The new TMNT figures based on the 2012 Nickelodeon animated series are out…and after scouring local Toys R Us and Target stores, I’ve managed to snag the entire first wave of basic figures. Here are the good guys:
Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Toy Chronicles | Tagged: action figures, April, April O'Neil, Donatello, Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Michelangelo, nickelodeon, Ninja Turtles, Raphael, splinter, Target, TMNT, TMNT 2012, toys, toys r us, toysrus | Leave a comment »
For the last few weeks, I’ve been walking a couple extra aisles in Walmart and Target, keeping an eye out for a lot of green. Ninja Turtles green.
My logic’s been that surely the new toy line would be out AHEAD of the new animated series (which I believe premieres end of September). Unfortunately, not a sign of TMNT stuff.
Yesterday I did a Google search to see if there was any easily (read: “quickly”) accessible information about when the new toys would be out, and I found primarily references to Toys R Us.
Fast-forward several hours, and I was headed to a local mall to see if the comic shop there had a couple comics I’d decided I was actually interested in buying…and recalled 1. there’s a Toys R Us and 2. what I’d read about TRU having the TMNT figures already.
So…I decided to swing by the TRU first on the chance they’d have the figures, and that they’d be the familiar $5.99 or so that I’ve seen Power Rangers and Batman: Dark Knight Rises figures priced at.
Well, they had the figures, but they’re priced like the Marvel 3.75″ figures at $9 ($8.9x anyway).
This Toys R Us had one Donatello, one Foot Soldier, several Kraang, several Splinter, and one April O’Neil. Had they had all 4 turtles, I would have bought Leonardo or Raphael. But, with only one turtle available, I bought Donatello (and I sincerely hope April does not become a “chase”-type figure like with the vintage 1980s line).
Not enthused at the pricing…but it’s TMNT. My weakness.
I have mixed feelings on the packaging…but that also ties to my feelings on the new theme song, both of which I’ll hopefully address in another post in the near future. (In short–there’s a certain retro/homage element I like).
Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: action figures, Ninja Turtles, Target, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, TMNT, toys, toys r us, toysrus, walmart | 1 Comment »
Yesterday was the release date for the new hardcover prose novel The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor. I’ve been looking forward to the book for months.
I don’t buy NEW books in hardback often–usually I’m buying stuff from the used-books stores like Half-Price Books or M&P or using a coupon from Borders and picking up something recent-ish but not generally still classified as a new-release. But a few times a year, I’ll buy a brand-new hardback–usually the new Brad Meltzer book, or John Grisham in particular, or something that just really strikes me.
Rise of the Governor was to be one of those books. Go to the store, get the book, start reading, and I figure I’ll dive in right away.
BUT.
Two trips to Walmart–no luck. Target…no luck there, either. Walmart‘s offering it via their website–but I’d have to wait til at LEAST early next week for it to arrive, whether shipped to my apartment or using the Site-to-Store shipping.
Figuring despite my consternation over big retailers like that not having the book where I could expect a ~30% discount off cover price, I knew that surely Barnes & Noble, a dedicated book-seller, would have a new hardback novel based on one of the top cable television shows with a new season debuting in under a week. Surely, a new novel based on a hit comics-and-tv series about survivors in a zombie apocalypse would be available, given it’s October where horror and the like seem to get top billing genre-wise.
Nope.
Oh, you can order it through their website, and while offhand I forget the discount. But I didn’t want to order the book online. I wanted to buy the book in-person, have it already, take it with me upon handing over payment, and start reading the thing.
Even if I’d manage to find some independent bookstore (I don’t know of any near me) it’d likely be a “special order” and highly unlikely the store would be willing (to say nothing of whether or not they’d be “able”) to give me much of a break off the cover price, and I’d still have to wait for the book to come in.
So I was forced online.
Amazon wins. They had the best discount, I’m familiar with their services, and over the past decade they’ve successfully branded themselves as THE place to order new books online (and I’ve even had success with their 3rd-party sellers, but that’s a different post entirely).
Annoyed and frustrated from going to multiple stores, the simple fact no one seemed to stock this book physically, and the fact that I’d already resigned myself earlier to paying full price for the book to get it same-day, I noticed something rather interesting.
For $2 more than cover price, including SHIPPING…I was able to ALSO order The Walking Dead Chronicles, which I’d also been eyeing but was going to hold off on.
This morning I woke to an email saying my Amazon order has shipped, and ought to arrive Monday. The same wait I’d have ordering the book any other way…but here from a familiar brand/service, with another related book, and though I don’t get to read the thing “in preparation” for the new season of the tv show…I get to see the premiere, and on a Walking Dead “high” (assumably), get another “fix” the next day.
And I notice there’s a new Grisham book coming out soon, and a new Stephen King as well. Might as well order through Amazon–and save myself even the potential hassle of stores randomly not stocking it, or just to spite ’em (even if the only one who cares is me).
Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: barnes and noble, books, rise of the governor, Target, Walking Dead, walmart | Leave a comment »
I walked into a Walmart this afternoon planning to get the week’s groceries. Unfortunately, they had no carts, and rather than go back out to the parking lot to get one, I decided to take a quick look at the toys, and head out.
Now, while the Marvel Universe/Fury Files 3.75″ line of action figures has been out for quite awhile, those usually only get 3-4 pegs in a single column, and they rarely have more than 2-3 figures per peg. However, the Iron Man 2 figures recently came out, and have a whole huge section–primarily 3.75″ figures as well as other related miscellany.
Unfortunately, there’s not really a whole lot for me in this series: I don’t care about having a whole bunch of different versions of Iron Man (even if it is a progression of the armors from the first version in the 2008 film to whatever we’re likely to see in the upcoming 2010 film), and I’ve never cared for the Iron Monger, nor am I all that familiar with Crimson Dynamo.
However, like last year’s Wolverine 3.75″ line, there is a sub-set of Comic-based figures. Though I took the above photo at Walmart, it was at Target that I bought the War Machine comic-based figure, as well as a Target-exclusive light-up Iron Man (mark VI armor) figure (Target has these on sale this week).
After looking at the Iron Man 2 figures, I turned around, and spotted a Luke Cage figure for the Marvel Universe line…and right below, Thor. I’d seen the Secret Wars 2-pack of Thor and (Klaw, I think?) starting a few weeks ago…but the 2-pack was just the “classic” Thor. I saw photos from Toyfair that suggested a “contemporary” Thor was due out, so passed on the 2-pack to wait for the Thor I’d prefer. Went ahead and bought the figure–been waiting for a Thor to go with my Captain America and Iron Man.
I’ll probably post a Cap/Thor/Iron Man pic later this week.
Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Toy Chronicles | Tagged: 3.75-inch, action figures, Fury Files, Hammer files, Iron Man, Iron Man 2 toys, iron man 2 toys at target, Iron Man toys, iron man toys at target, MARVEL, marvel 3.75, Marvel Comics, Marvel Universe, Shield files, Target, thor, toys, Wal-Mart, walmart, War Machine | Leave a comment »
I’ve been waiting MONTHS for the release of the new Star Trek film on DVD. I’ve been amazed in recent months to note the likes of X-Men Origins: Wolverine and GI Joe and such already being released to DVD. After all, Wolverine debuted 5-7 days BEFORE Star Trek, yet that DVD’s been out for a month or more now. GI Joe came out a couple weeks ago, and it debuted 3 MONTHS AFTER Star Trek. Says something about the “legs” ‘Trek had, right?
Recently, I did some searching online and discovered that a Blu-Ray edition would come with 4 badge replicas (of the officers) if one purchases from Best Buy. OK, fine ‘n dandy…but what about the DVD edition? Nope–you’ve got a “bare bones” edition, a 2-disc “special” (hah!) edition, or the Blu-Ray (3-disc) edition with the cool exclusive.
Oh, and get this: the discount pricing (which for the last 6-some years I have been aware of it and buying DVDs at all has been day-of-release and lasts at least until that Saturday) is being offered by Best Buy for a mere two hours.
For the first two business hours only, your local Best Buy is open, you can purchase the DVDs or Blu-Ray at a discount off Best Buy’s regular pricing. (And if your store has a midnight-release of the movie, it’s the first two hours from midnight, AND the first two hours of “regular” business hours).
The best part of all this? It’s DOORBUSTER pricing. Over a week before Thanksgiving and “Black Friday” and all that.
Blu-Ray-only for an exclusive? Strike one. Discount pricing offered for only two hours instead of all week? Strike two. Calling it a “doorbuster?” Strike three, Best Buy…I’m not buying.
Target has a special edition for $26.99 where the case actually transforms into a replica of the Enterprise. The idea of having the Enterprise be the dvd case was, until 20 minutes ago, merely something I thought would be amusing, but never thought they’d actually DO. (Presumably, the saucer section will hold the disc(s) themselves).
Yet, awesome as that is…the price is NOT awesome. $26.99 + tax puts the thing darned near $30, which is rather expensive for a single movie, even if I do expect to watching it a number of times. (Sure, $30 isn’t bad compared to certain tv seasons on dvd, but at least with those you typically get a heckuva lot more entertainment time for the monetary investment…to say nothing of one perhaps being able to justify a less-than-$20 purchase, but $30 really pushes it.) Especially when the Blu-Ray has an extra disc of content (3-disc) while the “special edition” DVD is only 2-disc. It’s probably just me, but somehow, a 2-disc DVD held to a 3-disc other edition seems somehow an inferior product.
I’ve been increasingly put-off lately by the fact that the “single-disc” or “bare bones” editions of movies are priced at what the “full edition” DVDs were just a few years ago, that often were what enticed me to purchase the films at all. The “special editions” being what contained most “extras” being significantly more expensive (simply for BEING “special,” apparently) has been a growing point of frustration for me. Most recently, I’ve been all the more frustrated at the shift to the aggressive marketing of Blu-Ray; with Best Buy being the primary guilty party, seeming to mostly advertise the Blu-Ray while almost as an afterthought noting that a DVD edition is also available.
This film–til now–has been my favorite film of the year, and instantly ranked with some of my all-time favorites. From the moment the end credits rolled opening night, I made intention to buy this immediately upon home release.
But with the points made above…the shenanigans with pricing, exclusives, and format…
I’m actually considering simply not buying the thing at all.
I mean, I refuse to buy a comic book when a single image is split among two or more covers of the same issue. Shouldn’t I hold movies to at least a similar standard?
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Best Buy, Blu-Ray, doorbuster, DVD, exclusive, midnight-release, special edition, Star Trek, Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Blu-Ray, Star Trek Blue ray, Star Trek DVD, Star Trek film, Target | 2 Comments »
Comic Reviews by Walt 