Some Sunday Toy Fair Musings…

Posted on February 15, 2015 by geelw

Let’s see now:

Expect to see a LOT of Jurassic World merchandise coming for the upcoming film. Yes, Universal ran the same old trailer fans have already seen, but there’s a nice amount of new toys on the way that were unseen until the event earlier today. Dinosaurs everywhere would be a problem in real life for sure. But it looks like the licensing agreements on this film will bring kids (and adults) into those walking future fossil fuel sources will get plenty of folks into the stores before and after they hit the theaters.

As for those Minions, well, my bad poetry databank has been reactivated, so expect to read some ear curling stuff about that toy line shortly. That long trailer was pretty funny and it looks as if the third go-round with the little yellow guys may be the best yet. As for the merchandise, some items are returning from Despicable Me 2, but in updated form, there are new items that will make the kids (and parents) crack up, and yes, expect your disposable income to become a lot more disposable once the film hits.

More on both toy lines shortly. I’ve a lot of ground to cover over the next few weeks and two more days at the show in this stupidly lousy cold weather we’ve been socked with. It’s worth it, though…

Toy Fair Ultra Mini Report, Day One

Status

Well, then. Toy Fair is pretty brilliant this year, although I barely made it through the first day’s zipping back and forth. Pictures to come from some of the booths I visited earlier today, but not until tomorrow at the earliest. Par for the course, some of the smaller booths had the more interesting new items, but you’ll have to hold out to see what they are. Let’s just say that if you have kids ages 4-10 who have always give you trouble around bedtime, there’s the most awesome solution that’s guaranteed to get them wanting to hit the hay every night. And it doesn’t involve any trickery or pharmaceuticals, either.

Also, R2-D2 makes a phenomenal bubble machine, courtesy of Imperial Toys. Seriously. You’ll see. Zombies are still “in” this year and in some mighty creative ways thanks to McFarlane Toys, Factory Entertainment and others. Collectible fans will see way too many things to fill their shelves from Funko, Entertainment Earth, Mezco Toyz, The Coop, and too many more to list here.

Anyway, I’m wiped out and need to sleep, as I have to pop up early in the morning to go see some dinosaurs and very funny little yellow guys before hitting the show floor again. Good night!

Friday’s More Than Slight Change of Plans Makes For A Fine Diversion

Posted on February 13, 2015 by geelw

Soooo, I didn’t intend to do ANOTHER pre-show event before Toy Fair, but like yesterday’s Superherostuff.com and Sphero event, today was *special*. I ended up hoofing out to Astoria (in Queens) to see and play a bunch of games at Indiecade, and if you just so happen to be in the NYC area, love games and want to try some awesome ones, you NEED to get yourself out thataway before the show ends on Sunday. I could only cover one day thanks to Toy Fair eating my weekend plus whole, but I’ll have a few longer articles on the stuff I tried out next week.

Hell, if it weren’t for indies, I’d be doing a lot less gaming these days. Pretty much the only AAA release I’m looking forward to is The Witcher 3 and that’s because CD Projekt RED is going the extra mile plus to guarantee everyone who plays the game on anything it’s on is getting the best experience possible. Anyway, it’s off to sleep for me soon, as I need to pop up at 5am and be out of here before 6. Eeek. Back with more eventful posting tomorrow…

Gearing Up For Toy Fair is Tough Work!

Status

Let’s see now… I’m sort of taking today off because I’m making a new, longer list of Toy Fair 2015 meetings for this weekend and I have a pre-show event to pop into this afternoon to check out a few items. I’d initially promised myself I wouldn’t do any more pre-show events because under certain circumstances it gets to be SO busy running around that I end up too pooped when the show actually starts. However, I made two exceptions this year because of the folks who reached out that didn’t forget they reached out and didn’t suddenly get back to me to say their events were overbooked.

I get invited to a load of events and respond as soon as I see the invite. Once in a while, the PR person who contacted me and took my reservation will get back to me a few days after I confirm or too often, right around the day the event takes place to say something like “oops, we overbooked!” without letting me know what I can do about seeing the product they were gushing about so fervently in that invite. The latest example of this was a big deal film screening/press junket I was SUPPOSED to attend this week, only to be told last minute that they ran out of room AND to hold out for a new screening date (which didn’t happen). Gee, thanks. So much for promoting your film or whatever else you were looking for from me, big megacorp deluxe who’s burned me one too many times. I got yer Throwback Thursday right here, Foo. Anyway, let me get back to my regularly scheduled day.

Back in a bit, maybe with a quick followup post if I make it back before the library closes.

VHS Video Cover Art – May Blooms Up A Killer Book From Schiffer

Posted on February 11, 2015 by geelw

Oh, yeah. As someone who grew up in the VHS era and had a rather huge collection of films (long sold off, sadly), seeing a book like this coming in May from Schiffer Publishing gets me all giddy. VHS: Video Cover Art by Thomas “The Dude Designs” Hodge (and yes, that nickname sounds straight outta the eighties) is a 9″ x 12″ hardcover, will feature 264 pages, 570 color photos (and an index, of course) and cost $34.99, a pittance for the sheer amount of nostalgia guaranteed to be on display.

For me, this one is a “shut up and buy it” book if there ever was one. I’ve looked over the first 24 pages and had a huge grin on my face that’s still lingering. This one’s going to do well amongst the collectors out there and any movie fan looking for an excellent gift will want to keep an eye peeled for when this drops into stores in a few months. Color me excited, folks. Between this and those Mill Creek collections I’ve been picking up for dirt cheap lately, my teenage years are coming back full force. Er, without the awkwardness around the ladies and doing stupid stuff for fun part…

Star Wars Humble Bundle: WANTED By Bargain Bounty Hunters Across The Universe!

Posted on February 10, 2015 by geelw

Holy cats. As I was hoping, the Humble Star Wars Bundle went from “Must Buy!” to “Oh, you’d BETTER Buy It NOW!” status. As you can see (well, once you pop your eyeballs back in from looking at the selection of games), the roster of titles got bumped up so that even if you pay the lowest possible price (a dollar a game), it’s a STEAL even a Corellian would pay for. Yow. Even if you skip that $12 tier and the three games that make up the deal, you’re getting enough games to keep you busy for months. As in you’ll probably still be playing by the time the new Star Wars movie hits theaters in December.

Yup, you know what you need to do, right? Force grab that wallet and force choke out that debit card, folks. Get enough games to zonk anyone into a digital coma and help charities in the process. You don’t need to be Yoda to realize this is a wise deal, Padawans. Now, get to it! You’ve got a galxy far, far away to save. or ruin, if that’s your thing. Anyway, this deal ONLY lasts until next Tuesday, so don’t wait (or pray that it’s altered any further, you cheapskates out there). Jump on this like it’s the last ship leaving Hoth or else you’ll regret it. Or at least your backlog will!

Tuesday’s Off: More YouTube Nonsense? Sure, Why The Hell Not?

Posted on February 10, 2015 by geelw

Here we go again. Another day, another account strike, same jerks pulling the same stunt. Look, YouTube. Whomever is doing this is clearly abusing your new and quite stupid system to their benefit. According to the email I’m getting from a PR contact, no one at the film company has a clue who’s pretending to be representing them.

Your policy that anyone who claims to be a rights holder or protector or whatever is totally corrupt. Based on all the people who this “Rico Management” have hit with takedowns and have lost their accounts who probably aren’t going to be coming back to your “service”, unless you take action yourselves to find and kick these frauds off your site for good, expect to see some other video service overtake you sooner than you think. I’d post a video with this, but I can’t get into my damn account because I need to go back to that damn stupid “copyright school” and do the damn stupid test again that I didn’t need to do at all because I’m being trolled hard.

I’ll just describe the gloriously dirt simple image of someone giving you and “Rico Management” the finger in a looping ten-minute clip for now. Got it? Good. Now fix this problem, please. Music for today? See above. Or here, as at least I can still use links to the site, grrrrr. Back in a bit, as this is making me a bit grumpy (and I don’t mean like the Cat)…

IndieGala Every Monday Bundle: Five More Games To Keep You Otherwise Occupied

Posted on February 9, 2015 by geelw

So, in the middle of a too stupidly busy day, I get ANOTHER copyright strike from YouTube courtesy of the overzealous idiots at Rico Management. Wonderful. Now that I’m boiling with rage over some bullshit (again, I have done nothing illegal here – I just posted videos I was sent to post to help promote the film I reviewed, so thanks go to for nothing but grief to a few people at this point), I still have to be polite here and tell you about this fine deal over at IndieGala.

Five games for two bucks may not seem like such a solid deal after the bigger bundles they’ve offered in the past. But there’s quite a lot of gameplay for the money and you’re helping fund a charity or few. So, pipe down and go take your medicine, I say. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go scream at someone and go take that dumb-ass Copyright School test AGAIN. Grrrr. I hate this sort of irresponsible behavior by faceless entities who need to sat out of the lives of people like me who stay on the decent path in life. But I guess these jerks need a lesson in knowing we’re all not thieves and pirates or whatever.

Random Art: Things Fall Apart In Some Awfully Productive Ways, Don’t They?

Posted on February 8, 2015 by geelw

Ha. Well, so much for a much more productive Sunday. Actually, I ended up doing too much research on an article for another site to the point that the short humor piece I started out with is now bigger than it probably should be. Oops. That’s what happens when you take your game history more seriously than the rest of the internet does. Oh well. I’m pooped, but still need to dig up a bunch of images, clean up the text a bit and roll it into something readable starting early Monday morning. Three shorter articles I’ve started need to be completed and then I get to… do some more writing for my site before Toy Fair rolls into town this weekend. I think breathing is in the mix at some point, as is sleeping and maybe eating. But we’ll see where that goes.

Anyway, some terrible “artwork” to share above. Noting but some mucking around with a random paint program I found on a disc. Ooh, I just remembered The Walking Dead AND Better Call Saul are on AMC tonight. Well, what I’ll be doing for the rest of this Sunday night has just been decided. Provided I remember to stop working and sit down in front of the TV. At least it’s on now as background noise. Looney Tunes, F. T. W., kids.

Review: The Shadow Sun (iOS/Android)

Posted on February 7, 2015 by geelw

Platform: iOS/Android

Developer: Ossian Studios

Publisher: Ossian Studios

# of Players: 1

ESRB Rating: N/A

Official Site

Score: B+ (85%)

Four years in the making, Ossian Studios‘ first mobile RPG, The Shadow Sun, brings the look and feel of classic PC fantasy role playing games to iOS and Android devices along with a few quirks common to mobile games. It’s a solid enough adventure of a decent length (about 15-20 hours or so if you seek out everything) and for a mere $4.99, it’s a fantastic deal.

While the game is indeed engaging and quite challenging in terms of its combat, it’s also a patch away from being even better than it currently is. You’re certainly getting a heck of a lot more than five dollars worth of gaming here and while in-app purchases are available, none are needed to beat the game.

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