Resumed
August 4, 2008 |
Star Wars Q&A, Figure of the Day Updated at Galactic Hunter
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  Galactic Hunter has posted a Q&A column this week! Be sure to click through and read up on the latest!
Also, Figure of the Day has been updated! Many times, actually. The daily feature on figures you might have but might not-- either way, here's what you've been missing! Spanning from the original Power of the Force series of 1995 to the latest of the 30th Anniversary Collection, it's almost like a history lesson!
From left to right: three selections from the past few weeks. Go to Galactic Hunter for the next update, with the latest installment in our ongoing series! (Or just go to the Figure of the Day blog, with new content every business day and a growing backlog of new old stuff!)
--AP
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G.I. Joe Trakker Is Yes
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  While it's been known for a while, one of the most mind-bogglingly cool things we saw at Comic-Con was Hasbro's booth. Specifically, the G.I. Joe action figure "Specialist Trakker," who is listed as being an "Advanced Vehicle Specialist." It's actually Matt Trakker of M.A.S.K., a not-as-popular-as-it-should-be line of toys from Kenner in the 1980s. Matt was the leader of the group and drove a really slick red car whose doors popped open like wings. The character also appeared in a line of low-dollar "adventure packs" and this figure combines the original Matt figure with a backpack inspired by those packs. Neat!
We can't wait to see who will appear in the line next. C.O.P.S.? Perhaps a BOTS Master? No matter which way it goes, we can't wait.
--AP
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Shout! Factory MST3K DVD Movies Revealed
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  At a packed-beyond-capacity panel in San Diego which resulted in many fans being turned away, the latest DVD set was officially introduced. Shout! Factory will be including these four films:
First Spaceship on Venus
Laserblast
Werewolf
Future War
...of which, we've seen none. So we hope it's gonna be awesome. The set also includes a neat little bust of Crow, so here's to the big cash-in!
--AP
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Panama's Finest
August 7, 2008 |
Star Wars Figure of the Day Updated at Galactic Hunter
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Galactic Hunter has updated Figure of the Day! The daily feature on figures you might have but might not-- either way, here's what you've been missing! Spanning from the original Power of the Force series of 1995 to the latest of the 30th Anniversary Collection, it's almost like a history lesson!
From left to right: Stuff, things you should click on. Go to Galactic Hunter for the next update, with the latest installment in our ongoing series!
--AP
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G.I. Joe Mighty Muggs Wave 1
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 After a fairly low-key debut at Comic-Con, the first wave of G.I. Joe Mighty Muggs are making the rounds! The line kicks off with a surprisingly great Duke, Cobra Commander, Snake Eyes, and Stormshadow. These should be out around November.
--AP
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Xbox Live Arcade This Week
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  For a surprisingly expensive 1,200 Microsoft points, the console giant put out Braid this week. Said to be a very pretty action puzzle game, we hear it's supposed to be loads of fun. Early reviews are very enthusiastic, so it's most likely worth a try.
--AP
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Wii Downloads This Week
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  Fans of the WiiWare service can grab Wild West Guns. Early reviews are not so hot. Moving right along...
For the Virtual Console: Sega Master System's Sonic the Hedgehog, an 8-bit adaptation of the Genesis title with alternate levels and, of course, iffy graphics. Also available is the arguably classic TurboGrafx-16 title Splatterhouse 2, which has lots of gore and monsters and fun. A number of other games were announced by publishers, but Nintendo opted out of posting them.
Oh, and we missed this when we were in San Diego, but apparently the great Koji Igarashi is watching Wii Ware as a potential platform for the next great Castlevania title. We certainly hope so. As we like our games flat, like our soda, and our women. (Well, our games at least.)
--AP
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Marvel Mighty Muggs Wave 4
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  Chugging right along, Marvel Mighty Muggs are doing pretty well at retail-- well enough to move into fan favorites like Silver Surfer, Galactus, and the Human Torch. Due in October (give or take), this trio of new figures should go with your growing collection quite nicely. If you like such things, and we think you should.
--AP
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Suez
August 8, 2008 |
Star Wars Figure of the Day Updated at Galactic Hunter
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Figure of the Day has updated once again! The daily feature on figures you might have but might not-- either way, here's what you've been missing! Spanning from the original Power of the Force series of 1995 to the latest of the 30th Anniversary Collection, it's almost like a history lesson!
From left to right: Uh, just one, we guess. Go to Figure of the Day for the next update, with the latest installment in our ongoing series!
--AP
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Playmobil News Galore
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  Over at Playmoblog, we're posting all sorts of new news. The August resets at Target result in new releases, and the 2009 and 2010 sets are already starting to be announced. If new dragons, ghost pirates, whale skeletons, and getting crabs excites you, you need to watch the updates and start saving.
The "Flying Knight" from a few months ago has indeed been proven to be part of a set showing up at Target. Complete with a new dragon, set 5840 should prove to be fairly popular.
--AP
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G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary Wave 11
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 While not really necessarily remakes of classic toys any more, Wave 11 includes a very retro-tastic Zartan with Swamp Ski and a Cobra EEL in addition to six more figures. Our favorite, as mentioned before, is Matt Trakker. But the EEL and Zartan are right up there, and the new Flint and Scarlett are nice too.
--AP
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LEGO Taj Mahal Coming
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  Not content to rest on their laurels, the LEGO company is making yet another biggest set ever-- and this time it's the Taj Mahal. The Brothers Brick has a lot of pictures and Danish pre-order information,
--AP
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Animated Skywarp Revealed
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  While more or less confirmed ages ago, images have now surfaced of Skywarp on TF08.net. It still has orange "glass," but now has that black, silver, and purple look everyone digs so much.
--AP
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Sketch It
August 11, 2008 |
Star Wars Q&A, Figure of the Day Updated at Galactic Hunter
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Galactic Hunter has posted a Q&A column this week! Be sure to click through and read up on the latest!
 Also, Figure of the Day has been updated! Many times, actually. The daily feature on figures you might have but might not-- either way, here's what you've been missing! Spanning from the original Power of the Force series of 1995 to the latest of the 30th Anniversary Collection, it's almost like a history lesson! Today, it's Romba-- he's an Ewok, and a remake of one of the hardest-to-find figures in the original line nearly 20 years ago. Go to Figure of the Day for the next update, with the latest installment in our ongoing series! (Or just go to the Figure of the Day blog, with new content every business day and a growing backlog of new old stuff!)
--AP
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Playmobil News Round-Up
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 Over at Playmoblog, we're posting all sorts of new news. More new US mass market sets are hitting, so watch the updates and start saving.
This weekend, we posted a report on the new mass market 2-packs. There are four of them, but the real news is that they're being found at Wal-Mart stores, which didn't carry Playmobil, uh, ever. Target also got a large $40 Roman arena set which is still smaller than the giant one as well as a number of Barbarian and Pirate sets. Oh, and next year's German catalog? You can see it online right now. Read all about it!
--AP
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Comedy Is Dead Updates
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  We're blogging. Did you know? It's easier to do than post here, if you can believe it. Here are some highlights.
Comedy is Dead
Wow! What quality. We've been dealing with server outages and other weirdness, so yeah, we're working on it. Get off our backs. We love you.
--AP
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Xbox 360 Deals of Note
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Attention cheapskates: two sales to note this week.
Target stores are selling 1600 point cards for $14.99-- that's 25% off. With the recent onslaught of decent games on the service, you might want to buy a few-- you'll be using them shortly. Circuit City stores have the 12+1 Xbox Live Gold account cards for $39.99-- that's 20% off, plus you get the extra month. If you're in the market for such things, get to the stores before they sell through.
--AP
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The Forces of Evil
August 15, 2008 |
Star Wars Figure of the Day Updated at Galactic Hunter
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Figure of the Day has updated once again! The daily feature on figures you might have but might not-- either way, here's what you've been missing! Spanning from the original Power of the Force series of 1995 to the latest of the 30th Anniversary Collection, it's almost like a history lesson!
From left to right: Achk Med-Beq, Luke Skywalker, Hoth Rebel Soldier, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Go to Figure of the Day for the next update, with the latest installment in our ongoing series!
Also, we had the fortune of seeing Star Wars: The Clone Wars earlier in the week. If you are the kind of person who reads a column like Figure of the Day, we assume you'll enjoy it. While Ziro the Hutt and Ahsoka may stand out a little, it didn't strike us as awful as the critics would have you believe it to be. While it's impossible to not see this as a marketing pitch for the new TV series this Fall and/or the new toy line, the series really can't provide much more drama and suspense than an episode of Scooby-Doo due to the fact that it's set between other movies and stories of which fans mostly know the outcome. Nobody will be surprised to hear that Anakin doesn't die or that the Republic doesn't fall. It very much is a film aimed at a younger audience, for all its faults, it's still easy to like if you're the type of person who watched Droids in its entirety on YouTube recently And we are that kind of person.
--AP
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G.I. Joe DVD Packs: First Impressions
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 We finally got the G.I. Joe DVD Battle Packs today. Each set has 3 (or 4) figures and a bunch of hardware to assemble various doomsday devices, plus a DVD with 5 episodes of the original cartoon. Each set is $20-$25, which is basically what you might expect to pay for the DVD. The figures are icing on the cake, but the figure selection is also pretty weak and we'd be lying if we said that the DVDs weren't the selling point.
Each DVD comes in packaging with fairly faded cover art-- the colors on the figure box look much more lively than on the disc jacket or disc labels-- and the DVD itself is fairly basic stuff. The video quality isn't particularly great and compares poorly to other 1980s DVDs we've purchased. The supplements are fairly light, with the episodes and little else. Some old TV commercials would have been cool, but as part of the entire package the DVDs are great.
Set #1 is The MASS Device with a Cobra Trooper, Snake Eyes, SCUBA Baroness, and Sgt. Stalker. And a piece of the MASS Device, a fancy-pants teleporter machine. And a lorry with some boxes on it, too. So what you're essentially getting is $28 worth of figures, $15-$20 worth of DVD, and some extra accessories. It's worth noting the figures are mostly redeco variants from existing releases. Snake Eyes is a radioactive partially clear version, made of grey and clear red plastic. Sgt. Stalker is a redeco with a jetpack and is based on the harder-to-find first yellow release, but with a few differences. The Cobra Trooper has flesh hands and the biggest Cobra logo on his chest you done ever seen. And the Baroness is a new, or mostly new, mold. Her head has glasses, plus goggles which fit over the glasses. Her swim fins are part of her feet. If you like super-villain chicks in tight red rubber, hey, this is the set for you.
Set #2 is The Revenge of Cobra. It's not nearly as cool as the first, but it does include a massive Weather Dominator accessory-- more on that later. The figures include Lady Jaye, Destro, and Roadblock. How can these be interesting given all three have been released before? Well, Lady Jaye has been recolored and has a new head where they forgot to give her face any makeup. It's a nice head, though, plus she has new accessories. Destro is based more on the cartoon and the original figure, with grey boots, a chrome head with green eyes, and a tiny gun. In short, he's the best overall classic Destro in this new 25th Anniversary-style line. Roadblock is being attacked by some large plant tentacle monster. Watch your cornhole there, soldier. The monster plugs right on to a Joe's display base, and Roadblock can be positioned in its vines. The deco isn't significantly different from other releases, and he's missing his giant gun. He does, however, have a knife. We weren't particularly pleased with the set overall but we'd be lying if we said we didn't get it for the DVD again. In this case, you're getting $21 worth of figures, and they're not significantly different than what you may have bought. If you don't have any Joes, these two sets would be a good starting point.
In these sets you also get some massive hardware-- two chunks of the MASS Device and a Weather Dominator. What's interesting is that the Weather Dominator has holes in the bottom which actually plug in to the MASS Device pieces-- so you can use the parts to make another super weapon while you wait for Hasbro to crank out the rest of the MASS Device! The end result is pretty spiffy, but the Weather Dominator tends to fall apart when you look at it funny.
We were big fans of the comic packs sold over the past few years due to the fact they provided a huge bang for the buck and also had the bonus reading material. We feel the same way about these-- they're neat, they're not too expensive, and it appears you'll own a wonderful selection of figures if you pick all the DVD Battle Packs up. We suggest you do so if you want to get your feet wet with the Joe brand, but if you're already collecting you might find these to be a little too familiar to buy again.
--AP
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Xbox Live Arcade This Week
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 The big news is the remake of the classic game Bionic Commando as Bionic Commando Rearmed. This takes the 8-bit classic and gives it a modern facelift, much like last year's Prince of Persia. Color us intrigued. Reviews are positive, and we hear it's still quite difficult. And we also hear it's going to be ported to the PS3 and PC. How's that for availability? It's $10, or 800 points. Or technically only $7.50 if you get one of those point cards on sale at Target this week through Saturday.
We're also being told Fable Pub Games can be downloaded for free if you pre-ordered the new Fable game. Otherwise it's 800 points. It doesn't seem like big fun on its own but apparently if you win money in this game, it can be ported over to Fable II when it's released.
--AP
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Wii Downloads This Week
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 Fans of the WiiWare service can grab Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People. From Telltale Games, this title is based on the (at one time) hugely popular Internet cartoon Homestar Runner which, today, is just merely popular.
For the Virtual Console: two TurboGrafx-16 titles. Star Parodier, which is to Star Soldier what Parodius is to Gradius. If you understand that, you know why you want it. Also, Break In, a billiards game. Why? We don't know.
--AP
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Sincere Moment
August 18, 2008 |
Star Wars Q&A, Figure of the Day Updated at Galactic Hunter
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Galactic Hunter has posted a Q&A column this week! Be sure to click through and read up on the latest!
 Also, Figure of the Day has been updated! Many times, actually. The daily feature on figures you might have but might not-- either way, here's what you've been missing! Spanning from the original Power of the Force series of 1995 to the latest of The Legacy Collection, it's almost like a history lesson! Today, it's a McQuarrie Concept Snowtrooper ! Go to Figure of the Day for the next update, with the latest installment in our ongoing series! (Or just go to the Figure of the Day blog, with new content every business day and a growing backlog of new old stuff!)
Finally, it seems The Clone Wars' ticket take was terrible. Like, astoundingly terrible for a Star Wars picture. Star Trek: Nemesis had a better opening weekend. Long gone are the days where the two words could guarantee a $100 opening weekend, or perhaps the combination of cynicism and a weak August box office did it in. Either way, odds are, you didn't see the movie-- by our estimates somewhere between 1.5 million and 3 million tickets were sold.
--AP
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New G.I. Joe Club Exclusives Revealed
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  Because fans demanded it, the club will be getting 7 exclusive figures based on the aborted final wave of direct-to-consumer figures from a few years ago. Some are, anyway-- others like Python Patrol Copperhead are new. Also available are 2006-style Airtight, Outback, Lt. Falcon, Munitia, and new Troopers and Vipers. Seeing how insanely popular the 25th Anniversary line has been, we're quite surprised to see these coming.
Also new and exciting: the 2009 club freebies! 12-inch fans can get what they're calling a "Black Talking Commander," while 3 3/4-inch fans can get a super-cool Destro's Iron Grenadier-deco version of Undertow. Undertow, of course, being one of the finest figures Hasbro ever sculpted. Get one.
--AP
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Colbert Report DVD Coming
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  In what we assumed was an election tie-in, a Colbert Report DVD is coming, so says TVShowsOnDVD.com. Guess what? It's a holiday release, coming late in November. It isn't clear exactly what it is, but odds are it'll sell tens of copies. Stay tuned for more.
--AP
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Comedy Is Dead Updates
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 Our pal Shaun updated Comedy Is Dead with a look at The Steve Martin Brothers, the final comedy album released by Steve Martin. Calling it "comedy" may be a bit of a stretch, half of the content is comedy and half is banjo music. And the comedy half? Somewhat phoned in. Click it and read all about it.
--AP
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Xbox 360 Deals of Note
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 Attention cheapskates! More goodies this week.
At Toys "R" Us, the chain (and web site) is running a buy-one-get-one-half-price sale on all Xbox 360 software. (This ties in to another note.) As such, you may wish to pick up some of the new games you've been holding out on. Sadly, Xbox Points cards do not count as games.
The popular title The Orange Box seems to have had a retail-wide price cut. Formerly $39.99, the game was $29.99 at Target, Toys "R" Us, Wal-Mart, and Fry's Electronics on Sunday. Not as a sale, mind you, but a new low price.
Select Wal-Mart stores have Viva Pinata down to pennies under $10. Prices vary by store, though.
--AP
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Ouch, Again
August 21, 2008 |
Star Wars Figure of the Day Updated at Galactic Hunter
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Figure of the Day has updated once again! The daily feature on figures you might have but might not-- either way, here's what you've been missing! Spanning from the original Power of the Force series of 1995 to the latest of the 30th Anniversary Collection, it's almost like a history lesson!
From left to right: Yoda with Kybuck, Yoda, Tri_Droid. Go to Figure of the Day for the next update, with the latest installment in our ongoing series!
--AP
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Playmobil News Round-Up
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 Over at Playmoblog, we're posting all sorts of new news. Specifically, more Target sets are hitting.
Keep your eyes peeled for a new $9.99 Knights assortment with new knights, catapults, and flying knights. Read this for more!
--AP
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LEGO 2009 News & Picture Round-Up
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 Today is a good day for Brick fans. Not only are Pirates coming back, but... well, just read on. These links may be dead by the time you read this.
Brickshelf has images of the new Pirates line, City, Indiana Jones, Racers, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and more.
Flickr member Corran101 added a bunch of larger and clearer shots of select sets, including the Star Wars ones.
The Brothers Brick has a little info, as well.
We can't wait for 2009!
--AP
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Xbox Live Arcade This Week
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 This week's sequel (in concept) to Pac-Man Championship Edition and (in reality) the classic Galaga is available. We already bought it, and it's kicking our butts at first. It's Galaga Legions, and it's $10, or 800 points. It combines the original gameplay with new and classic skins, new (and remixed) music, and 21st century bullet-hell sensibilities. Try the demo, you'll probably like it.
You may also be hearing that the original Banjo-Kazooie is not only coming to XBLA, but it's going to be a free pre-order bonus as well. Read all about it at Joystiq.
--AP
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Wii Downloads This Week
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 Fans of the WiiWare service can grab Midnight Pool. You won't, though. How many pool games are downloadable on the Wii now, like five or six?
For the Virtual Console: the TurboGrafx-16 golf game Neo Turf Masters will be downloaded by no one, but the original NES Mega Man is more than worth your while. Well, we think so, we bought the original thousands of years ago and still love it.
--AP
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Points Met
August 25, 2008 |
Star Wars Q&A, Figure of the Day Updated at Galactic Hunter
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Galactic Hunter has posted a Q&A column this week! Be sure to click through and read up on the latest!
Also, Figure of the Day has been updated! Many times, actually. The daily feature on figures you might have but might not-- either way, here's what you've been missing! Spanning from the original Power of the Force series of 1995 to the latest of The Legacy Collection, it's almost like a history lesson! From left to right: Yoda with Kybuck, Yoda, Tri_Droid. Go to Figure of the Day for the next update, with the latest installment in our ongoing series.
--AP
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New G.I. Joe Figures Revealed
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 Lots of sites are linking to this image post showing what appears to be the 12th wave of figures for the new era of G.I. Joes. Notable: they're all repaints. The Python Crimson Guard is pictured, and the rest are redecorated figures with new accessories from comic packs or just simple repaints. It's better than nothing, or so we tell ourselves. It seems that like Star Wars, the Joe team is considering doing more repaint waves to maximize their tooling and take advantage of the buy-anything crowd. Which is ample.
--AP
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Comedy Is Dead Updates
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 Our pal Shaun updated Comedy Is Dead with a look at Anticipation, the newest comedy album from America's other funnyman, Lewis Black. Surprisingly, it's being sold in Target. Not surprisingly, it involves a lot of yelling and track listings like "Blueberry Pancakes." Click it and read all about it.
--AP
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Playmobil Playmoblog Updates
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 Over at Playmoblog, we're posting all sorts of new news. More new US mass market sets are hitting, so watch the updates and start saving.
This weekend, we posted a report on shockingly large amount of product appearing at USA Toys "R" Us stores. The entire Dinosaur and Circus lines seem to be present as well as new take-along sets, knights a-plenty, new Romans, and much more. The Take-Alongs seem to be about ten minutes of fun each, tops. Read all about it!
--AP
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She's Not That Kind of a Girl
August 28, 2008 |
Star Wars Figure of the Day Updated at Galactic Hunter
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Figure of the Day has updated once again! The daily feature on figures you might have but might not-- either way, here's what you've been missing! Spanning from the original Power of the Force series of 1995 to the latest of the 30th Anniversary Collection, it's almost like a history lesson!
From left to right: Clone SCUBA Trooper, Biggs Darklighter, Battle Droid. Go to Figure of the Day for the next update, with the latest installment in our ongoing series!
--AP
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G.I. Joe "Bonus Wave" Wave 12 Pre-Orders; TRU Exclusives Out
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 Over at Entertainment Earth, wave 12 (the "bonus wave," a euphemism for a repaint wave) is coming soon! This case actually has a pretty good mix, and a couple of figures which qualify as new characters. Click here to see the breakdown, which includes a carded Tripwire, Cobra Commander, Ripper, Crimson Python Patrol Guard, red logo Cobra Trooper, Storm Shadow, and two new Cobra Divers.
Also, the new Toys "R" Us exclusive Battle Packs have been spotted in Los Angeles. Choose from the Crimson Guard (4 guards and a commander) or Firefly vs. Greenshirts. Each pack is $25 and has what we consider to be some of the finest packaging out of Hasbro for this line yet.
--AP
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Unicron Returns, With New Box
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  We reported it before, but now ACToys.net has new, large photos of the packaging of Unicron! This exclusive reissue will be sold at Toys "R" Us and, so far, it appears to just be the Armada Unicron in a new box. It's worth noting that it's a large, reasonably fun toy so if you missed it the first time around you may wish to get one this year.
--AP
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Xbox Live Arcade This Week
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 This week's game is Castle Crashers, a title from the people that brought you Alien Hominid. This one, though, is a hack-and-slash arcade adventure game, whereas the other was a shooter with a difficulty level generally unseen in a modern video game. This new title is 1,200 points, or $15.
--AP
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Wii Downloads This Week
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 Fans of the WiiWare service can grab Helix. For $10, we're hearing it's pretty bad, so you shouldn't bother. (Especially since Japan got the new Alien Crush from Hudson.)
For the Virtual Console: the TurboGrafx-16 RPG Ys Book I and II and the classic Neo-Geo fighter Samurai Showdown II are available. Both are considered classics in their own circles, but, as usual, don't compare with what has been coming out in Japan and Europe.
--AP
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Click Here For News From July!
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