Like a fairy tale ending Minecraft and LEGO are coming together in a wonderful wedding. Can you think of two things that belong together more? This is the Chocolate in your Peanut Butter, the Peanut Butter with your Jelly, the other things that are complimentary.

Developer Mojang said in a quote on Cuusoo, “Minecraft and LEGO were meant to be together… We will work with the LEGO Group to secure a licensing agreement and donate the 1% royalty from LEGO CUUSOO to charity.”

This all comes from the Uk IGN.com and Lego Cuuso and I think that these things are going to vanish once they hit the shelves. Really this is the first video game to get the Lego treatment. Sure they have done video games in Lego form but this is big time and is going to be awesome.

A Star Wars fan in the UK murdered his wife after she damaged his Star Wars collection, valued at thousands of pounds.

Reading the story, there’s obviously a lot more going on than just: Star Wars Toys break BAM murder. There were some underlying issues there, but Star Wars is going to get the headlines, and the story then becomes about an obsessive fan instead of a generally disturbed individual who made some bad choices.

Rickie La Touche and his wife, Pornpilai Srisroy, had been having problems and she’d been threatening to leave him and make his life hell. In an effort to do so she screwed up his Star Wars collection. Then he choked her to death.

From the UK’s Mirror:

Rickie La-Touche, 30, told a court that his Thai wife Pornpilai Srisroy, 28, had damaged his precious Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker memorabilia.

He later suffocated her during a row and then ran sobbing to his mother who lived nearby.

La-Touche later told police his wife had smashed up his Star Wars collection as part of a campaign to “make his life hell”. He also claimed he “flipped” when she threatened to leave him to go back to Thailand.

La-Touche, also known as Rickie Nehls, was found guilty of murder and was ordered to serve a minimum of 12 years.

He took things a little far. This is a sad day. Especially for me, because now I’m going to get this article emailed to me about a dozen times by people who think its hilarious, asking me if I’d kill my wife for something similar.

Have you ever wanted to design your own stuffed animal, have it manufactured and embroidered and delivered directly to your door?

Happy Toy Machine lets you do exactly that. There are hundreds of options and thousands of combinations of body types, colors, accessories, embroidered facial expressions and anything else you can think of.

Adults and kids alike can spend hours designing different versions of toys before finally deciding to send one into manufacturing and receiving it on your doorstep within a matter of days. I can personally attest to the allure of designing the toys and the surprising quality of them once you get them in your hands. The minds behind Happy Toy Machine invited me to try out their service and I spent hours with my daughter designing what eventually turned into “Bluey.” You can see the fruits of our labor here (and even order your own version.) Scout decided Bluey needed a tail, a rainbow on her chest and butterfly wings. If you know her at all, you’d know this stuffed animal is so uniquely her that it’s hilarious. That’s what makes this so much more interactive and personalized than something like Build-A-Bear. Sure, Build-A-Bear is hands on, but the options are far more limited.

After Scout put Bluey together and we sent it off for manufacturing, I whiled away plenty more time designing other imps and robots and demons that I might well end up ordering for myself.

It’s a fun distraction and an activity that is a blast to do with your kids.

But the real magic came when the package arrived in the mail. It came with a speed I wasn’t expected and came with a photographed portrait of Bluey. The toy was very plush and cuddly and hasn’t left Scout’s bedside since. And really, that’s the best review I can give a product like this.

If you want to try it yourself, Happy Toy Machine has given readers of Big Shiny Robot! a a coupon code for 15% off. I would hurry over there, though. It expires in 60 days and is only good for the first 500 people.

Coupon Code: SHINYROBOT58

I had a great experience with the site, and I think you would, too. It’s priced comparably to Build-A-Bear ($30-$50) and is somehow much more satisfactory and personalized an experience.

On Friday, July 22^nd, the Disney Store is launching its exclusive Vinylmation Robots series at Disney Store locations and at DisneyStore.com.  These robots were designed by Disney Store artists inspired by the vintage wind-up robot toys of the 1950s.

You can view them in a never-before-seen video on DisneyStore.com/vinylmation , www.youtube.com/disneyliving and on the 2,000 square-foot digital billboard above Disney Store in Times Square.

To continue the vinyl craze, Disney Store also revealed its first limited edition Disney POP! Vinyl by Funko at San Diego’s Comic-Con. The POP! Vinyls are Funko’s creative take on Disney characters and the limited edition designs are on sale through July 24 only at Comic-Con.

According to John Balen, the director of toys for Disney Store North America, “Disney vinyls are the hottest collectible right now and we’re pleased to offer two different styles in one great week . . . Comic-Con is all about exclusives and Disney POP! Vinyls are a great way to give the fans something unique.”

No doubt that Disney fans will be crazy about the Comic-Con exclusives.  The convention began today (with our very own Swank-mo-tron covering the event from the trenches), and I’ve already heard complaints from those trying to snag the various exclusives.  Maybe you’re reading this from some mile-long line now in the vain hope that quantities are still available by the time you reach the front.  If so, may the Force be with you!

The Vinylmation Robots collection includes 12 three-inch vinyl figures priced at $9.95 each.  Each represents a different robot persona, and they have names like Radio-Bot, Tesla-Bot, and Love-Bot.  (sadly, Swank-mo-tron and Scarlett RoBotica are strangely absent!)   There are also 3 nine-inch limited edition characters:  Silly-Bot, Salvage-Bot and Reflector-Bot ($39.95 each).  Sounds like these characters would be great additions to our Big Shiny Robot! Family.

The POP! vinyls come with metallic finishing and glow-in-the-dark features. The series includes nine-inch Metallic Buzz Lightyear, nine-inch Metallic Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty (both Buzz and Maleficent are priced at $50), three-inch Flocked Sully ($15), three-inch Glow in the dark Mike Wazowski ($15), three-inch Metallic Mickey Mouse ($15), and a three-inch Blue Mr. Incredible ($15).

Ben Butcher, Disney-Pixar designer will meet with Comic-Con attendees and sign autographs at the Funko Booth #4829 July 22 from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Guests can also take a break from the madness of Comic-Con and head over to the Fashion Valley Mall Disney Store location, where they can meet their favorite Disney Store Vinylmation artists on July 22 and 23 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Transformers is big money right now and for those long time fans some of the older cartoons are finally making their way onto DVD thanks to those magnificent people at Shout Factory. But there’s one series which many people didn’t ever know about and that is Transformers: Headmasters. The Transformers series though incredibly popular in America may have been slightly more popular in Japan, and so after broadcasting all of the episodes of the American version in Japan and finding the series was soon coming to a close Takara (The Japanese toy company in charge of Transformers) decided to keep the show going, thus Transformers: Headmasters was born.

The story of Headmasters takes place six years after The battle with Unicron when a renegade group of transformers known as the Headmasters attack Cybertron. These Headmasters have special powers unknown to the original transformers but luckily for the Autobots a select few good Headmasters come to spoil the fun and help lead the charge against the Decepticons.

This 35 episode series is in it’s original Japanese Language with English subtitles and is a bit darker then the original series. There is some mild language and some characters even die. The human Spike is still in the show but his son Daniel and his friend “Wheelie” a motorbike Transformer are the main “kid portion” of the show. Also I was delighted because the only Transformer toy I ever owned as a kid apparently was from this series, that being Sixshot a transformer which had six different forms. The story is somewhat hard to follow at first especially if you had forgotten most of what happened in the original series, but after a quick refresh of the characters I started to remember who everyone was.

The series is actually pretty good, and probably a must have for any big transformers fan. If you weren’t big into the original US series, I would get those first which are also available at Shout Factory and run through them before picking this one up, but it’s a great addition to the story. The Headmasters DVD is currently available for $24.98 plus S&H from Shout Factory’s website.

For years now, Dark Horse has had a neat little series of wooden figures also known as sorocos. They hearken back to the 1930’s and 40’s where this type of character statue was the only kid on the block, and they are very sought after by collectors nowadays. Previous partner’s in the Soroco program have been DC Comics, Disney, Archie, Dark Horse themselves, and all manner of animated characters.  Now finally, Dark Horse has teamed up with Marvel for a new series of soroco figurines. To kick things off with a bang, they’re offering an exclusive version of Spider-Man for this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. To say it’s amazing is a vast understatement.

Based on a classic pin-up by the ever-incredible Steve Ditko, a limited run of 1,000 of these figures will be available at SDCC for a retail of $49.99. I really want one. Enough to bribe some of my fellow SDCC attending robots to pick me up one. You can read the official press release below, and while you do, I’m going to clean up this puddle of drool…

As part of Dark Horse’s recently announced Marvel Syrocos program, it is announced today that these highly anticipated statues will make their debut at next month’s Comic-Con International in San Diego!

——-

Comic-Con attendees will have a very significant opportunity to acquire a special statue of none other than Spider-Man. He is shown as half Peter Parker and half Spider-Man. Only one thousand numbered copies of this statuette are being offered. It is packaged in the same litho-printed tin box that is the hallmark of the Dark Horse Syrocos, and seems destined to be a bona fide hot item, both at Comic-Con and far beyond the exhibit hall. It will be sold at the normal retail price of $49.99, with a limit of four per customer.

“We couldn’t think of a more appropriate venue to launch this truly collectible series than Comic-Con,” Dark Horse product development VP David Scroggy remarked, “and a Spider-Man limited edition of only one thousand pieces makes this a scarce item. It gave us the opportunity to recall one of the early treatments by artist Steve Ditko, where we see both of Spidey’s identities simultaneously. Our spider sense is tingling, and the message is a quick sellout at the show.”

As previously announced, the program will begin in September 2011 with two alternating series: Classic Marvel Characters and the Fantastic Four. This new line will be deliberately different than the common modern Marvel collectible sculpture, with features like a rougher surface texture, visible seam lines, and other slightly “distressed” aspects, such as the method of paint application.

These special Comic-Con exclusives will be available at six p.m. on Wednesday, July 20 at the Dark Horse booth (#2615). Don’t miss your chance to own one of these fantastic statues!

HASBRO TOY REVIEW/PREVIEW

FIGURE: G.I. JOE

DESCRIPTION: JUNGLE B.A.T.. COBRA ANDROID TROOPER; SNAKE EYES NINJA COMMANDO; COBRA VIPER INFANTRY

Those of us who’ve collected the “G.I.*Joe” figures throughout the years continue to do so because of two things. The first would be the very simple, yet effective “comic” style art to the packaging. The second is the replicated product of the heroes/villains we’ve grown to love. With this preview/review, we’ll take a look at a few upcoming G.I.*Joe figures from Hasbro (due out this Summer) that are a sure to please any avid toy collector or enthusiast alike.

B.A.T.s are the perfect COBRA troopers. They never question orders, complain about the chow, shirk duty or surrender. They require no leave time, sick pay or benefits of any kind, and they are cheap and easy to replace. JUNGLE B.A.T.s are one of the robotic variants designed for specific environments; this version is extremely resistant to heat and humidity, and can easily find its way through thick jungle foliage.Get right into the thick of battle excitement with this awesome action figure! Armed with powerful weapons, your JUNGLE B.A.T. figure is set to give the G.I. JOE team a punishing fight. But only you can decide who’ll win the battle — and who’ll win the war!

My personal favorite attribute to the character is all of the accessories that were given. 10 accessories total, some including: 3 arm attachments and 2 guns! The detail to the weapons is above average considering how affordable these figures are (weapons are two-toned colored). The added bonus is a strip of ammo that is also given. The only gripe would be, that you’d be having to store the extra pieces elsewhere. That is of course, dependent on how and what you’ve set up for display. Despite B.A.T.’s “extremely resistant to heat and humidity” disclaimer I’d advise against that. Do not leave him unattended outside, his “bear-trap” arm attachment is hardly the way to find yourself surprised by…and you thought I was gonna say he melts. Pffft!

Jungle B.A.T.’s classic articulation, display stand, and great color make the $6.99 a must have for collectors and G.I.*Joe fans a like.

SNAKE EYES is proficient in 12 different unarmed fighting systems including Karate, Kung-Fu, and Jujitsu, and is highly skilled in the use of edged weapons. He has received extensive training in mountaineering and underwater demolitions; jungle, desert and arctic survival; and some forms of holistic medicine. He was trained by the ARASHIKAGE™ ninja clan, the same clan that trained his sworn enemy, STORM SHADOW®, the COBRA® ninja mercenary. He wears special ninja warrior armor to defend a training temple that has come under attack by COBRA® ninjas. Get right into the thick of battle excitement with this awesome action figure! Armed with powerful weapons, your SNAKE EYES figure is set to give the G.I. JOE team a punishing fight. But only you can decide who’ll win the battle — and who’ll win the war!

Snake eyes arguably the most popular figure of the bunch and definitely most sought out is a must have. When I dressed up like a ninja for Halloween last year I did not look this cool (I’m hairy, out of shape, and have terrible body-odor) ! Ok, well….maybe that isn’t fair. Snake eyes like many figures comes fully equipped with an arsenal of awesome weaponry. Your given a Kusari Gama, Hook-Swords, and 3 different masks! The outfit is great from the waist up. I thought they could have captured the flow of the outfit better., I.e. the chest-plate and arm-guards were detailed and textured as well as the rest of the figures accessories, but the legs were lacking the white outline. Much like “Jungle B.A.T.”, its a small complaint and shouldn’t discourage any potential buyer from this awesome toy. The recommendation here is to actually look into buying two. One for display purposes and one for collecting/trading. Trust me, all the collectors will buy these up and Snake Eyes will move quick (He’s a ninja of course he’ll move quick) ! *Insert drums, high-hat here.

COBRA VIPERS are the highly motivated, superbly trained and formidably equipped backbone of the COBRA® legions. Their combination assault rifle/grenade launcher can function as a short burst assault weapon, sustained fire cover support weapon, or long-range marksman rifle with a night vision telescopic sight and range-finder. Get right into the thick of battle excitement with this awesome action figure! Armed with powerful weapons, your COBRA VIPER figure is set to give the G.I. JOE team a punishing fight. But only you can decide who’ll win the battle — and who’ll win the war!

Now Cobra Viper is a figure they did perfectly head to toe (budget-considered), but lacked on the weaponry. Compare Cobra V’s pants to the package’s picture. They’re textured and bunch a little where his pads are! Another cool observation is the placement of his grenades. With so many by-the-book comparisons its only obvious that when it came to his gun, it lacked. I know its common to geek-out and say that they should have painted it better (rather than the one-tone gray), but that would have made this figure really stand-out! As a fan, I must say that despite that small quarrel I will still purchase him. Maybe, that’s why they didn’t “doll-up” his gun? *Bad pun-intended* The package is dope with this blue aura around the character that makes it pop from the cardboard. Enough reason for me and most “toy heads” to keep this in its package and not display outside of it. My recommendation here is…aesthetics alone, brings this home.

I hope you found this review helpful going forward in what to look for from Hasbro’s latest and greatest. They’re really good at making a authentic transfer from paper (comic) to plastic (figure) at an affordable price. You can check out the rest of the GI*Joe 2011 Summer Line Preview from Hasbro below!

Keep checking back to Big Shiny Robot as Mexicus Prime will be bringing you plenty more Hasbro 2011 previews/reviews including new offerings from their Marvel, Transformers, and Star Wars lines!

Company: KIDROBOT

Artist: Mori Chack

Sculptor: Takeo Ohno

GLOOMY: THE NAUGHTY GRIZZLY

VERSION-“POUND”

WWW.CHAX.CC

WWW.KIDROBOT.COM

One of my new favorite figures being displayed this week is Mori Chack’s “Gloomy”. The 4.5″ display friendly figure is simple and hilarious. Let’s start with the details.

Not much intricacy, just solid soft colors. Gloomy is obviously pink with dark red blood splatters on his face and arms from attacking his owner “Pity”. Pity is struggling to free himself from Gloomy’s clutches, but the severe brain hemorrhaging and slash marks seem to have got the best of him.

The box is really sturdy and is just as easy and smooth as the characters inside. On back there is a short story introducing you to Gloomy and some small stats about him. Both the left side and top of the box have a simplistic preview of whats inside waiting.

Although its obviously for an audience 15 or older, it does have a small charm of innocence about it. Compared of course, to what violence young kids are exposed to through the media, vidja games, and the Black Eyed Peas (probably the most dangerous threat to earth).

I highly recommend this in your collection. It’s funny, small enough to display about anywhere (boxed or not), and for once the “white-man” is down…or at least in and out of consciousness.

Continuous Pound Gloomy Bear starts around $29.99

Marvel Legends: Heroes Reborn “Iron-Man”

Build a figure collection: Ares series 2008

www.hasbro.com

Made in China

“Only at Wal*Mart”… that should have been the deterrent right there. Building “Ares” should’ve also been a red-flag. The fact that none of these little plastic ass-holes ever leave the box/packaging makes the “Build-a-figure” collection pointless for me. Alas… the compelling figure of Tony had to be purchased.

Like a stuttering idiot as soon as I saw it, admist all the poopy-handed minorities, Prometheum armor, Prometheum armor, P-p-pp…fuck yeah! Considering the figures humble origins it looks really good. The armor suit is painted fair.The medium gold cables over his crimson armor plates are definitely noticeable. Best shown of course, in the pose that its been packaged in. They even painted the center of his hand where his pulsar laser is.

The packaging is display friendly which is another bonus. Four popular strips run down the side of the posed figure, giving the buyer a little insight to what the comics looked like so you could compare your new toys authenticity/continuity. A cluttered mess of accessories for Ares is a drawback, but its not really distracting and usually goes unoticed.

I’m going to give this one a thumbs-up! It was dirt cheap when I bought it and its value is sure to go up giving its “Build-a-figure” origins. If you’ve got it, keep it.

Or sell it to the dumbass trying to put that shitty excuse for Ares together.

SaltCON officially starts this afternoon up at the University Of Utah, at the Fort Douglas Officer’s Club, featuring an array of table games. From board to role playing to card decks and more, beta games and unreleased titles, all the way to latest editions of current favorites with tournaments and demos to play. All for you to check out today and tomorrow. One of the convention’s organizers sat down to chat with City Weekly‘s Gavin Sheehan to talk about the event and the happenings. Plus, they mention opportunities to volunteer!

Gavin’s Underground interview about SaltCON

Gavin: For those who don’t know, what is SaltCON?

Dave: SaltCON is a convention for those interested in playing board games. We also host a yearly game competition called the “Ion Award” for unpublished and newly-published game designers. Those who attend have the opportunity to find like-minded individuals and families who enjoy learning games and sharing their passion for games together. Many different game publishers attend, too, and those who come to SaltCON have the opportunity to purchase (or win through one of our many free drawings) the newest and most popular games. Also, we often have designers of newly-published games in attendance who can demonstrate their new games to interested people. SaltCON is, most importantly, two days of FUN!

Gavin: This year, who will you have on board for game demos, and are there any particular games you’re looking forward to seeing?

Dave: This year, we have Sean MacDonald presenting his game “Pastiche” (published by FRED Distribution) and Alf Seegert sharing his game “Trollhalla” (published by Z-Man Games) with us. In fact, the president of FRED Distribution is personally attending the convention so as to be present for the world-wide release of “Pastiche” at SaltCON! Other games being demonstrated include, “Bellicose Fantasy Battles” (Sanity Studios), “Crokinole” (Mayday Games), “Feast & Famine” (Good Knight Games), and “Magic: The Gathering” (Hastur Games & Hobbies).