Raving Toy Maniac

New York Comic-Con's Minimates Tenth Anniversary Exhibit a Big Hit

October 2012 - Minimates celebrated their 10th birthday with a bang, as over 100,000 fans attended this past weekend's New York Comic-Con, where the Minimates-related festivities were in full swing! An art exhibit, panel and two signings drew thousands of attendees, from die-hard Minimate fanatics to casual enthusiasts, and thousands of Minimates, pins and posters were given out over the course of the weekend. Manufacturer Diamond Select Toys also gave fans a glimpse at the future of the line!

October 13, 2012 - LEGO has unveiled two new Super Heroes sets at New York Comic Con! One from Marvel and one from DC:

Marvel Super Heroes
76005
Spider-Man™: Daily Bugle Showdown
$49.99
Piece Count: 476
Minifigures: Spider-Man, Doctor Doom, Jonah Jameson, Nova, Beetle

DC Super Heroes
76001
The Bat v. Bane™: Tumbler chase
$39.99
Piece Count: 368
Minifigures: Batman, Bane, Commissioner Gordon

The LEGO Group and Nickelodeon Announce Expanded Global Partnership to Bring Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to the Construction Toy Category

BILLUND, Denmark, Oct. 11, 2012 -- The LEGO Group, makers of the world's leading construction toys, and Nickelodeon, one of the world's leading entertainment brands for kids, announced today an expansion of their global partnership to develop construction toys inspired by the recently launched CG-animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles television series. The collection is slated to launch in North America and the UK in January 2013 and will roll out in global markets later in the year. The companies have a long-standing relationship and first partnered together in 2006 to create LEGO® SpongeBob Squarepants. Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles premiered on Sept. 29 and was an instant hit, drawing almost 12 million viewers during its premiere weekend.

LEGO Systems Makes Debut Appearance at New York Comic-Con

NEW YORK, Oct. 11, 2012 -- COMIC-CON -- LEGO Systems, Inc., the world's leading construction toy manufacturer, kicked off its first official presence at New York Comic-Con today by unveiling new sets and exclusive giveaways for fans of all ages. Never-before-seen introductions include LEGO® Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles™, a recently announced play theme slated to launch in January 2013. Two of the sets from the much-anticipated LEGO The Hobbit™ collection, launching this December, will also be unveiled. Also on display are construction sets and new video content from popular LEGO Super Heroes: MARVEL™, LEGO Super Heroes: DC Universe™ and LEGO Star Wars™ properties. Because no LEGO experience is complete without a hands-on building activity, show attendees are invited to help assemble a 7.5 foot-tall mystery mosaic at booth #1538 of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, October 11-14.

Dark Horse Comics and Dynamics Inc. To Reveal Two Exclusive Comic Book Series For Next-Generation ePlate Credit Card At New York Comic Con

Limited Number of Special Edition Prototype ePlate™ Devices To Be Distributed At An Exclusive Event

October 9, 2012, New York – Dark Horse Comics will reveal two new exclusive comic book series for the ePlate™ payment device at New York Comic Con.

The Dark Horse experience™ application is a payments application for the new battery-powered ePlate™ credit card.

With every purchase, card carrying comics fans can earn exclusive issues of two new series of Dark Horse comics. The first exclusive series is Conan: The Phantoms of the Black Coast. The second exclusive series is a team-up of Dark Horse characters X, Ghost and Captain Midnight!

Action Figure Xpress Brings New Thundercats and Alpha Flight Minimates to NYCC

October 2012 - Visitors to the Action Figure Xpress booth at the San Diego Comic-Con were treated to two unprecedented Minimates box sets: the first Minimates of the Marvel super-team Alpha Flight and the first Minimates ever for the original Thundercats cartoon! Well, response was so strong for those sets at SDCC that AFX is continuing those two lines at New York Comic-Con!

NYCC attendees will have the chance to pic up an entirely new Alpha Flight-themed Marvel Minimates box set at the show, featuring Sasquatch, Aurora, Snowbird and Shaman. In addition to the SDCC set's Guardian, Puck, Marrina and Northstar, the Canadian superteam will also get a two-pack of Vindicator and Box at Toys "R" Us this fall.

New Walking Dead and Universal Monsters Banks to Debut at NYCC

October 2012 - With New York Comic-Con falling just two weeks before Halloween, Diamond Select Toys wanted to have some special horror-themed product to offer visitors to their booth. So they took three of their upcoming vinyl bust banks -- a Walking Dead zombie and Universal's Frankenstein and the Creature from the Black Lagoon -- and made black-and-white editions based on the original source material!

Mezco Reveals Frankenstein Black and White Variant With Limited Edition Of 100 Pieces At 2012 New York Comic Con Booth 1960

October 2012 - Constructed by the infamous Dr. Frankenstein from corpses, and resurrected by curious machines powered by a bolt of lightning, he terrorized the countryside. Now he is brought to life by Mezco's award-winning design team.

Now available for the 1st time at the world famous New York Comic Con, Mezco is releasing a special black and white variant. This two-tone color scheme pays homage to the original 1931 Classic film.

Although tens of thousands of fans will descend on NYCC this year, Mezco is only making 100 of this special variant version. Due to its limited nature, the Black and While Variant Frankenstein 9inch figure by Mezco is sure to become one of the most sought after items of 2012.

Mezco Toyz will have Frankenstein available at booth 1960 at New York Comic Con.

DARK HORSE ANNOUNCES NEW YORK COMIC-CON 2012 SCHEDULE!

OCTOBER 5, MILWAUKIE, OR - It's here! New York Comic-Con is upon us, and Dark Horse Comics is telling you all the goods ahead of time! Plan accordingly!

NYCC 2012 Dark Horse Comics Signing Schedule

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11

3:00 p.m. THE ART OF CAMILLA D'ERRICO: Camilla D'Errico

4:00 p.m. THE MIGHTY SKULLBOY ARMY: Jacob Chabot

5:00 p.m. ALIENS: COLONIAL MARINES: Joshua Williamson

6:00 p.m. THE VICTORIES: Michael Avon Oeming

7:00 p.m. DR. MCNINJA: Christopher Hastings

8:00 p.m. STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC & LOST TRIBE OF THE SITH: Andrea Mutti

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12

10:00 a.m. DYNAMICS PRESENTS DARK HORSE SUPERHEROES: Phil Noto (Ghost), Joshua Williamson (Captain Midnight), Mike Richardson (Publisher)

11:00 a.m. HELLBOY IN HELL: Mike Mignola

12:00 p.m. TO HELL YOU RIDE: Lance Henriksen, Tom Mandrake*
*Ticketed event. Please see details below.

1:00 p.m. NAUGHTY DOG STUDIOS: Neil Druckmann, Faith Erin Hicks

Diamond Select to Hold Battle Beasts Signing at New York Comic-Con

October 2012 - The Battle Beasts have invaded San Francisco in the pages of IDW's comic book mini-series, and now they're invading Zoo York! Diamond Select Toys will hold a Battle Beasts signing at their booth at New York Comic-Con with Brooklyn-based artist Ulises Farinas, the artist behind the wraparound cover (and the SDCC exclusive cover) for Battle Beasts #1 from IDW Publishing. Farinas will sign free full-sized posters featuring the wraparound cover's detailed battle scene from issue #1, and will also sign Battle Beasts comics for fans at no charge. The signing will take place on Saturday from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm at the Diamond Select Toys booth, #2156.