The San Diego ComicCon has moved into a whole new stratosphere in recent years. Initially merely a large comic convention, it somehow migrated to a Geek Mecca where Hollywood, Comics, and Toy Companies collide to give us glimpses at what cool new things are on the horizon for our nerd pleasure. It is pretty astounding to see just what it has become.
Of course as part of the allure of ComicCon, there are the SDCC Exclusives…toys that are launched at SDCC and for sale initially only at SDCC. This has always created a conflict between the “haves” and the “have nots” which has sometimes generated some hostility not just in the fandom, but directed back at the manufacturers. But Hasbro seems to have found a balance. By offering the items through SDCC, but also at HasbroToyShop, they seem to be able to please everyone, and in recent years there hasn’t been an obvious shortage of opportunities to get what you want.
This is not the case with Mattel, who year after year generates mountains of frustration among their fans with a strange voucher pre-order system that doesn’t even guarantee you a figure if you travel all the way to ComicCon. Not to mention when they post items for sale after the fact, MattyCollector.com gets so hammered that nobody can access the retail store. In general, it seems like a mammoth cluster… you get the idea.
Now not only does Hasbro seem to have the system at least somewhat ironed out, but the numbers of cool exclusives they are getting out there is amazing. Now, most of this is probably because they’re far and away the #1 Boys Toys brand in the market, but it really is incredible just how many cool toys they can get into collectors’ hands through SDCC. Anyone reading this right now already knows about Sgt. Slaughter:
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I mean, look at this figure! Sure there are complaints about the lack of musculature and the placement of the torso joint/USA logo (which I can certainly appreciate) but there is a metric ton of new tooling, great accessories, and even new points of articulation. Any long time fan who has been clamoring for Slaughter is gonna be loving this.
And while I haven’t been keeping up with the Marvel stuff as much as I’d like to, I can’t help but drool at what Hasbro has there as well:
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Before I go on…let me say one thing. Yes that is a TWO FOOT FREAKING TALL CARDED ACTION FIGURE. How awesome is that? Not to mention the bad ass WW II Captain America and an impressive Thor figure to tie into the upcoming movie as well.
Hell, even Star Wars has my interest this year!
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Bet you thought Darth Maul was dead, eh? Hell, I’m an uber-geek and even I thought Darth Maul was dead. What the hell is this? It’s Darth frikken Maul with cyborg horse legs. ROCK.
So yeah…for G.I. Joe fans or for toy fans, Hasbro has got it going on this year. Maybe one day I’ll make it to SDCC…but until then I’ll sit back and enjoy it vicariously through the hundreds of thousands of others. Can’t wait to hear what’s on the horizon!
It amazes me that it really took this long for someone to dream up a real life, full fledged “film franchise” based on existing characters and an existing universe. Throughout the years there have been television series, films, cartoons, and a wealth of media for comic characters, but never once has someone really tried to weave it all together.
Well, Marvel Films, buoyed by the success of their Spider-Man and X-Men franchises finally bit the bullet, created their own movie company, and decided to finally tell a tale that crosses between films and creates a whole new universe in Hollywood. And so far, I’ve been loving it.
The Incredible Hulk was really the film that kicked it all off, featuring a cameo by Robert Downy, Jr as the enigmatic Tony Stark. This, of course, spiraled into the Iron Man film, with another nice little cameo of Nick Fury. Then, as we all know at this point, that catapulted into Iron Man 2 where the whole Avengers Initiative really started to evolve, and we got a peek at Thor’s hammer as we ramp up for Thor in 2011. Of course, Cap’s trusty shield made it’s own appearance as well.
I’ll be honest…I was pretty worried about how “The First Avenger” would be treated in Hollywood. The Hulk is a big green monster… Iron Man is a guy in a high tech suit of battle armored plate. Those things can transcend comic pages and make a nice impact in the “real world” look. Well, Captain America really doesn’t. On the comic page you can see a guy in blue spandex, and it doesn’t look all that out of place. But making that work in Hollywood? Yeah, I was having a hard time seeing how they would work it in. After all, in the 70’s we saw them give it their best shot, and that really wasn’t all that pretty.
Well, thanks to JoBlo and Aint it Cool News, we have some artwork of what promises to be the actual costume that the film version of Captain America will wear. And Good Lord is it awesome. It certainly seems to use the Ultimates uniform as a base (which is no surprise, considering how much the Hollywood Marvel universe seems to at least sort of follow the Ultimate logic) but it looks like it will translate nearly perfectly on a three dimensional real world plane. Yet, it also manages to pay perfect homage to the actual uniform appearance in the comics as well. They really seem to have captured the best of both worlds.
During my formative years collecting comics, Captain America was one of my favorite heroes. I had nearly an entire run of his books from the 60’s through to the early 90’s before I moved away from comics, and I still have a place in my heart for Steve Rogers. I was thrilled to see that Marvel Films is trying to hard to keep these characters grounded in reality, yet still pull so much influence from the printed page. Awesome stuff.
Well, first of all…because it’s my site, dammit. :shifty:
In all seriousness… it’s safe to say I’ve been a fan of Marvel cartoons since day 1…actually, Marvel TV shows and movies in general. Channel 56 out of Boston would show a “Creature Double Feature” on Saturdays every weekend, and I would ALWAYS make sure to tune in, because sometimes, just sometimes, they would show the old school 70’s Amazing Spider-Man TV show. Yeah, you know the one.
