The second piece in the beautifully detailed (and equally expensive) Christmas Village collection by Hawthorne Village is arriving now. It is the Kwik-E-Mart with an exclusive figurine of Bart riding a sled. Ordering info is available on Collectibles Today. Thanks to member gusbanks for the info and the image.

The New Force Comics exclusive Future Burns: The Next Century set is here. They are starting to arrive now, but they said "it will likely take 7-10 days to ship out all preorders/orders" due to the quantity of orders. If you haven't preordered, you can order now at FutureBurns.com. Thanks to New Force for the packaging pic.

UPDATE: Double D'oh! The price went back up to $19.41.

We have a weiner! EBGames.com has a great bargain on the KBBL Studios playset, which came out last year. The set has been discounted to $2.99 so if you haven't picked up yet or would like an extra for customizing purposes, this is a great opportunity.

Voice-Response Homer, the first in the planned series of interactive "Braineez" by Playmates Toys, is out now. SCS staffer Ham Salad saw it at a TRU in Tigard, OR. It was $14.99. How these work are you ask them specific questions and there a number of responses that they give in response. The Bart figure will be released a little later.

The second series of Simpsons mini-busts from Sideshow Toy are shipping now, according to their website. This series features Moe Syzlak and C. Montgomery Burns. They have been spotted at Toy Tokyo in NYC and should also be showing up comic/hobby shops very soon.

Need something cool to make your dorm room or bedroom more geektastic? Then be sure to pick up the new Nuclear Power Plant lava lamp, which was just released. It has showed up at Spencer's Gifts stores with a $59.99 price tag. The lamp features Homer, Lenny, and Carl hard at work amidst the nuclear glow of Sector 7-G. Thanks to Blinky 3 16 for the heads up.

Those who weren't satisfied with the deluge of new WoS products have cause to rejoice. The Future Burns set is arriving soon. The latest update at New Force Comics states: "Our freight arrived into Miami Fl today. We are just waiting on customs clearance, shipment to our Lynn Haven warehouse and hope to start shipping product by early next week". They also received their shipment of Series 14 this week.

UPDATE: Notes from our Playmates meeting are now up as well.

Our detailed coverage of the World of Springfield line at the Fall Mass Market Toy Expo in NY is now up in the SCS Magazine. In it we explore the 2004 lineup for WoS with detailed images and notes. We also look at some of the other Simpsons items that Playmates had on display.

The Original Simpsons set is showing up on doorsteps all over, including that of our own Captain Toy. In his latest review at Michael's Review of the Week, Mr. Crawford carefully inspects the older, uglier (not ugly enough?) versions of our favorite family. If the review is not on the front page, check out the Cartoon Reviews archive for the date 10/22/03.