Raving Toy Maniac

May 2012 - CustomCon 32 has been scheduled for August 6 to 10, 2012, to be held on JoeAcevedo.com. The entry deadline is July 9, 2012.

Please check Joe's CustomCon page to learn more about submitting your custom action figures.

Take a look back at the previous CustomCon events.

Kiwi Crate Launches Celebration Shop

New Offering Extends Traditional Subscription Service with Enriching Hands-on Activities for Birthdays and Other Celebrations

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA (May 10, 2012) – Kiwi Crate, the creativity company for kids growing up in the digital age, today launched the Kiwi Crate Celebration Shop, an ecommerce storefront offering gift crates and party pack "mini-crates" for party activities or favors.

Kiwi Crate, which launched in October 2011, is a subscription service that delivers new hands-on projects each month to kids ages 3-7. To enhance that offering, Kiwi Crate has introduced a Celebration Shop for customers who wish to purchase gift crates and party packs for birthdays and other celebrations.

The new gift crates, Space Hero and Fairy Fun, each contain three projects designed to encourage creativity and extended play. Gift crates offer parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends the ability to give a gift that not only is fun and engaging, but enriching and educational as well. Gift crates are priced at $19.95 each.

HEROCLIX ONLINE RELEASES NEW MARVEL CONTENT

Adds Over 70 New Figures to the Online Game

Hillside, N.J. & Cary, N.C. - May 10, 2012 - Over 70 new figures today landed in the online digital transliteration of the popular board-based combat game, HeroClix Online. The new collection combines figures from two of Marvel's famed HeroClix sets, including Giant-Size X-Men.

Coinciding with the release of the new figures, players can also look forward to the launch of corresponding Sealed tournaments, in which one of 11 Limited-Edition figures will be awarded from the new collection.

The new figures are compatible with all other Marvel figures and can be used in Marvel tournaments and matches.

For more information on HeroClix Online, visit http://hco.heroclix.com/.

For news updates and announcements, follow HeroClix Online on Facebook and Twitter.

About WIZKIDS/NECA, INC.

May 11, 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.

Supreme Trading Recalls Children's Letterman Jackets Due to Choking Hazard; Sold Exclusively at Dillard's

Salsa Cycles Recalls Bicycle Racks Due to a Fall Hazard

Reported Death, Severe Neck Injuries Prompt Recall of Banzai Inflatable Pool Slides Sold by Walmart and Toys R Us

Bassinets Recalled by Kolcraft Due to Fall Hazard

Trampolines Recalled by Sportspower Limited Due to Fall Hazard; Sold Exclusively at Walmart

May 9, 2012 - (Sponsor Announcement) - Online retailer BigBadToyStore.com has reduced the price of the MP-11S Masterpiece Sunstorm from $219.99 to $179.99 as a special preorder promotion. All existing orders have already been adjusted and they are accepting new preorders as well.

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=TAK11417&mode=re...

May 9, 2012 - It's new comic day at comic book stores nationwide, and for many stores that means it's also new toy day! With Marvel's The Avengers movie still smashing box office records, Diamond Select Toys thought this was the perfect time to roll out their Avengers movie product to comic book shops. The 45th series of Marvel Minimates (designed by the folks at Art Asylum) hits stores this week with four two-packs: Iron Man and Hulk, Captain America and Thor, and the specialty store-exclusive Chitauri Footsoldier and SHIELD agent Maria Hill, with a rare variant set featuring the Chitauri General!

And if you need something bigger than two inches tall, check out the Marvel Select Avengers Movie Hulk action figure. At well over 9 inches tall and with 16 points of articulation, this massive, specialty-store-exclusive figure (designed by Gentle Giant from the movie's digital data), will fit in with any Avengers movie toy collection.

May 9, 2012 - (Sponsor Announcement) - Online retailer BigBadToyStore.com has several items of interest to collectors:

Hi - Here is a quick update from http://www.bigbadtoystore.com about a ton of cool new preorders as well as more new arrivals.

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NEW PREORDERS
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DEFENDERWORXS TRANSFORMER ACCESSORIES
DefenderWorx is licensed by Hasbro and makes all manner of accessories using Transformer branding. We have listings for three different styles of high-end sunglasses with Autobot and Decepticon symbols, priced at $297.99 each. We also have a variety of car accessories, starting with license plate frames at $14.99 and logo badges at $10.99 each, moving up the hitch plugs at $52.99 and finally Autobot Symbol LED Tail Lights, although these are currently only for use with 2010 - 2011 5th Generation Camaros. We expect to list more items from this company soon, so keep an eye out for new thing in the weeks to come.

K'NEX BRANDS TO LAUNCH NEW LINE OF KISS BUILDING FIGURES

Officially-Licensed Buildable Figures by K'NEX Allow Music Fans to Build Hard Driving Rock Band

Hatfield, PA, May, 2012 – KISS collectors, rock fans and building set enthusiasts will soon be able to build and play with characters from their favorite iconic rock band with new KISS licensed buildable figure packs by K'NEX®. K'NEX, the only US construction toy company focused on Building Worlds Kids Love™, is pleased to announce a licensing agreement with KISS, brokered by Live Nation Merchandise, KISS' Exclusive Global Licensing Agent. This agreement allows K'NEX to create building toys inspired by the world famous KISS.

May 7, 2012 - You've seen the movie, now buy the Minimates! For those of you looking to assemble your own team of Earth's greatest superheroes, Diamond Select's Minimates mini-figures have everything you need to initiate your own Avengers! Available at Toys "R" Us as well as comic book shops and specialty stores, 2-inch Minimates are available in six packs of two, with new two-packs hitting this week! Here's the distribution:

Toys "R" Us and toysrus.com:
- Thor and Captain America
- Iron Man and Hulk
- Hawkeye and Black Widow (exclusive)
- Nick Fury and Loki (exclusive)

Comic book shops and specialty stores:
- Thor and Captain America
- Iron Man and Hulk
- Maria Hill and Chitauri Footsoldier (exclusive)
- Chitauri General and Chitauri Footsoldier (exclusive rare variant)

DARK HORSE FREE COMIC BOOK DAY COMICS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD FOR LIMITED TIME!

MAY 7, 2012, MILWAUKIE, OR - If you missed out on picking up your Free Comic Book Day comics at your local comic-book store, you can get them from Dark Horse Digital for a limited time!

Both Star Wars/Serenity and Buffy/The Guild will be available for free download on Dark Horse Digital starting today and running through the end of May.

Dark Horse Digital is available through all modern web browsers and features cloud storage in both the Android (beta) and iOS apps.