Hulk Wave 3

Rick and Alex wrote to point out the $61 price tag that a Vulture set recently went for and also to point out some of Hulk Wave 3 hitting eBay. While our semi-official policy here is to not link to currently ongoing eBay auctions, many of you have probably already seen them for yourself.

Entertainment Earth still has complete cases of the figures scheduled to ship in August (this month) for $80.00 so we should be seeing more of them at retail soon!

One interesting thing though: The pictures (both for eBay and of the packaged figure from SDCC) show a Green Hulk, and not the Red Hulk that both Entertainment Earth and Cmdstore list. Whether this is a last minute change or whether we'll be seeing Red Hulks in later assortments, who knows, but at least these early packs appear to be green Hulks.

While we wish we had prizes to give out for news submissions, hopefully Rick and Alex can settle with a no-prize (no official relation to the Official Marvel Universe No Prize, tm Marvel Entertainment Inc.)

The Monthly "the line is doomed!" Rumor

It’s time for our monthly “the Super Hero Squad is doomed!" rumor.

But first, let’s deal with shortpacking! She-Hulk is apparently the first 2-pack to be sold out of Hasbro Toy Shop and that probably has something to do with what Entertainment Earth is reporting as the current case ratio of She-Hulk and Absorbing Man getting 2 packs per case, Black Bolt and Wolverine getting 4 per case, and with upcoming case revisions in July where She-Hulk and Absorbing Man are packed at 1 per case, while Hulk/Wolverine and Hulk/Black Bolt get 5 per case. With 5 times as many Wolverine/Hulk repaints floating around as original She-Hulk and Absorbing Man sculpts, and the generally reliable Hasbro-branded store selling She-Hulk out before the figures get to mainline stores, we could have a scalper’s dream.

Don’t panic, however. When items sell out in Hasbro Toy Shop, they don’t always permanently sell out and they may come back in stock, and while HTS availability is usually enough to temper scalpers (after all, there’s no premium for certain individual figures, there’s often coupon codes, and the prices are competitive with stores like Wal-Mart and thus far more friendly than many online retailers) inability to purchase the figure on HTS and a reported short-pack doesn’t necessarily equal higher prices. Searching through completed auctions on eBay show that all 4 2-packs have been selling at $10 (most likely due to the drought at retail level.)

Also, online retailers are sometimes wrong, or at least offering unusual products, like Cmdstore which is pre-selling the Toys R Us Exclusive Brawl That Shook The World for $16 which is only $1 more than pre-orders of the upcoming Iron Man packs. So they’re selling the Iron Man packs with a 50% mark-up, but the TRU exclusive at a 35% discount? Huh. Ok. Their retail locations are Canadian, so all things are possible, but remember to take things with a grain of salt.

Now, the Hulk Wave 2 drought at retail is what led to the most recent theory about the line being doomed. Essentially, the rumor goes like this:

“OMG! I haven’t seen the new Hulk figures out yet at retail and the Gamma Lab playset hasn’t been released even though some (well, one) checklist said it would be out in May! They must be pulling product and cancelling things! OMG”

“Yeah, I know, all I see are the same Hulk wave 1 figures. They’re not selling!”

“OMG. I knew it. The line [or at the very least the Hulk branch] must be doomed.”

And now for the reality… nobody EVER had ANY information on when the Gamma Lab was going to be released. Any checklist putting out “May” as the release date was guessing based on the Hulk Wave 1 figures.

Cool Toy Review didn’t even publish the typical Hasbro promotional pictures until May 4, as we talked about way back when.

Any delay from a date that was pulled out of thin air means absolutely nothing. What IS known, is that Entertainment Earth is saying it will “arrive” in August and… well... that’s about it. Look for me to use this exact same line of reasoning in two weeks when people start saying “oh no, the Sentry wave was supposed to be out in July and it’s not out yet! The line is over!”

As for the Hulk Wave 2 not being spotted at retail yet, there appears to be manufacturing issue as we addressed when we debunked the myths surrounding the Wave 2 order cancellations many collectors experienced so one could probably assume that if Hasbro’s branded store is having problems getting the stock to fill their pre-orders then the amount of stock trickling out to the mainstream is likewise limited. And just as a general common sense principle, an inability to meet pre-order demand is not a sign of poor sales.

There may in fact be a glut of Hulk Wave 1 out there, and that may result in some stores limiting orders for Wave 2 or the potential Wave 3, but let’s be logical: If you’re pulling stock from the back room, are you going to fill the Hulk pegs with the Wave 1 figures you have in a case in the back, or are you going to fill it with Wave 2 figures that your store does not have and can not put out? Let’s go with “in stock” for the win. And because the pegs are filled with the 4 packs you’ve already seen, that does not mean that there are no sales, and even assuming you have some photographic memory for the exact packs and know that these identical packs have not sold in however many days, anecdotal evidence does not a truthful statement make!

So there we go: Shortpacked She-Hulk might be the next Vulture, Entertainment Earth says the Gamma Lab will be out in August, Cmdstore is pre-selling a TRU exclusive at a hefty discount, and a product not making an imaginary shipping date does not mean that product has been discontinued.

Hulk Brawl update

So after finally picking up one of the Hulk Brawl That Shook the World sets, I noticed that every set Toys R Us had out had identical Hulkbusters, and not the black-goggled version shown in Marvel's boxed version which isn't totally unusual for Super Hero Squad purposes (see the Venom/Puma 2-pack, Storm's upside down cape, the Bobby Drake/Iceman costume used in the SHS poster checklist, Kraven) and all the eBay photos I've seen have the identical Hulkbusters as well.

Long story short, looks like there's only two flavors of Hulkbuster after all. Oh well, cannon fodder is cannon fodder.

SHS Hulk Wave 2 Orders Cancelled?

Well Hasbro is filled with mystery. Since yesterday, the website for Hasbro Toy Shop has been showing this message saying they're down for an upgrade. Now today, some people have received a message saying "Unfortunately, the product(s) you ordered are no longer available. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We have canceled your outstanding order with HasbroToyShop.com. Confirmation information is below" for the following products:

"ITEM(S) CANCELED
Item number: 78421
Item name: Marvel Super Hero Squad – Hulk and Absorbing Man
Quantity: 1

Item number: 78420
Item name: Marvel Super Hero Squad – King Hulk and Black Bolt
Quantity: 1

Item number: 78423
Item name: Marvel Super Hero Squad – The Thing and She-Hulk
Quantity: 1

Item number: 78422
Item name: Marvel Super Hero Squad – Wolverine and Grey Hulk
Quantity: 1"

We've previously reported on the date of these figures being pushed back here, and here, but we have also previously mentioned how the sets were quickly placed online and were originally scheduled for delivery as early as May 13 way back when.

Edit: Ok, so some users at the Super Hero Squad forum reported receiving their orders, and most importantly, they're back up at Hasbro Toy Shop which is done with it's maintenance. Apparently those with canceled orders just need to re-submit their order.

Coupon Code SPRREQ8 should still work.

Marvel's Hulk SHS Gallery

Marvel has gotten into the Super Hero Squad promotion bandwagon with high-res pics of 7 of the 8 2-packs from the first waves, pictures of the Brawl That Shook the World set (showing one Hulkbuster's goggles to be blacked out, and both busters having reversed coloring from the 2-pack version of the soldier, and best of all, the box doesn't have that annoying Toys R Us Exclusive sticker in the way) and pictures of the 2-packs display case.

So there you go, the Hulkbusters are all different, clear new pictures, what more can you ask for? The Wave 2 toys themselves? Well... yeah, we're waiting too.

Operation Hulk

Operation Hulk has been available for a while now but I never noticed the Super Hero Squad logo on the bottom of the box. Since we've already talked puzzles, the video game, and the cartoon why not mention the first board game as well, right?

It's item number 40524, $19.99 on Hasbro Toy Shop (and also available in stores), and the item description is:

"Fix Hulk up, but don’t set him off! Toxic Gas, Betty Butterflies and other ailments are really getting under Hulk’s green skin. He’s your patient, so grab those tweezers! Earn money by successfully removing funatomy parts. But don’t set off the buzzer, or Hulk’s eyes will glow green and he’ll howl and growl!

When the parts are out and Hulk is healed, the richest doctor wins!

Includes gameboard with Hulk “patient” and tweezers, storage drawer, 24 cards, 12 plastic funatomy parts, play money and instructions.

For 1 or more players.

Requires 4 “AAA” batteries (not included)"

The real question is why Hulk would allow Iron Man and Spider-Man into the operating room after World War Hulk.

Hulk: "The Brawl That Shook the World"

We apparently have a name for the Hulk Super Hero Squad movie set... "The Brawl That Shook the World."

First seen at Marvelous News there's been all kinds of discussion... who's in it, is it a replacement for the Hulk/Abomination 2-pack (that briefly disappeared from pre-order sites and was not seen carded in pictures until it was basically released), should you call it a 4-pack when it's 4 figures and a vehicle, are they all repaints or repacks?

Anyway, it's started showing up in Toys R Us's, with a sticker saying "Only at Toys R Us", and can be purchased at an insane premium on eBay ($25.00 in the stores, $45-$60 on eBay?) As I've already said, I'm trying not to link to scalpers on Ebay, but go and search if you're interested. Keep in mind that the first Toys R Us exclusives, the X-Men and Avengers re-paint sets, ended up on clearance for $3 if that seems too much for you. It will hopefully make you think twice before plunking down $60 for it.

Once I've run to town for mine I'll be able to answer my burning question: Are the Hulkbuster Soldiers different in any way than the one we already have?

Comic-Style Abomination, A First Look at Mystique, and the Gamma Lab Up Close!

First, as a follow-up to an earlier post, I checked out Animation Magazine again to see if I could find any information on a bigger shot of that promotional art they featured. As you'll remember from my post here we saw Ultimate Nick Fury and others, but some of the figures were crossed off.

Sometime after I posted the link (or else it was there and I totally missed it) they posted the full shot. So what do we see? Abomination is NOT the movie Abomination I thought he was! Great news for fans of the comic style figures. The white hand with the gun was Mystique (in what is our first artwork featuring her I might add) and Super-Skrull is also there. The white hand over Cyclops's shoulder was Iceman, and Hulk and Captain America also make full appearances.

But no Spider-Man.

Secondly, Cool Toy Review has this preview of the Gamma Lab Adventure, which is just a repaint of the Bank playset from the Spider-Man line. The paintjob for the apartment/garage section is a bit more Spider-like than the previous red, yellow, grey and white colors, but the maroon and orange Gamma Lab is… daring.

One fun game is to look at the box art for possible upcoming characters. When the Gamma Lab first appeared, the appearance of a comic Green Goblin took some people by surprise, but now that we’ve seen a larger shot, you’ll see comic book 616 Abomination (taking place before his battle with Red Hulk in Hulk 1 for obvious reasons), flying Iron Man, comic Green Goblin, comic Hobgoblin hiding behind Spidey’s apartment window, comic Venom, comic Doctor Octopus (sitting on his arms just like his recent release), fist-punching Thing from the upcoming Hulk wave 2 (where he accompanies She-Hulk), and of course Spider-Man and Hulk.

For those keeping track at home, if you purchased the original Bank Heist set, the later version of the Bank Heist set with the re-cast Spider-Car, the new Gamma Lab, and the Spider-Vehicles, you’ll have a whopping total of 5 vehicles, 4 of which use almost entirely the same mold (the Spider-Vehicle has a spring-loaded action feature, but otherwise the bodies for all 4 are the same) to drive your 20+ Spider-Men into battle on.

I think this is the first post where I talk about both about how many Spider-Men we have, and how conspicuously absent he is from other aspects of the line, so yeah, it gets a "too many Spider-Men" AND A "where's Spider-Man" tag.

Iron Man Toys vs. Hulk Toys

I know I've talked about the disparity between Hulk toys and Iron Man toys before, specifically here but so far it's been a feeling. And then I read this on Seeking Alpha

"F. Peter Cuneo

With regard to the size of the Hasbro line, it’s a modest line. I think that though from Marvel's standpoint and from retailers’ standpoint, there is always a bit of conservatism when it comes to a first film in a franchise. So retailers were conservative in their ordering patterns, which makes sense, and Hasbro and Marvel also were conservative in the size of the line that we produced.

We certainly think that with the sequel, that that line would be substantially larger."

That was in response to a representative from RBC Capital Markets asking "can you clarify how many Hasbro related SKUs you have coming from Iron Man?"

So there you go. "Conservatism."

With luck, the next Iron Man movie will have a better merchandising presence, and hopefully some Super Hero Squad toys that aren't waves of repaints.

Hulk Wave 2

Usually these things have a bit of notice, a coming soon or a pre-order or something, but Hasbro Toy Shop put out Hulk Wave 2 for order sometime over the weekend. With express shipping, you can have these gentlemen, and one fine jade lady, in your house by May 13.

In this wave, we have:

She-Hulk/Thing
Wolverine/Grey Hulk
Hulk/Absorbing Man
Hulk/Black Bolt

The Hulks are re-paints (although, since the Gamma Lab playset isn't out yet, I suppose it's a toss-up for which of that Hulk sculpt is the re-paint), as is Wolverine, but Black Bolt and She-Hulk are oft requested, and Absorbing Man is an always welcome villain.

The downside: I can't find any coupon codes to share with everyone.

Hulk Wave 3 SKUs

So Boywithgun has released the newest set of Walmart SKUs, this time featuring the likely third wave of Hulk figures:

HLK GRAY HLK LEADER 65356933645
HLK 2PK HULK ZZZAX 65356933646
HLK HULK DOC SAMSON 65356933647
HLK HULK SOH 65356922648

We all know my policy on "fill in the blanks" when it comes to Walmart SKUs, but luckily there's not many blanks to fill in. Leaders, Zzzax and Doc Samson are going to be welcome additions to anyone's collection. Villains in particular are always welcome!

SOH is, of course, the souce of speculation. Son of Hulk IS a good call though, and I can't think of any other Hulk related characters off the top of my head that might be an "SOH" but it is a little interesting that the other SKUs used many more characters, so SONOFHULK should not have been a problem. Like all these other waves, we'll hold off until we get more information.

It's going to be interesting to see how many of the Hulks and HLKs are going to be repaints.

And finally, I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Hasbro likes Hulk more than Iron Man. Ok, not entirely true, but just to keep the Super Hero Squad tally going we have

Hulk: 3 waves of 2 packs, a multi-pack with a vehicle, a playset (albeit, a re-release). Of the character selection, we've got oft-requested characters like She-Hulk and Black Bolt, plus lots of fan favorites like Leader, Absorbing Man, Zzzax and Doc Samson.

Iron Man: 2 waves of 2 4-packs. Of those 2 waves, one is entirely repaints, despite the number of Iron Man armors that are still not made. When all is said and done 1 "new character" in the repaint packs: Ultimate War Machine. Of the 16 figures in the 4 4-packs, Crimson Dynamo, Titanium Man and Ultimate WM are the only new characters (unless you want to give a round of applause to an official, non Collector's Pack repaint version of War Machine.) 12 Iron Men, many of whom are repaints. Even Spider-Man got new sculpts!

And the repaints themselves... with desert armor Iron Man and red-and-yellow "War Machine" are a little questionable when we've got great concepts still waiting... Stealth Iron Man (an easy repaint, as customizers have shown), Thorbuster Iron Man, Iron Man 2020, 90's Animated/Galactic Storm style Iron Man, Repulsor Ray shooting Iron Man, translucent stealth-tech Iron Man. How about Mandarin? Blacklash? Maria Hill, Daisy Johnson, Dum Dum Dugan or even a generic SHIELD Soldier? Granted, Iron Man's rogue's gallery doesn't strike much fear, but you could probably make some lifelong fans with a Chemistro figure. How about a new Doctor Doom sculpt? Different versions of Crimson Dynamo and Titanium Man? His Mighty Avengers teammates Black Widow and Wonder Man? A Stark Labs playset a la the Gamma Lab?

For the most important man in the Marvel Universe (arguably) to be treated this poorly... Tony Stark really needs to put some pressure on Hasbro.