With the San Diego Comic-Con rapidly approaching, it’s a busy time in the world of toys. There’s a lot of news, lots of new figures, and lots of new obligations. It’s been hard finding time to actually collect figures on top of keeping up with the industry. But thankfully in the last week I was able to buy some new figures, including a more Transformers Prime and Lego Minifigures, but also some Dark Knight Rises and Spider-Man stuff. I even found time to see Amazing Spider-Man with the girlfriend, and we were both pleasantly surprised.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for this toy collector and action figure insider, and it’s been a busy week for the industry itself. There are lots of things going on, but the following few are at the top of my list.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are back.  The Turtles have tried to make their return on a few different occasions. Unfortunately none of the recent iterations have really caught the community’s attention, until now. The new Playmates TMNT figures, both the modern reboot and classic varieties, are gaining a lot of momentum with today’s discerning collector (including me). The good news is, the figures are already hitting store shelves. Reports this week indicate that Turtles are popping up in Toys R’ Us stores across the country, meaning the wait is finally over. Hopefully this will mark the beginning of the second long run of successful Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures, properly hearkening back to the classic line of the ’80s and ’90s.

Jem has returned to toys.  And I’m not talking about the recent Jemm, The Son of Saturn figure made by Mattel. I’m talking about the ‘outrageous’ Jem from the beloved ’80s cartoon Jem and the Holograms. Thanks to a partnership between Hasbro and Integrity Toys, Jem will be finding new life as a doll at the San Diego Comic-Con. Rarely do convention exclusives deserve so much individual attention, but this one marks a long-awaited return to a classic toy property. The character recently returned to the limelight with an animated show, and this doll completes Jem’s revitalization. I’ve never been a huge Jem fan, but I know a lot of them. If they can manage to scrounge up $125 and hit the Hasbro booth in San Diego, I’m sure they’ll be grabbing this new doll.

There are so many SDCC exclusives.  On top of the already-mentioned Jem figure, there are loads of San-Diego Comic-Con exclusive toys and action figures coming out this month. It’s nearly impossible to track them all down at the convention, and it’d take thousands of dollars to do it anyway. So in order to save you some time and money, here is a list of the biggest and best exclusives hitting the show.

• Star Wars: Jar Jar Binks in Carbonite
• Marvel Universe: S.H.I.E.L.D. Super Helicarrier
• Adventure Time: Finn and Fiona Pack
• Transformers: Fall of Cybertron Bruticus
• My Little Pony: Derpy Hooves
• Masters of the Universe: Vykron
• Minimates: ThunderCats

That’s it for this week. May this year’s Christmas in July celebration fill your summer stockings with lots of toys.