Whether you're buying for loved ones, loathed ones, ones you barely know but feel an obligation to get something something for or yourself, it's hard to go wrong with a well-chosen toy as a gift. But it's hard to know just what toys you should be looking at, which is where we come in; we've split our choices into three categories: Play, Display and Making Your Life Better, which is to say things that are useful (or, in one case, useless but kind of essential nonetheless). Click through to see our selections.

For Play
LEGO, action figures and things for you to hit other people with safely. After all, isn't that what "play" really means?

For Display
For some people, toys are things to keep on shelves, on their walls or in boxes. Here're a few ideas for the serious collector.

For Making Your (Or Someone Else's) Life Better
In which we suggest gifts offering education, amusement and/or something to hold onto at night. Yes, even that last one.

Additional research by Alex Eichler.

Star Trek Movie Electronic Phaser
We've always been suckers for the phaser, whether it's OG Trek, Next Gen or even Enterprise. No wonder we want one of these awesome toy phasers from this summer's movie, especially with its "authentic lights and sounds" (We're not convinced that it's as "realistic" as they claim, however). For extra authenticity, you can also pick up a communicator and Tricorder to complete the set... Although we think we prefer the original series model on that last one.

LEGO Star Wars: The Clone Wars Fan's Vote Anniversary Edition - Home One Mon Calamari Star Cruiser
It's an irrefutable fact that all LEGO is awesome, but this insane 789-piece set goes the extra distance to become uber-awesome: Rebuild the command deck of the Mon Calamari from Return Of The Jedi, complete with an A-Wing and six figures including Admiral Ackbar, Mon Mothma and Lando Calrissian. There's no way that you can't want this already unless you have a fear of bricks.

Transformers Constructicon Devastator
The movie may have defied things like logic or story, but there's no denying that the robots themselves looked cool, and the giant Devastator (made of six different Constructicon vehicles) may be the coolest of all the toys, especially with his snapping jaws and "construction sounds." It's the next best thing to being chased around the world with Megan Fox!*

(* This is, in fact, untrue.)

Superhero Action Figures
Tried and true, there are enough different variations of superhero action figure that anyone who's ever shown even the slightest interest in Batman is sure to find something they'll appreciate. From DC Direct's upscale figures to Marvel Legends, your choice of characters go from obvious (Wolverine is, unsurprisingly, well represented in the toy world) to obscure (Blackest Night supporting character Saint Walker?). Because we're fans of the old Star Wars figures, we'd plump for the similarly-sized DC Universe Infinite Heroes and Marvel Universe lines to make your choices from. And, if you're looking to get something for us, we'd love a Professor Zoom, thanks.

Things of note: first off, check out the torture chamber, with the two doctors (some sort of Cobra Commander transformation?) Poor Duke looks like he's about to get a faceful of nanomites.

Next up is the creepy Neo Viper arm in the cobra box ritual. Turns out getting bit by a Cobra does nothing for the Viper crew.

Also in the gallery are snap on Wolverine-esque arm blades, a ping pong match with anti-Coba Commander paddles (love the attention to detail), an underwater fortress battle, and lots and lots and lots of Baroness and Scarlett fighting scenes, because who doesn't like a little lady-on-lady violence. Plus we love miniature versions of things, what else does everyone spy?

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra will be out August 7, 2009.

Mutant Enterprise Crew:


First meet the no-neck Enterprise crew from the Burger King kid's meal. Who are these people? Bones and Kirk could be anyone! Why are they all shruken deformed versions of themselves? It makes me uncomfortable. Okay, the tiny ships are cute, but not the people.

Terminator Slurpees:


This is just wrong. How are we going to educate the children of tomorrow if we keep making Skynet's creations look like playful creatures that bring you iced treats? Shame on you, 7-11. Think of the children!

Dragonball Action Figures:


I really can't even begin to tell you how awful these action figures are, forget that they're poorly made, they're not even complete. Terrible, absolutely terrible. Rob Bricken, from Topless Robot, has a beautiful review of the action figures over at Anime News Network. It's worth the read.

Fancy Twilight Action Figure:


I'll admit it, I'm torn on hating these Twilight action figures because the ridiculous attention to detail. Edward even has on the oddly fitting jacket and glasses to shield him from the sun that won't kill him. Plus they even hold hands with the same enthusiasm Bella had in he movie. Oh, they're $30? Forget it then. Thanks for he tip Newsarama.

The maquette is from the uber talented minds of Quantum Mechanix, who also created the Starship Enterprise models we showed you last week. And it's just the first of many Stargate figures coming your way. According to the artists,

Teal'c is sculpted as we first meet him in the Stargate SG-1 pilot episode Children of the Gods: First Prime of Apophis and deeply troubled by what he has seen and done in his god's name. That's why, when the humans of the Tau'ri (that's us Earthlings) arrive on the scene, Teal'c rejects a life of obedience to rebel against his master and all Goa'uld.

The Teal'c maquette comes posed in full armor and holding his Jaffa staff weapon, a look of defiance captured in this animation-style statue. He comes standing on a base that is a miniaturized, screen-accurate Stargate replica. Limited to just 1,000 pieces, the Teal'c maquette is hand-painted and hero-sized – standing over 9 inches tall.

Teal'c is going to retail for $89.95 in an edition of 1,000 and is about nine inches tall. I can't wait to see what they have in store for the rest of the crew.

For more information check out Quantum Mechanix, and make sure to check back for additional Stargate updates.

It's a world-premiere and signing event for Kubrick and Be@rbrick figures based on the show, although it's not clear from the announcement how many new figures are being released. There'll also be a one-off Lost BE@RBRICK figure, which is ten times the normal size and signed by the show's cast and producers, which will later be auctioned with proceeds going to the Children's Defense Fund. And there'll be exclusive Lost art by producer Jack Bender on display.

Says Meltdown:

Scheduled to appear at the event are “Lost” co-creators and executive producers J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof, and executive producers Bryan Burk, Jack Bender, Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz and Carlton Cuse. Also scheduled to attend are writers Elizabeth Sarnoff, Paul Zbyszewski, Melinda Hsu Taylor, Kyle Pennington, and Brian K. Vaughan.

It runs Weds., Nov. 19, from 7 to 11 PM. And here's the poster:

Just what is papercraft? It’s is an addictive art (skill?) in which you fold together pieces of paper to construct an action figure. (Many folks out on the web helpfully provide easy-to-use PDF designs to help you make the toy.) Think of it as stylin’ 3D origami, only pop culturey. All you need is access to a color printer, heavy paper, and some clear tape.

EASY
Rorschach [via Toy a Day]
Doctor Manhattan
Batman
A dude from V
Hellyboy

MODERATE
Grand Theft Auto IV scene [via Papercraft World]
Young Link from The Legend of Zelda

HARD
Iron Man [via Paperkraft]
Star Wars ships [Papercraft World]

Image courtesy of Invasores Espaciales

Toy: Smorkin’ Labbit
Pitch: V meets The Insider meets Crank. In an effort to kick his cigarette habit, the Labbit visits a hypnotherapist. A particularly probing session taps deep into his subconscious: Turns out he’s an alien leproid planted on Earth to be a remote assassin—his “fuse” a nic fit!—waiting to destroy all mankind. Only he’s inadvertently become attached to his human targets…and resolves to save their puny race.

Toy: Munny
Pitch: Seven Samurai meets Shane. He is a warrior who traverses the bleak frontier by his lonesome. Along the way, Munny valiently rescues some villagers from local bandits and captures the (innocent and totally platonic, and yet latently homoerotic) heart of a lad, who faithfully studies his idol’s skill set. The kid learns how to be a man; our hero learns how to be a sensei.

Toy: Dunny
Pitch: Die Hard meets itself. Dunny is a nice-guy window washer at a downtown Manhattan skyscraper. While faithfully doing his job, he looks through a window and notices the employees inside gagged, tied up, and held at gunpoint. Clearly, they are communists! Not one to waste time, he opens a can of Yippie-Kai-Yay on their asses.

Images courtesy of KidRobot.com

[via Daily Variety]

A lot of these aren't for sale yet — they're still in the concept art stage. But you can expect to see them within a few months or less. Wrapped in shiny packages. Sure that Leia is great, but really the chess set is what does it for me. Maybe it's the Tie Fighters as Rooks? As one of the admirers standing next to the chess set exclaimed, "It's the epitome of geekiness!" And that's saying a lot at a Con devoted to the fantasy lives of nerds.

What comic book is breast girl from? I have no idea.

Also, we've got Skrull crotch. What is it with this new Marvel toy, with a Skrull doll whose crotch is strangely large? I asked Graeme, who noted simply that Skrulls are, of course, very excited to be invading Earth. So true. Tomorrow, we'll bring you more from the Expo floor, including some galleries of very cool Star Wars toys and other sundry goodies.

The basic Anti-Monitor action pack comes with one giant Anti-Monitor figure, a few other figures and a map. Anti himself has three different levels of power representing his awesome cosmic might in the original Crisis On Infinite Earths. The con exclusive Anti-Monitor will represent his more recent incarnation as a member of the Sinestro Corps. In addition to a repaint and a corps emblem on his chest, he'll have a totally different combat dial with reduced power levels, making him easier to fit onto a standard team. Image by: Wizkids.

Announcing 2008 Convention Exclusives! [Wizkids]

The press release reads:

Fans of all eras of Doctor Who can look forward to an incredible range of classic Doctor Who figures and monsters being launched in the UK by Character Options later this year.
 
Recreate scenes from the classic series of Doctor Who with the poseable action figures. Each figure pack comes with a different collectable part of the giant K-1 robot from the fourth Doctor's first story in 1974.  When all eight packs are collected, the giant robot will be complete.  
 
Classic figures include Tom Baker, Peter Davison and Colin Baker.  Other figures and monsters include a Sea Devil (1972), Zygon (1975), Magnus Greel & Mr Sin (1977), SV7 and D84 (1977).
 
Also being launched is a Doctor Who 5 inch Classic Dalek Set - this set of three poseable Classic Daleks includes Daleks from The Dead Planet, (1963), The Planet of the Daleks, (1973) and Genesis of the Daleks (1975).

(No, toymakers. That's not a good idea.)

Character Options - Classic Series Action Figures [Doctor Who Online] (Thanks, Martin!)

Rebel Scum's wishlist poll is arguably a lesson in frustration in itself; it's not that the website has any particular "in" at Hasbro, they're just preparing to present the finalized wishlist to Hasbro representatives at SDCC in July and hope for the best. The voting is separated into three uber-categories (Original trilogy, prequel trilogy and extended universe) and then subsets within each category (For each movie, and one each for comics, novels, video game and "TV and other" characters), and some of the front-runners are surprising in just how obvious they are - Is there really no General Grievous toy from Revenge of The Sith, or Obi-Wan from The Phantom Menace? - but the majority of names being bandied around are particularly obscure. How many of the following would you buy action figures for?

The Phantom Menace
Obi-Wan Kenobi

Attack of The Clones
Cliegg Lars

Revenge of The Sith
General Grievous

A New Hope
Tonnika Sisters

The Empire Strikes Back
Bespin Security Guard

Return of The Jedi
Luke Skywalker in his Death Star 2 outfit

Comic books
K'Kruhnk from Dark Times

Video games
Bastilla Shan from Knights of The Old Republic

Novels
Darth Caedus from Legacy of the Force

TV and other
Captain Fordo from Cartoon Network's Clone Wars series

Voting is open to any and all right now. Vote early, vote often, but feel free to vote irresponsibly.

2008 Rebelscum Hasbro Wishlist Poll [The Force.net]

Between the resin models of battle-damaged Vipers from Battlestar Galactica, and the recreations of Mego's awesome Star Trek line of action figures from 1974, there's a lot to love here. But the two things that really look ridiculously cool are the Poseable 12" Sleestak Coin Bank that would look awesome right next to our io9 supercomputer (and is on sale already), and this incredibly bizarre Mola Ram Munny from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Just check out the gleeful expression on his face and the flaming heart accessory he comes with. Pure plastic joy.

There's also a 12" Master Chief figure from Halo that comes with all sorts of goodies, and a complete set of 13" Green Lantern Corps figures that look pretty darn cool. There's also a slew of posed Cloverfield figure photos that look loads better than Hasbro's lame pictures. So, we might just keep that preorder, just in case.

For even more photos, be sure to check out Figures.com, where it seems like they have endless amounts of image galleries and coverage from the show floor. And thanks to our very own 92BuickLeSabre for snapping some the photos in our gallery as well, especially that Sleestak bank. Start asking them for kickbacks.

First showcased on our sister site Gizmodo, Sillof's custom action figures are a highly detailed labor of love that he creates in his spare time. Just check out his Dune and Star Wars Re-Vision projects. He also have a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen set, but these Justice League figures done up in steampunk-style really take the Victorian-era cake. He used the Gotham by Gaslight graphic novel as the model for Batman, and extrapolated what the other members of the Justice League might have looked like. Check out the detail on Hawkgirl's mechanical wings, and Aquaman's helmet and suit, keeping him hydrated. These figures are so well-made that we want to buy the whole set right now. Instead, we'll have to just focus our telepathy circuits on making Hollywood turn the aborted movie into something like this.

Gaslight Justice League Models by Sillof [Brass Goggles]

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• They've given man-bags to all the guys on the show, except Sylar. Is that the hot new hero fashion accessory of the year?
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• Sylar might include an alternate pointing "let me open your head up" finger-hand, as well as a "shards of flying glass" accessory hand. Oh, and a baseball cap.
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• Claire would come with alternate "injured" body parts that you can swap out, featuring "regularly occurring forehead injury" head.
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• Peter in a double-hoodie wearing outfit, and would have extra "radioactive" hands that look like he stuck them in boiling water. Ouch.
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• Hiro comes with "Ando's sword" covered in blood (what?) and his alternate "constipated" power-activating head.
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• Mohinder comes with a tiny version of his dad's Activating Evolution book, complete with his picture on the back cover.
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• There will be a special "Flying" Peter figure, who basically looks like he has a swooshing coat, at a retailer to be named later.
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• Mohinder was going to come with a set of his files, and an urn containing his father's ashes. Which would have been weird. Does he carry that urn around on the show?
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• Of course, raddest accessory ever: Sylar comes with a brain.
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Images from the March 2008 Issue of Toyfare Magazine, Issue #127.