Tired of going to Wal-mart on a daily basis looking at the spot where the exclusive Jabba on throne (or thrown, if you read the shelf tag) goes?  The figure is now available from Walmart.com for your ordering convenience.

Hasbro has provided a new batch of press images.  You can check out the latest Star Wars images here, in the galleries.

Hasbro has provide a new batch of official press pictures for Marvel Universe.  You can check out the gallery here.  Can’t wait to pick up that Thanos!

Hasbro has sent out the latest batch of official press pictures. Click here to head to the August 11th Transformers gallery! Check out the official pictures of Power Core Combiners, Hunt for Decepticons, Generations, etc.

On display at the C3X Hobby show is the Masterpiece Rodimus Prime; this time in color.  Also on display is the toy in a Hot Rod mode, confirming the rumor that this Masterpiece Transformer would be both Rodimus Prime and Hot Rod.  The toy looks fantastic in color and I’m impressed by the multi-mode Transformation; I can’t wait to get a closer look to figure out how they did it.  You can check out some images from the show here.  In Japan, Rodimus Prime is slated for a late 2010 / early 2011 release.  No US release information is available at this point.

The Master and Axon

Series: Doctor Who Classics

Release Date: 8/2010

The Doctor Who Classics line continues with its newest Exclusive release; a Jon Pertwee era 2-pack featuring Roger Delgado’s Master and an Axon.  This two-pack comes boxed and runs $40, typical of the Doctor Who Classic releases.  Underground Toys has been on a roll with the classics line up as of late and these two figures show why this is quickly becoming my favorite toy line.  Lets get into the good and the bad of this set.

The Good:

• The package – Putting these figures in a box instead of blister carding them was fantastic.  The ‘diorama’ background with the Axon spaceship really works well with the figures.  The graphic artist did a fantastic job on this one.  If you’re a non-opener, this set will look fantastic on your shelf.
• The Master – I may be showing bias here, but the Master makes this 2-pack with the coin.  This is the Master as he was first introduced, and at his finest.  The sculpt is fantastic and the likeness among the best that Underground Toys has produced.  The figure is adequately articulated and includes his TCE.  A fantastic figure and will serve well as the 3rd Doctor’s #1 villian.

The Not-as-Good:

• The Axon – Don’t get me wrong, the Axon isn’t a bad figure.  It just isn’t great.  Or really an Axon.  The Axon started out as a build-a-figure for Wave 2 of Doctor Who Classics; but he wasn’t an Axon.  He was a Krynoid, from a 4th Doctor series.  When the build-a-figure was dropped from Wave 2, the Krynoid went on the shelf (the prototype picture was featured on AwesomeToyBlog some months ago).  Now, in real life, the Krynoid costume was derived from an Axon costume in storage – and this gave Underground Toys the opportunity to pull the Krynoid figure off the shelf; deco it orangey-pink a nd call it an Axon and release it with the Master.  Unfortunately, there are 2 drawbacks with this.  The head looks off; looks too Krynoid and not enough Axon; you can counter some of this by turning his head around…but then it looks like his neck has been broken.  Also the figure doesn’t feature and knee or elbow articulation; likely an artifiact of being a build-a-figure with a smaller budget per part.

Summary:  What the Axon figure lacks in awesome (I mean its a good figure, just not great) the Master more than makes up for.  He’s really fantastic.  As such, this set is really fantastic and is another great addition to the line.  Some fans are unhappy with the line being “exclusive” and carrying a higher price point; but if the releases continue to be of this caliber and quality I won’t be joining them.  This set is still available from Entertainment Earth (or Forbidden Planet if in the UK) and is well worth picking up.

From Rebelscum.com (the whole post is great, so you should read it) here’s a list of the full 2010 line-up of Star Wars Vintage Collection figures.  This year’s line up consists of 37 figures; 10 of which are repacks.  The 2011 line-up is tentatively 39 basic figures, where 7 of them are repacks or refreshes.  Check out the list of 2010 figures after the jump.

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Proving once again that Underground Toys and Character Options actually do love me, yet another new release for the Doctor Who Classics line has been announced.  Coming this November is a 3 (almost 4) pack from the4th Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith classic episode “Revenge of the Cybermen”.  This pack includes 2 Cybermen, a Cyberleader and a Cybermat.  The only pre-order that has been announced is Forbidden Planet’s, so US availability and pricing is currently unknown. When pre-orders are available for the US, I’ll be sure to pass that information along.

On their website today, MattyCollector.com shared details of their product line-up for September, October and Novemeber.  Matty also is planning a “big” Cyber Monday sale on November 29th.  No details as to what to expect for that sale (well except for the website likely not working).  See below for the next few months of sale items.

SEPTEMBER

• Ghostbusters™ 6″ Egon Spengler™ with PKE Meter™, stack of books
• Masters of the Universe® Classics Chief Carnivus™ (Club Eternia™ monthly figure)
• Masters of the Universe® Classics Gygor™

OCTOBER

• Masters of the Universe® Classics Roboto® (Club Eternia™ monthly figure)
• Masters of the Universe® Classics Zodac®

NOVEMBER

• DCU JLU Parademon™ 2-Pack
• Ghostbusters™ 6″ Peter Venkman™ with Ghostbusters™ Logo Base
• Masters of the Universe® Classics Grizzlor® (Club Eternia™ monthly figure)
• Masters of the Universe® Classics Grayskull™ (with Orb)
• Masters of the Universe® Classics Weapons Pak Great Wars Assortment

In the weeks leading up to SDCC I received hundreds of press releases, most of which I ignored.  One that caught my eye was from GelaSkins; announcing that they have custom skins for electronic devices, including many Marvel designs.  Since the iPad is an essential piece of AwesomeToyBlog.com gear, I sent off a note to the fine folks at GelaSkins and they provided me with 3 designs to try out.  Now with the convention coverage wrapped up, I’ve skinned my iPad and wanted to share my opinions.  Check them out after the jump.

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