Barbie Launches an Autism-Themed Doll

Barbie has announced its first autistic doll. This new Barbie is designed to reflect what life is like for someone with Autism and is getting a lot of press! Created in a partnership with the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, this Barbie is designed to illustrate stimming with her arms having joints for that, the tendency of those with ASD to avoid direct eye contact, and, "The Barbie's accessories also reflect those that some autistic people sport, like noise-canceling headphones, loose-fitting clothing, and a tablet with Augmentative and Alternative Communication apps."

This Barbie is part of Mattel's line of inclusive Barbie dolls (Barbie Fashionistas), with one previously released that illustrated what life was like for someone with Type 1 Diabetes. The idea is to help others feel understood and remove stigmas at times associated with ASD. Releasing a doll themed for ASD could go horribly wrong or be offensive, but Mattel seems to have taken a lot of care in researching and releasing this latest Barbie, so I applaud them. This Barbie is set to arrive in stores very soon and will cost around twelve bucks.

The Debut ToyMan Show of 2026 Was Superb Fun!

I attended the debut ToyMan Show of the new year, and it was a great first show of 2026! I arrived a bit early and immediately chatted with some of my good friends, including John Chaffee (Bigfoot Comics), Jack Thomas (Fortress Comics), and Tim Metzger. I also had a good chat with Spike Forester (Lost in Space Toys and Collectibles) about our hopes for the new year. As vendors were setting up, I also talked with the good folks of Tatetot Comics and Collectibles, as well as Tom Milister. A number of vendors I hadn't met before were present with tons of toys, comics, DVDs, video-games (lots of games), and it reminded me how, anytime I attend ToyMan, the sheer volume of stuff impresses me.

Shortly before the doors opened.

One vendor I've met a couple of times had some cool business cards, 573 Collectibles. They had a number of comics for great prices. I also saw some of my friends upstairs, including Cayden of Tri Fox Shoppe, who had a lot of cool stuff; plus I got to chat with Lindsay Hornsby, who was showing off her awesome comics and other wares. I snapped a pic:

Heroes for Kids of Perryville was present, and we discussed how busy their schedule for 2026 was--and that they were excited! It was fun wandering between the booths and seeing all the fun wares. I bought two Mr.  Potato Head coloring books for the kiddos to enjoy as well, because they were fun and retro. Here they are:

I had a ton of fun at the ToyMan Show; it was a delightful first convention to attend for the year! I'm already pumped for the next one on March 8th and can't wait to see what cool things will be for sale then! As you know, it will be at the Machinist Hall--12365 St. Charles Rock Rd, Bridgeton, MO, 63044. See you there!

The First Issue of, "Ultimate Endgame," Sets the Stakes Well

A lot of the press about, "Ultimate Endgame," has been for the blind bag fiasco, but how is the comic itself? Well, I quite enjoyed the first issue, I can say! One thing that helps the stakes feel real is that this iteration of, "The Ultimate Universe," has been confirmed by Marvel to--against all odds and logic--be ending. I imagine they might spin off some characters to another Universe, but Marvel's insisted this Ultimate Universe is done soon and will be a nice, relatively self-contained epic with a start and end. I applaud the gall of Marvel doing this and this debut issue of, "Ultimate Endgame," sets the stage nicely for a lot of mayhem.

The comics have been counting down for two years or so when, "The Maker," who was an evil Reed Richards from the old Ultimate Universe, would try to emerge from his time-bubble prison that Howard Stark put them both in. As the issues advanced with every month signifying a real month (for the most part, they followed that format), anticipation built for this final showdown. Some heroes enter the surreal city the Maker is contained within, others help everyone rebel against the evil forces trying to control our planet ever since the Maker came to this Earth, and installed his council to run the World. 

This premiere issue has a lot of fighting, some trippy sci-fi visuals, and I am excited to see just how this latest Ultimate Universe concludes. The fact that this could end horribly for the heroes because the Ultimate Universe is soon done makes the comic a bit more exciting than if we knew in a couple months things would be, "Business as usual," in this alternate Universe in the same manner the , "Regular," Marvel Universe doesn't ever change too much. As the rest of the Ultimate books race to their conclusion and we await the final results of this, "Ultimate Endgame," I wonder what, exactly, will be next. The fact that we have some uncertainty for once adds a bit of extra fun, and I look forward to finding out!

5 out of 5 Stars.

Two Random Updates About Rappers and the Legal System

I have news about two rappers and their involvement with the judicial process. Both of these things happened in quick succession and involve legal matters, so I decided to make a single post covering each subject.

First off, readers may recall I made a post back in 2019 asking, "Whatever Happened to the Ying Yang Twins?" It turned out they were touring a bit, but hadn't made any new music for some time. That has changed slightly in the strangest way. One half of the duo, Kaine, has released the song, "Side 2 Side," with its exclusive premiere occurring...in a legal advertisement. 

Yes, the organization known as 1800-411-Pain has offices all over America and has a new national ad with Kaine, Galaxy Wick, Planet Pete, and the late Young Bleed doing the song. I just heard it a couple of days ago and was surprised! This isn't the oddest brand collaboration ever, as I recall the inexplicable absolute fire Pusha T spit for the Arby's fish sandwich when he dissed McDonald's on their behalf. Still, I would not have predicted the start of 2026 would mark new music from at least one of the Ying Yang Twins--for a legal ad or any other purpose!

Speaking of things I didn't predict, Fetty Wap is out of prison early. Anyone alive in the mid-2010s probably recalls his yelling of, "Seventeen Thirty Eight," on tracks in between discussion of his, "Trap Queen." Found guilty of the intent to illegal distirbute cocaine, he was sentenced by a New York court to six years in prison and five years of post-release supervision in May 2023, but that sentence was eventually reduced to the point he was going to be out in late 2026, before he was released eleven months early and went home (where he will have confinement/supervision/etc.) this week. 

Fetty Wap released a statement to the news in which he declares, "I want to thank my family, friends, and fans for the love, prayers, and continued support — it truly means everything to me. Right now, my focus is on giving back through my community initiatives and foundation, supporting at-risk young children by expanding access to education, early tech skills, and vision care for young kids and students so they can show up as their best selves. I’m committed to moving forward with purpose and making a meaningful impact where it matters most." It sounds like he wants to move on from the reasons he was incarcerated and do good things for others. I hope things go well for him reentering regular life and that he puts out some more bangers too.

Mike Wolfe's New Show, "History's Greatest Picks," Launches Soon

I'm a longtime fan of , "American Pickers." I was upset for the show when it had a lot of drama over whether Frank Frtiz quit or was fired back in 2021. Then, Frtiz and Wolfe seemed to reconcile before Fritz's death in 2024 due to various health complications. There have been rumors that the show is done, with cast member Danielle Colby claiming the series had been canceled. Mike Wolfe has disputed the show is over, and has a new spin-off of sorts which looks entertaining, "History's Greatest Picks with Mike Wolfe." 

This brand-new show is due to premiere this February. Wolfe serves more as a host and storyteller as opposed to going out and finding antiques. The program will highlight astonishing finds and collections over eight episodes (with other seasons possible, I'd imagine). While I'd always prefer more, "American Pickers," this will tide me over in the meantime as I await--hopefully--more upcoming seasons of that program.

"Bloom County," Moves to Patreon

Berkeley Breathed did various comic strips with the characters of, "Bloom County," for some decades via that series,  as well as "Outland," and, "Opus." He started doing strips again as a digital verision of, "Bloom County," back in 2015, and has been at it sinc,e with the strips going up on Facebook. However, Beathed has been transparent about how, due to general expenses, he is now going to transition the strip over to Patreon. For just $3 a month, however, people can read his superb works. Some have scoffed at this, but even the original strips were in newspapers you had to pay to read the funnies in--we were spoiled to get the new iteration of the series totally free. If Breathed needs a little scratch to keep telling us stories about Bill the Cat, Steve Dallas, Opus, and the rest, I support this change.

Early January 2026 Links and News

We're early into the New Year, and it is weirdly warm in Saint Louis for January. That isn't a complaint so much as an observation, however. Let's ring in this first full week of 2026 with an assortment of news and links.

One of my favorite trashy reality shows, "1,000 Pound Sisters," has its season premiere tonight. They both have lost a lot of weight, but they and their family are still a mess, so I'm ready to tune in. Plus, "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City," has a new edition today too, and that has been a wildly enjoyable trainwreck this season, as always.

On this day 5 years ago, a bunch of morons who claimed to be patriots but who were actually traitors went and raided our Nation's Capitol under the (false) belief that Donald Trump should have won the 2020 election (as he always lies about). Now that Trump has managed to seize power again, he and his cronies have continued to try to recontextualize the day as no big deal. It was a dark day in history, however, and should be remembered as such.

Well-known golfer and all-around interesting individual, John Daly, would generally hang out at a nearby Hooters restaurant anytime he played the Master's Tournament. His favorite spot shut down due to money issues for the brand, but he has found a new place to relax for the week this April, Top Dawg Tavern. Never fear, John Daly will always find a place to get a drink between playing some golf.

Serving as further evidence that DC's Absolute line is massively popular with anything, "Absolute Batman," selling like hotcakes, a new special issue about, "Ark-M," isn't even officially out until tomorrow and people are already paying a lot on the secondary market in the hopes of getting a copy in case stores run out super fast.

If, "Grand Theft Auto VI," does release in November of 2026 and isn't delayed yet again, how big an impact could it have on the holiday release schedule for video-games? It isn't a question of if it will wreak utter havoc for any competitors trying to release a game; the question is how much mayhem will there be?

Finally, a trailer dropped for the new, "Robin Hood," movie that imagines if the hero were actually kind of a jerk. This is funny to see because I was just saying how there is a new trend of movies imagining villains weren't that bad (Cinderella's sisters and Gaston have flicks coming), but we ought to do something with a hero secretly being unpleasant!

Uh Oh, Ultimate Endgame Blind Bags Suffered Lots of Damages

On December 31st, Marvel kicked off the end of their (latest) Ultimate Universe with, "Ultimate Endgame," #1. As part of the fun they had one variant option of that hot new trend--which is already burning itself out--blind bags. There was a problem, however, in that many of the blind bags turned out to have quite damaged comics inside once opened. Apparently, these weren't shipped the best in some cases and that could result in a store's whole order having nasty nicks and spine tics--not encouraging if you're hoping to pull a rare variant in decent shape. Marvel hasn't said anything official about this, but Penguin Random House (the distributor of Marvel floppies) has declared that as long as retailers send in the damaged comics with the covers stripped off, they'll refund the expense. I mean, that's something?

This is a bit of a mess, and considering how many blind bag promotions there have been from assorted publishers, you'd think PRH/Marvel would know how to ship these. I know Marvel is planning to do more mystery polybags for their, "Daredevil," relaunch, so one can only pray a valuable lesson was learned, and we won't see the same stories about damaged comics in a handful of months. Then again, if this blind bag craze peters out as quickly as it seems to be, it may not even matter before long if people simply quit caring. I suppose we'll have to see what 2026 holds for comic gimmicks and whatever the next hot promotional schtick is.

People are Using Twitter/X's AI Bot, Grok, in Creepy Ways This Week

I guess Grok, the official AI of Twitter/X got an upgrade because many people have been using it in a way that can vary from funny to creepy. You can have a picture of anyone and ask Grok to alter the picture so they are wearing different clothes. Make someone wear an outfit you normally see on a video-game character or such--perfectly innocent. Or have Grok take a picture of a woman and remove her clothes so it looks like she is wearing lingerie...hm.

Some women have uploaded suggestive pictures of themselves and then done the trick of tweeting at Grok to put them in an even more revealing outfit. These women are generally influencers promoting their OnlyFans accounts or such, and more power to them. They are consenting to their pictures being used in a sexual manner and telling the AI themselves to use a picture and make it saucy.  I'm sex-positive and pro-sex work; that's their choice. It gets a lot weirder when a woman uploads a harmless picture of herself and a bunch of men start tweeting at Grok to alter the picture so she is in a bikini, or has different colored hair and is licking ice cream, or a variation a woman didn't consent to. This has been referred to as a, "Mass Undressing Spree," but instead of people literally ripping clothes off of women, they are using AI.

Some dudes have had their pictures tweaked in suggestive ways from what I can see, but this impacts women a good 99% of the time. Where it gets really uncomfortable and borderline illegal is when it is girls under 18 having a picture of them altered to look suggestive. Grok won't make anything outright pornographic, but when a well-known actress who everyone is aware is underage has a picture tweaked so she's in extra-revealing clothes...well, maybe the users doing those prompts need a bit of extra scrutiny because they're just a hop-skip-and-a-jump from outright committing a crime.

How has Twitter/X responded to all of the news about this? They released a press statement saying, "Legacy media lies." Elon Musk himself seems relatively unbothered too. I mean, even if the media allegedly lies, the countless prompts demanding a woman have her outfit turned into a transparent bikini say it all. I swear, AI is only going to get, "Better," at faking images or videos to the point where, in three or four years, we legitimately won't be able to tell what is a real picture/video or generated/tweaked by AI. At that point, life is going to get really scary. As it stands right now, continue (as always) to be careful what you put on social media. Not only could the real content be used against you, but now people can change something innocent into questionable content. The future is now, and the future is deepfaked beyond recognition.

Diamond Comic Distributors is Officially No More

One long National nightmare is over (out of many that still persist, but oh well). Yes, Diamond Comic Distributors ceased operations/existence on December 31st, 2025, serving as the last day. Heidi over at ComicsBeat has an article detailing the last days of Diamond. Within the span of 365 days they went from a struggling-but-still big comic distributor, to in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, to struggling to find a buyer, to screwing over publishers by selling inventory they didn't own against the publishers' will, to being more of a shuffling zombie than a real company, to getting a stake put in the heart (I am mixing metaphors) and being truly good and dead as 2025 concluded. What an insane year for Diamond, and clearly declaring them my comic-book-related fiasco of 2025 was undoubtedly on point.

Diamond did a lot of good for the comic industry while also often being a huge thorn in the side of publishers, stores, and so forth. People wanted Diamond to change, not die. That said, sometimes when you fail to evolve, extinction is inevitable. I feel awful for the people who worked hard at Diamond, even if Diamond as a company itself often received scorn. As the dust settles, we have Lunar and PRH distributing many comics, with some smaller companies trying to assist with indie books (such as Philbo) and other entities eyeing ways to get involved in the comic game (Universal Distribution is making moves on the United States after being a big player in Canada). I don't know what 2026 will hold for comic-book distribution, but I can say with 99% certainty it won't be as crazy as last year!