Author: aNb Media

The Pokémon Company International announced the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) Live will officially launch around the world on June 8, 2023, on iOS, Android, macOS and Windows devices following the current beta period. Ahead of the release of the tabletop version, the latest expansion of the best-selling Pokémon TCG, Scarlet & Violet—Paldea Evolved, will be playable in Pokémon TCG Live beginning June 8, 2023, at 10 a.m. PDT, allowing players to collect and battle with new Pokémon ex and Tera Pokémon ex cards. In addition, to celebrate the official launch of Pokémon TCG Live, players who log in to the game between May 2, 2023, at 10 a.m. PDT, and June 6, 2023, at 10 a.m. PDT, will receive special customization accessories, including a coin, card sleeves and deck box.

Power up those shields, princess: Boba Fett is coming to Star Wars Villainous. Ravensburger, acclaimed publisher behind award-winning board games and high-quality toys and puzzles, has announced that the​ galaxy’s​ most infamous bounty hunter is the cover star​ of​ Star Wars Villainous: Scum and Villainy,​ the second installment in the Star Wars​​ Villainous line. Ravensburger has also launched Star Wars Villainous puzzles with original art inspired by the award-winning board game Star Wars (Power of the Dark Side) Villainous. Characters include Darth Vader, Moff Gideon, Asajj Ventress, General Grievous and Kylo Ren, and are available for purchase on Amazon now.

May is National Foster Care Month, and the Marine Toys for Tots Program is expanding its support beyond the holiday season to deliver emotional comfort and gifts to children living in Foster Care. The Program’s initiative, Champions for Those in Foster Care, will provide toys, books, and other gifts to be distributed to foster care children through local organizations across the country. “These children leave their homes with only a small plastic bag of their belongings. Marine Toys for Tots wants to give foster care children not only something tangible to take with them as they move, but also some tools and hope for a brighter tomorrow,” said LtGen Jim Laster, CEO of the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation.

“We are pleased with our year-to-date performance as we close the first quarter,” said Stephen Berman, JAKKS Pacific Inc.’s Chairman and CEO, “and are excited about the possibilities for the remainder of the year. We shipped over $100 million worth of product in Q1 for the second consecutive year and it is the first time we’ve done that in back-to-back years since 2009. We have challenging revenue comparisons all year, but our significant gross margin improvement lessened the impact in the first quarter. Our Q1 gross profit dollars haven’t been this high since 2015. We managed inventory down further and eliminated most of our temporary warehouse capacity. And, as we previously disclosed, earlier in the quarter we paid down our long-term debt to less than $30 million.