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AIC NEWS: Week of May 25, 2026
2 Playsin 7 hours
Welcome to AICNN (Adventures in Collecting News Network) where toy news matters! On this very special extended edition of your AIC News Brief, we're covering the top toy stories you need to know headed into the week of May 25th, 2026.
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Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
https://www.instagram.com/voicesbyjoe/
Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
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Transcript
Introduction to AIC Toy News
00:00:03
Speaker
AICNN, where toy news matters. ai cnn where toy
00:00:12
Speaker
Welcome to AIC News. Give us a few minutes and we'll give you the goods. Here's everything you need to know headed into a new week of toys.
Memorial Day Reflection
00:00:21
Speaker
So ah first and foremost, it is Memorial Day.
00:00:24
Speaker
i Hope everyone here in the United States had a long weekend and hope you took at least a moment to reflect on the true meaning of Memorial Day, which is, of course, ah that ah that that all gave some and some gave all. So um please reflect and and thank those who gave their lives for ah four our freedom.
00:00:43
Speaker
So um regardless of of where you sit on the political spectrum, lots of people died so that way we could be here today having this conversation about toys. So um we hope you had a restful Memorial Day and like I said, took a moment to pay respect.
00:00:59
Speaker
With that, let's talk some news.
AIC Instagram Giveaway Announcement
00:01:01
Speaker
So first and foremost, some housekeeping. Of course, it is still May. We have a few days left in the month, which means that our monthly giveaway is still live over on Instagram. This month, we did partner up with friend of the pod, Ahsoka the Geek, to give away a McFarlane Toys DC Multiverse 89-inspired Joker.
00:01:19
Speaker
So you can visit us at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram throughout the rest of the month and enter yourself to win a said figure. So again, that is over on Instagram. Look for the pinned post at AIC underscore podcast. And ah yeah, ah do do yourself a solid and enter to win the Joker. With that, let's talk some pre-orders and
Hasbro Comic-Con and Pre-orders
00:01:41
Speaker
reveals. So last week, friends of the pod, Steve Evans and Dan Yun from the Hasbro Marvel Legends team had their ah May live stream where they revealed their San Diego Comic-Con exclusives as well as some upcoming and now live pre-orders. So beginning with the San Diego Comic-Con exclusives, you can look forward to an X-Men 97, Marvel Legends, Professor X with Hover Chair, as well as 1960s animated Spider-Man meme three-pack featuring Spider-Man, the Lizard, and Electro.
00:02:10
Speaker
ah Those will both be available at the booth at San Diego Comic-Con. from Hasbro directly and then available afterwards for ah those folks that couldn't make it on HasbroPulse.com. So as is usually the case, make sure you've got that premium membership locked up so that way you get first dibs on those if those are things that you are interested in.
00:02:29
Speaker
um We have yet to see what the G.I. Joe folks are planning for San Diego Comic-Con as well as Transformers, but we have seen Marvel Legends and Star Wars
Marvel Legends Releases
00:02:40
Speaker
so far. So if any of those tickle your fancy, uh, again, if you're not making it out to San Diego, you will have a chance on Hasbro pulse.com. Now for pre-orders last week, uh, the, uh, Hulk 2099, as well as the first of two, uh, fantastic for future foundation two packs went up live. So again, you can get Hulk 2099 as well as Spider-Man and Reed Richards rocking their black and white future foundation suits. This week on the 27th at 1 p.m. Eastern Time on ah your Fan-Mazon channel. So that's ah Fan Channels and Amazon. amazon um you could get Sue Storm and The Thing. So complete your future foundation for some. Yeah, so ah lots to look forward to, as is always as is always the case for
Star Wars and Grogu Announcements
00:03:28
Speaker
Marvel Legends. But before we we head off, um Hasbro also announced that ah with The Mandalorian and Grogu coming out this weekend, which, by the way, I saw it. I loved it. um
00:03:40
Speaker
there will be a live stream tomorrow. So you're if you're listening to this on Monday the 25th, on Tuesday the 26th at 11 a.m. m Eastern Time, you can um find the next Hasbro live stream, and it will be Star Wars related. So Keep your eyes out for that on Hasbro's YouTube channel. So that's at Hasbro Pulse on YouTube. um Sticking with the theme of Star Wars, our friends over at Handmade by Robots um announced the pre-order for their Grogu vinyl figure. So if you are unfamiliar with Handmade by Robots, their vinyl figures look like they were crocheted or stitched. And they recently announced that they have the Star Wars license with R2-D2 and a Stormtrooper. But now Grogu has been added to the mix. So you can order ah him directly from Handmade by Robots website, which is www.handmadebyrobots.com. So you can pre-order him directly there. He's looking cute. He's looking great.
00:04:42
Speaker
um Nothing to really complain about there. ah From Grogu to Motu, you see what I did there, there is a slew of new Masters of the Universe ah Origins pre-orders. that are up at Big Bad Toy Store. In fact, there are a ton of new pre-orders across the board from a whole bunch of different things over at Big Bad Toy Store. Masters the Universe Origins, you can get the new Transformers of the Movie, the soundtrack, the re reformatted edition, featuring our friends who you might recognize from Cold Slither doing some music on this ah this vinyl release. and And Big Bad Toy Store has an exclusive colorway and art variant. So you can get that at Big Bad Toy Store. You can also pre-order the new Helldivers 2 figure for McFarland Toys.
00:05:31
Speaker
um And you can also pre-order the new Mezco 112 Collective Conan the Barbarian. All of those are available at Big Bad Toy Store. And if you want to get there quick. Oh, and how could I forget too? um The NECA Toys Terrifier 3 Santa Art the Clown.
00:05:48
Speaker
also newly available for pre-order at ah Big Bad
Mattel DC Figures and Toy Hunt Shirts
00:05:52
Speaker
Toy Store. So you can go to AICpodcast.com forward slash links ah to to get all of those pre-orders locked up, add them to your pile of loot, you know, all all that all that good stuff.
00:06:05
Speaker
um And then last bit of news here is is breaking on the ground. So some boots on the ground news coming out of Connecticut. A friend of the Podcaster's Corner he found the first wave of the new Mattel DC figures. So again, these are the kids centric DC figures. If you are a wrestling figure collector, think these are your main events compared to your elites or your ultimate additions. But they do feature cloth cloth goods capes. So Batman, Robin, the Flash, and the Joker. We got our hands on all of these figures at New York Toy Fair earlier this year. They are really great entry-level DC figures. They should be priced at about $12.99, but hold your horses until the end of the week because they are register locked for May 31st.
00:06:52
Speaker
So again, um these were spotted at Target. ah They should be coming up for $12.99. And our Wave 1 is represented by Batman, Robin, The Flash, and The Joker. Again, if you head over to our Instagram ah page that is at AIC underscore podcast. You can see pictures of them as well as barcodes. So if you want to go around scanning them and speaking of going around and scanning barcodes, we have a shirt for you. It is perfect for doing that. um If you head on over to our swag store, so that's Dashery dot AIC or Dashery dot com slash AIC podcast. um
00:07:35
Speaker
You can you can get our can you look up this dpci i shirt that we made featuring archie in the middle of a very familiar logo um so we have a bunch of shirts perfect for your next toy hunt uh and and if you're if you're headed out boots on the ground want to be some of the first to grab those uh those those new uh dc figures you can wear a shirt for that And lastly, to finish us out here, ah the Playmates Toys Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles slash
TMNT/G.I. Joe Crossover and Closing Thoughts
00:08:05
Speaker
G.I. i Joe crossover figures. Those are also up for pre-order. um You can get those at Entertainment Earth or Big Bad Toy Store. They dropped online at Target at a at a crazy time for us, which is 12 a.m.
00:08:18
Speaker
Pacific time. So I was crazy. very asleep when those went up on target so i apologize for missing them on instagram but um if if you are still looking to pre-order them and don't want to wait for them to hit stores in the late june early july area uh you can pre-order those now at entertainment earth as well as a big bad toy store on behalf of the entire aicnn team this has been your aic news brief
00:08:53
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer, Frank Hablaui. This program and many others like it on the Non-Productive Network is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License. Please share it, but ask before trying to change it or sell it. For more information, visit non-productive.com.