The Mantis-Eye Experiment

Our friends over at BifBangPow! put up the promised sneak peek at what's to be shown at the upcoming Toy Fair 2011 in NYC (which starts today and runs until the 16th) and the Venture Bros. related results may surprise you! (Click for a bigger version.)

Along with expected figures like Billy and Molotov there's a Dr. Henry Killinger (with Magic Murder Bag proudly on display), Brock decked out in SPHINX gear (SPHINX!) and even Dr. Jonas Venture Sr. and young Rusty Venture. No word on how final these are or if there are any more to be revealed (Billy without Pete?!) but if you're around the Javits Center in Manhattan this week you can check them out at Toy Fair in booth 4813.

Update: Observant reader Pyroth also pointed out that you can read the cards (with minor difficulties) which list out Shore Leave, Jefferson Twilight, Pete White, The Alchemist and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch. So, expect to see those some time in the future, even if they aren't pictured here!

I bet you'd like to know. That's a regular feature at Ameoba Music, which is a record shop with three locations in California: Hollywood, San Francisco and Berkeley. Thirlwell was recently at the SF store and participated in their "What's In My Bag?" feature which you can see here or watch the embedded video right here.

Not to be confused with Russian T-Shirt Roulette of course. Nonsek, makers and sellers of random t-shirts (called remixes) has recently partnered with Adult Swim such that you can purchase Adult Swim Remix shirts. Remixes include various Adult Swim TV shows including The Venture Bros., hence my reason for updating about it.

If you missed out on shirt club or don't like any of the shirts Adult Swim offers on their shop this might be your chance! You can end up with some bizarre logo combinations, or even just bizarre logos in general. One of them is the skull in Sgt. Hatred's logo with 'The Monarch' written on the helmet, which I'm not sure I understand. Shirts will run you $23 each.

We're back with a fresh new Let's Watch. It's extreme and in your face! Okay, actually it's not. However it is here in anticipation of the classic season one episode, "Tag Sale, You're It!" which many believe to one of the highlights of the series! It's also a genuinely excellent starter episode if you are looking to get some friends into Venture Bros. The episode airs Saturday at 11:30pm eastern and pacific time (other timezones adjust accordingly) though it will sadly not re-air later in the night/morning. Talk about it here in the comments and relive the awesome glorious days of yesteryear!

Douglas Lovelace, who has been storyboarding for The Venture Bros. since the pilot (and has contributed to every season since) just informed me that he has put a bunch of season one storyboards up on eBay (Jackson-approved of course). There are some pretty classic scenes in there, and Mr. Lovelace always produces excellent quality stuff:

So if you're in the market for a piece of Venture Bros. history then this might be for you! Enjoy!

This place is becoming the all-Brock statue news network but that's all the Venture Bros. news we have for now so just roll with it. For those of you who want to but haven't yet you can now pre-order the Sideshow exclusive edition and the standard edition. Both cost $250 and are expected to ship in the third quarter of this year (between July and September). The exclusive one also costs $25 to pre-order because of the low number of them (only 250). Get to it!

Sideshow has put up a blog detailing their Brock statue which includes not only pre-order info but also a gallery of images. Here's the basic info you need to know:

• The statue will cost $250 and can be pre-ordered through the February 3rd Sideshow Newsletter.
  
  
• There will be two versions, exclusive and regular edition. The exclusive version will come with a severed Monarch henchman arm (shown above) and the regular edition will not.
  
  
• The exclusive version is limited to only 250 pieces and requires a 10% ($25) deposit which is non-refundable.
  
  

That's it for now! More will be revealed on Thursday, possibly. Get those credit cards in gear and feel free to vote in the latest poll (it's relevant).

Just got the latest Sidedhow Collectables newsletter (or at least I finally checked my inbox) only to see it contained a closer look at everyone's favorite Swedish murder machine. Check it out:

You can click for a full sized version and head over to Sideshow's site if you like. That page reveals that we'll get a much closer look at Brock on February 1st and you'll be able to pre-order him on February 3rd.

For those of you who have been gorging yourself on a double-dose of Venture Bros. the past few Sunday nights at 9pm you should note that there are some schedule changes. The remainder of season one (the last five episodes) will be airing one at a time on Saturday nights at 11:30pm. They also won't be rebroadcast later in the night for you stay-up-late folks, so 11:30 is your only chance to catch them. No word on when/if season two will follow in March since the extended schedule only goes to the end of February. Also you should be careful not to accidentally watch at 9pm on Sundays since you'll end up seeing episodes of Baby Blues and The Oblongs.

I'm bringing back Let's Watch for this week to celebrate the airing of two of my favorite season one episodes, "Eeny, Meeny, Miney... Magic!" and "Ghosts of the Sargasso". The former introduced us to our favorite necromancer and the latter includes a scene where Brock beats up a guy with another guy who is giving him a cavity search. These air Sunday night at 9pm EST/PST and again later at 5am if you're a night owl and/or early bird. Use the comments to talk about them if you like! Enjoy!