Hat Tip – Nerd Approved

It kinda makes sense … sort of. Hasbro carries the lion’s share of toys from major movie tie-ins, including Star Wars and some Disney toys for Marvel and Toy Story. But Hasbro also has Paramount products like Star Trek and Transformers. So for Disney to scoop up Hasbro would make the Mouse House a major player in the toy industry, even beyond it’s vast Disney consumer products presence. Although, I always though that if Disney was going to buy a toy company, it would be LEGO, since they have Toy Story, Marvel Super Heroes, and of course, Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

Then again, it’s just a rumor. But a pretty delicious one. Hasbro has a vast reach and for Disney to control the toy company would represent a serious shift in the industry. And who figured that Hasbro would be ripe for the taking? However, one thing is for sure, with both Disney and Star Wars toys, Hasbro’s competitors will be tripping over themselves to scoop up competing merchandizing rights before Disney decides to buy … well, everything!

Hat Tip – That Figures

With recent surveys showing that kids want high tech toys and gadgets for the holidays, electronics and gaming retailer GameStop is planning to open nearly specialty stores aimed right at their target demographic … kids.

“This is really a way for us to take share away from people who are in the toy business,” said GameStop CEO Paul Raines, “and have an expanded assortment and show people how to drive kids to new experiences, new products or an expanded assortment of existing products like Skylanders and Angry Birds.”

Over 80 stores, dubbed “GameStop Kids,” will be opened in malls all around the country with the express plan of luring parents into buy their kids the much wanted video games or even gadgets from XBox 360s to even iPads and Nintendo DSi’s. In addition, GameStop will have a well stocked supply of games and accessories from Star Wars, the Lord of the Rings, Angry Birds, Skylanders, Legos and more.

Why the specially targeted stores? Raines says that the average Gamestop customer is around 30 years old, and as such, you don’t get many kids in the store. And if you look at the decor, that makes sense. But with only 80 stores nationwide, many GameStop customers will be left out in the holiday cold. But Raines says that any of the 4400 Gamestop stores can take special orders for Gamestop Kids merchandise complete with free shipping.

GameStop is known for thinking outside of the box. They’ve been taking in trades of high tech toys like iPads, iPods, Xboxes and PS3s, and then refurbishing them for sale again. So this special GameStop Kids experiment is right in line with their thinking. And the best news is, if the stores are a hit, they may stick around long after Santa goes on his post holiday vacation.

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Press Release:

GameStop Launches New Holiday Store Concept, GameStop Kids™

Company to open approximately 80 holiday stores

GRAPEVINE, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Oct. 26, 2012– Holiday shoppers need to look no further for the perfect video game licensed present this season. GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME), the world’s largest multichannel video game retailer, today unveiled a new store concept aimed at offering a unique and innovative shopping experience for the kid in all of us. Starting today, the company will begin the roll out of approximately 80 GameStop Kids holiday store locations in select malls throughout the U.S.

GameStop today announces the national launch of approximately 80 GameStop Kids holiday stores, starting at the Grapevine Mills Mall in TX. www.GameStop.com/Kids (Photo: Business Wire)

From Angry Birds to Hello Kitty, GameStop Kids stores will feature an assortment of this season’s most sought after video games and accessories, video game licensed products, popular toy brands and collectibles like:

Skylanders: GameStop exclusive Golden Dragonfire Cannon Battlepack, additional characters, throws, backpacks, carriers and displays

Angry Birds: Angry Birds plush with sound effects, splat balls, mash’ems launcher pack, backpack clips, mugs and coming soon: Angry Birds Star Wars plush

LEGO: Lord of the Rings, Stars Wars and Harry Potter build sets along with Marvel character build sets

Star Wars: Two-foot plush talking Chewbacca, key chains, phone cases, banks and more

Minecraft: Minecreeper head, LEGO Minecraft Microworld and foam pick axe
“We are always striving to make the shopping experience better for holiday gift givers,” said Bob Puzon, GameStop’s vice president of merchandising. “GameStop Kids takes that one step further by having the hottest brands and products that people of all ages can love – from Star Wars and LEGO to modern favorites like Skylanders Giants.”

GameStop CEO, Paul Raines, announced last night at the annual Latino Leaders Maestro awards ceremony in Dallas, Texas that the first GameStop Kids location opens today at the Grapevine Mills Mall in Grapevine, Texas, with all other locations opening in the coming days and weeks.

Customers not in close proximity to a GameStop Kids, can visit any U.S. GameStop store and place an order for thousands of items, including the exciting assortment of GameStop Kids products complete with free shipping (quantities may be limited; please see a store associate for more details). To find a GameStop Kids near you and see the complete list of locations, please visit www.GameStop.com/Kids.

About GameStop

GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Grapevine, Texas, is the world’s largest multichannel video game retailer. GameStop’s retail network and family of brands include 6,628 company-operated stores in 15 countries worldwide and online at www.GameStop.com. The network also includes: www.Kongregate.com, a leading browser-based game site; Game Informer(R) magazine, the leading multi-platform video game publication; Spawn Labs, a streaming technology company; and a digital PC game distribution platform available at www.GameStop.com/pc.

General information on GameStop Corp. can be obtained at the company’s corporate website. Follow GameStop on Twitter @ www.twitter.com/GameStop and find GameStop on Facebook @ www.facebook.com/GameStop.

George Lucas has been planning retiring since January, when he announced he wanted to go back into his garage and make fun little movies, rather than deal anymore with the pressure of having to release the next big blockbuster. Earlier this year, he made prolific Producer Kathleen Kennedy the head of LucasFilm, and she will still run the company once the deal with Disney is done. She will also oversee all consumer products relating to the Star Wars franchise and that’s nothing but good news for Star Wars fans who collect toys.

The deal will also position Hasbro with a ton of power when it comes to both franchises since Disney also owns Pixar and Hasbro has Pixar toys as well. And then there’s Marvel. It’s likely that for some time, with the exception of LEGO, that Hasbro will have a rosey future when it comes to toy sales.

And let’s face it, is there any better combination for toy collecting than Disney and Star Wars?

The Disney Store will start off with a line of collectible dolls called the Disney Villains Designer Collection and it will be arriving in stores this fall. It’ll be a six doll collection of Cruella DeVil (101 Dalmatians), Evil Queen (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), Ursula (The Little Mermaid), Mother Gothel (Tangled), Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty), and the Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland). The collection will be limited editions of 13,000 each, and will include apparel, beauty products, home items, and stationery.

The villains will also be getting face lifts as their characters are being reimagined. Clothing will be available in time for back to school this August, with toys and accessories available in September.

With the phenomenal success of LEGO’s line of Collectible Minifigs (currenly in Wave 8), LEGO has decided to once again join the ranks of services offering massively multiplayer online games (also called MMO and MMOG), and is basing their new venture on collectible minifigs! That should be fun.

LEGO® Minifigures are the inhabitants of an unimaginable number of spectacular creations put together by both kids and grown-ups over the past several decades. Whether it is a knight in shining armor, a brave firefighter or just an oddball in a gorilla suit, these figures breath life into elaborately constructed cities, castles and even space stations around the world.

Considering how popular LEGO’s video games are (made by Travelers Tales), it’s not surprising that LEGO would dive into an MMO version. And with the wide variety of minifgures to use, along with their accessories, it’s bound to stay fresh and interesting. And because LEGO continues to release new waves of about 15 minifigs each, the MMO will be updated pretty continuously.

The MMO architecture itself will be developed and adminstered by FunCom. No details on when or what price structure, but it should be a lot of fun!

Press Release:

FUNCOM TO DEVELOP MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER ONLINE GAME BASED ON LEGO® MINIFIGURES
– Funcom signs license agreement with the LEGO Group to develop MMO game based on the hugely popular LEGO® Minifigures line of collectible play materials –

Durham, USA – June 28th, 2012 – Funcom, a world leading independent developer and publisher of online games, is excited to announce that the company has signed a license agreement with the LEGO Group, one of the world’s most successful manufacturers of play materials, to develop a massively multiplayer online game based on the hugely popular LEGO® Minifigures franchise.

LEGO® Minifigures are the inhabitants of an unimaginable number of spectacular creations put together by both kids and grown-ups over the past several decades. Whether it is a knight in shining armor, a brave firefighter or just an oddball in a gorilla suit, these figures breath life into elaborately constructed cities, castles and even space stations around the world. The LEGO Group estimates that 340 million minifigures will be produced in 2012 (including minifigures not part of the LEGO® Minifigures collectibles).

The massively multiplayer online game that Funcom will develop based on the LEGO® Minifigures franchise will focus on maximum accessibility. Funcom and the LEGO Group will work together to make the game available to consumers in their online channels and will be coordinating activities to provide a broad and enhanced experience for the product line. The game will be a prominent part of the LEGO® Minifigures online experience which already has millions of unique visitors per month.

“The market for family-friendly online experiences intended for children and youngsters is brimming with potential,” says Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas. “Being able to work with a world-renowned brand such as the LEGO® brand to develop an MMO for this audience is incredibly exciting to us as game developers and for Funcom as a company. This is source material we all know and love and we simply cannot wait to get started working with the LEGO Group on realizing this exciting project.”

For more information about Funcom please visit http://www.funcom.com. More information about LEGO® Minifigures can be found on the official website.

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ABOUT FUNCOM – Funcom is an independent developer and publisher of online games for PC and consoles. Funcom has provided outstanding entertainment since 1993 and continues to expand its track-record of more than twenty released games. Recent titles include ‘Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures’, ‘The Longest Journey’, ‘Anarchy Online’ and ‘Dreamfall: The Longest Journey’. For corporate information please visit www.funcom.com. For information about Funcom games visit www.anarchy-online.com, www.dreamfall.com, www.thesecretworld.com or www.ageofconan.com. Funcom is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker FUNCOM.

ABOUT THE LEGO GROUP: The LEGO Group is a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company is still owned by the Kirk Kristiansen family who founded it in 1932.

The LEGO Group is engaged in the development of children’s creativity through playing and learning. Based on the world-famous LEGO® brick, the company today provides toys, experiences and teaching materials for children in more than 130 countries. The LEGO Group has approximately 10,000 employees, and it is the world’s third largest manufacturer of play materials.

Our head office is in Billund, Denmark but we have subsidiaries and branches throughout the world, and LEGO products are sold in more than 130 countries.

The first studio to express interest in a LEGO movie was Warner Brothers, coming in February of 2014. That makes sense considering the various DC and Harry Potter success with LEGO video games. But now, Universal Studios is looking to develop a series of films based on LEGO Hero Factory.

The script is being written by Michael Finch and Alex Litvak, who wrote “Predators,” and will tell the story of the beacon of strength and security throughout the universe … The Hero Factory.

But when a vast and hideous collection of villains and monsters break lose from their cells and flee to all corners of the galaxy, it’s up to the Hero’s of the Factory to capture them. But what the Hero’s don’t know is that the breakout was part of a greater plan by the evil Black Phantom, who uses the ruse to destroy the Factory’s Assembly Tower. With the mission managers immobilized by Black Phantom, Hero Factory locked down and all contact with the heroes cut off, it’s up to Rocka, a solitary hero to foil Black Phantom’s diabolical plans and save Hero Factory.

Sounds like a fun popcorn movie for kids and you can bet it’ll sell some toys to boot!

Hat Tip – SHH

The subsidized model is very similar to what cellphone carriers do to lure new and existing customers to stay with their wireless service and get the latest hot handset. Only the difference here is that while a new iPhone 4S would set you back about $2000 or more over the course of the contract (you an buy an unlocked iPhone for about $700), a 4GB XBox with Kinect and a two year membership in XBox Live will only set you back about $40 more than if you bought the Kinect Bundle separately and then added the XBox Live membership. That ain’t bad. And even better, if you bought them all piecemeal, you’d end up spending $10 more.

Clearly, Microsoft is going after improving their market share. And this may just suck me in. We have a PS3, which we bought because it gave us a Blu-ray player and free online gaming. I wanted an XBox for Halo, but didn’t really want to pay for XBox Live when Sony’s online offerings were free. Then SONY got hacked and handled it really badly. Couple that with that now we’re looking to cut the cord and we can do a lot more with XBox Media Center and stream TV online.

The deal is reported to be only available at the Microsoft Store with no word on if it’ll be available online or through retailers. So I’ll be paying close attention to this to see how well it does. And if it’s successful, who knows, maybe we’ll see subsidized Wii’s or PS4s (if that ever comes out).

Hat Tip – D’Vice

The first is called TOY HUNTERS and it’s actually on the air right now with the Travel Channel. Toy Hunters, features toy and collectibles dealer Jordan Hembrough and his team as they travel the country searching for rare and valuable pop culture toys and collectibles. The show premiered on the Travel Channel last January and will broadcast a season of 12 episodes.

The second comes from the SyFy channel and is called Toy Traveler. The show features Shane Turgeon, known as the Indiana Jones of toy collectors, as he travels to remote corners of the world to find the rarest and most valuable toys and collectibles. Turgeon digs through old toy warehouses in a remote locations and small swap meets, going at any length to find the most unique and collectible toys. The show will premiere on SyFy in 2013.

But there’s also a series that SyFy is going to carry which will serve to curb the addiction of collecting. Called Collection Intervention, the show feature Elyse Luray, a sharp and to-the-point collectibles expert who intervenes in the lives of couples divided over collections that are ruining their marriages. Think of it as The Nanny meets Antiques Roadshow. Luray will help couples decide what’s worth keeping and what they can sell, with the proceeds going to achieving a family dream or goal.

Looks like Toys are going to hit center stage this fall on Cable!

The store grand openings will be as follows:

April 27-29: Opry Mills Nashville, TN
April 27-29: Eastview Victor, NY
May 4-6: Oakridge Centre Vancouver, BC
May 11-13: Mayfair Wauwatosa, WI

On these opening weekends, LEGO will be sponsoring Master Builder construction of 8 foot tall models depicting either Spongebob Squarepants, Buzz Lightyear or R2-D2 (depending on the store). And what’s cool is that kids will be chosen to be the Brickmaster’s assistant for the LEGO model construction. Participants will receive a Certificate of Achievement and I’m sure plenty of photo opportunities with their new creation (but what, no brick sets for the effort?!).

Other swag available to celebrate the openings include …

Free LEGO Minifigure T-Shirt with a $35 purchase on Friday
Free Limited-Edition LEGO Store Set with a $35 purchase on Saturday (this is going to be a popular one)
and a free Exclusive Minfigure Set with a $35 purchase on Sunday.

There is also going to be a one year anniversary celebration of the LEGO Store at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, CA. There will be a huge brick building event plus special deals that will include a free LEGO Star Wars Mini TIE Fighter model with $50 purchase.

For more information, visit Stores.LEGO.com.

Hat Tip – Toys and Bricks