There's some interesting speculation at Nintendojo involving some confirmed patents and the involvement of the Warp Pipe Team when it comes to the amazing possibilities that may lay in wait inside the Nintendo DS, due in the USA this November. While not much is known yet, supposedly a lot more is to be confirmed next week-- for now, you might as well scan their article.

First up, we spotted numerous new Energon toys at Toys "R" Us during lunch yesterday. During their buy-two-get-one-free sale, we've seen numerous cases of new Deluxes and Basics, and now we can add on the Megas. For your information, that includes Shockblast, Cliffjumper, Dreadwing, and Energon Ironhide-- and all of these appear in the new red Powerlinx Battles packaging. With the sale, it might be worth making a run of your neighborhood Toys "R" Us stores-- which we've said before but we're reiterating to make sure.

Need something to listen to that's sure to please? NPR aired an interview with Comedy Central's Jon Stewart yesterday and the archive is up for your listening pleasure. The Daily Show host tackles his background as a comedian-- most notably, as a failed standup-- and of course the politis of the day in this nearly 40-minute interview. It's worth listening to, surely-- especially if you're at work and needing to kill some time.

It's moving day-- the first of many moving days which will end sometime next week. As such, toy run related news may be light and reviews will be thinner than usual, which is to say pretty damned thin.

It's not the biggest story of the year, but it's still neat to see the American Nintendo DS packaging as posted at The Magic Box. As reported earlier, the system includes a demo of Metroid Prime Hunters and there's a nice graphic promoting this, which is also the only real color you'll see on the packaging.

Want to see what kind of fun Tomy has on tap for Zoids fans in Japan? The Magic Box posted two pages of pictures of the new animal mech combat title which may or may not come to the USA.

This may not be news to you, but it's news to us. The highly acclaimed Mr. Show with Bob and David, which just completed its release to DVD, is now airing on TBS-- yes, TBS, the cable channel. Episodes are 30 minutes and while we have not tuned into them yet we expect that they, like Sex in the City, are heavily edited. Have you seen them? Let us know what you saw!

The guys over at Transfandom dug up a ton of new character names for which Hasbro recently applied for trademarks. Highlights include Vector Prime (notable as it's also a name of a Star Wars novel), Autobot Skids, Drench, Longhorn, Kickback, and Repugnus. There are some really interesting chocies there so be sure to look it up.

We went and saw "Put the Mock Back Into Democracy" and it was indeed good. Brian Posehn and Patton Oswalt both put on amazingly great sets and some of the other acts were great as well. David Cross was funny, and the entire show was roughly 2 hours and change-- not exactly long, but given that Naked Trucker and an iffy Phoenix-area comedy duo were on tap, well, attention spans are short. If for any reason it comes to your town you might want to go see it as the numerous D&D gags made for a funny show.

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.

A friend of the site sent us a link to this image showing off several Final Wars toys including a new Mothra, Anguiras, Minya, Godzilla, and many other new figures you may not have seen yet. Check it out, homes!

The move of the offices is going fairly well but I've hit a snag-- namely, my falling down a few stairs and now my ankle is sprained. Is this the antithesis of good times? Yes, yes it is.

That's the buzz going around the web. The famous actor once sang the TransFormers original theme song on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno a couple of years back, and is now saying he wants to be on board as the big bot himself! Is he kidding? Well, stranger things have happened, and with the right voice modulation anything is possible. (For the curious, Mr. Hanks was born in 1956. Could he be a closet toy nerd? If so, power, brother.)

The little seen Jay Mohr and Ilena Douglas comedy Action started airing again on Comedy Central yesterday (technically today) in a late-night capacity, starting with the pilot. (Or we never noticed it before and the pilot was on.) Mohr's abraisive comedy can be seen in clubs across the USA as well as on repeats of SNL and the reality program Last Comic Standing, while his sidekick-- the late great Buddy Hackett-- needs no introduction.

The Magic Box posted a brief video of commercials of the next Made in Wario game (aka Warioware)... in Japanese, meaning it'll be awesome. Warioware is a GameBoy Advance game available in the USA and a little tricky to find these days in which there are literally 200 minigames which you play in rapid succession which give you next to no reaction time. The game is a true treasure and a real sleeper, so if you haven't seen it, go get it, and if you saw it, go to this link and get the video of the game Mawaru Made in Wario which will be available in Japan on October 14.

The folks over at Yo Joe! have the latest figure set with comic packs up for viewing! #4 has Grunt, Snake Eyes (again), and Zap, while #5 collects a Cobra Officer, General Flagg, and Steeler. Kudos to Hasbro for finding a smart, original, and frankly awesome way to use old material and make it super-appealing to even passive fans.

German department store Vedes has an exclusive Playmobil truck celebrating the 100th anniversary of the chain. The Playmoboard has photos, but as of now I'm not entirely sure what's the easiest way to get one if you live in the USA. (Although we're looking.)

While the line is as dead as they come in the USA, John Woo is going around saying that he's going to make a movie based on the classic Mattel toy line Masters of the Universe. Previously, Woo was attached to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and obviously, he's never done anything on that. Yet, anyway.

The original British show Men Behaving Badly (the inspiration for the so-bad-it's-great US sitcom on NBC with Rob Schneider) is coming to DVD, so says TVShowsOnDVD. Two season are on the way, check out the story for cover art and the full scoop.

The Magic Box has news of a Nintendo DS game in which characters from Naruto, DragonBall, One Piece, and more duke it out for total supremacy. Cute concept, it'd be great if it were expanded to include even more characters but hey, them's the brakes.

Here in Phoenix, we're being assaulted with the latest TransFormers Energon toys, and now Wal-Mart is getting a number of shelf display units for the Deluxe-sized toys, which means many stores are getting cases and cases of Slugslinger, Downshift, Towline, Rodimus, Sharkticon, the Energon Hot Shot repaint, and a couple of others. Happy hunting!

A number of CDs were released yesterday, some of which will interest you and others... not so much. First up, William Shatner released Has Been, his long-in-development second album. It's apparently as esoteric and odd as his first which is best known for his covers of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and the like. Most exciting to us is Tom Waits' Real Gone, which is a lot more gravelly goodness that you'll probably like if you like things like that. REM released their latest album "Around the Sun" in regular and limited editions and Cake has put out Pressure Chief, showing that waning critical and fan interest is no reason to opt for an early retirement.

TVShowsOnDVD.com has news that shocked the world-- or both people who were reading up on The Simpsons today. Season five of the eternally popular show is due out on December 21! More details at their site.

Target stores have a bunch of their 3 3/4" G.I. Joe toys on sale this week. The comic book figure three-packs are pennies under $8.50, the figure two-packs are a dollar off, and a few of the vehicles are marked down as well. Selection varies by store so be sure to check it out.

While the prices reportedly vary from store to store, the Deluxe shipments we reported yesterday are supposedly part of a sale. We saw them marked down to $8.47 at one location but heard reports of prices being as low as 25% off. While the deal isn't spectacular for a $9.99 toy, they're getting plenty of new product so if you need the new guys, keep hunting!

Crisis! Moving freak-out!! We're going back to packing now as issues have come up preventing us from sticking to our original schedules. Later!

Gamespot has a story confirming the Japanese release of Final Fantasy III on the Nintendo DS in Japan as well as the possibility of some cell phone games being ported to the new portable.

Not content to settle for Boo Berry and Count Chocula, it seems Kellogg's is now brining "Haunted Manor" flavors of Apple Jacks, Cocoa Krispies, and Froot Loops. We saw 'em at Kmart and odds are they're at your local store too. And odds are these taste iffy, but we aren't big sugar cereal buffs.

So, yeah. Middle of the big move. A lot of stuff is in a truck, some things like the laptop are not. As such, here's a weak update.

Yo Joe! added new shots of the Built to Rule Ground Striker and Venom Striker vehicles with figures. Which we have yet to see in stores-- so good stuff, check it out!

In a pleasant surprise during today's move, we heard that NPR broadcast an old interview with Tom Waits, newly peppered with songs from Real Gone-- and yes, you can listen to it online. Good stuff, very informative assuming it's true.

TVShowsOnDVD.com has an episode and extras listing on this fine series. That's the good news. The bad news is it's a little thin, but hey, it's coming on November 9!

TVShowsOnDVD.com also posted box art, early content listings, and more for the popular The Brak Show on DVD-- Volume 1. MSRP is a low $29.98 and it's due to street on February 1, 2005-- more at the story above.

It just gets worse. Despite finding an extreme amount of difficulty getting (and still getting) moved in to the new digs, our high speed internet isn't working due to the people who apparently can't do their job properly, leaving us having to use dial-up. As an added bonus, the OS 9.X we were using doesn't seem to have the modem control panels installed-- so we got to boot back into System 8.2 on a backup hard disk from... well, it's 2001 or 2002. I was still at Yakface and my backgrounds were Weezer and The Causey Way.

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.

Shown originally at Fan2Fan

Despite numerous delays and having totally missed its in-store date, the USA released of Bubble Bobble: Old & New has surfaced for $19.99 at a local GameStop. It was originally due on September 28 but after having not appeared that week, it was widely assumed it was delayed again-- and apparently it showed up late last week.

We're still on dial-up and probably will be through at least Tuesday. So updates will be thin.

The third and apparently, sadly, final volume of the cult favorite Invader Zim hits fine DVD stores everywhere today. It'll be on sale at some places for about $16 this week, so happy hunting!

A new Storm Shadow, Kamakura, and more are available alongside Venomous Maximus and a brand new Snake Eyes on his Ninja Lightning cycle... and many others. We spotted several of these at a local Wal-Mart yesterday and odds are they're shipping whereever fine toys are sold.

The folks at The Magic Box posted screens of Nintendo's latest and all-too-infrequent brand new platformer. The graphics this time around look once again like they were drawn in crayon in parts, which looks pretty spiffy. Check it out, yo.

Ren & Stimpy hits DVD today, and while we're told there were edits made, the sets sold at Best Buy will include a bonus disc with extra episodes. Since we don't know or really care more details, we'll leave it at that.

We hobbled over to an Urban Outfitters last night to see what all they had for sale in the way of fun and irony, and were quite surprised to see their offerings becoming increasingly broad. As in, an overpriced Target. In addition to the usual swag, they also had a number of Star Wars items-- basic OTC figures were $12.00 and the X-wing and TIE Fighter were $35.00 a pop. For the record, Wal-Mart and their ilk charge about $4.99 and $19.99, respectively, with the highest we've seen these items previously being around $6.99 and $24.99. So kudos, Urban Outfitters-- it seems like you managed to sell some figures for three or four times your cost, scoring one for capitalism. (And we're happy all you had were pegwarmers. May they rot.)

Two cheaply priced DVDs of TransFormers Energon made it to stores yesterday, and there's a few more surprises hidden in there. One, they revised, redubbed, and tweaked a few episodes with new dialogue and a few minor alterations explaining the backstory-- i.e., Armada.

Wal-Mart is offering up a second round of exclusive basic figure-with-DVD assortments and there's a lot of ground covered here, including Splinter, the Scuba TMNTs, the original TMNTs, several random characters, and even brand new weight lifting "Ripped Up" TMNTs. Two different episodes have been spotted thus far ("Evil Encounters" and "Secrets Behind the Shells") and there appear to be dozens of figures for $5.83. Check your local stores for the selection as well, we're lazy.

Fighting nerds, rejoice! Capcom is releasng a new title for the PS2 (Japan only so far) in which you can play as characters from Street Fighters II and III, Darkstalkers, Warzard (???), and more-- and it's due in the beginning of December. It sounds like a heck of a neat title so be sure to pester your favorite importer or beg Capcom for a USA release!

We're still experiencing significant problem but we're back online, for now. So, yay.

Found... and purchased. Kay-Bee's exclusive six-piece Micromasters combiner Constructicon Devastator is now available at a fairly pricey $3.99 per figure. We do not have images at this time because we do not have a camera at this time, but the instructions are completely in English instead of being in multiple languages, and there's individual character art in each instruction manual but not on the packaging. It's a nifty set, but for the price it's not what you might call a killer deal. (For the record, I bought the set at Metrocenter Mall in Phoenix, AZ Kay-Bee Toys and there seemed to be enough stock for at least 2-3 more sets.)

TVShowsOnDVD.com is reporting that Amazon is now selling eight popular Fox shows on DVD for $14.99 per season box. Shows include Simpsons, Futurama, Buffy, Angel, MASH, and several others-- click through for the details.

The Japanese version of Mawaru Made in Wario is now available, and it does have a motion sensor as previously reported-- you can see the unique cart and packaging here, and some impressions and screen shots are also posted here. The links are at a game importer, NCS, which is also selling the game-- so bias beware. But it looks good.

After Takara posted this flowchart of relationships in Robot Masters, fans noted the dark shadowy outline of a character similar to Megatron. And by an amazing coincidence, the Japanese lettering by his name reads "Megatron," although it doesn't specify which Megatron. Some are crossing their fingers for the original gun mode, others for the version of the character as he appears in The War Within comics-- as a tank. As long as we get one of those two, I'm all smiles-- heck, maybe even Super Megatron from Battlestars would be awesome as he never was produced as a toy.

Suncoast stores are marking a lot of their older toys down to crazy low prices, with Muppets as low as $2 and other figures just as cheap. Especially notable are the NECA 18" Aragorn and Legolas, now on clearance at many locations for $29.99, a decent but not fantastic break from the $39.99 they used to go for.

The folks over at The Magic Box are confirming a ten-game collection of Sega classics, many of which we've never heard of, is on the way to the USA PlayStation 2. While Monaco GP and Virtua Racing are... *cough*.... at least it has Columns, Alien Syndrome, OutRun, and Space Harrier. Oh, and Fantasy Zone.

Did you know there was a Logan's Run TV series on CBS back in the 1970s? We sure didn't. We just found out about it today, and if you're as curious as we were, there's some information over at TVTome.

There's a bundle of goodies next week for the DVD fan that we forgot about. For starters, the special edition of Hellboy is being released with and without a minibust, with a roughly $20 price difference between the two. Season one of Arrested Development will be shipping alongside the complete Greg the Bunny... and there are three different box sets of Godzilla movies as well as individual releases of several films. Be sure to check your favorite stores for pricing this Tuesday.

Surely you want to know about the sequel to Warioware that's available in Japan, don't you? Check this out, and find out why you'll look like a spaz if you play it in public.

Well, we went and saw Team America: World Police and it was a blast. Theater was empty, but if you've got a sense of humor in which this would fit, go see it. Very funny stuff.

A few months ago, Hasbro released a bundle of Valor vs. Venom figures on individual cards for release at grocery stores at about $3.99 per. Well, they did another wave of new figures on new-style packaging, instead of a rectangle bubble now it's more form-fitting. We spotted these in Phoenix at a Fry's Marketplace, and what was really interesting is that one figure was either mispackaged or Hasbro really goofed it up. There were a lot of repaints, and unfortunately we are not experts in the line-- but here's what the names on the packages were and some notes.

Here's a little known fact-- there was an old episode of SCTV in which they broadcast two music videos. One was the Talking Heads' "Once in a Lifetime," and the other-- probably never broadcast anywhere in North America-- was "Top Secret Man" from The Plastics, a Japanese band we love to pieces here at 16bit.com. As there probably will never be a DVD Region 1 release of anything by The Plastics, you may well want to check out SCTV Volume 2 on DVD to see this. It's pre-MTV, just the band, a white background, and a few props. But it is The Plastics, a truly great band deserving of your attention if you have the times.

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.

A number of new boxed images and photo galleries were posted yesterday to various web sites, and they are...

TVShowsOnDVD.com strikes again with news on several new ZIM products... one we noticed yesterday while browsing Amazon, and it's a six piece (and very cheap) set of the entire Zim series. And they're doing mini-DVDs for some reason.

No seriously-- this is for real. Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper is now available in regular and diet varieties. It's also pretty crappy. We found a 12-pack at our local grocery store in our quest for snacks and after splitting a can, we can safely say that we could do without the other 11. While your milage may vary, we didn't find the taste adventure to be worth the price of admission.

Need quick amusement? Click here. Scores of photos of Optimus Prime costumes-- mostly bad-- with commentary. Do check them out, some are nifty, some are tolerable, and others are probably felonies.

The Digital Bits has a list of catalog titles their sources indicate may be coming out again in 2005 as Special Editions. Included are classics like Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Hondo, Braveheart, and Titanic. Also included on this list: Face Off. And more. Check it out.

Today, there are three Godzilla DVDs being released individually and as parts of several box sets. Prepare to open your wallets for: Godzilla vs. Gigan, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, and Godzilla vs. Hedorah. The latter of which, we thought, was always called Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster but we are not experts in this field.

It's a communist-themed pink lemonade soda. Leninade is made by a tiny bottling company and we found it at a local establishment called Pop the Soda Shop. It's about a buck a bottle and there's two different labels you can get, and you might get a kick out of it. We're going to be getting a case for an upcoming event because novelty trumps value every time.

Today at Galactic Hunter, I look at the final Original Trilogy Collection action figure with the Star Wars Emperor Palpatine (Executor Transmission), a repaint based on the 1997 Power of the Force molds. Unpainted, clear, and purple, you might be asking just what the heck makes him worth the $10-- and you'd be right. Cool as he may be, there's a question of value here-- find out the answer to this question in today's review.

Attention shoppers, Blue Light Special on crap. Kmart has a section of blue boxed no-brand toys made by "Just Kidz" and now they've taken and modified the Deathsaurer kit into a green US Army weapon. No, I'm not making this up. It includes two 3.75-inch G.I. Joe ripoffs and costs $10 even, plus tax. We'd show it to you but we're happier with the $10.

Last night we spotted a Universe Nemesis Prime at Target, which may be better known as a repaint of Japan's Big Convoy toy from Beast Wars Neo. This is the first ever offering of the toy in the USA, and he's $19.99. Target also has an advertised 15% off all TransFormers this week, although most toys will not ring up as being on sale-- so be sure to point this out at the registers!

Every holiday season, TJ Maxx and Marshall's carry a limited, discounted, and seemingly random selection of Playmobil toys, and this year is no exception. Last night, we spotted four sets at a Scottsdale area TJ Maxx.

Finally, pictures have been revealed of the highly limited Kingdom Hearts edition SP. And... it sucks. NCS has an image and a preorder of the new unit which features a silver lid and apparently a black interior. We'll pass.

After being released in Japan earlier this year, and in the UK this summer, Tofu Records has announced that they will be bringing the Best-Of Compilation "Polysics or DIE!!" by Polysics to the USA in January, more specifically, January 11. Price TBD, but it's assumed it will feature the same track listing as the roughly $40 Japanese disc. (Or roughly $20 UK disc.)

Today on NPR's Talk of the Nation, listeners were treated to an appearance by Steve Martin. You can find the stream of the program here, and in it you can hear Mr. Martin basically tell you that he's never going to do standup again, ever, or do a banjo album, ever. But it's funnier when he says it.

Dreamwave has been circulating a press release and some images promoting the upcoming six-issue miniseries focused on the Beast Wars, the last TransFormers series that was pretty much entirely crafted by the likes of Canada and the USA.

We went to another TJ Maxx, and this time we found a few more sets. Well, two-- an Emergency Raft (5721, $5.99) and a big ol' pirate ship (5733, $19.99). We expect there to be more coming, and we'll let you know as we find 'em. (Or you can let us know what you find.)

Item: Chappelle's Show now the #1 best selling DVD of all time. It finally overtook The Simpsons season one, and odds are it's because the Comedy Central series was cheap, funny, and largely unseen by the masses.

Freezepop, a great synthpop outfit out of Boston, is playing here in Phoenix tonight at Modified Arts. See ya there, kids!

Our pals at Galactic Hunter posted unpainted test shots of what are most likely (OK, they are) the first ever revealed Revenge of the Sith figures. Ironically, before any official word of a sneak preview assortment hit, we're being treated to early shots of Bail Organa, Darth Tyranus, and yes, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Odds are they won't be up for long so check 'em out while you can.

The web lit up yesterday afternoon with pictures of several very new and very cool toys from the followup line to Energon/SuperLink entitled Cybetron, or Galaxy Force if you live in Japan. The line includes many old favorites, some new items, and apparently no overall gimmicks that we can see-- although the Mini-Cons are back and looking better than ever. According to some sources, these will be hitting Japan as early as January, while Hasbro has hinted that Cybertron will not be available stateside until mid-2005. Can anyone say "import"?

TVShowsOnDVD added a ton of info on the final four Invader Zim DVD items-- the two minidiscs, and the box with and without the entire series inside. Read on for the full scoop.

Freezepop was awesome. We saw them at Modified last night and if you have the chance to see them, see that you do so. We also caught Benco and he put on a great one-man show. Well worth the price of admission, and we hope to see them in our fine area code once again very soon!

With all the hubbub over the Energon sequel, it'd be a shame to miss out on Robot Masters!

SICK Video has released a DVD of Devo-- Live in the Land of the Rising Sun. $12.99 on sale at Tower Records this week, normally about $10-15 at most outlets. This is their 2003 show with some bonus materials as far back as 1980, so for all you Devotees out there, happy hunting.

Online shop Image Anime has posted a preorder for Kaiser Ghidorah, a new vinyl kaiju from Godzilla: Final Wars. He's a bigger, bulkier version of the classic monster-- check him out, or don't.

TVShowsOnDVD.com posted a huge freaking story breaking down the set disc-by-disc with extras, commentaries, and everything you'd possibly want to know, down to the red box. Check it out!

By way of a Japanese fan page, the likes of Seibertron.com posted some concept art for the next big line of TransFormers, better known to you and me as Cybertron. According to this art, the blue car is in fact Hot Shot, and not Blurr as we previously thought-- despite the coloring and design choices.

Nintendo's second batch of classic NES titles for the GameBoy Advance hits stores this Tuesday. Choose from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Castlevania, Dr. Mario, and Metroid.

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.

The guys over at TFW2005 posted a bundle of release info on the new Galaxy Force line of Cybertronians. Not much new to report other than a December 28 release date and one big surprise-- there's a Street Speed Team redeco listed, meaning that there's going to be some Armada/Micron Legend recolors here.

TVShowsOnDVD.com posted the info on the series' release early next year. It's most likely to tie into the new movie coming out next Summer, and it's the "first volume"-- meaning it isn't likely to be a season (or partial season) box set. But hey, who knows.

The chaps over at SGCollect posted the first shot of Landover, a green triple changer that takes the form of a jet and a car. It's notable that it's supposedly a Destron, however it doesn't seem to have any visible faction logos! Interesting, no?

The cats online at Costco have a prefab arcade cabinet-- cocktail style-- with 35 games in it from the likes of Atari and Capcom. (Sadly, no Namco games.) There's a bundle of great games you would never expect to see in a cabinet like this, such as Ghosts n' Goblins, Darkstalkers, and even a Mega Man title-- but there's a lot of junk too, which you can see here. Before you click, note the price-- $2299.99, about $66 per game.

Apparently a Battle in a Box isn't just for the Robots in Disguise. Over at Yo Joe!, they slipped in packaged images of the CostCo exclusive vehicle and figure set which includes the Cobra Ringneck, the Smoke Screen Transport, and six figures. (For the record, it includes Dart, Nunchuk, Tunnel Rat, Tele-Viper, Pit Viper, and Cobra Coils.) These don't seem to be special in terms of deco, and there aren't any photos indicating if any accessories are missing from other releases of these toys. While we couldn't find any evidence online of a price, it's assumed that these are $30-$40, which is a pretty spiffy deal.

In the wake of September 11 2001, a lot of movies and TV shows saw edits or an adjustment in their schedules. A few shots were removed from Attack of the Clones, episodes of The Simpsons was yanked from syndication, and a now-famous Osama bin Laden gag from Family Guy was removed from the DVD release and subsequent airings of the episode "The Road to Rhode Island." Where ever your opinions may fall on the matter, it's a curious bit of TV history and especially interesting as series creator and brainchild Seth MacFarlane was reportedly to be on one of the hijacked flights but missed the flight. Because he was drunk. (Seriously.)

Today at Galactic Hunter we look at a very early 2005 release from Star Wars with Senator Yarua (Coruscant Senate), a figure that looks and feels like he may have been a holdout from the original Episode I line. Glad as we are they sculpted a new magnificent Wookiee, the paint job and colors of plastic used leave something to be desired. Is he still worth it? Find out in today's review.

While the first batch of games from Nintendo's Classic NES Series of GameBoy Advance titles were more or less unchanged from the originals save for a "sleep" mode menu, it turns out that there were some modifications in the new batch. Fans of the ghoul attack game will be pleased to know that Konami now included a "save" option, so you don't have to start over when the Grim Reaper kicks your ass and you need to walk away for a while.

The great and fairly nifty store Kay-Bee Toys has been having a lot of problems lately, and the mall-based toy store has announced that there are going to be cutbacks in the form of nearly 141 definite closures, which could go as high as 238.

Toys "R" Us has picked up on the everlasting Scooby Doo range and now carries a bundle of Tiki-themed repaints. It's notable that no tikis appear on the toys, but there's a lot of hawaiian shirts and flowery crap. The Daphne repaint in the Tiki Adventure Mystery Crew set has bare arms-- but sculpted sleeves. Smooth. $9.99.

While selection varies by store, we found some new sets as part of the green tag half-price deal at Toys "R" Us-- namely the airport and the airliner, which are now $19.98 each. Great deals, folks!

Yet more new images have surfaced courtesy of numerous stores and sites. One of the more notable sets is a repaint of the Armada Street Speed Team, now in red, yellow, and blue (as shown by concept art). The gimmicks of numerous toys are being shown off as well, and you can see some of them at Image Anime.

Apple strikes again, not by making a must-have Mac but by adding color to an existing product. Combined with added storage space and longer battery life, the iPod Photo does what you might guess-- iPod music things and photo things. It's also downright expensive.

Between The Magic Box and Gameforms, a lot of new info on Sony's upcoming PlayStation Portable made the rounds today. For starters, the price is a low sub-$200 (in Japan) with a limited but decent selection fo launch titles which, by some reports, will cost around $40. Also, Square Enix confirmed an action RPG spinoff of Final Fantasy VII is in the works-- so there's your killer app. Images of the system's box, information on the PSP bundle, and much more are floating around, so hit those links and your favorite game site.

Several new items were slated to be released this month but obviously have not hit. Some online stores like Entertainment Earth have updated the release dates accordingly with items slated to ship in November or December. As we're seeing no signs of new product here but plenty of older product, we're not too hopeful for new items to show up before the week of Christmas... but the week before and after the big holiday often yields a lot of new releases.

It appears the 21st release in Robot Masters will be another repaint-with-DVD, this time Beast Convoy. It is unknown what changes will be made, but as there have been numerous editions of the original Beast Wars Convoy in Japan, anything is possible-- could it be an anime edition, a burning Convoy, a clear one, or something new? Time will tell!

While reported before, we found a new article with a little more meat on the new special edition of this summer's big hit, Spider-Man 2. They're double-dipping, but at least they posted a warning, so when it hits stores in November, it might be worth waiting for the good one in 2005.

Today at Galactic Hunter we examine a repaint of a remold that you were sold for $10 less in 1999. And it doesn't even appear in the movie. So why should you care about the brand new Y-wing Fighter? Find out in today's review, but here's a hint-- it rocks.

Apparently some items did make it out on time-- Big Bad Toy Store received the new Thunder Shaman, an ape with three different interchangable heads, tiki masks, a banana, and numerous other nifty pieces. No in-store sightings have been made yet, so happy hunting!

It's still in the works, so we're posting it here today for you to peruse and edit, if you're man enough. (Oh, who are we kidding, sure you are.) The 16bit.com TransFormers Armada Checklist contains the entire main line as well as all the exclusive Mini-Cons bonus packs... that we know of. Which are plenty. We even found a few for sale and aren't sure where or when they were sold, so if you have two cents to chime in, please do.

After appearing online last week, we can now confirm that the first four components of the Energon combiner teams are in stores! We spotted Sledge, Dust Storm, Sky Shadow, and Treadshot at a Mesa, AZ Target last night. There were a few of each, it seemed, but no deluxes or other limbs, and no components from the Bruticus set as, well, they aren't shipping yet.

After Artisan said sales of the first season of David Lynch's Twin Peaks didn't justify release of additional episodes, fans felt crushed-- until last week, when they heard Paramount now had the rights to release it, if they were so inclined. Of course, some sites said that the release of a revised first season with pilot box can be expected in 2005, but Paramount ain't talkin' much-- find out more at this TVShowsOnDVD.com article.

Good news! Last night we sighted all five Invader Zim Hot Topic variants at, you guessed it, Hot Topic. We snagged a GIR Duty Mode figure because of the high prices ($16.99) and these particular variants looked pretty awful, especially Zim. And we just don't like Dib. Pics to follow.

The first four NECA figures for Nightmare Before Christmas hit Hot Topic stores this week and they're about $13 a whack. The accessories are dynamite and sure to please, and the character selection is pretty good. Choose from the Mayor, Jack, Sally, or a Vampire. Vampyre. Whatever.

Target stores are stocking the licensed theme cereal for the upcoming film Polar Express, which will be best known for creeping people out with eerily accurate representations of Tom Hanks.