Toy Bender

Item: Are you going to the G.I. Joe Convention in Kansas City this year? Or how about San Diego Comic Con? I’m looking for some photos and possibly news stories to put on Toy Bender. I can even pay you a little for your efforts (no, not in Snarves). Shoot an email to Paul.toybender@gmail.com if you’re interested.

Item: If you don’t read Poe Ghostal’s blog, you’re a bloody fool. Not only is it a great blog on it’s own, but I’m trying to semi-regularly post there. That’s right, you get bonus Paul! Fairly recently I shared a couple of my favorite toys on his “Show and Tell” feature that you should check out. I’ll be sharing more as time goes on, so be sure to keep checking out his blog.

Item: Are you on Facebook? Are you a fan of the Toy Bender Facebook page? If not, by all means please become a fan. I’m keeping it as a place to update you on all things Toy Bender as well as a repository for interesting pictures that you might have missed on here in the past. Also, in possible future contests fans of the page will get extra entries.

Item: The “other” blog I write for, The Robtot’s Pajamas, is humming along nicely. It’s the home of all the non-toy (and sometimes toy) related posts that don’t fit here. Please drop by if you haven’t seen it or been there in awhile.

Item: If you haven’t put your entry in for the free Snarf yet, be sure to do so soon. I’ll be picking the winner this next week.

Update: This post is just here to reflect recent sales. Ignore this if you’re not looking for buying awesome toys from our online dealer booth.

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What do you do when there’s a new summer movie based on the Terminator franchise that has a lot of positive buzz and anticipation built up and some crappy competitor has the toy license? Why, you use the license to one of the previous incarnations of the film and make toys out of that! NECA now has the excuse to make Terminator toys with their Terminator 2 line of figures. I don’t suppose that it hurts any that Terminator 2: Judgment Day currently just happens to be the most popular and successful of the Terminator movies, either.

Good on ya, NECA. I think we all have agreed how truly terrible and disappointing the Playmates Terminator toys have been for collectors (I even ranted about it here during my absence), so it’s good to see another company get the license fairly close to when this new film comes out. Given the choice between anything Playmates and NECA, the winner will always be NECA, especially when it comes to evil robots with tiny, intricate parts. Although, to be fair NECA doesn’t always have figures with as much articulation as I’d like.

Anyway, it will be nice to get my hands on a new figure of Arnold Schwarzenegger. NECA will have have him in two varieties, one being the classic leather jacket and sunglasses version, the other being the part where he cut off all the skin on his arm. Either way, you’re getting Arnold Schwarzenegger, so you’re a winner.

Hey kids, it’s Friday already! My how time flies… and how it sometimes slows to a painful crawl. It’s time again for some thoughts and neat-o links. Enjoy!

Item: Wow, having a job with extremely limited internet access sucks. I’m so behind on everything! I’m hoping I can figure out a schedule so I can keep providing fantastic posts for you kids. And yeah this also affects the amount of responses I can make to comments, so if I don’t respond to you in the comments I’m really sorry.

Item: Speaking of internet access, can anyone recommend a laptop in the 500 dollar price range, preferably one that could be purchased at Best Buy?

Item: I remember when I used to put effort into posts. Poe Ghostal has been on fire these last couple of days with this one on action figure stands and this one on the top ten mail-Away figures. I fear this young upstart might be contending for the title of Best Toy Blog ever, which of course I’ve held uncontested.

Item: As long as we are on the subject of top ten lists, this is funny. It’s, “The Top Ten Ways I Want to Die.”

Item: Well, well it looks like Lando the Pimp agrees with me.

Item: As Old Man Musings points out, the registrations for hotels at the San Diego Comic con have opened. Get your room now, fool!

Well it’s Friday the 13th already! This week we’ve got… stuff. Yay!

Item: This week the director of Fanboys announced more cities where the film where appear as well as the places that you can already see it. Wait… Fanboys is still in theaters? WTF?!

Item: This is awesome.

Item: Topless Robot has an exclusive first look at movie Destro. It’s CGI, but not half bad.

By the way media companies, I’m for sale! Being paid a decent wage to run an outfit like that is my dream job.

Item: Want to know Kevin Smith’s take on Watchmen? Well then listen to this podcast. I know some of you out there don’t like the guy, but I love his podcasts and it’s nice to hear him on this Slashfilm one.

Item: If you’re one of the lucky stiffs that actually can go to the San Diego Comicon, you better purchase your tickets soon. They have already sold out of their four day passes and the Saturday passes look like they’re selling briskly.

Item: I started playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance with my wife again last night. I forgot how much I like that game, the developers pretty much nailed how a superhero game can include a lot of stuff yet remain really fun. Sure there are a few bugs, but overall it’s a great experience.

Item: I find this comic strip by Savage particularly amusing.

Oh boy we have links and thoughts to get you through your Friday!

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Hey, hey kids! It’s time for some more random links and thoughts. Today will be a bit shorter than usual because I’ve got to catch a train and I really can’t think of anything today. Yep, I’ve got blogger’s block.

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Item: Just to wrap things up, the contest winners of the Facebook/Comment contest have been notified. So sorry if you didn’t win, hopefully I can give out free stuff soon. Seriously, it’s like an addiction now. I just wish I had a constant flow of prize stuff, because you guys deserve it and there’s a lot of interest every time I run one.

Item: If any of my friends buy a chimp, I’m going to start packing heat.

Item: So why did WGN show Star Trek: The Next Generation practically all day the other day and now nothing the last couple of days? Why you have to tease the unemployed like that Chicago? At least I have Bill Kurtis to keep me company.

Item: EA is going to make a game based on G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. I wrote about the game on the ole’ gaming blog, but the short version is that I think it will most likely suck.

Item: One of my favorite blogs, Dave’s Long Box, died a year or so ago, but Dave is now back! He’s writing The Society for the Advancement of Dave now and it’s awesome. He seems to have a slightly broader range of subjects than just comics, but if you like this blog you should go check his out.

Item: I’m now roughly 12,000 zombies into my quest to get the kill 53,000 zombies or so Achievement in Left 4 Dead. If you want to help me in my quest, add my gamer tag “Tenric” to your friends list. If you do, please be sure to leave me a note letting me know who you are. I have a small brain and it’s often hard for me to match up who is who when their internet names don’t match their gamer tags.

Item: Good old Zach Oat, formerly of ToyFare fame, has written a “newbie’s guide to Watchmen.” It’s a great background guide if you plan on bringing anyone to the theater that knows nothing about the book and it’s plain enough for even your mom to understand. What? Why don’t you want to take your mom to Watchmen? She’s a nice lady! You really disappoint me sometimes.

Hey kids, it’s Friday! How about some links and random thoughts?

Item: It’s the last day for the comment/Facebook contest! Keep it up! I’ll be announcing the winner as soon as I get off my lazy ass and update my entries spreadsheet.

Item: My ploy worked. I’ve now gotten three comments from Twilight fans. I’m thinking that people really don’t read articles, considering I specifically said I was writing things that would anger them so I’d get comments. And if you do read the comments, I may just take up Yo Go Re’s idea for April.

Item: It looks like my posts on the Marvel Universe figures are fairly popular. Expect more coverage on them in the future then!

Item: Cobra Commander from the upcoming movie. Not a fan. Your thoughts?

Item: Before seeing FanBoys last week I found an action figure store near the theater. The place is called Action Figure Freddy and if you’re a nerd that happens to be in the area you should check it out.

Items: Do you dudes and gals like these Friday posts coming regularly? Or could you do without?

Item: Out of the pure kindness of people’s hearts (and I think the spirit of Christmas) two people have sent me free toys. LBAM of the most excellent blog LastBestAngryMan sent me a DC Infinite Heroes figure of Dr. Fate. A blogger who shall not be named, unless he wants to out himself, sent me a DC Universe Classics Firestorm. Of course I will have to owe them favors including, but not limited to, the possession of my soul. I’m not trying to brag but to publicly thank. I also don’t want to discourage anyone else from sending me free stuff.

So after seeing the beauty and majesty that are the Marvel Universe figures, the New York Comic Con had some more DC Infinite Heroes figures on display. Sadly, they again don’t look as good as Hasbro’s Marvel line. Somehow I still manage to find them serviceable enough for me to want to purchase them. What is wrong with me?!

It’s nice to see the Joker finally joining the line-up. I’m digging the cane accessory. I also like the effort they are putting into the packaging to show that they can be a little bit more dynamically posed.

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Hey kids, it’s time for some links to keep you entertained if you are surfing the web today.

Item: Don’t forget that the comment/Facebook contest is going until 2/12/09. Every comment you make is your chance to win!

Item: Michael Crawford has reviewed a Predator toy that is as awesome as it is insanely unobtainable for me. Thanks to Poe Ghostal for the original link.

Item: It appears that the mysterious Blogging Overlords that originally created and quietly guide this blog have implemented some sort of post rating system. What mortal can predict their all powerful decisions? Like I need any more blows to my ego if I start getting bad reviews… I mean… all hail the Blogging Overlords!

Item: Undiscovered Playthings has the coolest bootleg figures I’ve ever seen. Seriously! Gotta love that Michael Keaton era Batman.

Item: Our friend Monte wrote a really great article about Transformers cartoons. I know I said I don’t care much about the toy line right now, but this was a great read.

Item: Skeletor sold out really quickly. Could be good news for the line, but then again Skeletor has got to be the most popular Masters of the Universe character aside from He-Man.

Item: Insert cheap plug for the video game blog I work on. Yeah it’s not Toy Bender, but it does have its own sort of charm.

Item: Reading this post made me nostalgic for the kick ass Tonka vehicles I had for my sandbox.

Not only was this week bad for me personally, but Geekdom in general lost some pretty big icons in a short period. The first is Ricardo Montalbán and if you haven’t heard this news you must have been living under a rock. I really can’t say a whole lot more than what hasn’t been said already so I’m just going to show three instances where Montalbán touched my geeky life:

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Of course I’m a hack that thinks that Wrath of Khan is the greatest Star Trek movie, so what? It rules.

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I found this website the other day while… well I can’t remember exactly how, but they sell RC helicopters that include Airwolf. I don’t really care that much for anything RC, but I can get on board a Airwolf helicopter. Therefore, this RC Airwolf is is totally Airwolf for obvious reasons.

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The Terminator figures based on Terminator: Salvation are due out from Playmates and boy are they sort of underwhelming:

To be fair I didn’t expect to see super high quality figures, Playmates isn’t really known for ultra realistic sculpts of people what with all their Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles and all. The Endoskeletons actually look pretty good to me in the, I could buy a bunch of them and have a army kind of way. They might not look as good as say McFarlane Toys T2 Endoskeleton, but I’m hoping that they’ll be a bit more durable.

I’d like to see what they look like in person, but for now they are rather AweMehsome, meaning they have the potential to be awesome, but they give me a bit of a ‘meh’ feeling.

Also, did anyone notice that the one guy has a metal hand? I totally think he’s a robot!!

Thanks to: Topless Robot

Wow, another Christmas down. Hope it was a good one for you!

Item: Oh boy, I forgot how big of a dip in traffic one gets during Christmas and Christmas Eve. It’s funny to see almost the entirety of the internet disappear to do non-internety things. Now I know why TV stations don’t even bother trying on those days.

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