UPGRADE: New Weapons for Crossbones

This one goes out to all the die hard Marvel Legends collectors who are getting beat up at every turn lately..whether it be from rising prices or must have figures put into exclusive sets. YOU SHALL BE AVENGED!! Not really...but know I feel your pain. Today, we take a look at our pal Crossbones from last year's San Diego Comi-Con Thunderbolts Marvel Legends action figure set. Knowing very little about the character, a fan of figures will instantly note the dude's buffness and want to compliment that with the biggest Liefeld-esque gun possible...

Hasbro's Amazing Spider-Man Box-O-Doom

Less than one week til The Amazing Spider-Man hits theaters and you realize it is a WHOLE NEW BALLGAME! I am no longer under embargo so I can tell you I've been comparing this Spidey reboot in the way we compare Burton's Batman to Nolan's. I'm not saying Raimi's Spider-Man was bad...it is just a different animal all together. The new film shows a Spider-Man who moves like you'd imagine someone infused with irradiated spider DNA would move...twitchy..always tensed and ready to jump..faster than you'd imagine a human being could possibly move and so agile it defies logic. Watching him in action caused me to default to little kid mode..mouth agape and smiling like I'd been struck dumb. More details to come when I crank out my review, because THIS article is reserved for the box of goods Hasbro just sent over!

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron Pre-order Incentives

Starting today, nostalgic fans who pre-order the game at GameStop will receive a unique unlock code for the G1 RETRO PACK. This exclusive content will let fans play as the legendary G1 OPTIMUS PRIME from the original 1980s animated television show (both in single player and multiplayer), and also wield the powerful G1-INSPIRED MEGATRON GUN and SHOCKWAVE BLAST CANNON weapons (in single player campaign).

Fans who pre-order the game at Amazon will get a unique code for the G2 BRUTICUS skin that will be available in the epic single player campaign. True Transformers fans will instantly recognize the rare and vivid colors of this classic BRUTICUS toyline model.

TRANSFORMERS: FALL OF CYBERTRON challenges fans to fight through both sides of the TRANSFORMERS' most epic battles that culminate in their legendary exodus from their home planet. With the stakes higher and scale bigger than ever, players will embark on an action-packed journey through massive, war-torn environments designed around each character's unique abilities and alternate forms, including GRIMLOCK's nearly indestructible T-Rex form and the legendary COMBATICONS combining into the colossal BRUTICUS. Taking the franchise's competitive multiplayer to all-new heights, the game will allow fans go head-to-head in blistering AUTOBOT vs. DECEPTICON matches after creating their own unique characters with the most in-depth, advanced customization ever before seen in a TRANSFORMERS video game.

CLICK HERE for our last update on Transformers: Fall of Cybertron with Dinobot Rampage Action!

Avengers Pre-Show: Hasbro's SHIELD Box-O-Doom

...or in case of Doom as the wordage on the box would imply. Either way, folks will be asking... WHAT'S IN THE BOOOOOX??!!
Normally I don't show off things the public at large can't readily get their hands on, but I'm assured every little thing that shows up in the mail now is NEWS...so I apologize in advance for playing games with your Marvel obsessed heart strings. Besides, this crate is sure to pop up on Ebay any minute.

When this box showed up today, I twittered "There are not enough exclamation marks in the universe to express my feelings right now". If you grew up with Marvel Comics, have been awaiting the Avengers movie like crazy for months now and had THIS show up at your door, you'd feel much the same way! Inside, Hasbro packed a sampling of Avengers movie merch including action figures of Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America and Thor, a Captain America Hero Mask, Iron Man Tri-Power Repulsor, a large scale Captain America talking figure I've been affectionately calling "Ice Capades Cap" and the pinnacle of Marvel movie toy technology... HULK GAMMA GREEN SMASH FISTS!!





















































Just like the 5 yr old child that I am, I'm more enthralled with the box than the toys within, but I thank Hasbro profusely for the gifts!

CLICK HERE to see all that Hasbro is pumping out for The Avengers movie!


Avengers Movie Toys In Action by Nomadixxx

A New Avengers Movie Trailer & Talking Toys!

Oh May 4th...you are so close and yet..so so far. Marvel may have underwhelmed you with their photoshop-tastic movie poster a couple of days ago, but they are sure looking to make up for it! BEHOLD!!! The newest Avengers movie trailer!!!

As a bonus, we thought we'd give you a taste of the Avengers movie toys! Sure, you've seen all the pics from toy fair, but right now, lurking in the over priced isles of Toys R Us are action packed, talking Avengers toys that will, at the very least, make you accidentally snort soda up your nose. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!!


Avenger Movie Toys In Action by Nomadixxx

Toy Fair 2012 : Mighty Marvel Action Figures

We can already call 2012 a golden age for Marvel Comics action figures! Not since Toy Biz had lines on the pegs for Fantastic Four, X-Men, Generation X, Ghost Rider, Iron Man and Hulk have we seen so much plastic awesomeness available for purchase all at once. This year, Diamond Select dishes out a heaping helping of Marvel Select action figures from Marvel movies and comics alike while Hasbro continues their expansive Marvel Universe line alongside Avengers and Amazing Spider-Man movie figures and the triumphant return of 6 inch MARVEL LEGENDS!! Here's a look at what you'll be blowing all your paychecks on...


Let's go from largest to smallest...


Marvel Select continue their action figure domination of comic shops. Honestly, is there anything more impressive hanging in your local geekatorium? On tap for 2012 are...

2012 Preview: Marvel Legends Action Figures

For fans of Marvel Comics action figures, Hasbro's 2012 return to the 6 inch line we loved best is monumental. We have one request...

Don't screw this up.

Things we are looking for:
Scale - If a dude is 6 feet tall, another is 5 foot nuthin with claws and another is 7 foot plus, please show us that difference.
Likeness - Most of us have an iconic look in our heads for our heroes and villains. You know what it is, since you are fans too. That is what we want. Not silvery robots with belly buttons.
Quality - When Marvel Legends last graced the shelves in two-pack form, the feel of the figure was excellent. No wobbly joints, substantial plastics used, nice paint applications and a superior attention to detail. As I open my Walmart exclusive 6 inch Marvel Movie figures, save for Nick Fury, all I can think is these were rushed and made as cheaply as possible and it all shows. The knees are wobbly, the paints are uneven, you can see the marks where the plastic over-pour was broken away and WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO LOKI??!! It's like no one wants to make this guy the way we remember him...basically NOT a menacing, roided out monster. More importantly, if this is a movie line, why isn't he Tom Hiddleston Loki to match your new Chris Hemsworth Thor?! The mind boggles. End of rant.

If we are going to be spending 16 bucks a pop on these guys, we want them to be something YOU will be proud of, just like the awesome and endless Star Wars releases and the mind blowing newest G.I. Joe waves. We will accept nothing short of awesome.

That said, lets take a look at the 2012 Marvel Legends Action Figures series 1: The Terrax wave!!

Seven figures make up the first wave including :

Heroic Age Thor






















Steve Rogers Captain America (there was said to be a variant of this guy coming with his Photon Shield, but we haven't seen or heard anything more about it.)






















Extremis Iron Man (with a Stealth Armor variant)












Constrictor
































Ghost Rider (with an orange flame variant, since most fans don't know who the hell this blue guy is)
































Marvel's Klaw






















X-Men's Hope Summers












These are showing up overseas at the moment, so I expect them to be everywhere VERY SOON! Collect all 7 (or is that 6? I'm confused by the imagery below) to build the somewhat larger Terrax the Tamer..former herald of Galactus himself!






















I'll go on record as saying it is a good thing the line has at least 4 figures fans want; the last three (being Thor, Iron Man and Ghost Rider) won't sting so badly as we will all be after a Terrax figure. This is a must have for Marvel Legends fans and while he is not the MASSIVE build a figure we remember fondly from days gone by (my army of Sentinels take a bow), I expect people will be chomping at the bit for him. For my collection, if I could live without Terrax (which I can't), I'd just be buying Klaw and Constrictor, full of happiness that Hasbro understands we want bad guys to fill out our collections, even if we have to suffer through more Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Wolverine and Spider-Man to get to them, to appease the retail gods. Honestly though, with all the 6 inch Iron Man we've been getting, I expected that Extremis armor to be miles better. The line is called Legends, folks. Let's see some LEGENDARY figures. Re-sculpt that sucker already. I want to see an Iron Man figure that looks like there's a full sized human being in there.

We didn't want to go too crazy in this article, so we'll stop at series 1, but I'll mention that Series 2 is set to include Heroic Age Captain America (AKA Bucky Cap), Thunderball (with a Piledriver variant), Dark Wolverine Daken (with swapable maskless head so it doesn't just look like another regular Wolverine figure), Madame Masque (with Lady Hydra variant) Fantomex, Drax and "Big Time" Spider-Man (who really should have pinky rings with a name like that.) Arnim Zola is the Build A Figure in this series. CLICK HERE for a detailed look at these figures and HERE for a second helping!

Got a list of characters and a BAF you'd love to see in a series? Use the comments below for your geek wish list! Maybe someone will be watching...