It's true! So says Kotaku, who have announced that Travelers' Tales have announced they'll be making a Clone Wars game in the style of their popular (and very, very fun) Lego Star Wars games. Apparently they'll be based on the first two seasons of the show (season 2 just started a little while ago, right? With the Mandalorians?) and will come out this fall for pretty much everything. You guys have heard my rants about Clone Wars, but I'd play a Lego game based on the Star Wars Holiday Special if they made it. And as long as the characters look like Legos and not puppets from the '50s, my biggest problem with the Clone Wars will be utterly avoided. Keen!

​My pals -- er, pal -- at ToyFare got the exclusive scoop on the figures in wave 14 of Mattel's DC Universe Classics figures, and man, it's a doozy. If you can't tell by the pics above (and I can't, so I'm not judging you), they are:

• Zatanna
• Tyr
• Green Lantern (Alan Scott)
• Hourman
• Obsidian
• Gold
• Kamandi
• Build-a-Figure: Ultra-Humanite

I've talked before about how Mattel seems to be making the most obscure DC superheroes it can for this theoretically mass-market toyline, but this is ridiculous. I guess there's a chance kids have heard of Zatanna from cameos in Smallville or JLU, and maybe they'll buy Golden Age Green Lantern because he's a Green Lantern, despite not looking like any GL they've ever seen. But the rest? Madness. Oh, and apparently this is the new Wal-Mart wave, so good luck, DC collectors -- I'm pretty sure no human being has ever found last year's DCUC Wal-Mart set. Still, if I ever see it, even I have to buy a Kamandi figure, just on principle alone. (Via Poe Ghostal)

In an awkward picture from the German Toy Fair!
​Details from the press release:

STAR WARS AT-AT (Approximate Retail Value: $99.99; Ages: 5 & up; Available: August 1, 2010)
In space, size does matter, and Hasbro certainly kept that in mind when creating its all-new, highly detailed STAR WARS AT-AT. The AT-AT (All Terrain Armored Transport) played a significant role in the Empire's military assault in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, and it will play an equally important role in every fan's toy collection this year! Measuring more than 24 inches tall, nearly 28 inches long, and 12 inches wide, this colossal vehicle holds up to 20 STAR WARS figures - 6 of which can fit in its head alone! - and includes so many play and electronic features true to its on-screen counterpart that it's hard to believe! From the zip-line in its body and articulated legs for superb poseability, to its LED lights and authentic movie sounds and phrases, this is the must-have addition for STAR WARS fans of all ages. Includes a 3 ¾ inch AT-AT driver action figure and a pop-out speeder bike.

Seriously, guys, this thing is so awesome I don't even want to have sex with it. I want to marry it and provide it with a wonderful, stable life in which it knows it is loved and cared for. (Via 16bit and JediInsider)

I think most toy collectors know Tonner, right? They make 18-inch figures -- in a weird, very doll-like style, complete with rooted hair and fabric clothes -- that normally would be in some ritzy collector's store, except they've been getting into nerd properties like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and DC characters and stuff over the last few years. Anyways, they just released pics of a slew of new dolls coming out later this year, and they're kind of freaking me out.
​• Power Girl. Admittedly, Tonner's done most of the rest of the big DC superheroines already, so it's a natural selection -- plus, Tonner is also releasing a Harley Quinn doll at the same time. It's just that Power Girl figures -- of any sort -- freak me out, because I can't stop think about how the owners will choose to "play" with them.

​• If Power Girl is bad, this Who Framed Roger Rabbit Jessica is much, much worse. I mean, you don't even have to expend any effort getting this doll naked -- it's just a slight tug. It's the American version of those millions of Japanese figurines with the removable maid outfits and such.
​
• Admittedly, this Miss Piggy figure is probably the best, most accurate figure they're releasing. It's just that now my mind's in the gutter and I can't stop thinking about some depraved soul dry-humping Miss Piggy. So please, enjoy that mental image with me.

​...yeah. These are Bif Bang Pow's new Lost figures, done in the Mego-style. They are slightly terrifying. All those people who were upset when I mentioned that Bif Bang Pow was also going to make their Venture Bros. figures Mego-style -- well, I don't imagine these are helping. I mean, look at Ben:
​Even I can't swear that toy won't kill me in my sleep. I love Lost, but I'd rather take my chances with the smoke monster, frankly.

That said -- Venture fans, I think it's going to be okay. first of all, Bif Bang Pow's JLabs came on to TR during that post and said they'd still be exploring regular action figures with the Venture license. If the Megos don't sell, I promise you they'll try normal action figures rather than give up on the license -- and more likely, they'll end up doing both anyways.

Second of all, I think Lost isn't doing Mego figures a favor, or vice versa. Megos aren't really designed to have realistic heads, like from a modern, live-action TV show. I honestly think the retro, cartoon designs of The Venture Bros. will work much, much better as Megos than these guys. We'll have to wait and see, but if you're a Mego-hating Venture Bros. fan, I don't think there's any reason to lose your shit at the moment. All right? (Via Mego Museum)

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Yes. You heard me. Bif Bang Pow, the company that announced the Venture Bros. toy license last month, has said they'll be making the figures Mego-style -- i.e., the greatest superhero toys of the '70s and (a large percentage of) the stars of ToyFare's Twisted ToyFare Theater. Mego Museum has the press release:

Announcing one of the widest ranges of highly articulated 8-inch retro-style action figures in years. In cooperation with EMCE Toys, Bif Bang Pow!™ is proud to bring the original "'70s style" of play to a brand-new line of articulated action figures based on some of the world's most popular properties.

Reproductions reminiscent of the best-selling action figures of the 1970s and early 1980s, these highly articulated figures will feature body designs by EMCE Toys. Each 8-inch scale figure will include real cloth clothing and plastic accessories where appropriate.

That is awesome. Obviously, I wouldn't mind normal Venture Bros. action figures, but I love the idea of these guys being done in Mego-style -- it just seems so right. My only worry is that BBP will make them all of one body size, both for nostalgia and to save money; you can kind of get away with Spider-Man, Hulk, and Superman all being the same size (in the '70s) but there's no way Dean and Hank should be as big as Brock is, even if you're making retro toys, okay? I'm crossing my fingers, Bif Bang Pow -- please don't disappoint me.

​
The final season of Lost begins tonight. Will all the mysteries raised during the hit ABC show's run be answered? Probably not. Will we even like the answers we get? That's even less likely. But we'll be watching every minute of every episode, because Lost's wonderful, frustrating storytelling has had us hooked from the first polar bear.

A big part of that storytelling is that Lost ends every season with a cliffhanger so maddeningly suspenseful that fans both love the writers and want to slay them. But just as importantly, after leaving viewers hanging for the better part of a year, the writers of Lost know how to top themselves, and create opening scenes for each new season with twists no one sees coming, and which set up Lost's story in a whole new way.

Every season opening and closing of Lost has been top notch, but some have been more effective than others. As we prepare for the last season to begin tonight, we're going to flashback and rank all of Lost's season cliffhangers and intros... so far. We have a hunch tonight's beginning -- not to mention this final season's finale -- will be pretty darned good too.

​Today's list was suggested by Gruntforglory, one of the winners of the TR Daily List Suggestion Contest!

With apologies to Whitney Houston, children aren't out future -- nerd children are our future: teach them well, and just get out of the way. But how to ensure that a child proceeds down the righteous path of the geek? Like any complex process, it starts early -- with the toys.

There are some obvious candidates in this area. The tried and true: Star Wars action figures and vehicles, anything Masters of the Universe, Transformers and G.I. Joe, Barbie DC heroines, or whatever the modern equivalent of the D&D Basic Set might be this month. But almost all of those are for kids aged 5 and older. If you want to make a true nerd, you've got to start earlier than that -- and any parent interested in their child's nerd potential should pay serious attention. Here, then, are some very good ways to begin investing in any child's future nerd quotient as soon as they pop out of the womb.

​We saw the magnificent War for Cybertron Bumblebee earlier this week, and now UGO has pics of the figures of both the WfC Optimus Prime and Megatron, as well as their Cybertronian vehicle modes. Since they're a UGO exclusive, it would be shitty to me to re-post them all, so please head here to see Megatron and the vehicles; I like 'em, and I think you will too. I have to wonder -- since the toys are following the game and probably tied to that rumored new Transformers cartoon -- and we saw an awesome Omega Supreme and Trypticon in the game trailer -- do you think we're gonna get new Omega Supreme and Trypticon figures? Because I will buy those fuckers on principle alone.

We know Transformers: War for Cybertron is the awesome, G1-inspired but not beholden videogame with the trailer that made most of us pee our nerd pants. It takes place on Cybertron, the Transformers have their Cybertronian vehicle modes, it looks groovy, yadda yadda. You know that. That's not why I'm posting.
​
I'm posting because War for Cybertron is going to be Hasbro's TF toyline for 2010, apparently, and it's going to be just as awesome as the game. You're looking at the robot mode for WfC Bumblebee, and it's clear proof that the Transformers' classic and beloved G1 designs could easily have been updated and modified for modern audiences and still be both cool and visually coherent, but Michael Bay did not want them to be. It's going to be a good year for Transformers fans. A very good year. (Via 16bit)