Raving Toy Maniac

VISIONARY ILLUSTRATOR YOSHITAKA AMANO TO BE SPOTLIGHT GUEST AT NEW YORK COMIC CON

Amano To Attend In Cooperation With Dark Horse Comics

Norwalk, CT, September 7, 2012: New York Comic Con (NYCC) is today proud to announce Yoshitaka Amano, the illustrator most known for sculpting the worlds of Final Fantasy and Vampire Hunter D, will travel from Tokyo to attend this year's NYCC as a Spotlight Guest. New York Comic Con, which will take place October 11 - 14, 2012 at NYC's Javits Center, is one of New York's largest annual events, last year attracting over 100,000 attendees. Amano joins a broad spectrum of already-announced guests including Brian K. Vaughan, Mike Mignola, Christopher Lloyd, Joshua Gates and Anne Rice. Amano's appearance at New York Comic Con is in partnership with Dark Horse Comics, who will release The Sky: The Art of Final Fantasy, a giant-sized collection of Amano's art, on October 17.

Kmart® First To Introduce Free Layaway Online And In-Store

Layaway available on hundreds of items year round

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill., Sept. 7, 2012 -- Kmart® today announced it will be removing its layaway service fee* both online and in-store starting September 7th through November 17th. Kmart's free layaway emphasizes the company's commitment to delivering value and convenience to customers, acknowledging family budgets are strained during the holiday.

"At Kmart, we understand the excitement holidays bring, and the budget concerns that come with them," said Jai Holtz, vice president, financial services, Sears Holdings. "By providing free layaway we want to help make holiday shopping less stressful."

Customers don't have to wait until the holiday season to take advantage of layaway – Kmart is the only mass retailer to offer the program 365 days a year, nationwide. There's no minimum transaction amount and customers can lock in today's low prices on a full range of merchandise including apparel, toys, electronics, jewelry and more.

September 7, 2012 - (Sponsor Announcement) - Online retailer BigBadToyStore.com has several items of interest to collectors:

$99.99 Customizable Portal Gun - NECA

Just announced this morning

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=NEC11982&mode=re...

The Customizable Device Kit features a blank white device and all the trimmings that enable you to create an Atlas, P-body, or Chell version of the device or use your imagination and create your own.

The Kit includes 4 Aperture Laboratories decals along with 4 plastic stripes with magnetic backing that you can attach or remove from the main body of your device.

This brand new ASHPD kit also features an additional switch that allows you to cycle between all different LED effects (red, yellow/orange, purple, and blue) and includes the in game sound effects activated when you pull the trigger.

September 6, 2012 - The boy scored just one additional McDonald's SpongeBob SquarePants toy last month. Don't feel bad for him, though, as he hit the jackpot in the form of the K'NEX Angry Birds sets during a trip to Toys'R'Us. So he's getting new toys... he's just not eating fast food to "earn" them.

Let's see what's out there in restaurants this month!

A quick check of the web sites for the more popular fast food restaurants reveals the following:

- Wendy's Kids Meals have Where's Waldo toys, with Animal Planet items coming soon.

- McDonald's has Power Rangers Super Samurai and "Hello. I'm Julius!" (by Paul Frank) in their Happy Meals, with Hotel Transylvania shown as the next promotion.

- Subway Kids Meals have reusable lunch sacks. The sacks now feature Frankenweenie.

Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo Takes Over Los Angeles Convention Center September 15-16

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 6, 2012 --

WHAT:
Tens of thousands of comic, horror, gaming, sci-fi and pop-culture enthusiasts from all over Southern California will fill up the Los Angeles Convention Center for an up-close look at Los Angeles' largest pop-culture convention owned by comic legend Stan Lee and horror icon Elvira. Fans will enjoy panel discussions, hundreds of vendors, celebrity appearances, interactive zombie obstacle course, Harry Potter-style Quidditch Tournament, movie screenings and more.

• Celebrity Appearances – Stan Lee, Elvira, Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead), Adam West, Burt Ward & Julie Newmar, Linda Blair, Thomas Jane, Lou Ferrigno, Todd McFarlane and many more will greet fans and pose for photos throughout the weekend
• Quidditch Tournament – Local college students will compete in this unique sport made famous by Harry Potter
• Comikaze Zombie Apocalypse – a 75,000 square foot survival course infested with zombies. Participants will be chased through a large obstacle course – where they must crawl, climb, and slide to safety

September 2012 - The Official Transformers Collectors' Club has sent along an update:

Hello! As some of you have already seen, we have posted up a two page comic preview spotlighting figures from the ALL NEW Transformers Figure Subscription Service.

The preview can be seen here:

http://transformersclub.com/

September 6, 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.

- Death of Child Prompts Recall of Window Blinds by Blind Xpress

September 5, 2012 - Funko has announced four new Monsters, Inc. POP! Vinyl figures.

Mike and Sully are available now, with Boo and George Sanderson to follow in December.

September 5, 2012 - Funko has announced four new The Walking Dead POP! Vinyl figures available in late September: Sheriff Rick Grimes, Daryl, RV Walker, and Bicycle Girl.

Season 3 of The Walking Dead premieres on October 14th, so you could pick these up to watch with you! Also look for the exclusive versions (blood spattered figures and packaging):

• Harrison's Comics - Rick & Daryl
• Gemini Collectibles - RV Walker
• Diamond Comics - Bicycle Girl

Funko also plans to make Wacky Wobblers from The Walking Dead.

DARK HORSE UNVEILS TYRION STATUE

THE LATEST ADDITION TO THE GAME OF THRONES® COLLECTIBLES LINE!

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012, MILWAUKIE, OR - When looking for a key moment to immortalize as the second sculptural piece in Dark Horse's highly coveted line of Game of Thrones collectibles, Dark Horse turned to none other than writer/producers David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for the most "statueworthy" moment in the then-unaired second season.

The two chose the memorable scene when Tyrion, as portrayed by Peter Dinklage, charges into battle, leading the defense of King's Landing against an assault by King Stannis Baratheon in the Battle of the Blackwater. They further assisted with special photographic reference taken during filming, expressly for use as sculpture reference for the piece.