TVSquad

"Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Popularly licensed and profitable is he!"

That's not how the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song goes, but the statement is factually correct. The Nickelodeon yellow legend is still immensely popular across various age ranges. And that gives you some easy gift ideas for kids in and around your family.

Rather than merely give the kid in question a stuffed sponge for the holidays, you can dig a little deeper and offer up a couple Spongebob board games from Hasbro for less than $25 each.

The SpongeBob SquarePants Edition of "Kid Cranium" mixes up artistic activities with a trivia-based board game to let kids express themselves while they kick your grown-up butt.

The cast of Boston Legal is now moving to children's toys. This only seems like a joke, but it's not. William Shatner, James Spader and Candice Bergen are among the celebrities and artists who will be designing new versions of "My Little Pony", the toy from the 1980's which launched an animated television series and movie.

(UPDATE: Stacey Luchs, a spokeswoman for the show, said Thursday that Shatner and Spader were unaware of the venture and would not participate.)

The special ponies will be auctioned off by Hasbro as a charity fundraiser. Other pony-designing celebrities include LeAnn Rimes, Debbie Gibson and Danny Aiello. Artists designing ponies include illustrator Catalina Estrada from Spain, New York graffiti artist-turned-designer Claw Money and Japanese manga artist Junko Mizuno.

Still, it beats having to redesign Planet Unicorn.

For the pink tile ... it's Trivial Pursuit! The ultimate trivia challenge finally makes the leap back to the television airwaves [thanks posters-jh]. The upcoming syndicated Trivial Pursuit: America Plays has cleared 55% of the nation, including eight of the top 10 markets. What this means to you and me is it's virtually a lock that we'll be able to participate in this new show soon.

Yes, you read that right. The show will feature viewer submitted video questions. You could get your ugly mug ("No, no, not you ... you're beautiful ... I'm talking about the rest of them.") up on the screen asking your very own trivia question. Man, I hope they have a pretty hefty screening process for this. I don't want some redneck yahoo standing there in his cutoff jean shorts and too small high school football jersey yelling "How many interceptions did I make in the big game against the Duke County Daisies in '76? ... or was it '77?"

G.I. Joe is just one of many adaptations of '80s toys/animated series that have been on deck for the last few years. There was of course Transformers, followed by rumors of bigscreen versions of He-Man and Thundercats. Now, however, the live-action G.I. Joe movie is official.

Writer/director Stephen Sommers (The Mummy) will helm the project, which will envision the G.I. Joe team as an international collaboration of military forces battling the evil Cobra, as opposed to the America-centric gang most of us remember from the '80s cartoon. Fans can also expect favorites like Duke, Snake Eyes, Scarlett, Destro and Cobra Commander in this new flick. The movie could hit theaters by summer of 2009.

With the theatrical premiere of The Transformers approaching fast, it should come as no surprise that Hasbro and Cartoon Network are developing a brand new animated series featuring the robots in disguise.

Transformers Animated, slated for a January debut, would be the ninth series based on the toys. In this new series, rather than constantly pitting themselves against the Decepticons, the Autobots will instead fight a human enemy. The new series will also NOT be based on the new film version, though obviously the producers are hoping for a hefty boost from the movie to get a new generation interested in the franchise.

Our buddies over at Autoblog can hardly contain themselves over these photos of the new Transformers action figures (they're crazy for cars, and cars that turn into robots are their ultimate dream). The newly-styled gizmos will be released this summer, in conjunction with the live-action Transformers film which comes out on July 4th. The figures are designed based on the style of the movie, of which we've seen only a few clips.

The new Transformers look tougher than the plastic ones I remember as a kid (I had three brothers, so Barbie was out). Specifically, their faces are a little more mencing. Even Optimus Prime has been updated with a new paint job. And check out the Optimus Prime Arm Blaster. It would be okay for a grown woman to have a Transformer on her desk, right?