra locally-- we snagged a Jungle Viper and Destro, but also noticed Snake Eyes, Dusty, Recondo, and Zartan. Check your local stores for the latest, or else!

Galactic Hunter has posted a new Q&A column this week! Be sure to click through and read up on the latest! Also, be sure to send in your questions for next week's thrilling update.

A look at the first wave of 2011 packaged Pursuit of Cobra figures has been found, and you can see Duke, Storm Shadow, Snake Eyes, and the Cobra Shock Trooper at ACToys.net.

Despite being pronounced dead about 10 years ago, it seems that Redspot games will continue publishing for the console. Sure, they're low-run games released to other platforms, btu in this Joystiq story you can see why they keep doing what they're doing. Sort of.

A new If you can't wait for 2011 (or 2012), Klickywelt has a preview of tons of new 2011 sets including Specials, newly molded horses, and Super Sets. If you're crazy about horses, it seems they're going for that sub-Breyer horse customer. Most notable, though, is a Samurai figure in the Specials line. We approve. Despite rumors, there don't appear to be any new Western theme sets aside from a Specials figure just yet.

Figure of the Day has updated once again! The daily feature on figures you might have but might not-- either way, here's what you've been missing! Spanning from the original Power of the Force series of 1995 to the latest of The Legacy Collection, it's almost like a history lesson!

Did you hear about the new exclusive Million Publishing Elite Guard Optimus Prime from Japan? If you buy the book, you get a chance to buy the toy, but you need to live in Japan-- or have some good friends. Good luck, completeists.

Toys "R" Us retail stores and people on eBay are getting in the new $6.99 Playmobil Jumbo Blister Cards. We saw both at lunch yesterday. 5900 includes two pirates, a rowboat, and an adorable little orange octopus with black eyes-- quite unusual for Playmobil as the eyes are typically in very bright colors. 5909 focuses on Dragon Knights with a horse, two figures, and the satisfaction of my not buying it at $6.99.

Konami told us the 3D Castlevania game that didn't start life as a Castlevania game will hit shelves on October 5. It will be on both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 consoles.