Palisades announces Dragonball Z mini-statues!

Palisades is proud to announce that they have acquired the license to produce resin statues and busts based on the hot cartoon series, Dragon Ball Z. Seven busts are currently in the works, including Android 17 and 18, Piccolo, and Trunks- all to be revealed at next years toy event of the year- Toy Fair 2001! Master sculptor Derek A. Miller of D-Boy’s Warlands and Nine Rings of Wu-Tang action figure fame will be one of the talented people behind these collectible statues.

Comments (0) | Bookmark this entry | November 30, 2000 | Jess Horsley

Irwin Toy CEO Resigns

This story has been breaking all over the place—I can’t see that it will have any particular relevance, but here it is, from Figures.com:


Irwin Toy Limited announced that George Irwin has resigned as President and Chief Executive Officer to pursue personal interests and other business opportunities, after having set the Company on a strong growth course during his tenure.

The Company said it is confident that the strong management team in place at Irwin Toy will continue the direction the company has experienced in the past year. The Board of Directors said it established a committee of the Board to conduct the search for a new President and Chief Executive Officer.

There are also reports that the resignation was due to sinking profits, but personally, I sincerely doubt that this is the case, as Irwin Toy has exclusive rights to one of the hottest properties in the US right now.

Comments (0) | Bookmark this entry | November 29, 2000 | Jess Horsley

Ah, paper football, very clever!

Hey all, I’ve updated the Irwin Model Page to add links for images of the SS Gohan, SS Goku, Trunks, and SS Trunks model kits.

I’ve also added an eBay seller to the Bootleg List, and I’ve added a new item to the message board rules to cover the topic of full episode links—hopefully this will clear up any ambiguity about my position on such matters.

Also, DBZStore.com has the new balsting figures and model kits—about a zillion people have e-mailed me about this in the past few days, so thanks.

Comments (0) | Bookmark this entry | November 26, 2000 | Jess Horsley

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey all, just wanted to get on and take a minute to wish everyone out there (or at least everyone to whom this applies) a Happy Thanksgiving, and a successful shopping day tomorrow!

Comments (0) | Bookmark this entry | November 23, 2000 | Jess Horsley

Processor Wars

Hey folks—just wanted to make a note that my computer is down as of about 4:00pm yesterday, because my processor fan quit, and I don’t want to burn it out. I should have it fixed soon—in the meantime, I won’t be able to answer e-mail, so please keep that in mind, especially with auction payments. I have sent out all items for which I have received payment already, I’ll send a confirmation once I get back up. Thanks.

Comments (0) | Bookmark this entry | November 20, 2000 | Jess Horsley

Irwintoy.com

Irwin’s new web site is up—and while the new flash layout (ala dragonballz.com) is neat looking, it is not particularly information-heavy at this point—it lists all of their DBZ products by line, but doesn’t go into any detail (such as images or figure line-ups). Maybe in the coming weeks, we’ll see new developments. Also, it says they plan to open a direct-purchase store in the next few weeks, that should be pretty worthwhile, we’ll have to wait and see.

The site is slighty hard to look at, in my opinion, those little blue squares in the background are gonna cause some kid to have an epileptic fit…

Comments (1) | Bookmark this entry | November 19, 2000 | Jess Horsley

Updates and reminders

Howdy folks—I’ve created pages for the news models of Goku and Vegeta, using submitted pictures (thanks!), and I’ve updated the Models page to show all of the new kits that I have images for. Also, I’ve finally built a rough page for the 12” figures, which will improve once I get images of the figures themselves.

One more thing—Irwin has indeed re-released figures from series 1-12 in the new packaging (don’t ask me why, I have no idea). You can see an image of it here, as sent in by super17 from the message board.

Also a note: Irwin’s new web site is supposed to go up today—even though their countdown pages have been changing at 12:00 sharp, the new site has yet to be loaded, as of 12:16. Keep an eye out for it, hopefully it will include all sorts of cool info (keep your fingers crossed)!

Comments (0) | Bookmark this entry | November 19, 2000 | Jess Horsley

Bootleg Toys Page

Due to pupular demand, I have added a new Bootleg Toy Guide to the DBTI. It features tips on how to spot a bootleg figure, and a list of known sellers of bootleg toys. If you know of any other stores or auction sellers that specialize in bootleg toys, especially those who don’t make the distinction between their product and the real thing, please e-mail me at despotes@dragonballtoys.com.

Also, I haven’t yet gotten to the 12” Irwin page or answering the bulk of my e-mail, I apologize for that. I hope to get some time to address both of those things this weekend. Also, thanks to all of the folks who have sent images of the Goku model kit, they will go up in the next update. Please only send model images of the other characters from now on, thanks.

Comments (0) | Bookmark this entry | November 16, 2000 | Jess Horsley

Series 17 Images and Model Kits

Hey folks, despite countless computer crashes and an energy level of -2, I’ve been able to make a few updates. I’ve added pages for the Irwin2000 Series 17 Action Figures from the FUNimation DBZ site, as well as pages for the new Irwin2000 Model Kits that are available at DBZStore.com. I hope to be able to add pages for the new 12” figures tomorrow, as well as to answer some e-mail (I promise, I’m not dead!).

Dewa ashita no ban!

Comments (0) | Bookmark this entry | November 15, 2000 | Jess Horsley

DBZStore.com - Series 16 and Model Kits!

DBZStore has now gotten in all of the new figures in specialty packaging. However, that’s not the cool news—the cool news is that they have also gotten in the new model kits! They have SS Gohan, Trunks, and SS Trunks, for 10.99! The boxes look great, we’ll have images of the actual kits soon!

A bunch of people sent in the series 16 heads-up, thanks everyone, and KGGoten@aol.com sent in the heads-up on the model kit.

Comments (0) | Bookmark this entry | November 14, 2000 | Jess Horsley

Message board requests complete!

Well, it’s done… after days and days of sifting through board requests, all 175 accounts are up…

Now, for those of you who requested but didn’t get a reply, you either supplied the wrong email address in your request or your email account is not working. Please use another email address and request again.

Another reason you may have not heard back from us is that your requested name was either already taken, or exceeds the 15 character limit. Again, please remedy this and request again.

Thanks everyone for being part of the DBTI message board!

Comments (0) | Bookmark this entry | November 14, 2000 |

A few items of importance...

Hey all…
I have a few things I’d like to get through…

First off, The Message Board- If you have requested an account and haven’t heard from us yet, Please be Patient! We have nearly 200 accounts to re-activate, and it DOES take time. Any multiple requests from here on in will be deleted and further requests will be ignored. I have gotten nearly two dozen people requesting an account two to three times a day both today and yesterday. You have to understand, I’ve been working on other things for the site as well…

Which brings me to my second point- Many of you may remember the “Create Your Own Character Contest” we had June / July 2000… I’m nearly finished the contestants page, and it should be ready to post sometime early in the week.

Lastly, I’ve had a HUGE amount of Customs submissions in the last few days as well. No complaints here, keep ‘em comming… We love to see your work, and love to showcase it here for all to see. I’d just like to get a note out to those who have sent their work in to be patient, as the sheer volume of submissions is going to have me busy well into the week.

Thanks for your time everyone. I’m going to try and get to the last 60 or so message board requests in the next 12 hours.

Comments (0) | Bookmark this entry | November 11, 2000 |

Cincinnati Sugoi Con

Hey folks—I’ll be going to the Sugoi Anime Convention in Cincinnati this weekend—I don’t expect Irwin to have anything there on display, but you never know, I suppose. I am hoping to find some rarer toys for the site, and perhaps for the auctions, though.

I’ll be the one handing out DBTI Cards to everyone… :-)

Comments (0) | Bookmark this entry | November 10, 2000 | Jess Horsley

Okay, here's what's up with the board...

Apparently, an error in the Discus software (the MB program) caused the file with all of the user info to be reset, effectively deleting all accounts. All of the messages on the board are intact, but the user list is going to have to be rebuilt manually by the Kappa and myself, which means that everyone is going to have to resubmit a request for an account. To make this a little easier for all of us, I’ve put together a nice, simple registration form, which you can get to either by clicking here, or by clicking in the box to the right.

Only registrations submitted this way will be accepted.

Sorry for the problems, let’s get everyone back up and registered!

Comments (0) | Bookmark this entry | November 08, 2000 | Jess Horsley

Message Board Accounts

Hey folks—we’re having some problems with the board, we know all about the user authentication errors going on, we’re working on it now.

Comments (0) | Bookmark this entry | November 08, 2000 | Jess Horsley

Sumo Sized Customs Update

Hey everyone…
I got another update finished on the Customs page…
Cland 97’s Page got a few new figures up, as did Trunks 3069’s.

Also, I added something new to the customs section- The Concept Corner is a new feature for any of you with a flare for customs and some image editing software! Check it out to see what I mean, with the first customizer to the Concept Corner… PokeChris5!

(As a side note, I would like to appologize to any Sumo’s I may have offended) ^_

Comments (0) | Bookmark this entry | November 07, 2000 |

Exclusive Series 14 Four-Pack!

Despite the fact that the Dragonball Z rep. at Irwin Toy told me that there would be no more multi-packs, today saw the release of a new Specialty packagaing Series 14 4 pack! This set includes Nappa, Raditz, Garlic Jr., and Master Roshi. It says “Exclusive Master Roshi Figure” in a sticker on the box, but the figure that comes in the pack is exactly the same as the regular one. (Perhaps Irwin jumped into the collectors market without a full understanding of the term “variant”). The set comes in the specialty packagaing with the silver logo, and is only available at Musicland-family stores (Suncoast, Media Play, Sam Goody, On Cue).

On a side note, I saw a new Irwin commercial today during Blue Sub #6, focusing on the Nimbus Cloud. No big deal, nothing new in it.

Comments (0) | Bookmark this entry | November 06, 2000 | Jess Horsley

HUGE Customs update!

Here’s another huge update for the Customs section for you to pile on your plate on the DBTI buffet!

Ultimate Trunks 4’s page has been updated in the wake of recent feedback over his figures…

Trunks3069’s page has been updated as well… as was SS3 Zunik’s and Portugy’s …
New Customizers have also been added- Kool Kid and Trunks967 are welcomed to the DBTI customs section.

Comments (0) | Bookmark this entry | November 04, 2000 |

Irwin Blasting Figures -- Boxed Images

I’ve uploaded images of the Blasting Figure packaging to the Irwin2000 BEA figures page. Thanks to Coushiii (from the DBTI Auctions) for sending the images in!

Also, these figures are available at some places in Canada, hopefully they will show up in the states before too long!

Comments (0) | Bookmark this entry | November 03, 2000 | Jess Horsley

More Series 17 at Dragonballz.com

The Offical DBZ site has posted an image of the fifth Series 17 figure, Gokou. Click on the link below to check it out:

http://www.dragonballz.com/html/news/irwin/irwin_allimg2.html

Enjoy.

Comments (4) | Bookmark this entry | November 03, 2000 | Jess Horsley