Toys on Fire joined in with Game Summit and many other organizations in making a fun filled weekend for children over at Lebreton Flats (near the War Museum). Here are some pictures of the event that went from May 19th-30th.

Well, if you can’t deliver the cup back to Ottawa, you’re at least going to bring it closer to us, and heck, maybe even in the same time zone! Also, one of the Captains on either of the teams is going to have a great year. Both Jonathan Toews and Mike Richards won a gold medal this year, and unless both teams end up in endless overtime, one of them is going to win the Stanley Cup as well! I wonder how that feels…
Let’s ask Scott Niedermayer! How does that feel, Scott?

This weekend Toys on Fire has special agents everywhere. The majority of our staff is at Anime North (probably Canada’s largest Anime convention) but we also have people at the Ottawa International Children’s Festival with Game Summit and of course two of us here at the store!



So come on down to the store to enjoy the Chris & Dave show all weekend long! It’s a laugh riot!

If you thought all the upcoming movies based on toys and games were getting out of control with MONOPOLY, BATTLESHIP, STRETCH ARMSTRONG and the whole Target kids department, it looks like things are going to explode on screen like Christmas morning.

According to Pajiba, Paramount and Hasbro are working on something called HASBRO FACTORY, which is being described as A NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM set in (durhurr) a Hasbro Factory. The project is currently in search of a writer to play with.

It seems that although a number of Hasbro’s popular properties are already in the works as solo projects (or characters appearing in other movies, like Mr. Potato Head in TOY STORYs), the company still has countless minor brands that could be served by such a concept. Some examples of other names under the Hasbro umbrella: Barrel of Monkeys, Operation, Play-Doh, Jenga, Connect 4, Easy-Bake, Spirograph, My Little Pony, Mouse Trap and, perhaps most importantly, Hungry Hungry Hippos.

Hasbro also handles toys for big franchises like G.I. JOE, TRANSFORMERS, STAR WARS and Marvel, but it’s unknown if any of those characters would/could appear in the movie.

What’s a Silly Bandz,’ you may ask yourself (pausing slightly afterwards to check if your grammar is correct.) Well let me tell you, these things are quite silly but in the best way possible. They are shaped rubber band(z)! These bandz come in the shapes of princess stuff, western stuff, rock ‘n’ roll stuff, the alphabet, underwater animals and so on. They’re really heating up in the states so we figured we’d bring them in to show everyone! Come have a look, ’cause when your kid asks for one, you’ll have a one-up on them and actually know what a Silly Bandz is.

Check out the article below. This explains why that pizza you had ordered was late and the strange lack of telemarketing calls recently…

From: The Canadian Press, Tuesday May. 25, 2010 4:43 PM ET

Web users may have spent the equivalent of about 4.8 million hours indulging in Google’s tribute to Pac-Man.

Productivity company RealTime estimates 4,819,352 hours were spent playing the classic video game on Google’s home page last week.

The search engine honoured the game’s 30th anniversary by offering web surfers a little diversion before continuing on with their regular searching.

RealTime says the average Google user searches for about four and a half minutes a day, leading to 22 page views.

But last Friday, the average user seemed to stay on the site 36 seconds longer, RealTime suggested in a blog post.

Although the Google version of Pac-Man was not originally supposed to be online permanently, it can still be played here.

I knew very little about Ronnie James Dio, but did know of his contributions to the metal community and that a number of my friends were fans. Hearing of his death yesterday, there was little I could say that would do justice to the man, but read a number of tributes online and finally settled on this one to repost. It’s from photographer Kyle Cassidy‘s personal Livejournal and details an encounter with the man himself.

In the grand scheme of things, there’s Ronnie James Dio, and then there’s everybody else.

Last week my friend Colin phoned up to say he had tickets to a freaking Black Sabbath autograph session in nowhere New Jersey. Needless to say, I was excited. I knew it was going to be a heard of cattle, but the idea of being able to be within mere inches of The Elf Himself caused me no end of tingling. I hied up there on the appropriate day, purchased my Black Sabbath box set (of which I already own every album, of course — (on cassette, LP and CD) and stood in line with 599 other people. The signing was only scheduled to take an hour so I whistled a happy tune, but the line moved slowly. As we approached the door, someone said “They’re answering questions! And posing for photographs!”

Now I was concerned, worried even. Before I was going to blissfully walk past as they signed my CD and get shoved out the door, but THIS added a whole new level of complexity. WHAT WOULD I SAY TO FREAKING RONNIE JAMES DIO? It’s like someone saying “Oh, Kyle, Archemedes is on the phone, he says you have 30 seconds to ask him one question.”

So I fretted and worried. I wanted to say something sincere, polite, and brief. Finally, I settled on:

“I hope you wake up happy every morning, knowing that you’ve made the world a better place.”

It was brief, polite, and — sincere. I went back to whistling my happy tune until I was shoved through the door in my little group of five and found myself seemingly alone in the presence of the greatest heavy metal band in the history of the galaxy.

Vinnie and Geezer signed my boxed set. “I loved the GZR” album, I said to Geezer. He nodded. Out of 600 people in line, I was, I’m sure, only the 45th to remember his obscure solo project to him that afternoon. He slid my CD’s over to FREAKING RONNIE JAMES DIO who looked up at me, stuck out his hand and said:

“THANKS FOR COMING OUT.”

I looked at him and I was dumbstruck. I couldn’t think of a word to say. My mouth hung open, my arms went limp, people behind me in line grumbled, the clock stopped ticking. FREAKING RONNIE JAMES DIO was looking up at me fully expecting me to say something. I stammered:

“i hope … you … wake up … every … morning ….”

His head knocked back a little and he said,

“I DO. I DO WAKE UP EVERY MORNING.”

“no,” i stuttered, “i mean … i hope … you’re … happy….”

“I’M PRETTY HAPPY ALL THE TIME,” said FREAKING RONNIE JAMES DIO, giving me a weird look.

“Move along!” said some dude in a black shirt. Tony Iomi shook my hand, signed my cd and said “Mmph!” which normally would have rocked my world like someone calling me up to tell me that I’d won the Pyramids in a contest, but all I could think of was the fact that FREAKING RONNIE JAMES DIO THINKS IM AN IDIOT.

photo (and text) by Kyle Cassidy

I hope you find much Metal on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge. \m/

Its over, sales are all over… psych! Just the 2nd week of sales are over. It was great to see all you guys come out and take advantage of our magnificent sale! This week is the 3rd week of Toys on Fire 5th anniversary sale. We’ve got some amazing product lines that are being slashed up to 50% off! I know that you know that I know what  you want to know.  But hold your horses I will tell you guys all about this sale in just moments…. …. …. Alright I think that’s long enough, let me spread the word!

All Webkinz stuff ( Including the Cards!) are 20% Off

Marvel Stuff are 20% Off ( spider-man spider-man catches crooks like a spider can.)

Music stuff are 20% Off ( like the Beatles)

Spin Master Toys are 20% Off ( like Bakugan, Mighty Beanz,  Tech Deck and Flick Trix)

Halo Stuff are 20% Off! ( Now’s the time to get our Giant Master Chief!)

Monopoly and Kids Board Games are 20% Off ( Don’t pass go!)

Kids Board Games are 20% Off

Lord of the Rings Stuff are 50% Off ( I will take it! I will take it to Mordor!)

The Big Lord of the Rings Set are 20% Off * (seperate from the normal individual figures)*

Toy Story stuff are 20% Off ( toys come alive)

Girl Stuff are 20% ( like those tiaras and those dolls)

Harry Potter stuff are 50% Off ( Wingardium Leviosa)

And Lastly….. Days Of Wonder Games products are all 15% Off ( Memoir 44, Mystery Express, Small World etc…)

Hmmm I think that is all. Please enjoy this week of sales! Remember, this sale is only in store… Sorry for those who cannot make it here. Stay tuned on the blog for the next week’s sale.

Thanks,

- Dang