Raving Toy Maniac

July 13, 2012 - Hasbro has sent along press images of their new Transformers toys unveiled at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con International - we've posted all 150+ of them in a gallery for your enjoyment.

Hasbro has also uploaded a few videos from Comic-Con to their http://www.accesshasbro.com/ web site.

Here's Dark Energon Megatron, a fun name to say five times fast:

July 13, 2012 - LEGO has a very nice selection of free apps available for the iPad and iPod, so every so often, I'll do a new search to see if there are new ones that the boy might be interested in. It's been over a month since I searched last, and today I found three new ones:

• LEGO Monster Fighters Race - a car chase game, different from the free Monsterland Tales game on the LEGO web site.

• LEGO Star Wars Battle Orders - I didn't look closely at this one yet, I just saw the price tag (free) and the wee icon of Darth Maul and needed it no matter what it turned out to be.

• LEGO Ninjago: Video Dojo - has video clips of the Ninjago characters. (The new season starts on Cartoon Network on July 18th!)

July 7, 2012 - Another month of bad consumerism on our part... the boy had fast food just three times since the last Fast Food Toys Round-Up: once at Wendy's for breakfast (so no toy), McDonald's (Gia from Madagascar 3), and another trip to McDonald's when his grandparents took him (a Pokemon something, now lost in his room).

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 "Minute to Win It" themed goodies, with "Sports Illustrated Kids" coming soon.

- Burger King has outdoor fun-themed toys such as a bug-shaped bug light, a foot sack, a flying ring, and a bugatorium.

- McDonald's has Ice Age toys in their Happy Meals, with SpongeBob SquarePants as the next promotion.

Playmates Toys is releasing new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles starting in August. They've released a product fact sheet detailing the action figures and other toys, along with 33 press images, which we've posted in a gallery. (Updated 7/6 with more pictures of the Lair!)

The Secret Sewer Lair playset, shown below, will retail for $119.99 and includes an ooze drain. Say it with me: ooze drain. Ooze drain. Ooze drain. Doesn't it make you smile to say those words together?

June 30, 2012 - Hasbro has passed along a few details of some of the new GI Joe toys and action figures unveiled at the 2012 GIJoeCon:

First, Hasbro announced a brand new expression - G.I. Joe Micro Force - at JoeCon, debuting the first ever images of this fun new style of toys for the G.I. Joe brand!

Then, the crowd at the Con was treated to the world premiere of several new figures from 2013's G.I. Joe Retaliation 3.75-inch line:

Ultimate Duke
Ultimate Snake Eyes with Timber
Ultimate Firefly
Cobra Combat Ninja
Cobra Night Landing Mission with Cobra Eel
Crimson Guard
Ninja Showdown Assortment Wave 2

Additionally during the panel, Hasbro and Syfy games debuted an exclusive G.I. JOE: SPECIAL OPS online game trailer for fans at GIJoeCon. It will be viewable at http://www.syfygames.com/gijoe/media

Most of Hasbro's toys for The Amazing Spider-Man movie are in stores now, but just in case you have missed them, Hasbro has released a press release summarizing the product line. They were also kind enough to send along 47 press images, which we've posted in a gallery.

Spider-Man always means fun toys, but the "web spinner" idea seems especially clever:

FTC Disclaimer: Kiwi Crate provided us with the crates/kits in this post. None of these links are affiliate links. We supplied the boy, the cat, and the Angry Birds.

When I first saw the press release for the Kiwi Crate, I thought it sounded like neat idea: a subscription service for a box of crafts for kids ages 3 to 7, with everything included. The boy and I sometimes make crafts we find online or in magazines, but usually the more interesting ones involve something we don't already have around the house, so they get put off until we make a trip to the craft store.

Kiwi Crate sent us the Space Hero crate and a My Wings mini-crate. These are both available separately from the subscription, meaning that they are available as single-purchase items.

June 2, 2012 - We must be bad consumers, as we haven't gotten any fast food since last month's Fast Food Toys Round-Up. Apparently we are pretty good at hoarding, though, as this week the boy and I stumbled across several fast food toys from 2008 when cleaning out our spare bedroom. The more interesting pieces in the stash were a Barrel of Monkeys (with five monkeys and a cardboard barrel) from Wendy's and a Robin from McDonald's, part of the promo for the LEGO: Batman video game.

Enough about the dusty stuff misplaced in our house, 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 still show "Leap Frog Leap School" toys, with "Minute to Win It" themed goodies coming soon.

- Burger King still has Monster Jam trucks and Pinkalicious toys.

May 25, 2012 - Hasbro has sent an update concerning the fate of their GI Joe: Retaliation movie toys, now that the movie has been delayed until March 2013:

G.I. Joe is an ongoing consumer franchise and therefore there is merchandise available to consumers. There is a limited amount of G.I. Joe Retaliation product at retail now, but in light of the movie moving out to March 29, 2013, the majority of the movie line will be made available early next year in time for the film's release.

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.