August 1, 2003 - (Sponsor Announcement) - Online retailer BigBadToyStore.com has several new items of interest to collectors:

BOTCON OTFCC EXCLUSIVES: Another great looking year for exclusives. The regular set of exclusives is 2 repainted vipers and a red Sideswipe, the Hotel exclusive is a yellow Sunstreaker. There is also a very cool Heroes of Cybertron set of 6 Jets packaged in an nice oversized card.

20TH ANNIVERSARY OPTIMUS PRIME: This awesome figure was announced earlier in the week. The Masterpiece edition Prime will be contain die cast metal parts, the matrix, power axe, and hand held megatron. Extremely detailed and an exciting new direction for the line by Takara - Japan.

LORD OF THE RINGS - FELLOWSHIP 9 PACK: This awesome set of the 9 companions comes in a huge gift box - over 2 feet wide! This is priced well below the original retail due to special pricing from Toy Biz. Includes a map of Middle Earth and The One Ring bonus items.

SPORTS PICKS - MLB 6: The latest Baseball series from McFarlane, we have most of the regular figures as well as variants for Roger Clemens and others in stock!

DC DIRECT - KINGDOM COME: A very impressive line from DC - 4 figures in the set for $49.99 - Superman, Wonder Woman, Hawkman & Green Lantern.

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: We've received a new Evil Enemies case assortment including Two Bad, Whiplash, Trapjaw and Fire Armor Skeletor - on the 'Other' Menu.

TERMINATOR 3 & MATRIX - MCFARLANE: Our shipments have arrived for both these figures (pre-orders will be processed over the weekend - including full sets of Matrix) Sets of 4 T3 figures are available and single Matrix figures are available.

IMAGE 10TH SPAWN AND MOVIE MANIACS: McFarlane has produced more of the Spawn figures and they are now for sale for $14.99 singly. More of the Alien queen and MM6 Alien and Predator figures are also in stock.

MARVEL, JLA, EVANGELION, FIST OF NORTH STAR: Marvel Select Ultimate Hulk, 10" Justice League, EVA 01 with and without wings and F.O.N.S Kenshiro have all arrived and are available on the 'Other' Menu

HARD HERO TRANSFORMERS BUSTS & STATUES: We have restocked all the busts and statues including Devastator and Unicron. Two great new pre-orders are now available - 12 to 13" Optimus and Megatron Statues for $139.99, arriving later this year.

PALISADES STATUES: The awesome new 12" Optimus Prime Statue based on the Dreamwave artwork is available for pre-order as well as the 6" Zartan and 6" Crimson Guard Statues.

TRANSFORMERS: We have received the Korean version of the Japanese Beast Wars Vs. 32 - Break vs. Dead End set - two awesome figures for $14.99. The Tiny Tins Spychangers are now available - $29.99 for the set of 8. Car Robots Boxed JRX Train Set. Transmanuals volume #1 and #2 are available on the Dreamwave menu along with the Prime Targets Book and a 400+ page Japanese Comic Collection Book.

OTHER GREAT STUFF:

• Black Wing Gundam - Exclusive MSIA Figure is back in stock
• Gao Rangers - Tenkujin figure is back in stock for $59.99