Raving Toy Maniac

October 18, 2013 - The past month was a huge blur and we did not get to any fast food restaurants to eat or buy toys. This month we definitely need to get to a McDonald's that has the trick-or-treat buckets and to Carl's Jr to check out the Despicable Me 2 toys. We missed the Batman toys at McDonald's, so that might mean another eBay purchase.

Let's see what's out there in restaurants this month!

A quick check of the web sites for the more popular fast food restaurants reveals the following:

- The Wendy's web site still does not list the toys at all, but I did recently see a television commercial (!!!) promoting their Scared Shrekless Halloween toys. If you are on Facebook, you can see an album of these toys at this link. The toys are: a Shrek/Fiona mask, a Cat Attack Puss in Boots, Donkey Ears, a Donkey Sipper (straw topper), a Haunted Frame, and a Spooky Noises Shrek figure. (More after the jump)

October 13, 2013 - Time to again check Target's printable coupons and Cartwheel app for new deals!

The printable coupons offer 23 coupon in the toys category, including these that have been added since last time:

• $5 off Imaginext Batcave
• $10 off Imanginext Rescue City Center
• $10 off Monsters U Scare Factory

Their Cartwheel has 31 toy deals available, including these two new deals:

• 20% off Angry Birds GO! Pig Rock Raceway Set
• 20% off B-Daman Battlefield Set - Crossfire Bomber Set

The Cartwheel is also offering 40% off the Magic Jinn Guessing Game toy, which sounds like they would very much like you to buy one soon.

If you don't have a smartphone to use the Cartwheel app, you can log in via Facebook and print out a code to hand to the cashier and still get the same deals.

October 2013 - LEGO has announced a new set in their LEGO Modular Buildings Collection:

10243 Parisian Restaurant
Ages 16+. 2,469 pieces.
Have an unforgettable evening at the amazing Parisian Restaurant!

US $159.99 - CA $189.99 - DE 149.99 € - UK 132.99 £ - DK 1299.00 DKK

October 6, 2013 - September was a blur, but at some point, there was a trip to Walgreens and a surprise in the toy aisle! Not only did they have McFarlane's 4th series of The Walking Dead action figures (tv versions), including the exclusive Rick Grimes figure, but they also had some oddly cute DC Super Hero Dolls.

I picked up the Wonder Woman, Catwoman, and Supergirl. There is also a Batgirl, but I didn't see one at this location, so she'll wait for another day. The dolls were $4.99 each. In addition to their rooted hair, they have eyes that blink open and closed as you tilt them backwards or stand them up. (more after the jump)

October 6, 2013 - It's a new month, so it is also time to check Target's printable coupons and Cartwheel app for new deals!

The printable coupons offer 18 coupon in the toys category, mostly on Hasbro items, including:

• $5 off KRE-O Cityville Invasion Police Station Zombie Defense building set
• $3 off Transformers Construct-Bots

Also check the HasbroRewards.com site for more printable Hasbro coupons, as well as the SmartSource insert for the October 6th Sunday newspaper. We get the Denver paper and there were several Hasbro coupons in it. In theory, Target will let you stack a manufacturer's coupon with one of their Target coupons, so you might be able to double up on a few of the deals. You can also "triple-stack" the two kinds of coupons with the Cartwheel app when those deals happen to align.

Their Cartwheel has 36 toy deals available, including these deals of interest to action figure collectors:

Someone emailed today and stumped me: "I've been trying to find this toy set that I had as a child for years now and can' find it anywhere. All I have from the set is a little dog figurine in a teal dress. She had a family and came with a house. My sisters also had similar sets, one was a pig family that own a bakery and a bear family set. My biggest problem is I don't know what they were called. All I know is that they are from the yearly 90s'. They are not the felt ones they are small and plastic with no movable parts."

September 18, 2013 - The boy has been collecting the Power Rangers toys from McDonald's and was able to get most of them before the Colorado flooding hit our area. Hopefully he can finish the MegaZord before the promotion ends.

I was able to snag a batch of the Sonic Justice League toys off eBay. It's not a complete set, but it had the pieces I wanted, so I was happy.

Let's see what's out there in restaurants this month! (more after the jump)

A quick check of the web sites for the more popular fast food restaurants reveals the following:

- McDonald's has Justice and Power Rangers MegaForce toys in their Happy Meals, with Batman and The Wizard of Oz shown as the next promotions.

- Sonic has Scooby-Doo toys in their Wacky Pack meals.

September 16, 2013 - Time to check Target's printable coupons and Cartwheel app for new deals!

The printable coupons offer eight coupons in the toys category, including:

• $5 off Beyblade Samurai Cyclone Battle Set
• $5 off B-Daman Battlefield toy
• $3 off NERF Zombie Strike Sledgefire Blaster

Their Cartwheel has 21 toy deals available, including:

• 15% off Transformers Predacons Rising toys
• 10% off My Little Pony Toys
• 10% off My Little Pony Equestria Girls - deluxe dolls
• 10% off NERF Zombie Strike Sledgefire Blaster
• 15% off Playskool Heroes Hulk Smash toys

September 2013 - CustomCon 36 has been scheduled for the week of December 9, 2013, to be held on ActionFigurePics.com. The entry deadline is Friday, November 29, 2013.

Please check AFP's CustomCon page to learn more about submitting your custom action figures.

Take a look back at the previous CustomCon events.

September 3, 2013 - It's a new month, so it is also time to check Target's printable coupons and Cartwheel app for new deals!

The printable coupons offer four coupon in the toys category:

• 20% select Hasbro games
• buy one, get one 50% off B-Daman toys
• buy one, get one 50% off Beyblade toys
• 20% off a Disney's Sofia the First toy

Their Cartwheel has 14 toy deals available, including these deals of interest to action figure collectors:

• 50% off Power Ghouls Spectra Monster High Doll
• 50% off Power Ghouls Clawdeen Wolf Monster High Doll
• 10% off Playskool Heroes Hulk Smash toys

If you don't have a smartphone to use the Cartwheel app, you can log in via Facebook and print out a code to hand to the cashier and still get the same deals. We've used the Cartwheel printout three times now and have saved a whopping $5.68, which was enough to pay for the clearance Roadblock action figure shown above.