Yesterday MTV Geek got an exclusive first-look at the new TMNT toys that will be coming out later this year, and they are amazing. I was going to hop on the bandwagon yesterday and post the initial photos but I decided to hold off so I could try to organize my thoughts on the two different lines in a little more depth. Playmates is releasing lines based on the new show as well as a TMNT Classics line modeled after the original cartoon. Today I’m going to talk mostly about those.

2012: Year of the Dragon Turtle

With the new CGI show airing on Nickelodeon this year and Playmates releasing these toys, it could be a huge year for the Turtles. I haven’t seen anything from the new cartoon, but I know lots of awesome people are working on it and it should appeal to kids without seeming like some recycled 80s fad. Combine that with the fact that these new toys look like the best Playmates have ever released, and we could potentially have ourselves full-blown TMNT mania again.

I browse the toy aisles at the megastores as often as I can, and everything pretty much looks the same these days. You have your big robot toys, your superheros, tacky wrestling figures, and whatever is the flavor-of-the-month from Hollywood.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys always look great in the aisles, and with these new toys looking so great, I hope kids buy the crap out of them and reward Playmates for their awesome work for over 25 years.

TMNT Classic Collection

He's cool, but rude.

And even though I had boxes full of TMNT toys as a kid, it feels like I’m getting action figures based on the original cartoon for the first time ever.

It’s no secret that the original TMNT action figures didn’t look like their animated counterparts, but nobody really cared. They were still awesome toys and they flew off the shelves. In 1992 Playmates released the Toon Turtles in an attempt to be more cartoonish, but they just looked like Aardman claymation versions of the Turtles. (Note to self, make that happen).

Fast forward 20 years and with the TMNT Classics line we’re finally getting some action figures that look like they stepped right out of the campy 80s cartoon, and that makes me happy.

Here’s hoping they sell well, because Playmates said they would release more characters if the initial series is successful. Thinking about TMNT Classics versions of Shredder, April, Casey Jones, Splinter, Krang, Bebop, and Rocksteady is making me mentally clear off shelves in my office to make room.

It will be interesting to see how they market the classic line, and if they give them the same shelf space as the newer updated Turtles. At least it looks like they nailed the packaging, which means I’ll have to buy two sets, one to keep in the box and one to play with have on display.

The only negative thing I can think of about the classic collection is pretty small, and stems from me being a hardcore fan of the 80s cartoon. I wish they had Happy Faces you could switch out so they’re not angry all the time. Oh well, at least I’ll be smiling when I get these.

Thanks to Ninja Pizza and MTV Geek for the images. Make sure to check out Rose’s in-depth coverage of the new toys as Toy Fair unfolds over the next few days.

If you’ve been following me on Twitter, Pinterest, or around in the store lately you know I’m completely addicted to LEGO right now. 2012 is going to be a crazy huge year for the toy company, and a couple main reasons are the addition of the Lord of the Rings and Super Heroes lines. LEGO has been teasing us with posters of a few LOTR characters recently, but folks at the London ToyFair got some early shots of the new minifigures and they look amazing.

First off, I wish I could have LEGO Hobbit hair. It’s perfect. Second, Sam doesn’t quite look goofy enough, and Boromir looks a little odd. But you have to admit, seeing the Fellowship in minifigure form like that is pretty awesome.

Head over to FBTB for a smallish new glimpse at the Avengers. Who knew Captain America would translate to LEGO form so well?

Via From Bricks to Bothans

The geek community has been in an uproar since Businessweek ran it’s cover story about LEGO’s new line for girls called LEGO Friends. The set is the next (and apparently, biggest) attempt by LEGO to cater towards girls, but something about the taller-and-unnecessarily-curvy minifigures is rubbing a lot of fans the wrong way. I’m with Amy of Media Macaroni on this one, I’m all for new brick colors and accessories, but these sets don’t look like they’re even focusing on the building aspect at all. They may as well be Polly Pocket sets.

I want to hear what this little girl has to say about LEGO Friends.

You guys are probably all familiar with Kickstarter, but did you know there is a LEGO equivalent currently in beta called Cuusoo? Over at the new site users can upload ideas for sets and if the project reachers 10,000 supporters, it will get an official review from a LEGO jury and consideration to be a real product. I first heard about it when the Minecraft idea reached it’s goal in 48 hours and got a little closer to becoming real.

Well, I haven’t kept up with a lot of the projects on there since then (most are not that great looking), but I found a jem while browsing the r/lego subreddit the other day. Cuusoo user mb_real uploaded a beautiful and ridiculously functional idea for a Modular Western Town, and I want it to become real even more than the Minecraft sets.

Each building is meant to be a stand-alone set, but can be combined to create a whole Western Town. I think LEGO should bring back it’s Western theme, and I can’t think of a better way than with something as awesome as this. Not only do the buildings look great on the outside, but they’re packed full of detail on the inside and look like a lot of fun to build and play with.

You can check out more photos at mb_real’s Flickr page, and you should sign up for Cuusoo and support the cause.

Throw a rock these days and you’ll hit a website that’s offering a “Geek Christmas Gift Guide”.  Usually, these are little more than a list of links to Amazon with uninspired ideas like Captain America on Blu-ray, a Batman graphic novel, and something having to do with Boba Fett.  Yawners.  So with that in mind, up until Christmas, we here at Top Hat Sasquatch are going to present a few focused posts highlighting a cool and unique item that would be a good gift for the geek in your life.  To kick things off, we’ll start with a subject that is near and dear to every nerd’s heart – robots.  More specifically, custom-made robots from My Robot Nation.

You’ve probably seen 3D printing in the news.  There have been a few high-profile stories of anthropologists using the technology to recreate fossils, and even some labs that are “printing” new human organs out of stem cells.  But the industry that is seeing the most impact from 3D printing is manufacturing.  Companies now have the ability to create a one-off copy of an object, most often for prototyping purposes, using a variety of light-weight materials, at less expense than using traditional manufacturing methods.

However, in order to use 3D printing to its fullest, you need to be quite the wizard with AutoCAD.  Until now, of course.  As Sarah Stocker, one of the co-founders of Kodama Studios, the company behind My Robot Nation, puts it, “We looked at the convergence of two really compelling trends in future-facing technology: browser-based interactions and 3D printing.”  To that end, they developed an intuitive and fun online interface that lets you to create a robot with ready-made parts, taking the need for CAD skills out of the equation.  You choose the head, torso, arms, and legs, add extra parts ranging from antennas to gears to radar screens and ray guns.  For Christmas, they’re offering special holiday-themed parts, like snowflakes, holly, or even a snowman head.  Then give your robot a custom paint job, including special physical effects, like rust spots or bullet holes for that lived-in look.  When you’re finished, you can order a physical copy that will be 3D printed and shipped to your door in about five days.

My Robot Nation's Online Robot Editor

Before you sit your littlest geek down at the computer to design their own robot, though, be aware that these are not action figures.  In order to keep prices remotely affordable, these robots are not articulated.  The final step in the design process is setting your robot’s pose, which it will be stuck in forever.  Furthermore, the figures are somewhat fragile.  The robots are created using a recyclable plaster powder that is held together with a chemical bonding agent, and should be treated with the same care you would a ceramic collectible.  So while they won’t be battling it out with your kid’s G.I. Joe figures, a robot would look really cool sitting on a shelf at home or on a grown-up geek’s desk at work.

Posing Your Robot

The robots come in a variety of sizes, starting at 2” and going up to 6”.  Prices range from $17.99 for a little guy to $169.99 for the jumbo-sized, which means for the price of a generic Blu-ray disc, you could give the geek in your life their very own custom-made robot.  And robots beat out Blu-ray any day.  Best of all, you can send them a gift certificate code, so they can design the robot themselves.

According to Stocker, robots are just the beginning for Kodama Studios.  While they’re keeping their upcoming projects under lock and key, if My Robot Nation is any indication of the coolness they have up their sleeves, we’ll have to keep an eye on them for more exciting, geeky gift ideas in the future.  In the meantime, check out My Robot Nation to get your custom robot today!

For more information on the whole process, check out this great video from one of the My Robot Nation beta testers:

I haven’t watched TV in years, but every once in a while a show comes along that I go out of my way to watch. In Bubble Pipe Theater terms, I make sure to digitally acquire every episode of the few shows that I’m interested in, and Adventure Time tops that list. It’s like Pendleton Ward created the show just for me, and didn’t put much thought into if anyone else would like it.

Every since I’ve been into Adventure Time, I’ve wanted toys, and now they’re finally available. I guess they’ve been out for a while now and I haven’t noticed. I don’t make it to toy stores as often as I’d like.

Well I’m impressed. I assumed that when/if Adventure Time toys came out, they would be lame, but these look awesome. The 10 inch deluxe Finn figure with interchangeable faces is particularly awesome. There’s a Jake to match (with Beemo!) and there are also smaller versions of the characters. The two-packs of PVC figures would make good desk buddies.

I think it’s safe to say there will be a lot of people rocking the 24 inch sword as part of their Halloween costumes this year.

The toys are made by Jazwares and are available online and in toy stores. I can’t wait to get my hands on these. What other Adventure Time toys would you like to see made? Besides a 10 inch deluxe Ice King figure (with drums!), I’d love to see a huge tree house playset. That would be totally math!

Welcome to the first of a new series here on Top Hat Sasquatch; Instagram Roundups. Most of us here on the ‘squatch are big Instagram fans. I’ve been using it literally since the first day it was available in the App Store, and I love it. It has a huge community (10 million users in less than a year), and an endless supply of photos tagged with anything you can imagine.

Today I was digging around in a box and found my old Fisher Price Little People Dog and snapped a photo and put it on Instagram. I tagged it, and suddenly had the urge to browse through other Little People photos, since those toys are such a big part of my nostalgia. Below is a roundup of some favorites (and the photo of my Dog).

We’ll be posting Instagram Roundups every so often, and if you have a suggestion for a topic let us know in the comments, and you can always tag your photos #TopHatSasquatch to get our attention.

Instagram Roundup header photo by zio Paolino

I’m not one to buy expensive collector toys, but it’s a habit I wouldn’t mind starting with Hot Toys’ upcoming 1989 Batman figures. The detail is amazing, and of course the figures come with an insane collection of extra heads, hands, weapons, and accessories. These figures run about $250 a pop, and you can preorder Batman and The Joker at Sideshow Collectibles.

Not content in just spending $500 on Batman toys? Fear not, because Hot Toys will aslo be selling some ridiculously cool/expensive replicas of the Batwing and Batmobile from the same movie.

I don’t know about you, but $4000 worth of collectibles based on Tim Burton’s first Batman movie would look pretty swell sitting next to my 1989 Batman Cereal still in the box.

I bet a lot of you played with Fisher Price Little People when you were tiny. They’ve been around for decades, and even thought they were plastic by the time I played with them, I always loved the older, wooden Little People.

That’s the vibe I get from RandomlyGenerated’s Etsy store, although instead of dogs, cowboys, and generic folks, the peg people are characters from our favorite pieces of geek culture. The Ghostbusters are definitely my favorite, although there aren’t any TMNT Peg People on there yet so that could change.

Check out the rest after the jump.

Today Disney unveiled it’s upcoming line of Pirates of the Caribbean LEGO sets. Get ready for full-on LEGO PotC madness, because these sets will be accompanied by a new video game from TT Games and probably a huge amount of merchandising.

I can’t really say I’m looking forward to the next installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean series, but I’ll admit, the LEGO sets look pretty cool. Since I’m an adult now with a limited toy budget, I’m sure I’ll just end up getting a tiny set to get my hands on a Jack Sparrow minifigure. Although, if someone donated that Queen Anne’s Revenge to the THS cause I’d happily put it together and play with it for hours.

Check out the rest after the jump.

Are you excited about these LEGO sets or the upcoming movie and/or game?