Toys

Rumors that Disney is completing its march to mono-corporation by purchasing toy titan Hasbro have been going around. We have no dog in that hunt, so we reached out to our pal Paul Nomad who has his finger on the pulse of the toy biz like no one else, and his sources confirm the two companies are in talks.

It's been a crappy horrible day, but here's something to end it on that should make you smile. The kids today may not be aware that Cracker Jack gifts weren't always lame-of pencil toppers (seriously -- who the hell needs a pencil topper???) but were once an array of tiny toys and gadgets all assembled from die cast plastic. And now it seems largest collection of Cracker Jack toys ever assembled going up for auction. It's all part of the Dreier Collection, a massive pop culture collection which is being auctioned off by Profiles in History on July 28th. You can view the whole thing below.

Lotsa headlines from Google's finest news sources!

Stopped by the Cryptozoic pop up at 411 Market Street and things are hopping with free zombie make-up, game demos and signings. Tonight there's...

The other links from Thursday! Mitt Romney and the Mayor of San Diego! Science Fiction Libraries! E-books from Abrams! Finally, a sonic screwdriver which can open your car! LEGO superhero exclusives!

We got a chance to look at Cryptozoic's latest project, the DC Comics Deck Building Game on Thursday morning. Cryptozoic has been a strong presence building geek culture games, adopting Penny Arcade, The Walking Dead, and The Big Bang Theory. Now their aim is to adopt DC's comic universe into the next big game.

Cuddly toys at SDCC! Expect a lot of this over the next few days, you guys

Basically if you go to the Darkness and Light gallery on 5th Street on Friday you will see Lego builder recreating a Jim Lee painting in Legos. You don't see that every day. No sir.

Comic-Con International is a bazaar of the bizarre, and many exhibitors offer limited editions and convention exclusives to generate interest and buzz! Here are some that caught my eye, and I'm already making a list for eBay after the Con!

For the past week or so we've been getting emails about Neocomimi, a product which offers electronic cat ears which purport to be activated by our brain waves to show emotions. Like, when you want more Fancy Feast they go down, and when you hear the Fancy Feast can being opened they perk right up. That kind of thing.

We're not going to post every little piece of PR about Comic-Con that's flooding our inbox, but...well...a lot is happening! Here's some of the most unlikely and exceptional events looming. Let's just say does a My Little Pony trolley ring your bell?

Our friends at Idle Hands have posted Diamond Select's SDCC exclusives. Yes, we're on a rolling avalanche that will end in about six weeks. All of these are available from Diamond Comic Distributors (Booth #2401) and Diamond Select Toys (#2607).