New LEGO Star Wars Sets Based on Scenes from Original Trilogy
LEGO has revealed new sets and vehicles based on the original Star Wars trilogy coming this March.
Some of the new sets include C-3PO and R2-D2 in their escape pod from the first Star Wars. Han Solo is featured in a Carbon-Freezing Chamber, complete with the smuggling scoundrel frozen in carbonite, and in a Hoth Attack set, both from Empire Strikes Back.
The Star Wars sets will retail for $10 USD for an AT-DP with pilot to $25 each for the Droid Escape Pod, and Empire Strikes Back sets.
Going beyond the original trilogy, LEGO also has a new set featuring Obi-Wan’s Jedi Interceptor, which will retail for $25 and will also be released in March.
We got a closer look at LEGO’s life-sized sculptures of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens cast at Toy Fair. Each character uses an astonishing 20,000 LEGO bricks, with the exception of Captain Phasma. She is comprised of 37,556 bricks and stands close to 7ft tall.
NECA Toys Says Sony is Bringing Back Crash Bandicoot
NECA Toys' toy director Randy Falk said Sony is bringing back Crash Bandicoot. During the New York Toy Fair this weekend, Falk spoke with PixelDan about NECA's upcoming products.
In the video posted on Destructoid, Falk says the company has "a lot of stuff going on with Sony." The toy director continues to praise Sony and its titles, saying "I see they're bringing Crash Bandicoot back, so there's some great stuff there."
Awesome Force Awakens Life-Sized LEGO Models
LEGO is displaying its life-sized brick sculptures of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens cast at this year's Toy Fair. Three of the six figures were revealed last week, but we got up close with the whole crew on the show floor.
The LEGO statues are built to scale with the actors in the film, and each use over 20,000 LEGO bricks. Captain Phasma is reportedly the most complex of the group—composed of 37,556 bricks and standing close to 7ft tall. The Captain took 275 hours to build, while Rey and Kylo Ren, on the other hand, took 200 hours.
How HBO’s Vinyl Examines a Crucial Time in Music
Less than two years after Boardwalk Empire wrapped up, the creator of that series, Terence Winter, is launching a new show on HBO this Sunday, Vinyl, that once more teams him with Martin Scorsese – their third collaboration in recent years, including The Wolf of Wall Street, which Winter wrote.
Centered around Richie (Boardwalk Empire alum Bobby Cannavale), a record executive in 1973, Vinyl finds Winter and Scorsese – who directed the pilot – collaborating with another very notable executive producer this time out, the legendary Mick Jagger.
I spoke with Winter about the genesis of Vinyl, casting Cannavale, how the series will touch upon different eras in music, the use of real life musical artists mixed with fictional ones (Led Zeppelin are played by actors in the premiere) and more.
Going Back in Time Could Kill Your iPhone
If you see someone on a forum or elsewhere online suggesting setting your iPhone's clock back to the '70s, under no circumstances should you follow through with it.
iPhone users have discovered a bug that could permanently brick your phone. Setting your phone to its earliest possible date, January 1, 1970, causes the crash. Apple hasn't released an official statement regarding why this is happening.
However, CNN Money speculates it has to do with Unix time. Unix began counting seconds at midnight on January 1, 1970, GMT, making the date 00:00:00 in Unix time.
Kojima Wanted to Make Silent Hills With Gears of War Creator
Hideo Kojima once approached Cliff Bleszinski to collaborate on the now-defunct Silent Hills, according to the Gears of War creator.
"Kojima once told me he wanted me to do a new Silent Hill w him together out of LA," Bleszinski wrote on Twitter. "I was flattered but declined."
In a separate post, Bleszinski explained why he declined Kojima's offer. "I don't like LA, I love new IP, and I woulda f**ked up SH," he wrote.
Kojima went on to team with filmmaker Guillermo del Toro and The Walking Dead actor Norman Reedus for the project, before its official cancellation last April. Following his split with Konami, Kojima formed Kojima Productions, an independent development studio creating a console-exclusive game for PlayStation platforms.
New LEGO Minecraft Sets Revealed
LEGO has revealed all-new Minecraft sets at Toy Fair 2016.
The block-shaped toy sets based on the sandbox game, which uses textured cubes as its primary component for construction, will retail between $20 and $110 USD.
The LEGO sets will be available with a variety of characters and in settings like The End Portal, The Jungle Tree House, and The Fortress.
In related LEGO news, last week, a new LEGO Ghostbusters set based on the upcoming film directed by Paul Feig was revealed.
Michael Martin is a full-time freelance writer with way too many pop culture mash-up t-shirts to count. Follow him on Twitter @Bizarro_Mike.
McFarlane Toys’ Reveals Latest The Walking Dead Figures
McFarlane Toys has revealed its latest line-up of figures, statues, and bobbleheads based on AMC’s The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead TV shows at Toy Fair 2016.
The showcase is highlighted by an enormous, highly-detailed Negan statue. He stands on a pile of zombies with his fist raised high, while holding his trademark baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire.
If you’ve ever wanted to reenact the Walkers overrunning the prison in The Walking Dead, there’s a whole playset for that now. Also on display are a range of excellent looking deluxe figures, including an assault rifling-toting Glenn, Darryl with a motorcycle, and Travis from Fear the Walking Dead.
Speaking of Darryl, McFarlane Toys’ upcoming Darryl Dixon resin statue looks incredible. Darryl sits atop his motorcycle, running over a zombie with his front tire while scoring a headshot with this crossbow on another.
DC Bombshells as Poseable Barbie-Style Dolls
Tonner Doll Company is showcasing its new line of "DC Stars Collection" Bombshell dolls this weekend at Toy Fair 2016.
The collection features poseable Barbie-style figures of Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn and Batwoman. In addition, a pair of My Imagination outfits for Supergirl and Wonder Woman were on display at the event, all of which can be seen in the gallery below.
The My Imagination outfits are $40 each, while the Bombshell dolls are a bit more expensive, with Wonder Woman priced at $170, and Harley Quinn and Batwoman for $180 each.
That's not the only set of comic-themed toys on display at Toy Fair 2016, as Funko is showcasing an array of Suicide Squad figures, including The Joker, Harley Quinn and Rick Flag, as well as several Marvel heroes, including Doctor Strange and Spider-Gwen.
Black Sails: The Importance of Blackbeard to Vane
Zach McGowan is quite a presence on TV these days. The actor can currently be seen in Season 3 of Starz’ Black Sails, as his character, Charles Vane, finds himself wanted dead or alive, and back in contact with his old mentor – Edward Teach, AKA Blackbeard (Ray Stevenson).
In addition, McGowan has a recurring role on the CW’s The 100 this year, as Roan – who just had one hell of a fight scene in this week’s episode.
I recently sat down with McGowan to talk about how things have changed for Vane on Black Sails, the importance of characters like Jack Rackham and Blackbeard to him and more.
We also chatted a bit about The 100 and that aforementioned fight scene he had with Lexa this past week (you may have seen some of these quotes in an earlier piece about that fight specifically).