I had a lot riding on the Iron Man movie. Maybe not as much as Robert Downey Jr., but it felt like a lot.

A pile of action figures, busts, statues, comics and various other collectibles found their intrinsic and personal value hinged upon just how awesome Iron Man was going to be. Sure, my love of Batman survived the pathetic Schumacher years, and I’ve even maintained a degree of affection for The Fantastic Four despite their lackluster cinematic debut, but I didn’t know if I could handle another disappointment of such epic proportions. When you see one of your favorite heroes brought to life, there’s a certain need to see it done right. If the movie failed to impress, my love of Iron Man could easily have gone the way of eBay.

And for two fortunate hours, I was blown away by how completely awesome Iron Man was. As Iron Man was transformed from a B-list Avenger to a household name and lent credibility to the new generation of hero-chic, I could stand back and say ‘I told you so’. This past Tuesday, the DVD that changed everything was released by Paramount. In twelve different retail formats.

The bare-bones, single-disc edition can be found at most retail locations, and includes deleted and extended scenes – which are always my favorite part of a DVD. These scenes are definitely neat and replete with that ol’ Downey charm, but ultimately add little to the story, and were cut for sensible reasons.

The ‘Ultimate’ two-disc edition expands upon this, with the entire second disc stuffed full of extras. The ‘I Am Iron Man’ making-of documentary is as long as the movie itself, and is a ridiculously complete view of the entire filmmaking process, from concept all the way through to final editing. The obligatory behind-the-scenes things that are tacked onto most DVDs are nothing compared to this 7-part journey through the veins and spirit of the film. Such radical transparency about the process, effects, methods and mystery could potentially take away some of the magic of the film, but it’s so well assembled that it only serves to enhance my appreciation of the 2-year process behind making this film a reality. It’s absolutely the selling point of the 2-disc edition.

Add to this another exhaustive documentary about Iron Man comic character, ten minutes of screen tests and rehearsals with Downey and Jeff Bridges, a bunch of galleries of concept art, and a short produced by The Onion in their trademark super-dry style. The whole package comes in a handsome slipcased DVD, and it’s worth the money. Not only because it’s shiny holofoil, which excites me now just as much as it did when I was 5. I mean, it’s EVERY COLOR. Clearly, this is beyond any understandable science.

Eight retail partners have arranged ten different exclusive DVD deals, and unless otherwise noted, all of them include the 2-disc DVD.

Arguably, the best exclusive deal was given to Best Buy, which included a great Iron Man mini-helmet made by Sideshow Toys, as well as a $50 Sideshow gift card. Keep in mind that Sideshow’s gift cards can only be used on a selected group of items, and not site-wide. The whole set effectively pays for itself. If this edition is sold out at your Best Buy, you can still hunt down the edition featuring a lithograph by Gerald Parel. If you’re into this Mark III helmet, Sideshow has also produced companion busts of the Mark I and Mark II helmets, life-sized and 1:2 scale busts, and a 1:4 scale statue. Bowen Designs have produced at least 10 1/6th scaled busts of Iron Man’s various suits, also.

In terms of other neat, toyetic collectibles, Costco’s set includes three Iron Man bobbleheads, depicting all three suits used in the film, with an exclusive ‘damaged’ Mark II suit.

Circuit City purchases include access to a limited selection of Marvel’s online Iron Man comics through their Digital Comics service. Walmart’s edition includes an exclusive Nick Fury comic, and they also offer a 1-disc edition that includes the first episode of the new Iron Man cartoon. Borders includes another collectible book that features the art of Bob Layton, and the ‘top 24 Iron Man covers’.

Packaging variations come from FYE & Suncoast, who both package the DVD in ‘steelbook’ packaging, and Target, which has packaging in the shape of Iron man’s iconic helmet. As I usually have a hard time fitting these into my collection space, I grudgingly opt out. That bowling ball packaged Big Lebowski would have looked great, too.

The ‘Least Exclusive Deal’ award goes to Sears & K-Mart, who offer $5 off of the DVD with the purchase of $25 worth of Craftsman tools, in the biggest stretch of a tie-in I’ve ever seen. My money’s on Costco and Best Buy, for sheer collectible value.

If you don’t mind a few more sentences of unmoderated nerd-gushing, Iron Man is absolutely one of the standards for the hit-and-miss superhero film genre. Bring it home and nestle it in between your Spider-Man and Dark Knight DVDs.

Over the past decade or so, the world of comics has been grudgingly granted some measures of legitimacy, as it fights hard to move beyond the common misconception that it’s all ‘muscles and fights’ and guys punching things and girls with ridiculous proportions and non-costumes (obviously drawn as such to attract the arrested arousal of adolescents and other men trapped on a adolescent state). The whole ‘comics are for kids and losers’ stigma is fading, so I’m a fan of anything that takes comic fantasy seriously as a significant cultural phenomenon. Even if you’re not a fan of comics, you can’t deny the impact they’ve had.

So, when an institution as important as The Met says ‘hey, we’ve got superheroes!’, I listen. Using an array of well-known, super-heroic costumes as inspiration, a small gathering of ultra-famous designers and design studios were summoned to create their own versions of the costumes. The characters represented included Batman, Iron Man, Superman, The Incredible Hulk, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Mystique (and her mutant ilk), and Catwoman – movie versions all. Photography was not allowed, so please click around to see links to photos and videos elsewhere on the web, snapped by braver souls than I.

It was a little disappointing that the paper heart of comic culture was not tapped more heavily, and only the superficial movie costume designs were utilized. If the idea was to access the most popular aspects of the characters, the movie versions of them would be it – even if the ‘movie versions’ of all superhero costumes are much more practical and realistic than their truly fantastic comic counterparts. I can’t help but think that exploring the true depths of comic imagery would have yielded some even more wild and/or sexy results. Of course, the designers made it very apparent that the physical appearance of the costume was pretty much irrelevant – it was what the costume represents that they were exploring.

These weren’t redesigned superhero costumes at all, so don’t let the title of the show fool you into some false sense of familiarity. No one’s fighting anything in these, except for a possibly to-the-death battle with dignity. These ‘costumes’ were all super-manifestations of the essences of superpowers – from abstract, angular sports designs for the speed and aerodynamism of The Flash, to a simple, tremendously ugly brick-pattern-slash-football-outfit to symbolize the strength and endurance of the Hulk.

Being completely ignorant of the fashion world, I wasn’t exceptionally thrilled (or even conscious) of the fancy designer names, nor seeing original designs in the flesh. What I WAS excited about was seeing each original movie costume that the absurd ‘designer’ costumes were inspired by. These included Christopher Reeves’ screen-worn Superman costume (accompanied by an excellent hologram that switched it back and forth between his Clark Kent, civilian attire), the Iron Man Mark II armor, and the surprisingly tiny Michelle Pfeiffer Catwoman costume. Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman costume remains in one piece, though it bears the fading and loose threads of a costume ten times its age. The Batman costume of choice wasn’t a classic Adam West getup, or the acceptable Michael Keaton gear, or even the tragically-nippled Schumacher versions, but the Batman outfit from the upcoming Dark Knight film. The Met was so topical that it was showcasing costumes that no one had even seen yet.

If they really wanted to see something, The Met would have tossed out some classic villain costumes to reinterpret. Those guys are crazy, and they don’t care if their helmets have 9-foot tall fins on them, or that purple really doesn’t go with green. While heroes are about unity and coordination, the bad guys survive on discord and discomfort – which are two things that would be really fun to see in a ‘fashion’ sense. As it was, making a spider-webby dress to express Spider-Man is a disappointingly obvious decision, and green, inflatable Hulk muscle vests were a clever juxtaposition of form and function – even if they had zero aesthetic appeal.

It wasn’t unexpected that most of the the fashions were fairly pretentious (using one’s own initials instead of Superman’s trademark ‘S’), and had very little to do with superheroes. Every ‘fashion’ expressed very human qualities – things that heroes happen to occasionally represent when they’re not punching things. Sure, the show addressed the complexity of fictional heroism, but it could have very easily excluded the idea of heroes entirely and focused on the spectrum of human emotions. It might have made it feel a lot more coherent, but also far less appealing to a population that’s ready to embrace superheroes. And I wouldn’t have been able to see Rebecca Romijn’s mutant appliqués in person.

As a small bonus at the end of the show for real hardcore geeks, The Met assembled a collection of the most valuable comics in all of geekdom. We’re talkin’ Action Comics #1 with the first appearance of Superman, the first appearance of Iron Man in Tales of Suspense #39, and some astonishingly early Batman appearances, all in one place and under plexiglass. For people to tap on, apparently. Why one would tap on the glass in front of an inanimate object as if it were a sleepy kitten, I’m not entirely sure, but it was done. For the record, none of the comics seemed to notice.

The gift shop included some alarmingly (but appropriately) gaudy, $30 t-shirts, a super-glossy show catalogue paperback for $30, or a handsome tin-covered version for $50, among other more common items. The cost prevented me from partaking in the acquisition of new superhero items, as much as I like to extend my tangential superhero book collection.

The show is worth seeing, if only for the original super-costumes. While I came away with a new understanding of exactly what ‘fashion’ is and stands to represent, I’ll leave it to the experts, while I ponder how Wolverine gets his face-pointies to stand so straight. I’m willing to bet that it’s simple cardboard inserts. The show will be open through September 1st, 2008.

Dear Diary :

Yes, it was only over one month ago that I began to chronicle my nascent love affair with piles of interlocking plastic bricks, but it’s been a wild month. Things just started moving so fast, and before I knew it… well, let me explain.

It all started when I found some boxed Lego sets in my closet during a spring clean. In a moment of much-needed toy therapy, I tore them open, ruined their inherent mint-in-box collectability, and began to assemble. Sometimes, play just outweighs pay.

After that day of building, I never stopped. As soon as my existing sets had been assembled, I found myself needing more, and I needed it fast. A collection of 100 bricks wasn’t even enough to make a small, rainbow-colored shanty out of. It was late, and the stores were closed, so I tore into a small Mega Bloks lobster that I’d also found in the recesses of the closet, but it wasn’t the same. It kept on falling apart, and it bore only a passing resemblance to a lobster. It was like heading out to a club to find a hot chick and then coming home with one that didn’t have all of her own teeth. And didn’t even bother to replace the ones that had escaped.

When you collect to a degree that you forget about half of what you have, your own residence is a constant wonderful surprise, if it doesn’t kill you first.

I was so dissatisfied with the non-Lego lobster that I decided to create my own. When I see a creative problem, I will inevitably throw all sensibility away and throw my whole life into engineering a near-perfect solution, while I still remain indifferent about balancing my bank account. In this case, a new and improved lobster cost me a few hours of sleep, as I learned my way around the free Lego Digital Designer (which works on both Mac and Windows, and can be downloaded from free from the Lego website). By the time I was finished, I had created a wonderful Lego lobster that was all mine – and best of all, it didn’t take up any physical space! Within the LDD, you have the ability to click on a ‘how much will this cost me?’ button, and the program will calculate your total price based on which bricks you’ve used. While my Mega Blocks lobster was about 7 inches long and $2, my Lego lobster was a far more intricate, detailed, and large $35. My creation, however, was articulated with a curling tail, pinching claws, and 8 moveable legs. Such points of movement are important to an action figure geek like myself. Ol’ Blok lobster didn’t even have any legs.

I contented myself by going out into the real world and picking up a variety of under-$20 Lego sets from the store. I’d put the ‘correct’ items together, look at them for a moment, and break them apart to make them other things. I went on eBay about bought mysterious lots of thousands of mixed, used Legos. I didn’t know where they’d been, but at this point, I didn’t even care. Our love affair was getting dark and kinky, but we both knew what it was.

I lost three days’ worth of free time after I saw a picture of Iron Monger from the new Iron Man movie. With a toy magazine propped up next to my monitor, I dove into the LDD again and built a semi-accurate effigy of the Iron Monger robot, complete with moving parts (including moveable fingers), and space on the inside for an AA battery and a small light, so that he might emit a glow. I estimate that he’s about a foot tall, and has over 500 pieces. The price, after three days of intense e-labor that overtook all of my thoughts and gave me a fun project to look forward to? $95.

It was like giving intellectual birth, and it turned out really nicely. When it was done, I felt empty and directionless. Sure, I had more Lego ideas, but I was still no Nathan Sawaya. Still, visions of being employed by Legoland filled my head, as I skimmed the application process and job openings for possibilities. Unless I wanted to move to Sweden, the options were pretty limited – and the Legoland Master Builder interview process required that the applicant build a both a spontaneous model and a rollable ball of Legos on the spot, under the watchful eyes of Lego Masters. This was a situation that I felt very unprepared for, after my recent three day excursion into Legoblivion. I could traverse the Legobstacle course, but it was at my own speed.

The emptiness persisted, and my local toy store shelves were empty or only filled high-end sets and Bionicles, which are largely incompatible with your standard Lego brick. On a trip to Marshalls with my mother, I wandered over to the toy section while she browsed the pottery and spices, banking on a tip that I heard over in the Lego Facebook group. It was there that I came across my Lego holy grail, and marked at 50% off. I’d always wanted the Lego Ultimate Collectors’ Edition Batmobile, both because it was Lego and it was a batmobile, but the original $60 price tag was too steep. There were three on sale, and I bought them all. I remained awake until 2 AM, being accosted by the horribleness of the Transformers Movie, and assembling the Batmobile.

As the pieces came together, I got a sinking feeling. See, once I’d put together a handful of base plates to serve as the undercarriage of the car, I thought that would be the size of things – but no, the two thick instructional manuals that came with the Batmobile kept on adding more and more baseplates, until the size of the thing completely overtook my who designated assembly table. Bags upon bags of bricks were gently cut open at their corners, to avoid spillage onto the floor. Gears were added, sleek and curvy black bricks were stacked in ziggurat patterns, and 5 hours later (including 2 hours past my bedtime), I had a massive, solid, awesome Batmobile – and no plans on how to safely keep anything this huge. It’s too large for a Lego-sized figure or a 3 3/4 scale figure, and too small for your average 6” figure. Not only is is a masterpiece of smart construction and a testament to the power of Brick, but a handful of Lego Technic pieces cause fiery blasts and visible turbines to spin while the car’s wheels roll, and a turn of the steering wheel causes a bat-symbol on the front of the car to pop up. I’d be happy if it just sat there looking pretty. I don’t require fancy action features for my Legos.

I guess that brings us up to date, Diary. That was Sunday, and I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but I think we’ve decided to spend a little time apart so that I can get other parts of my life back in order. You know, eating and sleeping, some painting. The Digital Designer keeps on beckoning to me, though – promising me other buildable sea creatures and cthulhus, and making a mini-model of my dream house. Do I really have $100 to buy a Lego-bot of my own devising? Looks like I’m gonna hafta pull an extra shift at work. Lego, you’re worth it, and I can always rationalize it as a ‘creative expense’, which I set no spending limit on. I know, once you start making excuses for Legos, you know you’re in trouble. But it’s awesome trouble.

So, as Toy Fair 2008 ends, I come to you with my report from the first day of the Big Event. On Saturday, February 16th, Hasbro hosted their ‘Collector Event’ in their rented showrooms near the Javits Center in NYC, and preceded that with a handful of powerpoint presentations at The Times Center regarding their upcoming and continuing toy lines. We got free popcorn and water, and afterwards, we even got a cookie. Which was delicious – even if it was printed with the Hasbro logo. If Hasbro tastes like sugar cookies and white chocolate, feed me more.

Sure, ToyFair hadn’t even really started yet, but Hasbro likes to get ‘the nerd herd’ out of the way. It goes something like this : they shuffle us into a maze of displays, we crowd like so many camera-wielding lambs to slaughter, and we struggle to get suitable shots for our own sites around the wide stance of that annoying guy from that Transformers fan site. Seriously, guy, you don’t need 15 shots of Optimus Prime’s nostrils. I’d just like one of his chassis, please. The difference between nerds and lambs, though, is that lambs have a sense of direction and are soft, whereas nerds depend entirely on their elbows to make their oblivious treks right smack into your nether regions.

Can you tell that I was more than a little perturbed by the claustrophobia of the showroom? To top it all off, one of the new American Gladiators was standing in the doorway to greet us. You know, pecs bigger than your head, glistening, making us all regret every decision we’ve ever made in our nerd-lives, called something like Kickface or Hemorrhage or something such. I’m much more of an American Gladiola.

But I digress. For the first half of the afternoon, no recording devices of any kind were allowed. We sat in a comfy theatre as toy planners and execs told us about Hasbro’s’ plans for 2008, all revolving around their “boys’ properties” of Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Hulk, Star Wars, G. I. Joe, Transformers, Marvel Comics, and Indiana Jones – all of which have a movie or TV show of some sort coming out this year. The great things about Hasbro’s properties is that Hasbro capitalizes off of them in as many ways possible – so while the Iron Man movie might be hot, they’ll use this momentum to delve into Iron Man comics and fan-favorite history stuff to make more products that collectors AND casual fans would love to see on a toy shelf for different (and still all valid) reasons. G. I. Joe fans will see classic stuff revisited, and Indiana Jones fans will see figures from ALL of the Indiana Jones movies – not just the new Crystal Skull one.

Now listen up, collectors – there’s a lot of dates I’m going to drop on you for when you can find these toys, and what you’ll be looking for.

- IRON MAN will see seven basic 6” scale figures, which will arrive on shelves on March 22nd, preceding the movie release, scheduled for May 2nd. Expect a ‘first appearance’ Mark I Armor, a Mark III armor, and Titanium Man, among other action-featured Iron Men – as well as a funky Iron Man roadster, ‘cause every hero needs a vehicle. Especially when they can fly. The movie’s designs are based on the comic cover artwork of Adi Granov, which is a great nod to the comics themselves. There will also be a beautiful, deluxe 12” figure, and at least two sets of Superhero Squad figures – which are 2” tall, kid-friendly, cartoonish plastic hunks of neatness. These will be Iron Man related, but not movie-centric at all – including Hulkbuster, First Appearance, Silver Centurion, War Machine, Unmasked and other neat armors. Keep an eye out for an additional Iron Man armor included with the Hulk Superhero Squad packs!

- THE INCREDIBLE HULK MOVIE will be the kind of movie that says, “You know what? We never made that Eric Bana one. Let’s start over & do it right!” The toys will drop on May 1st, and the movie is released on June 13th. The 6” scale movie toys seem to be a whole lotta very similar Hulks with action features, an Abomination figure (not shown at Toy Fair), and a few army guys – nothing incredible. What collectors SHOULD take note of is the ‘Marvel Legends’ style figures that’ll be coming out at this time also – again, not movie-centric, but very much related to Hulk comics. The first wave will include Savage She-Hulk (pictured at left), Wendigo (a more accurate one than the other Marvel Legends one), Absorbing Man (returning, after being impossible to find a few years back), and ‘The End’ Hulk. A second wave will come shortly after this, and if you collect all eight figures, you can build a genuinely huge Fin Fang Foom figure – the dragon that fans have been clamoring for for YEARS. I’m psyched. (One will also be able to get all 8 figures, along with Foom, in a ‘Collector’s Box’ at San Diego Comic Con this year). As mentioned earlier, there will also be at least two Superhero Squad packs, all comic related, including Green Scar, Silver Savage, and a few other Hulks.

- SPIDER-MAN is getting a new animated show on Saturday mornings, and Hasbro’s toys will release on March 1st, capitalizing on that great animated style that I recently wrote about. While there’s no new Spider-Man films on the immediate horizon, Hasbro will be releasing a ‘Spider-Man Classic’ line, which will feature comic characters that we haven’t seen yet, including Tarantula, which will drop on August 1st. All of these are 6” scaled, so everything is compatible with everything else, as Hasbro’s learned their lesson from the ill-fated 5” Spider-Man line of late last year that no one seems to be buying.

- MARVEL LEGENDS are going to have an odd year, with only 2 waves of single-packed figures this year, which run from 5 to 8 figures per wave. No figure or Build-a-Figure plans were revealed for these, but the year will also see eight 2-packs, which makes up for the figural absence otherwise. These will include Ultimate Nick Fury & Ultimate World War II Captain America, and Elektra & Ronin. Fans will note that these are all new, current characters that are important to current storylines, and even better, Marvel Legends will start coming with relevant accessories again, including alternate heads and hands. An Elektra with a Skrull head? YES PLEASE – but it all still means that we’re going to be shorted on buildable, huge figures.

Also planned for 2008 is a San Diego Comic Con exclusive 3-pack under the ‘Savage Land’ theme, which includes Shanna the She-Devil, Ka-Zar and Zabu. I hate the sound of the word ‘exclusive’, I hate that San Diego gets almost all of them, and I hate trying to find them for fair prices – but at least HasbroToyShop.com has offered these to online buyers in the past.

- SUPERHERO SQUAD will see, in addition to the aforementioned Hulk & Iron Man packs, twenty-four more 2-packs, and eight more 4-packs, which will include Hobgoblin, Psylocke, Shang Chi, Nighthawk, Carnage, Ares, and other figures that are so obscure it’s ridiculous and awesome. The new MIGHTY MUGGS line, which feature generic, cartoony, urban vinyl-styled bodies done up in different decos, will have 16 new marvel figures this year, including Thing, Doctor Doom, Hulk, Venom, Iron Man and a bunch of other good choices. SDCC will have an exclusive (shudder) Iron Man Movie figure.

- MARVEL UNLEASHED, a line of extra-sized, super-articulated, premium figures will see four more waves, starting with Iron Man. These can be equated to ‘a step up from regular action figures without breaking the bank’. MARVEL TRANSFORMERS will also begin, mixing Hasbro’s properties up into a myriad of neat things. They start off with an Iron Man and a Hulk that turn into vehicles, Transformers-style! And speaking of mixing properties, there are strong rumors of a Star Wars-scaled Marvel figure line… and who doesn’t want to see Darth Vader and Doctor Doom duke it out?

As big a nerd as I am, my knowledge of G. I. Joe and Transformers is next to nothing, so I regret that almost all of the information about these two properties went right over my head, not knowing many names or which toys have come before. I can mention that a second Transformers movie is starting to film (though no toys were shown), a kid-friendly Transformers cartoon is starting up (with a few figures shown), and a G. I. Joe movie has also started filming. I also went out after this presentation and bought my first three Joe figures. Note, please, that every company I’d talk to this weekend had their own 3.75″ scale line brewing, and ergo, everything would be compatible with the tiny Joes.

- INDIANA JONES promises to be a hot property, with Hasbro delving into every IJ movie, answering fan pleas that have echoed annoyingly for years. On May 1st, all of the toys are going to appear. We have an initial offering of seventeen 3.75” (or ‘Star Wars’) scale figures, with plans to expand the line into at least twenty-nine figures by the end of the year. There’s a lot of lost time to make up for, and they’re doing it well. Each figure will come with a ‘relic’ from one of the movies, amassing a great little treasure trove. There will also be a 12” line, more Adventure Heroes (much like the oft-mentioned Superhero Squad), a ‘Taters of the Lost Ark’ Mr. Potato Head, more Mighty Muggs, and even a classic mail-in program for every line. One can collect 4 proofs of purchase to earn an Adventure Heroes Indy on his horse, a 1/6th scaled Ark, or a 3.75” scale mystery figure that was not revealed to us due to its importance in the new movie.

And finally STAR WARS! As if there wasn’t already an information overload, there’s a ton of SW stuff coming. On July 26th, ‘The Legacy Collection’ will drop, which will include Stormtrooper helmet packaging and will include 30 figures. One week later, The Clone Wars Animated figures will happen, on Clone Trooper helmet packaging – so that fans can distinguish between the two. This will include 23 figures. All of these will include bonus parts to build a few Droids similar to R2-D2 and C-3PO.

These early offerings will include an ‘Episode Six Deleted Scene’ theme, with our classic Star Wars heroes in desert gear for the first time. Now, most exciting for me out of all of Toy Fair was catching a glimpse of Yarna D’Al Gargan (pictured above) – one of Jabba’s Palace dancers that was never made into a figure, and who was featured more prominently on the screen than 90% of every other Star Wars character ever made. The reason that she’s never been made is her semi-controversial feature of ‘having six breasts’, but FINALLY. Finally we can complete out Jabba’s Palace cardboard dioramas with Yarna.

Beyond these basic offerings, there will be comic 2-packs, with characters from throughout the non-canon history of the Star Wars comics, including Cade Skywalker, Darth Talon, Dengar & Fenn Shyshd. There will be four ‘Evolutions’ themed 3-packs, including a trio of Rebel Pilots from Episode 6, and a triple-pack of a Padme Amidala from each movie that she appeared in. And the line extends into even more Mighty Muggs and ‘Galactic Heroes’ – which are the same thing as ‘Adventure Heroes’ and ‘Superhero Squad’.

And, of course, Hasbro had a large Cloverfield Monster on display. For many people, including those who saw the movie, this is the first clear image that they’ve ever seen of The Monster. I’ll refrain from spoiling the movie for you by posting a picture here, but CLICK HERE if you’re curious and want to know more. It’s 14″ tall, touts 70 points of articulation, and comes with a handful of accessories. Itis currently available for purchase through Hasbro’s website and nowhere else.
The showrooms were packed with nerds who had no awareness of anyone who was standing around them, and I was inadvertently groped a handful of times. And I do mean ‘handful’. Hasbro, I love you, but you need bigger showrooms – especially when your sweatiest clientele will all be meeting there at once. I had a claustrophobic moment or two, which prevented me from seeing half of the showroom. You’ve shown me that I’m not elbowy enough to be a ‘reporter’, that toys turn grown men into animals, and that it’s going to be an expensive year. Stay tuned for more Toy Fair this weekend!

For now, CLICK HERE to see a full gallery of Hasbro images, and enjoy!

Lately, I’ve been reaching back into my younger years and reclaiming some of the basic building blocks that led me towards being a generally creative person. Of course, this literally refers to reclaiming actual wooden building blocks, but also such wonders as the Etch-A-Sketch (I went out and bought a new one), the Galt Toys Tack-On Picture Board, and the most wonderful of all building toys, the Lego.

None of the Legos that I had as a kid are still around, but we had a TON. They were inherited from a family of 6 uncles and aunts, before the era when Legos started getting fancy hinges and blocks that weren’t strictly squares (and an occasional slanted roof tile), so we were pretty fundamental in our constructions. We lost the use of the Legos for a long period when one of our brighter uncles decided to adopt a pet mouse and build playthings for it out of out Lego supply. Later, the mouse found a new home, and we got our Legos back – complete with mousy evidence wedged in their crevices and gnawed off of the corners. I think that we lost a bit of interest in them when snapping two pieces together also required prying mouse droppings out from the connections. The Lego supply found its way out of the house and to some undisclosed location – but they were getting pretty ragged anyhow, as indestructible as they are.

Sure, Legos were neat, but my only interaction with them for the past decade or so came in the form of a few small Star Wars Lego sets that I’ve lost to the recesses of the closet, and a little customized Lego that I painted up of my girlfriend. It wasn’t until I saw this original Iron Man custom Lego creation that I realized again the potential of the building blocks.

As someone who looks at everything in the world around me as things that I can scavenge for parts that I can use in art projects, I was hilariously blind to Legos, which already came completely ready to assemble into whatever the heck I felt like. In a quest for spare parts, I pretty much missed the neon, flashing, screaming ‘SPARE PARTS’ sign over the ol’ Lego depot.

Lego did a great job in building up their own nerd cred by expanding their line brick by brick, introducing the technical & programmable Mindstorms sets, and even venturing into action figure territory with their Bionicle line. They publish a free monthly magazine, and they have a subscribable Lego ‘Brickmaster’ Collectors Club that’ll send you six exclusive sets, one every 2 months, for a price of 40 bucks. A Lego set that you can’t get anywhere else pretty much spells AWESOME to me, and I’m a new subscriber. Anything that adds bricks to a limitless collection is fine by me.

So, I’m a reborn Legoholic, and this year, the Times Square Toys ‘R’ Us is calling my name during ToyFair. Upstairs, they have a fill-your-own-bag of Legos section, with a vast selection of Legos spread all around you like a rainbow of throat-destroying candy. Did you know that you can also buy Legos by the Brick in Lego’s online shop? You name the shape, and they’ll bag it up and ship it to you. To make this function even more amazing than it already is, they’ve created a Digital Designer program, totally free to use, which allows you to design a fully 3D Lego model of your choice using a huge variety of bricks in a huge variety of colors… and then you can click on a button and have the parts sent to you. Of course, you’re charged for each individual brick, but you can make whatever the heck you want, test it on a screen, and then have the fun of building it in person without going through the hassle of picking through a dozen Lego sets to scavenge for appropriate pieces.

I needed to kinda cleanse my soul after a rough weekend, and in the process of also cleaning my room, I found a few old Lego sets I picked up for various reasons & never assembled. Until very recently, I’ve had a purist approach to Legos. You build what’s on the box, and you keep the parts from different sets far apart. In the interest of creation and expansion, I’ve abandoned this attitude, realizing that if I keep the instruction manuals from all of these sets, I’ll be golden if I ever want to build them again. Sure, I might have to dig a little more, but the blueprints are the most important part. And if I want to remain a little bit OCD about it, I can store all of the pieces for any given set in a single Ziploc bag, which can then go into the collective tub of Legos.

I dug out my Batman vs. Catwoman set, which I purchased because it had a Lego Batman in it for my Batman collection, and I also dug out my Mutant Squid, which I purchased because it’s a mutant squid. One doesn’t need any more reason than that. And then I went on eBay and sought out huge mixed lots of pieces, and within an hour, I had over 2000 pieces from various auctions ordered and paid for, from basic blocks to aircraft parts to other odds and ends. If I wanted 100 yellow Lego flowers, there’s an auction for that. eBay is rich with very specific parts auctions for very fair prices. In fact, the individual pieces seem to sell even better than the big sets, and the minifigures are worth their weight in gold, with a single tiny Chewbacca going for almost ten bucks at times.

Waiting for the mail was never a strength of mine, and I went out and bought an $11 ‘Lego Creator’ set, which is Lego’s line of ‘moderately complex’ models that avoid using any super-specialized pieces. Of course, if the box has a picture of a spider on it, I’m the guy who builds a devil robot wielding a mace instead. And that’s just the beginning. The transience of Lego designs, the need to take something apart to make something new, has almost been made painless by the advent of being able to digitally chronicle them, and even digitally duplicate them (and save the schematics) in Lego Digital Designer.

Sure, Lego has all kinds of collectible Skeleton Warriors and Dragons and Exo-Squad and Bionicle and Knights, but they’re all just bricks. In this way, there’s not a single Lego set that doesn’t have an appeal.

Which just made collecting a lot more expensive.