2010 St. Patrick's Day Parade Features Shriners MEGA KART!

Hello MEGA Fans!

Montreal’s St. Patrick’s Day parades take place on the 14th and 15th of March, 2010 in Hudson and downtown Montreal. This year’s parades mark a special weekend in its over 100 years of history. For the first time ever, The Shriners Hospital for Children will team up with MEGA to create an extra special Shriners kart for a member of The Shriners to ride in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

It marks the first time The Shriners Hospital for Children’s St. Patrick’s Day kart will have a corporate sponsor. MEGA’s continued commitment in sponsoring The Shriners Hospital for Children’s dedication to improving the lives of children everywhere will be on display in this joining of ideals with the special “Mega Kart”.

While the theme and principles representing the Shriner’s kart remains the same, the special “Mega Kart” will be a small-scale replica Mack truck with a detailed double rear-door decoration opening to reveal a load of our award-winning pronged Mega Bloks. The decoration continues around the cart near the bottom, with the Shriner’s logo on the doors and the Mega Bloks logo and website address on the cab in clear view for everyone to see.

The Mega Kart is our way to help convey attention of The Shriners Hospital for Children to Quebec and beyond during the St. Patrick’s Day parades. It will also help illustrate the special relationship that MEGA and The Shriners Hospital for Children share, which includes MEGA’s continued support of their facilities via free donations of Mega Bloks toys to all 22 locations across North America.

We here at MEGA hope that you enjoy the St. Patrick’s Day parade this weekend wherever you may see it. We look forward to the parades’ festivities and continuing our support of The Shriners Hospital for Children. We also hope that you make a donation this weekend in celebration of this yearly event!

New Battle Strikers XS Game Online Now!

Hey Striker fans!

The wait is over! You loved the Battle Strikers Series 1 web game on our www.Battlestrikers.com website – now hang on to your socks as we introduce Battle Strikers XS The Game! Battle Strikers XS has been completely revamped with improved gameplay, new places to battle, new special attacks with faster charge times and a new rocking soundtrack to give you more exciting and intense battles than ever before! Now you can choose to engage in battles across the Battle Strikers galaxy using Metal XS weapons, booster and tips! Win new parts to customize your attack, defense and control and create the most powerful strikers to achieve the highest score!

Can you become the king of the XS mountain? Play Battle Strikers XS The Game now and reach for the top!

The Thomas & Friends 2010 Spring Line is Here!

Hey there MEGA fans!

Today we’re proud to disclose our official Spring 2010 lineup of Thomas & Friends buildable toys! Thomas the Tank Engine is a children’s cultural icon that has been recognizable around the world for over 60 years, a lasting success that has charmed kids of all ages. MEGA has created some of the intelligent and entertaining construction toys available that allow your little ones to explore not just Thomas and his friends, but playsets based on the island of Sodor and beyond!

Our buildable toy Thomas and Friends trains are sure to be a hit with all Thomas and train fans. Currently we have everyone’s favorite engine Thomas, happy little Percy, devious Diesel and prideful James. All four of these engines are an easy five-piece buildable toys designed to be easily assembled by little hands. All of these pieces are interchangeable parts, and come with little train wheels that really turn.

These little buildable trains go great with our rebuildable playsets! Our 3-in-1 playsets include Thomas Load N’Go and James on the Move. Thomas Load N’Go includes a buildable 5-piece Thomas, a small bridge piece, a coal car, stilts and an empty boxcar. James on the Move includes the pieces to build a lighthouse, a windmill and a water tower along with a 5-piece buildable James.

Our larger playsets include actual tracks to push your Thomas and Friends characters along on their adventures on the Island of Sodor. Thomas at the Sodor Fair has over 30 pieces to build and rebuild Thomas’ adventures at the Sodor Fair. With a 5-piece buildable Thomas, build your fair to tower over the rest of the Island of Sodor using the extending legs or keep it close to the ground so anyone can enjoy, making each visit to the fair different. Busy Day at the Quarry is a playset with over 40 pieces to build and rebuild a huge quarry where Thomas and his friends work. With a 5-piece Thomas and Mavis train duo, bring coal and gravel away from the quarry to its destination. You can build the quarry up using the extending legs, leave it level on the ground or a mix of the two, making each new quarry an exciting experience.

We hope that your children love our new Thomas & Friends products. We hope your children enjoy their time building and playing with Thomas & Friends on the Island of Sodor!

The Halo Wars Spring 2010 Lineup Is Out Now!

Pay attention greenhorn, it’s time to take your own Human-Covenant war to the next level! The Spring 2010 Halo Wars line of toys by Mega Bloks are here! Add to your Human and Covenant armies with 9 new buildable toys including new vehicles and mini-figs to take your intergalactic battles to the next level! In addition to the Fall 2009 Halo line, your Halo collection will be better than ever.

Let’s take a look at our detailed vehicles first. There are a total of 3 new vehicle playsets, one of which is a two-pack (one UNSC and one Covenant vehicle) – in all that’s 4 new vehicles!

The Covenant Brute Chopper is also known as the Type-25 RAV. It is armed with four 35-mm front-mounted auto-cannons that make short work of Human ground forces. Its huge front wheel and bladed chassis make it extremely dangerous to be anywhere except behind the Brute Chopper. Included is a lone UNSC Marine trying to use a Machine Gun Turret to defend itself from the attack. The set comes with one Covenant Brute and one UNSC Green Marine mini-figs and weapons.

The UNSC Gremlin is special purpose combat support vehicle that uses an electro-magnetic pulse to paralyze Covenant vehicles. It’s a 6x6 ground vehicle with wheels that really spin, armed with a roof mounted X23 NNEMP Cannon and an opening cockpit door reminiscent of a SPARTAN visor. The set comes with one UNSC Green Marine and one Covenant Brute mini-figs and weapons.

The UNSC Gausshog vs. The Covenant Locust are two great looking and highly poseable vehicles in one package. The UNSC Gausshog is a 4x4 variation of the Warthog and is armed with a high-velocity M68 Gauss Cannon mounted on the rear in place of the M41 Vulcan Light Anti-Aircraft gun. The Covenant Locust is quadruped walker designed to take out mostly stationary targets from long range. The UNSC Gausshog has 4 wheels that really spin and the Covenant Locust has an opening cockpit and 4 fully articulate legs to mimic its actual movement and pose however you like. The set comes with 2 Green Marines, 1 Covenant Brute and 1 Covenant Elite mini-figs with weapons.

Those of you who want to amass huge Covenant and UNSC battalions and love our Halo mini-figs will go crazy for our new Combat Unit mini-fig sets! The Combat Unit 3 set comes with 5 different Halo mini-figs to boost the numbers of their ground units considerably; 2 Green UNSC SPARTAN-II soldiers, 1 Yellow UNSC Flame Marine and 2 Purple Covenant Elites. Each mini-fig comes with an appropriate weapon: an SMG and Shotgun for the SPARTAN-IIs, 1 NA4 Flamethrower for the Flame Marine and 2 Covenant Beam Rifles for the Elites.

The Halo Wars Buildable Figurines are fully buildable and articulate block soldiers that you can customize and play with however you like. You have a choice between a Green UNSC SPARTAN-II with assault rifle, a Red UNSC SPARTAN-II with dual SMGs or an ODST with assault rifle in their customary gray and black colors. These sets come with over 200 pieces each, meaning these figurines have some size to them. They also come with a cool pullout background display to pose your soldiers against, and a buildable package top that can be used as a building plate to pose your soldiers on.

The Halo Wars Magnetic Figures are back with 3 new SPARTAN-II armor colors, Blue SPARTAN-II, Yellow SPARTAN-II and a special limited edition Cyan SPARTAN-II. These 24-piece magnetic figures are completely poseable and customizable with their magnetic ball-joints, so you can fit your SPARTAN-II with mission-specific MJOLNIR Mark V armor pieces to complete your next mission. Each SPARTAN-II figure comes with an assault rifle.

We hope you enjoy the Spring 2010 Halo Wars lineup. Mega Bloks would like to thank all of you and your continued support and can’t wait to reveal the Fall 2010 lineups of not just Halo Wars but all of our toys!

Battle Striker 2 And Metal XS Are Here!

Battle Strikers fans, the wait is over! The next generation of magnetic battling tops is here with Battle Strikers Series 2 and Metal XS from Mega! A total of 16 new Strikers have been released which can be found at our Battle Strikers Amazon Store and other online sellers right now! These new Strikers have been redesigned to be sturdier, easier to build and customize while still delivering the high-speed and intense battles that you’ve come to expect from Battle Strikers.

Those interested in learning more about Series 2 and Metal XS can go to our new Battle Strikers 2.0 website. The website is complete with information on all the new Striker toys, accessories, and a redesigned community to bring the Battle Strikers world closer to you than ever before! The community section allows you to choose a completely customizable Striker Avatar that best represents you as a battler! Choose any weapon, booster or tip, then choose one of 16 new StrikerSoul pictures and background colors to leave your own community stamp on the Battle Strikers Universe!

Now each new Battle Striker’s piece focus is on the new and improved weapons, aerodynamic boosters and new tips. Each weapon is now combined with its armor to create a massive impacting combination that has been streamlined for faster speeds and stronger battles. The boosters emphasize control, balance or stamina during battles and the tips are back to enhance attacking and defense and are better than ever! The cores are now more compact and the locks still hold everything together securely. Included now are StrikerSouls, the inner spirit of each Striker that represents how it fights in the Battle Arena!

There is also a new wall feature to let other community members know how you’re feeling, feeds them to the community homepage in the status update section and you can leave comments just like Facebook! The Events section keeps you up-to-date on all Battle Striker happenings in your area and the Video section gives you access to all official Battle Striker related videos.

Mega’s Battle Strikers expert Battle Brad now has his own Blog and video series called Striker Station that offers all kinds of hints, tips and tricks on how to get the most out of your Battle Strikers.

The new Strikers everyone has been talking about are Metal XS, magnetic battling tops with metal weapons and added weight for an enhanced clashing battle unlike anything you’ve experienced before. What’s even cooler is the fact that you can modify any Metal XS striker with another’s parts to create your own super strikers. You can even combine them with the new Series 2 Battle Strikers for a whole new level of customization!

The new Battle Strikers 2 online game will be coming soon, projected to be in early March. In it you’ll be able to play online with all of the Metal XS and Series 2 strikers in a new ultimate test to be the best battler in the galaxy! Record your score on the community and try to rank #1!

Spring 2010 is only the beginning. Watch out for new developments in the Battle Strikers Universe coming out next Fall!

MEGA Brands Unveils 2009 Hot Toys

MEGA Brands Inc - a worldwide leader in toy design and development, announced today it is publishing their 10 Best Christmas Toys of 2009, including the popular Battle Strikers Tournament Set - the talk-of-the-town at the 2009 Dallas Toyfair.

With the 2009 holiday season ending, parents everywhere will be searching for the best toys to purchase for their children for Boxing Day. We want to propose our clients our top toys for Christmas 2009.

- Etienne Laurent, Web Manager at MEGA Brands.

MEGA Brands' most popular online sellers has led to expansion with new products based on current popular franchises like Halo with their Halo Wars line of construction toys. Much like its competitors, MEGA is now on the lookout for more licensed franchises to turn into successful construction toy lines.

TOP 10 CHRISTMAS TOYS 2009 from MEGA:

10. Yo Gabba Gabba Boombox ages 3+

9. In the Night Garden Musical Gazebo ages 2-4

8. Fill N’Dump Wagon ages 3+

7. MagNext 360 Case ages 6+

6. Probuilder Carbon Series – Battleship ages 7+

5. Ni-Hao Kai-Lan Buildable Room ages 3-6

4. Play N’Go Table ages 1-3

3. Streetz City Pursuit ages 6+

2. Halo Wars Aerial Ambush play set ages 8+

1. Battle Strikers Tournament Set ages 6+

WHERE TO BUY: Most MEGA toys are found at Walmart and Target. One major advantage to seeking out these toys and other MEGA Brands’ products is that they are easier to find than other competitors. On the megabrands.com website is a state-of-the-art search tool that will look for a toy’s availability in all stores in your area in real-time.

3 Different Kinds of Christmas Movies

Looking to have some family together time with a great Christmas movie to help get the family in the yuletide spirit? There have been so many great movies made to fill you with holiday cheer that sometimes its hard to know which one to tune to when the DVD shelves are packed and all of the T.V. stations are all showing different ones at the same time.

Here are 3 Christmas movies that you and your family can enjoy over the holidays. Each of these films cover a different kind of niche that you may want to look into and begin a family tradition of watching, or just to try something new.

1.) A Christmas Carol (1951); Director - Brian Desmond Hurst. Writer - Noel Langley. Starring - Alaistar Sim, Mervyn Johns, Hermione Baddeley.

In case you haven’t heard, the Charles Dickens’ classic is a timeless story of redemption that happens on Christmas Eve. A greedy miser, Ebenezer Scrooge generally doesn’t care about anyone’s welfare. On Christmas Eve, three spirits visit him and help redeem his soul and change his miserly ways.

This version of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” is widely regarded as the best of all of the versions ever made and this reason is largely to do with whom director Brian Hurst chose to be in his movie. The whole cast delivers a tour-de-force performance led by actor Alaistar Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge. This film is a step away from what he was known for as a comedic actor, but yet is by far his most celebrated performance. Sim displays such theatrical mastery that he captures your eye from the very first frame and runs to the very end without a single lapse. After you watch his rendition of Ebenezer Scrooge just once, you’ll swear that he IS Scrooge.

2.) A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965); Director – Bill Melendez. Writer – Charles L. Schulz. Starring – Peter Robbins, Christopher Shea, Tracy Stratford (All Uncredited).

This one is something more for the kids but has been around for so long that A Charlie Brown Christmas could be synonymous with A Christmas Carol as the quintessential T.V. holiday classic. If you’re in your 30’s or 40’s and want to watch it again, don’t feel so bad – you’ll be joined by thousands more who can’t help but to feel childhood nostalgia as they watch it with their kids. Charles L. Schulz’s classic of Charlie Brown trying to find the meaning of Christmas as it becomes more and more commercial seems to become more relevant each year. It was one of the first cartoons star actual children in an industry that was dominated by adult actors and the first featuring the Peanuts gang. The climax of Linus telling Charlie Brown what Christmas is all about – The Birth of Jesus Christ – allows our children to remember that no matter what they may get for Christmas, that it has a much larger meaning.

3.) The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993); Director – Henry Selick. Writer – Tim Burton and Michael McDowell. Starring – Chris Saradon, Catherine O’Hara, William Hickey.

If you’re looking for something different to watch this Christmas, this could be right up your alley. Tim Burton’s masterpiece about two holidays coming together and the misunderstandings and hijinx that develops from it. Jack Skellington is the Pumpkin King of Halloweentown, a place where the idea of spooky nights and naughty hijinx is celebrated every night with Halloween being the most important night of all. But this year, Jack is bored of putting on Halloween and wants to try something different. He goes off into the forest and stumbles on Christmastown, a place that holds Christmas and its ideals just as much as Halloweentown does for Halloween. As it prepares to celebrate Christmas, Jack returns to Halloweentown and convinces its people to celebrate Christmas with him – by kidnapping Santa and taking over Christmas. This incredible story is as original as any Christmas movie and is a favorite of many.

MEGA hopes that you have a very Happy Holidays sharing these movies with your family!