February 2009
Now, how much would you pay?
RAC, February 1st, 2009
A handy title for the two pieces of business to attend to today! First, our latest review is of Animated Swindle! He's one of those toys you either like because you like the character or dislike on its various technical failings. Personally, I choose the former, and as a guy who loves well-made toys and is frustrated by not-so-well-made toys, this should be taken as a great compliment by the entire Transformers: Animated staff.
The other piece of news is that the economic downturn has truly hit home: Wal-Mart has raised the price of many of its Deluxe Transformers to $12.88 USD. Considering how long Deluxes stayed at $10 or under, this isn't a shock, and after the $7-8 Deluxes many stores had over the holidays, Hasbro has to make up that money somehow. Balances must be struck. Still stings, though, as I am not constructed entirely out of money, and I imagine you all aren't either.
It's February already, and it feels like the year's barely begun. But February brings good things! While some have (or had) the Super Bowl to look forward to, I'm thinking Toy Fair! ...and also plotting. About what, you will not know for 28 or so more days. But I hope you will be surprised and pleased. In the meantime, there will be more reviews. Check back soon!
Toy Fair `09: My kind of weekend!
RAC, February 14th 2009
Seriously, how much better than this does it get? Two of my favorite events of the whole year in one weekend: Toy Fair and Valentine's candy discounts! A difficult combination to beat, for sure.It' s going to be interesting to see what's shown: we're dealing with the difficult combination of a lean economy and the anniversaries of many major toylines, especially Transformers, and major movies for that franchise and GI Joe. I wouldn't want to be the guy in charge of budgeting for that. Plus, how many surprises are we really in for after so many premieres at New York Comic-Con?
Suspenseful!
As always, we at It Figures! will have our eyes glued to Altered States Magazine's superior Toy Fair coverage and photo galleries, and so should you! And any other choice news I encounter will be posted here as well, so check back frequently to see what's up for sale for the rest of 2009!
*Yawn*
RAC, February 14th 200zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
ASM's first Hasbro Galleries are up! Transformers, GI Joe, and Star Wars are up so far, and sadly I can count on one hand the things that really interest me. The movie Transformers aesthetic is not my favorite take on Transformers to begin with, and nothing that was shown for Revenge of the Fallen has really changed my mind on that. The Human Alliance subline, with its driver figures, is decent-looking, but mainly makes me hunger for a TF Animated equivalent line. I've never been the biggest GI Joe fan, so I can't really comment on the Rise of Cobra line, and Star Wars toys are a sporadic habit at best. So from my perspective it's not a particularly exciting showing from Hasbro this year.Still, there's more to be shown at Toy Fair than just these three. And even if Transformers goes to places where we will (mostly) not follow for a while, we have plans to keep busy. Stay tuned!
Picking up steam
RAC, February 16th 2009
Now we're getting somewhere! ASM has posted galleries upon galleries of fun stuff from Toy Fair! For me, the personal highlight is the news that NECA's comic-derived Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line yet lives- I was afraid I'd never get my hands on that nifty Shredder. I'm also pleased Skeleflex has survived another year, because I keep hearing it compared to Xevoz and so I need to check it out. It also appears that Robot Damashii has a US distributor lined up in Organic Hobby. While that brief, shining period of distribution to the mass-market was the high point for MSiA in the US that may never come again, I'm glad the line's descendant will still be available from specialty stores if I get nostalgic. And lastly, now that I've had a better look at the 1/6 scale Ghostbusters, I'm disturbingly close to wanting to buy Egon. But I know I won't, because setting aside the money for a full set of the 6" Ghostbusters will be enough of a trick.But really, the best part of all this? Toy Fair's not over yet. Check back with ASM for more fun stuff, and just wait until you see what we spring on you come March!
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