The San Diego Comic-Con is in full swing. I’m not there, but all is not lost. By combining all the Tweets, Facebook updates, Flickr streams and RSS feeds I’m getting from there with a little bit of imagination, it’s almost like I got caught smuggling a bunch of fireworks into the San Diego Convention Center and have been locked in the security office for later interrogation – I can almost see and hear everything that’s going on… but not quite.

In among the Twilight discussions and Johnny Depp appearances, this press release for Mattel’s upcoming Avatar toy line caught my attention. For the first time in toy industry history, the action figures based on James Cameron’s blockbuster Avatar film, will feature augmented reality technology. Each figure comes with a unique little code tag, called an iTAG that you scan with a web-cam on your computer. This reveals extra content on screen such as character bio’s and animations, and the deluxe figure versions will be able to battle each other when two are scanned together.

Developed in partnership with AR specialists, Total Immersion, the action figure line might be a must-have on Christmas lists this year. Here’s the catch that nobody else seems to have picked up on yet though; Total Immersion have already made a similar concept with Topps 3D Live Baseball Cards. It’s still the first time this technology has been incorporated into a toy, but you can already see an example of what it looks like in action below, next to a sneak preview of one of the Avatar figs at Comic-Con.