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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: McQuarrie Concept Rebel Trooper, Luminara Unduli. Go to Figure of the Day for the next update, with the latest installment in our ongoing series!

--AP

Internet retailer (and sponsor/employer) Entertainment Earth has just revealed a pair of exclusive figures, selling as a set. (Or by the case if you do wholesale.) The EE Exclusive Indiana Jones Short Round & Sallah Mighty Muggs are limitedish edition figures due out in November. The deco on Sallah is pretty sweet, and well, we dig Shorty here. The set is $33.99.

--AP

Another three week, plus new DLC (downloadable content) you probably don't want! It's a mixed bag, but that's a good thing-- you actually have a decent menu of new releases to choose from, and this is a step in the right direction.

The three games this week include Samurai Showdown II, a classic Neo Geo fighter; Shotest Shogi, which we're told is basically Japanese chess; Rocket Bowl, a bowling game with rocket powered balls. (Yes, an easy joke can be made here.) Each is US $10 or 800 points.

New DLC includes packs for N+ (new levels) and Boku Sudoku (1,200 more puzzles). Each pack is $2.50 (or 200 points.)

--AP

Fans of the WiiWare service can grab Groovin' Blocks. Rather than killing your pets or putting sugar in your gas tank, Nintendo's esteemed platform gives you some puzzle block rhythm game which nobody will ever play. Well, maybe someone will, but it doesn't sound quite as snazzy, does it?

On the note of publishers telling you where to stick it, let's look at the Virtual Console: the TurboGrafx-16 games Final Soldier and Cho Aniki are available. We've heard of neither. One is a shooter with muscular guys with lasers in their heads. The other is has bodybuilders. We're confused.

--AP

Animated Activators-- apparently, they're popular! Over at TF08.net you can see both modes of Animated Activators Grimlock, which should be about $7-$9 when he hits in a few months. This line brings big characters at a smaller price, and has proven to be quite a popular seller. We're told they're fun but have yet to buy any ourselves. (Are they cool?)

--AP

Bif Bang Pow! (through its distribution partner) has announced the Dexter Angel Batista Bobble Head. What's interesting, and also bizarre, is it says "Angel from Dexter" on the base. While we're used to seeing it say the name of the character on one part and the logo on another, "NAME" from "SERIES" is a format that is oddly funny to us. We can't say why, it just is.

--AP

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: Cade Skywalker, McQuarrie Concept Yoda. Go to Figure of the Day for the next update, with the latest installment in our ongoing series!

--AP

The FX series that is awesome and nobody watches' third season is on DVD this week. Bargain hunters, take note: Target and Best Buy both have it for $27.99, but Best Buy has it with a bonus disc of extra stuff. Well, just two featurettes, but all things being equal otherwise it's more than anyone else is currently offering.

--AP

...in Japan, for the Wii. Capcom hasn't been particularly forthcoming with its rollout for this game in North America (outside a leaked list of Xbox 360 achievements) but it seems Japanese Wii owners will be able to enjoy this game in just under 2 weeks for a mere 1,000 Wii points. Other platform releases are, as of yet, up in the air.

--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! Many times, actually.

OK, maybe just once. It's Holographic Clone Commander Cody! Go to Figure of the Day for the next update, with the latest installment in our ongoing series.

--AP

On a toy run, we were shocked to see row upon row of Mitch Hedberg's new CD Do You Believe in Gosh?, which apparently was released last week on Comedy Central Records. The album was made from a recording in 2005, just before he died. It features a roughly 39-minute set on CD and comes with a booklet featuring select images from his own personal notebook, some of which are totally worth buying. (Our copy was $10 at Virgin Megastore, which seems to be the best price for it.) Expect a review shortly.

--AP

If you missed Big Daddy earlier this year, or want the newly released repaints like Crank Case, Breakaway, and Fracture, it seems some stores are getting multiple, massive blue cardboard displays packed with them for as little as $7.77 a whack. Not all stores are being choked with these massive shipments (which include additional Animated and Movie product), so keep an eye out. You can't miss it.

--AP

Apparently a Costco exclusive, this massive gift set includes 4 toys you might have, and 1 that's new. The 4 reissues are Cybertron-era Blurr, Longrack, Runamuck, and Buzzsaw. The Optimus Prime is a repaint in new-ish colors-- he's still red and blue, but he's different than the previous releases of the mold. The final destination (and price) for this set is unknown, but we think it's a punk movie to release a set that's 80% existing product with one new (and potentially desirable) new repaint. That's the kind of crap we're used to seeing in Star Wars.

--AP

Seasons 3 and 4 of Duckman are coming to DVD, so says TVShowsOnDVD.com. Apparently it's going to be cheap, released in January, and packed with 48 episodes. Hard to believe, but hey, it sounds good to us. Seasons 1 and 2 should be in stores on Tuesday.

--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! Many times, actually.

From left to right: Darth Revan, Womp Rat, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Lobot. Go to Figure of the Day for the next update, with the latest installment in our ongoing series. And now that we've finished The Force Unleashed we're back to work... at least until Mega Man 9 drops for the 360.

--AP

Initially revealed as yet another Storm Shadow, it seems that the G.I. Joe Club has the scoop-- Hasbro changed their minds! The figure will now be a green Cobra Ninja Viper instead, which is a little more exciting than yet another white ninja. Viva variety!

--AP

Toy store chain Toys "R" Us has their $9.99-$10.99 Transformers on sale this week-- buy two, get one free. This applies to deluxe-scale toys only, which pretty much limits you to Universe or Animated these days.

(If you haven't picked up your Animated Deluxe Ratchet yet, now would be a good time. We're just sayin'.)

--AP

If you thought that Hasbro's Transformers line has been slowing down recently, it turns out you're wrong. It's also possible you're ugly too, but we'll let these pictures speak for themselves.

High points: the Legends class is now being used for new versions of "minibots" like Bumblebee, Beachcomber, and Brawn. Oh, and Targetmaster Cyclonus looks to be some sort of gift from the toy gods. It's so good we're reconsidering skipping the recently released Galvatron. (Especially given the sale.) Oh, and the new Inferno also looks like a lot of fun. There are some great new animated toys, and a few token repaints, but the entire batch looks quite impressive.

--AP

Seeing as how the toy line has been dead in North America since about 2003, we were stunned to see Zoids Assault. It's $59.99 and from Atlus, and the reviews are horrifyingly bad. As Zoids fans who have paid real money for real toys, even we're put off by the fact that the best review is essentially a failing grade. It's more than a little baffling that the title was translated and released to the US market, and it's also worth noting there are only 8 achievements. Interesting.

When it eventually turns up in the $9.99 or less bin, we'll be happy to share our impressions to an increasingly uninterested readership.

--AP

Good news, everyone! Mega Man 9 will be out in the USA this week for the Nintendo Wii and Sony Playstation 3 platforms. Xbox 360 owners will have to wait until October 1, and it will be $10 (give or take a penny) on each system. Thank you Capcom for the scoop-- and let's hope it isn't another 10 years until we see another game in the series.

Also interesting is the news that the game will feature DLC, which is a fancy way of saying "we programmed all these features into the game and if you want to use them all, it's going to cost you extra." Proto Man will be an unlockable playable character, but it's going to cost you $2 (or the equivalent) on each platform. The character has a few extra powers, and a shield-- but otherwise plays like the blue bomber. So basically, a Game Genie trick, but now you can pay for it.

--AP

Another another sequel. Last week saw Feeding Frenzy 2, a port of a 2006 PC game. It's $10, and reviews are basically average. The original was decent, so this should probably be just fine.

Also new is Domino Master, a $10 Domino game. Which is probably OK, but when it comes to the ports of public domain board games, anything more than $5 seems like a lot unless it's a collection. And honestly, $5 is a lot for something we all had as kids and rarely played. Reviews are really, really poor so far.

--AP

Fans of the WiiWare service can grab Potpourri. But you won't. You might want to get Strong Badia the Free, the second in the Cool Game for Attractive People adventure episodic whatsis. Both were released last week.

Only one Virtual Console game was released last week, but since it was the NES classic Mega Man 2, we're going to not complain. For $5, the game is a bargain and a must-play classic. However, the game is also available for the Playstation 2, GameCube (and Wii), and Xbox (and 360) in the Mega Man 20th Anniversary Collection with the first eight games in the series for roughly $15 or less. Mega Man 2 is arguably the finest of the original series, and having just played through most of it again this past weekend, we can verify it still can give you a lot of fun. (We'd really, really suggest you go buy the collection if you think this would at all interest you.)

--AP

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: Tobbi Dala, Momaw Nadon, R2-D2. Go to Figure of the Day for the next update, with the latest installment in our ongoing series!

--AP

Despite the sequel Duke Nukem Forever being over 10 years in the making, 3D Realms found enough time to port Duke Nukem 3D to the Xbox Live Arcade service. The first-person shooter nobody was asking to play again is US $10 (800 points) and features multiplayer, galleries, and other stuff which may or may not be of interest.

--AP

The big deal this week-- arguably the best thing for NES-era gamers on the Wii, period-- is Mega Man 9, a new 8-bit style game on the Wii and PlayStation 3 today and on the Xbox 360 next week. Not only is this an honest-to-goodness real fake NES game, but you can overpay for downloadable extra features of dubious value. We're not saying they're all bad, but charging for a harder difficulty setting? That's just sad. We're waiting for the Xbox 360 version, but rest assured, we're totally going to buy it and are considering taking a vacation day to play it. Rumor has it other companies are considering following suit if the game is a success. You people freaking better. Mega Man 9 is $10. WiiWare also uploaded something called Plattchen Twist 'n' Paint, which we're not going to further dignify by pretending to notice.

Virtual Console fans, it's not a terrible week. From the Sega Genesis: Vectorman. From the NES: Super Dodge Ball. Both have good fan followings, so if you can't get behind a ninth Mega Man, these might be good too. But seriously, Mega Man 9.

--AP

According to numerous sites including The Allspark, there's going to be a lot of new stuff revealed in the next Fan Club magazine-- Classics Smokescreen, 25th Anniversary Hot Shot and Dinobot, Robot Heroes Prowl and Laserbeak, and potentially a Legends Warpath are on tap. We're excited. Can you tell?

--AP

Formerly part of the whole Wikia project (the commercial face of Wikipedia if I hear my conspiracy theories right), the Transformers Wiki has moved to TFWiki.net. The reasons for this are many, but basically have to do with bone-headed management concerning ads, where the ads go, and the site's overall decline in functionality. So the key members behind the Wiki took their ball and went home, so to speak, and the result is a significantly better resource which is less likely to look like garbage in your browser. Unless you look at the Wreck-Gar page, in which case yes, you will see some actual garbage.

--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! Many times, actually.

From left to right: Greedo, Rebel Trooper. Go to Figure of the Day for the next update, with the latest installment in our ongoing series. And now that we've finished The Force Unleashed we're back to work... at least until Mega Man 9 drops for the 360.

--AP

After months of speculation (and by "speculation" we mean "painfully obvious slow sales at retail") Hasbro came clean and basically said Indiana Jones is finished over at Cool Toy Review. While anyone who has paid regular visits to a toy store knows why, it makes sense that some of you may be surprised. It seems the real problem here is a combination of fan indifference and, as far as we can tell, oversaturation of early product. This could be due to the fact that Hasbro and their retail partners simply ordered too much of it, or that fans interest didn't live up to the hype. Either way, it's pretty much done, so if you want any action figures from Wave 3 or (if they see stores) beyond, buy them on sight. Not just to send a message, because odds are you won't get too many second chances at this rate.

So what's next for Dr. Jones? Will Hasbro sub-license out the line to another company who can turn a profit from a smaller run? Will they just sit on the property until the license expires? We sure as heck don't know.

--AP

Oh boy! Hasbro's Transformers line marches on with these shots from China of Ravage and Hound. Yes, you get them together-- just like Nightstick comes with the new Cyclonus. The whole two-fer-one approach is sorely missed, and was a highlight of the Armada days where sometimes we, the fans, were goaded into buying a questionable figure (Smokescreen) because we heard its tiny companion Mini-Con was decent (Liftor). Likewise, if Hound doesn't turn your crank, Ravage undoubtedly will. Even if his head is too tiny, it's cool.

--AP