Like most geeks I lived vicariously through the toy bloggers snapping photos of figures and sets unveiled at the recent Toy Fair 2014 in New York. Seeing all the new stuff is the next best thing to having them in your dirty mitts. At the same time, there is a price to be paid for this early access to new toy images.

It’s a phenomenon I like to call Toy Spoilers. Because of the toy industry’s necessary lead time for Toy Fair and the crucial holiday season, we see toy versions of movies still months away from hitting the big screen. While a LEGO Ghostbusters set or ReAction Back to the Future figs now won’t take anything away from these classic franchises, seeing all of Grimlock (or God forbid, an all-new character) ahead of his debut in the next Transformers film very well can.

A toy spoiler doesn’t even have to be a spoiler in the traditional sense. The toy con just turn you off the eventual film. Allow me to better explain with a personal anecdote. Growing up I was an enormous G.I. Joe fan. I loved the figures, the vehicles, the comics—even the humorously non-violent cartoon series. I was all geared up for the live-action adaptation back in 2009. I was the movie’s key demographic that the studio was counting on. I was excited until I saw the toy version of Cobra Commander. As you probably know, he was a radical departure from the iconic bad guy we all knew. It was so shocking for me that I soured on the film completely. In fact I still haven’t watched the movie or its sequel.
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There were a lot of cool links the past few days, but these stood out as the coolest, at least in my opinion.

Unreleased Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Toys
Cody over at Crooked Ninja wrote up an awesome article highlighting some cancelled TMNT toys from back in the day. I’d never seen most of these, and some of them are really awesome! It’s an interested part of TMNT toy history and you should definitely check it out.

Awesome Retro Spaceship Gaming Room
I found this on Reddit and it’s amazing. Someone with a very fancy Victorian home in the UK converted their “otherwise useless” attic into a gaming room that looks like it jumped right off the screen of an 80s Sci-Fi movie. The whole house will only set you back around 4 million euros.

Muppets Most Wanted Soundtrack Listing Revealed
My favorite thing revealed by these track listings is that Jemaine Clement is in the movie.

Star Wars toys photos look more realistic than the real Star Wars
These photos are awesome. Every time we get snow in Indiana, I always wish I had a bunch of Empire Strikes Back toys so I could go outside and take some Hoth-inspired photos.

One of the worst offenses of the Star Wars prequels to me was taking the mysterious, badass character of Boba Fett and turning him into a whiny little clone. I dont’ want to know what Boba Fett was like as a kid, and frankly I don’t even need to know what he looks like under the helmet. That’s why everyone loved the character. He was a notorious ass-kicker who even commanded a little respect from Darth Vader.

Well, it seems like Lawrence Kasdan (co-writer of Empire and Return of the Jedi) has a great idea for retconning Boba Fett so that he can be a badass again in his rumored spin-off movie. Latino Review has the scoop, and really hope it’s true:
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For a kid, the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas has to be the most excruciatingly slow time of year. It’s a never-ending wait to see what toys will be you under the tree come Christmas morning. When I was little, I would spend this time making wish lists and browsing through the toy pages of the store catalogs. I’d revise my list again and again in hopes of getting the perfect mix of loot.

Now as an adult, I remember those in-between days fondly. Like many things in life, I know that anticipation is equal to, if not greater than, the event itself. As a parent I also now realize how impractical my vast Christmas wish lists were. I wanted so many different things that a certain degree of disappointment was inevitable on Dec. 25. There were always things on those lists that were left unfulfilled.

Christopher Tupa remembers those days as well. The artist and toy collector has created a book of toys and collectibles he wanted as a child but was never able to receive. His free ebook can be downloaded from his website.
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It might be the worst movie, but it’s the best record book of the bunch. Rounding out the last of our post-baby special episodes, here’s the record book for Return of the Jedi. Look for a new, non-Star Wars episode in two weeks!

• Download MP3
• Subscribe via RSS
• Subscribe in iTunes
• Read More on Bubble Pipe Network
• Find this record on eBay

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