Today at Galactic Hunter we look at a Vintage Original Trilogy Collection with potential-- Luke Skywalker. It's to Star Wars figures what a crappy macaroni duck Mother's Day card was to your mom when you were six, only a little better. In today's review, you can see why cloth on small figures is not always a good thing, and just because you've done a good job before doesn't mean that you can do it again.

Playmoboard posted pictures of numerous new releases for the German toy line's 2005 product offerings, including six new Specials and an entire new theme. (Note: you may need to be a member to view these images.) The new theme, Barbarians, is a slick new way to do the old European history thing, and of course you can use these to reenact the fall of Rome. Or rather, you could, if Playmobil ever made Romans.

TVShowsOnDVD.com added word of the release date for the first season of Home Movies, a show that was, at the time, in Squigglevision. You can find everything at that link, pretty much.

Nintendo, ironically, has picked up publishing rights for Final Fantasy I&II: Dawn of Souls for GameBoy Advance. Fans may remember thousands of years ago back in 1990 when Nintendo published the original Final Fantasy from Square in the USA for the NES. It's coming out November 29.

Looking for a deal on the new first season box set of the original series of Star Trek, the one with Kirk, Spock, and Jerry Mathers as The Beaver? Target stores have it for $99.99, Wal-Marts have it for $96.XX, and Best Buy stores have it for about $107.

Apple posted all sorts of information on the brand spankin' new Apple G5 iMac. While the design isn't exactly new-- all the components are built right into a wide monitor-- it is sleek, nifty, and sure to appeal to tech dorks. We want one. Oh, how we want one.

After months of speculation, Hasbro and 3H Enterprises have confirmed that their partnership is no more. The former URL for OTFCC now redirects to Hasbro and apparently Hasbro will be repsonsible for getting people that which is owed to them, which includes plates from 2003 and numerous toys and comics from 2004.

Nintendo announced that they're dropping the great GameBoy Advance SP to $79.99 in the USA. And then Japan to 9800 yen. A European price drop is expected but has yet to be confirmed at press time.

McFarlane Toys is opening up a company store not too far from my favorite restaurant and my favorite record store. No fooling. Grand opening this October.

Today at Galactic Hunter we look at a Vintage Original Trilogy Collection figure that's a step up if up is down-- Yoda. After producing a stellar $5 Yoda just weeks ago, Hasbro decided to go back and do a lavishly packaged but ultimately inferior $10 model. In today's review, you can see the revenge of bad soft goods, but it's important that we say just how great the packaged figure looks, too-- just one thing to remember is that it looks best in the package.

TFW2005 is reporting that Kay-Bee's two exclusive Energon toys, Cyclonus and Demolishor, are both arriving in stores now. Keep your eyes peeled!

It's no secret we've had email problems since we decided to post on a Simpsons collecting board and in less than 48 hours our address was harvested and sold to numerous spammers and have received hundreds of spam messages a day ever since. Today, we're reactivating the mail links because we believe we found help through the Gmail service. Our good pal Dan hooked us up with an account and we've set up the 16bit.com accounts to act as an alias-- but enough about that, it's just getting old. Long story short, you are now welcome and greatly encouraged to send us news, sightings, and anything worth sharing with the rest of the class. So far it seems to be working insanely well. That is all.

NECA Online posted some marvelous shots of their next statue from the Masters of the Universe range, and it's The Sorceress. She's captured in mid-flight and according to the site, will be very very tall. She's also the second statue based on a character which has not been released as a modern era toy, the first being, of course, Clawful. Prototypes for both in action figure form do exist and were shown at San Diego's Comic-Con International as well as Wizard World Chicago during Summer of 2004.

Action-Figure.com has information and photos of the brand new NECA action figures from The Nightmare Before Christmas! The figures shown include Sally, Jack Skellington, the Mayor, and a Vampire. Each figure is articulated extremely well and includes a number of accessories, mostly in the form of a pumpkin. Several of the ghoulish toys are being made as well, and these may well be the best figures based on the film yet! Be sure to check out the article for more.

We're working on an RSS XML newsfeed deal for the site, but still are working on grasping a few basic concepts. One thing we'd like to know, though, is if we made one, would you use it? Please email us and let us know!

TVShowsOnDVD.com has details on a collection of old 1960s animated superhero television programs featuring the likes of Namor, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, and Captain America. We believe these were the shows widely available on VHS (especially at some Waldenbooks) nearly 15 years ago, and if so this should probably delight many of you. Find out more about this set, and the 2005 release date, at TVShowsOnDVD.

It appears reproductions of Lock, Shock, and Barrell and numerous new and old merchandise from the classic flick are now hitting Suncoast stores. Some new stuff, some old stuff, and some stuff you'll be seeing half price down the road. Be sure to poke around next time you're in the mall.

Mezco's toy forums confirmed Hellboy Comic Book Action Figures are now officially greenlighted. After some nifty movie toys and an awesome rotocast figure, we're quite keen to see how they'll handle this character.

Galactic Hunter has posted their weekly Q&A column by yours truly and, as always, I'm looking for new questions. So, feel free to send any in.

Like Zim? Sure you do. Jhonen Vasquez and Rikki Simons (GIR) answered many, many questions in this five page interview that delves into Nickelodeon's confusion of the show and highlights Vasquez' amazing talent to jump between incredibly well written characters to off-the-cuff complete and total misfires. Don't miss it!

New factions, new toys, new pictures. First, new pictures.

Astroman.com, the online home of band Man or Astro-Man, appears to be down-- possibly for good. Other than some stories on the bass player's work in the field of biodiesel, the page hasn't been updated in over two years. The last big announcement was that the final show with member Blazar the Probe Handler was recorded and going to be remixed and sold as a live album-- obviously, this never happened, much like the infamous lost Causey Way album from What Else? records. Also seemingly gone? The official site for Pilot Scott Tracy, a band barely related to but still related to MOAM. If you cats are gone, we'll miss you. And damn you for not doing an exit interview, at least Big Black, Oingo Boingo, and Phish gave us that courtesy.

If you're lazy like us, you've been waiting to be spoonfed the latest information on Invader Zim Action Figures from Palisades. Turns out the official information is hidden on their forums... here's what we found out.

GameSpot has posted a fairly spoiler-free trailer and lots of other information about the brand new animated feature that's sure to be one of the highlights of gaming this year... even though it isn't really a game.

The fine folks over at TFW2005 have shots of Omege Sentinel in his box, which are great because it's the first look we've been given for this fine toy. Now blue and white, the figure is sure to appeal to fans of more of the same.

This is going to be a stellar month for DVDs with new and exciting releases every Tuesday in the USA. Today's highlights include Jersey Girl, Kevin Smith's latest box office disappointment, along with the classic Clerks X, the X meaning 10th Anniversary. Three discs and multiple cuts of the film as well as documentaries and more extras than you can shake a stick at await you. Also coming today is another volume of Jim Henson's The Storyteller, this time focusing on Greek Myths.

While Hasbro has said the line is resting for 2004, it's seemingly quite active. Now, Kay-Bee toys are receving the action figures from the line from back when they shipped in green packaging all over again at rock bottom prices. The Gun Sniper and many other favorites are returning to stores, so be sure to take a gander next time you hit the mall.

Today at Galactic Hunter we look at what may be one of the crown jewels of the Vintage Original Trilogy Collection-- Darth Vader. After several figures that leave you wondering just what you spent ten bucks on, finally here's a figure where you can see where your dollars went. (In a way.) In today's review, see all the wonderfullness that is this newest Darth Vader figure. Even though a better one is allegedly up for 2005.

HobbyLink Japan has a bunch of great big photos in their preorder section today! There are painted pictures of Star Saber and Victory Leo, and an unpainted combined shot of Victory Saber. It is not presently known if the two-pack will have a special paint job like the DVD edition of Convoy.

While Art Asylum did some Minimates earlier, now Mega Blocks is making toys based on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Today, we spotted an Enterprise-D from that show with Captain Picard. The price was about $29.99 and sported just under 1,000 pieces. No other items in this line are known at this time.

While reports are coming in of the line being released in Mexico and elsewhere, along with many new figures like Snake Armor He-Man, the American Toys "R" Us stores. All green tagged items are half off, but most of the green tags are normally priced-- except the Bashin' Beetle, which, with the discount, is now a paltry $5. So if you need some deluxe toys or vehicles, you may wish to check the deals at your local store.

While the show hasn't started, Target has decided to waste no time. Their Mattel toys for The Batman are showing up on clearance, some as low as half price. This includes figure two-packs, vehicles, and the rotocast Batman. Selection and price varies fom store to store, but yeesh, that was fast.

The next level in retro gaming is here. Digital Eclipse is selling a mini console with over 80 Atari arcade and 2600 titles. Gamespot has the scoop and even a picture-- and it's very retro-licious. No games based on movies appear to be available, but for $44.95, this seems to trounce the offerings currently available as all-in-one joystick games.

Numerous new items and deals abounded today. In the USA, and in our own backyard, we sighted the Kay-Bee exclusive Energon Demolishor and Cyclonus repaints. These were $12.99 a pop, but all TransFormers are on sale for 20% off until the end of the month, so the prices weren't at all bad. As these were characters from the cartoon, get while the getting is good. (Pics unavailable due to power failure-- see below, way below.)

Wal-Mart's infamous $5.50 bins have some new finds-- a collection of episodes of Batman Beyond and the late great Ed Wood's classic-- his own Citizen Kane-- Plan 9 from Outer Space. This is the edition with the bonus documentary on Wood with comments from the people who made the Tim Burton film Ed Wood. We'd link to our review of that movie, but again, the power. More below.

Our good friends at Galactic Hunter got to go to the big press junket for the Star Wars Trilogy DVDs yesterday, and guess what? They posted a big report! Go check it out.

So, yeah. We're writing this update from a dark, power-free room in which there is no light and no noise other than the noisy swine upstairs yelling and stomping around. We're also writing from a laptop with nothing but a text editor, so we're going through the day's mental notes to try to get this as together as possible because as of now we have no clue if the power will be back on by the estimated 11:30 PM time APS told us. We're not hopeful, as such this may end up being a little late today.

The fine folks at Collectobil added several new and in some cases new to us US mass market Playmobil sets, some of which are quite cool. If you haven't seen them, click the name to see them:
Knight Defenders
Jouster
Pirate Treasure Chest
Golden Sword Guardian

We visited a Factory 2U today and while price and selection varies, they had a fairly hard-to-find large Zoids kit, the Death Stinger, for a fairly cheap $7.99. As this particular location is going out of business, it was also an additional 10% off. As such, if you have a Factory 2U in your area, you may wish to check it out for Zoids, Dragonball Z, and other old but still nifty toy lines.

Yesterday, we found some new figures. And here they are, in no particular order starting with the Kay-Bee Exclusive Demolishor with Blackout. A toy was released in Japan with this decoration back when SuperLink was first released under the name "Ironhide" and was available in wide release.

Joining the ranks of rotocast Lord of the Rings figures at Toys "R" Us is Eomer in his fancy armor. He joins Aragorn, Legolas, a Wraith, and Gimli, all of which are about $9.99.

As a special edition release when the new GameBoy Advance game comes out, Nintendo and Square Enix are teaming up to release a specially themed GameBoy Advance SP. No images have surfaced yet, but we'll let you know when we see it.

Of course, if you've been paying attention, you've seen these. TransFormers.com added a bundle of new images including the new Dinobots two-pack from Energon, Doomlock, and many new and upcoming Universe toys like Swerve & Roadhandler as well as many others. If you haven't been keeping up, now's a good time to poke around their site to see what's new, or at least new to you.

It appears Target stores are randomly marking down old-- and more surprisingly, new-- stock. Random Star Wars figure & cup combo packs seem to be marked down at the discretion of management, as are old Unicron figures, animated The Batman figures from Mattel, and Lord of the Rings swag. So as always, make sure to hit Target on your toy runs this weekend.

Playmates Toys was awarded the master toy license for Peter Jackson's upcoming King Kong remake. While we've had King Kong toys from everybody from McFarlane to... well, every generic monkey toy maker on the planet, this may well be the first-ever figure of Jack Black.

We added some images and a couple of revisions to our Beast Megatron review today. We noted we could have included better images of his accessories and a lineup of the new Robot Masters molds offered thus far-- so we did.

The guys over at The Magic Box added a crapload of new pictures and information for a ton of games. There's a Metal Gear Solid 3 video preview, Grand Theft Auto 3 Advance screenshots, and shots of the new Kingdom Hearts-- and yes, much much more. Go check it out, yo-- this is a huge freaking update.

Working on some reviews for you cats this week-- and we've actually got a few finished enough to share! From Robot Masters, you can expect Beast Convoy on Tuesday. On Thursday, the Xevoz Shock Berskerer as well as the initial guide to the toy line. And on Monday, we're taking a look at the Infinite Zero release of Devo's Oh No! It's DEVO!, complete with bonus tracks.

Since reviews are a little slow in coming, we posted some pages summarizing the first dozen Robot Masters toys and presented packaged images of them all. Full reviews may or may not be done for these toys, but since we wanted to present the whole line, we decided to post these today. Please click on any of the following to check them out.

Galactic Hunter has posted their weekly Q&A column by yours truly and, as always, I'm looking for new questions. So, feel free to send any in.

For reasons unknwon to us, "punk" band Sum 41 will contribute some music to Godzilla Final Wars. Read all about it at Monster Zero. The absence of Japanese punk acts, or even "punk" acts, is disturbing.

Devo review delayed. Not that you're gonna miss it... we decided it was more important to put together the Robot Masters pages together as it's been bothering us for a while. (Xevoz is next.) Also, this week is Birthday Week-- meaning that the annual Birthday Toy Run will begin tonight. We'll be posting the play-by-play, of course, and we're working on an article on the run so you can see just how much time can be wasted looking for toys when you really put your mind to it.

Today, we look at our slightly delayed review of Beast Convoy from Robot Masters. Modeled after the character best known as Optimus Primal in the USA, Beast Convoy combines elements frm the television show model of the character with the color scheme from the toy sold here in the United States. The end result is a smaller, posable, nicely accessorized version of the Cybertronian leader that's more in scale with his Beast Warrior cohorts. Read on for pics and a full review!

The Magic Box posted news of Tomy's intentions to bring out a Zoids title to the Nintendo DS in Japan this year. For those not in the know, the new Nintendo DS is a double screen portable system with wireless capabilities, a stylus, and the power to sterilize a chicken at 40 yards. It isn't currently known if the game will include an exclusive recolored toy as we've seen before, or if it will be an action game, a strategy game, or something else. Either way, our ears are open.

TVShowsOnDVD.com added a link with artwork-- perhaps temp art-- for the two upcoming DVD sets for the entirety of Pee-Wee's Playhouse on DVD. They also have information on how there was an announcement for a feature-laden deluxe set in 2005, so you might want to read up on that and then wait.

Target stores are starting to reset their seasonal corner, slowly replacing their school supplies with Halloween swag. While the merchandise wasn't out save for some glow-in-the-dark wrapper candy (not kidding), the signs were, and we found the new slogan for the store annoying enough to type up and share with you, our loyal readers. All seven of you.

Day 1 of the 16bit.com Great Toy Run of 2004 was a low-key one. We hit two Toys "R" Us stores, a Target, a Wal-Mart, and two small record stores. While no new toys were found, one of the stores did replace the scratched copy of Rapeman's Two Nuns and a Packmule we bought the other week, and as such, we salute you Zia Records for making good on this. Assuming the scratch we spotted on this one is merely cosmetic, of course.

While his name in Japan is "Jaguar," they're not going the easy route and making him into the car of the same make-- instead, he's a Corvette convertable, based on Autobot Tracks. An eBay Auction for Ravage shows the guy in both modes and a lot of detail shots, and the head is in fact a jaguar head. Pretty slick looking car, although the kitty head on a heavily armed robotic body is something that you may or may not appreciate.

Some fun for y'all. Target has the new Leaf Green and Fire Red editions of Pokemon on sale for $25.99 and Best Buy has it for $24.99, while regular price everywhere is $34.99, in part due to the inclusion of the free wireless adapter. We snagged a copy and will be playing it after this update. For the curious, you need two adapters to play wirelessly (of course), and just the adapter is $20. So if you plan to buy the wireless adapter eventually, spring the extra few bucks and grab the new Pokemon game. Even if it sucks it's probably an easy $6-$8 in store credit at some used store.

Here's one out of left field-- Atari snuck out a release of a pair of Zoids titles. We spotted Zoids: Battle Legends for the Nintendo GameCube as well as the portable Zoids: Legacy, both of which are here courtesy of Atari.

Today we found out that the shipments of the newest Xevoz toys are shipping to more places than just the Target Greatland stores and online retaillers. A Toys "R" Us in Mesa, AZ received the Crypt Curse assortments (also has Sky Grinder and other old figures), and a couple of Targets (one in Mesa, one in Glendale, AZ) received both this case as well as the one with the Quick Slinger, Storm Wing, and so on. So, you Xevoz fans, there's hope yet.

Day 2 of the 16bit.com Great Toy Run of 2004 was not a low-key one. We hit two malls, two Targets, three Wal-Marts, a K-mart, a used book store, a comic shop, a Best Buy, a combo grocery/toy/etc. store, and all these were roughly an hour or so away. Surprisingly little of merit, although we found that the extreme clearances we often found do appear at other Wal-Marts, and noticed the just-released Rockabilly Elvis for a scant $5.00 even. A few Sam Goody stores have the brand new Family Guy figures, all we saw remaining were a Peter and a Stewie.

Screenshots and a title have been leaked. Vincent Valentine will star in Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerebus and as of yet few details have leaked, although The Magic Box has the first images of this 2005 title from Square Enix.

We went to a not-so-local Dollar Tree store today and saw a number of neat things, including a line of launching Hot Wheels cars called Speed Demons. We've not seen these before, and one of the toys was a new Batmobil. We did not buy a sample due to it being cracked open but we will keep our eyes open for a sample to show you later.

We found a new figure in the LEGO Knights Kingdom line, and it was marked an exclusive. King Mathias was spotted at Target for $9.99 and is set number 8809. This set has the usual canister in a cardboard and plastic wrap package with extra parts for the figure, namely a cape. Also included were stickers and a map of the kingdom, which we presume to be exclusive.

Three new titles appeared this week. War Within: The Age of Wrath #1, Micromasters #3, and G.I. Joe vs. TransFormers Volume 2 #1. The former two are from Dreamwave and are about $3 each, the latter is $5 from Devil's Due Publishing.

Shark Tale toys from Hasbro are now hitting stores. We spotted a plush item at a Wal-Mart tonight and expect more items than you could possibly fake interest in shortly.

If you haven't seen it, it's new to you. While the Council Elrond has hit a while ago, and has been seen often, yesterday we saw a 11th Birthday Celebration Bilbo at a Suncoast. So, be sure to keep looking for this one as it's nicely posable. Also shipping: a Two Towers superposable Frodo.

Many Toys "R" Us stores are blowing out older Simpsons toys, including the Main Street playset for a super-cheap $15 in many locations. Several smaller figures and playsets are on markdown as well and the selection varies by store, so be sure to go looking.

Well, some-- and at some stores. The latest series of Transformers has seen its $30 assortment hit the green tag sale, which means half price goods to those who find them. Scorponok, Tidal Wave, and Landmine are now all down to $14.49 at several locations. As such, get out and hunt.

Kevin Murphy has been supplying NPR with commentary on movies for quite some time now, but now it appears he's being joined by some of his old cohorts from Mystery Science Theater 3000. Michael J. Nelson and Bill Corbett are going to be appearing on All Things Considered weekend edition, so keep your ears out for that.

In Japan, there was a big event with Mazda that happened to feature various Meister (aka Jazz) TransFormers toys, and you can read all about it at Autobase Aichi! Both versions of the BinalTech toy were shown, as was a strange cusotmized version that we really don't comprehend.

Back in the day, one of the best remembered poor-selling figures from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was Baxter Stockman in his mutated fly form. Playmates has just released a new version with the head in a mechanical spider body and we saw it mixed in with dozens of figures at Target yesterday. So, happy hunting.

G.I. Joe is the flavor of the month over at McDonald's with eight toys in the happy meals promoting Valor vs. Venom, the direct-to-video move that was issued on DVD last Tuesday. Four of the toys are vehicle based, and four are figures that appear to be the same size as the regular action figures but not as nicely detailed or as posable. As our camera is temporarily unavailable, please check your local McDonald's or eBay for images of these new toys.

AP the younger went to a big blues concert with AP the elder last night to see B. B. King, Dr. John, and a few other blues acts. The whole show was a whopping five hours long, but did feature some people that aren't likely to be performing forever, and others that unfortunately may be performing forever. If you have the means and the attention span, it's a cool enough show to check out. And hey, it had Dr. John.

A number of amusing promotional stickers have surfaced at a new location of a local indie record shop, Stinkweed's, in a promotional giveaway bag. These appear to be licensed and promote a number of their programs, and while we were unable to secure a complete set we can show you some of the highlights-- and by highlights, we mean "what we swiped."

Nintendo has a bundle of new special editions of the GameBoy Advance SP coming out, some awesome while others are not at all awesome. Not at all awesome: "Who Are You?" edition. It has the aforementioned phrase emblazoned on an otherwise plain black unit. Fairly awesome: UK only "Mario" edition, which includes Mario vs. Donkey Kong. This one is red and has a Mario logo, an "M", on the lid. Very awesome: Zelda edition. Gold, has a Triforce on the lid. Both Mario and Zelda units are European exclusives at the moment.

There's doings a-transpirin' over at TFW2005. They posted this preview page showing the beginning stages of a customized Soundwave made from the G1 toy, a Masterpiece Optimus Prime, and some other parts-- and it can hold the G1 cassettes, and if the article is right, it even has a working MP3 player inside. It's spiffy, and it looks like it might even transform! The same site also included the new Generation One Insecticons Reissue. Good stuff, and these are the first in-package images too. Highlight: Energon cubes!

Galactic Hunter has posted their weekly Q&A column by yours truly and, as always, I'm looking for new questions. So, feel free to send any in.

While they've been around, we're showing them anyway. Behold! Energon Hot Shot and Landquake, as well as a shot of Bulkhead in the new style Powerlinx Battles packaging.

Toys "R" Us is running a promotion for the recently released Valor vs. Venom on VHS or DVD. Buy it for $15 or $10 respectively and get a free two-pack of figures of your choice, limited to the stock on hand. This is an interesting change of pace from last year's Spy Troops, which was packed with a 12" two-pack of Stormshadow and Snake Eyes or by itself on DVD, or in a three-pack of figures on VHS. Considering that a two-pack of figures is about eight bucks, this isn't a bad deal for an evening of questionable toy-related entertainment.

The Magix Box strikes again with some great new info and images. For starters, there's a whole section in their news today on Typing of the Dead: Zombie Panic for PlayStation 2. More exciting, though, is the GameCube Mario Tennis. While it has great 3D models, what's really exciting is the decision to use 8-bit sprites from the old Mario Bros. game as well-- so you can be a fully realized three dimensional model, or a giant pixel man. We're excited.

We spotted Bulkhead and Landquake at a local Wal-Mart yesterday evening along with Slugslinger (below) and the entire new assortment of Deluxe figures. Slugslinger is a very floppy toy with a lot of tabs and folding and we regret to inform you our sample does not hold together especially well. This was a criticism of the many prototypes that leaked and seems to have gone unfixed.

Season four of the amazing Mr. Show with Bob and David hits stores today and prices vary. Circuit City is asking $24.99, Best Buy has it at $27.99. And to answer your question, yes, it's worth seeing.

The Star Wars Trilogy DVD Edition (aka Star Wars 3.0) hits stores today-- so go get a set. The best prices are at Fry's Electronics for $36.99, but CompUSA has it for $39.99 and Best Buy for $42.99 with a free magazine. Happy Hunting!

The web was set ablaze today with Nintendo's announcement of its NintendoDS pricing and release date. For a lot of the info, check out this story at GameSpot. The system launches in the USA on November 21-- that's a Sunday-- and will be packed with Pictochat and a demo for Metroid Prime Hunters. While it will be compatible with GBA software, classic GB and GB Color games will not play on the new system. Battery life, tech details, and much more have also been revealed so check out the story when you get a chance.

As we're a little too busy to do reviews at the moment, we added galleries of packaged samples of these two new Robot Masters from Japan. Even more surprising-- it turns out they retooled the hands and a few other parts! Check 'em out.

In addition to the recently released (and quickly vanishing) Handsome Shrek and Noble Steed action figures, Hasbro cranked out three more figures, this time in a miniature scale, individually carded and articulated to boot! These appear to be shipping only to Wal-Mart stores for $1.44 each, and they're showing up on endcaps. They are Donkey, Shrek, and Boxer Sportin' Shrek. (As in, Shrek in boxers and socks and that's it.) They're showing up on those oddball strips that often hang on endcaps and there's four of each of the three figures on the strip. Happy hunting!

And not a moment too soon! The Magic Box has a list of new titles coming for the pricey portable, and there's not a whole lot that will likely send fans into a screaming rage of glee. Highlights include Space Invaders Pocket, the King of Fighters series, and a few licensed anime titles. There's no Castlevania, no Puzzle Fighter, no Tetris... but as it's early, we expect dozens of new title announcements before launch.

Reports around the web have been filing in sighting the new Hound-like repaint of Ironhide cleverly called Energon Ironhide along with the Mirage repaint rechristened Dreadwing. We found one of them at Wal-Mart last night. This is the second Energon toy that has been repainted to look like Hound, the first being a Mini-Con called Rollbar that came with Treadbolt.

Well, it's new, and free with a magazine in Japan, but that's good enough for us. Fan2Fan has images of this new Command Zoids release, the second free-with-magazine release in some time. The first was the Blitz Hornet, and this new one is called the Blitz Dragon. (We think-- the site was yanked due to bandwidth issues when we posted this update later at night.)

GameSpot posted a huge list of all the games expected to be on display at this year's Tokyo Game Show. Highlights include a PSP Darkstalkers title, Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge for PlayStation 2, and numerous RPGs from Square Enix. Check it out. But there are a few more that may interest you Zoids fans...

GameSpot confirmed that Tomy has a whopping three new Zoids titles to be shown in Tokyo! For GameCube, there's Zoids Vs. III and on PlayStation 2, there's Zoids Struggle. GameBoy Advance gamers will be treated to Zoids Saga Fuzors. No further details or screenshots were posted at this time.

The off-market exclusive Universe Battle in a Box sets of TransFormers are hitting stores like Meijer now-- and others to follow. If you have a drugstore, grocery store, or other small store with a decent toy section, these may be appearing there shortly. (But will not appear at TRU, Wal-Mart, etc.) The sets include two Armada toy repaints for about $16, one set has Ultra Magnus vs. Treadshot (Optimus Prime and Sideswipe) and the other has Smokescreen vs. Ransack (Smokescreen and Hoist). This is notable because all four molds were initially Autobots, and now Treadshot and Ransack were retooled to be Decepticons.

The Las Vegas Mercury got an early copy of Tom Waits' new album Real Gone, due out in a couple of weeks-- and posted this review. They like it. They like it a lot.

Yo Joe added three new Target exclusive (for now) G.I. Joe Valor vs. Venom sets for your enjoyment. Each one appears to be in the same style packaging as the typical figure two-packs, but includes one figure and one small vehicle. New releases include Storm Shadow with Ninja Lightning, Darth with Gun Station, and Barrel Roll with Air Assault. Target has a few more exclusives on the way, and these will be offered as wide releases in 2005.

While it isn't currently known if this is a limited problem or a problem with the entire run, TFW2005 has a report that the recently released Universe Battle in a Box sets have a few quality control problems. If this is limited to the first batch or to the entire run remains to be seen, but comments of reduced quality of plastic abound as well-- so what's the problem? His gauntlets are on backward and the toy cannot be easily dismantled and reassembled to solve the problem. A few people on the message board commented that their Armada Optimus Prime and Nemesis Prime were also assembled incorrectly, however there are no pictures at this time, nor are there any pictures of a correct Magnus yet. As such, read the thread for hints of what to be on the lookout for when making a purchase of this set to open.

The new redesigned top-loading and super-tiny PStwo has been granted a photo shoot comparing it against the GameBoy Advance SP NES edition, PSone, and GameCube over at The Magic Box. Do check it out, it's much tinier than you're likely to expect!

Do you need something for your car that says you like to take risks and inhabit your mom's basement? Toy Vault has you covered! The Raving Toy Maniac added a post of giant plush D20s-- that's a 20-sided die for those of you who have seen daylight-- in both red and blue. Quick, make a saving throw against awesomeness!

First up: Omega Sentinel on eBay. These clear shots show a more unified color scheme of the recently released Energon Omega Supreme, and this may be the figure fans prefer.

SNK's Metal Slug franchise has been unthinkable as anything but a two-dimensional title, but now is making an appearance in the third dimension-- The Magic Box has images, and they're not all bad. Or for that matter, all good.

If you haven't yet heard, the extended version of Return of the King will hit stores December 14. The 250 minute release is bound to be a winner, so be sure to clear a few days to watch the flick.

Galactic Hunter has posted their weekly Q&A column by yours truly and, as always, I'm looking for new questions. So, feel free to send any in.

Toys "R" Us is running a massive sale this week-- buy two, get one free on all TransFormers. That includes Energon, Alternators, Universe, Generation One, and leftover Armada. Offer good on regular price items, blah blah blah.

Toys "R" Us continues the big sales this week with the same sale on G.I. Joe. All of it-- 12", 4", figures, vehicles, you name it.

Toys "R" Us has their entire selection of LEGO on the buy two get one free deal. Which means lots of Bionicle, brick buckets, and all sorts of wacky fun can be had on the cheap. As always, this only qualifies on full-priced items.

Toys "R" Us has their entire selection of DVDs on sale as well-- also buy two get one free. It's mostly kidvid (not old school stuff) but there are some recent features and things like Star Wars which may interest you or make some decent gifts.

The Magic Box added shots of an all-woman wrestling game from Konami called Rumble Roses. With all the delays of the next Dead or Alive title, it's no surprise someone identified the hole in the "women knocking one another upside the head" game market.

After poor sales of season one, it seems that HBO shelved the Gary Shandling sitcom about the backstage goings-on of a Tonight Show style program on DVD for good. Since then, DVD sales of TV shows have really skyrocketed and guess what? They're giving him another chance!

The latest of the Alternators family has been revealed in full color on this eBay auction. Windcharger, like his G1 namesake, is a red robot. This time, it's a convertable and you can actually switch between having the seating area exposed or not. The design is sound, and it's also the first one of the minibots to get the Alternators treatment. Could Cliffjumper or Bumblebee be far behind?

Some Toys "R" Us stores have expanded their green tag clearance sale (50% off all green price tag items) to include select older Playmobil sets, including the taxi and some all-in-one sets with environments and several figures. It varies from store to store so you'll need to check your neighborhood TRU for availability of the sale in addition to the selection in general.

TVShowsOnDVD.com posted the scoop on the upcoming third season box set of Curb Your Enthusiasm which is coming out in January, a mere year after the first season hit the format. Unlike season two, this set has some extras-- find out what here!

After numerous delays and releases in both the UK and Japan, today is supposedly the day Bubble Bobble is released for the GameBoy Advance. Numerous online stores list today as the release date while many others don't list it at all. While Wal-Mart's site no longer lists it, GameStop does-- as does Toys "R" Us, and a seller in Canada has a few of what appear to be legit American copies on eBay. So, we'll let you know if we see it in our journeys today as we're optimistic, but not hopeful.

It had to happen. NBC has announced the next host of the Tonight Show, and it's Conan O'Brien. In 2009. But it is happening, and it's great to see someone with talent getting such a high profile position.

After the Tonight Show report last night, it appears there's been some backpedaling and now it will actually just be a "best of" collection, and in 2005. Bah. More at TVShowsOnDVD.com.

While reported earlier, we'd like to point out we're seeing many new items lately, including the latest series of two-packs that includes the light-up Electric Eel. We also can confirm that the Target exclusive figure with accessory sets are out and are, in fact, just basic figures at basic figure prices. We snagged Storm Shadow with Ninja Lightning and it is indeed $6.99 worth of awesome. Happy hunting!

The first combiner in SuperLink has been released as a gift set in Hong Kong, and you can see it at TFW2005. Check it out!

After referring to Daily Show audience members as a bunch of stoned slackers, Bill O'Reilly will be making an appearance as a guest on Comedy Central's The Daily Show on October 7. Assuming he doesn't squelch out.

The folks over at Mask of Destiny have shots of a German magazine exclusive Monster Plant toy that was bundled with a magazine. It's one of those "grows in water" toys, but it's a curious exclusive item that as of yet has no known American release scheduled.

After numerous delays and a lot of hunting, we still don't know if this title was released this week. We're checking our local stores and would greatly appreciate it if you could share any information on this phantom title.

We spotted an oddity at Toys "R" Us this week-- a new toy line from a small company that doesn't appear to be based on a widely known license. Called Alien Racers, the line includes four oddball alien figures from MGA Interactive and cost $9.99 each. They are: Gnarl, Ultrox, G'Rog, and Skrain. Some of these, while odd, have incredibly good paint jobs-- be sure to take a good look at the green one when you see it in stores. We're not planning on buying them but it's quite impressive.

In September 2003, we relaunched and started to post a lot of random things that we found to be interesting. We began regular daily updates on September 30, 2003 and have not missed a single day of updating you on conventions, clearances, and all sorts of other fantastical things, even on the major holidays. While we have yet to take on an advertiser, we have received some great support over the past year of regular daily updates and will continue them as long as humanly possible. (Which, with the current move of the official 16bit.com Content Monkey, may be in the next month.)

In just a few hours, Entertainment Earth received and sold through the latest assortment of Alternators, which includes Dead End, Meister, and two of Autobot Tracks. It is currently unknown in Dead End is in the new red boxes to match Meister and Tracks.

Color us surprised-- today's toy run yielded three solid cases of Xevoz at a local Kmart. They received the third wave of basics, the second wave of midrange toys, and the second assortment of twin-packs. They are $6.99, $10.99, and $17.99 respectively. No previously unseen toys were available at this time.