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HBO has released the titles and dates for new episodes of their 3rd season of Westworld. Season 3, episode 5: “Genre” Debut date: SUNDAY, APRIL 12 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT) Just say no. Written by Karrie Crouse & Jonathan Nolan; directed by Anna Foerster. Season 3, episode 6: “Decoherence” Debut date: SUNDAY, APRIL 19 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT) Do a lot of people tell you that you need therapy? Written by Suzanne Wrubel & Lisa Joy; directed by Jennifer Getzinger. Season 3, episode 7: “Passed Pawn” Debut date: SUNDAY, APRIL 26 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT) A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out. Written by Gina Atwater; directed by Helen Shaver. Season 3, episode 8: “Crisis Theory” Debut date: SUNDAY, MAY 3 (9:00-10:15 p.m. ET/PT) Time to face the music. Written by Denise Thé & Jonathan Nolan; directed by Jennifer Getzinger. WESTWORLD was created for television by Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy, who are executive producers with J.J. Abrams, Athena Wickham, Richard J. Lewis, Ben Stephenson, and Denise Thé. Production companies: Kilter Films and Bad Robot Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television; based on the film written by Michael Crichton.

Diamond Select is not a company that I frequently purchase from. I’m a casual fan of the Ghostbusters franchise, so as far as their line of figures goes from that, I only got the 4 busters in their original costumes and I only ever buy a marvel Select figure if it fits in with the legends line. I was excited by the prospects of their Tarantino line, but that didn’t survive past series 1. So needless to say, DST isn’t one of my favorites. Clearly, they weren’t on the level of Hasbro, NECA, Bandai, or even McFarlane or Mattel as far as I’m concerned. But for the last few shows they’ve been to (Toyfair and SDCC of 2019) they have really surprised me with a few of their offerings on display. Their line of Castlevania figures was the first that really shocked me. While not perfect, they seemed like a massive step up from their previous offerings. Around the same time, we began to see their John Wick stuff. While at first, the initial figure they showed didn’t seem all that impressive, it’s been at least a year since they first made the announcement, and at every subsequent show, the figures from the first and second film have gotten much better. Clearly there has been some process between prototype and final product that is actually an improvement. In some instances, this isn’t the case from other companies. At toyfair, one of the biggest surprises for me was the fact that they were to be making figures from HBO’s Westworld, which is currently one of my favorite shows. I had been wanting Figures from the property, but I didn’t expect them so soon, and was shocked to see them go to a company like DST. Last week at SDCC was the biggest surprise. A little bit about me, one of my all time favorite properties is Avatar: The Last Airbender. The original animated series was stupendous, but the lack of action figures was disheartening. Fisher Price had a line, but it was clearly not designed with adult collectors in mind. I even endured the terrible Shyamalan adaptation because it meant I could get some plastic versions of those characters I loved. Every year, be it TFNY or SDCC, I’m hoping and praying that someone would do Figures from the series. Maybe Bandai, as a part of the SHF line. Maybe Banpresto would do a statue line. I even thought there was a chance McFarlane would pick up the line, as they’re in the process of doing My Hero Academia, One Punch Man, and Naruto Figures. Yet, to my surprise, DST is to make this wish come true for me. They didn’t have any prototypes on display, but some pictures did leak from a panel. A few days later they went up for preorder. I’m honeslty astounded by how these look. With all of the effects and alternate pieces, and for $20 at retail? This is honestly a dream come true for me. It’s just so strange to see it come from a company that I’ve slept on for so long. And Avatar isn’t it. The Rocketeer figure they showed looks very cool, as do their Black Hole line and their upcoming Tron stuff. Have any of you had an experience like this? Where a company you didn’t spare much money or thoughts to comes in out of the blue and whacks you over the wallet?