Toy Bender

It’s been a long time hasn’t it? It took me awhile to dust off this old blog. As you may remember there was a bit of a labor dispute round these parts. Well, that has been settled and I can get back to business. I also moved across country and am now seeking employment in the Midwest which prevented me blogging, but it’s finally time to get back to making your day better. The only “but” that I have to insert is that I need to put it out there that my confidence with the network is rather low still, so I’m going to be kind of testing the waters for a little bit before I can get to full speed. I’d also like to note that I’ve really enjoyed my time away. Guest blogging on Poe Ghostal’s Points of Articulation is fun and I’d like to continue doing that as well as working occasional with the eminent geek blogger Great White Snark. Furthermore my personal entertainment blog of fun is really humming along on all cylinders (it’s now the new home of Friday Roundy Uppy).

Don’t think I didn’t miss you, though. I seriously missed out on all your great comments here and the community that developed over the years. It’s mainly the reason I came back. Well, that and I’m in serious need for cash and if 451 keeps up with their part of the bargain I won’t have to go and donate blood for grocery money or at least I won’t have to donate my own blood.

So sit back, relax, get out your beer and pretzel rods and have a good time. Except if you’re at work, because that shit will get you fired.

Hey kids, there’s some behind the scenes type of stuff going on and I’ve decided to stop the blogging here for the moment because of it. In short, I’m on strike. You see, ToyBender isn’t my blog. It’s owned by 451 Press. I’m a paid writer and as much as I love writing about toys and running this fantastic show, it’s a job for me and when my employer stops paying me for that job, I stop doing it.

Please don’t think this isn’t hard for me. I’ve poured a lot of blood (orphan blood), sweat, and tears into this site into the incredibly awesome place it is. I love each and every one of you readers and not providing you with your daily dose of ToyBender kills me. Hopefully, things will work out soon (please cross fingers for today even) and everything can get back to normal around here and we can all pretend this never happened.

If you’d like to follow my work elsewhere, you can find me on Twitter as well as here. I also plan to do future toy related posts on the most excellent and gracious Poe Ghostal’s Points of Articulation until everything is figured out.

Thanks everyone,

-Paul

Now the following isn’t a cry for sympathy or anything like that, so please keep that in mind. What I’m about to go into is an issue that other collectors may face or may be facing in the near future due to the economy and that is the loss of a job. Recently I was given a 30 day notice at my place of employment. After processing the information and trying to plan for the future, I made a list of cut backs and things I can do in case I don’t find another job within that time frame. The first thing to go was collecting. I came up with two phases to my plan in regards to toys:

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It looks like I need to take a few days off from blogging due to lots of non-blogging stuff going on. Don’t worry though, I’ll be back as soon as I can with more great content than you can possible imagine.

Thanks for understanding, kids.

If you’re into toys and reading about them, then there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Micheal Crawford. No, not the guy who is in Phantom of the Opera, the other Michael Crawford. This fellow runs mctoys.com and every year he has a bunch of people who are “in the know” judge the best toys of the year. It’s called the Poppies and I’m pleased to say that this year I was a judge.

Here’s the press release thingy that I have that gives a lot more details and how you can vote in the People’s Picks. No, I really didn’t have much more of a point rather than wanting to brag it up that I’m a judge.

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Be prepared friends, the following is a very personal post. I do tie it into toys though.

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You know what’s great? Helping others. This time of the year is the perfect time to help the less fortunate, because there are a lot of kids out there that might not be able to have a good *insert religious or secular holiday here* this year. That’s where Toys For Tots and ToyBender come in. If you donate a toy(s) to Toys For Tots, you’ll have the chance to win some fabulous prizes!

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If you think you’ve seen cool T-shirts and you haven’t been to 80sTees.com, you’re a damned fool. Let’s take a look at some of the awesome found on 80sTees.com, a generous sponsor to the Joes for Tots contest.

Superman: Kiss Me I Have Superpowers:

If I won the contest, I’d buy this shirt and put a Post-it note with an arrow pointing down on the bottom, which is the universal sign for, “In my pants.” I’m all class.

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In the United States it is Thanksgiving today, the day where we eat lots of food and hear myths about how the pilgrims and the native Americans were the best of friends. I figured that today would be the perfect day to think about the things I’m thankful for, which has become an annual ToyBender tradition. Now in no particular order, what I’m thankful for in 2008:

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Not to toot my own horn (in public at least), but the final pieces are being put into place for having a seriously epic contest this December. I’ve been very pleased from the responses I’ve gotten for possible sponsors thus far, so it looks like my lovely, sweet readers will be able to get their grubby, toy loving hands some great prizes. How will you get the chance to win an assortment of amazing prizes? Well, I can’t give it all away right now, but I will say it involves tots.

So far sponsors that are on board include the super nice people of Sideshow Collectibles, Brian’s Toys, and 80stees.com. Hopefully more sponsors will donate prizes to put more sweetness in the awesome sauce, but even if they don’t we have enough stuff to blow the doors on your everyday lame giveaway.

So have I gotten you excited yet?

Wow, I’m keeping busy at work and it’s Friday. Strange huh? Anyway, I suppose I owe all you folks something that are surfing the web on a Friday afternoon or evening. While I don’t think there’s a lot of you out there (as comments and traffic indicates), I value you just as much as the regular Monday through Thursday crowd.

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It’s my birthday today and I’m really hoping that your present is in the mail. If it is not, I will really have to reevaluate our blogger/bloggie relationship. Since it’s my birthday, I brought some virtual treats of things that are awesome.

We’ve got Puppies:

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I’ve got a quick couple of notes to send out this Friday. I don’t want to make a regular habit out of this, but sometimes I can’t justify making a whole post out of one line items.

Item: The Wizard Universe Message Boards (run by the company that publishes magazines like ToyFare and Wizard) is having it’s annual WUMBIE awards. I was nominated for two things, biggest nerd (of which I obviously don’t deserve) and in the “Outside Projects” for ToyBender. If you are a member of WUMB I strongly encourage you to vote for me, because I’m so awesome. I’d say don’t vote for Esbat, but you actually can vote a few times in each category so you can throw him a bone as well.

Item: I’m thinking of trying to get people to donate G.I. Joes to Toys For Tots this year, like a drive to get Joes into the hands of the younger generation. I wanted to do it last year, but there weren’t any friggen G.I. Joes around in stores. In order to encourage donations, I was thinking of running a contest. If you own anything Joe related that you think would make a great prize for a good cause, let me know, even if it’s just a spare figure in a package or some loose army builders or something. If you’re a retail store, you’ll get props and lots of plugs. Free plugs! Good cause! What more could you ask for!?

Item: Poe Ghostal has been putting up a cool toy pic of the day. So far it’s been pretty awesome. Go check them out.

Item: I’ve fallen in love with a new, non-toy related website. It’s Trophy Bomb and it’s a essay site of the type you’d read in the Onion… or something like that. Just go there and read. It’s got some hilarious stuff. I’d have to say I’ve been leaving some funny comments, so that enough should compel you to check the site out.

Item: If you own a website/blog and you’re a big fan of this site… well I’m sorry but I ran out of room to link to you. I only get so many links now and unless you guys want to battle to the death with someone who already has a link in the tiny blog roll section, have at it. This is all due to the fact that I only am allowed a short list of sites to add to my blog roll, because I don’t own this site. It’s owned by The Corporation. Now if you excuse me, I have a Death Derby game I must compete in.

See that super awesome banner up there? The new banner comes from a fellow by the internet handle of krpykrwly of the WUMB. Thank you, krpykrwly, you rule. You get this:

And this:

Well after many delays I’ve finally can reveal who the winner of the San Diego Comic Con ‘08 Cobra Commander figure… but let me first play a song from my new album.

But seriously, the grand prize winner is…

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