The upcoming article is about Takara's 'Penny Racers' cars - little pullback toys that could change direction with the help of coins.  Very few of you probably remember these, but I thought there was enough there to warrant a tribute.  They're actually even a little bit before my time, but I remember having 'em and they gave me an excuse to make a logo with giant pennies.  So there.

Just got a TF question from reader Kyle Turner: "Sorry to bother you with a completely random mail from a reader, I know how busy writing these articles can keep a person, but you seemed to be the person to ask about this one. I remember as a kid, a particular Transformers gestalt that had a weird black & orange lion thing as the body of it (or maybe it was the leg, I don't remember.) I know that description of the toy would bear a remarkable resemblance to Voltron, but it wasn't Voltron. I can't for the life of me remember what the thing was called. Am I remembering something that didn't exist?"

Answer:  That's an easy one.  Predaking.  It was one of the last gestalt teams from the line, made up of the Decepticon Predacons.  It's got a real high price tag these day, which is expected since the Predacon combiners are far larger and better made than any of the other gestalt teams.  I remember selling a complete Predaking for something like 300 bucks even before I started X-E, so I can only imagine that it's going for at least that much nowadays, if not higher.  Here's a few pics…

I found 'em!

It took weeks and weeks of calls and pointless side trips and lots of other activities that made me look and feel like a moron, but I found 'em!

Just had to share that.  Next article should be a good one.  It's not about Ultimate Muscle, but it is about something else I picked up at Toys R' Us.  You've been warrrrned.

Jeez, that Hungry Man Breakfast article grabbed 60,000+ readers over the weekend.  I have to admit, I was pretty surprised by the response.  I've probably gotten more e-mail about this one than anything else I've done for the site, and plenty of people called it the best article I've written so far.  I don't really agree with that, but I was pretty proud to fit the term 'chicken miscarriage' into the mix.

Anyway, to get myself back on the schedule that works best, I'm skipping today and putting up a new article at midnight sharp.  I was beating personal deadlines by an hour all last week, and that's not really conductive to writing great articles.  Check back later - next up is a review of a video that will forever change how you view the fabled Ninja Turtles.  "The Making of 'The Coming Out Of Their Shells' Tour."  If you're wondering if it could somehow be even more stupid than it sounds?  Well…yes.  Absolutely.