Raving Toy Maniac

The LEGO Group Announces Building Sets Inspired by Disney's The Lone Ranger

NEW YORK, American International Toy Fair (February 7, 2013) – The LEGO Group today announced an upcoming collection of LEGO® construction toys inspired by the Disney/Jerry Bruckheimer Films' feature film The Lone Ranger, which debuts in theaters July 3, 2013. Scheduled to launch this April, six new building sets will bring the action and stories of the film to life in LEGO form, and will include iconic characters such as John Reid (aka The Lone Ranger), Tonto and the horse, Silver.

"We are thrilled to once again collaborate with Disney Consumer Products to create construction toys based on a live action film," said Jill Wilfert, vice president licensing & entertainment at The LEGO Group. "We have not offered a LEGO western theme in over 10 years, and The Lone Ranger provided the quintessential inspiration with familiar characters, stories and scenes, allowing us to develop authentic and exciting models for children and adult collectors alike."

Disney at American International Toy Fair 2013

(RTM note - this is a long one, with lots of nifty gems mentioned, such as the LEGO Lone Ranger license...)

GLENDALE, CA (Feb. 5, 2013) - Innovation, creativity and powerful storytelling are the hallmarks of the 2013 toy line from Disney Consumer Products (DCP).

Some of the most innovative toys are from the new Monsters University toy collection and include features like sound and light detection technology and facial sync technology to allow for more interactive play than ever before, while The Little Mermaid and Disney Junior toy lines incorporate music and character voices to bring the products to life.

Sparking imagination, these toys capture the magic of playtime with evergreen play patterns. Here is a highlight of the top products from DCP at Toy Fair 2013:

DISNEY/PIXAR ANIMATION

Monsters University
Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan are an inseparable pair, but this was not always the case. Monsters University tells the story of how these two mismatched monsters overcame their differences and became the best of friends.

ALEXANDER DOLL COMPANY CELEBRATES 90TH ANNIVERSARY: INTRODUCES LIMITED EDITION ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION, NEW LICENSED PRODUCT AND A NEW PRODUCT CATEGORY

New York City -- January 30, 2013: The Alexander Doll Company is celebrating its 90th anniversary with a stunning collection of commemorative dolls, new licenses including Dylan's Candy Bar® and a collection of whimsical washable dolls. The entire collection will debut at the International Toy Fair in February 10-13, 2013 at the Javits Center in New York City.

January 2013 - Funko has announced a new batch of 2.5-inch blind-boxed Mystery Mini vinyl figures, this round based on Disney/Pixar characters. This first series will have 8 different characters, each in 3 different poses.

Expect to see these in stores near the end of February.

December 2012 - Funko has announced a new batch of 3D POP! Vinyl Bookmarks, this time featuring more Disney characters. The bookmarks are six inches long and should be available now.

Look for Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Buzz Lightyear, and Maleficent.

November 2012 - Funko has announced a dozen new POP! Vinyl figures based on Disney characters. All twelve should be shipping to stores on December 13th.

The series 4 figures are:

• Wall-E
• Eve
• Tigger
• Fantasia Mickey
• Evil Queen
• Grumpy
• Cinderella
• Goofy
• Mayor
• Chernabog
• Jack Sparrow
• Oogie Boogie

Disney Where's My Water? Presents: Swampy's Underground Adventures Launches On Disney.com And Disney's YouTube Channel

BURBANK, Calif., Oct. 18, 2012 -- Disney Interactive announced today the online launch of the new short form animated video series, Disney Where's My Water? Presents: Swampy's Underground Adventures on http://Disney.com and Disney's YouTube channel at http://YouTube.com/DisneyShows, with plans to premiere the short form series on Disney Channel beginning in November. Swampy's Underground Adventures follows the hilarious and unpredictable adventures of Swampy, Disney's first original character born on mobile and star of Disney's #1 new mobile franchise Where's My Water?. The series also marks the first production from Disney Interactive's collaboration with YouTube to bring original family-friendly video series to the web.

September 2012 - Disney is holding a sweepstakes to help promote their upcoming Frankenweenie film. The grand prize is a trip to Disneyland for you and three guests. The other prizes are autographed movie posters.

Enter by October 7th.

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!)

Disney Launches The Art Of Frankenweenie Exhibition

EXHIBIT TOURS SEVEN COUNTRIES TO SHOWCASE THE MAKING OF TIM BURTON'S LATEST STOP-MOTION ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

BURBANK, Calif., June 11, 2012 -- Walt Disney Studios announced today that they are launching a touring exhibition featuring the art of Tim Burton's "Frankenweenie," the acclaimed director's stop-motion, animated feature film releasing on October 5, 2012.

The Art of Frankenweenie Exhibition will premiere in Barcelona, Spain, at CineEurope, June 18-21, and in the U.S. at Comic-Con 2012 in San Diego, California, July 11-15. When the tour is complete it will have visited seven countries, including Spain, France, England, Japan, Mexico, Canada and the U.S.A.