If you’ve been following the Anime scene over the summer then I’m sure you been hearing non stop updates about Attack on Titan, and for good reason the show is fantastic! If anyone asks me what is going in Anime right now I tell them “go watch now!” Needless to say I’m becoming a fan, and for those of you who know me I have a rather sick sense of humor so this falls under that category of “ I want it, I want it, I want it!!!” This is the most adorable mass human extinction play set I have ever seen! The Titans just look so happy destroying human civilization and eating people. Can we give him just one person to eat, he just looks so sad. We don’t need Michael Bay, right? He may be a vicious man eating monster, but he has the cutest little tush! You can find the Attack on Titan Play Set on crunchyroll.com here. And the first episode of the series here.   Shawn Cogswell is the Anime journalist for Big Shiny Robot! You can find him on twitter @Gaxbot

Star Trek Into Darkness releases in US theaters next week, and along with that we get a line of Trek themed Kre-O sets from Hasbro. In the first release we get blind packs of single kreon figures (six in total),  4 different mini ship sets, and 5 full on boxed sets. These sets are available now in retailers.

Along with the figures there is also a stop motion short film that has been released. This film was produced by JJ Abrams production company, Bad Robot, and has special effects by Kelvin Optical who worked on Star Trek Into Darkness.

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KRE-O STAR TREK U.S.S. ENTERPRISE Building Set

(Ages 9 years & up /Approx. Retail Price: $49.99)

Explore the final frontier with the crew of the U.S.S. ENTERPRISE, the iconic ship from the STAR TREKINTO DARKNESS movie. Inspired by the ship featured in the film, the KRE-O STAR TREK U.S.S. ENTERPRISE is 18-inches long and is the first KRE-O set that actually lights up featuring LIGHTTECH! Explore the bridge interior play area, glowing warp engines and launch a projectile from a lighted photon torpedo. Kids and fans alike will be excited to join KREON figures of CAPTAIN KIRK, SPOCK and DR. MCCOY on the bridge to defend against two villain KREON figures. The set includes 432 pieces and five KREON figures. Requires three AAA Alkaline batteries. Batteries not included.

KRE-O STAR TREK KLINGON BIRD-OF-PREY Building Set

(Ages 7 years & up /Approx. Retail Price: $24.99)

Take the battle to a far away KLINGON planet with this iconic enemy ship from STAR TREK.  Based on a ship featured in the film, the KRE-O KLINGON BIRD-OF-PREY building set features a LIGHTTECH brick that illuminates the cockpit and two firing projectiles on the ship’s wings! Open the hatch and put in one of the four included KREON figures to pilot the ship, including CAPTAIN KIRK, UHURA and two KLINGONS. Set includes 236 pieces. Requires two LR41 Alkaline batteries. Batteries are included.

KRE-O STAR TREK SPOCK’S VOLCANO MISSION Building Set

(Ages 7 years & up /Approx. Retail Price: $14.99)

Pretend to carefully lower KREON figures onto dangerous, volcanic planets with the KRE-O STAR TREK SPOCK’S VOLCANO MISSION, from the STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS movie. The KRE-O SPOCK’S VOLCANO MISSION building set features LIGHTTECH that illuminates the cockpit of the ship and can be rotated 90-degrees to provide light for the KREON figure which can be lowered out of the ship with the string zip line feature! The building set also includes a push lever activated erupting brick volcano. Set includes 141 pieces and two KREON figures (SULU and SPOCK). Requires two LR41 Alkaline batteries. Batteries are included.

KRE-O STAR TREK TRANSPORTER TROUBLE Building Set

(Ages 6 years & up /Approx. Retail Price: $9.99)

“Beam me up SCOTTY!” Based on the iconic TRANSPORTER from the STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS movie, the KRE-O STAR TREK TRANSPORTER TROUBLE building set features a mechanical push lever that rotates KREON figures 180-degrees to the other side of the build, transporting them onto the alien planet. The LIGHTTECH pieces under the TRANSPORTER illuminate by pushing a lever to enhance the “magic” of the TRANSPORTER! The building set includes 65 pieces and two KREON figures with weapons (SCOTTY and a KLINGON).  Requires two LR41 Alkaline batteries. Batteries are included.

KRE-O STAR TREK SPACE DIVE Building Set

(Ages 6 years & up /Approx. Retail Price: $7.99)

This KRE-O STAR TREK SPACE DIVE building set is a mini-build of a ship airlock, found on many of the iconic STAR TREK ships, complete with hinged doors. This set features the first LIGHTTECH KREON figure which illuminates by pushing on the figure’s chest! The KRE-O STAR TREK SPACE DIVE building set includes 36 pieces and two KREON figures, CAPTAIN KIRK and a villain with press-fire projectile weapons and accessories! Requires two LR41 Alkaline batteries. Batteries are included.

KRE-O STAR TREK MICRO-BUILD SHIPS Assortment

(Ages 6 years & up /Approx. Retail Price: $4.99)

Kids and fans alike will be excited to build each of the four ships in this KRE-O STAR TREK MICRO-BUILD SHIPS assortment inspired by ships from the STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS movie. The assortment includes the U.S.S. ENTERPRISE, KLINGON D7 BATTLE CRUISER, U.S.S. KELVIN and the JELLYFISH. Each building set comes with a LIGHTTECH illuminated display stand and approximately 34-42 pieces. Each ship sold separately. Requires two LR41 Alkaline batteries. Batteries are included.

KRE-O STAR TREK KREON FIGURE PACKS

(Ages 6 years & up /Approx. Retail Price: $4.99)

Based on iconic STAR TREK characters from the upcoming STAR TREKINTO DARKNESS movie from Paramount Pictures, these KREON FIGURE PACKS feature one collectible KREON figure and accessory per pack, with six different characters available in the spring of 2013 including: GORN, CAPTAIN NERO, KEENSER, GRASIA, KLINGON and LIEUTENANT SPROG. Twelve additional KREON figures will be released in fall 2013, including: CAPTAIN KIRK, SPOCK, BORG DRONE and GENERAL CHANG. Each figure sold separately.

Robotech RPG Tactics is still going strong with it’s Kickstarter campaign, having just passed $400,000.00in pledges. The sheer number of miniatures keep racking up, but we still know next to nothing about how the game plays! That all changes today: Palladium Books just posted a look at the work-in-progress rules, which you can find here.

Anyone who has played GURPS or any other Palladium games will notice a lot of familiar territory. It’s also cool to see that you can play just about any size battle, from a small skirmish to a full on war! I’m thinking about putting together a giant rings of Saturn battleground for this game!

Robotech RPG Tactics should ship sometime in December, 2013. For a look at what’s shipping in the Battlecry level of the Kickstarter, click here!

This movie looks great, but it’s missing one key ingredient: John Williams’s Superman theme. It’s never going to reach the heights it could if they completely refuse to use that music.

Maybe that’s a personal problem for me. Maybe that’s just my cross to bear, but John Williams’s score is synonymous with Superman and it would put this movie over the top.

On the other hand, Zack Snyder could still screw it up for other reasons.

This film comes out in June.

A few weeks ago I got an e-mail I’m sure many of you got as well. Think Geek sent out one of their many product announcements packed full of Doctory goodness. What caught my eye this time around was the blind boxed vinyl figured from Titan. I have been buying Kid Robot blind boxed figures for a while now, Arse-bot has a solid addiction to them as well, so I figured it was my duty to check out these Doctor Who figures.

I ended up getting a variant version of the TARDIS so I’m not sure how the actual figures are. The TARDIS can’t really have articulation or anything of the sort. The painting is a bit sloppy, worse than I’ve seen on any of my Kid Robot figures. The green on the light overlaps and the windows are a bit crooked. It isn’t enough to bother me but in comparison to the other stuff on my desk the quality is much lower and the price is the same.

There are , 2 doctors, 5 Daleks, 2 Cybermen, an Ood, Judon, Silurian, Silence and the TARDIS. There are also 4 limited figures like the variant TARDIS I received. They are $9.99 over at Think Geek so if you love Doctor Who and vinyl give em a shot. I wasn’t overly impressed but I wasn’t disappointed either. My TARDIS fits right in on my desk full of vinyls.

Very exciting news. Anymore it seems like a sure thing. If LEGO acquires a license to develop toys, it eventually makes a video game. Having had a steady stream of Marvel related LEGO toys released last year, it seemed inevitable that they would join DC in the video game world.

Marvel Super Heroes are assembling for an action-packed, brick-smashing good time!  Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, TT Games, The LEGO Group and Marvel Entertainment announced today that LEGO® Marvel™ Super Heroes will be available beginning Fall 2013 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, the Wii U™ system and Windows PC, as well as the Nintendo DS™ handheld system, Nintendo 3DS™ handheld system and PlayStation®Vita handheld entertainment system. LEGO Marvel Super Heroes is the first instalment in the highly successful LEGO videogame franchise to feature famous Marvel characters.

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes complements the LEGO Marvel Super Heroes construction toy collection, which brings the characters, vehicles and action of Marvel’s renowned universe to the world of LEGO build-and-play adventure. There are currently eight iconic scenes from the X-Men, Iron Man and Spider-Man franchises available and more construction sets tied to the new Iron Man 3 feature film will launch later this spring.

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes offers an original storyline in which Nick Fury calls upon Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Spider-Man, Wolverine and other heroes spanning the Marvel Universe to save Earth from such threats as the vengeance of Loki and the hunger of Galactus, Devourer of the Worlds.  LEGO and Marvel fans will enjoy classic LEGO videogame adventure and humor, while playing as their favorite Marvel characters.

“We’re very excited to bring a myriad of classic Marvel characters to life in LEGO form for some fun, family-friendly gameplay in LEGO Marvel Super Heroes,” said Tom Stone, Managing Director, TT Games Publishing. “Players will brave the ultimate mission to save the world as they explore famous landmarks in LEGO New York and take the adventure beyond Earth to iconic locations in the Marvel Universe.”

“Fans of both LEGO and Marvel have wanted this game for years, and we’re addressing that demand with more Marvel Universe characters than ever in a console game,” said TQ Jefferson, Vice President, Games Production, Marvel Entertainment.  “If you’re a fan of Spider-Man, the Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Guardians of the Galaxy or scores of other Marvel characters, this is the game for you.”

In LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, players will unlock more than 100 characters from across the Marvel Universe, including fan favorites like Spider-Man, Iron Man, Wolverine, Captain America, the Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Deadpool, Loki and Galactus!  The game will pack in a plethora of super-cool character abilities, combat-like action sequences, epic battle scenes, puzzle-solving and a unique story told with playful LEGO humor.

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes is being developed by TT Games and will be published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

This game is slated for Fall 2013. With announcement like this, it makes me wonder about some the other LEGO licenses that have yet to be turned into a video game. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the first that springs to mind for me. What LEGO toys would you like to see turned into a video game?

I’m not one to front. I have no problem admitting that I had no idea what a Hellboy was until I saw the first movie in theaters. Holy Hell was I sold immediately. The solid one liners and insane visuals had me in awe. It was my introduction to what the Hellboy universe had to offer. It was also my first look into the world of Guillermo Del Toro, a dude who has since become one of my favorite people in existence. He fits in right above Henry Rollins and right below Kyle Kinane.

None of my viewing partners had any knowledge of the comics, or any other comics for that matter, so I had to take my research into my own hands. I picked up a few of the trades on the internet and was blown away by how on the head Del Toro’s film was compared to Mike Mignola’s source material. Sure there were a few adjustments. Tinkering is to be expected when any book is transferred to the big screen.

Because the town I was living in at the time lacked a real comic book store, I was unable to quench my thirst for any Hellboy themed merchandise. I set my sights to the internet. I was blown away by the amount of statues and busts and super bummed at the lack of moderately priced figures. I pretty much chalked my search up to a loss and just read as many of the books as I could, sticking to the Hellboy titles and saving all things B.P.R.D for later. I figured it was only a matter of time before my path crossed with that of some sweet Hellboy figure looking for a new home.

Fast forward a few years. I’m on a trip to Universal Studios and me and the main squeeze decide to check out a movie make-up exhibit where a lot of Hellboy movie prosthetics and props were on display. Like every exhibit in every theme park, there was a gift shop. I was stoked to finally have the chance to stock up on a few trinkets and figures. What I wasn’t stoked on were the prices. Especially the price of the 8 inch Hellboy Qee. I was just getting into limited vinyl toys and wanted so badly to add this to my collection. I think I remember the shop wanting $80. This was a little too rich for my taste. When we go back to the hotel I took a look on the interwebs for a better deal. No dice. Not even Ebay or Amazon offered a better deal. I added the item to my wish list. I closed the window. I cried myself to sleep on a fold out couch bed in the living room of our hotel. I wasn’t sleeping on the couch because Emily found my crying as a weakness and thought a night on the couch would toughen me up. I was sleeping on the couch because I was on vacation with Emily, her family, and her younger brother’s girlfriend who looked like Gollum if he had spent all day in the sun and riding on water rides. All the ladies in one room. All the men in the other. All the Patricks stay the shit out of our rooms.

Faster forwarding to a year after that. I had just received a bonus check from work for being the best and wanted to treat myself. As I was depositing the check in the bank, I knew exactly what a fraction of it was going to. Not groceries, not cat litter (use to learn the toilet like an adult), but a sweet ass vinyl figure of a man with a giant red right hand. Sitting down at my desk, a diet green tea Snapple in hand, I fired up the computron and meandered my way on to Amazon.com. What’s this? The 8 inch Hellboy Qee is but $46? Have the clouds parted to allow the Lord above to shower me with glorious rays of low low prices from her bosom?

The figure came and because I’m a dummy who cares little about reselling his figures, I opened it. I play with it. He sometimes fights my Bart Simpson Qee. He’s got a match scheduled with Homer Simpson Qee should the figure ever get released.

If you’re looking to get your hand on one of these bad boys try Amazon and ebay. They don’t go for much more than $50 and I think that’s a fair asking price. No one likes the fact that the new trend in toy collecting is charging an arm and a dick for vinyl figures.

Feel free to follow me on Twitter @patdelaney1985

Thanks for reading.

Back in February it was announced that along with the new cartoon hitting Nickelodeon this Fall, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would be getting a new wave of figures from Playmates. Well, last week I received a text message from Kill-tacular-tron saying “OMG! NEW TMNT FIGS OUT! GOT 2 GET THEM LOL!” In all fairness, Kill-tacular-tron doesn’t text like a dumbass, but you get the idea. I was at work at the time, but it just so happened that my lunch hour had just started and I work near a Toys ‘R’ Us, so away I went.

It’s been a while since I’ve gone “hunting” for figures, but much like Doom Bot, the thrill of the hunt is half the fun to me. Sure, I could have checked online if this particular location had any of the TMNT figures in stock, but the thrill of just going, walking up and down the aisles trying to find something specific is something I find to be a lot of fun, especially when you find exactly what you are looking for as I was lucky enough to.

This first wave of new TMNT figures consists of the four turtles, Splinter, April O’Neil, Shredder, Kraang and a Foot Soldier. I opted to pass on the others for now and just purchase the four turtles, and that is what we will be taking a look at here. Be sure to check out the gallery at the bottom of this post for pictures of everything highlighted about these figures!

Starting off with the positive (and there is a lot of positive). First off, the molds for each turtle is different – no same bodies with different heads here. Each turtle has their own mold that varies in height, color and detail. Donatello is the tallest of the bunch, sporting a stern look on his face. Leonardo is the next tallest figure, followed by Raphael both with some pretty aggressive-looking expressions. Standing the shortest is Michelangelo with a sort of “aggressive smirk”. Figure height is not achieved just by leg or torso length, but the differences even appear in forearm length.

These turtles are sporting a new look, while still maintaining classic elements. All four turtles have essentially their classic belts, minus the letters that appeared on the classic figures, and Leonardo’s sheaths on his shell are parallel as opposed to crossed. There is also some decorative “metal” on Leo and Don’s belts that go across their chests. Knee and elbow pads are well-sculpted, showing some wear and tear. These new figures feature some support taping around the ankles and hands. Personally, I really like this touch and the color of the tape varies slightly on each figure ranging from a pure white to a kind of cream color. The turtles’ masks vary, with the knots on the back each differing, for instance Don’s appears to be hanging while Raph’s appears to be blowing in the wind. Speaking of Raphael, a really nice touch is a crack on the front of his shell. Any fan knows Raph has a tendency for being aggressive, and this chunk missing from his chest is a very nice touch to illustrate this.

These figures have a nice amount of articulation, making them easy to pose, but it can be a little clunky at times. Some nice poses can be achieved for posing on a shelf, but don’t expect to get too dynamic with them. Of course, the turtles each come with their classic weapons; Raph has his sharp sais, Don has his bo staff, Mike has his nun-chucks and Leo has his katanas, one of which is interestingly a bit shorter than they other and this is reflected in the sheaths on his back. The weapons are well molded, but the paint leaves something to be desired, more on that later. One of my favorite kind of nod to the classic figures is the inclusion of a “ninja arsenal” with each figure; remember the weapons that came with the classic figures that you had to pop out of the plastic molding? Yeah, this is included on top of the turtles’ standard weapons. The ninja arsenals vary for each turtle, but each includes a variation of throwing stars, a different version of their classic weapons, and various other knives etc. It’s a great touch and adds some nice variety.

While I am very pleased with these figures, I do have a few complaints. Many of the prototype shots released showed corresponding colored tape on each of the turtles’ weapons, but this is missing from the actual production figures. This is by no means a deal-breaker, but would have been a really nice touch. Also, Michelangelo’s nun-chucks once again have plastic chains, but were shown to have small metal links in the prototype shots. Even as a kid, the plastic “chains” bugged me, and now as an adult it’s still a bit irritating. I would even prefer a small line of string linking them, but I’m sure production costs play a big part in this so I understand. Other than these minor gripes about the weapons, I really can’t find anything else wrong with these figures worth putting into words.

I have been looking forward to these figures for several months now, and now that I have them I am very pleased – and at $8.99 they are a great value. Very nice molds and paint, the plastic is durable but gives the appearance of a softer material, articulation is very good, and the fact that there are distinct differences between each turtle to set them apart is just fantastic.

If you are a fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, then I would highly recommend picking these figures up. I found mine at Toys ‘R’ Us, or if you aren’t a fan of hunting figures down like I am, you can order them online from the Big Bad Toy Store!

Be sure to check out the gallery below!

If we are going to be honest with ourselves, the characters in The Legend of Zelda haven’t gotten much love in the way of action figures. Most of them have had pretty terrible sculpts and next to no articulation. Max Factory hopes to rectify that.

At the Wonder Festival 2012, Max Factory showed off some of their upcoming figma previews. What’s a figma? Max Factory’s fancy word for action figure. It will most likely have extra hands and faces to swap out for emotion. Obviously the version shown below isn’t painted, but I have high hopes for the final version. Now the only question that needs to be answered: Where will I be able to buy one of these?

Source: Zelda Dungeon

Nickelodeon, having acquired the rights to our Heroes in a Half-Shell, will be bringing us a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles CGI-animated series this Fall (with a sneak peek episode airing after the Kids’ Choice Awards on March 31). Of course, no cartoon would be complete without some toys to market to all those children (and adults!) out there watching!

Playmates Toys will be bringing us the collectible goods with some new toys based on the new series that will be available this Fall! Playmates and Nickelodeon gave MTV Geek an exclusive look at some of their offerings, some of which you can check out in the gallery below.

Personally, I’m excited most for just the standard figures. I really like the style of this latest incarnation of Turtles and I like that each Turtle will be rocking his own mold with figure heights ranging from 4.25″ to 4.75″ to better differentiate between each brother. From these preview images they look to be well detailed from the features to the paint with decent articulation. I can say for sure I will be picking up all four when they hit shelves this Fall, and perhaps the new version of the classic Party/Turtle Van, the Shellraiser, for sheer nostalgic enjoyment! Check out some of the TMNT toys below and head over to MTV Geek to check out even more.

What do you think of the new TMNT figures? Will you be picking them up?