TVSquad

To quote Yogurt: "MOICHendising!"'

That's "merchandising" -- it's difficult to affect that Yiddish accent in print. Anyway, the little green guy is right. You can't have a movie without product tie-ins, and it's no different for the upcoming Simpsons Movie. There will be a line of toys based on the movie out this Spring, and they're being created by McFarlane Toys, the company responsible for some of the coolest movie and TV-based toys in the last few years. Seriously, check out some of their other work.

This isn't the first time McFarlane has designed Simpsons toys. The pic on the right is for a new "Treehouse of Horror" set slated for a release later this year, along with this set featuring Homer and Lard Lad. Collectors, get ready to purchase one set you'll never take out of the package, and another set you can play with. Kids ten and under: take the toys outside and bury them in the ground and dig them up the next day. That's how I always played with my action figures. Sure, it means they're worthless now, but I'm one of those silly people who thinks toys should be played with.

Thanks to my pal Wild Bill for the tip.

With the holiday shopping season being a mere 38 days away, it's time to sit down and think about what you want to give out as gifts this year? Elmo TMX? Nah, they'll probably be sold out of those until the middle of 2007. The new Sony Playstation? Well, it's going to be so expensive that all of your friends will probably need to share it. Lost action figures? Come on, they don't make action figures from your favorite show.

Wrong, Mr. (or Mrs.) holiday consumer! The truth is that they do exist and will be coming to a store (or website) near you this fall, courtesy of McFarlane Toys. According to the website figures.com the company will release six fan-favorite characters from the first season. These include characters such as Charlie (pictured here and in Anna's post from August), Jack, Kate and Hurley. Future releases will feature characters like Sawyer, Jin, Walk (with Vincent his dog) and Boone.

Okay, maybe not with kung-fu grip. "Faces in perpetual states of shock, horror, and/or 'WTF'-ness" are more likely. Anyway, McFarlane Toys are coming out with a new line of Lost action figures of season one's "fan-favorites", Jack, Kate, Locke, Hurley, Charlie, and Shannon. They've just released a picture of the Charlie figure. He's sitting down, writing on his fingers. Hmm... Doesn't look very action-y. McFarlane Toys is also releasing boxsets, little dioramas that recreate key moments of the show. So, if you don't like the season finale, you can always film your own.

Maybe it's just me, but the choice of Shannon to be a part of the first set of "fan-favorite" toys comes as a bit of a surprise. If I had to go for one of the deadsies for this first set, I would have picked a Boone figure over a Shannon one. The fact that I found Boone attractive has nothing little to do with it. The toys are expected Fall of this year.