This figure review takes a quick, awkward look at 8 new releases: Darth Vader, R2-D2, Snowtrooper, AT-AT Driver, General Veers, General Rieekan, Major Derlin, and a new Power Droid. Which ones are new, new-ish, and new enough to warrant about $7 per? Find out!

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What is surprising, though, is that they specify that the Factory X items will continue. These include high-end prop replicas from Buffy and Underworld. We'll be keeping our ears to the ground on this one, as we hope some of the people and products make their way to a better place. (Some of the finer items from ReSaurus showed up elsewhere again, and that was a damn fine company too.)

So to Mr. Horn, Mrs. Horn, and to everyone else at Palisades, our hat's off to you for getting some of the finest licenses out there, and, more importantly, for doing them right.

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Lots of fun this week, including perceptions on the average number of joints on a figure, vehicles, the Lars clan as action figures, vehicles, the AT-TE, and yes, more vehicles.

Stay tuned later this week to Galactic Hunter. We're putting the finishing touches on a review of Dark Horse Comics' Star Wars: The Comics Companion as you read this, and it'll be up Wednesday morning for your enjoyment/hatred.

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We have yet to open Rollbar (but liked Swindle enough, and this guy is a recolor) so we think we're going to like him. We spent a significant amount of time futzing with Downshift and Cybertron Defense Hot Shot, though, and we're quite pleased with both. Actually, we are going to advise you to go buy a Downshift. You won't be sorry.

For those who like to order online, Entertainment Earth is offering a case with the new Downshift and Hot Shot and it's in stock now. But it's a whole case... but it's in stock now.

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We expect to have pre-order info on these shortly. Keep in mind, Wave 3 hasn't yet arrived in US stores.

Neat, eh? Supposedly, this is the end of the line, which, if true, caps it at 2 exclusives and 16 wide releases. We're hoping to see more, as it's a lovely, tiny line of transforming toys you can get for a kid's weekly allowance.

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If you're a fan of Shortpacked, we hear it may be showing up in print somewhere soon. But more on that later.

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There's a bunch of new items from Solid Theater, Max Factory, and other Anime vendors. Click through to see several of the new items, if you dare. (You filthy, filthy readers.)

That fourth link? It's to a list of toys from-- I swear I'm not making this up-- "The Good Smile Company." They're also getting a tiny allocation-- as in "order now and you'll probably get it unless it says sold out"-- of this Star Wars Luke Skywalker Signature Edition Lightsaber Replica. Fancy. And expensive. But you're worth it.

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This mighty volume claims to be "The Definitive Guide to the illustrated adventures of Star Wars" which, we feel, it has accomplished largely by default. Many recent comics make no appearance, several popular titles are left out, and many, many unpopular ones are ignored. Promotional comics are given the short shrift, but with some fans estimating a hair under 1,000 printed periodicals of Star Wars adventures, well, there's going to be a mistake or two. Or 20. It's still a good book, and we very much look forward to an eventual "complete" edition. But for now, be sure to read our review of Star Wars: The Comics Companion, penned by Ryder Windham and Daniel Wallace.

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On that note, we're headed to New York for a few days. We expect to post semi-regular updates, although we're going to say "we promise nothink." We will, however, tell you what we saw when we get back no matter what. (Had we a decent Mac laptop, we could do pictures, the works. But we don't. Thanks for nothing, you POS XP notebook.)

So if you got questions you want looked at, we extend our typical "no promises but we'll try" offer. Send a message and we'll see what comes up. And hooray for traveling on someone else's dime.

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Lots of fun this time, including a ton of questions I can only semi-answer as I'm headed to New York to get the answers at their grand revealing and whatnot.

Also, based on the stats on Galactic Hunter, you guys aren't exactly big fans of reading. Books, I mean. Q&A columns, yes, but not so much books. Noted.

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As such, sign up, tune in, and enjoy!

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Art Asylum

The biggest news is what you've already seen, and that's Battlestar Galactica Mini-Mates. There are packages of 4 mini-mates as well as blister-packaged figures with a vehicle you can assemble, similar to the C3 line but what it really seems like is a sort of block- or mini-figure like Galactic Heroes, but more sophisticated.

Speed Racer's arrival at Art Asylum in both classic and new forms was quite exciting. Sculptures, figures, die-cast and much more are coming. An all-new cartoon is being developed by Art Asylum and overseas animators for publication on the web, not on TV, as well as being used as a pack-in for the toys. Get a toy, get a cartoon, it's one big happy gift set.

A ton of new, improved, and great mini-mates for Marvel, Capcom, and other licenses are on tap too-- we took photos of all of this stuff but we're on a crappy laptop and can't edit anything until we get back home.

Mega Blocks

We've had some people talk to us about this before New York, so we were sure to check it out. The big news here was the superbly nifty Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest including... well, all the great things they do for their regular "Pyrates" line. You can get skulls that open up and have little Johnny Depp mini-figures that are highly articulated as well as, well, seemingly most of the major vehicles, villains, and locations for the film. (We'll be seeing NECA and Zizzle for their POTC line-ups later on Monday.

New Dragons items are more colorful and aimed at a slightly younger audience, but also include new blister packs of figures and new monsters like griffins and a minotaur. We're told the sky is the limit when it comes to expanding this line from its talented brand manager, who's a really nice cat we must say. Mega Blocks' most interesting item from an action figure POV, though, was a series of Marvel magnetic figures. Much like the classic Baron Karza from Micronauts, these are figures with magnetic joints that fit together and assemble in seconds. While figures like Bionicle are action figures made from people who do construction, these feel like the opposite. The Hulk, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and many others are being made in comic form and are sturdy, break-apart figures with under a dozen piece that are not only super-poseable, but durable and have magnetic feet. We're quite enamored with these and they come out this Summer.

Toy Vault

We had lots of fun talking to a lot of vendors, but one of the most fun conversations we had was with Toy Vault. Best known for book-based Lord of the Rings toys and Farscape action figures, this company has moved more toward plush and is making a big play for newer, better, and more amazingly great items.

After years of delays, the Monty Python Chibi Tim the Enchanter was on display and we're told will ship shortly. A plush Holy Grail is coming, and a concept "killer rabbit" stapler was also shown. The line is expanding, and the talking rip-apart plush Dark Knight is really quite a marvel of toy design. Each limb is designed to "know" it's been removed so every time an arm or leg is hacked off, a different sound is played. We're impressed.

For Cthulhu and fans of all things Lovecraft, the big ticket item was a giant plush Necronomicon Pillow. This giant item is several plush pages, which means the level of detail and interaction on this item is just plain crazy. It features little puppets, plush items leaping out of its four pages, specially designed raised front and back covers, and much more. We took several photos and will share those later. From a creativity standpoint, this is one of the best in show-- it's hard to really get the point across without the photos, but hot damn, this is something you gotta see. Other recolors of Cthulhu are on the way and it didn't seem too many new Lovecraftian creations were on display.

Godzilla continues with what seems to be the first-ever Final Wars plush based on King Ghidorah. Black and gold, this four-legged monster looked great and will surely appeal to fans of top-notch monsters. Also shown was a most impressive pair of Godzilla "fuzzy slippers," crafted to look like the monster's feet. It's big and it isn't dirt cheap, but it's a heck of a nice item. Other non-licensed slippers shown were of a pair of tarantulas (which apparently can be a trip hazard if you aren't careful), and the previously shown Dragon Plush Slippers. In person, these items looked superb. Heck, all of it looked great.

Other new items were shown for anime property Trigun, as well as a plush gargoyle for their own brand Here Be Monsters. In short, Toy Vault was a very refreshing booth to visit, if small, and we really hope this idea of non-child plush toys continues to fly for them. It's not every day you can go to a booth and see every item as a potential gift for someone, but this was an interesting change of pace.

There's more but we need to choose between sleeping for 4 hours or not sleeping at all, and with that...

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We'll be blogging and podcasting all week until we can't do it no more. Pictures should start Thursday, and everything else, well, it's here now. As such, sign up, tune in, and enjoy!

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Zizzle

Who's Zizzle? A bunch of former Tiger Electronics people spun off their own toy company to do electronic toys, action figures, and more with the kid's market in mind.

Pirates of the Caribbean toys were shown and boy howdy, were they great. And today, we sadly had no camera. The human-based toys were prototyped by Gentle Giant Studios, and we're impressed. The showroom was great and had a fantastic 3 3/4-inch (scale to Star Wars or G.I. Joe) toy line with apparently at least 3 series of 8 figures each as well as vehicles and playsets. Jack Sparrow, Davy Jones, and characters from the upcoming sequel were all shown and looked very good, with articulation on about the level of G.I. Joe-- minus the swivel-arm, we're sorry to say.

The line seems to be taking a page from Star Wars in that it's stuffed with monsterous minor characters based on sea life as well as main characters from the movie, which makes this seem like a possible gem to collectors as it will offer something NECA's 7-inch collector line will not. We're impressed with the prototypes, and while we know the final product is subject to change, if it looks this good, we're going to be on board. (16bit.com. Of course.) The scale playsets and vehicles looked superb, a $60 Black Pearl ship was so full of action features we couldn't believe such an item was being made in 2006, a market in which playsets and vehicles may as well not exist.

Pirate Fleet-- basically, Action Fleet-sized boats and mini-figures were also displayed. With playsets as an added bonus, this item should be quite a hit when it hits stores later this year. There's 12-inch figures, large electronic figures, 7-inch action-feature laden figures, and tons of gadgets, electronics, and enough stuff to make you think that maybe they under merchandised the first film. (Just a bit.)

Other items were on display as well, including a small size Pinball machine with real solid construction and metal parts for the aforementioned buccaneer flick and Marvel. (We think. We didn't take good notes.) Various dot matrix LCD games were on display as well at a variety of styles and price points from Marvel, Pirates, and lots of other things.

Zizzle has the rights for the entire series for... some amount of time that we didn't ask about. This means they can go back and do Curse of the Black Pearl items and at this time, they say they're just "looking forward." In 2007, we're supposed to get the third film, but we're hoping to see the line expanded to include the first film if the final product is any good.

Obviously, this is the action figure brand we're the most high on right now.

Also on display were Zizzlingers, little packets you can buy and drop in water which fade away to reveal random Marvel hero action figures. While neat, we've seen this kind of product in the past and it wasn't too well received, although the Marvel property might be just right for this brand new item which, we might add, can now be found at Target stores.

NECA

Here's a short list of licenses: Shaun of the Dead, Silence of the Lambs, Pirates of the Caribbean 2, Kill Bill, Muhammad Ali, and more, and more, and more. It's sick, really, just how much stuff they've got coming down the pike. If you're a fan of horror and other cult properties, you'll likely be quite pleased.

The prototypes for all these items were nothing short of breathtaking, so start saving your money. Lots more Iron Maiden on the way!

Jada Toys

This die-cast toymaker had some pretty neat stuff. Scarface die-cast vehicles with figures are going to come in multiple scales and styles, unlike last year's single (and hot) item. The license for vehicles (and possibly figures with them) for The Godfather and The Sopranos have also been snapped up by this company, with limited product on display. We were pleased. Various larger scale Homies with die-cast vehicles were on display, and the figures were of a significantly better quality than that found in gumball machines from Albany to Tucson. Again, for fans, this is good stuff.

Playmates

At Playmates, we were astonished to see a Kong dinosaur action figure we've never seen before. Apparently it's out. Hm.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will Flash Forward to the future in a new line expansion this fall. The recently released dinosaur-heavy themed line will move away in favor of this brand new line with futuristic turtles and flying vehicles. Nifty. Also, we were told that a new CGI movie was coming in 2007 and that this would be a new, separate continuity.

There were also scores of Disney Princess toys, dolls that do things, and Marvel Battle Dice. Basically, some neat stuff, not everything would appeal to you cats though.

Parties

We went to 3 parties. A summary follows.

Diamond Comics held a nifty shindig in their showroom with tons of booze and nearly everybody in the industry. I got to chat with people from Diamond, Palisades, and a few other companies while I got to re-scope out the room. Decent drinks, good people, quite busy, and more or less worth the trip. If nothing else you got to see the new Troi figures.

Across town at Yoyamart, a signing was taking place with the creator of Uglydolls. The store is somewhat like the Apple store in its use of white, but also in its use of open space. Not so much in its use of what appears to be Ikea furnishings. With quite a few neat items and a ton of people, it was some sort of mutant hipster toy paradise. For fans of licensed properties like ourselves, new good wares were few and far between but it was certainly worth a look if for no reason other than as a toy art gallery of sorts.

An actual red carpet was out in front of Art Asylum, as well as bouncers, spotlights, and all the typical fancy-pants presentations you might come to expect on the E! Channel. Getting in, a clipboard with a list determined who entered-- or so we thought. "Are you with the press?" they asked. "No," we said. And we got in.

The party, held in a converted church, had dancing, drinks, and a $4 item check. So it cost $4 to check your backpack/purse and $4 to check a coat, and so on. This is ridiculous. As such, we were the dorks walking around with our bags in tow and, in my case, I had my coat in there. (I work hard for my four dollars.) The Speed Racer themed party had free drinks, loud music from DJs which, we assume, are somewhat known, and scantily clad ladies in Speed-esque clothing, fishnets, and it appears they were paid to do pole dancing. We were leaving around the time they started but it appears Santa got someone's letter. As we find parties in clubs overall about as fun as a kick in the shorts, well, you get the drill. (Fishnets, though.)

In between each of these included a significant amount of trudging around in snow after record storms which resulted in something we're told is called "slush" which you encounter when a cab is avoided in favor of 20 blocks of walking. Thanks, Dave.

So what does this mean to you? Parties are bad. Except when they're good.

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Oh, we got a whole mess of new crap. Why this, who that, blah blah blah.

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The idea is that this thing is a pillow. It isn't out (or available for preorder) yet, but the target MSRP is about $100. It may seem outlandish, but the fact is this is a quality piece. We don't use words like that lightly. The book cover has quite a bit of detail, from the (we presume) vinyl pieces to the very colorful design work, it's quite impressive. And, of course, it opens. It's a book, after all.

When fully opened, this item reveals four pages as seen above. Each page is made of several plush pieces, which requires quite a bit of stitching and work. A little puppet lets Shoggoth "possess" your hand, and of course a big Cthulhu coming out of an interdimensional gate is just plain cool any way you slice it.

This was one of the more impressive pieces at the show, and the dudes (ok, dude) at Toy Vault was quite informed about all of his wares. (A plus, not all showrooms are as on top of things.) We really liked this item because a) it's huge and b) it's ambitious, full of detail and a lot of work. The rumblings we heard was that due to these reasons, the limited edition could be well under 1,000. Considering the cost and appeal of an item of this variety, it's entirely possible this is the right number, and we're glad to see someone out there not only managing to find ways to innovate, but to do it in plush of all places. We've seen lots of plush toys... we even own quite a few. We don't have any plush books.

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A new podcast is going to go up in the next day, give or take a couple of hours. See above for the URL, please sign up and tell a friend, or if you think we suck, tell someone you don't much like to listen and ruin their day. It's like talk radio for people who can't listen by people who can't talk.

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This review looks at the following action figures: Sora Bulq, Sun Fac, Poggle the Lesser, Scorch, Jango Fett, C-3PO with Battle Droid Head, Utapau Clone Trooper, and Yoda. These figures are showing up in fine stores everywhere.

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Meet Unicron 2006. The concept? Evil never dies. After several battles, Unicron is reincarnated as a tank and should be making an appearance in an upcoming fan club comic for the Cybertron line as a grim reminder that there will always be a need for good in the Universe-- because evil doesn't die. It's a little foreboding, but hey, what are you going to do?

We very much like the vehicle form, blurry as it may be, and that's the best shot we got. Bah. Still, it shows the master of all evil as a sort of Cybertronian tank, and as it reminds us of many Generation 1 vehicle forms as seen on Cybertron, well, we're quite pleased. This item is going to be a deluxe figure, meaning about $10, and available around Summer-ish according to most information we look at. We do not presently know if it will incorporate a key gimmick and if so, what it is.

Keep in mind what you see here is a prototype and some things are subject to change.

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