Hoth looks cold!

From geekology

See the artist's Flickr page here

Old Lego commercial, inspired by us?

Yep, this set is definitely worth $16

I'm not paying $16 for Eclipso

More Justice League goodies!

From cooltoyreview

Justice Guild 4-Pack

From cooltoyreview

See more pictures here

Hasbro, Sesame Workshop Announce 10-Year Global Strategic Alliance for Sesame Street

From cooltoyreview, PAWTUCKET, R.I. & NEW YORK

Today, Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS - News) and Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, announced a 10-year global strategic alliance that will give Hasbro the rights to manufacture and market a wide-range of toys and co-branded games based on the beloved characters of Sesame Street. The range of products, featuring Elmo, Big Bird, Abby Cadabby and Cookie Monster, among others, will be designed to simultaneously entertain and educate young children. New Sesame Street products from Hasbro’s PLAYSKOOL and games brands will be available in stores beginning in 2011.

“We are very pleased to form a global strategic alliance with Sesame Workshop,” said Brian Goldner, Hasbro’s President and CEO. “Sesame Workshop has an amazing portfolio of characters that children have enjoyed in a variety of forms for decades, and Sesame Street is a brand that parents trust. Hasbro fully embraces Sesame Workshop’s philosophy and mission, and we see this new alliance as an ideal strategic fit,” Goldner said.

“At the heart of Hasbro’s business is making fantastic games, toys, lifestyle and entertainment products that are enjoyed by people of all ages worldwide,” said Gary E. Knell, Sesame Workshop’s President and CEO. “We are thrilled to work with the leading provider of play to provide families with an extended and engaging Sesame Street experience.”

Read more here

Cool SW figure - IG88 (concept art)

New Lego stuff out NOW! Buy two at TRU and second one is 1/2 off!

Smash n' Grab, twenty bucks
It's true! This is a good sale, considering what you might find. The signs here said it ran until the 5th. Important to note that Star Wars and Atlantis sets (among other, boring categories) don't count.

I've pictured the three new themes, all of which have new parts and minifigs. Smash n' Grab, above, comes with that cool Squidman repaint and the new Space Police helmet. Also, it's a great set. The jet-powered tow truck is an excellent design.

Rapid VPR, ten bucks
I snagged this one the other day and I'm very satisfied. This ship isn't as good a design as the purple space truck, but another super alien repaint and the new space helmet, plus some groovy parts, all at a good price.

Fire Blaster, ten bucks
Another nicely-priced set with some cool new parts (the smooth 4x4 dome!), a new rock monster design, and new power miner design.

I cannot stress the coolness of the new Power Miners minifig enough. The metallic helmets combined with the awesome visor (which in earlier incarnations was molded with a silly antenna on one side that is now gone), plus the silvery paint on the torso and legs make this dude slicker than slick.

Magma Mech, twenty bucks
I haven't really perused this one, but it has the same minfig coolness, plus a little more. This power miner also has a metallic body armor piece.

Monster Crab Clash, seven bucks
The Atlantis diver's helmets are another great new piece with lots of Lego connections on it. This is, however, the line I'll be waiting the longest to acquire. The set above is a good buy, you get the new minifig and six (six!) completely new black barb pieces (on the tips of the crab's legs).

Guardian of the Deep, fifteen bucks
I actually haven't seen this one yet.

Typhoon Turbo Sub, twenty-five bucks
Cool-looking ship, although from other angles it looks a bit sparce. Can't deny the groove thang of that shark-headed minfig, though.

Were I to recommend a specific purchase pack, I'd get Smash n' Grab and Fire Blaster (which would be half price), and the Monster Crab set (Atlantis doesn't count). Thirty-two bucks plus tax for some serious Christmas morning Lego awesomeness.

Mystery-Pack LEGO Minifigs Coming In 2010

From geekology, LEGO is going to begin selling single minifig mystery packs (blindboxes) sometime in 2010 in an attempt to get you to buy 20 of the same thing with the hopes of getting a ninja, robot, zombie and Mexican wrestler so you can stage THE MOST EPIC LEGO BATTLE EVER to take place on your bedroom floor.

The 30 Most Mind-Blowingly Strange M.U.S.C.L.E. Figures

From toplessrobot, Back in the 1980s, American kids hadn't yet fully experienced the wonderful madness of Japanese toy designers that would become more commonplace a decade or two later. One of the early tastes they got was the short-lived but popular M.U.S.C.L.E. toyline, a collection of little pink (and sometimes other colored) wrestlers that Mattel imported from the very bizarre Kinnikuman series in Japan. While Kinnikuman was an epic tale of galactic wrestling told through anime and manga, Mattel ditched the story, characters and even most of the references to wrestling to instead focus on the basic idea of MILLIONS OF UNUSUAL SMALL CREATURES LURKING EVERYWHERE!!! Kinnikuman would later be presented in a form closer to the original as Ultimate Muscle in the western world.

See entire list here

Death By Plastic: Gallery Of LEGO Monsters

From geekology, This is a small gallery of LEGO monsters made by various artists. They are all scary and might kill you. Sure they're really just a bunch of interlocking plastic bits, but has that ever stopped me from choking on them? No, it hasn't. The Hannibal Lecter style mask my mom makes me wear does. I WILL EAT YOUR FACE OFF! Just kidding. NO I'M NOT! Yes, I really am. PSYCHE, JUST PUT YOUR EAR BETWEEN THE BARS. DO IT NOW!

See the rest of the gallery here

The 10 Most Tragically Unreleased Action Figure Lines

From toplessrobot, Unrequited action figure collections are one of the most pathetic things in all of nerdom. No matter how hard a collector tries to deny it, if they don't gather "the complete set" of their favorite action figures, a seething pain gnaws at their tiny heart with ever glance to the phantom space on their toy shelf. This nagging feeling creeps into nightmares and manifests itself in secret spreadsheets, wish lists and on occasion a locked, leatherbound collection of hand-written free verse poetry. That's why when a toy line is teased at and not delivered, the evening news is littered with reports of spontaneous human combustion. But nerds know better. Each pile of ash represents the remains of a nerd crushed by the allure of what could have been. Read on to regret the toys that could have rounded out many nerdy collections, but be careful not to implode -- there are some heart breakers.

See the list here

A slice of toy heaven I don't really give a rat's ass about

For seven of the past eight days I have been working furiously on sets for a Power Rangers toy commercial. We had to make a huge set of a post-apocalyptic urban wasteland on which the colorful members of Power Rangers RPM fought the evil Grinders. The spot is the lead-in for a contest, in which kid fans of the Power Rangers make their own movies completing the story we started.

As toy scoops go, this is fairly huge. I got to see prototypes of the spring line, including one Megazord that still had its pre-production red and green coloration. Unfortunately, if I showed off any groovy pictures of the sets or the prototypes I'd honk off the Bandai bigwigs and damage the rep of my good friends who hired me. So groove on the sheer quantity! The boxes above were actually the second batch of toys we had to wrangle after the batch being sorted in the top pic.

So there were tons of toys, which is cool, but they were Power Rangers toys, which are pretty much universally crap. Lame designs, construction, everything. Still, a fun job.

On a side note, I looked up the Power Rangers on Wikipedia and discovered that every year, instead of renewing the show, they start a new show. So there are sixteen different sets of Power Rangers for kids to clamor for, assuming they would be interested long enough.

Hasbro 'The Legacy Collection' Basic Figures Wave 7

From sirsteve's guide.

See the rest here

JLU Green Lantern Origins Three-Pack

From bigbadtoystore, At long last Hal Jordan joins Mattel’s Justice League Unlimited collection! In this pack, you’ll not only get Hal Jordan (in his trademark Ferris Aircraft flight suit), but also his predecessor Abin Sur and his mentor/arch enemy Sinestro, both in different versions of their Green Lantern uniforms. And, for the first time in the JLU line, all of the heads in this pack are swappable, letting you play out the transformation of Hal Jordan from test pilot to Green Lantern of Space Sector 2814!

How do I do this without gloating?

We stopped at Target for a quick refill on diapers, and lo and behold the toy section had one each of these little items. And... I actually wasn't going to buy them. Work is patchy for me and we were on the eve of a big vacation, it just wasn't the day to drop forty bucks on toys.

That's right, forty bucks. They were each priced at $19.99. I hoped the fact that they were there meant that they'd be findable at Targets and met Julie at the checkout counter with my tale of toy woe. And... she reminded me that she hadn't gotten me a birthday present yet.

I rushed back and got them. We were so busy packing that I didn't open them except to pull out Devil Ray, who is AWESOME. With the JLU line's lack of spacesuits, robots and the like, his helmeted head really stands out. Psycho Pirate looks pretty great, too.

I know JPX just Amazoned these for above-market prices, and I don't mean to nyahh about that. Perhaps this will be the only Target sighting for these 6-packs, you never know with JLU. Anyway, I got 'em.

I want one

From geekology, I like trains, and not just because they go CHOO CHOO. I also like the hobos that jump on them! THAT'S ENOUGH FOR ME, OKAY? Anyway, this is a Thomas the Tank Engine/Voltron mashup toy available from Singapore for around $8. It is in no way shape or form licensed or legal. But it is cool. Everybody's calling it a Transformer but it is clearly a throwback to Voltron. Who, despite being a robot, I still liked as a child because he was rainbow colored and, damnit, I'm a sucker for a rainbow. One time I even got a girlfriend to dress up as Rainbow Bright on Halloween. And not to brag, but she did go home with the handsomest pirate at the party. I was one sad ninja turtle. :(

See more pictures here

Upcoming awesomeness!

Name: Mutiny in the Ranks 6-Pack
Manufacturer: Mattel
Series: Justice League Unlimited
For ages: 4 and up
Details (Description): Mutiny in the Ranks 6-Pack
* Lex Luthor
* Tala — first-time figure!
* Devil Ray — first-time figure!
* Dr. Polaris — first-time figure!
* Psycho-Pirate — first-time figure!
* Gentleman Ghost — first-time figure!


Name: The League United 6-Pack
Manufacturer: Mattel
Series: Justice League Unlimited
For ages: 4 and up
Details (Description): The League United 6-Pack
* Superman
* Mr. Terrific — first-time figure!
* Supergirl — adult figure!
* Elongated Man — comic book deco!
* Obsidian — fan-requested re-release!
* Hourman — first-time figure!

Upcoming JLU

From cooltoyreview

Coffinbot

I've actually had this guy kicking around since before Zack was born, but I just took some pictures today. It's a robot helper for busy vampires who have appointments to keep during the day.

Comes equipped with air exchanger, on-board wifi connection, and patented Darkbomb security package.

In case of coffin breach, Darkbomb will automatically deploy, creating a dome of darkness fifty feet in diameter. Useful for escape or, barring that, vengeance.

Brought to you by the good folks at Osiris Ltd., making fine goods for the undead since... longer than we'd care to say.

Sorting!

I just started sorting this tub after not bothering to all year. In there is every set I've acquired, including some big ones from last year that I just dissembled, and every brick I pulled to build the murder beach and the pirate podracer. And general random acquisition.

I threw this little piece together to commemorate this ongoing process. I think I'm the one rowing and the angry guy is my Lego obsession.

'Thriller' with Legos

Super Powers Collection: The Comics!

From cooltoyreview, Last year, Kenner's Super Powers Collection kicked off our Flashback Friday feature, with the promise of getting the gallery as complete as possible. Today, we're one step closer to that goal with the addition of all of the mini-comics that were included with the figures.

There were a total of 23 mini-comics in the line, with a short story of the featured character battling one of the villains, usually teaming up with another hero to win the day. It's worth noting that Mantis' comic was not numbered, but since issue #17 is "missing", it's safe to say that is where it falls.


Find complete collection here

Cool stuff, Freaky Creatures!

From cooltoyreview, What is Freaky Creatures?: In the distant future, battles are fought not by humans, but by genetically enhanced creatures. These powerful creatures engage in tremendous battles in search of victory, often with great risks on the line. There are eleven known types of Freaky Creatures in the universe, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.

Freaky Creatures is a cross-platform, massively multiplayer online game that allows players to build the ultimate, customizable creatures and battle them against friends.

Freaky Creatures begins with a Starter Pack that includes 2 action figures and a 1 gigabyte reusable flash drive as the key to the Freaky Creatures Universe. With your Starter Pack you can bring your creatures to life online. Once you have created your own unique creature you can jump straight into battle or build a lair in which you can care for your creature or hang out with friends.

Read more here

Hook Monkeys!

A while back the shop I work for needed some prop barrels, so we bought several "Barrel Full of Monkeys" toys. The monkeys were dumped into a tupperware container which got stuck out of the way in various places for more than a year.

Last weekend Julie arranged her friend's baby shower, and thought hook monkeys would be a good decoration for the little gift bags of candy. I found the dusty container and emptied it into my backpack.

So of course when I got home I had to make a big monkey chain. There are ceiling hooks left over from a previous tenant, and they were perfect. Then I took some artsy-fartsy pictures and took it back down. Zack liked to chew on these, and while they're too big for swallowing I was worried he'd hook his cheek with one of the sharp little monkey paws. But there are a LOT left over, and they will be waiting for him when he's old enough.

Lego Carl Fredricksen

From Pixar animator and LEGO fanatic Angus MacLane