Raving Toy Maniac

U.S. Space & Rocket Center sets Guinness World record for building largest K'NEX® sculpture

K'NEX T-REX is made from 160,000 K'NEX pieces and is over 12 feet tall!

Hatfield, PA, August, 2012 – K'NEX, the only U.S. construction toy company focused on Building Worlds Kids Love®, is pleased to announce that the U.S. Space & Rocket Center is home to the largest K'NEX sculpture - a life size T-REX, affectionately named K'REX!

Located in Huntsville, Alabama, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center is home to Space Camp and Aviation Challenge and is one of the most comprehensive U.S. manned space flight hardware museums in the world. Working during their time off last summer, Space Camp crew trainers - headed by Wesley Smalls and Jarrad Bedwell - built the sculpture to replicate the recast of a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton featured in the center's summer exhibit: "A T-REX named Sue."

ICv2 Announces Conference on Comics & Digital II At New York Comic Con

August 30, 2012: ICv2 has announced that it will host the ICv2 Conference on Comics & Digital II at New York Comic Con, a special half day event where executives and thought leaders from the comics and digital realms will discuss the accelerating changes that are impacting the customers, the medium, and the business of comics and graphic novels.

"Digital comics is one of the destabilizing forces that are transforming comics and graphic novels, but it's certainly not the only one," ICv2 President Milton Griepp said. "Whether it's the rapid changes in retail and libraries, in who the customer is, in how the business works, or in the art form of comics, it's tough to find an aspect of the comics and graphic novel world that isn't evolving rapidly. We thought it was important to offer an event that helps the industry adapt to those destabilizing forces at this critical juncture."

WIZKIDS/NECA, LLC OBTAINS CONSENT PERMANENT INJUNCTION AGAINST TREE HOUSE KIDS, INC.

Hillside, NJ - August 30, 2012 - National Entertainment Collectibles Association Inc. (NECA) is pleased to announce the entry of a Consent Permanent Injunction in a trademark infringement lawsuit against Tree House Kids, Inc.

In the lawsuit, NECA's subsidiary WizKids/NECA, LLC (WizKids) alleges that use of the trademark HEROICS by Tree House Kids in connection with the sale of miniature super hero figures infringes WizKids' rights in its HEROCLIX trademark.

On August 8, 2012, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey issued the Consent Permanent Injunction against Tree House Kids, permanently prohibiting Tree House Kids from, among other things, making, using, distributing, selling, displaying, manufacturing, advertising or promoting, products, product packaging, or labeling that use, incorporate or display the trademarks HEROCLIX or HEROICS, or any other trademarks likely to cause confusion with the HEROCLIX trademark.

August 30, 2012 - Listed below are the toy (and child-related) recalls from this week; these links go to the official announcements on the Consumer Product Safety Commission web site.

- Meijer Stores Recalls Bicycles Due to Fall Hazard

- Specialized Bicycle Components Expands Recall of Bike Brake Levers Due to Crash Hazard

- Inflatable Recreational Tubes Recalled by Tractor Supply Due to Chemical Burn and Irritation Hazard

- Hurricane Isaac Warning: Keep Generators Outside and Far Away from Homes

- Shimano Recalls to Repair PRO VIBE Bicycle Handlebars Due to a Fall Hazard

August 2012 - Hasbro has sent out an update about a batch of exclusive Transformers toys:

Transformers fans,

At Comic-Con, the Transformers team announced that the Transformers Prime First Edition action figure line would be made available at Toys R Us. We're excited to share with you that BigBadToyStore.com and Entertainment Earth will also carry the line. The Transformers Prime First Edition items that will be available at all three of these retailers include:

Deluxe Scale:

• STARSCREAM
• ARCEE
• TERRORCON CLIFFJUMPER
• VEHICON

Voyager Scale:

• BULKHEAD
• OPTIMUS PRIME

Additionally, BigBadToyStore.com will start pre-sell for their Dark Energon exclusive items that were announced at Comic-Con on September 1. The items in this line include:

Deluxe Scale:

• DARK ENERGON DEFENDER WHEELJACK
• DARK ENERGON KNOCKOUT
• DARK ENERGON STARSCREAM
• DARK ENERGON DEFENDER BUMBLEBEE

Voyager Scale:

• DARK ENERGON DEFENDER OPTIMUS PRIME
• DARK ENERGON MEGATRON

August 29, 2012 - (Sponsor Announcement) - Online retailer BigBadToyStore.com has several items of interest to collectors:

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NEW PREORDERS
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MOVIE MASTERPIECE 1/6 SCALE WOLVERINE COLLECTIBLE FIGURE
Hot Toys will be releasing a new version of Wolverine, this time based on his appearance in "X-Men: The Last Stand". It comes with alternate hands, a light-up display base and much more, and is listed at $214.99, saving you $20 off of the MSRP.
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=HOT10413&mode=re...

TRANSFORMERS GENERATIONS - TAKARA - FALL OF CYBERTRON
Takara follows up Hasbro's Generations line with their own set of releases! Look for figures to come with slightly different paint applications as well as possible chrome parts. We do not have any images of Takara product yet, but will update the site when they become available.
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/search.aspx?search=takara+fall

August 2012 - Playmates Toys has let us know that their latest television commercials for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys are now available online:

TMNT Shellraiser TV commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFn3VxTqKO0&feature=plcp

TMNT Power Sound FX Figures: "Punch Lines" TV commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfxIyF3El08&feature=plcp

TMNT Vehicles: "Alley Oop!" TV commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNdNNFCsSQY&feature=plcp

TMNT Action Figures: "Royal Flush" TV commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1198xBqtoY&feature=plcp

TMNT Ninja Combat Gear TV commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JP6HqImBOQ&feature=plcp

Prize #15 of the 20 Big Prizes From K'NEX®

Enter for your chance to win a $500 KNEX.com Shopping Spree!

Hatfield, PA – August 2012 – K'NEX Brands, the only US construction toy company focused on Building Worlds Kids Love™, is pleased to announce the launch of K'NEX'S "Win a $500 knex.com Shopping Spree" Sweepstakes. From August 28, 2012 at 9:00 am EST through September 11, 2012 at 3:59pm EST, K'NEX fans can enter for their chance to win a $500 KNEX.com Shopping Spree.

The winner will receive a coupon code to enter in at checkout for purchasing up to $500 of product, and shipping/handling costs, currently available on the "Shop" pages at KNEX.com. Prospective winners can enter once per day either through the K'NEX Facebook page (which links to the K'NEX 20th Anniversary Celebration page of the Knex.com website), or directly through KNEX.com. The winner will have until December 31, 2012 to use the entirety of their prize, after which time their coupon code will be void. Contestants must be 18 years or older to enter. Please see official rules for details. http://www.knex.com/20thanniversary/20BigPrizes/KNEX-Shoping-Spree.php

Mega Bloks Halo Toymation Contest is back

The second edition of the Mega Bloks Halo Toymation Fest calls on fans to raise the bar

MONTREAL, Aug. 28, 2012 - MEGA Brands Inc. - After a successful and exciting first year, Mega Bloks will soon launch their second edition of the Halo Toymation Fest, a community-driven competition in which Halo fans can create and submit their own Mega Bloks Halo toymations (stop motion animations featuring toys) for a chance to win incredible prizes.

The official 2012 Mega Bloks Halo Toymation website (http://halo.megabloks.com/en/toymation), launched on August 3rd, will once again be the home page to many hopeful contestants. At this time, fans can visit the site to learn more about the different genres of videos they will be allowed to submit, discover the panel of judges and the amazing prizes to be won, receive details about the voting criteria and tips on stop motion animation.

FRANCAVILLA'S THE BLACK BEETLE RETURNS TO DELIVER AWARDWORTHY PULP ACTION!

August 28, MILWAUKIE, OR - Dark Horse Comics is thrilled to announce a new creator-owned series from Francesco Francavilla, the 2012 Eisner Award winner for Best Cover Artist!

Francavilla's critically acclaimed The Black Beetle returns in December with The Black Beetle #0, which will collect the three-part story entitled Night Shift that originally appeared in the pages of the Eisner Award–winning Dark Horse Presents. The issue will feature a brand-new cover, twenty-four story pages, and bonus sketch material and art!

January brings The Black Beetle: No Way Out, a four-issue story that marks the first full series for Francavilla's Black Beetle, continuing from the self-published, limited-edition ashcan comic of the same name - the first appearance of this exciting new pulp hero!