Board games and a medieval setting; the cheese and crackers of the table-top! Farming! Economics! Commerce! Mayhap some flax! But beneath the cheerily constructive historical tinkering, there are avaricious, power-hungry backstabbers lurking in the shadows. Hold onto coin purse strings, we’re going to Slyville.

The third title from relative newcomers Hexy Studio (Star Scrappers: Cave In, Hard City,) Slyville sees 3 to 5 rival guilds racing to gain influence over the titular medieval town. If you can successfully balance bluffing, timing, and the judicious application of blade to spine, then you’ll become the favoured guild of the capricious Prince and win the game. The city, rendered by Przemysław Gul, and given colourful life by Gul and Tomasz Larek, helps distinguish medieval Slyville from the multitude of similar settings. I especially enjoy the threat of the sawn-through stool on the Sabotage card.

Ayyy! Sit on it!

The heart of the game is a deck of seven cards, and the decisions, not only of which four (three in a 5-player game) you will play, and into which districts, but the manner in which you do so. Poker-face an Acquisition card into an uncontested spot to gain a good you need later, quietly seed a district with a Sabotage card to protect your upcoming Big Deal, or mislead the table by boldly slapping down a hopeless Small Deal; all the while trying to read your opponents’ moves and keep track of what goods lie on each player’s board. Once the districts are resolved, the cheesy grins and muttered cursing around the table will tell the truth of each game’s turn. The Prince’s Favourite (First Player) has the opportunity to further meddle by seeding the board with a Prince’s Decree, it’s effect on the turn known only to them until the latter phase of the turn, when the regions are resolved.

There is a lot I like about Slyville; Its engaging mix of forward planning, reading the table, bluffing, and luck reminds me pleasantly of Mission: Red Planet. It’s easy to learn, moves along at a fair clip, and always proceeds toward the 100-point goal, eschewing the grinding tug-of-war of games like Munchkin. Nobody is ever out of the race for long, the players don’t fight to balance the game, the board state doesn’t change chaotically, and your seven cards return to you each turn, ready to scheme anew. Similarly, your goods-gathering Henchman might be displaced, or exiled from the city entirely, but are soon back in the fray with a timely Takeover card. The Prince’s Favourite  resolves ties, and may be influenced by the other players, but we found they frequently default to supporting their own interests, or those of the player in the weakest position.

If this seems rather mild, it’s because it rather is.

The wealth of a city, in my ham-like grasp!

Slyville’s metagame revolves around convincing the Prince’s Favourite to act in your favour, or against an opponent. The only tools available to do this are promises of mutual back-scratching, or Brutal threats. Our group found that with the lack of any concrete bribes, table talk had minimal impact, but other groups may bring this aspect to life. There’s definitely a niche for a ‘mean family game’ where the stakes feel lower, the penalties less harsh, but Slyville has traded some drama along with chaos, to achieve its aim. This reduced amplitude between the peaks and troughs of glee and frustration risks the game falling between the cracks if it doesn’t reach its audience quickly. This is, I feel, the biggest challenge facing Slyville. With almost 10,000 games being produced annually, the window for a game to make its mark is extremely slim. Slyville feels complete and well-realised, appealing without gimmickry, or acres of plastic, though it can feel that this fox is stealing chicken nuggets, not raiding the hen house.

We built this city on enforced acquisition of material goods!

If the sneaky city of Slyville intrigues you, pre-orders will be open soon, and Hexy Studio will have final production copies ready at Essen 2019, booth 5-K105.

Notes on components:
This preview is of a prototype copy of the game. The art is close to finalised, but the components are subject to change. The iconography is clear and logical, though the colour-blind-proofing of the game could be improved if it extended to the player boards and main board districts. I would like to see the Goods tokens matched to the squares on the player boards, as they’re currently very small. I’d also like to see the Takeover and Goods Pile spaces on the main board outlined identically to the card placement spots for consistency’s sake. It was pointed out to me by another player that the art for Ulrika Krieger (Red Ruffians Gang) has her head in an impossible position and angle, and I cannot now un-see it.

Disclaimer: Hexy Studio kindly supplied a prototype of Slyville for the purpose of this preview.

There have been many attempts to adapt sports to the table top, but is this game one to be caught, or dodged?

Sports games are nothing new in the world of board gaming; from Blood Bowl to Dreadball, Kaosball to Grind, many companies have tried to capture the speed, skill and tactics of various beautiful (and occasionally ugly) games. Wizard Dodgeball from Mind the Gap Studios differs from most by offering a clean, simple and faithful filler-weight translation of the titular all-American school classic. With wizards. And fireballs. And a turtle.

The game is simple – each player forms a 5-player team from either a randomly selected or drafted pool of wizards and tries to grab balls from the centre of the board and blat the opposition in their wizardly faces to knock them out. Each wizard activates once in a set order with play alternating in an ‘I go, you go’ fashion and any eliminated wizards are skipped over, forcing their controlling player to miss a turn. Where the magic happens is…well, it’s when the magic happens isn’t it? Each player selects a hand of spells up to the combined total of their teams’ magic statistic and can cast them gleefully on friends, foes and balls during play.

So far, pretty straight forward and if that is all that Wizard Dodgeball had up its capacious sleeves then there’d not really be much to write home about, but the game’s charm comes from a near perfect balance of simplicity, game length and card play. For example, once a spell is cast it stays out of play until the end of the casting wizard’s next turn, meaning that you have to be very careful as to when you play a card, as you won’t get it back for four more turns. You might want to teleport a wizard to the centre line to grab a ball on turn 1, but you might kick yourself when you later find a player stranded and out of spherical ammunition. Several of the spells are nifty buffs and de-buffs, too, but as each wizard has but two actions to perform per turn you have to balance the relative worth of, for example, magically shielding a vulnerable team mate with taking a pot-shot at an exposed opponent’s silly hat.

I mentioned earlier that each wizard is unique, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be overwhelmed with stats to learn. Throwing, catching and the casting and resisting of spells are all covered by the number and colour of custom dice that each wizard uses; at a glance you can see the relative strengths and weaknesses of each team member and plan accordingly, without referencing anything beyond their individual cards. The game also provides a bunch of tokens for each spell effect to remind you who has ‘butterfingers’ or magical speed and of course which balls are on fire.

Wizard Dodgeball hits the exact right spot for a filler game – easy to teach, fast to play and entertaining with neither too much depth, nor none at all, but it is still rather rough around the edges. The cards and rules are rather patchy with their use of terminology and didn’t cover several interactions and situations which arose during my games (the designer kindly gave his time to answer my questions on Twitter), also I can’t shake an odd, nagging feeling that certain parts of the design, such as line-of-sight don’t really add much to the gameplay as it stands. I feel that some of the decisions in the game are quite obvious, such as attacking an opponents weakest player, or trying to knock out their next player to force a skipped turn in which you can repeat the process and deny multiple turns. I’m not at all a fan of games which make you skip your turn, but the latest version of the rules introduces a much better elimination-free variant which weakens your play, rather than negating it entirely. Finally, I think that spells that don’t target an opponent should have a fixed minimum number to roll dice against and I would love to see more variety in the spell cards, though I understand that the designer is working on an expansion to remedy this.

All in all, Wizard Dodgeball achieves exactly what it sets out to do – it’s a light, tactical filler game with an interesting theme and twist on a very familiar and popular sport. It won’t tax your brain, but, much like Luchador! Mexican Wrestling Dice it is genuinely good fun for the small investment of time it requires. And it does indeed have wizards playing dodgeball.

One of them is called Archibald Von Sassypants. He is a cat. SOLD!

Wizard Dodgeball is in the final days of it’s Kickstarter and features artwork and graphic design that is massively improved from the already adequate print-and-play version I have put to the table, why not go and see for yourself?

Disclosure: A print-and-play edition of Wizard Dodgeball was kindly provided by Mind the Gap Studios for the purpose of this preview.

It’s fair to say that I’m excited for Guardians of The Galaxy, it’s also fair to say that we love LEGO here on The Website of Doom. You see where I’m going with this? Course you do, you read the title! LEGO have been kind enough to send us a press release for three of the brand new sets themed around the upcoming movie! Let’s take a gander at these out of this world sets!

Starblaster Showdown (76019), RRP £19.99

Launch into battle against the Sakaaran’s Necrocraft in the awesome Starblaster and help Star-Lord to escape with the orb! Place the Nova officer in the cockpit and launch into the sky. Fold back the wings for high-speed pursuit mode and then flip them up to activate arrest mode. Use the space blasters and boot thrusters of Star-Lord to outwit the enemy and protect the priceless orb! Includes 3 minifigures with assorted weapons and accessories: Star-Lord, the Sakaaran and a Nova officer.

Knowhere Escape Mission (76019), RRP £44.99

They’ve discovered the rare orb in the mining fields, only to be ambushed by the bad guys. Evade shots from the huge bazooka assembled by the Sakaaran and the evil Nebula and return fire with Rocket Raccoon’s custom space blaster. Leap into action with the gigantic posable Groot to confront the sword-wielding Nebula. Launch a fierce counter-attack so Rocket Raccoon can get away in the mining pod with the precious orb in its grabbing claw! Includes 3 minifigures with assorted weapons: Rocket Raccoon, Nebula and the Sakaaran, plus Groot figure.

The Milano Spaceship Rescue (76019), RRP £69.99

Prepare for an epic clash between the Guardians of the Galaxy and the ultimate villain, Ronan! Ronan zooms into this epic deep-space battle in his personal Necrocraft, backed up by the Sakaaran, and holding his all-powerful Cosmi-Rod ready to strike. Luckily, Star-Lord is prepared to launch a counter-attack with the equally potent Hadron Enforcer and 2 iconic space blasters. Steer the mighty Milano Spaceship into battle with Gamora and Drax, firing the stud shooters and flick missiles to repel this evil threat to the Galaxy. Includes 5 minifigures with assorted weapons and accessories: Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Ronan and the Sakaaran.

Man, these sets are ASTOUNDING! It’s mind-blowing enough to be getting a movie of my favourite Marvel super-team but to also have them in LEGO form? Is it Secret Sharp-O Christmas, because it feels like it!

I can’t speak to how mainstream these will be, given that the mainstreamers I know respond to Guardians with a collective “Wot?” but for the Marvel fans, the LEGO fans and just fans both young and old, I think these will do well. I mean, who doesn’t want another Chris Pratt Minifigure?

All of these sets are available RIGHT NOW from all good retailers and from LEGO.com!

Just in time for the Easter Holidays, LEGO is releasing a brand-new range of their smash-hit LEGO Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and I’m going run down these new sets and give my general thoughts. Be sure to click on the images for an enlarged version so you can see all the little details!

Karai Bike (#79118 RRP £11.99)

Leonardo has teamed up with Karai and her super-cool motorbike to grab the lost mutagen canisters. Speed across the city streets and hang on tight as Karai accelerates on the dual-exhaust motorbike and swerves past roadwork signs and lights. Don’t forget to lasso Leonardo along for the thrill-packed ride! Retrieve that mutagen before it is too late!  Includes two minifigures with weapons and accessories: Karai and Leonardo.

I won’t say too much about this since I’ll be reviewing it in a couple days but it’s nice to see another entry level set.

Mutation Chamber Unleashed (#79119 RRP £19.99)

Uh-oh, it’s Turtle trouble! Raphael has infiltrated the Kraang’s lab and discovered the Mutation Chamber which can turn humans into mutant creatures. Climb the ladder with Victor, spin the electrodes and knock him into the mutation tank. Turn the knob to activate the mutation. When the transformation is complete, open the doors and unleash the fearsome Spider Bytez!  Includes two minifigures with weapons and accessories: Victor, Raphael, and a Spider Bytez figure.

I really like the gimmick of this set. It’s simple concept but allows kids to tell a story with their set or even make up one of their own! Spider Bytez is a new mould to suit his, equally rotund, animated counterpart. I’m surprised they didn’t include a Kraang minifigure as well. The armoured look of Raphael is a little weird to me too.

T-Rawket Sky Strike (#79120 RRP £29.99)

Take to the skies with the Turtles’ homemade T-Rawket and battle the evil Kraang as they drop mutagen bombs all over the city. Dodge the Ship’s flick missiles and return fire with a sizzling slice of Turtle Power from the trusty pizza shooter. But watch out! April’s dad has been transformed into mutated Dr. O’Neil so strap on a backpack glider, activate the ejector seat and launch a Turtle into the air to save him. Turtle Power! Includes four minifigures with weapons and accessories: Donatello, Michelangelo, Mutated Dr. O’Neil and The Kraang.

I think this is the set I have issues with. The T-Rawket looks like a VERY simplistic build for the price-point but the Kraang ship looks like a fun build and the new aviator style Turtles are a great throwback to the 80’s toy line and the bizarre uniforms they’d have then. The set rounds out with a Kraang pilot and the mutant bat guy with the huge noggin!

Turtle Sub Undersea Chase (#79121 RRP £59.99)

The power cell has been stolen by The Kraang and only the Turtles can stop them in their awesome Turtle Sub. Rev up the engine and power away in hot pursuit of the Kraang sub with Donatello, Leonardo and Leatherhead.  Watch out for the Kraang sub’s flick missiles, fire the shooter and detach the mini sub to ambush the shark droids’ underwater vehicle. Select a weapon from the armory and dive into the water for a thrilling Ninja Turtle vs. The Kraang underwater standoff! Includes four minifigures with weapons and accessories: Donatello, Leonardo, two Kraang, plus a Leatherhead figure.

I haven’t seen the Turtle Sub in the show but I assume it’d look something like this, maybe with bigger flippers. The interior is fantastic! Very detailed and it looks like you could easily fit all four Turtles into this sub. I like how the Kraang troops have little shark fins for underwater combat and the new Leatherhead looks pretty good! One thing I love about the Turtles theme is that they’re never afraid to break out a new mould for one of the unique mutants and they always pull it off pretty well.

Much like last year, this years sets are sure to be a big hit with kids and collectors alike and are available in all major toy retailers now. Be sure to come back soon for my review of the Karai Bike and make sure you check out the super-cool alternate building instructions on the LEGO TMNT website if you want to try building something different with your sets!

First up, I might as well throw up the new trailer that Warner Bros. put out. It’s looking just as fun as the original trailer made it out to be.

Look out for that coming in February 2014!

The LEGO Movie is going to have a whopping 14 sets released to coincide with the movie in 2014 as well the 12th Series of the Collectable Minifigures being comprised solely of characters in the movie.

Just like any other Minifigure Series, this one has a nice variety to it, incorporating elements we’ve seen before with all new pieces.

• William Shakespeare
• Gail the Construction Worker
• Panda Guy
• Abraham Lincoln
• Taco Tuesday Guy
• Larry the Barista
• President Business
• Calamity Drone
• Marsha Queen of the Mermaids
• Wild West Wyldstyle
• Scribbe-Face Bad Cop
• Velma Staplebot
• Hard Hat Emmet
• “Where are my Pants?” Guy
• Mrs. Scratchen-Post
• Wiley Fusebot.

There’s already so many instant favourites in this series.

As for main sets, only a couple have been shown through official images as of time of writing. Here’s my thoughts on them!

The Super Cycle Chase features the motorcycle that is in quite a lot of the trailers and on the cover of the videogame so it’s a definitive set to have for me.

The Cloud Cuckoo Palace is the home of Uni-Kitty (voiced by Community and Mad Men star Alison Brie) is immensely weird. It’s combination of white and pastel colours should make for a cutesy set but between Emmet’s expression, the presence of a robot minion and the absolutely DERANGED look on Uni-Kitty’s face, I’m thinking this may be one of the darker moments of the film. Or I could be completely wrong and Uni-Kitty is an ally but still. That face. That cold… unblinking… stare.

Lord Business’ Evil Lair looks to be one of the larger sets of the line, and I’m not just talking about his giant platform shoes!  I have no context for whatever scene in the movie this is based on but boy, it looks like some crazy stuff. There’s some sort of super glue tube being squeezed by a claw and two cops being blasted by the glue. There’s a luchadore imprisoned and there’s that Uni-Kitty again, only this time wearing glasses and a tie! I really like how ludicrous Lord Business is, as well.

Metalbeard’s Duel features the hulking pirate against some sort of evil robot dubbed a Micro Manager. There’s some other minifigs in the set too but the big draw is obviously two massive mecha duking it out!
That’s all I really have to show you guys for the moment but more and more sets are being revealed as we inch closer to the movie’s release so I hope this whets your appetite for the upcoming movie and the toyline.

First up, the 4-inch figures! You may have seen me review some of the MMPR 2010 and Samurai figures last year but this year we can expect a lot more figures that span the entire franchise! These will be Limited Edition figures with a metallic finish and while I think that’d look pretty goofy alongside the regular figures, it’ll be great to see brand new figures of older Rangers in the 4-inch scale.

Limited Edition Metallic Figures

Tokyo Vinyl are in the business of stylised “chibi” interpretations of pop culture characters, in much the same way Pop! Vinyl are and both will be releasing chibi Ranger figures in the near future. Depending on your fetish, you might go for these or not but personally, they’re not for me but I do find them fun in their own way.

Tokyo Vinyl Red Ranger

Want a Megazord but don’t have space for massive chunks of plastic? Then the Retrofire line is for you! The Retrofire line has been around for a few years but with varying degrees of success. They tend to have a weird asymmetrical articulation thing going on where not all the joints can move like it’s opposite though there are a few figures that have regular articulation (both arms and legs move the same way) but if you’re just planning on putting them on a shelf to display, they are generally designed for poses so it’s not too bad. As well as the Megaforce Megazords, they seem to be re-releasing the Dino Megazord as well.

Retrofire Megazords

Want a Megazord and have a sturdy shelf to place heavy objects on? Then the Die-cast Legacy Megazord is for you! It’s the same old Megazord, but it’s heavy as FFFUUUUUU– A lot of grey plastic has been replaced by shiny die-cast metal, notably on the arms and legs (maybe even the sword) and it even comes in a retro stule package that homages the original. I can see these appealing to both fans and 90’s nostalgia buffs.

Legacy Dino Megazord

Rounding out the Megazords and stepping into the realm of Japanese awesomesauce are the Super Robot Chogokin figures. Taking the idea of Retrofires and dialing up the awesome to 11, the SRC Megazords are Japanese die-cast collector figures and so far, there’s been a fair few released. At NYTF, only the Dino Megazord, SPD Delta Squad Megazord and the Samurai Megazord were on display (Alongside some excellent S.H. Figuarts, highly articulated collector figures which I lust after like you wouldn’t believe) but SRC have also create a figure for the Mystic Force Titan Megazord as well so we can probably expect more down the road. I know the SRC Daizyujin (Dino Megazord) is available for pre-order on the US Toys ‘R’ Us site (Due out on the 15th Feb).

SRC Megazords and S.H. Figuarts

Going to a slightly smaller, but no less awesome scale, are the Mighty Morphin’ Legacy Mask Collection. Based on a similar line the Japanese do for all the Sentai Red Rangers, this set is purely for the original Mighty Morphin’ team and it looks glorious! I don’t know whether the full production run will have the Metallic finish like those in the package or there’ll be two variations but either way, I’ll be glad to have them in my display cabinet.

Mighty Morphin’ Legacy Mask Collection

And now, the crown jewel of this entire line-up, the most requested and desired of anything PR-related… The Legacy Power Morpher.

*Squeeeeeeeee*

Yeah, drink it in, friends. This is flavour country. Coming with 5 coins and chock full of lights, sounds and die-cast, the Legacy Power Morpher is the must-have item of this selection and guaranteed to get any fan or nostalgia buff pumped! I don’t have to say anymore, now do I?

That’s all I really have to show you for now, folks! The images I’ve used were gathered by Tokunation and they have more extensive galleries you can check out. I can say for certainty that the Americans and Canadians amongst you will have little to no trouble finding these out in the wild on your side of the pond but for us UK fans, the availability of ANY of these products is up in the air. I guess the 4-inch figures and Retrofires will make it but as for the high-end collectibles? No clue. No word. Only hope that we will not be forgotten in the coming year. Be on the look-out for more Power Ranger articles coming from the DOOM Towers in the coming months and may the Power protect you, always.

Winner of the best ‘Innovative Toy’ award at this year’s Tokyo Toy Fair, the TechPet (Originally dubbed the ‘SmartPet’ in Japan) is an animatronic puppy accessory for your iPhone 3GS, 4 and 4S, as well as the 4th Gen iPod Touch. Combining the best aspects of the Aibo (Remember those, kids?), Tamagotchi (Remember those, adults?) and app connectivity, the TechPet is more to your iPhone or iPod than just another kooky speaker peripheral.

The TechPet’s interactivity stems from an iOS app downloaded to your iDevice of choice and plugged into the TechPet. From then on, your device acts as the TechPet’s face and allows you and the puppy to interact through use of voice commands, Facetime camera and touch screen. The TechPet also grows and adapts as you spend more time with it and will also reward you for doing so; unlocking new tricks, games, items and looks to customise your experience. TechPets can also interact with each other via Bluetooth.

While TechPets act as interactive pals, they also keep all of the functionality of your device of choice, allowing your iPhone to make and receive calls, messages and works as a loudspeaker to play music. The TechPet app also allows you to interact with your ‘Pet on the move when you disconnect your device, playing up the Tamagotchi aspect of gameplay.
Bandai’s TechPet was launched Wednesday 19th September and is available through Toys R Us, John Lewis, Argos, Amazon, The Entertainer with an RRP of £59.99 in White. Unfortunately, I don’t know if they will be producing them in Black soon or as different animals but we can hope!

Young Justice is one of the newest animated shows from DC Entertainment and Warner Bros and is a damn fine show. Debuting nearly 16 months ago, it’s only now that the first season has reached it’s finale. You heard me right, 16 months for 26 episodes. Yeah…… Cartoon Network are fucking assholes. But despite being spread across three years (2010-2012) and constant delays, the show has been consistently engaging. Any time the show has appeared on screens, it’s just as fresh and brilliant as when it left off.

Following the exploits of a covert ops team of teen heroes, Young Justice is written and produced by some of the best in the business, namely Greg Weisman (He of Gargoyles and Spectacular Spiderman fame) and Brandon Vietti (Batman: Under the Red Hood, The Batman). Not to mention an all-star cast, running the gamut from DC Animated staples  to relative new-comers.

So with the Season 2 premiere only days away (Seriously, 16 months but Season 2 starts the week after Season 1 finishes? What clown is in charge of scheduling?) I’m going to be counting down my Top 5 episodes of Season 1, starting with…..

5 – “Welcome to Happy Harbor”

The third episode of the season is where we really start to see the team come together. In the hour-long premiere, the team solely consisted of Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad. They retrieved Superboy from Cadmus Labs, and Miss Martian was introduced just before it ended. It was a pretty dark episode to kick off but fun nonetheless. It’s in this episode where we start to get a feel for how the show is going to portray it’s team when they deal with the villain, Mr Twister, in a surprising show of teamwork. The only downside is the over-use of Miss Martian’s catchphrase “Hello, Megan!” but thankfully that lessens in the future episodes. A fun episode to showcase what the show is and well worth checking out.

4 –  “Coldhearted”

Kid Flash is the comedic relief of the Team so to have an entire episode focus on him and show he’s capable of growth was an excellent move. This is probably my favourite episode of the season so why is it only 4th? Because while I enjoyed it, other episodes did far better in terms of character development. Our red-headed speedster has to run across country to deliver precious cargo to a heart transplant patient, in the snow, with Vandal Savage standing in his way. It’s a recipe that works for me! Wally learns his lesson, grows up a little and even showcases his powers in a more successful way than ’Denial’ did but its just not as strong as some other episodes and this is purely on the list because I enjoy it. It’s my list, I’ll do whatever I want!

3 – “Secrets”

One thing you’ll notice about this show is that it has a definitive timeline, the show makes it clear what day of the year a particular episode takes place on, whether through on screen text or mentions on the show. Case in point, this episode which is a Halloween episode and while Conner, Wally and Megan do the usual Halloween schtick, the episode truly focuses on Zatanna, the relative newbie to the team. Zatanna and Artemis head out on patrol and encounter a seemingly unstoppable opponent in the form of Harm. Aided by a mysterious young girl, the two uncover a horrible secret that ties Harm and Secret together and is actually pretty dark, especially for touching on a subject that is danced around in many other shows. The dark and heavy A-Plot is balanced out by the B-Plot’s humour and shenanigans. From a story perspective, it’s a perfect episode and an excellent way to further add Zatanna to the team.

2 – “Failsafe”

The Justice League is dead before the credits. Yeah, this episode isn’t dicking around. Granted, this is obviously a “What If?” scenario because we’re only 16 episodes into the first season but it’s very apocalyptic and doesn’t mess around with killing off people. It’s an episode along the same lines as “Over the Edge”, an episode of New Adventures of Batman which is quite similar but nowhere near as good. Sorry, but it’s not! “Over the Edge” didn’t have lasting consequences while character development is at an all time high in this episode. We see the Team step into the shoes of their now-dead mentors and deal with this alien threat as the situation becomes more and more dire. Even the Team itself is not safe and while the outcome is obvious, the emotional impact of this episode is felt well into the later half of the series. I’m not giving too much away but it is well worth your time.

1 – “Usual Suspects” & “Auld Acquaintance”

I’m kinda cheating here by having the penultimate episode and finale as my number 1 but they feel so much like a two-parter that they deserve to share the top spot. Greg Weisman said that the theme of the first season is ‘secrets and lies’ during early promotion of the series and that really comes to the fore in these two episodes. The series has been steadily building it’s story from the get-go and these two episodes are where all those plot threads are tightened into one epic story. Who is the mole? What was The Light’s plan? Why did they use so many villains? How will the Team deal with such a threat? And what is “Phase 2”? It’s a rip-roaring two-parter that delivers on all levels and serves as set-up for season 2: “Invasion”.

Check out the trailer for Season 2 (SPOILERS)

See you next time!

Another week, another preview of upcoming toys but I’m out of my depth this time. I could spend hours talking about anything other than Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Sure, I liked the cartoons and two of the movies but I never really owned any of the toys so I’m not really in any position to give my thoughts on these upcoming figures in relation to what has come before. Luckily, we have someone on staff that can and will.Before I unleash him upon you though, I’ll give my initial thoughts and some basic info. Nickolodeon picked up the rights to create a TMNT show a while ago and Playmates (Who have produced the toys before) are taking another crack at the Heroes in a Half-Shell. What they’ve shown thus far has been very impressive. A nice variety of figures, vehicles and playsets, as well as a line specifically catering towards older fans of the show with Classic designs (A move that’s been quite popular in the Thundercats line).  So without  further ado, let’s fire up the Balls-Signal and welcome TMNT-aficionado, Colin Hill!

Sharp-O: Thanks for doing this, sir. Let’s start with the 4-5” figures and go from there.

Colin: Okay, the basic figures look amazing.  I’m so happy the Turtles each have their own unique sculpt, and these are without a doubt the most detailed basic figures we’ve ever got out of Playmates. I’m especially fond of the Michelangelo figure, no surprise there.

Sharp-O: Not at all. I like that Mikey comes with actual chains with his nunchucks, it’s a nice addition. Each of the figures does have an individual sculpt to differentiate them more and articulation-wise, they appear to move at the head, shoulders, elbow swivel, wrist swivel, ball-jointed hips and double-jointed knees.  Shredder looks alright, a mix of first movie and his more recent animated counterparts.

Colin: Shredder looks great; he’s bulky, but well-articulated. I like the Foot Soldier, but from the look of it he won’t be as poseable as the others, which is disappointing, same with April but it’s more expected there.  The Krang figure looks decent, a nice hybrid of Krang from the original series and the Utroms from the comics, his accessories look pretty sweet, though I’m still waiting for more info articulation wise.  Splinter is the biggest surprise, with a very unique re-design that’s a far cry from Splinter in the past, but I’ll wait to see him in motion before I pass judgment.  His figure looks fine, but limited.

Sharp-O: The Foot Soldier’s elbow swivels suuuuuck! April has this weird bulbous head thing going on, like she’s the grown-up version of that girl from Bolt. Splinter looks terrible, I have to be honest. It’s the head sculpt that bothers me most. He looks less like a rat and more like a badger and the paint doesn’t help that either.

Colin: All in all, a very strong assortment. I can’t wait to see what else they have in store.  Casey Jones, Bebop, Rocksteady, Leatherhead maybe, I’m hyped.
The vehicles are all fine, though I’ve never been that much of a vehicle guy, that said, I’ll still get the new Party Wagon/Battle Shell; the Shellraiser (great name, by the way).  And I’ll possibly pick up a couple of the bikes.

Sharp-O: I agree, I’m not really one for vehicles. Which is odd for someone who collects robots who turn into vehicles but yes, they’re your typical vehicle assortment. The new Party Wagon looks like a nice update but there’s one thing I feel is missing from all these; Disc launchers that shoot pizzas!

Colin: That said, the most impressive toy in this assortment is no doubt the Secret Sewer Lair playset.

Sharp-O: Oh, hells yeah! It looks sweet.

Colin: 44 inches tall, zip line, elevator to the top, a design that’s half New York alleyway, half sewer lair, this thing is tits.  I have no room for it right now but that’s not going to stop me from buying this no doubt expensive behemoth.

Sharp-O: It’s a great looking playset  and I’m glad that we seem to be returning to massive playsets for proper figures. If I had one complaint it would be the odd perspective of the NY building backdrop. It messes with my OCD something chronic because it’s flat.

Colin: No surprises from the role playing gear.  It’s not bad, but we’ve seen it before.  But one thing we haven’t seen before is the Leonardo Stealth Sword, which is going to be a must own for my collection.  I’m going to play the hell out of it, unashamed.

Sharp-O: I don’t know if it’s been seen before but I really like the padded eye-pieces on the bandanas. I don’t know why but I like that.

Colin: I’ve known about the Classic TMNT line for months now and I’ve been anxious to see what they would look like.  Now that I have, I am not disappointed.  The facial sculpts are spot on, the articulation looks great, these look like the figures we’ve been waiting 25 years for.  If I had any minor nitpicks, it would be the paint schemes, I wish they kept all the Turtles the same shade of green, if they wanted them to be cartoon accurate, but that’s moot compared to what we got.

Sharp-O: Yeah, I can see these doing really well because even a non-fan like me gets a nostalgic kick from seeing these.

Colin: So yeah, if it’s not obvious by now, I’m very, very ecstatic right now.  By the end of this year, I’ll be broke, but happy.

Sharp-O: Yeah, it’s shaping up to be a good line. Not that I’ll buy any but I do like it when there’s more kick-ass product on the shelves.

Colin: And yes, I need to close with this…

COWABUNGA!

Sharp-O: Ha-Ha, you made a funny!