Toy Bender

Like everything awesome, the contest to win a San Diego Comic Con Cobra Commander is over. The judges are hard at work judging and I’ll make the announcement as to who the winner is as soon as bloody possible. As one of the judges I have to say that there was a lot of high quality submissions sent in, so many that it’s ridonkeylous how hard it will be to pick a winner. It would be a shame if only the secret cabal of judges and I were to see them though, so I’ll be posting a few of the runners up in addition to whoever is figuratively crowned with winner.

Oh yeah, and I’m not above bribery. I’ll accept anything from cash money to Hostess Fruit Pies to scantly clad pictures of your wives or girlfriends (preferably in superhero outfits).

Just a quick reminder to everyone that submissions are still open for my totally rad San Diego Comic Con ‘08 Cobra Commander giveaway. So far I’ve gotten a good amount of high quality submissions. I’ve also picked the other judges who will judge as they’ve never judged before! It’s going to be tough too, because there’s a lot of great stuff sitting in my email inbox right now. Still, I’d always like to get more, so keep at it!

And just because I feel like it, here’s a picture of some dinosaurs fighting from the stage in history I like to call, “The Great Dinosaur Wars.”

Someday if you’re good I’ll tell you some secret tales from the Dinosaur Wars, including how Journey saved us all. And yes, I mean the band Journey.

You’ve read that title right. Toy Bender is now offering you the chance to get your hands on a San Diego Comic Con ‘08 Cobra Commander that is no longer available for purchase except from the secondary market. What, what! Why pay extra for one of these bad boys on eBay or from some shady dealer when you can get one for absolutely free for doing almost nothing?

In order to get your mitts on Cobra Commander, there are a few ways in which you can enter. I’m a big fan of the creative arts, so we’re going high school art/creative writing class on this one. Here’s what I’m accepting for submissions:

1. Short essay (50 words or more) on who your favorite G.I. Joe character is and why.

2. Short story (200 words or more) staring your favorite Joe character.

3. Poetry. No free verse. Points given for iambic pentameter. Haikus are cool.

4. An illustration of your favorite G.I. Joe.

Send your works of art to Paul.ToyBender@gmail.com with your name and address. All entries must be received by 8/24/08 in order to qualify. A panel of judges will crown the ultra-lucky winner.

Be sure to tell anyone you can to enter, if participation is low then it’s hard to give away stuff in the future, ya dig?

*Fine Printy Print: Winner will be notified via email. Winner has one week in order to respond before a new winner is chosen. By entering, you agree that your submission may be posted on ToyBender.com. All submissions must be created by the submitter and not have been used before for any purpose. All Toy Bender readers are qualified to enter, however if you are an international reader you must agree to fork over some extra cash for shipping. Hey, I’m not rolling in gold dubloons here. Please contact Paul.Toybender@gmail.com for any questions.

Yeah, there’s not a whole lot of toy related stuff going on this week, but I kind of expected that as we are still coming off the high that is Comic Con 2008. What’s great is that it seems to be contest season now so I thought I’d update you with the ones that I know about:

Unleaded Logic is having a contest were he’s giving away an exclusive Toys R Us Halo 3 Spartan. That’s a pretty damn good prize if you’re a Halo nut. He’s also offering a couple of lucky runners up a “limited edition 16×20 Halo 3 Series 2 Vinyl Poster featuring all the figures from the campaign of series 2.” Shew that’s a mouthful.

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Last year I had a totally awesome San Diego Comic Con swag contest. This year, not so much. I’ve got nothing cool to give out*, since I wasn’t there. However, Savage of Old Man Musings has come to the rescue. He’s having a swag contest over at his blog that I encourage you to check out.

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You’ve probably no doubt realized that it’s a super slow week for toy news. In order to overcome this drought I’ve got two noteworthy contests.

The first is from Mezco Toys who have the Heroes license. If you’re a Heroes fan and want to score a set of their test shot figures (there’s only five in existence), then all you have to do is dress up like your favorite Heroes character, take a picture of yourself, and then send it to heroes-contest@the-owi.com.

You know, this contest might be a little more effective if the Heroes characters were a little more distinct. Aside from the cheerleader when she wears her cheerleader outfit, they’re just a bunch of people dressed up like… regular people. Here’s to hoping it’s an excuse to see a bunch of hot chicks dressed up like cheerleaders and not forty year-old beast men dressed like Hiro.

Moving from TV to video games, McFarlane Toys is giving away a full set of their Halo 3 series 1 figures. All you have to do to enter is to go to this page and then fill out some basic info. They have two sets available, so good luck because I’m winning one.

Update Boy, I am a fool. I forgot all about Poe Ghostal’s caption the pic contest were you can win a Hulkbuster Iron man figure. I won the last contest and got my prize in the mail, so it’s not an impossible win if I could do it.

Over on Hasbro’s G.I. Joe website they’ve got a fun little flash trivia game called Do You Know Your Joe? Normally I’ll pass on these kinds of marketing gimmicks, but in this case I’d recommend giving this a spin if you have a few free minutes. The trivia is a mix of super easy and pretty tough questions (if you’re a casual fan) and it’s pretty funny when the characters react to their right and wrong answers.

Once you’re done you can enter in some contest to win stuff. I’m not sure what’s going on with the contest, because some obnoxious band’s music started playing when I clicked on the link. I’m not sure of their name, but they’re some douchebag band that’s derivative of the smoothed over emo grunge rock that’s popular today. If you can somehow get past this irritating single you can enter the contest. Me, I abandoned ship.

toy, toy collecting, G.I. Joe, Action figure

(What? You already saw this post last week? Well, this is the magical floating contest reminder post now. Remember, if you want money to hide from your wife, pay for your sister’s operation, or just blow on drugs then comment away!)

If you’re already entering the SDDC comment contest to win giveways from the convention, then this is even better news for you. For those not commenting at all, then this might be the reason to start. 451 Press, the network blogging overlords that actually own this blog, are having a comment contest network wide for up to 300 bucks. That’s right, for every comment you make you are also giving yourself the chance to win 300 smackers.

Here’s the official announcement with all the fancy details:

Wanna win $300? If ya do read the instructions below and GOOD LUCK!

If I had $300 dollars I would buy________.

What would you buy with $300? Or even $200 or $100? Now is your chance to find out! Comment on any 451 Press site during the month of August and you could win! Three comments will be chosen at random to win a cash prize of $300, $200 or $100. The more you comment the more chances you have to win. So start reading and let those fingers fly.

toy, toy collecting, action figure, contest, prize

It is my pleasure to give something back to all the great readers of Toy Bender so I’m happy to announce the winner of the 2007 Comic-Con goodies. Oh yes, this stuff is hard to part with, but knowing that it will go to a valued reader soothes the hurt like a Keebler Scooby-Doo graham cracker stick. Have you tried those things? OMG they are awesome! Okay, I’m getting a bit off track here.

And the winner is…

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Remember, the comment contest is still going on. I realize I’ve been having server problems, but I don’t see that many comments in the last few days. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by! Oh yeah, the 300 dollar comment contest is still going on too.

toy, toy collecting, action figure, convention, San Diego Comic-Con, contest, prize

It’s contest time again! Back by popular demand, it’s your turn to get some free goodies from San Diego Comic-Con. I’ve got a bunch of stuff here, so here’s a partial list of some of the best items:

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Look at those luscious prizes that one lucky reader will end up with in moments, but before I get to that I’d like to thank everyone who entered. I’m hoping that the comments won’t dry up completely, because I’ve enjoyed a lot of them. I also hope that you continue to read Toy Bender, because that will only encourage me and my blogging overlords to do this again in the future. Simply put, the bigger the blog gets the more benefits there are for you. Since I realize that everyone who is the least interested in winning this contest has already skipped down to find (or not find) their name, I’ll just get on with this.

The winner of The Completely Ball Kicking Awesome Off the Hook Star Wars Celebration IV Prize Package is Great White Snark! Congrats to Snark and better luck next time for those of you hoping win.

toy, toy collecting, action figure, Star Wars, contest, prize

Remember everyone, the contest ends on June 16th for “The Completely Ball Kicking Awesome Off the Hook Star Wars Celebration IV Prize Package” is still going on! Remember that every comment you make (if you aren’t a writer for 451 Press, a Spamer, or a filthy Nazi Zombie) will get you an entry into this stupendous contest. So get commenting if you haven’t already, or comment more if you have been.

toy, toy collecting, action figure, Star Wars, contest, prize

You read that title right, it’s contest time here at Toy Bender! I ended up with a few extra trinkets from my recent trip to Star Wars Celebration IV and it’s time to pass them to you if you weren’t lucky enough to attend.

In the prize round round up:

1 ) A DVD-Rom from Sideshow collectibles. I’m not sure what’s on it, but it’s got to be good if it’s from Sideshow!

2 ) A Sideshow Collectibles gift card. This card is worth up to 100 dollars depending on what happens when you put the code in their website. Insane!

3 ) Two, yes two sets of Star Wars Pocket Model trading card game ships. Each set comes with an X-Wing and a Tie Fighter that you can build and do whatever the hell it is you do with these things.

4 ) A pack of lenticular trading cards from the insightful History Channel documentary that tells you the lightsaber was inspired by swords.

5 ) A package of tissues from website J-list.com. Um, I’m assuming for use with some of their naughtier Japanese offerings.

6 ) A cool Star Wars Battlefront Renegade Squadron stick-on patch.

7 ) One nifty mini-poster from the upcoming Star Wars videogame, Star Wars: Unleashed. This thing is printed on really heavy card stock so it’s a little cooler than just a crappy one off promo-poster.

8 ) And the most awesome thing of all, a unused Stormtrooper card back for the 30th Anniversary edition figure.

How can you get your grimy nerd hands on such a stupendous collection of trinkets that will be hereafter known as, “The Completely Ball Kicking Awesome Off the Hook Star Wars Celebration IV Prize Package”? Simply by leaving a comment anywhere on the site from now until June 16th will automatically enter you into the contest. Leave as many comments as you like as each and everyone will earn you a shot at winning. Please keep in mind that you’ll have to leave your real email address so I can contact you and let you know you’ve won. Don’t worry, I won’t be doing anything fishy with your email either. Also please keep in mind that I appreciate insightful comments and more than one word responses. Something like that might qualify as spam (see below for my spam policy).

Now get commenting fools!

Extra Rules: Writers of 451 Press cannot win. Spam comments will not be qualified to win. Winner has five days to claim their prizes by responding to my, “Hey, you’re the big winner” email. If the winner doesn’t respond in five days a new winner will be picked. Sorry, but thems the rules. Postage will be paid by me, so don’t complain when it isn’t sent next day priority air. I love you, but not that much.

toy, toy collecting, action figure, Star Wars, contest, prize

If you’re a fan of Twisted ToyFare Theater and you think you can do just as good of a job (or better) at writing Twisted ToyFare Theater, then the king of toy magazines has a challenge for you. Over on the Wizard Universe website, they’ve got a contest for you to make your own Twisted ToyFare Theater.

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