Yes, we know it's still August, but...

LEGO Monster Fighters: Vampyre Castle: Top toy for Christmas 2012?

-- we all know that if you don't get your Christmas orders in early, some of these "must have" toys -- including the ones for the big kids who mainly read this blog -- will be hard to find.

Here's a breakdown of some of the toys for the whole family that "toy experts" say look set to top the sales charts this coming festive season... Of these, Moshi Monsters of course has its own magazine, which is a darn site cheaper than some of the toys on offer, so maybe it's worth looking at that as a stocking filler.

Good to see Lego still riding high -- we're sure some of you out there will be hinting for the Batcave listed, even though it was released early on this year.

Boys

• LEGO Monster Fighters: Vampyre Castle - £79.99 
• LEGO City: The Mine - £69.99 
• LEGO Ninjago: Epic Dragon Battle - £84.99 
• John Adams Pro Deck Workshop £24.99 
• Spynet Video Watch £49.99 
• Moshi Monsters: App Monster - £22.99 
• Smasha-Ballz - £19.99 
• Gyro-Botz Battle Arena - £19.99 

Tweens

• Lego Games: Life of George £29.99 

Families

• LEGO Games: Creationary £24.99 
• Booms, Bangs, Fizzes - £19.99 
• Radioactive Science - £19.99 
• Telestrations - £24.99 
• Dragon Chase - £17.99 

Big Kids

• LEGO Star Wars: Jabba's Palace £119.99 
• LEGO Technic: 4X4 Crawler £139.99 
• LEGO DC Superheroes: Batcave £69.99 
• Rubik's Cube - £12.99 

Stocking Fillers

• LEGO Minifigures, £1.99 
• LEGO Hero Factory - buildable action figures, £6.99-£14.99 
• Series 4 Collectable Moshlings - £1.99 
• Fuzzy Felt: My Favourite Shapes - £5.99 
• Gyro-Botz Shadow Warriors £9.99 each 

Pre-schoolers

• Britain's Big Farm: John Deere 6190R RC Tractor - £49.99 
• Baby Jake Giggle n Wiggle - £29.99 
• Little Charley Bear: Ready, Teddy Go! £29.99 
• Cloudbabies: Glow Babas £24.99 
• Everything's Rose: Sweet Dreams Rosie & Raggles - £29.99 

Girls

• Tiny Tears (Classic) - £19.99 
• Girls World: Gabriella Styling Doll - £19.99 
• WaggleTagz - £17.99 
• Cabbage Patch Kids - £29.99 
• AniMagic: Tessie Goes Trotting - £22.99 
• Moshi Monsters: Super Moshi HQ - £24.99 
• Crayola Catwalk Creations: House of Fashion - £29.99 
• Flufflings: Jiggle n Dance - £22.99 
• Winx: Deluxe Dolls - £19.99

• The products listed above can be found at the following websites: www.lego.com,  www.johnadams.co.uk, www.vividtoysandgames.co.uk, www.jaaks.com and www.tomy.co.

Transformers Prove We're Two Nations Divided by a Common Language

Hasbro, the toy company behind the hugely successful Transformers toy range (which has of course spawned both movies and comics) have had to scrap the UK launch of one of their latest characters due to a what can only be described as a case of cultural misunderstanding.

The character in question is called Spastic.

In the UK of course, spastic can be considered a hugely offensive word if used inappropriately.  However, spastic is widely used in the US to mean a clumsy or overexcited person. (Golfer Tiger Woods famously referred to himself as a 'spaz' a few years back and was forced to apologise following a negative British reaction).

The medical term "spastic" became used to describe cerebral palsy and has been defined as "Increased resistance to muscle stretching and loss of normal elasticity of leg and/or arm muscles resulting from CNS disease process. Often manifested by muscle stiffness, which can result in difficulty moving the arms and legs." British charity Scope, which aims to help disabled people achieve equality, particularly those with cerebral palsy, was founded as the Spastics Society in 1951.

In the UK, the word began to be used as an insult and became a term of abuse, used to imply stupidity or physical ineptness and the society changed its name to Scope in 1994.

In a company statement, Hasrob told Transformers fans they intended no offense by use of the name for one of its products "which has not and will not be available via traditional retail channels in Europe, including the UK.

"Thank you once again for notifying us about your concern," they told Transformers fan site Seibertron. "As a marketer of children's products, input from parents, families and fans regarding their experiences with our brands is extremely important to us.

"Our goal is to have all families who enjoy our brands feel good about their purchases and experiences."

"Hasbro aren’t usually ones to risk their reputation over something as trivial as the name of the toy, but it seems that this time they’ve certainly forgotten to scope the subject material at hand," notes Reputation Management in a blog post, a company which works to fight negative and incorrect content on the Internet."... [They] have said they were shocked by the level of outcry caused outside their own borders."

British and Americans do, of course, often use different words for common objects - "trousers" are "pants" in the US and a "lift" is an "elevator", for example. Normally it causes amusement. Just occasionally, it can result in genuine offence being taken.

A similar situation occurred with the UK release of the film The Last Airbender, with phrases such as "I could tell at once that you were a bender, and that you would realise your destiny" taking on a rather different meaning for British audiences.

The Transformers toy will continue to be called Spastic in America.

•  Scope Charity web site

UK Artist Matt JOnes launches toy range

Tea making, toy producing, resin casting, sketch book doodling artist Matt JOnes (AKA Lunartik - he likes to be called Matt JOnes with a large JO) has been designing Vinyl Toys for about seven years,  making custom pieces for all sorts of exhibitions and customers. Now, he's launching his own range: a new Mini Vinyl Toy called "Lunartik in a Cup of Tea" with the tag line... One Cup is Never Enough.

"I'm well known in the toy industry for working very long hours and make nice things for nice people with a good eye for detail," says Matt. "Hence the name Lunartik - like the moon, staying up every night!"

Before he releases the toys, he's showing off his Special Brews, one per week, on his web site. Matt tells us the toys will go on sale proper with a big launch party and toy signing in London. (More details on that coming soon).

• The Mini-Teas will be released soon. Pre-orders Page where you can reserve your cups today - www.lunartik.com/pre-order-mini-teas

"The Prisoner" Merchandise Planned

While ITV has yet to announce its scheduling for the new The Prisoner series inspired by the 1960s cult classic, they clearly have high hopes for the show's success, announcing the appointment of not only a book but also a toy figures deal this week.

ITV Studios Global Entertainment has appointed Factory Entertainment the master-toy licensee for multiple categories for The Prisoner and has also confirmed Penguin Group USA will be re-publishing the original version of Thomas Disch’s 1969 novel based on The Prisoner, which will coincide with the USA television premiere of the new series.

The new Factory Entertainment deal not only encapsulates the upcoming AMC and ITV Studios remake of The Prisoner, which stars Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellen, but also the original 1960’s series star Patrick McGoohan.

Factory Entertainment consumer product to be released will include action figures, prop replicas, trading cards and die cast models. The products will begin launching internationally from Winter 2009 and in the UK in Spring 2010.

Genre fans may recall Factory, who also hold licenses for the Magic Roundabout and The Beatles, among others, acquired Star Trek collectibles Master Replicas from Corgi International back in May.

Could a replica of Dinky's classic Prisoner-inspired Mini Moke, pictured above, be on the cards? The fab Prisoner fan site, The UnMutual notes that the original Dinky toy was one of the few merchandise items available at the time of the original showing of the series, and a good condition boxed example can fetch several hundred pounds at auction today.

A free promotional comic produced by Marvel Comics, featuring art by Sao Paulo graphic artist Amilcar Pinna, has already been released for the joint production with US company AMC, which will screen the six hour mini-series from 15th November (see news story). It's unclear whether this is a trailer for a new comic tie-in or a one-off. Information gratefully received!

"There is already a huge buzz about the new The Prisoner, which we believe will be even more successful as the original cult series." commented Darren Epstein, CEO of Elstree-based Factory Entertainment. Talk about raising expectations for the original's army of fans.

"We’re looking forward to releasing the all new range of products that will reflect and target both the new and classic customer fan base," he added.

"We’re excited to bring The Prisoner back into print," says Stephen Morrison, Editor-in-Chief and Associate Publisher of Penguin of the new edition of the novel, "attracting new readers to this science fiction classic by Thomas Disch, one of the masters of the genre.

"Our tie-in artwork and collaboration with AMC and ITV will allow us to reach fans of both the original and beloved 1960s series as well as those readers who discover the brand for the first time through AMC’s television event.”

ITV Studios Global Entertainment is set to launch brand new The Prisoner at Brand Licensing Europe earlier today, and at MIPCOM 2009 at the beginning of October. As soon as we have a UK air date we'll let you know.

'Nana Rocket launched by Forbidden Planet!

This is just a bit of Friday fun! In 1988, Forbidden Planet commissioned the young Rian Hughes to create the world famous rocket logo and typeface still used today.

Now you can own a piece of history with this vinyl replica, brought to 3D life by Matt ‘Lunartik’ Jones based on the acclaimed artist, designer and typographer Rian Hughes original logo design. This variant version comes complete with Lunartik Banana design!

• More pics and info here on the FP web site

Space Age Exhibition on Tour

You know how these things happen when you're surfing the 'net. While researching some imagery for a comic strip I'm working on with Ross Dearsley, completely by fortuitous accident I came across information about a touring exhibition organised by the V&A Museum of Childhood named Space Age: Exploration, Design and Popular Culture.

Currently at Truro's Royal Cornwall Museum until 19th April (this museum being what I was actually looking for at the time), this major exhibition explores people’s fascination with space, and how that fascination has influenced popular culture, from literature and comics to film, design and merchandising, including toys.

To help exhibition visitors explore the relationship between reality and fantasy a range of real space objects are displayed together with classic space-inspired designs and childhood objects,hoping to show the reality of how space exploration has developed and how space fantasy and science fiction worlds have been created in people’s imaginations.

The development of the exhibition was assisted by a "Scientist-in-Residence" originally funded by the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (now the Science and Technology Facilities Council). The exhibition also features online learning resources and some venues offer space-related teaching sessions, along with a series of family events (e.g. planetarium shows, popular science talks, rocket making workshops, etc) supported by the Institute of Physics.

Tour Dates

• Royal Cornwall Museu, Truro
Until 19 April 2009
• City Museum and Art Gallery, Plymouth
9 May - 26 July 2009
• Bradford One Gallery, Bradford
15 August - 1 November 2009
• Stockwood Discovery Centre, Luton
21 November 2009 - 7 February 2010
• South Shields Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne
27 February - 16 May 2010
• New Walk Museum, Leicester
6 June - 29 August 2010

• Read more about the Space Age on the V&A web site

Exclusive Hand Made Transformers Figures Up-For-Grabs!

Transformers -- a robot toy range that has spawned several successful comics across the globe down the years and will see the launch of a new UK comic title from Titan in October -- has a massive collector fan base, and owners Hasbro have decided to do something special to celebrate this by offering a once in a life-time opportunity to win some awesome hand made figures of characters from the new Transformers: Animated series.

These amazingly rare figures will be displayed in unique collector cases and will only be available to win through a prize draw on HasbroToyShop.co.uk, and is the first time ever that Transformers figures have been displayed in this way.

The figures up for grabs will be Megtron Deluxe, Leader Bulkhead and Roll Out Command Optimus Prime.

Transformers: Animated, screening on Nicktoons in the UK, is a high-octane, animated action-adventure series based on the beloved 1980s ‘robots in disguise’ of toy and cartoon fame. The Autobots continue their battle against the Decepticons on Earth and this time they have human friends to help them in the search for the AllSpark, such as their energetic 8-year-old guide, Sari Sumdac.

The competition launches on Monday 25 August 2008 and will run until Sunday 14 September 2008. No purchase is necessary and the competition is open to residents in the UK, aged 18 years or over. If you want a slice of Transformers history make sure you log on!

Titan launches its Transformers Animated Comic, complete with wrist blaster free gift, on 23 October, complementing its existing Transformers Comic. The title will include new comic adventures, puzzles, features and more heavy-metal action than you can shake a photon-enhanced Laser Blaster at!

• Visit the HasbroToyShop.co.uk
• Visit the Titan Magazines Transformers Comic Animated Page

Torchwood Toys go Underground

BBC Worldwide has chosen Underground Toys as the North American and UK licensee for Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood, with several product lines planned, including mugs, key chains, plastic replica items, laying cards and resin busts. Expect products to start shipping this summer (2008).

In the US, Underground will also oversee distribution of action figures and Minimates, where it already distributes various Doctor Who product lines produced by Character Options.

We just have to wonder - will the action figures have removeable clothes?

Mattel issues toys recall

WorldScreen.com reports Mattel has announced a recall of 1.5 million Fisher-Price toys made in China featuring Sesame Street and Nickelodeon characters over concerns about lead paint, in a move that is expected to cost the toy giant $30 million.

Mattel says it has launched a fast-track recall in cooperation with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and other regulatory agencies worldwide. Mattel is also working with retailers worldwide to identify affected products, have them removed from retail shelves and intercept incoming shipments and stop them from being sold.

This is yet another concern raised about goods from China, after concerns over fish, toothpaste and animal feed. The deaths of patients in Panama earlier this year was blamed on improperly labelled Chinese chemicals that were mixed into cough syrup.

Reuters reports the US is working on deals with China to bolster safety controls on Chinese-made foods and medical products, as international consumer alarm continued to pummel Beijing, who have criticised foreign media for "hyping" the problems of a small minority of goods or companies.

"When problems occur, we never shirk, have always sought truth from the facts and responsibly deal with them," Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said in a statement on the Chinese Ministry of Commerce Web site (english.mofcom.gov.cn).