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Salamander on MiSTer
October 29, 2024 |
Review: Hasbro Transformers Legacy United Star Raider Lockdown
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Something new every day-- unless it's old! Our exciting Figure of the Day continues for you lucky people! Is there anything we won't cover in this column? Probably not!
Walmart exclusive! Good luck finding Hasbro Transformers Legacy United Star Raider Lockdown. It's really cool and I haven't seen it in a Walmart at all since the first couple of sightings - I hope more ship to stores for the holidays. As a retool of Scraphook, it's surprisingly excellent - but short. Read on!
--AP
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Ad: New Hasbro Transformers, Star Wars, and Marvel at Entertainment Earth
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Ad: Pre-order the new Star Wars The Black Series Savage Opress Deluxe 6-Inch Action Figure! And a lot more - like the Star Wars The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figures Wave 22 Case of 8, Transformers Studio Series Voyager Class Transformers: The Movie Constructicon Scrapper, and Transformers Studio Series Deluxe Class Transformers: The Movie Bonecrusher Action Figure.
Also don't miss the Huge Trick or Treat Sale at Entertainment Earth! Over 300 items are on sale, and there's a free shipping offer, too!
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New 2026 NES RPG Looks 16-Bit
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Via Kickstarter: Former Dawn | Grand Sci-Fi RPG for NES & PC. I saw this one on my inbox and I was impressed by big sprites and 16-bit style combat screens on the original 8-bit NES. If you remember a day when RPGs cost a lot more, that era is still here - the ROM/Steam Key tier is a whopping $40 with the lowest bare cartridge tier is $79 for Famicom and $80 for NES, with a boxed cartridge at $144/$145, making this the most expensive 8-bit cartridge crowdfund I've seen yet. The ETA is a pretty realistic December 2026 - that's over two years away - and it looks like it will be gorgeous.
The animation on their page looks absolutely stupendous, and I'll probably pick it up after it comes out. It's so ambitious, with expansion audio and its own memory mapper, that I absolutely want to be sure it's functioning before plunking down the premium money for what looks like the most impressive NES title ever. There's a music preview too and it seems unreal for an NES game. It even has FMV. Even if you have no interest in pledging, you should check out the video and audio previews because if this takes off, we could be in for a new era and a higher bar in what we can expect from homebrew games.
--AP
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Nintendo World Championships: Week 16
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Via Nintendo: Competition #16 is on now in Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition. It's heavy on Kirby this time.
This week:
Spa Treatment (Kid Icarus) - in which you take a bath and run.
Loose Change (Super Mario Bros.) - in which you get some shined nickels and loose change.
Arctic Ascent (Ice Climber) - in which you climb 5 levels.
New Heights (Kirby's Adventure) - in which you hi-jump to the cloud boss Kracko.
Meta Knight Sword Fight (Kirby's Adventure) - in which you enjoy a brief sword fight.
Last week was a relative breeze. This one wasn't so bad, or at least, it was pretty easy to get the trophies on Monday after work.
--AP
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RIP Jeri Taylor
October 28, 2024 |
Star Wars Q&A at Galactic Hunter
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Galactic Hunter has posted Q&A: Star Wars News, Pricing, and Changes For the Future. It's new! Be sure to click through and read up on the latest!
Be sure to send in your questions for the next thrilling update! We now have one for next week.
--AP
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New Illinois Toys R Us Has Opened Already
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Via my pal Shaun: He went to the new Toys R Us! It's at Harlem Irving Plaza, 4104 North Harlem Avenue in Norridge, Illinois. What's the deal? Well, it's small - at 10,000 square feet, it's a little bigger than a Five Below. The old-school Toys R Us stores started at 30,000 feet and were often larger.
The new store does indeed include Hasbro action figures, Doctor Who Sonic Screwdrivers, Tranformers, Funko Pop! Vinyl figures, Hot Wheels, Care Bears, and more. Of note, the Hot Wheels are $2.99 ($1.25 is more or less standard), and Star Wars: The Black Series figures are $32.99, which is more than the typical $24.99. Funko Pop! figures started at $14.99, which is more than the typical $12 these days. This makes it a little more expensive than the kind of mark-ups we saw at Kay-Bee Toys back in the day.
Are you missing out on something great? It remains to be seen - Toys R Us is now an upstart challenger who has ceded their entire brand cachet to a generation of children since the store vanished in 2018. It doesn't have the clout for its own exclusives, but my eagle-eyed pal noticed Walmart exclusive plush Care Bears among the hundreds of products at the new store. The old store you remember is gone (and so are many of the brands and toys), but these things start small and have the potential to grow. If they can get a few hundred stores together we might see better pricing and exclusive products, but that is probably years away - and if they don't get bikes and video games or other childhood staples, they may struggle to find relevancy in a world where character toys have become character collectibles and that trend could end at any time.
This store joins a few others - and some in airports, as well as those sections in Macy's (which are run by Macy's with TRU branding) so the name is still out there, but it certainly could use some growth.
--AP
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Sven Squad PVC Figures, Record, Other Svengoolie Stuff
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Via the MeTV Mall: Svengoolie 45th Anniversary Collector's Box. It has a PVC set with the current roster of ghost hosts, a mug, a card, a record, and "six secret items" of some sort. It's $99.79, and as far as I know this is the first/only figural representation of the Sven Squad characters.
The Mads Are Back Halloween Special: The Giant Gila Monster tomorrow.
--AP
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Classic Review: Funko Universal Monsters The Invisible Man ReAction Figure
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Something new every day-- but this was posted 10 years ago today! Our exciting Figure of the Day continues for you lucky people! Is there anything we won't cover in this column? Probably not!
Posted 10 years ago! The Funko Universal Monsters The Invisible Man ReAction Figure was one of the better figures in that range, and the Universal Monsters ones were the best in the initial bunch. For ten bucks you got a decent figure on a decent package - Super7's revised sculpts a few years later were even better, but the Invisible Man is actually pretty great in the Funko era too. Do read on, and come back tomorrow for more fun!
--AP
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Support 16bit.com and Galactic Hunter via Patreon
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We're taking donations for server costs! Really. One of the rewards is Q&A a few days early - you can read next Monday's installment as soon as it's ready, which can be as early as 1:00 AM my time on Monday!
Become a Patron!
If you've got a dollar a month to share, please Visit the Galactic Hunter Patreon and help cover our server costs. I'll still put in hours of work, writing, photography, and research - I just need some help making sure that the site costs me only time, and hopefully not money. Thanks for your support!
--AP
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Lower Decks Final Season Started This Week
October 25, 2024 |
Star Wars Review: The Mandalorian (Arvala-7, The Vintage Collection)
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Via the Star Wars Galactic Hunter Figure of the Day Blog: The Mandalorian (Arvala-7, The Vintage Collection) . This figure is shipping now and possibly in stock online - I haven't seen him in stores yet. He has a Beskar pauldron and revised hip joints, plus a different paint job compared to the 2020 figure. It's the kind of thing you probably expected back in 2019, but at least you can get it now and it's worth it. Read the whole review.
--AP
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New Godzilla x Moo Deng Pin
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Via my pal Kerry linking me to Juggling Dino Art: Moo Deng X Godzilla Enamel Pin Preorder. It's cute! As far as I know there are no plans for anybody out there to do sofubi figures, but after seeing these I'm really hoping we might see a few.
--AP
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Ad: MOTU and Transformers In Stock (For Now) at Entertainment Earth
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Ad: In stock now - and they ship free with orders of $39+! Get Transformers Legacy United Deluxe Class Cyberverse Universe Slipstream, Transformers Toys Studio Series Core Transformers: Bumblebee Concept Art Frenzy, Masters of the Universe Orgins Filmation Cartoon Collection Ram Man Action Figure, and lots of other goodies while supplies last.
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Nintendo Switch This Week
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This week's batch of titles on the eShop: Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven, SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS, Arcade Archives VIOLENCE FIGHT, and over a dozen more.
--AP
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The Quarterly Payroll Reduction
October 24, 2024 |
Review: Mattel Masters of the Universe Origins x Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Turtles of Grayskull Michelangelo Action Figure
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Something new every day-- unless it's old! Our exciting Figure of the Day continues for you lucky people! Is there anything we won't cover in this column? Probably not!
New and maybe in a store near you! The Mattel Masters of the Universe Origins x Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Turtles of Grayskull Michelangelo Action Figure proves you can follow a formula without getting boring. Mikey has a removable wig in addition to "real" plastic chain nunchucks, which are really satisfying to fuss with. You get your money's worth here. Do read on, and come back tomorrow for more fun!
--AP
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Hasbro Cuts Around 100 Employees
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Via The Toy Book: Exclusive: Hasbro Continues Organizational Changes to Fuel Growth, Innovation. According to the article, "fewer than 100 employees will be affected by a workforce reduction" and throughout the day I managed to get a handful of names - but for their privacy, keep an eye on their socials if they are inclined to share.
Of interest, the changes "should increase speed-to-market by trimming at least three months from the [product development] process" and "empowering teams to make decisions quickly and to 'design to value' (design with price in mind) from the start." Considering the skyrocketing prices on product - courtesy of complexity which comes from satisfying increasingly lofty demands from adult fans - some leveling off might be good for some product lines. They posted a lot of notes for the new org chart too, but you probably have less of an idea of who those folks are than I do and it isn't like the names listed were people you'd recognize from the fan-facing parts of Hasbro.
At this time none of us have any idea how this will impact any specific toys, but if you're looking to hire some industry veterans it might be a good time.
--AP
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Ad: New Star Wars from Hasbro at Entertainment Earth
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Ad: Pre-order Star Wars The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch Dr. Evazan Action Figure if you missed him last time, or a ew Star Wars The Vintage Collection 3 3/4-Inch Snowtrooper Action Figure, or other amazing action figures today!
Also check out new arrivals, like the Star Wars The Vintage Collection Blurrg & The Mandalorian 3 3/4-Inch Scale Action Figure Set - in-stock now and it ships for free!
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An Ostrich Feather Fad
October 23, 2024 |
Star Wars Review: Blurrg (The Vintage Collection)
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Via the Star Wars Galactic Hunter Figure of the Day Blog: Blurrg (The Vintage Collection). This is a pretty exciting toy, in no small part because it feels new. There was one in Mission Fleet but this is the first-ever 3 3/4-inch scale Blurrg. This one is from The Mandalorian, but you may remember it from The Clone Wars or Ewoks: The Battle for Endor. It's sturdy, the articulation is good for a creature of this nature, and the paint is excellent. If you can find one, you should probably pick one up as we've gotten virtually no new creatures (or vehicles) in recent years, and this one is really fun. While it does come with another Mando figure - and we'll look at him shortly - it was also retooled to work with the creature, so at least it's a little different. Read the whole review.
--AP
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Review: Mattel Hot Wheels Shoe Box
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Something new every day-- unless it's old! Our exciting Figure of the Day continues for you lucky people! Is there anything we won't cover in this column? Probably not!
Old! This Mattel Hot Wheels Shoe Box is another antique mall find from over 20 years ago - and it's from the era where Mattel would prefer to do its own thing over paying for a license, in this case it was pirates. You get a nifty pirate flag on top and some kind of corny pirate graphics on the side, but it's well done and arguably worth the price of admission. Do read on, and come back tomorrow for more fun!
--AP
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Toys R Us Making News, Your Childhood Still Over Forever
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Via WGN TV: ToysÒRÓUs opening new store at Harlem Irving Plaza. TRU Kids owns the brand name and has licensed it to Macy's for their toy department, a few airport toy shops, and (as far as can be told) a handful of stores that may be ran by the Go! Calendar people. While this is no doubt novel and hopefully the start of a trend, it's only 10,000 square feet - an average Toys R Us back in the day was about 30,000 square feet. The new Toys R Us does not have the market power to get awesome exclusives, and a lot of toy brands just aren't what they were back in 2018. Heck, today's 6 or 7 year old probably has very little concept of what Toys R Us is, and has certainly never shopped in one during its glory days.
While we have the branded Macy's toy departments here, so far I have not been to a stand-alone store since the spring 2018 closures. A chain with a handful of locations can't support exclusive products, and the current state of action toys (or indeed all toys) for kids isn't what it was a decade ago. I really hope it starts to come back in a big way, beyond seasonal shops or stores-within-a-store, but we had the same hopes for Kay-Bee and Circuit City. I generally prefer to take my disappointment up front and be pleasantly surprised if something truly special emerges from all of this.
--AP
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Ad: New Transformers and G.I. Joe at Entertainment Earth
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Ad: Pre-order new Transformers and G.I. Joe from Hasbro and other new exciting NYCC reveals! Transformers Studio Series 86 Leader Galvatron is a new recolor of the mold - but the opaque orange barrel and new shade of purple makes it look like a winner.
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Quake for England
October 22, 2024 |
Review: Hasbro Transformers Legacy United Star Raider Ferak
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Something new every day-- unless it's old! Our exciting Figure of the Day continues for you lucky people! Is there anything we won't cover in this column? Probably not!
In stores now - maybe! The Hasbro Transformers Legacy United Star Raider Ferak is a reworking of Cyclonus, which probably could have been a repaint and nobody would have complained. The wings have new cannons, plus he has a new head and chest - and you may not notice. This Walmart exclusive is the only one I've seen beyond the first week the line hit - the deluxe toys came and went immediately and as far as I can tell, none of the stores stocked the Leader-class set with Thundertron and his two sidekicks. Almost every Walmart in town had 2-3 Feraks when I wrote this, and I think I saw a grand total of one over the last week. Are there thousands of units waiting to come out to Ross later or did they blow through everything? Read on!
--AP
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Nintendo World Championships: Week 15
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Via Nintendo: Competition #15 is on now in Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition. This was probably the easiest time I've ever had getting the trophies, but man, that Balloon Fight one continues to be vexing.
This week:
Paratroopa Toppling (Super Mario Bros: Lost Levels) - in which you make sure you never will get into the Turtle Club.
Step It Up (Super Mario Bros) - in which you finish part of the first level.
Curtain Call: Morton (Super Mario Bros. 3) - in which Morton Koopa Jr. gets canceled.
Low-Key Hero (Zelda II: The Adventure of Link) - in which you find your keys.
Pop 'Em All (Balloon Fight) - in which you make very specialized videos for a very specific audience.
I had a much easier time with this batch of competitors, but it is Monday, and I assume a lot of people haven't logged their ghost competitors yet. So hey, go do that. Nintendo really seems to have cracked my attention span by engaging me roughly once a week for maybe 20-30 minutes on a single purchase, which is pretty great. Most NES games didn't keep me coming back for more remixed challenges once I saw the end credits, so if you ever get a chance to get this one on sale (while the weekly things are continuing) I'd recommend it. Still. I mean here I am, still writing about enjoying a game I paid for a few months ago.
--AP
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I Love My Records Alright and I'm Going to Play 'em
October 21, 2024 |
Star Wars Q&A at Galactic Hunter
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Galactic Hunter has posted Q&A: Star Wars Reveals, Licensing, and... Well You've Seen It. It's new! Be sure to click through and read up on the latest!
Be sure to send in your questions for the next thrilling update! We now have one for next week.
--AP
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Nacelle Star Trek Figures Revealed
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Via Trek Core: Nacelle Reveals First Eight STAR TREK Action Figures at NYCC... With Plenty of Character Surprises! It's a vast change from most lines in the past 20 years, which usually run out of gas after a couple of waves and start and end with some variation of Kirk, Spock, Picard, and Data. The first 8 are Captain Jellico (TNG, Prodigy), Peter Preston (TWOK), Valkris (Search for Spock), Captain Garret (TNG), Tuvix (Voyager), Mirror Archer (ENT), Weyoun (DS9), and Captain Sulu (The Undiscovered Country and/or VOY.) You probably don't have many of these in your collection yet - other companies have taken approaches like this to their other licenses, and sometimes it works, and sometimes the license ends before you ramp up to something resembling a "collection." These are 6-inch figures, so unless you were collecting the Diamond/Art Asylum figures, you might not have figures to go with these guys. They're too big to go with your Playmates collection(s)... but the prototypes look pretty excellent.
Many of Nacelle's figures are $35-$40, and some of their lines are even starting to get placement in Walmart. That's good! But Trek as a figural license has struggled to find its footing, with the most recent Playmates line hitting Ross stores on closeout for under five bucks recently. The second wave never made it out, and Super7's line of Ultimates came to a pretty swift end despite some fan-friendly (but not obscure) choices.
It's my hope that future licensed action figure lines that want to start an honest-to-goodness collection go this route, if only to say "we know, you've got Picard and Spock, here's something new so you don't have to buy the same figures again before we abandon the license." Nobody knows if the future of this line will include Redemption Datas or Mirror Spocks, but no matter what, it looks like we're getting Jeffrey Combs and that's enough for me to throw down a few bucks. The trick is to make enough units to make money, and that can be a challenge as some lines in the past couple of decades struggled to surpass the very low 1,701 units mark. Let's hope it takes off! There's certainly a lot of opportunity for mold reuse, and of course, requests for Jim Shimoda and Captain DeSoto figures.
--AP
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HasLab Ghostbusters Giant Ecto-1
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Via Hasbro Pulse: Ghostbusters Plasma Series Ectomobile (Anniversary Edition) is up and comes in a regular version or a version specific to the sequel. I assume they know you'll probably want to buy two to display it both ways, given the amount of stickers specific to the second movie.
The amount of extra figures you get at a $75 upcharge for the deluxe version is pretty decent, and it was over 25% funded on the first day. That's pretty great! As we went to press, it's 43% funded, which is a pretty good first weekend. There seem to be no added stretch goals this time around, as the two tiers pretty much give you, the fans, the option to pay for them or not.
--AP
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Classic Review: Schleich Dinosaurs Mammut (Mammoth) Figure
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Something new every day-- but this was posted 10 years ago today! Our exciting Figure of the Day continues for you lucky people! Is there anything we won't cover in this column? Probably not!
Posted 12 years ago today! The Schleich Dinosaurs Mammut (Mammoth) Figure is a toy I've had since I was a little kid, and it originally came out in 1982 - that's probably pretty close to when I got my hands on it. There's not a little paint but it gets the job done. It's cute, the tusks are molded in a separate color, and the only paint are its eyes - a far cry from the model-worthy toys Schleich makes today. It's also a fine example of where the toy industry has gone, impulse-buy price points like this have been cast aside in favor of fancy, nice toys that are north of $30. Which is better? I mean if I were a kid I'd probably want the coolest looking one, but in absence of an option, a mammoth is a mammoth and getting $2 is a lot easier than getting $30. Do read on, and come back tomorrow for more fun!
--AP
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Support 16bit.com and Galactic Hunter via Patreon
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We're taking donations for server costs! Really. One of the rewards is Q&A a few days early - you can read next Monday's installment as soon as it's ready, which can be as early as 1:00 AM my time on Monday!
Become a Patron!
If you've got a dollar a month to share, please Visit the Galactic Hunter Patreon and help cover our server costs. I'll still put in hours of work, writing, photography, and research - I just need some help making sure that the site costs me only time, and hopefully not money. Thanks for your support!
--AP
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Even That Vampire Magician Agrees
October 18, 2024 |
Star Wars Review: Osha Aniseya (The Vintage Collection)
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Via the Star Wars Galactic Hunter Figure of the Day Blog: Osha Aniseya (The Vintage Collection). She is showing up at Walmarts and online stores right now, so the good news is you can find her. The better news is that she's excellent - the face is good, the wig looks decent (better in person), her accessories are exactly what I want, the vest fits well, and the articulation is good. This is a shining example of Hasbro doing everything right for a new streaming series show, because it came out within two months of the series concluding - which is also pretty good for the modern era, but not good enough when fans do so much of their buying before the movies would hit theaters. If you skipped the show (and it looks like that is most of you), this is still a good figure. If you hated The Acolyte, it remains a very good figure. Read the whole review.
--AP
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Kickstarter Army Ant for TMNT Buffs
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Via Kickstarter: Army Ant and the Mutant Multiverse. As you can tell by the graphic design, this series of figures is inspired by the 1980s and 1990s Playmates Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figure line, which was good then and remains good today - you can get reissues at Target for around ten bucks. As those kids grow up they want more of what they loved as a kid and as Playmates hasn't done new retro figures, the fans are doing it and it looks like they're drafting Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures (the Archie Comics one) creative Ryan Brown as well as Jim Lawson and Dan Berger to design something for these new "Mutant Multiverse" and "Shadow Line" toy line series.
You really can't sugarcoat it, but the ant itself is $159. That's a lot. There's also a much cheaper (and really cool) hippo mutant named Inferno. Making figures isn't cheap and given the possibility of self-inflicted increasing costs to American customers in the coming months, the $49 hippo could even be closer to the new normal - but I digress. Low-run indie figures like these are something I want to see more often. We've seen what Star Wars, He-Man, and G.I. Joe kids do as they grow up but haven't seen as much from the era of TMNT and Power Rangers. With 28 days to go, it's over $49,000 of a $82,000 goal. That isn't at all bad for the first few days.
The $359 "all-in" pledge gets you three figures, a comic, and one of each stretch goal item - given how much it has raised so far, that might wind up being a decent deal if it gets up to six full-size figures and a bonus sidekick accessory figure at an estimated September 2025 delivery date. If they have the factory lined up, it doesn't seem too unrealistic. But you know how it is: be sure to cut any Kickstarter at least six months of slack.
Other unlocks include Grizz (bear), Sledgehog (hedgehog), El Lotl, plus comics, coins, and other goodies. There's a lot here, and hopefully this means there is more work to be done by these toy industry veterans before they retire and re-retire. While some of the Hasbro Joe team got to do some cool stuff, also Atari, some retro properties are too old with creators who can't do the work anymore for a variety of reasons, so for those who dig this sort of thing - check it out.
--AP
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Ad: Walmart Gets Shared Exclusive The Mandalorian Transformers Toy
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Ad: Pre-order Transformers Collaborative Star Wars: The Mandalorianª N-1 Starfighter, 7.5Ó Action Figure, 8+ at Walmart! Yes, this is an ad post, and if you click on it to pre-order the shared exclusive (sold out at Hasbro Pulse) for $54.99, I may get a cut of the sale. And if you click that link and don't order it, I might get a cut of some other sale. It's sized around the same height as most Voyager-class toys and is the first US-sold Star Wars x Transformers toy in over a decade. It's due around Valentine's Day, 2025.
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Nintendo Switch This Week
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This week's batch of titles on the eShop: Atari Recharged: Volume One, Atari Recharged: Volume Two , Castlevania Collections Bundle, Arcade Archives Power Spikes, Arcade Archives MOON SHUTTLE, and over a dozen more.
--AP
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Mystery Cheese Flavor
October 17, 2024 |
Review: Mattel Masters of the Universe Origins x Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Turtles of Grayskull Skeletor Action Figure
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Something new every day-- unless it's old! Our exciting Figure of the Day continues for you lucky people! Is there anything we won't cover in this column? Probably not!
Somewhat recent! The Mattel Masters of the Universe Origins x Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Turtles of Grayskull Skeletor Action Figure is a bit of a tease, but a nice figure. He's got a mutagen vial and some great ram skull kusarigama, plus a cape and some armor. And a comic. And for $20! But that green armor doesn't glow in the dark, despite appearances. That seems like a missed opportunity on an otherwise perfectly good figure. Do read on, and come back tomorrow for more fun!
--AP
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Ad: Scorponok Returns - at Entertainment Earth
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Ad: Pre-order Transformers Generations War for Cybertron Earthrise Titan Scorponok at Entertainment Earth! If you missed the last of the Scorponoks, the 2020 is here again with all the Titan Master headness and purple clawness (and free US shipping) you could want.
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Analogue Reveals Analogue 3D (N64)
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Via Analogue: The Future is
here. And by the future, they mean 1996 with their fancy Nintendo 64 clone console. At $249.99 it's not exactly far off from what we paid for the original, and it even looks a lot like the Nintendo one I have minus the feet. The controller is sold separately, but looks pretty good. But between the MiSTer core and my old working console, I may not need one of these. Pre-orders kick off October 21 at 8:00 AM Pacific, and it is estimated to ship in early 2025.
Perhaps far more useful, the Analogue store has the Pocket in stock, as well as the Duo, so anyone saying "they never have anything in stock"? Well, now is the time.
--AP
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Click Here for News from October!
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