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AIC NEWS: Week of May 11th, 2026
1 Playsin 20 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 11th, 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 and AIC News Overview
00:00:05
Speaker
AICNN, where toy news matters.
00:00:12
Speaker
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to AIC News. Give us a few minutes and we'll give you the goods. Everything you need to know headed into a new week of toys.
Star Wars Week Celebration and May the 4th
00:00:23
Speaker
Let me start off first by wishing everybody a happy belated Star Wars weekend weekday.
00:00:29
Speaker
May the 4th, Revenge of the 5th, Revenge of the 6th, all of that. Hope you had a wonderful Star Wars week. We're going to start off with a little bit of Star Wars news, but before we get to that, ah little bit of housekeeping. So, this month, the month of May of 2026...
00:00:48
Speaker
Yeah, that's the year.
Giveaway Announcement: Joker Figurine Collaboration
00:00:49
Speaker
ah Our giveaway this month i is collaborating with our friend Ahsoka the Geek at Ahsoka the Geek on Instagram ah for the DC Multiverse McFarlane Toys 1989-inspired Joker. So as is usually the case every month, you can head over to at AIC underscore podcast, look for the pinned post,
00:01:11
Speaker
ah where you will see this month's giveaway. You have all month to enter. Make sure you read the post carefully, follow all the instructions for your giveaway entry to count. So good luck to everybody and congratulations to our April winner of Demolition. Those have shipped and they are on their way.
200th Episode Milestone with Steve Evans
00:01:29
Speaker
ah While we're thanking people, thank you everybody who tuned in for our 200th episode celebrating everything and all things Star Wars with friend of the pod, Steve Evans. So again, just ah thank you everybody for tuning in.
00:01:44
Speaker
Here's to at least 200 more episodes, maybe more. um So first, a little bit of toy industry news.
Hasbro Designers Move to Boss Fight Studios
00:01:52
Speaker
There has been a lot going on over in Rhode Island as Hasbro employees are moving along. So within the past couple of months, we have seen former Hasbro designer Corey Cantaloupe uh head over to boss fight studios followed shortly by friend of friends of the pod uh lenny panzika of course uh leading up design over on gi joe classified and uh the paint master himself uh tony uh so tony uh call uh tony colella
00:02:28
Speaker
Tony Colella, there we go, that's how we say that, ah is headed over to Boss Fight Studios. So the three ah but very notable designers and artists and and painters at Hasbro are now ah staying in Rhode Island over at Boss Fight Studios. So um we wish them the best of luck and can't wait to see what they do next over there. So ah big fans of their work at Hasbro, and I'm sure we'll be continue to be big fans of their work as they move on.
New Vinyl Figures Release: R2-D2 and Stormtrooper
00:02:58
Speaker
So ah let's get into some news. So our speaking of our friends, our friends over at Handmade by Robots took to the internet on the end of Star Wars Day to announce their first two Handmade by Robots vinyl figures. So you can pre-order R2-D2 and the Imperial Stormtrooper now at Big Bad Toy Store.
00:03:20
Speaker
ah That, of course, is ah available at our Link collector, Link... ah yeah, we'll go with collector link page. ah That is AIC podcast.com forward slash links. Anything that I do mention at being available for pre-order will be available at the retailer specified at that website. So AIC podcast.com forward slash links.
00:03:46
Speaker
Two other key pre-orders that went up last week and are still available now is starting off at P. Bandai, you can pre-order the Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta as he appears in Dragon Ball Daima. As has been the case lately with these Dragon Ball Daima and specifically Premium Bandai figures, along with Vegeta's multiple hands, arms,
00:04:09
Speaker
and faces, you also get a set of crossed arms for your SH Figuarts Dragon Ball Daima Goku. So again, you can head to AICpodcast.com forward slash links, look for the Premium Pandai website, and i pre-order yourself Vegeta. This is one of their exclusive pre-orders, so it'll be up for a little bit.
McFarlane Toys Vault Releases
00:04:28
Speaker
You have a chance. ah Jumping from one set of superhero to another, let's head over to the DC Multiverse, where McFarlane Toys has revealed their first ever from the vault wave.
00:04:40
Speaker
So this ah comprises figures that were tough to get and or sold out real fast. So ah the vault drops ah that are live include Wonder Woman, the bank robber a Joker from The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight,
00:04:56
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Medieval Spawn and First Appearance Superman.
00:05:01
Speaker
Also available for pre-order is getting us one step closer to completing that Street Fighter 2 collection with Jada Toys. That's right, T-Hawk is up for pre-order now.
00:05:13
Speaker
And I believe that leaves us with one final figure being Zangief. I don't think they have announced him yet, or they've announced him, but they have not put him up for pre-order. So I think Zangief... completes the ah the set, as it were.
00:05:27
Speaker
ah There are also four new w WWE Funko Pops up for pre-order on Amazon of Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Demolition, Penta, and Miss Money in the Bank, Tiffany Stratton. So ah you can pre-order those ah four Funko releases on Amazon.
00:05:45
Speaker
ah Also available everywhere now, ah for pre-order that is, is the X-Men 97 Hasbro roleplay Marvel Legends Cyclops advisoror So if you want to roleplay as Scott, as the biggest Boy Scout, you could get your your Cyclops visor now. In all seriousness, that this thing looks really cool, and they built in different nose bridges and different ways to display it, so lots and lots of options.
Star Fox Remake on Switch 2
00:06:12
Speaker
And this week, we are going to end on some video game news. So kind of out of nowhere, Nintendo dropped a surprise Nintendo Direct, revealing almost 15 minutes about the new Star Fox game for Switch 2. Star Fox is available to preorder now. It is a remake again of Star Fox 64, but I am a firm believer of if it is not broke, do not fix it.
00:06:41
Speaker
So really excited to get my hands on this. It is available exclusively for the Switch 2, both in physical and digital forms. Of course, if you if you order it digitally, you save yourself 10 whole dollars.
00:06:55
Speaker
um And you know what? Let's close out with one last piece
Jason Universe Collectibles Announcement
00:06:59
Speaker
of news. This is a ah press release that came out from Jason Universe, clearing up some things coming out of ah Licensing Expo in Las Vegas. So, Jason will continue to appear in Fortnite, while in the world of toys, Jazwares, Jax Pacific, BrickCraft, Basic Fun, Premium Collectible Studio, Well Played Toys, and WizKids will all be producing toys according to the press release, toys for Jason Voorhees and Jason Universe. In terms of collectibles, collectibles inspired by Crystal Lake, which is the new show, and the broader Jason Universe will be available from NECA, Funko, Mondo, U2's Thrilljoy, Snap, Kidrobot, Handmade by Robots, Monogram, and Just Play. So there will be some ah collectibles coming from the new series as well as, like it says, the broader universe. So stay tuned for more on the Jason Universe. We do have a potential little bit more news. So um stay tuned down the road for that.
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Speaker
and And with that, as always, make sure you're hitting that subscribe button, you're liking, you're following, you're doing all those things. We are doing our best to bring everything that you need to know to you. So um on behalf of myself and the entire AI CNN News team, this has been your AIC News Brief.
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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.