Luke Brown

Oh to be a kid again in this day and age of advanced technology. While we had Big Wheels and Power Wheels growing up, today's kids have things like Mercedes cars and BMWs to drive around the playground. There's probably a Tesla out there too, what with it being the leading electric car and all. Those are cool and all, and they made me mildly jealous, but not nearly as much as learning Radio Flyer is releasing a battery-driven Landspeeder from Star Wars in a few months. I haven't wanted to be a kid again so much in my life.

While his appearance in The Force Awakens was basically a cameo, fans have been clamoring for a new Luke Skywalker action figure to join the rest of the cast from the current trilogy. For more than two years, the Jedi knight has remained in seclusion on Acht-To, but this weekend at San Diego Comic-Con, Hasbro will finally deliver Luke. Along with a new Jedi-in-training Rey, Luke will be part of The Last Jedi exclusive offered at this year’s convention.

For all the hype surrounding Star Wars: The Last Jedi in the past month, we still haven’t seen very much in the way of new looks for our favorite characters. Nearly every shot of the trailer and officially sanctioned image from Lucasfilm has shown heroes like Rey and Finn and villains like Phasma and Kylo Ren as we saw them last in The Force Awakens. Aside from new toy packaging and the rare t-shirt design, there hasn’t even been very little headway into different haircuts for these characters. That changes today however, due largely to Star Wars Battlefront II’s pre-order materials. Thanks to Gamestop, we now have a bit of an idea what Rey and Kylo Ren will look like in the upcoming eighth episode of the Star Wars saga proper.

No sooner did we get our first official trailer for Spider-Man Homecoming did Hasbro roll out the first action figure from the upcoming Sony/Marvel Studios team-up. Spider-Man already got his debut in a special Marvel Legends Captain America: Civil War set with Iron Man and Captain America, so instead of just rehashing a new version of him (which will likely happen anyway), we're getting our first good look at the new Vulture from the rebooted franchise.

It's been five years since the worlds of the Marvel Universe and the numerous Capcom Universes collided. In that time, Marvel's comics have undergone a great deal of change, while Capcom's catalog has remained rather steady. In addition to the sweeping events in the pages of the comics, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has exploded since Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 hit shelves. It's no wonder then that rumors of a new entry in the series have surfaced ahead of PlayStation Experience, hinting that the worlds would collide once more, this time with a more cinematic bent.

Few games have brought the world of Star Wars to life quite like Star Wars Battlefront. DICE's most recent entry in the franchise is arguably one of the most beautiful games of the past year, let alone one of the best-looking Star Wars video games. It's fitting then that Hot Toys, purveyor of some of the best-looking Star Wars figures, would take the chance on bringing some of those Battlefront characters to life in toy form. Rather than focus on the more familiar faces of the original Star Wars trilogy however, Hot Toys has honed in on crafting some of the best Stormtrooper figures money can buy. After already releasing a figure based on Battlefront's Shocktrooper, the Hong Kong company has now turned its detail-oriented eye to the Jumptrooper.

While not quite as dramatic as the stolen plans to the original Death Star, a 10-page preview of the upcoming Rogue One: A Star Wars Story: Official Visual Story Guide was uncovered this week. After dropping the first teaser trailer on us last month, it's been all quiet on the Outer Rim front for Rogue One. That's not all that surprising given that Star Wars Celebration 2016 is just a hair under two months away, and Lucasfilm and Disney are likely loading up all the big reveals for the self-titled convention. As the internet has shown over the past few years however, you can't keep Star Wars secrets locked up for long. The Rogue One story guide preview was just a small sampling in the Macmillan Winter 2016 preview catalog, uncovered by Slash Film. Though the film isn't due out for months, this preview gives us the bit of an idea of what to expect from Gareth Edwards' anthology film, which is the first of many planned spin-offs set in the Star Wars universe. This is your warning to avoid reading any further should you not want even the slightest details about Rogue One spoiled.

One year ago, DC Collectibles opened its "vault" of unproduced prototypes in celebration of hitting a social media milestone. Included therein were figures based on DC Universe Online, statues for Ame-Comi Mary Marvel and a Black Manta bust, among others. Instead of leaving all of these first-party collectibles locked away forever inside the archives, DC Collectibles asked fans to vote for which item they'd like to see finally be produced. Then there was silence... until today when the dull winter sky was broken by a glorious rainbow in the shape of Batman.

Unless you stockpiled up on Real Ghostbusters toys back in the '80s when the cartoon first ran, it's been a challenge to lock down Ghostbuster toys. Mattel's efforts to celebrate the 30th anniversary with a new line was a great idea in theory, but the execution was supremely lacking.

Last summer, ThreeZero and Kevin Eastman unveiled a collaboration to create new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle figures. In the months since, a number of TMNT developments have gone down, including a crossover with Batman, Mondo's figures all becoming available, a new movie trailer (and figure line), and some potential video game leakage happening, too. But there's been radio silence from ThreeZero about the state of its planned collaboration with one of the Turtles' founding fathers. This week, a new issue of Clutter (a niche toy/collectible magazine) broke that silence. In a new interview with Eastman and ThreeZero's founder/owner Kim Fung Wong, Clutter was able to share some of Eastman's concept art and give us our first look at the painted prototypes. While we've had a lot of different Turtle toys over the years, seeing how Eastman would interpret the characters today gives us a perspective on the characters we'd otherwise never have, even if they only will exist as toys.

Like Batman and free things? What a silly question, of course you do. Guess it's a good thing we're giving away some choice Batman collectibles then, isn't it?

Sometimes you just want to bump uglies with the uglies that go bump in the night.

Some truly sad, somber moments, as the most shocking deaths in games really put us in touch with our emotions.

The Continue? guys and their special guests recount the creepiest moments in the history of the greatest survival horror franchise in history.

Well, the good PlayStation news keeps on coming. Sony announced the PS Vita Slim would be coming to North America this spring.

One of last year's most talked about PC titles is making the jump to consoles next month. Outlast will be available on the PlayStation 4 starting in February, and to make the move even sweeter, it'll be free for PS+ subscribers.

Telltale still has yet to make any official declarations about The Walking Dead, Season 2's release, but that hasn't stopped Steam or Major Nelson from breaking the silence.

Microsoft has become increasingly sensitive to consumer complaints about government interference in their online security, including the Xbox One, and is taking a stand to prove it's on the side of the people.

In about six weeks, Grand Theft Auto 5 managed to outsell its predecessor's lifetime sales. It would appear Take-Two Interactive has a bonafide hit, wouldn't you say?

Though the issues plaguing the launch of Grand Theft Auto 5's GTA Online have diminished greatly the past few days, there are still some players facing problems like missing characters, apartments and rank.