Open Your Toys Cast

Five years in a row. Just thinking about it makes my wallet want to cry and my heart soar. Although I always exercise amazing restraint in the dealer room, I always buy all the exclusives. That right there puts you $300+ in the hole before the show even starts. However, this year I got to live vicariously through my show buddies Optimus Andy and Tylertron. They definitely took advantage of their first Botcon. I definitely took advantage of kicking it with two amazing guys. From cutting lines to being duped by a fast talking con man, from partaking in my "water" habit to getting lost in Dallas for hours. I couldn't have asked for a better last hurrah. We even got to spend time with long time Botcon bro, Saber, or as he calls himself nowadays, Bruce.

With over three and a quarter hours of toy talk, you could easily spread this cast out over a week. Let us see, Monday would be con news, a smattering of great toy news and some Matty/MOTUC Q and A. Tuesday would yield a little more toy news, a look at 3rd party love and possibly the Store Report. Wednesday would have us looking at some new stuff online, including ShelfLifeX.com. As well as a quick look at What I Got. Thursday we would look at this amazing transforming Sky Striker Starscream and some affordable cancelled G.I. Joes. Finally we would round out the week of toy goodness by hearing from you, talking some Botcon and then some non-toy news from the franchises. Not a bad a week, in my opinion.

As usual we talk a bunch of toys, but instead of highlighting a few of them with this post, I really wanted to focus on what has me most excited right now, Attack on Cobra Island. What's Attack on Cobra Island you say? It's an amazing old school 16 bit side scrolling G.I. Joe brawler. It is literally the game that every red blooded 80s G.I. Joe fan should've wanted back in the day. In just a few minutes of playing you can easily tell that it is a labor of love. IP infringing, fangasming love. While I roll with a pretty loose set of ethics when it comes to IP and the fandom, I believe not-for-profit projects like this need to be celebrated. Huge thanks to Justin over at General's Joes for posting about this.

It seems like the whole community is bitching. I just wish everyone could remember this is supposed to be fun. Speaking of fun, what's more fun than new Disney Star Wars figures? How about a Transformer that turns into 6 different things? No, I got it, a UFO Transformer with an old school bubble helmet. If saving money is your thing, both BBTS and Matty have pretty good sales right now. We also hear from a old friend. Finally, we pick the winner of our Toy Fair 2012 Giveaway.

It's that time of year again. We kick it Toy Fair style. It's the Super Bowl of action figure events. Where plastic addicts from all around the world rejoice and/or bitch about all the new toys we'll be getting.

While this is the Super Bowl weekend of toy news, we recap everything leading up to this weekend of weekends. We kick around the leaks from UK Toy Fair, Transformers Prime releases and G.I. Joe Retaliation toys. There are some great preorders if you like the small stuff. Robert Atkins put on one hell of a custom contest. After almost a year of the Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime retrospective, we're finally reviewing Fansproject TFX-04 Protector Armor. And if you think that was a lot of reviews, I still have two more we could have done, but Mrs. McFavorite would have killed me.

One thing still makes everything right in the world, talking toys. Even though I can’t buy any right now, I still love following all the updates. While we haven’t actually talked news in over 2 months we were able to keep the cast to just under two and a half hours. During the show we discuss the onslaught of con news, recent MOTUC happenings, new Transformers toys, the collector clubs’ upcoming exclusives and some of the best 3rd party products we’ve seen in a while. As you can imagine we picked up quite a few new toys over the holidays. Finally we give our thoughts on the Travel Channel’s Toy Hunters.

The toys of the 80's were literally a perfect storm of relaxing federal regulations, the proliferation of cable TV and syndication and media tie-ins. Gone were the previous generation’s large 12" and clothed dolls. The late 70’s saw a relatively unknown film usher in a new era of action figures and with it a new approach to toy marketing. With the advancements in technology in the last 20 years, such as life-like video games and the World Wide Web, unfortunately kids will never have an experience like we did. While we normally cover the 4 boys’ lines that have dominated action figure isles for the last 30+ years, this time around we talk about our other favorite lines from what many kids that grew up during that time call the best decade ever, the 80's.

Well both of us just woke up from a tryptophan coma. Now we need to get ready for the Black Friday madness. We have one of your favorites back on the show. Hope you enjoy this year's cast.

We got some great toy news for you this time around. The G.I. Joe Collector Club has revealed a ton of their new Figure Subscription Service (FSS) figures. If you want to decide not only the next Fans’ Choice figure for Star Wars, but probably a majority of the obscure figures to come in the next few years, go vote now! Did you now there’s a Dinobot combiner? There is and it looks good, not great, but that might be good enough. Finally, it’s that time of year. Hasbro Toy Shop has 25% off and free shipping for all of their friends and family and who’s a better friend than us. It applies to almost everything, sans the only thing people really want, the exclusives.

Power-Con showed some new, new, new shit. First one of my favorite Masters figs is coming and I didn't know I even wanted a Griffin, but now I can't live without out it. Another one of my favorite figures might be coming too. I got a little coupon crazy this week, even more so than normal. We announce the winner of our 3rd Annual Swagaway. Lastly , I'm honored by one of the most renowned reviewers in the community. As with all of our co-hosted shows, this was definitely one of my favorites. Hope it's one of yours too.

And now, TOYS. With exclusives Runamuck, Runabout, Footloose and the upcoming Joe sub it's a great time to be a member of the Collector Clubs. Is Amazon really opening a toy only site? HELL to the YES! Hasbro is going to make us a new figure. You just have to tell them which one. There's some new stuff on pegs, shelves and that Web thing. More importantly, don't forget to enter our 3rd Annual Swagaway. Just let us know your favorite thing from Comic-Con 2011 before October 1st.

Since what is becoming our standard post-SDCC absence, there hasn't been too much toys news. The G.I. Joe Collectors' Club has announced more details about their sub, including the first two figures. Matty has gone sub crazy, but what's new? As usual, there has been a glut of product in stores after SDCC. Mostly DOTM, but even the 30th Anniversary Joes are showing up early. To go along with the whole golden age / homage thing, Hasbro and Amazon finally released their Transformers: The Movie 25th Anniversary Unicron and it was a quick sell out, and I mean quick sell out, for Amazon at least. Oh, by the way, look what I got. Lastly, those Star Wars Blu-rays are drawing a lot of attention and a lot of it is not so good.

How can you not get excited about the new Clone Wars and Vintage Collection Figures? While pricey, what kid of the 80's wouldn't have killed for a 2 foot Voltron figure? Speaking of the 80's, what about Mattel finally getting the Filmation rights? We've got a Filmation accurate Grannamyr and Shadow Weaver coming. How about Transformers Generations continuing with a new Junkion? In this day and age where spoilers run rampant and are almost the norm, it's simply amazing to be one of the first to hear about and sometimes see brand new toys. This episode only briefly touches on my addiction. What we really try to do is give you the full SDCC experience. For more Comic-Cony goodness, don't forget to check out the photos on Flickr and videos of all the important toy cases on YouTube.

We're in San Diego. It's 30 minutes until we hit the con. No time for musing. Congratulations to Cliff for winning the SDCC Personal Shopper Contest. Here's the new podcast.

I just want to give a big shout out to the sites that make this possible. First off, to everyone that actually participates in the Q and As. Without you we wouldn't get all the juicy details we do get. But, more importantly He-Man.org, GeneralsJoes.com and Rebelscum.com. These sites take on the daunting task of compiling a round up of all the Q and As across the Web for their respective lines. Please visit them often, click on their advertisers and if possible donate to them. Finally a big thank you has to go out to Hasbro and Mattel. Without their participation, Q and As wouldn't even exist.

This week we rap about the black repaint of MP Rodimus Prime, Megator's secret accessory, Dinosaur and combiner cassette knock-offs and new Disney Star Wars toys. Also of great importance are the reissue Devastator gift set, Fansproject Insecticons and the Star Wars Lego Super Star Destroyer. That and much, much more toy goodness.

Oh Botcon 2011, I had such a blast. I can't ever help but have fun at a con. I got to meet a few listeners, kick it with some good friends and enjoy a healthy amount of single serving friends. As always the Hasbro panel is the pinnacle. 25th Anniversary Transformers: The Movie Unicron, Prime Cliffjumper and Zombie Cliffjumper? While not a huge Bayformer fan, G1 Deco Ironhide, more Wreckers and Cyberverse Shockwave? What? Don't even get me started on Transformers: Prime SDCC Matrix Prime, Wheeljack and Soundwave with Laserbeak. We have a great year ahead of us. Let's just hope the movie is amazing as it should be.

Well, it's another big fat long show for ya. I think we're getting all chatty in our old age. Cons, cons and more cons. However, Power-Con is definitely showing some promise. Val and his gang are definitely doing it up. Love that DOTM toys are finally out so people are getting all the pent up expectations out. I've got a couple myself and like them quite a bit. New Star Wars reveals are plentiful. We're getting quite a few new toys for what is normally a very dry period for toys. Well at least other people are finding Warpath, new Pursuit of Cobra and previously thought-to-be-cancelled toys. We got voicemails a plenty. Finally, Christmas ornaments and books. Yeah I know, real exciting finale there. But, who knows, maybe you're into that sort of thing.

WE’RE BACK BITCHES! Now that feels good. Con season is officially in full effect. Botcon is less than a month away and we get Mattel’s huge SDCC exclusives reveal. Dark of the Moon toys are less than a week away, but of course they are already popping up all over the place. Items thought to never see mass release are showing up on pegs. Finally, May the fourth be with you? It’s with us.