July 27, 2004 - (Sponsor Announcement) - Online retailer BigBadToyStore.com has several new items of interest to collectors:

TAKARA BINALTECH BT-09, BT-10, BT-11: Takara has announced that the BT-09 will now be a repaint/upgrade of BT-04 Hound called Swindle and features a brush guard on the hood, yellow paint job and other upgrades. The BT-10 is Grimlock - the newly redesigned Ford Mustang. Both items are available for pre-ordering at $54.99. The Mini Cooper has been renumbered to BT-11 (we will automatically update any pre-orders made when it was listed as the BT-09 before) The #17 Predaking re-issue is available for pre-ordering for $174.99 - don't miss out on this one!

MARVEL LEGENDS 6: The next wave of figures from Toy Biz has arrived! Wave 6 includes: Juggernaut, Wolverine, Punisher, Phoenix, Cable, and Deadpool. (All pre-orders will be processed tomorrow for the full set of 6 figures including Phoenix) We have single listings available for most of the figures, but have pre-sold-out of the sets of 6. Three chase figures are also available in very limited quantities - the Red Phoenix, Unmasked Wolverine and Brown cable figures were all packed as chase figures - so the vast majority of cases did not contain any of them.

LORD OF THE RINGS: Deluxe Poseable Fell Beast and Ringwraith rider set is now in stock for $24.99. This set comes in a very large box and the Fell Beast has a 32 inch wingspan!! The 20 inch 'Epic Scale' Aragorn and Legolas figures from NECA have also arrived and are available for $39.99 each - they feature real sound clips from the movies and are motion activated. (Pre-orders for both items will be processed tomorrow)

VINTAGE DEPARTMENT: The vintage department has listed hundreds of mid to late 90's Toybiz items and McFarlane items - a big variety of figures all Mint on Card. More Star Trek carded figures and a variety of Transformers and other figures have also been listed. *** We will be bringing all our 'high end' vintage transformer items to the OTFCC show in Chicago this weekend, and they will be removed from the website tomorrow so we can pack them up for the show. If there is anything you want be sure to order it by Tuesday morning or it will likely be going to OTFCC.

July 22 update:

TAKARA BT-05 - The next installment in the Binaltech lineup is the BT-05 Dead End, the first Decepticon of the series. This figure is a black Dodge Viper and has many upgraded features from the BT-02 Sideswipe - it's not just another plain repaint. Upgraded featurs include: Full roof and rear glass instead of convertible top, rear spoiler, new rims, updated hood, new rear end panels, and trim along the bottom of the entire car body - Dead End definitely has an 'Evil Decepticon' look to him!

TAKARA ROBOTMASTERS - The #01 through #10 RobotMasters figures have arrived - this line is packaged in very attractive packaging and overall is very impressive. We have relatively low stock and will run out of some items soon, but are working on getting more. Highlights include the #10 G1 Convoy with DVD - this is the metallic version while the #01 prime is the regular 'anime' paint version. #11 through #14 are available for pre-ordering now - including an awesome looking Starscream and mini Ape Prime.

MASTER REPLICA - We have received the Jango Fett LE Blaster Set and the Emperor Palpitine Cane and Clasp set. Both are very limited editions - the Jango Blaster set is available for $429.99 and the Emperor's cane is $189.99. Many other Master Replica items are available for pre-order and we'll continue to add more already released items to our selection.

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE SNAKEMEN - This popular line of figures from Mattel has finally been restocked. The Snakemen set of 4 includes: Two-Bad, Skeletor, King Hssss, and Cobra Khan - available for $39.99. We also have listed the Heroes set of 6 for $54.99 - including Zodak, Mekanek and more!

JAY & SILENT BOB - The full lineup from View Askew / Graphitti Designs is now in stock. Figures include: Bluntman & Chronic, Jay & Silent Bob, Buddy Christ from Dogma, and a variety of Inaction figures from Clerks, Mallrats, and Dogma - very cool figures from the classic movies.

TRANSFORMERS BACK IN STOCK: A variety of sold-out figures have been restocked: #10 Soundwave, #09 Starscream with DVD, #08 Inferno, JBW D-21 Sealed God Neptune!, New Year Prime, Sixshot, Ghost & Black Starscream, Tiger Sideswipe, Armada MD-02 Starscream, Prime vs Megatron mini-PVC set, Superlink SC-17 Wing Saber. Some of these items are available in very limited quantities and we'll continue to try to get more.

GOD GINRAI & SUPER PARTS SET PRE-ORDER: We've re-opened the pre-order and slashed the price to $99.99 after working out a volume discount with our supplier! Please read the 'notes' section of the pre-order for full info on this figure for some important info on the figure & parts set.

OTHER COOL ITEMS IN STOCK:

- CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK - Set of 5 figures available for $59.99
- MEGAMAN NT - 1.5" versus sets - 10 figures for $24.99
- FUTURAMA I-MEN - Set of 10 figures from the hilarious show - $29.99
- VOLTRON I-MEN - Set of 10 figures for $29.99
- INUYASHA - available now for $9.99
(The 5 above are on the 'Other Menu' and pre-orders will be processed shortly)

- AKIRA - KANEDA'S BIKE - Die cast bike with figure - $79.99
- ABARANGER - Killer Oh back in stock
- SOUL OF CHOGOKIN: GX-17 and GX-18 back in stock
- BLUE BOX 1/18 SCALE: The HUGE F/A 18-C Hornet Jet - over 3 feet long!
- NASCAR & SHREK: Sports Picks Shrek and Donkey each boxed with driver
- LORD OF THE RINGS BUSTS: Ringwraith Bust, Arwen Statue, Legolas Bust
- PRIME TARGETS: Transformers Book back in stock

TAKARA #17 RE-ISSUE PREDAKING: Our main distributor in Japan has received 'unofficial' word from Takara that the #17 re-issue will be Predaking!! Although this is unofficial information on the release, we are very confident this is accurate info and Predaking will be released in November. (Many of our past pre-orders were listed on the same type of new info - and the vast majority have been accurate) Predaking is priced at $174.99 - which is very fair when comparing it to a mint G1 version. The retail price in Japan is 15,000 yen - (which is about $140) - our price should be as good or better than having one shipped over from Japan when considering the international shipping fees on this large and heavy item. The picture we are using is of a vintage Predaking - when official pictures are released we will update our site.

TAKARA ROBOTMASTERS #15 - #19: Again these pre-orders are based off 'unofficial' information from Takara, but we do not expect any surprises.

#15 - Star Saber - priced at $22.99 - it should be around 5 inches tall and will basically be a miniature version of the real Star Saber

#16 - Victory Leo - priced at $22.99 - it should be around 5 inches tall and another miniaturized version of the vintage figure.

#17 - Victory Saber - a Two-Pack of the #14 and #15 figures above - priced at $44.99

#18 & #19 - Road Rocket and Road Pig - priced at $14.99 each.