Monday News: Tiny figures with pipes and hammers edition

It's been some time since I've done any news but there's more than a few good reasons for it, of that you can be sure. Anyway, we're slowly making the transition over to the new title of Planned Banter though having to squeeze time away from work to do business cards and e-mail addresses and what-have-you is not a fast process especially the second time around. That's not going to stop me from yakking about all the stuff on the show that can't really sustain a conversation outside of more than two of us though.

Well, they didn't goof off when it came to the collector's edition it seems

One of the most legendary pieces of Vaporware finally appeared in real life as every territory excluding the US has already seen the release of Duke Nukem Forever. It drops here on the 14th but so far, the reviews have not been exceedingly kind as you can see here, here and here [Source: Joystiq, PC Gamer and IGN]

If you're in the mood for some positive press about the Dukester, you can head over to either Newton Gimmick's site Infinite Hollywood or to Poe Ghostal for reviews of NECA's action figure of him. I'll probably get one at some point if not just to pilfer his cigar for my Marvel Legends Thing and Nick Fury figures. [Source: Infinite Hollywood and Poe Ghostal's Points of Articulation]

More After The Jump

Who else is trying to ignore that '30' up there?

While you're at Poe's site, you can also check out the news that Mattel has entered a licensing partnership with Classics Media, the company which currently holds the rights to the Filmation Masters of the Universe cartoon. As Poe says, this is a pretty good sign and could potentially allow Mattel to start making figures of characters like Shadow Weaver and Lizard-Man who Filmation possessed the ownership of.  [Source: Poe Ghostal's Points of Articulation]

I will never get tired of this cover. Never, never, never.

SDCC is quickly approaching and that means people are finally revealing more exclusives such as this minimate boxset based off the initial arc in Walt Simonson's run on The Mighty Thor.

What this means for the Beta Ray Bill planned for a TRU wave is currently unknown

There's also a set for the Future Foundation from Hickman's FF title that I was interested in until I found out the Sentry would be reappearing in it. It's too bad as this set would have been an excellent chance to get Franklin and Valeria Richards which would have increased it's appeal hugely in the eyes of people who don't get the contemporary minimates.

Lame that Sue is entirely clear; I'd rather forgo the extra parts for Reed and have alternate parts for a visible Sue

Thor and friends are an AFX exclusive so they'll be available outside of the show without much difficulty; you can still get most of their sets from years past as the 2010 New Mutants box I still need to buy. Plus, as much tooling as Beta Ray Bill required, I'm sure they've made a ton of it. The Future Foundation set is the real mystery as it's apparently not going to be at the con itself, but at the Disney Store in a nearby Mall. This is the weirdest manifestation of Disney buying Marvel yet so how obtainable they end up being is a total mystery.

Finally a Dormammu minimate, even if it is in a costume that appeared in one miniseries.

 They've also announced the breakdown for the TRU and LCS waves of the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 minimates. Let it be known that the TRU wave has Mike Haggar packed with the Hulk and that's basically a one pack justification for why this line was a genius idea.

MIKE HAGGAR IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW

[Source: Minimate Headquarters]

The wave that launched a thousand Ebay auctions

The Transformers: Dark of the Moon product is hitting in full force, and while I debate whether or not I want Shockwave every time I see him in a store, Hasbro has been sending the remnants of the past year's toys to outlet retailers like T.J. Maxx and Marshall's (perhaps even Ross stores, none of which are near me to my infinite annoyance when a ton of obscure Joe stuff shows up there). What's this mean? Well, rarities such as the second wave of Reveal the Shield figures are showing up in larger numbers then they've ever been seen out of Ebay, thereby making them a practical expenditure for the first time ever! The new Perceptor is in this wave as well as Wreck-Gar and a funky version of Optimus Prime based on the G2 Laser Prime toy. There's also a repaint of Classics Bumblebee inspired by his movie paint scheme for those who don't have that mold already. They've also been getting the RTS Scout class figures including the much coveted Windcharger, a figure that legendary customizer Jin Saotome is having trouble locating.

He's so rare, it's hard to find decent pictures of him.

So if you collect Transformers and you haven't already heard, get out there. If you don't but happen to be going to one of those stores than check them out for me and any of our loyal listeners that may not have one. I'm pretty sure that 5 Windchargers ever were sold in a regular store, 3 of which were in Hong Kong. Besides, they get plenty of other things like past season Lego sets and some extremely random G.I. Joe stuff, much of which is often believed to be canceled/unproduced. BTW, if you find any of the canceled Target Exclusives (specifically the Twin battle gun with the Range Viper or the Desert RAM Cycle with Sandstorm), Pursuit of Cobra Snow Job or that keen Transforming Motorcyle Armor, feel free to let me know. In the meantime, feel free to head out to Twitter pal Generals Joes site just to see what a wizard he is at getting even the most poorly distributed stuff.

Anyone out there not have the Back to the Future Trilogy blu-ray? Well do I have news for you! We mentioned this on the show last night but the time frame for getting this price will be really short so I'm mentioning it here; this week Target has the set on sale for a staggering $15 down from the regular price of $50+. That's a spectacular deal made even sweeter by the fact that many places are price matching it such as Amazon and Best Buy. There's even a printable coupon for Best Buy right now that gives you $5 off any DVD/Blu-ray priced over $14.99 so you could potentially get this for $10. That's crazy and all you need to do is bring in a copy of Target's flyer or use the Target App to get a price match for the deal of a lifetime. Of course, you could always just skip leaving the house and order it through Amazon if that's your thing. Either way, you can get the Best Buy coupon here. It doesn't expire until July 31st so there's probably going to be plenty of chances for you to use it in the next 40 or so days. I've used it twice already and I'm just getting started with the thing.