Til All Are Bored
January 2, 2009 |
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 Legacy Collection, it's almost like a history lesson!
From left to right: Yoda, IG Lancer Droid. Go to Figure of the Day for the next update, with the latest installment in our ongoing series!
--AP
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Mega Man 9 Almost Didn't Go Back To 8-Bit
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  The most surprising and wonderful game to come out of 2008 was Mega Man 9, a multi-platform downloadable game made to look and play like an original NES title. Now, the guys at NintendoWiiFanboy.com are saying it was almost a 3D game instead which would kind of miss the point. Thankfully, this did not happen.
--AP
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G.I. Joe Movie Toys Listings
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  The guys at Hisstank.com posted a big and probably totally legit list of new toys for the 2009 movie, which seem to include a number of updates to classic vehicles. A Night Raven and a new Joe base are included, and some other nuggets of the future can be spied in this list.
--AP
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Transformers News Round-Up
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  The year is ending, and more stuff is making the rounds. Go figure. Ah well, read about some robot toys.
Asian garage kit add-on manufacturer TFClub (not related to the official Transformers Fan Club) has announced yet another upgrade set for collectors, the Gear of War. Concept art is now viewable for add-ons for Inferno, Sideswipe & Sunstreaker & Mirage, and a new G1-scaled tape named AutoScout. (Don't worry, nobody else remembers him from the cartoons either.) No price is known but were we gambling fans, we'd say $80.
TFW2005 has confirmation that Dinobot and Smokescreen from Transformers Universe Deluxe Wave 5 are shipping already. Given Wave 4 started hitting only weeks ago, this is quite impressive.
Universe fans may be interested in this HK-TF gallery of Ratchet which shows him without the red stripes on the hood and a new shade of white plastic. We assume this is the "final" look of the toy, but we're just guessing.
The guys at Reprolabels have made an add-on for the Classics Ultra Magnus City Commander armor. It's pretty swell, and interesting from the sense that these are aftermarket parts for an aftermarket upgrade kit, which we can only assume is a very, very specific and tiny audience.
--AP
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If We Cannot Be Free, At Least We Can Be Cheap
Janaury 5, 2009 |
Star Wars Q&A 2008 Returns, Figure of the Day Updated at Galactic Hunter
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 Galactic Hunter has posted a new Q&A column this week! Be sure to click through and read up on the latest!
 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 Legacy Collection, it's almost like a history lesson!
From left to right: Kir Kanos. We guess it's just the one, then. Go to Figure of the Day for the next update, with the latest installment in our ongoing series!
--AP
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Transformers News Round-Up
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 A few years ago, you were lucky if Kenner cranked out 25 Beast Wars toys per year. Now, it seems we're getting a dozen or more a month. Read on!
Fan site TFW2005 has scans from Hyper Hobby Magazine showcasing the Black-And-White Disney Label "Optimouse" Prime, Masterpiece Grimlock, Alternity Megatron, and Henkei Cyclonus. All in all, worth seeing, although it does make the Henkei Cyclonus look far better than we expect the final product will appear.
TFW2005 has pics of Revenge of the Fallen Dirt Boss in packaging, this is newsworthy as we believe it re-confirms the name and shows the toy packaged out in robot mode.
The guys at ACToys.net have a gallery of a movie Evac repaint without a name yet. It looks pretty great, and we presume it's part of what will most likely be a massive rollout for Revenge of the Fallen in the spring.
--AP
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Cheap Games This Week
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This week, we saw that Circuit City had some very good game deals. These include:
LEGO Star Wars The Complete Saga, $14.99 (multiple platforms)
The Orange Box, $14.99 (multiple platforms)
And some others-- but these seem like two you might actually want to buy.
--AP
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Server Up, Server Down
January 8, 2009 |
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 Legacy Collection, it's almost like a history lesson!
From left to right: Clone Trooper (Coruscant Landing Platform), C-3PO, Super 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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Hasbro Games Coming to Xbox
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  Since EA and Hasbro announced their publishing deal we were wondering when the Hell we were going to see Hasbro's fairly legendary board game catalog on the Xbox and other home consoles. Late last year we got a $40 retail Monopoly-- which will be great on its eventual $7.50 clearance price tag-- and this new press release shows more plans. The online appeal of Scrabble is hard to deny, although it seems Connect Four would be less fun as a digital entity. How about some Axis & Allies (currently owned by one of Hasbro's many subsidiaries)? At least it's more engaging than Uno.
--AP
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G.I. Joe Resolute 5-Pack Revealed
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 The guys at the official G.I. Joe Fan Club posted some boxed shots of the new G.I. Joe Resolute 5-pack with loads of new Cobra guys and another Duke for you to choke on.
--AP
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Transformers News Round-Up
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 It's a good thing Takara loves you, because Hasbro doesn't seem to Red Alert.
The e-hobby shop revealed a ton of new toys this week. First and foremost is the fairly gorgeous Red Alert, or just "Alert" which is as of yet not confirmed for a US release. The Japanese version has stunning blue windows, sharp red markings, and more chrome than you'd probably want. Similar things can be said for Smokescreen which looks a little more refined than its just-released (but hard to find as we've not seen one) US counterpart. There are also some Minibots with Cliffjumper, Brawn, and Beachcomber and another set of Minibots with Wheelie, Warpath, and Cosmos.
Some non-news was posted all over after this non-announcement of the Botcon exclusives made the rounds.
Over at this blog you can see a garage toy of sorts for a Classics-based trailer for Optimus Prime. It's not too impressive, but it is a trailer.
--AP
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Wallum Fallum
Janaury 12, 2009 |
Star Wars Q&A, Figure of the Day Updated at Galactic Hunter
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Galactic Hunter has posted a new Q&A column this week! Be sure to click through and read up on the latest!
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 Legacy Collection, it's almost like a history lesson!
From left to right: Clone Emperor Palpatine, Luke Skywalker. Go to Figure of the Day for the next update, with the latest installment in our ongoing series!
--AP
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Ad: Star Wars Legacy ESB Wave 6 at Entertainment Earth
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  Because we have bills to pay: New action figures are up for pre-order at Entertainment Earth!
Items include an exclusive Bettie Page statue, a shared exclusive DC Universe Mattel Batman vs. Clayface set, Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen, and a bunch of fairly nifty Sonic the Hedgehog vinyl statues based, seemingly, from before the series went from amusing to awful.
While you're there, be sure to check out the Winter Blowout Sale, where you can save on over 600 items!
Thanks for your repeated purchases! (We get a chunk of the sale, you see.)
--AP
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Transformers News Round-Up
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 New toys! Old toys! Old prototypes of new toys! There's a lot to see this week.
Fan site Transformers At The Moon has a gallery of the recently-sold hand-painted one-of-a-kind Alpha Trion! These were on display at a few events, and appeared on the Transformers club's web site in the past. Check out a nifty piece of fan favorite history!
The next Japanese Encore reissue set? Bruticus. The set is going to be about $80, which is really hard to swallow given the toy has been available for about $25 in no less than four unique versions since the year 2000.
The guys at HK-TF have galleries of the Gear of War add-on set prototypes. Largely unpainted, there's not much to see, but it's the first look at what's sure to be a fairly interesting add-on set.
Stripes, or no stripes? An eBay seller has Ratchet from Universe with the stripes now. It's not yet known if this is a newer or older prototype, but hey, it does have a lot of shots of Ratchet from various angles.
--AP
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New Brian Posehn Comedy Album Coming?
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  Hey comedy fans! Brian Posehn's new album is being recorded next week. We found this out because Henry from Chunklet was blogging about Scratch Acid and in his post he referred to where they were in Nashville, and how this "is fitting seeing as how I'll be there next week to record Brian Posehn's new album." Sweet! So for those keeping track, it seems Maria Bamford and, if our notes are right, Patton Oswalt also have albums coming very soon.
--AP
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Playmobil: New 2-Packs for 2009
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  At a Los Angeles-area Wal-Mart, we saw 4 new 2-packs. We did not, however, take good notes. Sets include reissues of the Ninja (with some slight part changes) and Mandarin Prince, a 2-pack with a Fireman and Policeman, some pirates, and another one we forgot. We'll write down the numbers and contents next time. As always, these are likely to be US mass market exclusives. (There were also a pair of Christmas-themed Santa blister sets that, as far as we can tell, never saw release.)
Also, the Egyptian sets are making the rounds on eBay. They look pretty sweet.
--AP
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Single Dinobot, Also Smokescreen
January 14, 2009 |
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 Legacy Collection, it's almost like a history lesson!
From left to right: Chewbacca, Jodo Kast. Go to Figure of the Day for the next update, with the latest installment in our ongoing series!
--AP
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Andy Richter Controls the Universe DVDs Coming in March
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  The somewhat cultish and generally liked Andy Richter Controls the Universe is coming to DVD. It'll include the whole series, including a few unaired episodes bringing the total to 19. Read all about it on TVShowsOnDVD.com.
--AP
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Transformers Universe Dinobot, Smokescreen Found in Californee
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  We found them! In addition to the previous wave with Cyclonus, Cheetor, Starscream, and Hound with Ravage, we spotted Dinobot and Smokescreen at a Los Angeles-area Target today. They were a surprisingly low $7.87 each.
Smokescreen is basically just a repaint of Silverstreak, which was a remold and repaint of Prowl. At first we thought it was slightly remolded, but it turns out that Hasbro's skillful use of paint on his face made it look like some changes were made in the area around his chin, making him look more like he's wearing a helmet with some sort of chin strap/guard thing. Other than that, it is what it is-- the car mode deco is a little less refined than the Henkei version coming in Japan later this Spring, and the unique way the number 38 was painted on makes it look more like a marathon runner than a transforming car. Because it was cheap, we aren't complaining too much, but it really is astounding just how much better the Japanese release looks in advance photography. Also, it's the third use of this mold, so there's really no reason to jump on it unless the price is right or you just love your G1 characters. Which, well, describes us.
On the other side of the fence is the new Dinobot, which is a pretty nifty new toy. It isn't completely like the original toy or cartoon model, but few of the "classics" toys are exact updates anyway. The colors don't match the early pictures-- he's brown-- and there's a ton of purple on his face and legs. There are a number of notable features which should appeal to your inner toy dork, like hands which can switch between standard fists or the three-fingered, two-thumbed hands seen on both the show and the toy. The helmet and face are inspired by the show, giving you an original-ish Dinobot with a mouth for the very first time. A lot of bony elements can be seen on his limbs, and the projectile from his tail weapon can also be used as a very short and very red sword. What's more, he has a triple-changing faction logo on his chest. It rotates up and down between a red Maximal logo, a purple Predacon logo, and like the original toy had, no logo at all. If you're short on funds and prefer to buy only the most interesting toys, we'd put this near the top of your next shopping list.
--AP
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Click Clack
January 21, 2009 |
Star Wars Q&A, Figure of the Day Updated at Galactic Hunter
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Galactic Hunter has posted a new Q&A column this week! Be sure to click through and read up on the latest!
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 Legacy Collection, it's almost like a history lesson!
From left to right: Darth Vader, Count Dooku, R4-J1, Anakin Skywalker, Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi. Go to Figure of the Day for the next update, with the latest installment in our ongoing series!
--AP
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Skeletor Up for Order
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  Looking to menace He-Man? Get Skeletor. An expensive figure ($20 + $8 shipping), it's actually kinda neat. We don't have one on order yet, but we want one.
--AP
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Transformers News Round-Up
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 It's always a good time to put out new stuff-- in the past few days we've seen reports of Animated Wreck-Gar (pictured) and Atomic Lugnut hitting, as well as Universe Leo Prime, Overload, Inferno, and even Vector Prime. We'd like to point out we have not personally seen any of these in the wilds of retail, but we've seen so many Dinobots and Smokescreens and Blurrs and Swindles on our trip to Arizona that we're no longer considering them newsworthy.
Questionably up-and-up WSTs continue! We're no legal experts, but the unlicensed mini versions of Blaster and Shockwave both look pretty fantastic. It's great to see people cranking out some amazing prototypes, and the series seems to be continuing well into the future.
While it's been said adult fans don't drive sales, it seems they don't hurt, either. Test shots of Universe Hot Shot reveal a vanity license plate that should appeal to anyone who was online during the initial release of Transformers Armada in 2002. Yes-- he has JaAm.
In Japan there's going to be yet another exclusive clear Mirage variant. The Allspark has some info on it, but in English.
--AP
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LEGO Stores Yield Cheap LEGO Sets
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 If you live near a LEGO brand store, you might be in luck. In addition to its regular clearance area, some stores have hundreds of old and new sets for 30% off due to box imperfections. This means that you might be able to get that Sandcrawler you wanted for $69.99, or perhaps the Star Justice collection for about $25. Happy hunting!
--AP
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Will Make You Happy
January 23, 2009 |
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 Legacy Collection, it's almost like a history lesson!
From left to right: Galactic Marine, Jango Fett. Go to Figure of the Day for the next update, with the latest installment in our ongoing series!
--AP
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25th Anniversary Ninja Turtles Hitting Targets
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  In our big toy run the other week, we saw hordes of $8.99 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures seemingly cast from the original molds. We only saw the four turtles, but the cardbacks-- which look very similar to the originals-- featured the first 10 figures from way back when. Color us old! We're pretty sure it's to celebrate the comic book, as the action figure line is certainly not 25 years old.
--AP
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Transformers News Round-Up
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 Either the development time for add-on parts is short, or the people at TFC Toys like to reveal things slowly. They sent out a great many pictures of its Gear of War set, now in full color and shown on Henkei (as available) releases. Click the pic for ladders, blasters, and more.
Speaking of unlicensed add-ons, FansProject's Convoy trailer apparently can connect with its City Commander (Ultra Magnus) armor kit in vehicle mode. Neat! How very God Bomber of them.
In the realm of the ridiculous, company iGear Toys (we've never heard of them either) is producing an add-on to the City Commander add-on. No, really. This is why it's best for Hasbro to just do it right the first time. (We'd be lying if we said we didn't want one.)
Wave 3 of the Mighty Muggs showed up, and then were cancelled. Such is life. We'll say more as permission permits.
In Japan it seems the Henkei Cyclonus is shipping. It's pretty slick.
--AP
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We Will Fail
January 26, 2009 |
Star Wars Q&A, Figure of the Day Updated at Galactic Hunter
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Galactic Hunter has posted a new Q&A column this week! Be sure to click through and read up on the latest!
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 Legacy Collection, it's almost like a history lesson!
From left to right: Battle Droid. That's it. We're sure it will get more interesting tomorrow. Go to Figure of the Day for the next update, with the latest installment in our ongoing series!
--AP
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Playmobil US 2009 Catalog Online, German 2009/US 2010 Previews
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 If you were wondering what to expect (and when to expect it) for Playmobil, the manufacturer put up a PDF of their new catalog. That's the good news. The bad news is that, aside from new specials, there's not much you haven't already seen in last year's German catalog. Pyramids, Ghost Pirates, and other goodies are on the way though, so fans of the toy line should find a lot to like here.
While we're looking for the German catalog, we did find some scanned previews of new 2010 US sets. Safari [registration required for most pictures] is on the way, plus ostriches, a new Arab stereotype figure, flamingoes, water buffalo, what seems to be a poacher, and tons of others. Really, another banner year.
--AP
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What, Me Quarterly? MAD Magazine In Decline
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 In case you didn't see all the reports, comic mainstay MAD Magazine is now going to be a quarterly publication. (Yes, it's still in print.) Other classic humor publications like Cracked and National Lampoon have become online-only humor publications of little consequence, so it's unfortunate to see the granddaddy of the format edging toward the ravine of obscurity.
--AP
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Transformers News Round-Up
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  We're generally uninterested in movie toys, but we're pretty stoked to see Hasbro bringing a new Revenge of the Fallen Bumblebee toy to market which is larger and features a human "driver" figure. What we wouldn't give for a Classics Bumblebee like that!
Universe Warpath, Wheelie, Rodimus, and Cosmos are hitting. Some fans found them and posted pictures. We haven't seen them yet, but happy hunting!
Roadbuster Ultra Magnus and Shadow Blade Megatron are both out from Transformers Animated. They're... well, they're out.
Lots of Japanese magazine scans showing new Henkei, Alternity, Disney Label, and other toys are showing up. You want to see them, so click here, here, and here.
--AP
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Ad: Pre-Order the Exclusive STAR WARS Boba Fett Animated Maquette
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 Ad: New from Gentle Giant and Entertainment Earth is the EE Exclusive Star Wars Boba Fett and Carbonite Maquette. It's pretty sweet. (We just saw it the other day.) This new limited edition exclusive sports Boba Fett with his trophy, Han Solo, frozen in carbonite. It's a real slick moment. Click through for pictures, pricing, and availability.
--AP
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Lobotomy
January 28, 2009 |
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 Legacy Collection, it's almost like a history lesson!
From left to right: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Doda Bodonawieedo. Go to Figure of the Day for the next update, with the latest installment in our ongoing series!
--AP
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More LEGO 2009 Revealed in Canada, Eh
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 Over at The Brothers Brick, they've got some shots from Canada revealing new 2009 sets and themes like Space Police. Yes, old brick fans, Space Police. There's a hot rod/biker aesthetic instead of Blacktron (BOOO!) but at least it's something in space that isn't Mars. Also shown are new Star Wars, Castle, and other sets which will be shown in New York next month. (Yeah, we'll be taking some pictures.)
--AP
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Ad: Pre-Order the New Online Only STAR WARS Mighty Muggs
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 Ad: New from Hasbro and Entertainment Earth is the Star Wars Mighty Muggs Wave 8, which will not be shipping to big box stores. (Online Exclusive, we hear.) This case of 4 figures includes the Emperor's Royal Guard, a Wampa, an Ewok, and Qui-Gon Jinn. A great mix for fans of the whole saga! The Wampa's arm seems to be removable! Click through for pictures, pricing, and availability.
--AP
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I Might Be Moving To Helsinki Soon
January 30, 2009 |
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 Legacy Collection, it's almost like a history lesson!
From left to right: Han Solo, R4-E1. Go to Figure of the Day for the next update, with the latest installment in our ongoing series!
Also, Hasbro confirmed a very expensive black repaint of the ARC-170 Fighter coming this Summer. And Target.com has a new Rancor exclusive before the retail stores get their stock. Yeah, we'll take one of each, please.
--AP
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Transformers News Round-Up
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 British movie news site Empire Online has shots of Hasbro's "sneak preview" Soundwave and Bumblebee figures. You may have seen these leaked to eBay months ago, but if not, these are the first official shots. Also, some semi-official leaks are coming out of U.K. Toy Fair.
Our bestest pal (we hope, we think he's awesome) Walky aka David Willis posted a great review of Universe Warpath on the LiveJournal. As these toys are new and are just hitting, we consider these to be most newsworthy.
Want to see more packaged shots of Universe Ratchet? The Arker has some for you.
Chinese site The-Arker has shots of the new Bumblebee toy which also features a tiny figure of Sam Witwicky to drive him. The key thing here is that they show the first-ever robot mode pictures.
--AP
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G.I. Joe Movie, Toys News Round-Up
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  HISSTank.com has been busy. First, they revealed the first glimpse at the Hall of Heroes figures, which were voted on by fans last year prior to the release of most of the line. Basically, it's a line of tweaked "greatest hits" figures in premium packaging, which history shows us will generally command a premium price. Oh, and they're online exclusives.
The movie trailer will be premiering during the Super Bowl. There's not much else to say there.
A "Greatest Battles" box set of tweaked figures based on Valor vs. Venom with a DVD is up for pre-order at Entertainment Earth. It has Snake Eyes, Cobra Commander, Storm Shadow, and Duke. As everything is required by law to have a Duke.
Also, Hisstank.com has a bunch of shots of file cards of movie characters with brief character information. Fun stuff if you may or may not consider it to be spoilery.
--AP
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Frankazoid! Volume 2 DVDs
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 Freakazoid fans, take note: the second DVD collection is indeed on the way for an April release. The extras on the disc are also revealed on TVShowsOnDVD.com.
--AP
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Click Here For News From December!
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