News Clips 7/31/08

And in general news clips, Hollywood Reporter was the first to write about the possible Venom movie and the inherent problems (ie, casting, how to make a movie about a villain, how to tide fans over until a potential 2011 Spider-Man film.)

And Marvelousnews has posted pictures of more upcoming Marvel Minimates, also focusing on Marvel's Iron Man movie.

ToyNewsi.com has hi-res pic's of the new G.I.Joe Combat Heroes

And although everyone else is already covering it, Lionsgate now has the North American DVD rights for the upcoming Wolverine and the X-Men animated series. Apparently the real news is the behind the scenes drama over Punisher War Zone.

And then finally, October's Lee Toy Review is apparently going to include coverage of DC's Infinite Heroes. The solicitation text (copied from 86 Floor Comics Previews listing):

LEE'S TOY REVIEW #192 OCTOBER 2008
Mattel's line of DC Universe action figures — from Justice League to DC Universe Infinite Heroes — are covered in this issue of Lee's Toy Review. Also find Vintage Toy reviews, McFarlane's Sports Picks, G.I. Joe, Transformers, Teen Titans, DC Comics Super Heroes, Hot Wheels, Market Reports, Trading Figures, and more. Plus, the nation’s #1 Hot Wheels price guide!(Action Figure News &Toy Review) (C: 0-1-2)
Magazine, 100pgs, FC SRP: $5.95

Also coming soon, Mr. Fantastic, Galactus and more?

Hasbro has thrown upthe listing for the upcoming Mr. Fantastic and Galactus megapack (with the more metallic painted Galactus). And also Ultimate Hulk and Wolverine. Hopefully we'll be seeing pictures and pre-orders soon!

Spider-Man Super Hero Squad Playset

Hasbro has a new page up with the cryptical name of "Spider-Man Super hero squad playset". Now, the Bank Heist is already up on Hasbro's site and the Gamma Lab, featuring Spider-Man and Hulk is a TRU exclusive, so we're not quite sure what this posting is, or if it's just an error or test (noting the non-capitalized "hero", "squad" and "playset", but it could turn out to be something interesting. As we've been reporting, in recent Q&A's, when asked about playsets, Hasbro has only mentioned the Gamma Lab.

Translucent Zzzax?

Eagle eyed Monkey on Fwoosh's forums noticed how one of Cool Toy Review's SDCC Super Hero Squad pictures featured a boxed version of (what looks like) Zzzax that's different than the unboxed Zzzax. It does look like the same Zzzax sculpt, only translucent, which was our chief complaint when we first saw him. Whether it's a variant or just an early production version like the matte paint/metallic paint Thors shown at conventions earlier in the year, or the paint differences between early shots of Ghost Rider's motorcycle and later shots, we don't know yet.

Squad, the Cartoon

Alright folks, this is a long post, but hopefully the edutainment value makes it worth your reading.

We’re still experiencing a bit of a post-SDCC boost in unique visitors but I’ve heard a couple people are disappointed at what we were NOT shown at San Diego. Namely? The Super Hero Squad cartoon.

Shows like Iron Man Man Armored Adventures, Black Panther and Wolverine and the X-Men were all given some good publicity at SDCC, while fellow Spring 2009 launches for Hulk Gamma Squad and Super Hero Squad didn’t get equal treatment.

Marvel’s other recent animation endeavor, Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes, which was just recently released in a “season 1” set, is likely dead giving Chris Yost’s interview at Toonzone and the fact that the last new episode was aired in October 2007, with many episodes never being aired on Cartoon Network.

So far everything makes sense, because Wolverine and the X-Men was scheduled to air in the BBC soon (although our own quick scan of BBC's channel listings indicate that it won't be making it's earlier announced August 2, 2008 timeline, Black Panther is already into the casting stage and the Iron Man trailer has already been shown, featuring Teen Tony.

But with 2 other series launching in the US around the same time, you’d expect comparable coverage… trailers, something. Steve Hulett, business rep of The Animation Guild reported on a recent visit to Film Roman getting the following information

"One of the Marvel shows (a direct-to-video feature, I think) as canceled. There's another Marvel project that, if my info is correct, is still on the calendar.

I was tipped off by a couple of artists about this when I went through the place Monday."

Film Roman is producing the upcoming Super Hero Squad series (or so the press release copy/pasted EVERYWHERE said way back in May - 133 hits with Google) and is known for work on everything from the Simpsons and King of the Hill to X-Men Evolution and the animated Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm series.

Browsing through the comments to Hulett’s post speculation included both Hulk and Super Hero Squad (neither of which are direct-to-video releases, but Hulett did say "I think", and there was nothing solid, just some anonymous rumors.

Then livingfruitvirus from Toonzone’s forums reported that his producer from Starz Media (owners of Film Roman) said the project was scrapped. For more information on “livingfruitvirus” check out his work at The C Word and 101 Megahertz and apparently he’ll be doing storyboards for the upcoming Goode Family series.

Now, that doesn’t mean that the project is totally dead. Nor does it mean you won’t see an animated Hulk, as he’s going to be visiting Wolverine and the X-Men.


What it DOES mean, is that Sure Hero Squad is NOT the canceled Film Roman project from the rumor going around the animation circles, and that Hulk: Gamma Squad has apparently been shelved. (bolded so that this post's bottom line doesn't get lost amongst all these pesky facts and reports.)

While Hulk may visit the X-Men, there’s still some question as to whether the Spidey will visit the Squad. We’ve been following the press releases and noting his absence since May. While some speculation is that the CW’s deal for airing season 1 of Spectacular Spider-Man (season 2 is currently homeless...) may prevent him from being in the cartoon, but a far likelier problem may be SONY (producer of the Spectacular Spider-Man and one of the producers of the upcoming possible musical) and their long history of being insanely protective and greedy with Spider-Man rights ever since Marvel and SONY formed Spider-Man L.P. to share the rights, rights that include shared publishing rights and resulted in oh, about 30 million dollars of profit for Marvel in Q1 2008. Would SONY want to allow a character in a series they produce and have shared publishing rights with starring in a series promoting a toy line that benefits Marvel’s other major licensing agreement (the one with Hasbro) and produced by a different company? Maybe, maybe not. We’ll keep our eyes out for further proof one way or the other regarding Spider-Man in the Super Hero Squad cartoon.

Animated Iron Man villains

This slipped by earlier this week (because Comics Continuum, while a great site, still hasn't embraced RSS feeds and so if we don't remember to check it out, we forget) but Comics Continuum has pictures of the new Mandarin, Whiplash and Blizzard designs for the upcoming Iron Man animated series. Also check it out for possible developments for Spectacular Spider-Man's second season (suggesting it won't be on the New Kids CW after the full shift to 4kids), and Marvel's Nicktoons deal. For those who haven't been paying attention, Nicktoons is the network scheduled to air Wolverine and the X-Men in the US (and premieres in the UK and likely on torrent sites everywhere this upcoming Saturday, August 2nd) and Iron Man: Armored Adventures. Marvel's upcoming Hulk: Gamma Corps, and Super Hero Squad were at last word still waiting on networks.

Newsclips 7/29/08

Just realized that we were a day off yesterday... apparently we lost track of time.

First, that Hasbro Sketchbook we told you about a little while ago is hitting eBay with prices varying. For a look at some of the artwork include, check this auction. Shots of Snake Eyes, Darth Vader, Ultimate Thor, and some Transformers will probably make you place a bid at one of the many auctions going on. Apparently some of the designers even did sketches and signatures, as seen by the Logan Lubera Daredevil in this auction. Be warned though, apparently the mark-up is crazy. Allspark is reporting that at the convention itself it was only $10.00.

HASBRO
Hasbro Sketchbook Volume 1 (2008) (Approximate Retail Price: $9.99)
The Hasbro Design Team has assembled an 80-page bound inaugural sketchbook, featuring art from the designer's personal sketchbooks and straight from the drawing boards. This sketchbook will only be available at Comic-Con 2008. Supplies are limited.

Marvelousnews has shots of the upcoming Minimates figures. Nope, still not dead.

News Clips for 7/27/08

Chicago Tribune has this gallery of some of the costumes seen this past weekend at SDCC.

Mattel's new Collector's Store launched today. If you were like me and waited for the site to open so you could get your King Greyskull, you would haven noticed there was some technical difficulty, but as of right now, everything but Lightning McQueen is still available.

The Fables Panel featured lots of insight into upcoming storylines, a Cinderella mini-series, a Jack/Fables cross-over, and a potential movie. Meanwhile, the upcoming Cloak and Dagger series (I didn't catch whether it's a mini or an ongoing) seems to be the thing everyone is talking about, but it's the return of Milestone that they SHOULD be talking about.

And finally, fans were able to see one half of Marvel's upcoming straight to DVD Hulk Vs., and apparently were treated to guest appearances by Lady Deathstrike, Deadpool, Omega Red and Sabretooth. Now that does sound like a fun Hulk/Wolverine battle.

Super Hero Squad Forum

As some of you may know me from, I used to be a fairly prolific poster at theSuper Hero Squad Forum (and before that, I visited the Marvelousnews SHS threads kind of often) but decided to go my own way with this blog (which I will admit has a fair amount of my opinion, and I don't see the need to make someone need to apologize for my opinion)

There's a recent dust-up, the details of which are unimportant, but as a sign of good faith, and to show no hard feelings, they're getting a link. It's a closed forum, so registration is required, but they have a fairly complete database of Super Hero Squad figures, as opposed to our checklists.

Sometimes they'll get the link to Marvelousnews or Action-Figure.com up before we will, and sometimes it's the reverse, but they're still a good source of information, and, in general some discussion which is hard to have the way this blog is set up.

Edit: Also, you can meet some great customizers and see their wares before they end up on eBay. The customizers have many threads showcasing their quality concepts, and many will even do commissions.

X:Men Origins Wolverine trailer

Slashdot is home to a big discourse over the leaked X-Men Origins: Wolverine trailer with footage taken at SDCC. If you want to skip the questionable analysis of comic books going on at Slashdot's front page, go right to the trailer.

Or you can read the interesting theories (Wolverine made Rob Liefeld popular? Who should have played Wolverine? Is this all a big PR stunt/leak by Marvel to promote the movie in a viral video style?) which are just as fun as the trailer.

Still, the cast/character list for this movie according to IMDB suggests that we'll be seeing movie versions of Wolverine, Deadpool, Gambit, Sabretooth, Agent Zero/Maverick, the Blob and Beak. That alone would make an interesting wave of Super Hero Squad figures, but would it also open the door to months of "where's our comic book accurate version of Beak?")

Customizing Assist

Toycutter is filled with ideas, suggestions and assistance for Toy Customizers. The blog covers everything from Super Hero Squad figures to GI Joe type figures, miniatures, and more. Here's some of the more interesting ideas and links for fans of Super Hero Squad and 3.75 inch figures.

This Wargaming Terrain can easily by customized a little larger to be used as a display base for your Super Hero Squad figures.

Customized 3.75 Union Jack and Bishop, although an official Union Jack was shown at SDCC

Deadpool!

Marvel Ape?

And Tons of How Tos

So go, enjoy the sites and scenes, and maybe even make something cool.

Action-Figure.com has updated their gallery to reflect the new Marvel Universe 3.75 inch (or 3 3/4 or... someone should come up with a standard nomenclature) figures, with some really crisp up-close shots.

One of the interesting things is the number of snap-on weapons, like for instance Iron Fist's fist appears to disconnect from his hand for "powered down mode", and Spider-Man's web appears to disconnect as well for use with other characters, or if you have two webs, you can always have a web-slinging good time!

Cool Toy Review's Collection of SDCC pictures

It seems like most of the Super Hero Squad stuff died down after the initial revelation of the new figures, (other than being told that the Squad is continuing, did we hear anything new about the cartoon? The rumored comic book series?) but Cool Toy Review has some more photos of the SHS figures. They have several shots of what looks to be the finished mountain/tree/rocky area showcase that other sites have posted shots of (although many of the previous photos were of the unfinished/construction stages where many of the pedestals were empty) and some other general photos.

Go and enjoy all those figures we all want, but just remember that it may take months before you get a chance to put them on your shelves!

Skaar Son of Hulk

PakBuzz.com (the official Greg Pak newsite) has a close-up shot of Skaar, Son of Hulk's upcoming Super Hero Squad figure and reports that it's in stores in September.

News Clips 7/27/08

New crisp photos of the 3 3/4 Marvel Universe line (the one Furyfiles.com, which is back up now, is promoting)? right here.

Want to see what the line looks like in action? right here

And just to explain how difficult our job is fighting rumors over here on this site, after months and months of speculation and mis-information we finally receive official word on the Collector's Pack last week. So we've got an official time (Late Fall), and an official place (Toys R Us), but what happens on one of the trading boards when someone asks when the set is coming out? He's told that it was officially confirmed to come out in August. At Wal-mart. Now, we thought that when that rumor started in April it was so silly nobody would fall for it, but apparently some did. To break it down once and for all:

Rumor: Collector's Pack 2 will be released in August, at Wal-Mart, and was delayed because characters in wheelchairs don't sell. Source: A guy that had a total of 5 posts to his name, posting on an out of the way thread on a random trading board about something a friend of his says he was told by someone else.

Truth: CP2 will be released in Late Fall, at Toys R Us. Source: an official Hasbro Q&A hosted by Raving Toy Maniac and thus slightly more believable than some guy who says he heard something from his friend who talked to a guy at a Hasbro booth

And finally, since a fair number of readers are interested in the DC Infinite Heroes, we hope to bring a few new surprises for them later this week.

Fury Files/Marvel Universe

While Furyfiles.com is down, there's still the following links available:

Spider-Man
Iron Man
Punisher
Silver Surfer

With more coming soon, as you can see at the SHIELD site while the video can be seen here

And Cool Toy Review has posted their shots of the Marvel Universe 3 and 3/4 inch (and more) toy previews. One of the best is this diorama

And from their coverage of the panel:

Q: How many Marvel Universe figures will there be?
A: 35 figures planned for 2009, possibly more. Maybe vehicles down the road.

Now, they showed pictures of roughly 25 figures during the slideshow, more if you count the Spider-Man/Iron Man/Human Torch/Ms. Marvel variants as separate characters, so that means we've seen a good chunk of the line for 2009 (and these things are planned out well in advance) unless response is strong enough to start a rush to fill the demand.

They're definitely going with the heavy hitters for this line, although they're a little X-Men light, and the women are woefully under-represented, but if they only produce 35 figures during 2009, while DC's Infinite Heroes should have roughly 45 out before 2009 even starts (ie, for that critical holiday shopping season) will that headstart make Marvel want to amp things up? 2009 is going to be fun, but expensive.

From the Hasbro Panel

Marvelous News is covering the Hasbro Panel. Most important:

Super Squad will have several more releases. There are 110 different figures so far. Captain America, Black Widow, Rhino, Tombstone, Astonishing Beast and Avalanche will be coming. There are some TRU exclusive packs coming.

So can we assume that BLK is Black Widow? Rhin is Rhino?

Also

Superhero Squad Spider-Man/Kraven did not ship. There have been a lot of requests for a release of that but there are no present plans. Hasbro is dedicated to the Squad.

And then there's lots of talk about the 3 3/4 line, explanation of Fury Files, pictures and all that

Edit: So they updated their picture gallery to include slides of the upcoming SHS packs, including the one with Black Widow/Captain America (apparently the brown/blue/white repaint we saw in the pictures), Astonishing X-Men costume Beast/Avalanche, Spider-Man (a repaint according to the slide, apparently the wall crawling one we've seen repainted a few times already)/Tombstone, Spider-Armor Spider-Man/Rhino (616).

That keeps true to the 2 Spider-Men, 2 other re-sculpts, 4 new characters (616 Rhino, Avalanche, Black Widow, Tombstone) trend.

And if the slides are wave specific (they look to follow the leaked Walmart SKUs pretty closely,) then Agent/Soldier is apparently a Skrull soldier and Nick Fury, although Nick Fury's body was also seen used for a generic SHIELD agent, so who knows what came first. Maybe it's the first real chase/variant figure (half Nick Fury, half SHIELD agents, or maybe it's just a change in plans, the way that the Carnage/Ben Reilly pack originally called for Ben Reilly/Spider-Man.)

New Figure Round Up

Just as a round up of the new figures seen so far in the various photos (and keep in mind, we're not counting previously announced but unreleased figures like Hulk Wave 3, the Collector's Pack 2, 4-Packs Wave 3, or Super Hero Squad Wave 10) we spotted the following figures that have either been mentioned only in Walmart SKUs or at conventions but have not been heretofore shown:

Dreadknight
Gargoyle
Iron Man (Movie)
Iron Monger (Movie)
Kang
Mandarin
Marvel Girl (Rachel Grey)
Mystique
Nick Fury
Nighthawk
Ronin
Shang Chi
SHIELD Agent
Skrull
Ultron

For a total of 15 previously unconfirmed characters, which, when added to the 107 other characters (counting movie and Ultimate versions separately from comic versions, but not counting separate variants, resculpts and repaints), we're up to a total of 122 separate characters! Now, take out movies and Ultimate versions and we're down a little bit, but imagine how high that number could be if we didn't have over 20 different Spider-Men sculpts and repaints.

Another piece of good news is the depth of character selection. Dreadknight is known as an Iron Man foe, having first appeared in that title, but he has tangled with Captain Britain, Black Knight and Spider-Man, and once tried to take over Latveria. His only previous action figure has been one for the Iron Man animated line back in the 90's.

Gargoyle, the fan-favorite Defender, has had his own mini-series, and important supporting roles in both the Earth X trilogy and the Defenders, but his most recent appearances have been as a background character in Avengers The Initiative 15 and during the Last Defenders mini-series, which also featured the slightly higher profile Nightwing who has been in the Defenders, the Initiative, the Squadron Sinister, and has worked with the Thunderbolts and many other assorted heroes. This will be the first action figure for either character.

Kang is a long-standing Avengers villain who has also menaced every major hero. His action figure history is long and proud, going back to the Secret Wars line during the 80's. His inclusion isn't hard to imagine considering his general prominence in the Marvel Universe, but his last major storylines were the year-long Avengers epic back in the Kurt Busiek days and his more recent visits to the modern day in Young Avengers.

Marvel Girl has been a member of the X-Men, Excalibur, and now the Starjammers, and has had a recent Marvel Legends figure. Since her return in X-Treme X-Men (there was a long story involving the Days of Future past timeline, Britanic, time-travel, forming the Clan Askani, helping Cable in the future) she has certainly had a higher profile.

Shang-Chi's most recent appearances were in the now-over Heroes For Hire and the Wisdom limited series, and while I think he had a late-90's Toy Biz figure (back when articulation meant your waist could swivel and your arm could go in a complete circle around your shoulder) he's been otherwise absent.

Edit: Just realized that we didn't put Black Widow, 616 Rhino, Avalanche and Tombstone up on the list. They were mentioned later in the convention, and they bring the list up to 19 previously unconfirmed/officially announced characters, or 127 different characters. Black Widow gets a heads up for her Mighty Avengers role, Rhino is a classic Spider-Man villain that has already had an Ultimate release during the Spider-Man line, but classic X-Villain and Brotherhood member Avalanche is an interesting choice no more obscure than any other old-school X-Men villain. Tombstone is perhaps this wave's Puma, but has received a public relations makeover due to his appearances in the Spectaclar Spider-Man animated series, so it's possible his role in that gave him an edge over the competition for creation.

News Clips 7/25/08

A few more news clips from around the internet:

DC Minimates may not be as dead as some predict. DC Direct is apparently thinking box sets

A shot of the Super Hero Squad was shown during the Marvel: Your Universe panel. And nothing more was said about it. If you go to the site, obnoxious overlaid frames promoting the fact that the site you're reading convention coverage on is at the convention will result in browser slow-down. Nothing like treating your readers right. A better run-down is available through ENI here. Both include a bit of the tangle Marvel's movie rights have become. Doctor Doom, Silver Surfer, Wolverine and the Fantastic Four are stuck at Fox, Spider-Man and company are stuck at Sony... which on the plus side means there won't be a New Avengers movie featuring Captain America, Iron Man, Wolverine, and Spider-Man for a long, long time. There's also a lot of apparent bashing for X-Men Evolution (9021X or 90210 X-Men, depending on what coverage you read), and the Comic Book Resources article has the following quote from Craig Kyle regarding new X-Men series:

"There's sixty mutants, it pays off in four and a half episodes, Dazzler is in it -- Disco Dazzler. It works only one way, the way it is in the comics. My plan is to kick the hell out of that show, don't judge us too soon."

Hopefully there's some miscommunication going on there. I would hate to think that Mr. Kyle is suggesting that you should watch the first 2 hours and 15 minutes of the series before it gets good, or that the entire first month the show is airing will be "getting to the good part", or that the number of mutants isn't going to be a cheap attempt to increase merchandising efforts by having more characters available for toys, and that there's still a chance for actual characterization rather than "find-the-cameo" style chases. But regardless of what he meant to say, we'll still give it a shot. Now, will we give it 4 and a half-episodes worth of a shot? Hopefully there's pay-off well before the second month begins.

After shoe-horning Sentry and Jessica Jones into the Marvel Universe, un-killing Namora and then continuing the living retcon that is the 50's Avengers/Agents of Atlas, Illuminati-ing the Secret Wars stories, and bringing back various Golden Age heroes as the Twelve, Marvel is continuing to complicate their history by introducing The Blue Marvel. Now if only they'll spend multiple consecutive mini-serieses trying to explain why he's supposed to be an important character. On the plus side, this retcon sounds like an interesting story, rather than an attempt to shoe-horn a Superman/Captain Marvel/Hyperion/Supreme character into the mainstream.

Hulk Wave 3 Pictures

Action-Figure.com has more pictures from SDCC, including pictures of Zzzax (We were hoping for translucent. Oh well, maybe next time...), the Leader, Skaar (a.k.a. Son of Hulk), a new Hulk Sculpt (ripping off a shirt that has Banner written on it), as well as better pictures of Weapon X Wolverine, Ronin, Ultron (who looks a bit too much like a Doctor Who Cyberman we think...) and others.

Pictures of SDCC's Super Hero Squad

First Comingsoon.net has this picture of a Super Hero Squad display case featuring lots of classic figures.

Marvelousnews has pictures up of the Super Hero Squad figures being shown in San Diego. Analysis to come, but so far

-"huge planet hulk" is the Ultimate Hulk mega-pack figure
- Ronin is spotted behind Ultron and Pyro
- Weapon X looks to be the Barry Windsor Smith Wolverine Weapon X
- Mystique is shown in the distance of the photo featuring Stealth Iron Man, Wolverine, blond guy with a gun (SHIELD Agent maybe... he looks like the Nick Fury figure seen in another photo? We'll find out soon)
- There's a side angle of the Rhino/Pyro shot showing Mystique again, Spider-Man in clear red symbiote, Ultron, 616 Nick Fury, and the blond SHIELD agent (maybe Clay Quartermain?)
- That looks like Collector's Pack 1 Human Torch (translucent yellow), along with the Gamma Lab which has what looks like a TRU exclusive sticker, and a guy in a red flame-design skirt (Mandarin?)
- Yes the Mandarin. Also Dreadknight and Iron Monger, both in the same photo as the boxed Doc Samson figure and the assorted Iron Man repaints and new-dos (dark grey First Appearance armor, Stealth Armor, the upcoming Crimson Dynamo Attacks/Desert Face Off figures)
- A new version of the Silver FA armor Iron Man in the middle of a bunch of older figures and the Wave 10 Figures, plus, is that a movie-style Iron Man-type armor?
- Ah! Translucent Yellow Johnny Storm (repaint from Wave 5/6), along with long-time Defender Gargoyle, a new Thing, Shocker and apparently that red and blue abomination is the "Insulated Spider-Man." The Rachel/Marvel Girl is seen off to the side.
- Black Panther and Storm are repaints, Nighthawk and Kang are new. Are we looking at the New Fantastic Four (Black Panther, Storm, Thing, clear Human Torch? Or Kang? Hopefully more news will be coming) and Defender packs (Gargoyle, Hulk, Nightwing?)
- Skipping ahead a couple photos, we get a clear shot of Marvel Girl and the Classic Cyclops from the Dark Phoenix era
- A Skrull! Could Nick Fury, Skrull, and Shield Agent be part of the Alien Invasion set?
- Shang Chi can be seen in the picture with Mandarin, brown/grey Captain America (is that supposed to look like his new costume? His Ultimate costume?), and Sentry
- Sentry, Planet Hulk, Venom and Hulkbuster Iron Man going against Mystique, Nick Fury, Shield Agent and Skrull?

And that's what we've seen. What have you seen?

SHS At SDCC

Action Figure Insider has the first rundown of new Super Hero Squad figures saying their reporter saw:

Nighthawk
Black Panther/Storm
Kang/Thing
Gargoyle/Thing
Human Torch(clear yellow)/Hulk
Green Goblin/Sandman (comic versions)
Winter Soldier/Crossbones
Rachel Summers Marvel Girl/Classic Cyclops
Mary Jane/Spider-man
Captain America/Falcon
Black Costume Spider-man/Doc Ock
Captain America/Red Skull (with cosmic cube)
Wolverine (brown and tan)/Magneto
Master of Kung Fu/Sentry
Classic Ultron
Weapon X
Pyro
Ultimate Rhino
"a BIG new Planet Hulk"

Now for the rundown (keeping in mind we don't have the pictures to see what figures are new or old sculpts, and also keeping in mind that some of the pairings are likely wrong... sounds like there's just a bunch of figures placed on a flat space, like usual):

- Nighthawk was mentioned a few times during the NY Comic Con coverage but all we had to go on was reps saying the name.
- Black Panther and Storm have already had figures released. Once we see pictures we'll know if these are new sculpts or just showing off pre-released figures (which is common)
- Kang/Thing is part of the Walmart SKUs for Wave 12 (see here for our big rundown of the Walmart SKUs so far)
- Gargoyle could be part of the SKU for "Defenders" if it's the classic hero and not the Hulk villain.
- No idea if Hulk, Human Torch "clear yellow" or the Thing near Gargoyle are new sculpts yet
- Green Goblin, Sandman, Mary Jane and Spider-Man are most likely the upcoming Spider-Man Saves the Day/City in Crisis Pack, while Captain America, Falcon, Crossbones and Winter Soldier are likely the Winter Soldier Saga pack, both of which have been discussed before.
- Cyclops (by the way Action Figure Insider, seriously, what's up with your description?) and Marvel Girl (whom they're saying is Rachel Grey/Summers/Phoenix II) is another Wave 12 SKU
- Black Costume Spidey/Doc Ock, Pyro, Ultimate Rhino, Wolverine, and Magneto may just be old figures that were put out again but who knows. Unless by Ultimate Rhino, they mean the Rhino that may be "Rhin" from Wave 13
- Captain America/Red Skull and Sentry all appear to be the figures from Wave 10, which was shown on Hasbro Toy Shop then taken down, much to rumors of doom from the internet.
- Shang-Chi a.k.a. Master of Kung Fu looks to be rounding out the Wave 12 SKUs (with the exception of "Insulated SM" and "S" although who can tell with names like that)
- Ultron and Weapon X are Wave 11 SKUs and should come with "SPD" and Mystique respectively.
- and big new Planet Hulk? Who knows.

We'll give you more lowdown once photos start appearing.

Collectors Pack 2 Photos!

Marvelous News is posting photos of the long-awaited second Collectors Pack which looks to be the Kitty/Professor X/"X-Mansion themed" box set discussed in earlier Q&As.

The figures are the ones we've been seeing for a long time now... Prof. X, Kitty Pryde, Chrome Silver Surfer, Spider-Man, Juggernaut, Iceman, Wolverine, and Astonishing costume Cyclops, but it's just great to finally see them in a box!

It also looks like the people suggesting that the Colletor's Pack was being retooled to include Kraven, Vulture, Rogue and Beast were wrong, and if that Hasbro Q&A we linked too earlier was correct it going to Toys R Us and will not be a Wal-Mart exclusive as suggested by the "the Collector's Pack was pulled because handicapped figures don't sell" rumor of a few months back.

News Clips

Since there's a bunch of little news items floating around on subjects that we don't normally (but have in the past) covered here at Rumorbuster, we thought maybe a brief rundown would be appropriate.

First, According to Action-Figure.com the next set of Marvel Mini-Mates (nope, still not dead will be Secret Invasion inspired. Phoenix, First Appearance Wolverine, Avengers era Beast and... Jessica Jones a.k.a. Jewel? With spare Skrull heads, and the ability to reveal any of these suspected Skrulls just by rotating their heads.

Then we have Hasbro's press release regarding San Diego, also from Action-Figure.com. There's not much information other than what's already known.

Marvel has their own itinerary for SDCC here with a few good panels like:

FRIDAY, JULY 25

Panel Schedule:
WHAT: Marvel: Your Universe Panel
WHEN: 10am – 11am
WHERE: Room 6A
THE 411: Become an integral member of the Marvel Creative Committee as Kevin Feige (President, Studios), Dan Buckley (President, Publishing), Joe Quesada (Editor-In-Chief, Publishing), and Craig Kyle (Senior Vice President, Creative Development, Animation) sit down with you and get your thoughts on all things Marvel. We'll be revealing what is on the horizon with Marvel Studios, Publishing, and Animation and looking for your feedback and insights on what we've done and what we are planning to do. From the day that The House of Ideas was built, Marvel has been your universe and now more than ever we'd like to hear what you have to say about everything from Marvel Cinematic Continuity to our upcoming slate of new animated television series in 2009 to the Skrull infiltration of our world.

and of course "Super Happy Fun Marvel Giveaway Hour" happening throughout the event.

And finally, DC's Infinite Heroes, a G.I. Joe size (3 and 3/4ths inch) line based on the far reaches of the DC Universe) has hit stores. We managed to pick up Captain Marvel, Professor Zoom, Guy Gardner and Adam Strange (in other words, the 4 characters released in the first cases) and have to admit that they're certainly interesting, both in terms of future Marvel play-ability and character selection. When the most name-worthy character of your first wave can't actually use his name as a comic title, you know the line is going to pay off in terms of character selection, but still, it would have been nice to have a bigger gun (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Hal Jordan, Joker) in the first wave. Still, Captain Marvel does have his own impressive credentials and deserves to be first string. Now that we've seen DC's opening salvo in the 3.75 inch line, it'll be interesting to see if Marvel comes out with a first wave of heavy hitters, or diverse fan faves.

One warning though, prices on DC's Infinite Heroes can vary. Targets have the figures for $4.99. Toys R Us's have them for $6.99. Now, that's a going rate for single G.I.Joe figures at TRU, and we'll probably sound like a curmudgeon for saying this, but we still remember the days when Marvel Legends figures were around that price, so the thought of paying $7 for a figure with half the plastic is a little disappointing.

First pics of San Diego (Set Up)

Well, although we can't go, we're hoping to bring you guys a collection of Super Hero Squad coverage from everyone else. So far SD Comics is the first out the gate with some photos of the set up.

There's a shot of the still empty display case and then the big time, over at the Marvel Comics booth... this huge backdrop featuring Colossus, Falcon, Iceman, Loki, Super-Skrull, Catpain America, Human Torch, Hawkeye, Iron Man, Thor, Magneto, Hulk, Cyclops, Doctor Doom, Wolverine, Sentinel, Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, the Abomination (in the comic style we've seen from other promotional materials and the box of the Gamma Lab), and the Thing. Since this isn't at the Hasbro booth, it's probably more related to the upcoming animated series and merchandising efforts than the toy line. Also worth noting is that Spider-Man doesn't get a square.

Although some of the art is obviously re-used (we're looking at you Iron Man), others look original (Loki, Super Skrull, Thing, Sentinel)

And just as a reminder, tonight is preview night!

If anyone sees something we miss, post a comment somewhere or drop us an e-mail and tell us how you want to be credited (what name you want us to use, what website you'd like to be linked to, etc.)

Marvel's 3.75 line

We probably should have included this is our earlier post, but Hasbro has been coyly avoiding rumors and news of a 3 and 3/4 inch G.I.Joe style Marvel line as recently as July 2 in this Q&A with Marvelousnews

MN: Will a new Marvel 3 3/4" line debut at SDCC this year?

Hasbro: Three and three what? Currently, we have no news on a 3.75" line.

Or in this July 7 Q&A hosted at Pendragon's Post:

5) What's the official word on the Marvel 3 3/4th inch line?


The official word is no plans for 3-3/4" in 2008.

And now only a few weeks later, when asked the question again in that Cool Toy Review Q&A we linked to earlier they suggest keeping ones eyes peeled on Fury Files.com which redirects to a Hasbro sub-site which features a very 616 Nick Fury and a SHIELD logo, with news that the "transmission" begins on 7/25/08, this upcoming Friday.

These, plus the upcoming DC Infinite Heroes mean fans of large scale inter-company battles can finally wage war.

More on the Gamma Lab and potential playsets

And Cool Toy Review also has another July Q&A. The important part (for fans of this site at least):

Cool Toy Review: Will there be any play sets in the future for super hero squad figures. a xmen jet, danger room , avengers mansion, etc. I also wanted to say thanks because my son really like these guys and it is so cool to hear him play with them and hear him talk about all there powers it really brings me back to when i used to collect comics.

Hasbro: Love to hear it! Sharing the whole Marvel Universe with the youngest of fans is the best part of the Squad line. That's why we recently added the bio bursts to the back of every package - so that parents and kids alike could learn about the super powers for each and every figure. For 2008, there's a new Hulk themed gamma playset hitting Toys R Us stores right about now. There will also be a lot of great items coming out for the Squad brand in 2009, but we can't give those details away just yet.

Which doesn't really say much, other than that the Gamma Lab is apparently a Toys R Us exclusive, similar to the upcoming X-Men box set and that it should be hitting soon. Here's hoping that at least some of the great 2009 items will be revealed this weekend.

Kitty and Professor X are coming?

Toymania has a second July Q&A up which has this interesting bit of news:

5. Any chance of a Superhero Squad boxset featuring the 90s X-Men Animated characters and designs (Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, Beast, Gambit, Rogue, Jubilee, Jean Grey, Professor X)?

Answer: There will be a cool new boxset coming out late in the Fall (at Toys R Us) that will feature an X-Mansion theme. It isn't specifically 90's, but it does feature Professor X, Kitty with Lockheed and 6 other X-Men faves. You'll get your 1st look at this one at SDCC this week!

Shucks. Looks like the guy who heard from his friend that the Collector's Pack (ie, Kitty and the Professor) would be a Wal-Mart exclusive this August was just mis-informed. Who could have guessed that?

Actually, we'll play fair here. It's possible that the new box-set featuring Professor X and Shadowcat won't be THE Collector's Pack 2, since we were told it has "6 other X-Men faves" (the original Collector's Pack 2 featured 6 X-Men related characters, a chrome Silver Surfer and a Spider-Man), which could mean that Wal-Mart gets the Collector's Pack 2 while Toys R Us gets this. But then wouldn't Q&A Man have said "Professor X and Kitty come in August to Wal-Mart, then in the fall to Toys R Us"? So while we did suggest shenanigans way back in April when that rumor started, and this Q&A certainly lends credence to that theory, we're willing to eat crow if it turns out we were wrong.

Hasbro talks of price increases...

In the same article detailing how its net income is up, and how sales of Iron Man related toys was better than expected, we learn about Hasbro's impending September 1 increase in wholesale prices for its products due to increased oil prices.

"'Iron Man' was particularly strong at the box office and our toys performed extremely well at retail," Goldner said in a conference call. "In a number of instances, we were in short supply during the quarter. We recently began shipping new 'Iron Man' product and we will be well stocked for the DVD release this fall."

Here's another article, and another for those that follow these things.

No word yet on how this price change could affect prices on Hasbro Toy Shop. Currently, Super Hero Squad toys on HTS go for $6.00, while in stores like Walmart and Target the prices are approaching $7. Comic stores and specialty retailers who get products through Previews, etc, price SHS at $8 a pack.

Also, it's a shame that with Iron Man exceeding their sales expectations all we're getting for additional Iron Man Super Hero Squad figures are the two four-packs of repaints. Maybe this news will make them re-think that decision and decide to put out some of the more demanded figures like Mandarin and Chemistro, the 90's armor or any of the other Iron Man related suggestions. Or maybe it'll just mean every wave will have 2 Spider-Men and 1 Iron Man. Yikes. I wish we had a crystal ball here.

Hulk Gamma Lab coming soon?

I haven't seen these on eBay yet, but a seller called Pretendtimetoys is selling the Hulk Super Hero Squad Gamma Lab playet on Amazon. The price? $49.95 but with free shipping. They claim to have it in stock and available with one day shipping. The retail price once this hits the regular stores will certainly be less, but for those that just have to have everything, they say there's only 3 left.

No Squad in Marvel's October solicitations either.

Continuing to track the lack of a Super Hero Squad comic first mentioned by MSN as dropping this fall, we already discussed September's lack of a SHS comic when those solicitations were released. Now that October's Solicitations are released we can see that nope, still no Super Hero Squad comic title as MSN reported. Now, the original article said launching "Fall 2008" so that means it's possible November's solicitations could have something, or even December's (since winter doesn't begin until December 21) but that's stretching it.

In other comic news, October seems to be all about the secret origins as we continue the trend in Avengers titles to focus on how non-Avengers were kidnapped and replaced by Skrulls (Mighty Avengers 19), get the secret origins of the Hood (New Avengers 46), Captain America (Captain America White 1), House of M Magneto (Civil War: House of M 2), Ghost Riders Ketch and Blaze (Ghost Rider 28, Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch 1), Ms. Marvel (Ms. Marvel 32), possibly Mutant Zero (Avengers: Initiative 18), Jackpot (Secret Invasion: The Amazing Spider-Man 3, Amazing Spider-Man Annual 1), Black Widow (Twelve 8), Eygpt (Thor: Truth of History), Subject X (Astonishing X-Men Ghost Boxes 1), Prof X (X-Men Legacy 217, Wolverine 29 Origins and X-Men Original Sin), and Magneto (X-Men: Magneto Testament 2).

So we'll see you again when the November Solicitations are out and maybe then we'll learn about the Super Hero Squad comic. Of course, MSN has been wrong before (in fact, they were wrong a couple times in the very article that said there was a comic series coming, like when they said there were Super Hero Squad comics already running.)

Super Hero Squad: The Animated Series

Animated Superheroes is posting a few other pictures from Licensing Expo 2008, including a big poster for the Super Hero Squad products. While I disagree with some of the assertions (latest in a line of toy-based cartoons, unless they're talking about toy-based cartoons in general) but they do bring up some of the points we've been bringing up for a while (like for instance the licensing of most heroes mentioned to be in the series, including Spider-Man who gets mentioned in some press releases but not others as we discussed here and here.)

Worth noting however, is that the promotional materials we've seen so far have all been generically Super Hero Squad and while everyone (ourselves included I suppose) attribute each piece of licensing to the cartoon when they could simply be referring to the licensing efforts for the entire toy line.

They also bring up how Marvel Extreme: Wolverine is not an animated project, something that we haven't really mentioned here since we're more focused on the Squad than on the animated properties. Here is the original debunking of that rumor for those curious.

And just to hammer my point home, the article is further proof that while fans of the toy line think the line is selling poorly and in constant danger of cancellation (see our near monthly The Line Is Doomed! rumors), it's the ones that aren't fans that think, as Animated Superheroes article points out, the line is "has been super popular."

And finally, Captain America and the Invisible Woman riding in a monster truck with various other heroes flying alongside them. Now THAT is marketing.

Hulk Wave 3 is popping up for Pre-Order

First off, we have Entertainment Earth showing a case of 12 shipping in August having:

2x Grey Hulk & Leader
2x Hulk & Zzzax
4x Red Hulk & Doc Sampson
4x Hulk & SOH

They also have a case revision in September where you'll get:

2x King Hulk & Black Bolt
1x Hulk & Absorbing Man
2x Grey Hulk & Wolverine
1x She-Hulk & Thing
1x Grey Hulk & Leader
1x Hulk & Zzzax
2x Red Hulk & Doc Sampson
2x Hulk & SOH

That means that Hulk and Zzzax, as well as Grey Hulk and Leader are going to be a little harder to find than some of the other characters, especially once the case revisions kick in.

And even Cmdstore has hopped on the pre-orders here

They're also saying that the line is shipping in August and will have:

Grey Hulk & Leader
Red Hulk & Doc Samson
Hulk & Skaar Son Of Hulk
Hulk & Zzzax

and a set of all 4 will cost you $35 plus shipping and handling, or around $10 per 2-pack. Ouch. They're also pre-selling the short-packed figures at $13.00 per pack. No word yet on if they have official word that SOH is really Son of Hulk (even though it's the common, and very likely guess) or if they're just guessing but we'll find out soon enough.

And while we're on the subject of Cmdstore, they've apparently upped the price of the Brawl That Shook the World to $50.00. A whopping $34.00 more than when first reported how odd it was that they were pre-selling a Toys R Us exclusive ($25.00 at TRU's all over) at a heft discount. No word on whether those pre-orders were honored, or if the orders were canceled because of the "mistake."

So there you go, Doc Samson, Zzzax, Red Hulk, the Leader and (quite likely) Skaar to help round out your Hulk collection, or at least add a couple new villains to your own custom Masters of Evil.

Marvel Animation (well, most of it) at SDCC

Hulk vs. Wolverine? Iron Man Armored Adventures? Wolverine and the X-Men? Spectacular Spider-Man? Next Avengers Heroes of Tomorrow? Black Panther? Wow... that's like all of Marvel's upcoming animation slate being screened and discussed in San Diego in a couple days.

Well, almost everything. Both Hulk's new cartoon and Super Hero Squad (both properties that, to the best of our knowledge are still looking for a network to air them) are left out of the promotion, but congratulations to all other fans of Marvel animation. Previews and discussion of 3 new series, one returning series and 2 upcoming DVD releases is still great.

More on Marvel Costumes?

As a follow-up to an earlier post where we talked about MSN's report on Marvel Super Hero Squad licensing, we have heard a bit more about the bit that said "Marvel has already secured deals with Hasbro as master toy partner, Disguise/Cesar for dress-up and Mega Bloks for construction toys and continues to seek deals with industry leading partners to develop merchandise based on the unique look of the Marvel Super Hero Squad property."

Comic Book Resources has posted a press release saying that the costumes could premier at San Diego this weekend.

"Come see Black Cat, Emma Frost, Spider-Woman, and more as you've never seen them- on the runway, as Marvel and Disguise transform Comic Con into Fashion Week, if only for an hour. The Fashion Show begins in the Marvel Booth (Booth #2429) Friday at 2:00 and will be followed by a photo-op with the models. For a preview of the costumes, visit this link: http://www.mallsoft.com/disguise/superheroines.html

Check out the fashion and find out how you can not only stop villains, but stop everyone in their tracks at this one-of-a-kind event only at San Diego Comic Con!"

The website they link to has an unskippable flash animation and no real information other than what's in the press release. The "disguise" subdirectory doesn't allow file listing, and the main Mallsoft URL is a very generic e-commerce provider site.

Having seen the animation myself, the "costumes" aren't shown in more than passing glances. There's some shots of women painted red and black, some shots of Captain America and Spider-Man (both red costumes and black), and some shots of a woman's dress featuring a Spider-Man logo. The press release seems focused on the "hot" factor and "the debut of the sexiest line of costumes" so who knows what, if anything, they'll be making as part of Marvel's Super Hero Squad licensing endeavors.

It's certainly... uhm... licensed. But stay positive, who knows what the future may hold.

Questions We Want Answered

After discussing the still-not-released Collector's Pack 2 with a particularly nice reader (as you can see, we're very long-winded here, so we love to talk about anything from current comic books, toys, weather... just not politics. E-mail us wish questions, comments, suggestions, whatever...) a post was born:

Questions That We Hope Get Answered at SDCC!

There's going to be lots of pictures, peeks into the future of Hasbro's Marvel lines, product revelations, and even a Hasbro panel featuring marketing and design staff, and while we can't be there this year we're hoping Super Hero Squad fans are able to dig up answers to the following questions.

1) What happened to the Collector's Pack, and when will it be out?

The "handicapped figures don't sell" theory just doesn't cut it, for the reasons we already talked about, and with August almost upon us we can finally settle whether some guy's friend was truthful when he said it was coming in August as a Wal-Mart Exclusive (we're not big on gambling here, but we'll take the safe bet of "nope, it's not.")

2) Where's Kraven?

He's designed. He's sculpted. We know you guys plan waves out well in advance of release so it might be hard to fit him into an upcoming wave, but we're still waiting.

And we know the question has been asked before, but usually people tag team it with "and where's Vulture and Rogue?" so we still don't know what "plans to source some (but not all) of these" means.

Just straight up, is Kraven coming?

3) And while we're at it, what are the plans for hard to find figures like Rogue and Vulture?

But notice, it's a separate question from "are you guys going to release Kraven?"

4) Can we expect any more single packs?

England received some Spider-Man single packs, and Target had had the Easter-egg packaging impulse singles, so is that something we can expect to see more of in the future? While Target's price point was a little higher than some would have liked (a single figure at $5, while a 2-pack was a little over $6) and having the identical figures still available in two-packs at the same time probably resulted in some lost-sales, could we perhaps see more exclusives (ie, the white-web-shooting-Spidey?

5) What goes into character selection?

In any toy line you're going to have fans asking why Puma and not Prowler? Why Sentry but not Iron Fist? Why Ultimate Giant Man but not regular Giant Man?

Usually the distinction (ie, why one should be made before the other) is the fan's personal preference, but in general, what makes one character more likely to be made into a figure than another? What criteria do you look for? What can fans of any particular character do to help their favorite's chances?

6) Where's our Quinjet? Or Blackbird? Or Danger Room?

So far the playsets (ok... playset) haven't impressed us. Nor has the Spidey-Jeep. But have you considered meeting the comic/collector market half-way by giving them vehicles and playsets familiar to fans of the classics? A Danger Room with both play value and pose value, or an Avengers Mansion that serves double duty as battleground and showcase appeal to both markets!

What other questions do you guys and gals want answered this year??

Hasbro's Convention Sketchbook

The ever talented Logan Lubera of Hasbro Design has posted the cover of Hasbro's SDCC Sketchbook over at his page here. Browse his gallery for examples of his great work (he's partly responsible for those giant Hulks used in recent theatre promotions and up for auction at Marvel.com so if that doesn't make him your hero, what will?)

Anyway, looks like visitors to San Diego Comic Con have one more thing to add to their basket! Hopefully we'll be able to see some of those sketches soon.

SHS at SDCC

Geek Tyrant has posted Friday, July 25's San Diego Comic Con schedule, including this little bit here:

2:30-3:30 Hasbro: Marvel- Jerry Jivoin, Michelle Favaloro, and Scott George of Hasbro marketing and Brian Wilk, Josh Lamb, Steve Redinger, Dwight Stall, and Logan Lubera of Hasbro Design present the Hasbro Marvel line, including Spider-Man, Iron Man, Hulk, Marvel Legends and Super Hero Squad toy lines from 2008. Also, see a sneak peek into the 2009 line and a Q&A session! Room 5AB

Ooh. Hopefully the sneak peek won't neglect the Super Hero Squad line in lieu of focusing on Legends and movie lines, but oh well.

Poll Results/New Poll Announced

So Captain Britain earns the crown with the last poll!

Captain Britain - 29 votes, 40%
Moon Knight - 18 votes, 25%
Iron Fist - 15 votes, 21%
Hercules - 9 votes, 12%

and a total of 71 votes were cast, which is up over 40% from the 38 votes cast during the poll to guess the identity of "BLK" http://superherosquadrumors.blogspot.com/2008/06/blk-poll-results.html

Interesting points: Did Captain Britain get a boost as the only X-character? As one of the few remaining unmade (or at least unannounced) Avengers, and given his appearances in both his solo book and in New Avengers, Iron Fist's third place showing is a little disappointing. And finally, Captain Britain manged to beat his nearest competitor by 15%

And now for the new poll, we're going to use the same base rules (characters already covered in "The Case For..." are off limits for the poll, as are characters that already have a figure, or are rumored to be getting figures soon, like Ultron for instance) but while the last poll was strictly for characters that star in their own solo books, this month we're going to look at characters currently starring in team books.

Taskmaster: As one of the latest instructors at Camp Hammond, Taskmaster puts the Initiative recruits through rigorous training,although his past as an assassin trainer has brought him against the Avengers, Spider-Man, the Thing, and Justice, amongst others.

Adam Warlock: current leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy and former leader of the Infinity Watch, Adam has led Earth's heroes in numerous battles throughout the cosmos, in infite wars and crusades. He's visited the Ultraverse, Death's realm, the inside of the Soul Gem and was once headquartered on Mole Man's Monster Island.

Night Thrasher: The latest Night Thrasher carries on his brother's legacy as leader of the New Warriors, currently consisting of mostly de-powered mutants and other outcasts. His motives are mysterious, his plan possibly diabolical, and his means are questionable.

Songbird: Having been one of the most steadfast and long-lasting members of the Thunderbolts (Moonstone spent most of the "New Thunderbolts" period recovering from the fall-out of the Avengers/Thunderbolts mini-series), this former pro-wrestler has been a villain, a villain posing as a hero, a villain actually trying to be a hero, a hero, and several shades inbetween. And in at least one possible future, she joins the Avengers, which isn't bad for a woman that once robbed jewelry stores in pancake make-up.

Same standard disclaimers apply though: The poll does have some glitches that can sometimes allow for multiple voting, so the results aren't perfect. The poll is in no way sanctioned by Hasbro, so Hasbro may or may not pay attention to any results. With a larger sample size, the results become more typical of actual trends. Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100%.

Hulk Legends coming soon to Hasbro.com

I know that not every reader collects the Marvel Legends line, but Hasbro has started placing some of the new Hulk Legends figures into their database. Hulk The End, Savage She-Hulk, and Wendigo are up now, but only in bare bones format (no text or pictures) but if you check those links in a day or two they should have the entries completed.

And not to break our arm patting ourselves on the back, but I noticed a few of the collectors boards going nutty this week over a picture of Mystique and the Comic Book Abomination, while you faithful readers, saw the picture months ago. We try to be quick, but if any of you see news about the Super Hero Squad anywhere, feel free to post a comment or e-mail us and we'll get your news out there.

Wave 10 up for pre-order at BBTS

I don't personally use Big Bad Toy Store (sorry, but the prices for many figures are on the exorbitantly high side, like Angel/Colossus for $15.00, and shipping is on the high side as well), but they have listed Wave 10 (aka, Wave 9 for the folks that combine 5 and 6 into one wave) up for pre-order, shipping in September for a price of $29.99, or a little over $7.00 a figure and the same price as Entertainment Earth's now canceled pre-order. I have heard anecdotal evidence though that Big Bad Toy Store ships quicker than other online stores, so mileage may vary.

It's not an outrageous price, but considering other retailers like Hasbro still sell Super Hero Squad for $6, and other recent waves have been fairly easy to find at retail you may be better off waiting for the figures to return to Hasbro Toy Shop.

The most important thing is that this is hopefully a good sign that we're on track for a September/October release.

Squad Shopping for the week of July 6th

There's a couple sales going on that will hopefully help someone out with their Super Hero Squad shopping.

First, Toys R Us has some sales going on like:

Spider-Man SHS: Spider-Man/Venom, Spider-Man Sandman - $3.48
Sandpit Standoff - $8.98
Marvel SHS: Galactus/Torch, Sentinel/Wolverine - $6.98
Avengers and X-Men TRU Exclusive 5 packs - $9.08

They also have various 2-packs from the last two waves and the first Hulk wave for $6.39. It's a great way to get Psylocke, Spider-Woman or Cable if you haven't already.

Hasbro Toy Shop has some old Wave 1 and 2 figures up for sale, along with some newer figures. Currently on sale you'll find:
Angel/Colossus, Cyclops/Magneto, Wolverine/Sabretooth, Pyro/Iceman, Thor/Loki - $3.99
Collector's Pack - $15.99

And if you're shopping Hasbro Toy Shop, the SPRREQ8 code should still get you 10% off. Pyro/Iceman and Thor/Loki are both great sets that I don't think have been on sale yet, so now's your chance.

The Case For... Hepzibah

Hopefully everyone had a great long weekend (for those in the United States that is) but we're back with the fourth installment of our Case For... series. This time, we look to the X-Men for inspiration.

While at first glance Hepzibah may appear to be little more than a fanboy request (with 30 years of Hepzibah history, the majority of her appearances have been little more than incidental to her membership in the Starjammers) Hepzibah has been hanging around the X-Men since the Rise and Fall of the Shi'Ar Empire that started in Uncanny X-Men 475.

Since coming to Earth her status has picked up. She struck up a romance with Warpath, assisted Wolverine's X-Force squad during Messiah Complex and despite being sidelined briefly with an injury, she was recently seen rejoining the X-Men in San Francisco [side note: hopefully Marvel editorial will some day see fit to explain what happened. We saw Messiah Complex with the controversial "No More X-Men" proclamation, then a couple one shots where random members of the X-Family sat around whining about not being X-Men, then simultaneously we see Cyclops sending Wolverine out to kill Mystique, Cyclops sending Wolverine and X-Force out to kill the Purifiers, a guy who appears to be Cyclops sending the Young X-Men out to kill the New Mutants, Angel becoming Archangel in a story that theoretically takes place after Angel is in San Francisco, nobody cares about Xavier, there are missing X-Men and more danglers than a 1990's X-Men issue]

Hepzibah has a surprisingly tangled history with many Marvel characters. Around Avengers 350 she attempted to assassinate Black Knight, she's been a long-time teammate of Ms. Marvel (who was going by Binary at the time), participated in the Avengers epic Galactic Storm, has met Excalibur, the New Mutants and Hulk's Pantheon and been a long-term mate of Cyclop's father Corsair.

With many of the X-books still in a state of disarray awaiting X-Men: Manifest Destiny, her status is undetermined, but for the foreseeable future it looks like she'll remain with the X-Men.

The downside is that, like we said earlier... she's always been a bit player. Even her fellow Starjammers Corsair, Chod and Raza have had action figures in the past (granted, they were the result of X-Men The Animated Series's Phoenix Saga), and as perpetual fans of the Jim Lee era Jubilee, or of Marrow or Polaris can atest, mere X-Men status isn't always enough to get a figure made.

Gamma Lab Adventure news

In a Hasbro Q&A with Super Hero Times, Hasbro, when asked about more Super Hero Squad playsets had the following to say:

"SUPERHEROTIMES: The Superhero Squad line has always been a great performer at retail. Can we expect to see some more playsets for this line like the one we received for the Spider-Man line?

HASBRO: There is a Hulk and Spidey themed Gamma Lab Adventure on the way for Fall of 2008. We can't discuss our plans beyond 2008 just yet... but we can say that Squad will be even bigger in 2009! If you haven't heard, there is a brand new animated series on the way next year!"

So I guess the portents of doom some message board people saw when the Gamma Lab didn't make an imaginary deadline turned out to be indigestion.

I just wish someone could point us to actual sales information. All we've ever seen for sales figures come from:

1) people who think Marvel Legends is hurt by SHS and that Hasbro only cares about focusing on the better selling Super Hero Squad

2) Minimates fans who feel Marvel (and apparently DC too) are going to abandon the line for the cash that is Super Hero Squad

3) Super Hero Squad fans who feel that every set is a peg-warmer, that sales were bad and thus the line is dead.

So the challenge to anyone that cares to take it up is this: Find some sales data! The more reliable the data the better (ie, message board posts by anonymous fans saying that they heard from a manager at this Walmart somewhere would be low in reliability while clips from shareholder reports or distributors reports would be more reliable.)

And still more on Wave 10 not being canceled

Earlier this week we posted the response Hasbro Consumer Affairs gave us when asked about the Wave 10 Super Hero Squad figures that some people were reporting as canceled.

Now Hasbro Toy Shop has responded to our e-mail to them with this response:

From "customerservice@hasbrotoyshop.com"

"We apologize for the inconvenience, but the products you inquired about are not available at this time. We are unable to provide any additional stock availability information for these items.

Please check our Web site again in the near future for availability."

It's a bit more form letter than the response from Hasbro Consumer Affairs was, but doesn't mention cancellation, only current unavailability.

One thing to note though, is that if Wave 10 is delayed until October as Entertainment Earth suggests in their current Wave 10 listing we dissected earlier then the wave will be shipping 6 months after pictures first started showing up and almost 10 months after the SKUs for this wave started showing up online it certainly shows that developing these toys can certainly take a long time.

Potential re-releases in 2009?

Apparently Hasbro's doing the Q&A rounds this week as Action Figure Insider has a Q&A that actually talks about Super Hero Squad.

"Q2. Several of the Superhero Squad 2 packs released last year were extremely difficult to locate…especially Rogue/Gambit, Spidey/Kraven and Spidey/Vulture. Are there any plans to re-release any/all of these guys in an upcoming wave/set?

A2) We do have some plans to source some (but not all) of these again in 2009."

Now, we understand that Spidey/Kraven was never released, so that would be a welcome addition, but it's too early to figure what sourcing "some of these" means. Straight out re-releases? Repaints? Resculpts?

And there is, of course, the old rumor we mentioned way back when where a guy on the Marvelous News forums said at NYCC another guy told him "Some of the figures, like Kraven, may be worked back into future waves of the main line". And like any good rumor, it was quickly stripped of sources, spread all over, and remixed.

So there you go, there's still hope for the hard-to-find sets, and for the ever elusive Kraven.

And more of Wave 10 NOT being canceled

Well we already reported on a Hasbro Consumer Affairs representative telling us that the reason for the delay was inventory based and we also speculated that an inability to keep up with production was the culprit as it was with Hulk Wave 2.

Well, now it looks like Entertainment Earth has put Wave 10 (aka, Wave 9 since they counted 5 and 6 as one wave) back up for order, shipping in October. They're posting the case composition as:

This Wave 9 Revision 1 case includes 12 individually packaged Superhero Squad 2-packs:
1x Spider-Man & Venom
1x Ben Reilly Spider-Man & Carnage
1x Spider-Man & Hobgoblin
3x Spider-Man & Electro
2x Spider-Man & Sentry
2x Captain America & Red Skull
2x Blade & Punisher

Which means people who missed the Spider-Man packs in Wave 8 and 9 (the Psylocke and Carnage waves respectively) have another chance to pick those up. This also means that stores will have to order additional copies of 3 previously released sets to pick up new and long awaited sets like Sentry and Blade.

Still, further proof that the figures are coming and with luck, this inability to keep up with inventory will put to rest the rumors that the line doesn't sell well.

If you like Super Hero Squad... (things I forgot to mention)

In the first If You Like Super Hero Squad I forgot to mention two very important miniature Marvels: the Mega Bloks and Lego sets.

Now, Mega Brands construction toys are currently the only official licensed Marvel brand construction toys. Which means Lego purists beware. They have produced a Duplo-like series based on the Super Hero Squad predecessor "Spider-Man & Friends" featuring a chunky Spider-Man and friends like Thor and Hulk with "Super Hero Training Camp" and the like. They have also put out, and continue to put out, sets that appeal to both a more traditional (re: Lego oriented) audience consisting of mini-figures (generally Spider-Man and his foes, but Hulk, Wolverine and the Fantastic Four have also been represented) and playsets/vehicles for the minifigures, as well as the Bionicle style "Super-Tech" figures.

Unfortunately, these sets lack that "pure Lego" marketability that their predecessor the Lego Spider-Man sets had. Unfortunately, the few sets that were made in this short-lived line were movie-centric, so other than Spider-Man, Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus and Mary Jane, most other mini-figures were generic cops, thugs and civilians. Actually, I think J. Jonah Jameson had a figure too. It's a world without Avengers, without Fantastic Four, without X-Men. The recent Lego Batman sets have fixed part of that problem by delving into Batman's diverse roster (Nightwing, Penguin, Bane, Mr. Freeze, Catwoman, Harley Quinn and Robin all have figures, as do many other Batman villains) but has yet to tackle the gold-mine that is full DC Universe build-ability that fans have waited for since way back when DC showed off all the Justice League-themed C3 sets years ago.

For those that love the concept of Marvel Legos and are willing to look past the "official" aspect of things, Brickshelf has a huge gallery of Marvel characters from the farthest reaches of the universe, including Guardians of the Galaxy member Aleta (ok, member of ONE of the Guardians of the Galaxy teams), to Mr. Immortal, the White Rabbit, and even the great Ruby Thursday.

Action-Figure.com's June Q&A

Action-Figure.com's June Q&A doesn't have any new Super Hero Squad information, per se, focusing mainly on Marvel Legends, but when asked about SDCC they say:

"Can you give us a sneak peek at what we will see at San Diego Comic Con?

HASBRO: Tons of stuff…pretty much everything from the 2008 line for all Marvel brands and possibly a couple of sneak peeks at early 2009."

So that means that, with luck, we can see the rest of 2008's Super Hero Squad figures in a couple weeks! Does that mean we'll finally see Ultron, Mystique and Abomination? We'll find out when the convention starts July 23.

Wave 10 not canceled

Super Hero Squad Wave 10 is not canceled, at least not according to the reply we received from Hasbro's Consumer Affairs.

Response (Veronica) 07/02/2008 02:29 PM

Hi,

Thank you for contacting Hasbro, Inc. regarding www.hasbrotoyshop.com.

Unfortunately, the inventory was not received to support these items, therefore, they were removed from the site. As soon as inventory is available, the figures will be posted to the www.hasbrotoyshop.com web site. Unfortunately, we are not able to advise of the exact date inventory will be available. Please continue to check availability as this web site is updated on a daily basis.

We appreciate having the opportunity to assist you.

So that's a better answer than canceled, right? And it also goes well with the number of stores still allowing Wave 10 orders through Previews. It does not jive with some responses posted by others who have managed to contact Hasbro, so it looks like fans have the chance to pick which official position to accept.

If you missed She-Hulk the first time...

The She-Hulk/Thing pack is back on Hasbro Toy Shop for pre-order, with the figure shipping 7/21. Grab her quick before she sells out again!

Ever wonder what the Marvel/Hasbro contract contains?

Well you can find out for only $35 at Tech Agreements.

Or you can look through the sample part of the agreement posted. 35 million dollars of that juicy Hasbro money gets paid to Marvel on a "qualifying" release of a 4th Spider-Man movie?

This part seems to be the bit about Super Hero Squad: "Marvel Super Hero Kids Pre-School Figures , including related accessories and vehicles and related 3D pre-school play-sets designed and built to scale."

But my favorite part of the agreement:

"5) Non-Costume/Non-Dress Up Action and Role-Play Weapons and Accessories : child-sized pretend-play wearable accessories, which embody and/or emulate key powers and/or re-produce key accessories of Marvel Super Heroes.

a. Note : By way of example, this Licensed Category would include Spider-Man Web Blasters, Hulk Hands and Thing Feet (embodiment of powers). Other examples could include, for instance, a Thor hammer or Captain America shield (re-produce key accessories).

b. Note : All Non-Costume/Non-Dress Up Action and Role-Play Articles must be composed of not less than seventy percent (70%) plastic.

c. Note : For the avoidance of doubt, this Licensed Category does not cover all weapons (e.g. laser tag, water guns), non-action Role Play and/or outdoor toys in general"

Expiration on December 31, 2011.

A minimum royalty guaranty of $205,000,000 (or two hundred and five million dollars.)

Most contract drafting is an exercise in recycling clauses, so it's not unusual for companies to release or sell agreements they have drafted for inclusion in legal form databases such as those hosted by Lexis Nexis and other compilations, and many different documents must be properly filed with certain groups or organizations or otherwise released to satisfy public trading requirements, but there is relatively little redaction in this document (at least in the sample they show.)

So if you've got some time, go check it out and have a fun read!

If you like Super Hero Squad, you may like...

In honor of our 100th post, we’re going to give a rundown of some of Marvel’s other miniature figure lines.

Let’s start with the Marvle 3age as you can see at Collectors’ Quest. These fine figures are like a 3 inch precursor to the current Mighty Muggs. Cute, yes. But too stylized for some.

Many of us are familiar with the Classic Marvel Figurine Collection seen here as these English imports have seen a fair amount of popularity here in the US, moreso once the magazines became readily available. The lead figurines feature classic sculpts, a magazine with biographical information on the character, and best of all, a character assortment that could make anyone jealous. Wikipedia has a good rundown of the 100 or so characters currently out or announced. The downside? They are a bit pricey so tracking down a complete set will definitely set you back.

Famosa has another set that’s fairly pricey to import and may be too stylized for many collectors (but not too stylized for Super Hero Squad fans.) Go to the Famosa site to get a look at some of the great selection available, including Kang, Ultron (available with Nick Fury and a helicopter!), and Silver Samurai. Some of the pair-ups are unusual but inspired, like Doctor Doom and Daredevil, or the above mentioned Ultron and Nick Fury, and despite some great choices, many parts of the Marvel Universe are entirely left out. For instance, Silver Samurai is the ONLY X-Men character represented.

Tomy put out a fair number of vending machine sized figurines a few years ago, and you can still pick some of them up on sites like Gulf Coast Vending as seen here and here. The line basically consisted of some bobbleheads, figurines and “buildable figures” focusing on Spider-Man and the Marvel Universe in general. Character selection included a lot of Spider-Men (for obvious reasons) and mainstays like Doc Ock and Venom, but there are some great choices like Kraven, Black Cat and Mystique. The paint applications can be a little sloppy, but considering SHS, which are generally twice as thick as some of these figures when placed side by side, has its own paint problems can we really complain?





The site Gashapon Collector has some pictures of some Marvel figures released between 2004 and 2006 by Bandai and Yamato. The sculpting and detail on some of these figures is amazing, and the variants add another level of collectability to a toy line that, by design, forces you to buy and buy and buy to get the complete set.

The Minimates line is notable for having a great variety of Marvel, DC and licensed characters, not to mention a lot of fan support from sites like Minimate Headquarters and Minimates Central





Of course, anyone who purchased Marvel Comics back in the early 90s remembers the ads for PVC figures, or the boxes of figures on many comic book store counters. The visual checklist (created by Federico Piccinini) of Marvel’s PVC collection and hosted at AB’s Comic and Non-Sport Cards site covers those early releases, and some of the more obscure and import selections.



And because everything old is new again, Monogram International is trying to bring the PVC figure craze back this summer with Marvel’s Miniature Alliance. Super Hero Times has pictures of the San Diego Comic Con exclusive set of metallic paints, and the main Monogram site has pictures of the 2.75 inch and 4 inch figures. There’s also going to be a SDCC exclusive Secret Wars set with Hulk and Spidey acting out the famous cover, as one can see here. Right now the character selection is limited, and the decision to have concurrent 4 inch and 2.75 inch lines with some overlapping characters is interesting, as is the decision to have multiple convention exclusives, but theoretically if these early offerings do well a more expansive view of the universe will come. Does that mean we’re going to get another PVC version of Captain Britain (see the visual checklist for the 90’s PVC figures mentioned above)? Who knows.