TNI has an article up talking about Kaiyodo (Japanese Toy Company) and their upcoming Revoltech action figure line. Revoltech is said to feature enhanced articulation using a new type of joint that actually consists of 3 joints allowing for more posability available than ever before. The series info focuses on the well-known Evangelion Unit 01 to display its potential. Just from the pictures of Unit 01 I can tell I’m going to have to buy at least a couple of these figures.

Figures will retail for 1995 yen and are about 12 cm tall.
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Devil’s Due Publishing has announced a new 3 issue series being written by Larry Hama. It will delve into the origin of GI Joe itself and how the team came to form.

From the Announcement:

Chicago, IL – April 5, 2006 – This June, Devil’s Due launches the G.I. JOE franchise into the stratosphere with G.I. JOE: DECLASSIFIED #1 (of 3) (Cover A – APR063088 E, Cover B – APR063089 E). The writer that started it all, Larry Hama (G.I. JOE, Wolverine), returns to the fold this June to tell the unbelievable story of how the G.I.JOE team became the elite fighting force that they are today, in an all-new three issue limited series from DDP. In the vein of the popular SNAKE-EYES: DECLASSIFIED limited series, get the untold stories of the very beginning of the G.I. JOE saga in the 48pg, three issue, bi- monthly series illustrated by up and coming artist Pat Quinn, with a cover A by Francis Manapul (Witchblade, Tomb Raider, Necromancer), all three cover A’s will connect for one large image, and card stock vintage cover B by Tim Seeley. G.I. JOE is under license from the Hasbro Properties Group, the intellectual property development arm of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS).

This isn’t really a news item, but just something I noticed that I thought I would share with everyone else.

I have many items in my shopping cart on Amazon.com, mostly just waiting to be bought or there to keep an eye on. When I sign into Amazon.com, the interface notifies me of any price changes. When I logged in yesterday, I received the following message:

Important Message
Please note that the price of Transformers, Vol. 12: Matrix Quest has increased from $11.02 to $16.95 since you placed it in your Shopping Cart. Items in your cart will always reflect the most recent price displayed on their product detail pages.

For those not aware, Transformers: Matrix Quest is one of many trade paperbacks that reprint parts of the original Marvel Transformers Comic book run of 80 issues (plus headmaster mini-series). In this series a Decepticon named Thunderwing attained the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. In Transformers canon, that is pretty much all this character is known for. Consider that his 15 minutes of fame. Recently, a new series was announced by IDW that will most likely make its debut sometime in the summer. Stormbringer, it seems, will feature a return of Thunderwing to the front of Transformers comics. I think it is because of this that Matrix Quest has risen in price most likely because of the additional demand from people looking for background on the character.

The kicker, though, is that the same day I received an email in my inbox from Amazon.com with a recommendation for me. It was for Matrix Quest on the same day the price rose.

The conspiracy theorist in me arises again.

Fresh in my inbox to you is another update from Brian Savage of MasterCollector with regard to a new shipping option, particularly international members.

We have found another way to ship some product to our non-US customers at a lower cost and it has been implemented into the store. It is called Global Priority Mail. This service does have some limitations. The shipment must fit into a box that is no more than 36 inches by adding length girth height. Also, the order cannot be over 4 lbs.

For example a 1 lb package to the United Kingdom via surface mail is $24.25 and takes 4-6 weeks.

The same package via airmail is $16.75 and takes 7-10 days.

The same package via Global Priority is $10.50 and takes 4-6 days.

I know, it doesn’t seem to make much sense but that’s the USPS rates and delivry standards.

We hope that this lowers some of the foreign shipments costs. It won’t work for all orders as the items are tool large or the order will be 100 heavy. We think it will work for the bulk of your orders.

Make sure you check the store each week at transformersclub.com/shop to see what the new items in stock an the weekly specials!

Thanks for your support,

Brian
=======================================

[UPDATE:

Plesae note that in my last email I had a typo. The dimensions that limite this type of foreign mail is length + width (not girth) + height. This must be 36 inches or less. About 70-80 per cent of the products will fit into this area, but not all of them.

Its kinda funny how this email was a correction for a typo in the last email, yet the first word of this one has a typo in it too.
-CRAZY]

Figures.com has posted an interview today with Four Horsemen fabricator H. Eric ‘CORNBOY’ Mayse. The interview isn’t very long at all and covers what goes into fabrication and what might be fabricated in a toy or its accessories. An interesting read for anyone who likes to know what goes on in the making of toys.

As a small side note about the interview, figures.com is witnessing him work on a figure sculpted by Eric Treadway that cannot be commented on. This might be the SDCC 2006 Exclusive. As you can see here, it appears that the following information is known about the figure:

Originally Posted by FOUR HORSEMEN
???? 2006 SDCC/WWC exclusive Mini-Statue (ET/ )

ET stands for Eric Treadaway and it looks like the fabricator is not listed yet. I’ll be honest though, I can’t find where that poster found this information. This is all just a conspiracy theory by me anyhow. Nearly all the figures are sculpted by either Eric or Chris Dahlberg, if I’m not mistaken.

Diamond Select Toys has announced that they will be offering the Spider-woman in the ‘black’ (its always been blue to me) costume as an exclusive at the San Diego Comic-Con this July. Pictures can be seen by following any of the links in this post.

[via TNI]

From the Diamond Select Toys site:

Spider-Woman: San Diego or Bust!

Diamond Select Toys is excited to announce the latest exclusive item for this summer’s San Diego Comic Con – our Marvel Select Black Spider-Woman! Hot on the hells of our regular Spider-Woman release, this version of the buxom beauty features an all-new paint design sure to please fans of the masked maiden.

Available July 19th through July 23rd, the Marvel Select Black Spider-Woman depicts the second Spider-Woman, Julia Carpenter. After receiving her powers through secret experiments by the Commission on Superhuman Activities, Julia took up the Spider-Woman name and replaced the presumed-dead Jessica Drew as a member of the Avengers. Although now retired, her actions contributed to the defeat of the Beyonder during the infamous Secret Wars.

Standing 7 inches tall and including a detailed Hydra base, the Marvel Select Black Spider-Woman is in scale with past Marvel Select releases and will feature the line’s trademark deluxe packaging.

In what could only be described as a strange alignment of timing in auctions for rare items, some auctions have gone up or are going up soon for some incredibly rare Transformers figures.

First up is an auction for two rare Japanese release only Cassettes that transform into dinosaurs, Dial and Zaur. They can combine to form RegOut (which wouldn’t be too far a stretch to be called LegOut in the japanese and actually make more sense.) I’ll be honest. I like to think I’m highly knowledgable when it comes to Transformers, but before this past week, I didn’t even know these existed. I was only aware of the similar cassette pair, Gurafi and Noizu, that form Decibel. I have personally seen these at a previous Botcon and watched them be sold for over $300 as a pair (which in hindsight was clearly a great deal since this auction is over 800 already with 2 days left.)

Next up is the supremely rare G2 Protectobot, First-Aid. The Protectobots and the Stunticons never made it to release for Generation 2, but samples were made and are regarded highly in the collecting community. This piece is from the Hartmans’ personal collection. The Hartman’s (Jon and Karl) have been a pillar in the Transformer fan community having a pivotal role in Botcon’s inception and are still active to this day working on the convention and collectors’ club. They have a set of both the G2 Protectobots and G2 Stunticons and will be putting eight of the ten figures up for auction (Silverbolt and Motormaster excluded). According to the auction, this First Aid is one of six known to be in existance. That puts its rarity on par with the likes of Lucky Draw Six Shot and his Lucky brethren, whom I have seen on sale at Botcon for over $6,000. The Stunticons and Protectobots will be put up for bidding one at a time. So watch Jon Hartman’s ebay id, Elrich, for more to come.

Instructions for Gurafi and Noizu were from tfracetrack.com.

It appears Blizzard, the makers of such hit games as Warcraft series, Diablo series and Starcraft series, has put the latest title in the Starcraft game family on hold indefinitely. We have continually heard less and less about Starcraft: Ghost and with the next generation consoles coming to market, it seems they want to reevaluate its relevancy and where to go with it.

“Like many in the industry, we’ve been impressed with the potential of the new consoles, and we’re looking forward to exploring that potential further,” stated Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “In addition to allowing us to determine the best course for StarCraft: Ghost, this review period will help us lay the groundwork for our future console games.”

I have cut ‘n pasted the press release from here. You can read it by clicking to read the rest of the article.
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