Do you like spoilers? Do you want to know the newest information as soon as possible? I don’t, at least not really. That may sound strange coming from someone who peddles toy news, but that’s probably the primary issue. I can’t remember the last time I bought a figure without knowing that it was hitting store shelves. While being part of the community has helped me secure some of the hardest to find figures, it’s also diminished the magic of discovery. While I have been a hardcore collector for about seven years, I have always bought toys. For the most part, it was only a figure here and there or something on clearance. However, there truly was something special about playing with something you had no idea existed.

Those are my thoughts as I see the toys news from Toy Fair scream across my social aggregator. 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.

Subscribe to the RSS
Subscribe through iTunes
Download the .mp3 (2 hour 16 minutes / 62.5 MB)
Follow along with the show notes

What’s our next review, spoiler…Slick

Continue reading

Have you ever had a song stuck in your head? Of course you have. How about for a few weeks? That’s how long this post’s namesake has been stuck in mine. Almost every moment of silence has been filled with “It’s gonna be a good life, a good good life.” The funny thing is I don’t know if that’s how I feel or if I’m trying to convince myself. It’s been a ridiculously stressful January. Not only are we doing our whole first of the year cleansing thing (i.e. no sugar, no fast food, no smoking, no booze, no buying toys, no fun), work has been hell. On top of that I have the standard whirlwind of doubts, concerns and excitement concerning my most anticipated package ever.

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.

Subscribe to the RSS
Subscribe through iTunes
Download the .mp3 (2 hour 25 minutes / 133 MB)
Follow along with the show notes

It is going to be a good life…Slick

Continue reading

It’s truly amazing how quickly things can change. One moment everything is progressing the same as it always has and WHAM, your life will never be the same. That’s how I felt on December 11th. It really has changed my entire outlook on life. There’s something priceless about events of this nature. All I can say is I hope everyone experiences something similar at least once in their lifetime.

Talk about once in a lifetime, that’s how I feel about the 80’s and more specifically, the toys of the 80’s. It was 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.

Subscribe to the RSS
Subscribe through iTunes
Download the .mp3 (1 hour 58 minutes / 108 MB)
Follow along with the show notes

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it…Slick

Continue reading

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.

Subscribe to the RSS
Subscribe through iTunes
Download the .mp3 (59 minutes / 26.9 MB)
Follow along with the show notes

Start your shopping engines…Slick

Continue reading

Do you ever get to a point where things just get stale? Where it just seems like you are just going through the motions? That’s how I felt on this last cast. It’s not that I didn’t have fun. The day toys aren’t fun is the day I’m done. It just seems like I’ve put the cruise control on. I think it’s more this time of year. Summer is done and gone; winter is just around the corner. I’m ready for a change. Never fear, we’re not going anywhere. It’s about to get crazy and these are some of our last sane moments.

Coming up next, I’ll be doing another Q and A special, sans Mrs. McFavorite. Then we have the long promised Vintage show. That should lead us right into our annual Black Friday special. So if you thought it took us a long time to get this show out, it’s probably going to be at least a month until you get another “regular” Open Your Toys Cast and I think that’s a good thing.

However, 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.

Subscribe to the RSS
Subscribe through iTunes
Download the .mp3 (2 hours 13 minutes / 60.8 MB)
Follow along with the show notes

Till death do us part…Slick

Continue reading

Now you know. And knowing is half the battle? I don’t know. Do you know? All right lets go. I wanna really thank our special guest host Otto “The Otter” of JoeCustoms.com and DioWarriors.com for stopping by and talking some Joe with us. It’s always great discovering somebody that you know for a completely different reason is actually part of the community. To me, it’s one of the strongest bonds you can share with someone. The thing I especially love is being schooled on their focus and dropping knowledge on things they may not normally be exposed to. It makes for a long show, but hopefully you learned something new. I know I did.

Speaking of new, 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 this, but now I can’t live without 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.

Subscribe to the RSS
Subscribe through iTunes
Download the .mp3 (2 hours 38 minutes / 72.2 MB)
Follow along with the show notes

Yo Joe yo…Slick

Continue reading

We did. Wow, did we. Unfortunately there’s something a little sad about the end of summer. I’m sure it stems from childhood and the almighty 3 month sabbatical we always looked forward to. But, even in adulthood I get the same feeling. I think with the coming of warm weather in the spring, especially in places where the seasons are distinct, comes the feeling of a new start. Plans are made, sometimes fulfilled, but all too often broken. Whether those plans are to meet up with loved ones, clean out your garage or loose that 10 pounds, depending on your percentage of did versus did not, that last day can bring a nagging sense of failure. I just always try to focus on what I did do and remember every day of my life is a chance at a new start.

All right, I think that first paragraph is getting a little too flowery when it should be more toyy. Not quite sure how it evolved into a SNL “Deep Thoughts”ish rant without a punch line. 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.

Subscribe to the RSS
Subscribe through iTunes
Download the .mp3 (1 hour 31 minutes / 41.8 MB)
Follow along with the show notes

It’s never too late…Slick

Continue reading

Without a strong rhyme to step to
Think of how many weak shows you slept through
Time’s up, I’m sorry I kept you
Thinking of this, you keep repeating you miss
The rhymes from the microphone soloist
And you sit by the radio, hand on the dial, soon
As you hear it, pump up the volume.

For anybody that doesn’t know, I’m a huge hip hop head. Not that shit you hear on the radio nowadays, but true school hip hop. We’re talking the golden age, mid 80’s to mid 90’s. The above verse is one of my favorites from one of my favorite groups of all time, Eric B. and Rakim. If you haven’t noticed, we’re going through a bit of a golden age ourselves. In my opinion, collecting has never been so fun or so diverse, well, EVER. Now I’m not old school by any means, but I like to think I’m true school. I’m current, but educated in our roots. What’s even better? I’m positive. With the amount of lines, distributors and vintage homages rockin’, how can you not think we’re in a golden age? If all you can do is bitch, please try and think of a time when this thing of ours was any better.

Now that the periodic rant is over, let’s get to the good stuff, TOY NEWS! Since what is becoming our standard post-SDCC absence, there hasn’t been too much. 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.

Subscribe to the RSS
Subscribe through iTunes
Download the .mp3 (2 hours 27 minutes / 67.3 MB)
Follow along with the show notes

It truly is a great time, enjoy it…Slick

Continue reading

We survived yet another year. Another year of lines, crowds, poorly trained security guards, people a little too excited and people not excited enough. Fanboys, cosplayers, booze and… oh yeah, TOYS! To me, aside from all the great people you meet, that plastic joy is what really makes all the hassle not only acceptable, but part of the adventure. But, at some point during every con, there comes a time when I feel like it’s not worth it any more. Not worth the inconvenience, not worth the stress and not worth the money. However, I almost instantaneously snap back into reality and appreciate every single second of it.

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.

Subscribe to the RSS
Subscribe through iTunes
Download the .mp3 (2 hours 54 minutes / 79.5 MB)
Follow along with the show notes

I already can’t wait until next year…Slick

Continue reading