Before reading, please turn this song on:

Let us take some time to reflect upon the year that was 2011.

In cards, Pokemon went the strongest, but both Yu-Gi-Oh! and Magic made a comeback in sales. Pokemon’s Black & White spawned a whole new series of cards, as well as renewed interest. Magic’s Innistrad set proved to be quite popular, and many found the new spin on the cards to be interesting in the least. The reasons behind Yu-Gi-Oh’s comeback is still a mystery to me, but let’s just blame it on Martin.

The top toy was easily Beyblade, with our tournaments and our access to Japanese Beyblades making Toys on Fire a popular destination with all the ‘Bladers in Ottawa. The game itself actually turns out have a lot more depth than one would expect with its different pieces that can be swapped in and out to effect performance, and it’s multiple launching techniques.

In board games, I think the best game that hit our shelves was 7 Wonders. It’s a fantastic card game with simple mechanics that also feature quite a bit of depth. It’s good for board gamers of all speeds, and it only takes about 30 minutes to play, which means you can get about 3 consecutive games in before anyone starts to complain. I’ve never had anyone complain, though.

In action figures, we had some highlights with Marvel Universe Doctor Strange, Sentinel and NECA’s Terminator Figures were also quite well done. NECA’s Machete, Duke Nukem, lots of Freddy, and a full line of Gremlins. It was a very NECA year. McFarlane did their sports thing, but they also did their Walking Dead thing and those figures are very cool. It’s hard to really choose anything definitive for this category, as there are so many figures we see on a daily basis that it’s hard to keep it all straight, but these were ones that stuck out in my mind.

We turned 6 this year. We saw the release of both Thor and Captain America this year, and we eagerly await the release of The Avengers. Green Lantern was apparently not-so-good, but Ryan Reynolds drew in huge at the box office. We all cringed at the new Conan movie; we all knew it would be bad, but everyone quietly hoped we’d get proved wrong. We also just saw trailers for the new Batman, The Hobbit, and Promethius. All 3 look amazing. Community is in its third season, and it’s currently on hiatus, so who knows what’s going to happen?

It’s been a pretty strange year, but here’s hoping that next year will be the greatest year ever! You know, before the earth ends.

Happy New Year e’erybody!

Dear Loyal Readers,

I assume you are all consumer-savvy enough to know what an End Cap is.

Dear Not-So-Loyal Readers,

An End Cap are those smaller areas on the end of an aisle where we put things we want you to see. They’re called End Caps because they Cap the End of the aisle. They actually keep the aisle from falling over. The more you know!

So now that you’re all filled in, those special spots in our store are now covered in sale items! One End Cap has $5 items, and one has $2 items! This is what we like to call our “Pre-Boxing Day Sales”. How’s that for original? We have things like Rocky toys, Zhu Zhu Pets, Tracksters, and a lot more! Come have a gander!

The Fijit Friends are now in stock at Toys on Fire. I’m told that these are different than the normal Fijits as they have the subtitle of “Newbies”. I wish I knew what that meant, but we here at Toys on Fire are very new to the Fijit game. I assume it means that these are smaller and cheaper version of the regular Fijits that don’t have as many features, but they are Fijits none-the-less! They sing, and if you “nuture” them they sing better.

I’m so confused! It’s a Christmas miracle..? I’m sure we’ll understand by tomorrow.

Of course this Batman has nothing to do with the Batman of Arkham City, but it’s good to know your roots:

And people say nothing happens in Ottawa.

FINALLY! I’ve been wanting to play as Dark Knight Returns (aka Super Beefy Batman) ever since the game came out! Unfortunately, I have to pay $5 to get the whole pack, but you do get quite a few skins for the Batman. Check it out:

• 1970s Batsuit Skin
• Year One Batman Skin
• The Dark Knight Returns Skin
• Earth One Batman Skin
• Batman Beyond Batman Skin
• Animated Batman Skin
• Sinestro Corps Batman Skin

Pretty much all the Batmans (Batmen?) you could ever ask for, although Witchfinder Batman would be pretty cool too.

We haven’t had single Magic cards in a while, but they’re back!  We have rares and mythics from Core Sets 2011, 2012, and Scars of Mirrodin. There’s a big ol’ price list here on Board Game Geek.

Click on the picture to check out a big picture our handy dandy new Magic section.

Well this is an interesting cross-over. It looks like the boys of Kiss will be appearing in some Archie comics coming soon. Those Archie guys are sure being progressive this year. They have their gay character, Kevin, who’s getting his own comic and I think there’s a comic coming out soon that shows future Kevin as a soldier getting married.

And now they’re pair up with a 70′s Rock ‘n’ Roll band?! How scandalous!

Whodathunk Archie would be paving the way for progressive views in comics, or has it been this way the whole time, and I just missed the comics where Archie dodges the draft and Betty and Veronica finally have an intervention for Jughead?

We don’t have any Archie stuff, but we do have KISS stuff! Sorry, I got to relate this to the store somehow!