SPIDERMAN TEAMS UP WITH TOYS FOR TOTS

Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man teamed up this year with Toys for Tots, a program run by the United States Marine Corps Reserve that distributes toys to children whose parents cannot afford to buy them gifts for Christmas.  Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) in conjunction with the 4K, Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD release of Spider-Man: Homecoming provided one of the actual suits worn by actor Tom Holland while shooting the movie to be auctioned off by ScreenBid.com on behalf of Toys for Tots.  The winning bid raised more than $37,000 dollars for the charity!

Spider-Man swung into a Toys for Tots distribution center in Pasadena, California to present a check from the online auction.  He also brought along with him some Spider-Man: Homecoming dvds and toys to contribute towards the Toys for Tots effort courtesy of SPHE.  While there he joined in with other volunteers gift wrapping presents that will be going out to needy kids.  Way to go Spidey!

The appearance also provided an opportunity for Spider-Man to meet one of his own personal heroes ... Santa Claus.  Spidey and Santa spent some time chatting about each others super powers.  One can make reindeer fly in the sky plus teleport himself into people's homes while the other can crawl up walls and shoot webs.  Who do you think has the more impressive abilities?  Doesn't matter they are both impressive guys!

Would you like to join Spider-Man and Santa Claus in supporting the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation?  Visit toysfortots.org for information about making a financial contribution, donating new, unopened toys or volunteering your time.

Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Buy a t-shirt that matches your favorite weekly comic book covers from Marvel at welovefine.com

One of my favorite aspects of collecting comic books is all of the incredible artwork that publishers commission for the covers of their issues.  You'll often find spectacular cover art for comic book covers that is worthy of framing and displaying.  That is one element of print editions that just doesn't translate over as well to digital versions of comic books.

To keep customers repeatedly visiting comic book shops on a regular basis, publishers spread the release of their titles' new issues throughout the month.  So every Wednesday is always a "new comic book day"  with a variety of comic book selections debuting each week.  I always enjoy making a stop by my local comic book shop on Wednesdays to peruse the shelves for some new stories to read and to delight in all the great illustrations that decorate the covers of that week's featured publications. So I was very enthused to learn about a new partnership between welovefine.com and Marvel that will let people wear the art from their favorite new comic book covers on their chest.

Each week We Love Fine will release for sale on Wednesday limited edition t-shirts featuring the cover artwork from the Marvel super hero comic books that arrived on store shelves that day.  Like the artwork on the newest issue of the Amazing Spider-Man?  You can now get a t-shirt displaying it from welovefine.com.  Don't wait to order though as these shirts will only be available for a few days then replaced with new selections the next Wednesday corresponding with Marvel's most recent comic book releases that week.

These t-shirts cost just $15, plus shipping and handling, and are available in mens basic crew tee or womens basic fitted tee in adult sizes Small to 2XL.  The shirts are 100% cotton and black in color to frame the artwork displayed on its front.  The exclusive We Love Fine / Marvel shirts are only available in black and though I'm not a fan of white or black t-shirts I can understand how this coloring really does a nice job of highlight the artwork which is the primary reason people would buy the product plus is probably a financial necessity to ensure the profitability of a limited run printing while keeping the price as affordable as they have.  Hopefully if this program is successful they may add some other color options in the future for the t-shirts that are complimentary to the particular artwork you've selected but for now black t-shirts aren't much to gripe over.

If you like to wear clothes that have a sense of fun to them, are a bit unique and you most likely won't encounter someone else wearing at the same time you are  sporting them these limited run t-shirts are a great option to accomplish that.  They are also a great way to personalize your wardrobe a bit by adding artwork featuring your favorite comic book characters that really appeals to you.  If you enjoy comic book artwork and super hero characters you'll want to regularly check out welovefine.com  to see what Marvel Covers t-shirts they are printing up each week.

Web Slinging is One of the Best Aspects of Marvel's Spider-Man Character

My son is really into Spider-Man right now...the web slinger is on his shoes, lunchbox, bed sheets, and most recently his birthday cake.  So to say he was excited when we received an unexpected mystery box on our front porch the other day that had Marvel's Spider-Man displayed on its side would be an understatement.  My kids were thrilled to open it up and find the box full of toys!  Hasbro generously sent us some ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN: WEB WARRIORS toys for the kids to play with.

As Disney XD's hit animated series ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN enters its third season in 2015, the show is expanding its name and cast.  This season the show, which is a fixture of Disney XD's Sunday Morning cartoon lineup, is called ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN: WEB WARRIORS and joining Peter Parker's adventures are Spider-Man 2099, Iron-Spider, Miles Morales and other characters from Marvel's Spider-verse.  Along with the new aspects to the show also comes a new toy line from Hasbro that lets kids become Web Warriors too.

Web slinging really has to be the best aspect of Spider-Man.  Who wouldn't want to be able to swing from roof top to roof top across a city or sling a bolt of web at someone?!   Hasbro's ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN: WEB WARRIORS toy line focus on letting children be web slingers themselves.  Its action figures, racers, and web blaster gloves let kids launch high-flying webs, just like their favorite heroes.  After some trial and error and practice, my son became a super hero at knocking down the bad guy targets that come along with the toys.

While both my son and daughter had fun playing with the Web Slingers 6" action figures and Agent Venom ATV racer we received, it was the Spider-Man Web Slinger Blaster glove that won the day for my son's interest.  He has been jumping, flipping and racing throughout the house pretending he is Spider-Man since we got it.  This Spidey glove lets kids shoot webs at targets like your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man slings them at the villains he faces off against.  The best part of this toy though is that it includes motion activated sound effects that enhance the role playing aspect of pretending to be Spider-Man swinging and slinging his way through an adventure. Because of the quality of the sound effects with this toy, my son has actually been using his imagination to pretend web swinging and slinging as Spider-Man more than using the physical web shooter component of the toy.

Note the glove is on the small side, my wife and I couldn't fit it on our hands, so it is most likely best suited for children 5 to 7 years old.  While there could be some parental concern over shooting plastic objects from a toy, the projectiles have a light rubbery texture and don't seem to reach a velocity that would make them dangerous.  Still instructing children to never aim these toys at someone's face would be an important must and some parental supervision may be necessary depending on a child's maturity, behavior and other variable circumstances that could arise.  From our own experience, we found there to be minimal concern for the web slinging aspect of these toys.

Once your child has mastered knocking down the individual targets that come with each toy, you may want to challenge them with the WEB SLINGERS TRICKSHOT SHOWDOWN PLAYSET.  This arena includes a spinning Venom and collapsing Green Goblin targets plus 3 other targets to challenge your web slinger.  Plus it has a spinning crane and crash through doors that kids can have the 6-inch Spider-Man figure that comes with the playset interact with.  The playset is recommend for 4 years and older with a retail price of $24.99.

In addition to receiving a TRICKSHOT SHOWDOWN PLAYSET, my children also received the following goodies from Hasbro:

Marvel's Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors Web Slinger 6" Spider-Man Action Figure
(Ages 4 & up / Retail Price $9.99) - Choose from Spider-Man, Agent Venom, Spider-Man 2099 and other characters from the animated series Marvel's ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN: WEB WARRIORS.  Each figure has 5 points of articulation and includes two webs as well as a villain target.  Kids can launch high flying webs at the villains like their favorite Spider-Man character from the television show.

Marvel's Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors Web Slingers Agent Venom ATV Racer (Ages 4 & up / Retail Price $14.99) - children can have fun spinning these wheeled vehicles around pretending to race after the bad guys and these vehicles can launch two webs from them.

Marvel's Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors Web Slinger Blasters (Ages 5 and up / Retail Price $14.99) - Load a web onto your blaster, then pull back and launch it at the included target.  Hone your web-slinging abilities and help the Web Warriors defeat their enemies.  The Spider-Man Web Slingers Blaster lets you get in the action with your own Spider-Man gear!  Requires 2 AAA batteries.

Thanks Hasbro for sharing these toys with my kids!  While my son is the big Spider-Man fan in the house not only did he have a blast with these toys but our whole family had a marvelous time playing with them as well!

DISCLAIMER:  I was not provided any financial compensation for publishing this post and there was no promise made to Hasbro that if they provided complimentary products that they would receive a positive review or in fact any post on this blog at all.  Opinions and views expressed in this post are my own.  Some of the product information and photographs used in this post were provided to A Geek Daddy blog by Hasbro.

YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD....POSTAL CARRIER

SPIDER-MAN TEAMS UP WITH THE U.S. POSTAL SERVICE

I was watching March Madness basketball the other night on the television when a commercial featuring your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man popped up on the screen.  In an interesting move the United State Post Office has teamed up with the Spider-Man in a cross-promotional campaign to market their priority mail service and the upcoming movie "Amazing Spider-Man 2."  I have to give a nod to the USPS for making a nice marketing move that adds some hip to a somewhat stodgy brand and provides it with the hype of a block buster movie to break through all the advertising clutter out there.  The television commercial that kicked off this marketing campaign features some excellent visual effects showing off Spider-Man web slinging across New York to get a special delivery for the postal service to none other than the legendary Marvel Comics icon Stan Lee.  Check it out:

In addition to the television commercial, this promotional campaign will feature limited-edition Spider-Man Priority Mail Flat Rate Shipping Boxes, postal trucks in select urban markets branded with Spider-Man images, and Spider-Man postage stamps available at self-service kiosks.  Additionally, the campaign will feature comic book inspired graphic renderings  to serve as story-telling vehicles and features highlighting U.S. Postal Service employees who have been real-life super heroes in the communities they work in.  Last year, the Postal Service recognized 262 postal employees for heroic acts in the Postmaster General's "Heroes" program.  In my neighborhood, the letter carriers still deliver the mail by walking home to home, which in those types of circumstances provides a wide variety of opportunities for them to come across someone in need of assistance or notice something suspicious that could help stop a crime.  It is nice to see those that help other in need get recognized because that really is going above and beyond their job.

This marketing campaign will also include special exposure of the USPS and its logo in the upcoming "Amazing Spider-Man 2" movie.  So that's something to keep an eye out for when you see the movie knowing that is something going on behind the scenes as a brand sponsorship for the show's production.  Here's a trailer for Amazing Spider-Man 2 opening in theaters on May 2, 2014: