Proxies

 Just a reminder that proxies are not allowed in tournaments or any sanctioned events at the store.  They are forbidden by WOTC in any sanctioned Magic event and the same goes for Pokemon and Konami. You can play them in your own casual play but if we find you using them in tournaments, we will ask you to remove them from your deck.

GW Releases for August 1

 Here is what is releasing on August 1st from GW Let us know by Noon August 14 if you want any.

Product Name

OGOR MAWTRIBES ARMY SET (ENGLISH)

L/I:WARLORD TITAN+QUAKE CANNON & BEAM/EX

L/I: WARLORD TITAN W/VOLKITE & MACRO GAT

L/I: REAVER TITAN GRAV/OBL & VOLK/ANNH

new Comics for July15 2026

 2000 AD PROG #2489

A MISCHIEF OF MAGPIES #1

ABSOLUTE FLASH #17

ABSOLUTE GREEN ARROW #3

ADVENTURE TIME (2025) #15

ALIEN: KING KILLER #4

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: SPIDER-VERSITY #4

ARCADIA #6

ARCHIE X ARMY OF DARKNESS #5

ASSORTED CRISIS EVENTS #9

AVATAR: LAST AIRBENDER–THE KYOSHI WARRIORS #3

AVENGERS: ARMAGEDDON #2

BADROCK #1

BANANA NUMBER ONE #1

BATMAN SUPERMAN WORLDS FINEST #53

BATWOMAN #5

CAPTAIN AMERICA #13

CATWOMAN #89

CYBERPUNK 2077: CHROME #4

DARK KNIGHTS OF STEEL II #1

DARKNESS (2025) #6

DEADLY TALES OF THE GUNSLINGER SPAWN #16

DEATHSTROKE THE TERMINATOR #5

DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH #38

DISNEY TIM BURTON’S THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS: ALL HAIL THE PUMPKIN KING  ISSUE #1

DISNEY VILLAINS URSULA #5

DORC #6

DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL SPECIAL EDITION #0

DYING DAYS #2

EMPIRIA #2

END OF LIFE #6

EXQUISITE CORPSES RASCAL RANDY #1

FALL OF THE HOUSE OF SLAUGHTER #3

FANTASTIC FOUR #14

FAR CRY: CULL THE HERD  ISSUE #7

FEAR OF DEATH A RACHEL RISING STORY #1

FOUNDATIONS ONE-SHOT

GI JOE #24

GRENDEL: DEVIL’S CRUCIBLE–SEDITION #1

IF DESTRUCTION BE OUR LOT #3

INFERNAL HULK #9

INGLORIOUS X-FORCE #7

INVINCIBLE UNIVERSE BATTLE BEAST #11

JUNK PUNCH #2

KILLSWITCH #3

KINGDOM OF EARTH #1

LADY MECHANIKA THE MECHANICAL MENAGERIE #3

LOBO #5

M1 MONSTER RACING LEAGUE #2

MAGIC: THE GATHERING: UNTOLD STORIES–JACE #3

MARK SPEARS MONSTERS #11

MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS (2026) #2

MINOTAUR #1

MISTER NEMO #1

MURDER PODCAST #8

NEW TITANS #37

NIGHTWING #140

OF THE EARTH #3

OLYMPUS SAGA MEGALITH #0

PUNISHER VS. SPIDER-MAN #1

ROCKETFELLERS #13

SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN #15

SHOWCASE #4 FACSIMILE

SILVER SURFER #5 FACSIMILE

SLEEPY HOLLOW: THE WITCHES OF THE WESTERN WOOD #3

SMILE: FOR THE CAMERA #5

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG X GODZILLA #1

STAR TREK: THE LAST STARSHIP #9

STAR WARS: GALAXY’S EDGE – ECHOES OF THE EMPIRE #4

STAR WARS: HYPERSPACE STORIES: THE BAD BATCH–ROGUE AGENTS #4

SUPER CREEPSHOW #5

SUPER MONDO MEGA MUTTS #1

SUPERMAN UNLIMITED #15

TANKERS VS ANCIENT ALIENS #2

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: SHREDDER #10

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: THE LAST RONIN–TRAINING DAY

THE RING: THE MAN WHO BEAT THE MAN #2

TIGRESS ISLAND #5

VALIANT BEYOND: THE X-O MANOWAR #8–THE GOD HUNT #4

WALKING DEAD DELUXE #141

WATSON V HOLMES #1

WHAT IF…? JESSICA JONES #1

WONDER WOMAN #35

X-MEN #33

D&D and Microtransactions

 Wizards of the Coast is at it again, trying to figure out how to wring more money out of Dungeons and Dragons. Now, it appears the company plans to roll out microtransactions for new D&D products, something the company tried back in 2024 but ended pretty quickly due to the negative response from players (See “More MAP”). It looks as if WotC is revisiting the idea with D&D Beyond Drops. The company plans to release assorted new spells, feats, encounters, maps, etc. to D&D Beyond subscribers with a paid subscription. Subscribers can use this content with their characters and campaigns for as long as they have a paid subscription and lose access to their character additions if they end their subscription.  It does not appear that WotC will charge for each character addition as they will be included with the weekly drops of new content players will be able to access.  However, it also appears WotC wants to move Dungeons and Dragons to a "live service” wherein players subscribing to D&D Beyond will get access to all of the new feats, spells, etc. with WotC determining through the response on the platform which should be incorporated into physical books for later release.  I was bemused to see in one interview, Chris Cooks, CEO of Hasbro, referring to books as “a special totem you can collect” as if they were now cultural artifacts, rather than useful items in the game.  He also pointed out that it can take up to 18 months to move a book from concept to publication so players wanting more material for their game will get a steady diet of it, providing they keep their subscription up to date, rather than waiting for WotC to publish another book.

MSH PRe-release

 

Our Marvel super Heroes pre-release turnout was not nearly as abysmal as turnout was for our Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pre-releases as we have done double those numbers so far, really surprising several of my staff members who expected a redux of the TMNT pre-release attendance but attendance is  far below the numbers we saw for Edge of Eternities or even Aetherdrift.  Several of the players at our event even commented they did not care for playing with the Universes Beyond sets, they just liked the opportunity to come out and play in a pre-release. Most of the Marvel Super Heroes buyers we have had so far did not show up for either pre-release event. People who play Magic generally prefer playing with the in-universe sets. Those who want to collect, rip packs for views on social media, and find valuable cards they can sell to someone else gravitate towards the Universes Beyond sets. Incidentally, cards, even graded ones, only have value as long as someone else is willing to pay you more for them than you paid and eventually this nostalgia driven boom will come to an end.

Sample RPG Books

 

If you are an RPG publisher adn you want to get a  print copy of your product into the hands of the exact group of consumers interested in your product, but in order to do that, we need to have more than three copies of your submission to put on the table. Send the store enough copies to get a reasonable number into people's hands.

Free RPG Day

 

Once again the store had a great Free RPG Day with a line of people waiting to get in when we opened (See “Thoughts on the Upcoming Free RPG Day”)  We had a longer line waiting for free role playing stuff than we did for Free Comic Book Day but that does make sense given that we focus more on tabletop games than comics. Foot traffic was up about 20% over a typical Saturday and sales increased about 40% over a usual Saturday as well  RPG sales doubled but I ascribe a significant amount of the increase to the Yu Gi Oh Chaos Origins Premiere event that ran this past weekend. Unlike past recent Premiere events, which ended with us having about half a case of booster boxes remaining, the lure of the first full art Yu Gi Oh cards proved too tempting for local Yu Gi Oh duelists who descended on the set in droves and cleaned us out by the close of the business day on Saturday.

Back to Free RPG Day though. This was the best one we have had in recent years. There was a wide assortment of offerings from which customers could choose and a surprisingly small number of Dungeons and Dragons/5E compatible supplements. Not only did we give away our entire order of items but we managed to clear out all of the Free RPG Day items left over from previous including Cosmic Patrol, which has been kicking around our storeroom since 2015. The only Free RRPG Day item we had left over by the end of the day was the “Enter the Collection” supplement provided by Renegade Game Studios back in 2021. As usual, I do have a few thoughts about the event: