Happy New Year!

I'm likely to be out of Internet range from today until the New Year comes to pass, so I wanted to wish all of the readers of the Preserve good health and good fortune in the year ahead. Let's hope that 2011 shows us all great success with our projects and pursuits, varied as they may be, and health and happiness for ourselves and our families.

To leave you with something cool to look at, I finally managed to get all of the 24 days of Lego Advent 2010 set up together, in their Kingdom-tastic glory! Click the image below to super-size, or view the page for the set to see a few more 'set up' shots. Happy New Year!



Posted by charlie on December 30th 2010, 10:18 AM
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Transformers 2010 - Breacher

Let's tack on another of my favorite scale of figure these days, the Scout class, with Breacher from wave 2 of the Hunt for the Decepticons line.


In a great stroke of marketing and play-pattern genius, this small figure is designed specifically to fit in a small compartment on the deck of voyager class Sea Spray when he is in hovercraft mode. Perhaps we'll see even more team-ups of this nature in the 2011 range that will be revealed to us in less than 2 months time at the upcoming Toy Fair (!) though we have to remember that the movie product is coming up soon, likely pausing the 'classics' line for another year. Either way, this little dude is a great addition to the Hunt line, and a great combo with the G1-rific Sea Spray!
Posted by charlie on December 29th 2010, 10:13 PM
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Transformers - Sunspot

I continue to dig on the Scout class figures in the ongoing Transformers: Hunt for the Decepticons line, and this great bright yellow 'flying wing' model is no exception!


Sunspot apparently is suffering from exactly what his name implies, and seems to have as poor a memory as your humble Preserve narrator! He tends to forget to look out for Autobots, forgets his orders, but fortunately never quite forgets how to keep in the air. Click the image above for more shots and the full bio and stats of this daffy Decepticon flyer!
Posted by charlie on December 28th 2010, 06:43 PM
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Transformers: Hunt for the Decepticons - Brawl vs. Jolt

Maybe it's just me, but I think that people are sort of at their saturation point with some Transformers store exclusives. The round of Toys R Us Exclusive packs from 2009 didn't seem to move well at all, given that they were largely repacks of existing figures into 'battle packs' with super high price tags, and I think that we are seeing some similar slow sales with the Walmart and Target exclusives that hit the shelves this past fall in support of the Hunt line. Here's one of them!


This set and the sister set to it were on shelves for a while, though it does seem that for the most part they have finally moved on. I'll be featuring that other exclusive set soon - if you like this one maybe you can still track it down, so good luck!
Posted by charlie on December 27th 2010, 07:20 PM
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Transformers Generations - Dirge

Well, Christmas is over, but I hope that everyone gets to keep taking it easy for a few days this week - heck with any luck you can max relax and straight through until the New Year! Here's another entry in the Transformers: Generations line from 2010 - we have Dirge from the 4th wave of figures that hit stores this past fall.


He's learned the sweet sound of ultimate terror, and has tuned his engines and voicebox to produce it! Watch out for this guy, definitely not spreading holiday cheer
Posted by charlie on December 26th 2010, 08:55 PM
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Merry Christmas, 2010!





Posted by charlie on December 25th 2010, 07:58 PM
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Lego Advent 2010 - Day 24!

Lego has given us all a Christmas Wizard. Lego wins. Merry Christmas Eve!



Posted by charlie on December 24th 2010, 07:38 AM
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Christmas Eve-Eve

Well, it's almost the run-up to the big day, in otherwords it's the very tail end of Christmas Eve-Eve...exciting to be sure! We're a day behind on the ol' Advent calendar, but the last few days held so much awesomeness that I'm sure you can find some cool things to look at in the meantime. While I'm processing the images for the 23rd, and yes even the 24th, be sure to check out the Lego David Bowie Labyrinth Owl, complete with crazy shaped tree!


You say that so often? I wonder what your basis for comparison is...
Posted by charlie on December 23rd 2010, 11:55 PM
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Lego Advent 2010 - Day 20-22

The last several days have given us a catapult, a crossbow soldier, and a cool looking Lego tree with molded Lego owl atop! We are in the home stretch - for sure.


It remains to be seen what the finale of this set is - in years past I've had the more 'traditional' Advent set which had a tree or a Santa so we'll see how they do it in the Kingdoms. I hope everyone has finished their preparations for the Big Day, and that scores of kids and families will be enjoying their time together.
Posted by charlie on December 22nd 2010, 09:49 PM
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Transformers Generations - Thunderwing

Let's finish up Transformers: Generations wave 5, aka wave 1 for 2011 (early!) with Thunderwing, a serious bad-news bot!


Even Megatron is given pause by the power and fury of this Decepticon, though is likely thankful that they are on the same side, and that Thunderwing is so devoted to the cause. He's good at following orders, and Megatron certainly has enough of those to give! Click the image above to learn a little more about this planet-wrecker, who has emerged from the Mega Pretender depths of the '80s to his new Deluxe tribute form.
Posted by charlie on December 21st 2010, 10:01 PM
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Transformers Generations - Cliffjumper

Riding the pegs along side of Skullgrin, we get a solid G1 character in deluxe scale - Cliffjumper!


His bio paints him as always sparring for a fight, which is just fine for his less war-prone comrades in the Autobot ranks. I recall that even on the cartoon, and one assumes his original bio, this was a familiar character trait, and they have likely played it up for the 2010 crowd. As always, click the image above for his full stats and more pics!
Posted by charlie on December 20th 2010, 09:56 PM
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Lego Advent Day 19

Those of you paying enough daily attention to the Preserve Lego Advent countdown may have noticed that here and there I don't quite get things posted on time. Why, you may ask, didn't I just stage it all out ahead of time, and set some timers so that things go up when they should? Well, the truth of it is that I feel quite like I've ruined the surprise and the whole calendar if I open it ahead of time, so I go ahead and open up a day at a time and try to get it posted somewhere between midnight and sleep. If I happen to be out of town, though, things go awry! Well, next year I may get two calendars, so that I can open one early and still have one to count down my own December. Then we all get to have our fun!

For now, check out this serious pikeman soldier who is joining the ranks of Donnie for day 19!



Posted by charlie on December 19th 2010, 09:44 PM
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Lego Advent - Day 17

It seems, at first glance, a bold and rare move for Lego to have included a big barrel of beer and a jolly yellow mug as the 17th surprise in this year's advent calendar - but a moment of reflection will remind us all that it is surely root beer!


Well, Donnie likes it just the same, and has found yet another use for the fabled hair.

Posted by charlie on December 17th 2010, 01:30 AM
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Transformers Generations - Skullgrin (and Day 16)

I've been on a real Advent kick, which I hope readers have been enjoying as much as I have, but figured that I should sneak in a new non-Lego toy here and there. What better excuse than finally, finally tracking down wave 5 of the Transformers: Generations line in the local Target. This is the wave that gives us some repaints, but they are great characters and new additions to this line so no one is complaining! Also Hasbro seems to be correcting their high prices across the board, with Star Wars 'Vintage' figures down to $6, and Transformers Hunt and Generations down to about $9 and $9.04 (really??) respectively. Here we have Skullgrin, the seething beast warrior who hides behind a thin veil of intellect.


I will have to dig out my G1 boxed figure and get him into the archives soon, because it's been way too many years since I've read that bio and couldn't tell you how similar it is to the olde dayes, but I know there are a number of sites on line that can answer that question for us all! Click the image above to read a little more of his high-strung bio, see his stats, and a few more high res pics of this beautiful piece!

Oh yes, and day 16 of the Lego Advent set gives us a lady friend for Donnie to impress. He's been working out afterall...



Posted by charlie on December 16th 2010, 08:48 PM
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Lego Advent 2010 - Day 15

Oh man, Donnie Hair is going to be unstoppable now - he's got himself a training dummy to hone his hairsword technique! This is a really fun set, as it is on a vertical swivel and has the classic training targets - sort of like the olde tyme Dune training droid - you young pup! Check out Donnie and his training technique, and get ready for tomorrow's surprise!



Posted by charlie on December 15th 2010, 08:45 PM
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Lego Advent 2010 - Day 14

Donnie Hair gets some more equipment, as we have either an addition to the blacksmith's shop with a sword storage block for the newly hammered steel, or perhaps a test of royalty with some sword in the stone action! Whatever it may be, Donnie is up to the task, and has more swords than he and his splendid hair can even carry. Get ready for tomorrow, in our race to the jolly finish.



Posted by charlie on December 14th 2010, 08:15 PM
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Lego Advent 2010 - Day 13

Remember what I was saying a few days ago about extra pieces in the advent daily set, and their often apparent random nature? Well, I present exhibit 13 and the extra hair!


I will name this figure Donnie Hair, after the very obscure yet awesomely coiffed stunt coordinator and evil henchman with an equally awesome character name of Emeric Pressburger from Bloodfist VIII with Don 'The Dragon' Wilson! That movie, and several other delightful Wilson vehicles are all that appear to constitute the legacy of the man, the legend, the follicles, Donnie Hair, though we are all better as a nation because of it! I urge you again to suffer through the whimper that is the end of the glorious Bloodfist series, if only to see Donnie strut his stuff.
Posted by charlie on December 13th 2010, 05:37 PM
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Lego Advent Calendar 2010 - Day 12

Oh man, it's rough out there in the Kingdoms. Don't tick off the King!



Posted by charlie on December 12th 2010, 08:52 PM
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Lego Advent Calendar 2010 - Day 11 Dungeon Rack

I simply knew that Lego wouldn't leave us hanging (sorry) with that tantalizing skeleton figure from day 10, and now they have already delivered with a place for that unfortunate soul to be found hanging in a deep dungeon someplace. Behold the...stockade? Dungeon wall? Skeleton Storage? Well, it's cool, so click the image below for a larger view, or the mini-calendar at the top of this page on day 11 for more shots of this mini-set!


Posted by charlie on December 11th 2010, 11:36 PM
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Lego Advent Calendar - Day 10, Skeleton!

It was sort of a surprise to open up the Lego Advent Calendar day 10 window after midnight last night and find the constituent parts of a Lego skeleton within! It does make sense in the context of the Kingdoms theme, and overall is a very cool addition to the set, and to the holiday festivities!


You may recognize this figure from the Indiana Jones Temple Escape set, at least it's pretty similar, I haven't done a point by point comparison but I'm sure there are Lego fan sites that have it well covered. The arms connect with a cool loose swivel joint, that gives him flopping-action and makes for a convincing shambling dead impression. Now I wonder what the next few days hold in store to contribute to the new dungeon-esque theme that has developed!

And yes, it came with an extra arm, so now has a jaunty hat. The spare parts in these sets are always sort of funny - never really enough to do much with, but I suppose if you gathered them all up over the years you'd have quite a random assortment!

Posted by charlie on December 10th 2010, 08:42 AM
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Mezco Toyz - Green Lantern Mez-Itz

Press Release: Mezco Toyz hits us up with another press release, this time for the first figures in their great Mez Itz DC line. They have secured a full license to the DC library of characters, so hopefully they have some great stuff in the pipeline. Click through to see the first figures in this new series, and learn more about adding them to your collection!  Read More
Posted by charlie on December 9th 2010, 08:36 PM
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Lego Advent Calendar 2010 - Day 8, the Throne

The underlying fun part of the Advent calendar from Lego is the day by day theme that gets built up, one piece at a time over the whole month. Today the Queen who arrived on the 7th finally has a place to sit, and witness the regal throne!


Ok, well the throne isn't all that terribly regal, but it's a cool crimson for the court, and has some gold arm rests and that ain't all bad. She and the frog prince there can catch some major relaxing and ruling from the high seat of power, and will look forward anxiously to the next addition to the kingdom on day 9!
Posted by charlie on December 8th 2010, 09:01 PM
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Sega Master System - E-Swat

It's been some time since I last added a new Sega Master System game to the Preserve archives, so today is a fun day indeed! Not only is this a new addition to the digital records, but was a hole in the physical collection as well, so is twice the fun for one money.


In typing up the game description from the back of the box, I noticed with some amusement that it seems almost to have been written by two different authors, the second of whom was fantastically out there:

Standard By-Committee text: You're staring straight into the evil E.Y.E., a power-mad horde of vicious terrorists. But you are the ultimate crimebuster. Decimate their front lines with your lead-belching Gatling gun! Incinerate their mobs with your super-charged arsenal of weapons! Start as an E-Swat rookie and blast your way up to become an awesome supercop...More machine than man!

Unhinged Janitor Late Night Additions: Metal attack! Annihilate killer hovercraft maniac machines and flame-throwing robots. Grapple with bionic monsters to face the final showdown! Stay glued to your weapons through 5 missions of grueling combat! You have the ultra-tech gear and the guts to survive! The E-Swat force is waiting. Are you ready to "Hit The Streets"?

And remember, as Axel Foley says - These guys aren't just cops....they're supercops.

Posted by charlie on December 7th 2010, 08:20 AM
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Lego Advent Calendar 2010 - Day 6

Phew - that was close! I almost didn't get day 6 of the fantastic Lego Advent calendar posted on time, but I assure you that won't happen tomorrow! To celebrate my close call, here is the set from December 6th, 2010 - continuing the blacksmith and hardware theme we have a nice new suit of plate on display, and a crested helm to match! The faceplate is hinged and the red feather is a great accent to this set, and will look great on whatever knight/knave/jester we may discover in the coming days! Be sure to check out the other days from this set in the calendar above!



Posted by charlie on December 6th 2010, 09:41 PM
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Mezco Toyz - Living Dead Dolls Wave 21

Press Release: Mezco Toyz has announced wave 21 of their super popular Living Dead Dolls. You won't be able to get them until May 2011, but that should give your wallet enough time to recover from the holiday and you'll be ready to spend again! Click through for pictures of these great additions to the line.  Read More
Posted by charlie on December 5th 2010, 12:00 PM
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Lego Advent, Day 3

Man, today flew by! I had meant to talk about the next entry in the excellent Lego advent calendar, so let's take a quick look at what day 3 of December 2010 held for us - a weapons rack!


I suppose it's because I've been working on the MOTUC content recently, but I can't help but immediately picture the upcoming He-Man weapons rack, though in Lego scale of course this is as, if not more, awesome! So far, then, we have a Blacksmith and his forge, and the product of his labor if the royal weaponry room. The kingdoms set is getting off to a fantastic start! Deck the halls indeed!
Posted by charlie on December 3rd 2010, 10:09 PM
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Lego Advent Calendar - December 2nd 2010

It is day two of the Lego Kingdom's Advent calendar, and already we have a competent looking Blacksmith, and a firey forge! I was so pleased with how the picture came out, shot off the cuff at 12:30am, that I just had to feature it!



Posted by charlie on December 2nd 2010, 08:09 AM
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Transformers Q&A - #5 2010

The Hasbro Transformers team has sent us answers to our questions for this round of the official Q&A. Check it out:

Preserve: When I was little, one year for Halloween I dressed as the GoBot Spay-C and the next year as the Rock Lord Nuggit - both of which naturally transformed! Does the team have any similar fun memories of their Halloweens from long ago?
Hasbro: The team certainly has a lot of great past Halloween memories that involve Transformers and of course other great properties that we cannot mention in this Q&A! Some of them include creating an Optimus Prime costume out of cardboard boxes and faking the conversion into a truck, while others used a lot of silver body paint to try and become the evil Megatron! Of course some members of our team still like to dress up for Halloween, but we will save those issues for another Q&A session!

Preserve: At times, instead of being a new character, a redeco is a version of the 1st mold using a mission-specific color, such as Roadbuster Ultra Magnus. Does this consideration have anything to do with the size classes, as in, a figure who is not of the top-tier would be a tough sell in the Leader size? I've been thinking about this because of Leader Starscream - the obvious repaints are Thundercracker or Skywarp, but past examples would show we might get a "Deep Star Starscream" instead of one of these other characters.
Hasbro: A lot of our decision making for redecos has a lot to do with the class size of a figure. Utlimately, as the price point increases, we want to make sure that the character we are releasing is recognizable to kids. However, it is not to say that at some point in time we would not do an exclusive of a lower-tiered character such as Leader Thundercracker or Skywarp, we just would not issue this as part of the main line assortments.



Thanks to the team for the great answers!


Posted by charlie on December 1st 2010, 05:22 PM
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Lego Advent Calendar and December Countdown!

Today is December 1st, so you know what that means - it's time for everyone to start opening their Lego Advent calendars! This year Lego upped the ante with three sets to choose from - City, Kingdoms and Pirates! I didn't see Pirates in the stores, and eBay tells a tale of quick sell-outs and low availability, so if you scored a Pirates set - good job! I managed to pick up the Kingdoms set from an actual Lego store, and look forward to seeing the differences - most notably, not having had it spoiled way back in February at Toy Fair like the City version always is - they sure do plan ahead, those successful companies.

What I'll be doing, starting today, is updating the calendar you see at the top of the page, just above this post, with the Lego surprise for each and every day from the Kingdoms calendar! Feel free to play along at home! Better still - send us pics of your Pirates Advent set! However you look at it, we're suddenly in the midst of another Holiday season, and I hope everyone has a very merry one.



Posted by charlie on December 1st 2010, 01:52 AM
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