We pick interesting products and trends for you!
Kicking-off all auto shows for 2015 is the NAIA held in Detroit this week and one car manufacturer is making headlines! Ford announcing it’s brand-new Ford GT. The new Ford GT does have the sexy supercar looks and will be have a 3.5L V6 Ecoboost twin-turbo that will crank out 600 horses.
This past weekend, artist Nathan Jurevicius released his latest vinyl creation – the Anzû Sylvan based on the artist Gary Ham’s Sylvan platform. The 9″ vinyl toy is a tribute to Sumerian/Akkadian mythology. The Anzû Sylvan is limited to 100 pieces.
Have you ever been on date and that somebody had bad breath? Well, this short animated flick Haring by KLOMP! Animation tells the story Diederik who eats something fishy on his way to his date.
If you have “old-school” photography friends that pine for the old days of shooting on film and developing photos in a dark room and you have to get them a gift of some sort, then these products from Photojojo should do the trick.
And you thought only carbon fiber was made for exotic supercars? Not anymore. The idea of these unique LEGO bricks came about with LEGO fan/builder Mark Carpenter and his 3 sons. They wanted something unique and cool to make their LEGO builds standout, the Carbon Fiber Tile.
They’ve already reached their Kickstarter goal and you will need to pledge more than $38.00USD to get these black high-gloss 1×2 carbon fiber tiles. As LEGO builder myself, I’m looking for more variety-style carbon bricks than the basic 1×2 tiles and, as they stated on their Kickstarter page, Mark will be adding more variety LEGO compatible bricks in the future. Now that would be cool.
Check out: Kickstarter – Carbon Fiber Tiles.
As an artist or creator of things, it’s always neat to have someone unexpected appreciate your work and that’s just what happened to two sisters in the Philippines. Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn gave a shout out on his social media account about a plush Groot he received.
Do you need a cool looking poster for your boring cubicle or ugly dorm room wall? Check out this cool Spider-Man poster by artist Salvador Anguiano. This poster showcases the various Spider-Man masks throughout his Marvel timeline.
If you don’t know anything about Disney’s animated hit “Frozen”, then you must have been hibernating these past 2 years. The comedy relief snowman Olaf will into action figure poses thanks to HK company Herocross.
With the NBA season now in full swing, here comes some LEGO-style brick building fun. From the Bridge Direct, these are C3 NBA brick build-able playsets featuring a NBA Locker Room Starter sets (85 pieces) and Half Court sets (162 pieces).
If you’re child of the 1980s’, you’re probably remember this iconic film Princess Bride. It was swashbuckling adventure with a dose of romance, action and comedy. There was Andre the Giant and many memorable lines like, “Hello! My name is Inigo Montoya! You killed my father! Prepare to die!” Now comes Princess Bride-opoly board game from Toy Vault.
Mandalorian Mercs can be found at every comic convention, but now days they have also ventured into the world of charity and helping to fund organizations with their appearance. Here’s Ramon Angel interviewing Sal Attinello of the Mandalorian Mercs Costume Club about Mandalorian costumes and fundraising!
In the video, the Boba Fett look-a-like is Mandalorian Merc member – Porfirio Guzman, suited up for the convention!
One of the hottest toy releases this year is the Takara Masterpiece Ultra Magnus MP-22. The iconic G1 Ultra Magnus toy gets a fitting Masterpiece release and it will a very hot collector’s item. Not only does Autobot Commander resemble closely to the G1 cartoons, it features a detachable trailer and two figures: Spike and Daniel. The Masterpiece Ultra Magnus also includes 2 different hands, 2 missiles, face plate and “The Matrix” of leadership.
Everybody seems to be making these big-head miniature body action figures or vinyl, ‘cuz it’s trending. Well, HK toy company HeroCross known for it’s big-head figures, now has this Boba Fett action figure for it’s Hybrid Metal Figuration line-up.
It seems every little card in our wallet gets an accessory like our smartphones. Here’s something from Bandai Japan, it’s the Crazy Case line featuring the Star Wars Millennium Falcon. Now as I travel around the SF Bay Area using Public Transportation like the BART or MUNI, instead taking out my boring Clipper card, I got this Bandai Japan Crazy Case Star Wars Millennium Falcon.
If you’re an old-time kid, you might remember those toy train sets from yesteryear. But these days, who has room for N-Gauge or HO-Gauge train sets? This things take up lots of space, especially if you’re building a diorama! But Bandai Japan has their mini-train scale, the Scale Shorty Train Model.
Over this Holiday season and the various editorial meetings we had, was the question, “What was our favorite toy or toy line for 2014?” We had some hot feuded geeky discussions, but on everybody’s list was the Super7 x Funko ReAction action figures.
The old Retrender staffers like Stephen and Johnny who actually grew up in the 1980s (cough … they old) said it brought them memories of being a kid in the 1980s. As for me, I just remember watching these ReAction figures as DVDs movies at home with my parents. And that lead to a discussion of “What If?” figure line-ups for 2015. So, Super 7 and Funko, we are calling you out, please take a look at our ReAction action figure wish list!
One of the most popular characters from the Marvel flick Guardians of the Galaxy is the tree plant hero Groot. Hot Toys known for it’s highly detailed 1/6th scale action figures, now have a 1/4 scale baby dancing Groot action figure.
No, this isn’t Slumdog Millionaire but “SlumGods of Dharavi.” This Guardian News short-documentary takes viewers inside the slums of Mumbai, where kids are using breakdancing as a way out. We follow the journey of 15 year-old Vikram who wants to be a b-boy star.
I remember buying The Loyal Subjects (TLS) x Transformers Wave 1 blindboxes, because I’m a sucker for anything G1 Transformers related. The vinyl figures were decent and it looked cute. Since the 2013 Wave 1 release, TLS have upped the ante with their Wave 2 release with more points of articulation, accessories, sounds and lights. Now with this Transformers Wave 3 released the vinyl figures move a little like action figures and have cooler signature weapons related to the character. Some figures have light up LEDs or sound effects.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys are everywhere! The Playmates line-up already feature their Classics Series, Movie Series, Nickelodeon Series and kids toy line-up. Now earlier this year Kidrobot did their vinyl take on TMNT, and now The Loyal Subjects get in on the action.
Another cool creation from LEGO builder Ian Spacek, his LEGO Zoetrope Ninja Duel. But first, let’s define what is a Zoetrope. According to Dictionary.com – Zoetrope is “a device for giving an illusion of motion, consisting of a slitted drum that, when whirled, shows a succession of images placed opposite the slits within the drum as one moving image.” (Dictionary.com). Now let’s watch this LEGO Ninja battle:
If you don’t want to buy a classic boardgame like CLUE, then why not build your very own with LEGO bricks? This is what LEGO builder Ian Spacek has done with this.
Power House Amuse Honda S2000 F20C Skate Deck, MSRP: $59.99USD
These JDM-inspired skate decks can be use as decks, but also makes for a great display showcase for automobile fans at their office, man-cave or garage. Check out the many different lines of JDM-styled skate decks at SCW Performance.
Garage Tuned x Kanjo Spec Racing Skate Deck Civic EK, MSRP: $59.99USD
Bandai Japan recently released their life-size Iron Man 3D Wall Figure poster in Japan only, and now another neat upcoming release for Star Wars fans – the life-size 3D Wall Figure poster of the iconic droid R2-D2.
How could anyone not know James Hong! I think it’s safe to say that he has starred in more than four hundred American films and television episodes. He has played leading roles, supporting roles and small parts. I recently saw him in the classic Blade Runner and last year’s R.I.P.D., but when anyone asks me about James Hong, the two flicks that immediately come to my mind are Wayne’s World 2 and Big Trouble in Little China.
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