Patronize Me!
RIP Elwood "You've Got Mail" Edwards
November 8, 2024 |
Star Wars Review: Cobb Vanth (Deluxe/Armor, The Vintage Collection)
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Via the Star Wars Galactic Hunter Figure of the Day Blog: Cobb Vanth (Deluxe/Armor, The Vintage Collection). He's missing some paint on his legs, but the face is good, the armor is good, and as a solid packed case of 8 figures, he's probably going to be pretty common at US Target and Walmart stores this season. I've even heard isolated reports of markdowns already. Should you pick up the marshal of Mos Pelgo? Well, I did, I liked it. Read the whole review.
--AP
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Ad: New Space Ghost Old Kentucky Shark and Marvel Legends Dark Avengers Warbird at Entertainment Earth
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Ad: Don't miss Marvel Legends Series Dark Avengers Warbird 6-Inch Action Figure! She's new today and available for order. She's joined by the very cool The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Zelda Figma Action Figure.
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Nintendo Switch This Week
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This week's batch of titles on the eShop: Tetris Forever, Mario & Luigi: Brothership, Virche Evermore: EpiC Lycoris, and over a dozen more.
--AP
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Price Increase Anxiety
November 7, 2024 |
Review: Mattel He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Cartoon Collection Clawful Action Figure
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Something new every day-- unless it's old! Our exciting Figure of the Day continues for you lucky people! Is there anything we won't cover in this column? Probably not!
Still available! The Mattel He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Cartoon Collection Clawful Action Figure is a figure you might actually see in some stores right now, but Mattel placement of MOTU is pretty spotty from neighborhood to neigborhood. He has the cool Horn of Evil, but lacks the spines of the Classics Clawful figure. Do read on, and come back tomorrow for more fun!
--AP
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No Actual News Content Here
November 6, 2024 |
Star Wars Review: X-Wing Pilot (Duros, The Vintage Collection)
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Via the Star Wars Galactic Hunter Figure of the Day Blog: X-Wing Pilot (Duros, The Vintage Collection). Hasbro once again shows us they are masters of the head sculpt at the tiny size when they're so inclined, giving this blue-skinned alien an amazing noggin on an old Luke body. It's weird, and it's not from a specific movie or anything that I know of, but at least I can say Hasbro did a nice job on it and it looks cool. Read the whole review.
--AP
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Review: Mattel Hot Wheels Small Block
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Something new every day-- unless it's old! Our exciting Figure of the Day continues for you lucky people! Is there anything we won't cover in this column? Probably not!
Festive! This Mattel Hot Wheels Small Block is long sold out, but it's still around and kind of inexpensive. It's a great figure with glorious yellow and blue clothes and pink and orange fur that's super eye-popping. If you love neon recolors of toys, this is something you can't miss. Do read on, and come back tomorrow for more fun!
--AP
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MOTU Origins Geldor - November 12
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Via Mattel Creations: Masters of the Universe Origins Core Geldor. This is a comic character, he had an axe, a severe haircut, and red armor. He'll be up next week.
--AP
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Meijer Gets Exclusive Gold Hot Wheels Car
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Via Mattel Creations (thanks Seth): Hot Wheels Golden Edition Dimachinni Veloce at Meijer Stores. We don't have this chain near us, but it started November 3 and runs through November 16. What's interesting is that it isn't a mail-in offer - you just show someone at the store your receipts worth $10 before tax, and you get the car. I really like this, it's way speedier than a mail-away offer, and I hope other stores consider this kind of opportunity. Also, other toy manufacturers.
--AP
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RIP Quincy Jones
November 5, 2024 |
Review: Hasbro Transformers Studio Series 86 Optimus Prime
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Something new every day-- unless it's old! Our exciting Figure of the Day continues for you lucky people! Is there anything we won't cover in this column? Probably not!
Arguably the best non-Masterpiece Optimus Prime of all time! Good luck finding Hasbro Transformers Studio Series 86 Optimus Prime.. It is sold through at most online stores and gets very little distribution in stores at $90, so if you see it, consider buying it. It's complicated but not too complicated, although I do find myself playing with the Legacy G1 Optimus (the toy one) more due to its simplicity. Both are excellent, and this SS86 toy is a truly amazing feat - just not a lot larger than your Earthrise one. Read on!
--AP
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Walmart Posts Preorders for Turtles of Grayskull Shredder and King Hiss
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Via Walmart: Walmart posted Turtles of Grayskull exclusive action figures for pre-order. Masters Universe Origins Turtles of Grayskull Deluxe Mutated King Hiss as Foot Soldier Action Figure and Masters Universe Origins Turtles of Grayskull Deluxe Mutated King Hiss as Foot Soldier Action Figure are $24.99 each, meaning you get free shipping if you buy both. (I bought both.)
Walmart MOTU exclusive distribution has been lopsided - usually scarce for a long time, before eventually hitting clearance before demand is met and secondary market prices on many are kind of low. I passed on Moss Man because of the price, and found him on clearance. (Mutant Mer-Man and Necro-Conda, so far, are recent releases that are notable exceptions.) It might be worth placing an order if you hate driving around and not finding things, especially with free shipping, if you open boxes. My last experience with Walmart got me next day delivery, but there was no packing paper or other material in the box with the slightly-battered toy in the box.
--AP
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Nintendo World Championships: Week 17
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Via Nintendo: Competition #17 is on now in Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition. Zelda, Mario, Excitebike, and more Mario and Zelda await you!.
This week:
Key of the Keese (The Legend of Zelda) - in which you go batty finding your keys.
Hammer Bro KO (Super Mario Bros. 3) - where you flip over a turtle.
Heating Up (Excitebike) - in which you finish a lap, again.
Over & Out (Super Mario Bros. 2) - in which you dash to that first rocket in 4-1.
Parapa Palace Pro (Zelda II: The Adventure of Link) - in which you go through Parapa Palace, but there is no kicking, no punching, and it is not all in the mind.
Now go kill Horsehead!
--AP
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RIP Alan Rachins
November 4, 2024 |
Star Wars Q&A at Galactic Hunter
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Galactic Hunter has posted Q&A: Hasbro's Other Crowdfunds and Star Wars Toys from Another Mother. It's new! Be sure to click through and read up on the latest!
Be sure to send in your questions for the next thrilling update! We now have one for next week.
--AP
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Walmart Cuts Price of Exclusive Transformers Thundertron 3-Pack
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Via Walmart: The de-facto online exclusive Transformers Legacy United Star Raider Action Figure Collection, 7" Converting Robot Toys, Christmas Gifts for Kids, 8+. This item went up for $59.97, then shot up to $90 for a few months - and now the set is $45, which is not bad for what you get in the box. I missed the earlier pre-orders and expected to find it in a Walmart store - I've never seen one in there, or a shelf tag, or read a report of it showing up. If you want one, you'll probably need to order it online somewhere unless it winds up at Ross or Ollie's next year... and if they never show up in stores that's entirely possible. The set includes a Thundertron retool (one hand is a hook, head has an eyepatch now and a new beard), Calcitron is a redeco and retool of another figure, and of course Nightstrike is a retool of that Ratbat figure you probably missed. At $35 + $25 + $5-$6 worth of toys in a $45 box, I'd say it's worth it - but if you bought the previous Thundertron, you may not want this similar toy as well. Or you might! I don't know, the Zoids-influenced alt mode makes me love it.
I don't order much from Walmart's web site - I do go into the store, as I am an old - but I was stunned with the speed of delivery. I found out about this markdown late Friday night, and it was at my door Saturday before dinner. That's impressive - Amazon doesn't give me service that fast anymore. I don't have Walmart+ or anything special, shipping was free and they just ran it here absurdly fast. A friend of mine in San Diego experienced similarly speedy delivery. I've never seen this guy in an American Walmart - if you have, let me know.
The other Star Raider exclusives may be in stock for next-day shipping as well, they showed up in stores here in September and immediately sold through. Get yourself a Road Pig, it's pretty great if you like nods to G2 stuff. Also their exclusive Gears and Bumblbee "retro" exclusives are back up for pre-order after selling out a few weeks ago.
--AP
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Classic Review: Onell Design Glyos Armorvor Rig Crew Mimic Action Figure
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Something new every day-- but this was posted 10 years ago today! Our exciting Figure of the Day continues for you lucky people! Is there anything we won't cover in this column? Probably not!
Posted 10 years ago! The Onell Design Glyos Armorvor Rig Crew Mimic Action Figure is obviously long gone, and the low-run figure still looks pretty great. Armorvor figure releases are far and few between these days, and you probably won't find it on eBay - but if you have one, it's pretty cool and at $9, it was a good deal at the time. Do read on, and come back tomorrow for a new one!
--AP
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Ad: Star Wars Skeleton Crew and Chopper at Entertainment Earth
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Ad: The Masters of the Universe Origins Wave 22 Action Figure Case of 4 and Star Wars The Vintage Collection Chopper (Imperial Disguise) 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure are up for pre-order now! Singles and assortments are up for order and are due this month.
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Support 16bit.com and Galactic Hunter via Patreon
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We're taking donations for server costs! Really. One of the rewards is Q&A a few days early - you can read next Monday's installment as soon as it's ready, which can be as early as 1:00 AM my time on Monday!
Become a Patron!
If you've got a dollar a month to share, please Visit the Galactic Hunter Patreon and help cover our server costs. I'll still put in hours of work, writing, photography, and research - I just need some help making sure that the site costs me only time, and hopefully not money. Thanks for your support!
--AP
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RIP Greg Hildebrandt
November 1, 2024 |
Star Wars Review: C1-MNST4 (Droid Factory)
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Via the Star Wars Galactic Hunter Figure of the Day Blog: C1-MNST4 (Droid Factory). This is last year's Disney Halloween droid, based on Frankenstein's Monster features on Chopper's body. There's very little paint here, but a lot of color makes it a nifty toy that you hopefully got before the parks stopped selling them. Read the whole review.
--AP
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Preposterous Castlevania Vinyl Box Set
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Via Materia Store: Music from Castlevania - Black & Red (Original Game Soundtracks) (46xLP Vinyl). It's bot absurd and ambitious, but at price-per-slab-of-vinyl, not that bad. You get 46 records for $549.99, and while that is an insane chunk of change to drop on things you probably have on MP3, a typical record is $20-$30 these days. If I didn't already have some of those fancy Mondo editions of the NES, Super NES, and PC Engine (and PlayStation) games I'd probably hop right on this - and as it is, I'm still tempted because it has pretty much everything 1986-2010. So yeah, Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth, the DS games, everything through Harmony of Despair. Going over the list of games is a reminder of how good we had it with regular 2D and occasionally 3D releases for years. The Symphony of the Night soundtrack covers three discs, and boasts Sega Saturn tracks. They had some good ones on there, too.
Short of someone putting out some sort of absurd physical media collection of cartridges and various discs, this is probably the most robust collection of stuff on the game series you'll ever get. Well, I suppose there could be an art book collection too, and if there was and I missed it? Please tell me.
--AP
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Ad: Transformers Matrix Pre-Orders and Toys In Stock (For Now) at Entertainment Earth
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Ad: You asked for - and now you can get - the Transformers Animated 2024 Matrix of Leadership Replica at Entertainment Earth! Also a number of other pre-orders, and hot off the truck, items are up for grabs.
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New Texas Toys R Us Opens This Month
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My San Antonio: Christmas comes early with Toys 'R' Us unwrapping San Marcos shop.
The new store is 8,000 square feet. To put that in perspective, the Chicago-adjacent one we reported on earlier this week was 10,000 square feet, and 8,000 is what a typical Five Below store fills. I assume more are coming so there won't be much reason to write about it here, but for now - at least - these are arguably still newsworthy.
--AP
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Nintendo Switch This Week
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This week's batch of titles on the eShop: Metal Slug Tactics, Totally Spies: Cyber Mission, Arcade Archives Metamorphic Force, and over a dozen more.
--AP
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Oh Yeah, Happy Halloween
October 31, 2024 |
Review: Onell Design Glyos Wolfboto Noboto Action Figure
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Something new every day-- unless it's old! Our exciting Figure of the Day continues for you lucky people! Is there anything we won't cover in this column? Probably not!
Long gone! The Onell Design Glyos Wolfboto Noboto Action Figure is a figure I've been saying "Oh I gotta review this one for Halloween!" since 2018 - and now I did! And you probably can't buy it, because not only is the indie figure sold out but it's rarely on eBay. They run these things in the hundreds, and man, are they cool. Do read on, and come back tomorrow for more fun!
--AP
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Ad: New Black Series and Vintage Star Wars at Entertainment Earth
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Ad: Pre-order New Hasbro Star Wars Action Figures at Entertainment Earth! Star Wars The Vintage Collection Aurra Sing 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure is back! With a lot of new friends.
Also be sure to look for The Simpsons 5-Inch Wave 2 Action Figures Case of 6, in stock now!
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Retro-Bit to Rerelease 3 Genesis/Mega Drive Shooters
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Via Retro-Bit: Slap Fight MD Will Make Its North American and European Debut in this Limited-Edition Package of three Toaplan shooters. $54.99 for one, or $159.99 for all three - not much of a discount - if you're in the market for Twin Cobra, Grind Stormer, or Slap Flight - the latter of which was, I believe, exclusive to Japan. The press release says this added a new soundtrack mode, which seems like a pretty good reason to consider buying it instead of just, you know, seeing if you have a ROM you've never bothered to play.
Pre-orders are open through December 1 and they're expected to ship around March. As far as I know, no American retail store chains are expected to stock these which continues to baffle me as I assume you could get old people into GameStop with 8- and 16-bit cartridges. I'd get off my butt for new old games. T-shirts and collectibles... well, I'm covered for t-shirts and collectibles.
--AP
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Nintendo Switch Online Music App (iOS/Android)
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Via Nintendo: Nintendo Music is a new app that is free... but requires the Nintendo Switch Online membership. Basically it's Spotify for game soundtracks - but you can loop game music for an hour if you want, or make playlists, or - and this is a new one - flick a switch for a "spoiler mode" to remove games you don't want played yet. (Generally I want to hear game music I haven't heard as it's an incentive to actually get through the game, but that's me.) It seems to go back to the NES, which certainly seems welcoming to the olds out there.
--AP
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Click Here for News from October!
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