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!
When Hunter PR rep Joe Moscone reported on his Twitter page last night that Hasbro’s SDCC exclusives would be featured on Attack of the Show, I was hoping the video would show up online since I don’t get G4 with my local cable package. Thankfully g4tv.com came through!
They visited Hasbro’s Rhode Island headquarters and give us the scoop on the wide array of goodies Hasbro will have available at SDCC…and yes, the Sarge is front and center. Check out the embedded video below.
Some enterprising Joefans have jumped on a few eBay sales offering early releases of the Sgt. Slaughter SDCC exclusive, and some pics are starting to emerge. Over on Hisstank.com, both Bionic Commando and Gyre-Viper have posted some images, mint on card and loose both. Old friend of GeneralsJoes cmderinchief has also posted a couple of images on his Facebook page as well. I’ve mirrored the images below.
I know some folks are a bit on the fence, but I dig this figure. He looks cool, old school, but still accurate to Sarge’s physical… prowess. Sure, it would have been cool to have him stacked and jacked like he was in the cartoon, but there’s something humorous about this figure, and appropriately cheesy. Of course the mid-torso joint does disrupt some of the flow, which is an issue. But articulation must always come first, in my opinion.
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Regardless, I’ll be looking forward to at least trying to get my hands on these figures when SDCC comes around.
So, the Q & A answers have only started trickling in, and it already seems like we’re getting some better responses from Hasbro. Even if they’re not revealing future figures, the responses seem at least a bit less “canned” and more thought out, which is great to see. The following questions have already shown up on my radar:
Allspark.com reveals in their session that Sgt. Slaughter has a new wrist joint, and Hasbro confirms it, reporting that they are going to feature that joint on a number of upcoming new figures. Awesome! I’m all for articulation improvements, and this looks like a good one. If you take a close look below, you can see what they’re referring to:
JoeBattleLines got a couple of gems for us! They asked Hasbro about particular items that didn’t appear at Toy Fair and got confirmation that both Shadow Tracker and Ashiko with the Cycle Armor should be hitting retail in their Spring, 2011 line! They also promised to show more at JoeCon in Providence. Excellent! Another interesting tidbit from JBL is that Hasbro reports that they have started shipping Alpha Wave 3 Rise of Cobra vehicles, in spite of recent reports from BigBadToyStore. So we’re not getting the awesome Target exclusives, but we are getting the somewhat tired Rise of Cobra Wave 3? Yay?
HissTank.com got Hasbro to talk a bit about the Pursuit of Cobra Duke’s headsculpt, and they confirm that it was inspired by Resolute, classic, and Valor Vs. Venom! Awesome to hear that they pulled from different era’s, and it’s almost a little confirmation that the Pursuit of Cobra is the first real new G.I. Joe universe if you set aside the film (which so many fans seem only to eager to do).
ToyNewsInternational gets to the bottom of the COBRA Commander “Chase Figure” reports, and Hasbro admits that while the Commander is a chase figure, he will not be limited to 1 in every 10 cases as has been previously reported. He should be much more accessible than that. Great news there.
I know many fans were quick to jump on Hasbro a bit for their new, somewhat convoluted Q & A submittal process, but so far, so good. We’re getting some great answers and great information this time around, I’m really happy to see it. Don’t forget to keep checking GeneralsJoes Q & A Page for updates! Got a number of sites up there already.
Hasbro has provided us with final press photos of the soon-to-be-released SDCC exclusive version of Sgt. Slaughter! Like the Gold Headed Destro and Cobra Commander, there will be two different versions of the exclusive. The Primary Release, which is the one decoed like the mailaway (with the USA on his shirt) and a Variant Release, which is the one decoed like the TTT driver with the camouflage pants.
These are expected to also be available via HasbroToyShop as previous SDCC exclusives have been. Check out the press images in some nice high-res glory below. I know this figure has sparked a lot of frustrations throughout the fandom, and I can see their perspective. Everyone is used to the cartoon-infused mega muscular Sgt. Slaughter, while in real life he was never built like that. From my own perspective, I think a more natural physique was a great choice. Sure, he looks more human, but he also looks more like the character who sparked the kids of the 80’s to jump into the G.I. Joe universe. Sculpting someone all musclebound and ripped up takes a certain skill, sure, but in my mind it almost takes more skill to make a fairly normal person, but still maintain a certain level of detail and quality. I think they definitely did that here. I’m really looking forward to adding this figure to my collection. In fact, it’s really sparked a renewed interest in my head with the Anniversary line, and made me really hope that Hasbro dips back into that well in 2010 and 2011 to fill in some of those holes, especially in 1986.
