Author Archives: Seth G. Macy

Black Friday is nearly upon us, and if you’re looking for a new 4K TV, there’s no time like the present. Plenty of retailers have begun running some early Black Friday deals that you can take advantage of right now, and Amazon has some great offers to take advantage of. Among them is one of the best deals in 4K TVs going right now: the LG C1 OLED series is discounted AND includes 6 free months of HBO Max.

Best LG C1 OLED 4K TV Deals

The LG OLED televisions are among the best of the best when it comes to picture quality. Anyone whose experienced OLED displays can attest to the vibrance of their colors as well as the deepness of the blacks. This incredible contrast gives OLEDs an incredible look, and if you’re one of the lucky ones with an Xbox Series X or PS5, there’s even more to love with support for 120Hz refresh rate and Dolby Vision.

Amazon’s Best Early Black Friday 4K TV Deals

If you’re searching for a new TV, you’ll likely want to set your sights on a 4K TV. These offer four times the resolution of standard 1080p TVs from years ago and are generally much thinner and lighter, too. 4K TVs come in a variety of different flavors and often include a number of different buzzwords that may seem like nonsense to the uninformed, such as UHD (Ultra High Definition) which is just a fancy term for 4K and Smart TV which means it can connect to the internet to stream your favorite shows and movies from Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+, and more.

One of the most important things to look for when purchasing a new TV is the type of panel it uses. LED panels are the most common and feature the brightest displays that work well if your room gets a lot of light. They also tend to be the most affordable options. OLED TVs feature much better contrast, including true blacks, for an incredible image and thinner form factor, but tend to be a bit more expensive overall.

Amazon isn’t the only retailer offering Black Friday deals on 4K UHD TVs right now, though. That would be silly. Check out our guide to the best Black Friday 4K TV deals to see a big old list of big ol’ TVs you can bring home right now. And, we’ve rounded up even more great savings in our massive Black Friday Deals hub.

Seth Macy is Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend. You can find him hosting the Nintendo Voice Chat podcast.

The Samsung Pro series M.2 SSDs are well regarded and high-performing, meeting all the requirements for use in the PS5. Well, every requirement except for a heatsink, which you had to install yourself. Samsung has removed this extra step from the PS5 SSD process and released its Samsung 980 PRO series SSD with a manufacturer-supplied heatsink right out of the box.

PS5 Compatible Samsung SSD

At the moment, you can order the SSDs direct from Samsung, but the listings for both the 1TB and 2TB versions are live on Amazon. However, Amazon has them listed as “temporarily out of stock,” which is fairly standard when Amazon puts a placeholder page up for an item its not quite ready to put out for sale.

The Samsung 980 is one of the best PS5 SSDs you can buy, and being able to get one with a heatsink makes things just a little easier for you. Of course, you can always just go ahead and buy the regular Samsung 980 Pro and install your own heatsink, if you’re comfortable with that option. It will save you money, too.

Seth Macy is Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend. You can find him hosting the Nintendo Voice Chat podcast.

There are Ghostbusters proton pack replicas, and then there’s the Ghostbusters Plasma Series Spengler’s Proton Pack replica hitting Hasbro’s crowd-funding platform HasLab.

From the looks of it, this is the most realistic proton pack outside of either a movie prop or a lovingly crafted Ghostbusters cosplay group. This 1:1 “movie-inspired” pack is opening up funding with a price tag of $399. Check out the gallery below to get a better idea of the level of detail in this prop.

As is the case with Hasbro HasLab projects like the recently announced G.I. Joe Skystriker XP-14F jet, there are stretch goals in place to help encourage more Ghostbusters fanatics to pledge. At $399 a pop, the project reaches production with 7,000 backers. Here are the stretch goals, according to Hasbro:

• 9,000 Backers to Unlock the Class I Unlockable Stretch Goal: THE CLASSIC BUNDLE
• 11,000 Backers to Unlock the Class II Unlockable Stretch Goal: THE GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE BUNDLE
• 13,000 Backers to Unlock the Class III Unlockable Stretch Goal: THE SPENGLER SPECIAL
• 15,000 Backers to Unlock the Class IV Unlockable Stretch Goal: THE SUPERNATURAL STAND

Perhaps it comes as no surprise to learn the proton pack is compatible with the Plasma Series neutrona wand already on the market.

It also includes “lights and sounds from both the 1984 classic film Ghostbusters and the upcoming 2021 Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” and you can “open the cyclotron and explore its inner workings for the very first time.”

Hasbro Pulse Premium Members get the added benefit of “four 1984-inspired green ecto-plasm goo attachment accessories,” if they back the project within its first 48 hours (but only if the 7,000 backer goal is met.

The 1984 Ghostbusters is an absolute classic, written and acted by comics in the peak of their careers, and the upcoming movie is pretty amazing, too. Be sure to check out our Ghostbusters: Afterlife review for our full thoughts.

Seth Macy is Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend. You can find him hosting the Nintendo Voice Chat podcast.

No matter what your opinion on the sequel trilogy, it did give us brief glimpses into parts of Star Wars lore we previously only imagined, such as Leia’s time as a Jedi. OK, it was only mentioned briefly in Rise of the Skywalker, but as far as Star Wars collectibles go, there have been far more obscure references turned into tangible, real-world items.

At Hasbro’s PulseCon 2021, Hasbro announced it was bringing Leia’s blue lightsaber to its incredible Black Series FX line. The blade is removable, so you can just clip it to your belt (as was the style at the time), or you can attach it to the hilt and it lights up and features authentic light saber sounds.

Where to Preorder the Leia Organa Black Series FX Lightsaber

You can preorder this lightsaber now and count down the days until its October 1, 2022 release. That’s a long time from now, but it also gives you plenty of time to squirrel away the money to make sure your account covers it once it does release.

And as always, if the price drops at Amazon any time between release and when you ordered, you get it for the reduced price. Given the fact Entertainment Earth has it for $249.99, I expect Amazon will drop the price to $249.95 any moment now.

Seth Macy is Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend. You can find him hosting the Nintendo Voice Chat podcast.

Hasbro is bringing back the Skystriker XP-14F fighter jet, and its asking for fans to help by way of its own HasLab crowdfunding platform.

Unlike some of the retro lines Hasbro offers, the Skystriker is not a 1:1 reproduction using the original dies and molds, but instead will offer “the most precise detail and design” to update it for modern collectors. Take a look at the gallery of images below to see what features a successfully funded Skystriker jet will offer.

Hasbro has three different funding tiers set up, each offering added rewards beyond the initial funding. At 10,000 backers, Habsro will bring the Skystriker to production. Hasbro promises “sculptural integrity … miles ahead” of previous versions. The joystick in the cockpit is moveable, for one.

The Skystriker Tier 1, requiring 13,000 backers, adds a Scarlett O-Ring figure, and 16,000 backers unlocks Rip Cord “in Night Force colors.” Hitting 18,000 will add two Pit Crew figures. These figures, if reached, are in addition to the Ace and Wayne Ruthel figures included with the Skystriker.

There are tons more accessories included with the jet, which can be seen at the HasLab official website.

The Skystriker was easily one of the coolest of the classic Joe vehicles from the 1980s. Heavily inspired by the real-world F-14 Tomcat, the Skystriker’s coolness factor was helped along by that other piece of 1980s pop-culture jet fighter excellence, Top Gun.

Of course, the XP-14F looks best when parked on the deck of the legendary USS Flagg, so if Hasbro is reading this, please make that the next Joe-inspired HasLab project.

Seth Macy is Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend. You can find him hosting the Nintendo Voice Chat podcast.