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AIC NEWS: Week of February 23, 2026
180 Plays7 days ago
Welcome to AICNN (Adventures in Collecting News Network) where toy news matters! This is your AIC NEWS brief. Give us a few minutes, and we'll give you the goods.
This week the AICNN anchors cover what you need to know headed into the week of Feb 23, 2026!
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Intro and other voices by Joe Azzari
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Theme Music is "Game Boy Horror" by the Zombie Dandies
Proudly part of the Non-Productive Network
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Transcript
Introduction and Weekly Updates
00:00:05
Speaker
AICNN, where toy news matters.
00:00:13
Speaker
Welcome to AIC News. Give us a few minutes and we'll give you the goods. I'm here to let you know everything you need to know headed into a new week of toys. But let's start out with a little bit of housekeeping. So this is the final week of February, which means it is the final week to enter our February giveaway.
00:00:32
Speaker
ah Once again, a reminder over at AIC underscore podcast, where you can also keep up to date with all of the latest news around the toy industry. We give away a toy or package of toys once
Giveaways and Promotions
00:00:45
Speaker
a month. And this month, we have partnered up with our friends in the wrestling figure community big foundation to give away a defining moments wwe wwe elite ringside exclusive stone cold steve austin from wrestlemania 13 complete with bloodied head sculpt so ah look for that pinned post again over at aic underscore podcast while you're there also take a look at our latest merch designs so we have created a series of
00:01:17
Speaker
toy-tacular nerdy t-shirts for you to put on your body. um You can visit us at aicpodcast.dashery.com to see all the designs, um all the different colors. We've got something for gym rats, gamers, toy hunters, fans of things like G.I. Joe and wrestling and a little bit of everything. So again, head on over to aicpodcast.dashery.com and take a look at the wide array of t-shirts, sweatshirts, long sleeves, shorts, coffee mugs, whatever it is you want to ah emblazon with either our nerdy Toyetic designs or just our logo.
00:02:02
Speaker
So yeah, any and all support, of course, helps, and ah we can't wait to see what you wear. Headed into some toy news.
Toy Releases and Pre-orders
00:02:12
Speaker
So our friends over at Collect Major have their big rubber guy Rambo First Blood in stock.
00:02:20
Speaker
We have this in hand. it is gorgeous. i Get it while you can. It's in stock at collectmajor.com. ah Heading on over to the world of Mondo, on four new releases at the end of last week that are still available as of this recording. ah The limited edition two new colorways of Attack Peters that's Uh, Peter Santa Maria designed Godzilla soft vinyl toys, um, in a classic, uh, Sofubi pastel pink and gold and green colorway, as well as a blue and pink colorway. Um, these Godzillas are awesome and they also happen to be emblazoned on Pabst blue ribbon cans right now. So, uh, you can get this exclusively at Mondo.com. Um, um,
00:03:12
Speaker
Conversely, available on Big Bad Toy Store from Mondo are two new pre-orders for 1 6th scale action figures from both DC and Marvel. So from the world of DC, the 1990s animated series Superman is up for pre-order.
00:03:29
Speaker
And also from the 1990s, the X-Men animated series, Mr. Sinister. um Both of these one-sixth scale action figures come loaded with accessories, different hands, different heads, um display base, all that good stuff. ah You can check those out at Big Bad Toy Store. And you can get links to all of the things that we mentioned on this news brief at X-Men.
00:03:53
Speaker
AIC podcast.com forward slash links sticking with superheroes that are available on Big Bad Toy Store. ah The Mezco 112 collective Dr. Dooms.
00:04:07
Speaker
is available for pre-order over at Big Bad Toy Store. Again, tons of accessories, tons of different hands, heads, ah you name it. If you're at all familiar with Mezco 112, they do not skimp on the accessories. So that is also available at Big Bad Toy Store along with the new fan channel exclusive Iron Spider-Man. So this was revealed at New York Toy Fair. We were among the first to see it. This is the Aaron Davis ah Gold and Black Iron Spider.
00:04:37
Speaker
um You can get this as well at Big Bad Toy Store and other fan channel retailers. ah Lastly, on the Big Bad Toy Store train is a whole bunch of new stuff from Trick or Treat Studios. So at Toy Fair, we had the opportunity to see A whole array of new things coming from Trick or Treat Studios, from classic movie maniacs inspired figures of Maniac Cap Cop,
00:05:03
Speaker
and Leprechaun, to 5-inch retro collectibles from Day of the Dead, to 1-1 scale ah prop replicas of Krang, to to Polly Pocket slash Mighty Max style playsets for Halloween. um You name it, they have a little bit of something for everyone, and they are all available for pre-order at Big Bad Toy Store.
00:05:29
Speaker
Moving away from Big Bad Toy Store, um our friends over at Ringside Collectibles have revealed the latest wave of AEW unmatched figures.
00:05:40
Speaker
So this is series 13 and it features two versions of Kyle Fletcher, both a chase and a standard, as well as Chris Statlander, Hook and Kenny Omega.
00:05:53
Speaker
You can pre-order these at Ringside Collectibles, and you can use code AIC at checkout to save yourself 10%. And what's really cool is Ringside is putting up for a markup, but they are allowing you to pre-order the Chase version of Kyle Fletcher, so you can guarantee yourself the entire wave.
00:06:12
Speaker
Pretty cool. And i if you use that code at checkout, that AIC code, you don't have to go hunting for these when or if they even show up at retail. so um That's exclusive over at Ringside Collectibles. Or we'll say it's exclusive.
New Series Announcements and YouTube Content
00:06:27
Speaker
ah Also last week, and still available for pre-order at most major retailers, is the latest wave G.I. Joe Classified series. um These were, again, revealed at New York Toy Fair. Lenny took ah the the time to walk us through all of them. um
00:06:43
Speaker
Very, very, very cool releases, including a new canonical character to the world of G.I. Joe, and that is Sundown. um The i South American-inspired cowboy ah also brings Headman into the canon, and if you want to know how to make sense of that, you can go watch our video over on YouTube, where Lenny explains the whole thing.
00:07:08
Speaker
um Speaking of which... slight aside, we have an entire playlist on YouTube of our New York Toy Fair coverage. It includes walkthroughs and interviews from some of the major booths, including Super 7, NECA, Hasbro, Trick or Treat Studios, i Handmade by Robots. There's a lot on there. So highly recommend if you missed out on any of the Toy Fair news and you want to get up close and personal with what was on display and revealed, head on over to our YouTube channel and yeah, you can you can take a look at that.
Upcoming Collectibles and Closing Remarks
00:07:40
Speaker
Lastly, two things that are hitting now that maybe you should just keep an eye out for,
00:07:45
Speaker
um If you are a Space Jam fan, it is 30 years of Space Jam somehow. And Target has this amazing aisle setup experience, kind of like what they did for Stranger Things, but for Space Jam. And it's great. There is there are bag hanger plushies. There are jerseys and t-shirts and water bottles and hats.
00:08:10
Speaker
um that are all made by Champion Sports, that are all very retro looking and feeling. Looks like the stuff that I wore when I was a kid 30 years ago. Pretty cool. But the ah the big piece of new toy and collectible in there is an exclusive Toon Squad, Bugs Bunny, Squishmallow.
00:08:28
Speaker
So yeah, keep an eye out at Target for those exclusives. And also with the Super Mario Galaxy movie incoming very quickly, it'll be here before you know it, I believe in April, the first waves of Jack's Super Mario figures are starting to hit shelves. So also keep an eye out for those. On behalf of myself and the entire AICNN team, this has been your AIC News Brief.
00:09:03
Speaker
This has been a non-productive media presentation. Executive producer, Frank Hablaoui. 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.
00:09:30
Speaker
Bye.