Agent/Soldier. Tinker/Tailor.

I came across a Super Hero Squad checklist the other day and… I can’t even link to it in good conscience. I’m going to give it some leeway, since it looks like a start up… a few pages, just pure rundowns of Adventure Heroes, Super Hero Squad and the like. Nothing fancy (and I should know nothing fancy... the only reason this blog has a color scheme is because it was point and click.) Once the owner has had a chance to work on it a bit and correct some of the mistakes, I'll happily give it a link.

But it’s guilty of one of my pet peeves: illogical speculation.

Now, there’s levels of speculation… there’s theories, an informed hypothesis, educated guesses, assumptions (incorrect or otherwise), and my least favorite... absolute guesses without any foundation whatsoever.

Most websites and rumor lists have a reasonable basis for their guesses… if they know one character in a two-pack, they’ll guess what the second one is based on appearances and connections. But this one “checklist” decided to go ahead and guess at both parts of a two-pack.

Now just to provide history, a while back Boywithgun announced, amongst some other 2-pack SKUs, one for Soldier/Agent.

This particular checklist arbitrarily decided that it was Hydra Soldier and USAgent. In their defense, like I said, it’s a start-up and it’s as good a guess as any, and they do include question marks for these and many other entries. It reminded me of a run-down of the most logical choices I wrote when the controversy first started.

The candidates: Winter Soldier, USAgent, Agent 13, Shield Agent, AIM Soldier, Hydra Soldier:

Winter Soldier, Pros:
- Winter Soldier has been the focus of the current Captain America title since the first arc, and the book has been a top-10 seller for a while, he's been the star of the recent Death of Captain America arc which has been boosted by mainstream attention.
- Since there’s already a Winter Soldier figure, they could just re-use the sculpt and save some cash, which is always a selling point.

Cons:
- There’s already a Winter Soldier figure in the Winter Soldier Saga box set (which doesn’t stop Marvel from releasing Captain America, Spider-Man, Wolverine or others)


USAgent , Pros:
- US Agent got some play last year in Omega Flight and has been a member of the Avengers West Coast, Force Works, Invaders, had some major play in the Maximum Security crossover (which doesn't say much since it's like 7 years old and nobody remembers it)

Cons:
- US Agent has a figure, even if it's just a re-paint of Captain America. If the 5 issue mini-series Omega Flight had the pull necessary to get new figures made, there’s a chance we’d see a Sasquatch first, or maybe a Beta Ray Bill befor getting a new USAgent


SHIELD Agent, Pros:
- SHS has started a trend of one popular/demanded character and one "generic" (with it's Wolvie/Hand and Hulk/Hulkbuster packs) so they might continue with that theme.
- fans have said SHIELD agents would be a great army builder.
- SHIELD agents have been major players in all of Marvels big sellers and little sellers too, from New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Ms. Marvel, right on down to the World War Hulk wrap-ups and even low-selling books like the recently canceled Ant-Man so they get around.

Cons:
- SHIELD Agents without 616 Nick Fury are blasphemous.


Hydra Soldier/AIM Soldier , Pros:
- I’ve combined these two because the arguments for them are about the same. They’d be good army builders to satisfy the fans, neither has much mainstream exposure but Hydra’s involvement in Wolverine: Enemy of the State and AIM’s involvement in Captain America have given them recent comic buzz. Ok, Enemy of the State was a while ago.

Cons:
- they’re just army builders. Absent some proof one way or the other, either Hydra or AIM is just as likely as the other, so picking one or the other is just a coin flip.


Agent 13, Pros:
- Sharon Carter, recent star player of Captain America had a bit of mainstream play as Captain America’s lover and killer.
- There’s definitely a fanbase, possibly larger than we’d expect.

Cons:
- Despite recent publicity, is she really famous enough for what is still a relatively new toy line that still has a fair number of other famous characters it could put out?


And the absolute, one billion, trillion to one longshot: Super-Soldier, star of the late DC/Marvel cross-over event "Amalgam Comics" line. He'd be a beloved addition, but lets be honest... there's almost no way this character is going to get an official figure.


In short, it’s still anybody’s game. Winter Soldier, Agent 13, USAgent, AIM/Hydra/SHIELD Soldiers.
One caveat though: Super Hero Squad hasn’t released a two-pack of two original characters since the Rogue/Gambit, Black Panther/Storm, Antman/Doctor Strange waves. Every pack in the Spider-Woman wave, Psylocke Wave, Carnage Wave, and the Hulk waves (both released and announced) has included at least one character that had previously been released. Past performance is NOT proof of future results, but it’s something to think about.