Toy Bender

If you’ve resigned yourself to buying DC Infinite Heroes because they’re okay enough, but wished they were better then you no doubt have collected a few “anti-monitor” points. What could you get for these points? Possibly some cool mail-away offer? Nope, Mattel revealed you can only redeem them at the San Diego Comic Con.

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While digging through my old picture files, I found a set of pictures that had been taken at Wizard World Chicago some years ago. The pictures are of a rather large G.I. Joe diorama that had been set up of Cobra attacking what looked like an oil refinery. The thing was fan-friggen-tastic and would have been a super cool piece to have in any toy collector’s home. Sadly, the pictures don’t do it justice as they are old and crappy, but I thought I’d share them here just for fun:

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It’s time for part two of my toy haul from the San Jose Toy, Comic, and Record Show!

Star Wars Micro Collection Bespin Gantry - $12.00

This is one of those purchases that was totally spontaneous. When I was a kid my Dad bought me the companion piece to this rare-ish Star Wars toys wayyyy after they should have been in stores. It was flipping sweet. The only reason I got this one was that I picked it up and asked how much the dealer wanted for it. He said twenty bucks, which was out of my price range since it was at the tail end of my spending and I wasn’t that interested. I put the box down and the guy then tells me he’d take fifteen. I said I’d have to think about it and he suddenly offers it to me for twelve. This guy must have been desperate the way he talked himself down so quickly. I bought it at that moment, but man I wonder what he’d have offered if I would have turned that down. There was probably a free puppy that I missed out on. Damn it.

Shawn managed to get a huge deal from the guy with virtually no effort as well. I’m wondering if this dealer should rethink his line of work.

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One of the few local events I look forward to in my adopted Northern California home is theSan Jose toy show. It occurs twice a year and is a great place to find a lot of toys that are hard to find or at a discount (and there’s no shipping costs involved). The event is also a comics and records show, but the main attraction is the many toy dealer booths.

While the event takes place in a fairgrounds that 1953 has forgotten, it’s not like it’s in an unsafe, just kind of ugly looking. It’s interesting to note that while we were there there was an announcement over the intercom saying that the city is putting it up to a vote to demolish the fairgrounds to make way for new development. Hopefully the event will find a new venue if it does get paved over, because the fairgrounds are a pretty big eyesore.

Anyway, I thought I’d share my purchases with you in two installments mostly because I know you have short attention spans and will be bored reading a giant list of things someone else bought. I also love to unreasonably stretch my updates. Yay!

Robocop Bubble Bath Container - $1.00

I’ve been on a bit of a Robocop kick after my latest article dealing with him, so this was an immediate must have. Sadly, this did not contain bubble bath, but the dollar purchase was well worth it in terms of kitschy value. It doesn’t hurt that it looks like an Academy Award either. Seriously though, how did an hard R rated icon get turned into a bubble bath? This is like having a Scarface electric toothbrush.

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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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Thanks to Toy Bender’s official photographer Scott McEachen at San Diego Comic Con 2008 we’ll continue our look at the new toy goodness found at SDCC ‘08. This time I’ll turn my sexy gaze onto the rest of the Star Wars offerings:

Jodo Kast

If you can’t get enough Boba Fett repaints, this guy is obviously for you. The rest of the figure offerings in the cases really did nothing for me, however there were a couple of figures that I’ve only seen on Jedi Insider’s Hasbro presentation that are fairly noteworthy:

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MattyCollector.com opened at 11:00 a.m. PST and quickly crashed while I tried to submit my order. If there’s anything that you’d like to get as far as SDCC exclusive figures go, then good luck to you. You’re going to need it if you want to try to get the likes of King Greyskull and Lobo.

Thanks to Toy Bender’s official photographer Scott McEachen at San Diego Comic Con 2008, I’ve got a bunch of pictures of cool upcoming collector’s items. Yeah, you might have seen them elsewhere, but only I have the finest insight on the world of what’s cool in toys.*

The first few posts will cover the Star Wars figures seen at the con. While I’m certainly not as big into Star Wars as I used to be, Hasbro did manage to pull out some figures that will keep me at least semi-interested in Star Wars toys in the near future. Before we officially get started let’s put out the alert:

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Here’s another round of quick news items that have come out of the San Diego Comic Con. If you require more of my patented in depth opinions, don’t worry. I’ve got picture posts on the way that are loaded with all kinds of sweetness for your reading pleasure. Until then, enjoy these links!

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Sigh, another day where I miss Comic Con. Bah humbug. Well, there’s still tons to cover. I figure that I can go over a few of the cool items that I’ve seen on the interwebs. I plan on doing more detailed posts on particular toys I really like if I can get some pictures of them later. If you noticed anything of note so far, drop me a line in the comments.

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You ever play that game where you strategically place pants into lines of Star Wars dialogue? Lines like,” I find your lack of pants disturbing” are something that only a true Star Wars fan can know. Anyway, Here’s a picture of Hasbro’s 2008 Star Wars Comic Con Exclusive entitled: Disturbance in the Force (Click the link to make the image much larger).

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NECA released news on another 2008 San Diego Comic Con Exclusive this week after their previous announcement that included a Gears of War figure and some Mousers from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Personally, this newest figure tops them all. It’s a Predator that is in half Stealth Mode, which gives us an excuse to have another clear figure! Go clear figures, go!

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NECA recently released their list of San Diego Comic Con Exclusives for 2008 and Gears of War and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fans rejoiced. For Gears of War NECA’s figure of choice is Carmine. He’s the “innocent kid” team member that gets his head blown off, which is coincidental since he’s the only one with a helmet. Is it really a coincidence though? No probably not, I always assumed that they didn’t want to waste a character model on a standard trooper who was only going to get killed.

The other cool exclusive that they announced was a three pack of mousers for their comic book inspired Teenage Mutant Turtles line. The kit also comes with a San Diego manhole cover, which is pretty cool. For a pic of the Mousers and the opinions of someone who is actually collecting the NECA TMNT figures, check out Poe Ghostal’s blog.