Just a quick thought as it’s the midnight before Botcon and I still have more packing to do. There are people in our lives that truly care and some that don’t, or at least not very much. The best way to tell the difference is if their actions drive you to be a better you as oppose to their actions bettering predominately themselves. Big thanks to JD this week for helping me be a better me. I really appreciate your persistence, it was motivating.

Well, it’s another big fat long show for ya. I think we’re getting all chatty in our old age. Cons, cons and more cons. However, Power-Con is definitely showing some promise. Val and his gang are definitely doing it up. Love that DOTM toys are finally out so people are getting all the pent up expectations out. I’ve got a couple myself and like them quite a bit. New Star Wars reveals are plentiful. We’re getting quite a few new toys for what is normally a very dry period for toys. Well at least other people are finding Warpath, new Pursuit of Cobra and previously thought-to-be-cancelled toys. We got voicemails a plenty. Finally, Christmas ornaments and books. Yeah I know, real exciting finale there. But, who knows, maybe you’re into that sort of thing.

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Not that there’s anything wrong with that…Slick

The post Open Your Toys Cast – Episode 054: Appreciate those who care, most people don’t… appeared first on Open Your Toys.

Robert Burns put it almost too eloquently when he wrote "The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft agley.” Basically outside sources can always interfere with your plans. No matter how much you try to compensate, variables exist that you haven’t even thought of. So what do you do when your plans go awry? Do you adapt? Do you make new plans? Do you just shutdown? In the immortal words of Cliff Spab, "Sometimes you just have to say So Fucking What." Remember when we planned shorter more frequent shows? SFW. Remember 1, 2 Reviews? SFW. Remember #140CharacterReviews? SFW. Whew, that feels better. This doesn’t mean that those things aren’t still coming, but "gang aft agley".

On the lighter side, WE’RE BACK BITCHES! Now that feels good. Con season is officially in full effect. Botcon is less than a month away and we get Mattel’s huge SDCC exclusives reveal. Dark of the Moon toys are less than a week away, but of course they are already popping up all over the place. Items thought to never see mass release are showing up on pegs. Finally, May the fourth be with you? It’s with us.

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Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back…Slick

The post Open Your Toys Cast – Episode 053: Best laid plans… appeared first on Open Your Toys.

I hate deadlines. I mean I HATE deadlines! Not necessarily because it means I have something that needs to get done, but more how they can affect the end product. Some people perform better under pressure. However most of us only think we perform better when in actuality we’re compromising the quality of our work. If you do not allow yourself enough time to step away then come back and review what you have done, you’re doing yourself and your work a disservice. We put a lot of self-imposed deadlines on ourselves in regard to the cast. Tonight, show notes, tomorrow we record, the next day we post. Unfortunately, this can cause me to not research as much as I should or we don’t rerecord a segment we really should. While this might make it more “real”, it’s at the expense of the experience as a whole.

That’s kind of how I felt with our Joecon coverage this year. I was racing to get it out and really wasn’t able to compile the background information I usually like to do. This is especially true with the Hasbro Archives panel which was nothing less than spectacular. Also this week, the Transformers Collector Club drops some tidbits on Kre-O. WonderCon brings us some new MOTUC figures. Our featured custom is actually an entire line of B.A.T.ized vehicles. We take a look at the G1 Rodimus Prime “action figure”. Finally, you guys ROCK! We get a ton of participation.

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Deadlines smeadlines…Slick

The post Open Your Toys Cast – Episode 052: Joecon, Kreon and participation… appeared first on Open Your Toys.

1. the act of participating

Do you participate? Not specifically in any one thing, but just in general. Do you speak up during meetings or class? Do you arrange activities for people around you? Do you even go to activities that other people organize? If not, you’re missing out on one of the best aspects of living, actually living. Life moves fast. If you don’t take an active role, before you know it it’ll have passed you by. Now I’m not saying you need to spearhead the next big social movement. However, don’t just buy the toys, participate in the community. Post on a forum, comment on an article, or leave a favorite podcast a voicemail (hint, hint). Just do something. Be part of the larger whole.

Speaking of participating, we picked a winner in our Toy Fair voicemail contest. However, first we both get all excited about me being registered for Botcon (which is now sold out). Kre-O and Cyberverse continue to peak my interest. Matty continues to disappoint fans. We got a metric crap ton of new toys including Fansproject Protector and start our Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime retrospective. Do you know what the greatest part of the show is? We got two first-time callers and a first-time question asker.

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Don’t procrastinate, participate…Slick

The post Open Your Toys Cast – Episode 051: par·tic·i·pa·tion (noun) appeared first on Open Your Toys.

Hopin’ to find, we’re two of a kind.

Together, we’re going to find our way.

If you were hoping for another riveting installment of talking about things you can buy, we’re really sorry to disappoint you. We thought for a long time about how we should commemorate our 50th episode. Being somewhat of milestone, we wanted to do something special. As we mulled over countless podcast clichés, we decided that what we liked most about doing the cast was hearing from and about you. It’s simply human nature to be interested in other people. Have you ever looked into someone’s window and thought about what their life might be like?

Well for this episode we let you peer into our window. In other words we indulge our egos and talk about ourselves the entire time. Have you ever wondered how Mrs. McFavorite and I got into collecting? Or maybe how we even met? If not, then go ahead and tune in next week when we’ll return with all the latest and greatest toy news. However, this episode will serve as a primer for any new listeners and hopefully as a means to let our regulars get to know the love of my life and myself even better.

** UPDATE: A big thank you goes out to Jaime for reminding about the videos and pictures we said we would post. Enjoy.

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You and I together, we’re going to find our way…Slick

The post Open Your Toys Cast – Episode 050: Here we are, face to face, a couple of silver spoons… appeared first on Open Your Toys.

I mean literally, the clock just struck midnight. However, figuratively it seems like it too. Not only did Mrs. McFavorite and I spend the weekend doing fresh installs on our laptops, I’m finally recovering from my cold. If you couldn’t tell by the sound of my voice on the cast, I think I mentioned it a couple of times. It’s all kind of a medically induced blur at this point. Getting over being sick, just like a nice new(ish) install, reminds me of how we often take the smaller things for granted. Things like being able to breathe through your nose or having a computer that doesn’t have tons of little quirks. It’s like a huge weight being lifted off of your shoulders. You feel lighter, quicker and ready to take on the world (wide web).

This week we got some great news via that new fangled InterWeb. Have you seen this group shot of the Botcon set? If that doesn’t excite you, you better check your pulse kids. Dark of the Moon toy news has slowed down a little since Toy Fair, but the first figure has popped up at retail. We talk about the new Star Wars packaging and fawn over some amazing new West Wars figures by the one and only Sillof. Oh, oh and can you say Headmasters? That’s right, the Japanese-only continuation to original Transformers cartoon is finally coming to the states with a professional English dub. That’s good news as I make it a rule to never read TV. Finally, don’t forget to enter our Toy Fair giveaway. We listen to the first three entries on the show. All you gotta do is give us call at 720.235.TOYS (8697) and tell us what your favorite reveal was from Toy Fair 2011. We got a ridiculous stack of comics to give away, in addition to a toy from your franchise of choice.

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Don’t ever forget, that today could be the first day of the rest of your life…Slick

The post Open Your Toys Cast – Episode 049: It’s a brand new day… appeared first on Open Your Toys.

How excited are you after Toy Fair? I guarantee you’re not more excited than me. Not necessarily because of the reveals as there were some amazing new toys shown. More so because I consider it the pre-game to con season. As the normal news sources report on all the goings on I long for the rush of being the first to hear the newest of news. What’s funny is I can really relate to tweets of exhaustion and obscene amounts of hard work. While cons may seem so magical to the uninitiated, there is a dark side that stems from attempting to report on all the goodness. Long nights of video and photo editing, frantic troubleshooting of internet connections and for us at least, the want to get out podcasts about what we’re seeing and how we feel about it. Again, it is a lot of fun, but please don’t forget to thank, in one way or another, these outstanding people that go to extraordinary lengths just so we know what we’re going to get to buy for the next 6 months.

Speaking of what to buy, WOW there are some great toys coming out in the foreseeable future. Perhaps my favorites are coming exclusively to San Diego Comic-Con. There’s the gigantic Death Star 14-pack of Star Wars Vintage Revenge of the Jedi carded figures. Coming a close second is the first ever official G.I. Joe Transformers cross-over Starscream Sky Striker WITH Pilot Cobra Commander and 3.75″ scaled Megatron Walther P38. In addition to “Starscream”, the Joe team showed a modern version of perhaps one of my most favorite 80’s toys, Sci Fi. Not to mention them taking advantage of my weakness for red repaints with the new Crimson H.I.S.S. Lastly Mattel continues to rock it out with their MOTUC line out. Their Faceless One, while not faceless still looks amazing and is a great addition for people like me that love obscure characters.

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Obscurity discourages the uninitiated, while it consolidates the knowledgeable…Slick

The post Open Your Toys Cast – Episode 048: TOY FAIR 2011… appeared first on Open Your Toys.

Toy Fair 2011 festivities start in mere hours. I get so damn excited during this time of year. It’s like my 2nd Christmas. We’ve already had a few big scoops. Leaked during the UK Toy Fair, we’ve got official pics of the new Thundercats toys. MacFarlane announced today they’ll be doing The Walking Dead. Soon there will be a ton of news spouting from every toy source possible, including us. Stay tuned next week as we drop all our thoughts on the Toy Fairy goodness. Same toy time, same toy channel.

Speaking of all our thoughts, if you’ve seen the length of the show, you can probably tell we’re drinking again. But wow, almost three hours! So, yeah we go off. I suggest breaking it up into a couple or five sittings. First up, Transformers: ANIMATED STUNTICONS! We just got Drag Strip today. She’s real and she’s spectacular. SDCC passes sell out in one day. Transformers: Prime toys are so good they make me want to like the show. We take a look at possibly the coolest Snake Eyes figure ever. Tons of new waves are hitting and going up for pre-order. TFSource does right by collectors. Finally, can we have a moment of silence for my beloved Toyfare…

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Okay, now go listen to the show…Slick

The post Open Your Toys Cast – Episode 047: It’s beginning to look a lot like Toy Fair… appeared first on Open Your Toys.

This one is going to be a quick as I’ve got a lot on my list. What list you may ask? My “2 Do List”. I live and die by it or should I say them. I have one on my phone one in my email at home and another at work. I also keep little scraps of paper that have other stuff to do. Do I really need all these lists? Yes, yes I do. They keep me grounded and on the right track. Do you have a list? It doesn’t have to be written down, but you should have one in one form or another. While it’s nice to not have anything to do, it feels even better crossing things off a list.

Speaking of lists, we’ve got a few this time around. First we get what seems to be a pretty complete one of the first wave of Dark of the Moon figures. Then I compare my top 5 2010 MOTUC figures to the peeps over at He-Man.org. A Walmart list reveals Generations Arcee and WARPATH! Don’t forget my list of toys for sale. Lotsa Star Wars toys are being leaked. Remember all those cool PoC vehicles we saw at SDCC and Joecon? Well they’re showing up and the best ones aren’t at Ross this time. We continue our G1 Ultra Magnus retrospective with his Classics version. Next up, City Commander. Finally we have some amazing Grab Brag for ya.

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Got lists…Slick

The post Open Your Toys Cast – Episode 046: Lists, we don’t need no stinking lists… appeared first on Open Your Toys.

And you’ll hear a tale, a tale of collecting toys. What a tale it is too. As usual we didn’t get a show out during the holidays so this one is a doozy. It feels amazing to be back though. I really forget how much I love talking toys. Do you have an outlet for your fandom? Do you have someone that even knows what you’re talking about? Sometimes I take for granted that Mrs. McFavorite puts up with a lot and I love her for it. While toys can bring a smile to your face, only the love of friends and family can make your heart smile.

No, I didn’t do anything. At least nothing that would require a heart felt apology for the entire world to see. The holidays just always seem to make me feel a little closer to my fellow man and even more importantly to those closest to me. I can’t help feeling more appreciative of everything. But, more on topic, have you seen what kind of toys we’re getting right now? I know everything gets better with time, but damn we collectors (especially us 30 somethings) are getting amazing nods to our childhood. The Vintage Collection is putting out some amazing new figures. We are seeing Transformers I thought I would never see. To top it all off there is going to be a set of Joes I always wanted and one of my most favorite Christmas gifts ever. What can I say, life is good right now. Hope it is for you too.

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Try to see the good in people, sometimes it’s a lot harder than seeing the bad…Slick

The post Open Your Toys Cast – Episode 045: Just sit right back… appeared first on Open Your Toys.