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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: TIE Bomber, Millennium Falcon. Go to Galactic Hunter for the next update, with the next installment in our ongoing series!

--AP

The first batch of "movie" exclusives at Toys "R" Us are hitting, we saw both Wingblade and Jetstorm (pictured) on the way home today. Both are Cybertron-era molds repainted for a new release, and they do look fairly nice. The bulk of the molds from 2002-2007 are actually quite nice, so we expect these to be loads of fun too.

We're also crapping our pants with glee over the Takara version of Rodimus, as seen on Amazon.jp. The chrome spoiler's a little goofy, but aside from that, we're probably going to go ahead and overpay and import that sucker. It may be goofy, but we're totally eating it up.

--AP

Some days, Hasbro just goes crazy and does everything right. They've announced two Comic-Con exclusive figures and made this little video promoting them, and we simply can't get enough of it. We've watched it like six times and it still makes us smile. The two exclusives announced thus far are variants of Cobra Commander in a Suit with a Podium, based on an old Marvel comic. One is blue, one is black. We're in love. COBRA!

Also, HISSTank.com has a note which they say came from Hasbro and confirms that the "Specialist Trakker" figure making the rounds on many lists is indeed Kenner's own MASK leader, Matt Trakker. Hot damn, if it's totally true this is a line that keeps on giving.

--AP

Spaced, a British comedy from the people that brought you Shaun of the Dead and whatnot, is finally coming to DVD in the USA. The show aired on BBC America on and off over the years and it's actually quite awesome. Save your pennies for this one, it's worth it.

--AP

Ad: Save up to 90% at the Entertainment Earth Spring Sale! Over 900 items are marked down including over 80 awesome Star Wars releases, over 100 incredible Anime items, and more action figures than you might care to shake a stick at.

Enjoy 2007 Hasbro Star Wars Action Figures, unique Gentle Giant releases, anime girls, Transformers, and much more. Sale ends soon, click through for pricing and availability.

And as always, buying through these shameless plugs means we get a nickel or two, and we appreciate your shined nickels and loose change. As does Apples, she needs vet bills paid.

--AP

Galactic Hunter has posted a Q&A column this week! Be sure to click through and read up on the latest!

But Figure of the Day has been updated! 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

Over at Hisstank.com, a number of unpainted test shots suddenly appeared last week. A mix of old and new old faces appear, including new versions of Cobra Commander and Lady Jaye alongside the first-ever "modern" Nemesis Enforcer and Lt. Falcon. Click the pic for more.

--AP

Due to the early samples of Indiana Jones toys-- what's the technical term?-- oh yes, sucking, we decided to not collect the the line as a whole-- this isn't because of issues like articulation, packaging, pricing, or accessories, but rather due to the simple fact we couldn't find figures with decent paint jobs on their faces.

We spent the bulk of the past week's toy runs examining figures on the pegs, specifically, their faces. Most of the Mutt Williams figures have very Spock-esque eyebrows, as as such, are easy to not buy. (Seeing how many of him are sitting at Toys "R" Us, it seems that pre-movie, nobody else wants him either.) The majority of minor character figures look decent, but well, we're trying to be cheap as we'd rather put money into overpriced Botcon toys these days.

The real disappointment comes from Indiana Jones himself. Hasbro has already released several versions of the character. There's a Cairo whipping version, a Raiders-based version complete with the fertility idol, there are two Kingdom of the Crystal Skull versions, and, what's more, there are several deluxe versions of Indy, which cost $10 or more and include traps, horses, or other large accessories. And looking over dozens of samples of nearly 10 versions of Harrison Ford, the bulk of them are terrible-- not because of any fault of the sculptors, engineers, or the talented artisans at Hasbro, but because of simple quality control. Some stores are charging $7.50 or more for basic figures, and simple things like painting eyebrows in the proper location or an eye in the right place seems difficult. Some Indy figures have too much black on their eyes, others have their eyes painted on their cheeks-- the manufacturers in China seem to be rushing these a bit.

This is a line which, while the fulfillment of a years-old dream, is something of a letdown. It's filled with diverse characters spanning nearly three decades of cinema, plus there's vehicles and all sorts of other goodies. It's spoiled by the fact that the 1980s "Adventures of Indiana Jones" figures from Kenner seemed to have consistently better face paint, which is pretty horrible. The new Hasbro line is selling quite well, and why not? It's a very exciting line based on an incredibly strong and undermerchandised (until just now) license. If you're somewhat picky like us, though, we would suggest you consider not buying the first of each figure you see at this time. Plenty of shipments are showing up at stores everywhere, and due to the wild QC on each figure, you might find Indy with a moustache and not much "scruff", or a figure with eyes that may seem more appropriate on a special version of a Hunter S. Thompson figure.

Good samples of some figures most certainly do exist-- last Friday, we stumbled upon a hat-and-jacket Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Indiana Jones figure with a face that's as perfect as we believe anyone is likely to see. (And a quick shot is pictured above.) The scruff was evenly painted, the hair didn't have any unpainted strands, and the eyes were right where they should have been, with the added bonus of not being too large or too small. The reason we bring this up is that we have received a fairly significant number of complaints at the sites we write for on the quality of this line, and it appears that there's good product out there to be found if you're persistent. We know this isn't an ideal answer to the "why does my figure suck?" question, but if you're patient and willing to do some hunting, you may find a good one. We'd rather they all just be perfect, too, but on the bright side at least you have an excuse to not buy them all at once now.

In short: Strong license, iffy execution, lots of potential in the days to come.

--AP

Just last week, Universal rereleased Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie on DVD after being off the market for nearly eight years. With no new features to speak of, nor any special features at all, this single-disc release brings you the full 1996 theatrical edit of the film and little else. Should you watch it? Yes. Want more to go on? Read our review! There's only about 75 minutes of content on the disc, so if you aren't much of a reader, just go out and buy it-- it's not that long.

--AP

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!

Go to Galactic Hunter for the next update, with the next installment in our ongoing series!

--AP

The G.I. Joe Convention folks have updated with news of guests as well as specifics as to the file cards for some of the 3 3/4-inch figures. Of note, it seems few 12-inch-era guests are coming, which either means that generation has given up on the hobby or maybe the young whippersnappers of the 1980s are finally the driving economic force. Either way, it's interesting.

--AP

This week, you can grab Assault Heroes 2, a sequel to a popular arcadey shooter. You can blow stuff up real good, drive around, and blow up stuff with the thing you drive around. It should be good times.

--AP

The WiiWare service launched this week with a ton of games, and no Virtual Console games were cranked out. Titles include Defend Your Castle, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King, LostWinds, Pop, TV Show King, and at least one or two more. We're waiting for Alien Crush, but Star Solider R might be good when it hits supposedly next week.

--AP

This is more of a heads-up than anything else-- a bunch of news sites (and therefore forums) are positively popping with news over the next several episodes of Transformers Animated as the next batch of episodes has aired in numerous international markets. In addition to plot, there's also video on YouTube, pictures, and other details. We won't be posting it here (as we have yet to implement any sort of TV coverage), but we figured you might be interested-- or wary-- in knowing these things are popping up elsewhere.

--AP

Toay in Figure of the Day, we look at the Chewbacca figure Hasbro painted up to look all Marvel-y on us. More like a work of art than a figure, this peculiar take on the Wookiee makes us examine the character in a whole new light. That, or it's a goofy cheap cash-in to get one last squeeze out of a very successful mold. Either way, I dig it. Will you? Read on!

--AP

Burger King is doing its traditional big blockbuster push for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. We walked down there today to get some lunch, and we snagged a kiddie meal with a free toy.

Some of them are activity toys, and some of them are figural in appearance. We got an invisible ink pen-- we wanted something with a figure on it, but well, there's always another day. Since we see so many people doing videos rather than photo shoots, we're going to try that out. Take it away, Adam.

(No idea why it picked that as a keyframe. Does anyone know how to change that?) There's something that feels a whole lot less legit about shooting third-rate video rather than a full shoot, but well, we're lazy. Watch it, dagnabbit, and it's not like a goofy fast food item needs eight pages on it, right?

--AP

Word is going around that Hasbro has regained the rights to their 80s TV shows produced by Sunbow. This is pretty awesome-- this means Transformers, My Little Pony, G.I. Joe, and others are now under their control, which may mean new (or continued) DVD releases. Some buzz indicates this may also include some English dubs of Japanese Transformers series, which is a bit of a mixed blessing as apparently a lot of those kind of suck. More as we have it, true believers!

--AP

Fanboys and fangirls rejoice, it appears The Sarah Connor Chronicles is coming to DVD and Blu-Ray soon. While we haven't heard much about the show, we hear it's pretty entertaining. Click through for more at TVShowsOnDVD.com.

--AP

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! 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

Over at GIJoeclub.com, a the first shots of the Comic-Con exclusive debut pack of Combat Heroes are up. The set of tiny 2-inch figures features Snake Eyes and Timber in that oh-so-popular "Galactic Heroes" style the kids all love these days. Click the pic for more.

--AP

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!

Go to Galactic Hunter for the next update, with the next installment in our ongoing series!

--AP

The G.I. Joe Convention folks have updated with pictures of (and the filecard for) the Headhunter B.A.T.S figure. It's really, really nice. Super cool. Like, we gotta get one of these. Do you have a spare? Let us know. The holographic thing on the chest is actually really nice.

--AP

This week, you can grab the verbose On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode One, a game by the guys who do Penny Arcade. The few reviews we saw were iffy, but said it was fun if you like the comics. So we're going to have to play it for ourselves, we think. Here's hoping it's great.

--AP

Fans of the newly launched WiiWare service. Critter Round-Up is some puzzle-action challenge thing. Star Soldier R is described as the Pac-Man Championship Edition of shooters, meaning time attacks. We're curious to try it. Did any of you like it?

For the Virtual Console: NES' Skykid. So not only do you get one game, it's one you don't want.

Also, Wii Fit is supposedly out. Good luck finding one.

--AP

TakaraTomy.jp has announced three summer exclusives for the HenKei line. They are: Crystal Convoy, a redeco clear Optimus Prime; Skywarp, a redeco Starscream different from Target's release; and Thundercracker, a redeco Starscream different from the Botcon exclusive. We're not quite clear on edition sizes yet, but each is going to retail for the equivalent of over US $30, so odds are they're going to be expensive from the get-go. (So who's gonna hook us up with a Thundercracker?)

--AP

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! 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

The gents at Fantofan.jp posted news of (and images of) new Universe/Classics characters, which, once again, are being recolored for their Japanese releases to be more like the original cartoons. Click through for shots of Powerglide, Silverbolt, and Onslaught. Word on the street has it we'll see them in US boxes with a sticker, but with unique coloring.

--AP

Over at Newsarama.com, voice actress Grey Delisle, perhaps best known as Asajj Ventress, is up for the role of Scarlett in a new G.I. Joe cartoon-- which is indeed good news. Apparently it's a pilot which will be shown online-- there's some news for you.

--AP

The Playstation Blog has shots and some rough info on this exclusive pre-order bonus figure. Click it for more, which isn't much more than what we just wrote there.

--AP

This week, you can grab two games, but if the early buzz is any indication you shouldn't. Warlords is a remake of a really old game that your grandparents played during the great war. The other game is Buku, which is Sudoku, minus the pencil, the paper, and the timeliness.

--AP

Fans of the newly launched WiiWare service, this is a decent week. Dr. Mario Online Rx is a re-re-remake of the classic Tetris-clone which has been around since at least 1990. Now it has online functionality, which we hear isn't superb, but it's still loads of fun in single-player if that floats your boat. Family Table Tennis has not yet crawled past our ears, so we presume you can safely ignore it for now.

For the Virtual Console: Neo-Geo's Metal Slug, a true classic, although one you likely have played and may even own. From the NES, it's City Connection. Don't worry, nobody else remembers it either.

--AP

The game isn't the only new release for fans of these paranormal investigators. TVShowsOnDVD.com has some early rough info on an upcoming direct-to-consumer release of over 100 episodes of the show-- yes, including the terrible later Slimer episodes. Dare you read up on the series which spawned Ecto-Cooler? Read on!

--AP

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!

Go to Galactic Hunter for the next update, with the next installment in our ongoing series!

--AP

Burger King is doing its traditional big blockbuster push for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. We walked down there to get some lunch, again, and we snagged a kiddie meal with a free toy.

Today, we got a box with an ant in it. The little ant has rope arms and is otherwise made of plastic. So how does it work? Take it away, Adam.

The size of the box is such that it might make a decent "crate" accessory for your action figures. The whole "scare someone with a fake ant in a box" thing isn't particularly thrilling, although the overall piece looks pretty good. The lettering on the sides are labels, and there's a bit of a wash to bring out the detail in the sculpted wood bits. It's definitely better than what you likely grew up with as far as food freebies go.

--AP

After much speculation it has finally been revealed that IDW now holds the coveted (we think) G.I. Joe comic license. We have a vague idea what can be expected, but it's great to hear it finally made official.

--AP

During our weekend road trip, we spotted piles of newly released LEGO Agents toys. Not all the sets were available (we were specifically looking for the sharks with laser beams, no dice) but several other kits were out there for the buying. Good stuff, too.

--AP

While there's no real information yet, Brothers Brick has a post with some info on a possible exclusive to be sold in San Diego next month. Apparently it's 200 pieces. That's all we know for now!

--AP