Raving Toy Maniac

Monogram International's NBC Eraser 10 Piece Display Set

May 2014 - Monogram International has announced the first of their Comic-Con exclusives for 2014:

Jack Skellington and all of his gang are here in this hauntingly beautiful collection of The Nightmare Before Christmas Erasers. This set comes in a nice black display box so you can enjoy Halloween all year long. Use them as erasers or keep them as display figures.

- Highly detailed and colorful characters!
- Great gift for Nightmare Before Christmas fans!
- Display unpackaged or packaged.
- One Gold Jack Eraser is included.
- One Silver Sally is included.
- One Bronze Zero is included.
- There are only 300 of these in existence, hurry and get one now!
- $25.00 Retail Price

HILLSIDE, NJ – May 30, 2014 - NECA/WizKids is excited to announce a new Dice Masters game set in the Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms universe.

"We're excited to expand our Dungeons & Dragons portfolio with the addition of Dungeons & Dragons Dice Masters. Dice Masters is an all new game that utilizes WizKids Games' proprietary Dice Building Game platform where players collect and assemble their "party" of adventurer dice and battle in head to head gameplay. Dice Masters has had huge initial success, is a very exciting platform and should fit perfectly with the world and lore of Dungeons & Dragons. You can expect to see some of the most recognizable monsters and characters, such as Kobolds, Beholders, Mindflayers, Dragons, Drow, and many more!" said Justin Ziran, president of WizKids Games. "We're excited to work with Mike Elliott and Eric M. Lang, who brought the original Dice Masters game to life, and we are sure they will bring Dungeons & Dragons Dice Masters to the table top in unique and immersive ways."

May 2014 - We did a round-up post a few days ago, but three more campaigns of interest have popped up since then:

- LeVar Burton is raising money to expand Reading Rainbow to more platforms and into more schools. This campaign has raised over $2.8 million in just two days!

- Ares Games and the Gremlin Project have a new boardgame Kickstarter for Galaxy Defenders: The Earth Strikes Back. The end result will be two expansion sets - "Operation Strikeback" and "Extinction Protocol."

- Over on IndieGogo, there is a heartbreaking My Little Pony campaign to raise funds for an anti-bullying campaign and to help with a child's ongoing medical expenses. Learn more on the Michael's Pony project page.

May 30, 2014 - (Sponsor Announcement) - Online retailer BigBadToyStore.com has several items of interest to collectors:

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NEW PRE-ORDERS
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BBTS SHARED EXCLUSIVE GI JOE 50TH ANNIVERSARY FIGURES AND VEHICLES
BBTS is proud to list the 50th Anniversary exclusives of the GI Joe line. They include Two-Packs of figures at $16.99 each or $29.99 for the Set of 2, Three-Packs of figures at $22.99 each of $39.99 for the Set of 2, the Danger at the Docks Vehicle and Figure Set at $29.99 and the Battle Below Zero Vehicle and Figure Set at $39.99. Take a look at all of the new offerings at the link for more information. Please note the vehicle listings have pre-sold-out, we are attempting to secure more inventory.
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/search.aspx?search=GI+Joe+50th

X-MEN LEGENDS PREVIEWS EXCLUSIVE CASE OF 8 WITH BAF JUBILEE

May 30, 2014 - 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.

- Hamilton Beach Recalls Baby Food Makers Due to Small Parts Hazard

- Children's Pajamas Recalled by Empress Arts Due to Violation of Federal Flammability Standards

May 27, 2014 - (Sponsor Announcement) - Online retailer BigBadToyStore.com has several items of interest to collectors:

Hi - we wanted to let you know that the GI Joe 50th Anniversary line is now up for preorder as a BBTS Shared Exclusive!

We have the following 50th Anniversary items available to order now, all items will ship out August 13th.

Night Marksmen and Heated Battle Two-Packs: $29.99 for the set or $16.99 each
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/search.aspx?search=50th%20two

Outnumbered Three-Packs - Eagle's Edge, and Viper's Pit: $39.99 for the set or $22.99 each
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/search.aspx?search=outnumbered

Danger at the Docks Vehicle & Figure Pack - $29.99
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=HAS23808&mode=re...

Battle Below Zero Vehicle & Figure Pack - $39.99
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=HAS23809&mode=re...

May 2014 - RTM reader Sumero just posted his Indiegogo campaign over in the classified ad section of the site, and it looks really interesting. The campaign is for Animodula - small geometric shaped toys that can be connected to make animal figures and even wearables like bracelets.

Over on Kickstarter, IAmElemental is raising funds to produce a new line of female action figures. The figures will be four inches tall and have nine points of articulation.

Also on Kickstarter, Tenacious Toys/Bigshot Toyworks has created a line of pony figures ("Four Horsies of the 'Pocalypse") and is raising funds to start the line with Maddie.

May 2014 - The 2014 Comic-Con International convention in San Diego will be July 24-27. Preview Night is July 23rd. So much toy and action figure shopping to do, so many lines to stand in! How do you decide what to buy?

Our pal Matt over at AwesomeToyBlog.com has begun his annual listing of of the toy and action figure exclusives, so be sure to bookmark that link and check back as the convention grows closer.

May 2014 - The Toy Pizza series on YouTube has a new episode up!

Click here to check it out! This episode is all about mechs - Votoms, Acid Rain, and Zoids. (Don't worry, they'll be featuring Gundam in a separate episode.)

May 2014 - DC has three new contests online! Get your mouse hand ready and click over to enter all three.

- The DC Bombshells Giveaway. Enter by June 9th to win a Black Canary DC Bombshells statue.

- The 100,000 Facebook Likes Thank You Sweepstakes. Enter by May 26th to win these goodies:

- One (1) Vertigo Fables Bookends
- One (1) Superman The Man of Steel: Superman by Kenneth Rocafort Statue
- One (1) DC Comics - The New 52 Teen Titans Kid Flash Action Figure
- One (1) DC Comics – The New 52 Teen Titans Wonder Girl Action Figure
- One (1) DC Comics – The New 52 Teen Titans Superboy Action Figure
- One (1) DC Comics – The New 52 Super Heroes vs. Super-Villains Action Figure 7-pack
- One (1) Batman Black and White: Harley Quinn by Bruce Timm
- One (1) Batman: Hush: The Joker, Harley Quinn and Stealth Jumper Batman Action Figure
- One (1) DC Comics Super-Villains The Joker (Patina) Mini Statue
- One (1) SDCC 2013 Convention Exclusive: Batman: Arkham City: Hugo Strange Action Figure