Yesterday MTV Geek got an exclusive first-look at the new TMNT toys that will be coming out later this year, and they are amazing. I was going to hop on the bandwagon yesterday and post the initial photos but I decided to hold off so I could try to organize my thoughts on the two different lines in a little more depth. Playmates is releasing lines based on the new show as well as a TMNT Classics line modeled after the original cartoon. Today I’m going to talk mostly about those.

2012: Year of the Dragon Turtle

With the new CGI show airing on Nickelodeon this year and Playmates releasing these toys, it could be a huge year for the Turtles. I haven’t seen anything from the new cartoon, but I know lots of awesome people are working on it and it should appeal to kids without seeming like some recycled 80s fad. Combine that with the fact that these new toys look like the best Playmates have ever released, and we could potentially have ourselves full-blown TMNT mania again.

I browse the toy aisles at the megastores as often as I can, and everything pretty much looks the same these days. You have your big robot toys, your superheros, tacky wrestling figures, and whatever is the flavor-of-the-month from Hollywood.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys always look great in the aisles, and with these new toys looking so great, I hope kids buy the crap out of them and reward Playmates for their awesome work for over 25 years.

TMNT Classic Collection

He's cool, but rude.

And even though I had boxes full of TMNT toys as a kid, it feels like I’m getting action figures based on the original cartoon for the first time ever.

It’s no secret that the original TMNT action figures didn’t look like their animated counterparts, but nobody really cared. They were still awesome toys and they flew off the shelves. In 1992 Playmates released the Toon Turtles in an attempt to be more cartoonish, but they just looked like Aardman claymation versions of the Turtles. (Note to self, make that happen).

Fast forward 20 years and with the TMNT Classics line we’re finally getting some action figures that look like they stepped right out of the campy 80s cartoon, and that makes me happy.

Here’s hoping they sell well, because Playmates said they would release more characters if the initial series is successful. Thinking about TMNT Classics versions of Shredder, April, Casey Jones, Splinter, Krang, Bebop, and Rocksteady is making me mentally clear off shelves in my office to make room.

It will be interesting to see how they market the classic line, and if they give them the same shelf space as the newer updated Turtles. At least it looks like they nailed the packaging, which means I’ll have to buy two sets, one to keep in the box and one to play with have on display.

The only negative thing I can think of about the classic collection is pretty small, and stems from me being a hardcore fan of the 80s cartoon. I wish they had Happy Faces you could switch out so they’re not angry all the time. Oh well, at least I’ll be smiling when I get these.

Thanks to Ninja Pizza and MTV Geek for the images. Make sure to check out Rose’s in-depth coverage of the new toys as Toy Fair unfolds over the next few days.

Ready Player One is a futuristic novel by Ernest Cline (writer of Fanboys) that presents a dismal future in which most of the population spend all the time inside a vast virtual world called the OASIS. The eccentric inventor of the game was obsessed with 80s pop culture. Upon his death he devised a game to pass off his massive fortune to someone who could beat a series of challenges designed to test the player’s knowledge of the geeky bits of culture he was so obsessed with. Join Rob, Tim, and Tommy as they discuss the book, including spoilers, and try to decide if the pop culture references make the book unique or ruin the whole story.

The Top Hat Sasquatch team reads a lot of blog posts every day, and some slip through the crack or just don’t warrant their own post. That’s where Missing Links comes in. Every few days we collect the best links we’ve come across and pass them on to you.

LEGO Lord of the Rings News: LEGO Gollum Poster, LOTR Minifigs Revealed
Yet another awesome minifig reveal by LEGO for their Lord of the Rings line. Also a first look at the Orcs and Ringwraiths. So far, I like everything I've seen and can't wait to build these sets.

Threadless on the Xbox Live Avatar Marketplace
Your Xbox avatar can now wear Funkalicious, among other classic Threadless t-shirts. The circle is now complete.

Vortex, a USB keytar
As a musician and a geek, I approve of this keytar midi controller, even though half of the fun of keytars is standing up and looking like a dork in front of a lot of people, not just your computer.

Hyrulecraft, a complete Minecraft replica of Ocarina of Time, is now live
The lengths that geeks are willing to go these days to create awesome things astounds me.

Nickelodeon Universe Announces New TMNT Thrill Ride
Looks like I'll be going to the Mall of America sometime this year. This ride sounds great! Also, note the appearance of Shredder in this mockup. He looks kind of cool!

RetroBit RetroDuo Portable takes your SNES games on the go, $20 adapters bring NES and Genesis as well | The Verge
Looks like the portable SNES that Tim linked to around the holidays has some (much cheaper) competition.

At the end of Damaged #4 (See my review of #1-4), Frank, the soon-to-retire head of a special police task force, was teaching his young replacement, Cassidy, how to be a cop on the rough streets of San Francisco.  Meanwhile, Frank’s brother, Henry, a cop-turned-heavily-armed-vigilante, has taken on his own protege, Lordsman, a police officer sent to prison for refusing to help while a known gangster died in a car fire.  Lordsman, though, doesn’t agree with Henry’s philosophy of taking out the criminals to clean up the streets.  Instead, Lordsman believes the cure to the ills of society have to start by cutting off the head – the corrupt politicians and policemen.  When he goes on a mission without Henry in tow, he puts a dirty cop in the hospital with a career-ending injury, which only makes the police that much more interested in catching the vigilante duo.

Issue #5 picks up with Frank officially retired, so that he can go after his brother; if he can’t bring him in, they’ll both go down.  Meanwhile, Cassidy convinces the injured cop to give up his dirty brethren, and learns they’re whooping it up at a local brothel run by the same mob that pays them under the table.  Unfortunately, Henry has lost control of his pupil, and Lordsman, who knows all the dirty cops’ hangouts, heads to the brothel to deal his own brand of justice.  While there, Lordsman and Cassidy exchange a lot of bullets with each other, but come out unscathed.  The same can’t be said for Cassidy’s backup, though.  In the end, Henry realizes that he has to stop his rampaging apprentice.

Ahh, a nice post-Botox meal the whole family can enjoy.

Sadly, very little of that is present in issue #5.  In fact, to use an outdated phrase, this may be where Damaged “jumped the shark.”  Gone are most of the diary pages, which have been replaced by characters saying out loud exactly what they’re thinking and feeling.  As this is the penultimate issue, the pace has been sped up, almost like a TV show that’s been told mid-season it’s getting canceled – they have to tie up loose ends, character development be damned, in order to make the series finale be the big battle with the arch-enemy like all the fans expect (*ahem*Dollhouse*ahem*).

"Nothin' much, man. Just practicing my poses for next month's Abercrombie catalog shoot...with chains!"

The artwork is, for the most part, as solid as it was in the first four issues.  As before, there are some frames that are so wonderfully rendered, they almost appear to have come directly from a movie.  However, there is some evidence that the art might have been a little rushed this time out, too.  Some of the characters look more posed than in the previous issues, some of the action scenes are a little awkward, and the perspective seems off every once in a while.  There also appear to be times when the same artwork is practically copy-and-pasted, with only minor tweaks to the shading or a slightly different pose (see the first page above).  It just feels like shortcuts were taken with this issue in general.  These minor quibbles aside, the art is heads and shoulders above what many comic books are doing today, but it feels a little less focused this time out.

Why can't all the art look this damn good?

Damaged #5 from Radical Publishing will be available at your local comic shop on February 1.

If you’ve been following me on Twitter, Pinterest, or around in the store lately you know I’m completely addicted to LEGO right now. 2012 is going to be a crazy huge year for the toy company, and a couple main reasons are the addition of the Lord of the Rings and Super Heroes lines. LEGO has been teasing us with posters of a few LOTR characters recently, but folks at the London ToyFair got some early shots of the new minifigures and they look amazing.

First off, I wish I could have LEGO Hobbit hair. It’s perfect. Second, Sam doesn’t quite look goofy enough, and Boromir looks a little odd. But you have to admit, seeing the Fellowship in minifigure form like that is pretty awesome.

Head over to FBTB for a smallish new glimpse at the Avengers. Who knew Captain America would translate to LEGO form so well?

Via From Bricks to Bothans

Are you one of the bzilions of geeks who enjoyed the two Batman games by Rocksteady Studios? I know I am. Now, are you also a huge TMNT geek? I thought so. There is a rumor going around (sadly not very substantiated) that Rocksteady Studios could be developing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game next. When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. It could be dark and gritty like their Batman games, and the combat could be very similar. Insert the Foot Clan, the TMNT rogues gallery, and a healthy bit of nostalgia, and I’m sold.

This rumor is so awesome I actually avoided any Bebop and Rocksteady puns.

I doubt it’s true at all, but it made me happy just thinking about a TMNT game made by the fine folks at Rocksteady, and I thought it was worth posting if only for discussion’s sake. So, what would you like to see in a TMNT game in the style of the Arkham Asylum series? The Party Van? Pizza power-ups? Ace Duck?

I love a good Muppets/Star Wars crossover. Whether it’s the famed Mark Hamill episode of The Muppet Show or the recent Star Wars themed Muppet figurines at the Disney parks, I’m all for it. There’s something awesome about those two universes colliding. Maybe it’s because Frank Oz was Yoda. Hmm.

Anyway, deviantART user loopydave created this gorgeous Photoshop portrait of Miss Piggy meeting up with a Gamorrean guard in a cantina, and I can’t think of a better pair. Make sure to check it out at full size. I hope he makes prints of this, I would definitely buy one.

The Top Hat Sasquatch team reads a lot of blog posts every day, and some slip through the crack or just don’t warrant their own post. That’s where Missing Links comes in. Every few days we collect the best links we’ve come across and pass them on to you.

How To Build the Best Lego X-Wing Ever
Gizmodo may not be good for much anymore, but I'm glad they posted Mike Psiaki's awesome LEGO X-Wing in November, because now he sent them a parts list and instructions for how he made his model. Most people agree his version looks better than the new 2012 LEGO X-Wing that comes out soon. What do you think?

LEGO Heroica: fun adventure gaming for kids
Over at BoingBoing they profiled one of the new LEGO games that I so often overlook at the store on purpose, and it actually sounds kind of awesome. It looks like Heroica is almost a gateway RPG for kids, and comes in sets that can all hook together to create one big board. Gweek reviewed the $15 Draida Bay set to high regard.

LEGO Lord of the Rings News: LEGO Aragorn Poster Revealed
Looks like LEGO will be unveiling all their LOTR characters via these cool posters. Can't wait to see the rest.

Rediscovered: Long-Lost Version of “The Hobbit” by Gene Deitch
Interesting find by the guys at Cartoon Brew; an animatic of a planned animated version of 'The Hobbit' by Gene Deitch, a veteran of Tom and Jerry shorts and other classic cartoons.

Fans of obscure animated films rejoice! Weird animator Ralph Bakshi’s 1977 post-apocalyptic fantasy movie is coming to Blu-ray for the first time, and since I haven’t seen it since the days of VHS I’m kind of excited for it. I was never into Bakshi’s urban films, but Wizards always caught my eye and led me to watch his animated version of The Lord of the Rings.

Wizards is an interesting mix of fantasy and post-apocalyptic storytelling, and while it may not be the best animated film of all time, it’s unique. I look forward to seeing it again when it comes out on March 13th.

Via Blu-ray.com

In today’s episode Tim and Tommy are joined by The Cult of LEGO co-author and BrickJournal founder Joe Meno. We discuss the new book, his awesome LEGO magazine, trips to Billund, Denmark, the joys of fan conventions, favorite LEGO themes, and much more.