Danger of Dreadknight and Iron Monger Attacks coming soon to HTS?

With Iron Man coming to DVD on September 30, it would be really appropriate for Hasbro to put out the upcoming Iron Man 4-packs, and they've already put up preliminary pages for the Iron Monger Attacks set and Danger of Dreadknight sets.

And remember, just because Hasbro puts up preliminary pages does not necessarily guarantee that the products are imminent. Remember Winter Soldier was up as a pre-order in May before being taken down, and although the pages for Ultimate Hulk and the new Galactus Mega Packs are still available for viewing at the main Hasbro site, the coming soon pages were pulled, as were the pages for the ever-upcoming Sentry wave. Still, it's a good sign.

Collector's Guide to Iron Man

We've just finished the first (of likely many) Visual Collector's Guides. The concept? Side-by-side comparisons of various repaints and resculpts of major characters in the Super Hero Squad line. First up is the Collector's Guide to Iron Man, thanks to the repaint-heavy Genius of Tony Stark and Crimson Dynamo Attacks 4-packs.

Obviously, thumbnails link to larger shots, but please, don't steal the photos. They took time to shoot, time to resize (and someday, when we have more webspace to use, we'll use the higher-quality larger shots) and time to prepare for uploading. They're not watermarked, but that could change with the next round. And besides, my camera skills are no better than (and possibly worse than) the next person's, so you might have better luck simply taking your own photos. If you do want to use the pictures, asking is a good start. Giving a link to indicate where you took the photos from is a great follow-up. Besides, not only can you probably take better photos, but your figures might have fewer paint-application mishaps than these.

What're you still reading this for? Why aren't you checking out Iron Man (who looks better when not automatically resized by blogger)?

Better pictures of the new Iron Man packs

Over at Marvelous News they're showing some promo pictures of the new figures included in the upcoming Iron Man Super Hero Squad 4-packs. It looks like Crimson Dynamo is getting repainted into a purple-ish/maroonish color, and Desert Armor Tony Stark is now more gold than brown.

Iron Man Battle Packs Wave 2 correction?

Entertainment Earth and Cmdstore are both listing the next wave of Iron Man packs as including the Genius of Tony Stark 4-pack and something called "Desert Face Off" while Hasbro is calling it "Crimson Dynamo Attacks" so that may be a new pack, but, let's remember the solicitation text still available on Hasbro.com:

"The nuclear-powered Super Villain known as the CRIMSON DYNAMO attacks one of Stark International's secluded desert storage facilities, intent on stealing what technology he can sell, and destroying the rest. Luckily, IRON MAN is there, testing his new desert combat armor. Using his remote systems, he takes control of two other powerful armor systems and turns the tables on his attacker!"

I've added bolding and italics to the references to the desert. No official word yet, but Desert Face Off could very well just be a renamed version of Crimson Dynamo Attacks, so hopefully we can hold off on telling the world that there's been a new 4-pack announced.

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 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.

Attack of the Iron Man Repaints!

Yup, those photos from NYC of 8 carefully grouped Iron Men were a sign of things to come.

The Crimson Dynamo Attacks Item Number 78767

and

The Genius of Tony Stark Item Number 78768

And the solicitation text:

Crimson Dynamo Attacks

"The nuclear-powered Super Villain known as the CRIMSON DYNAMO attacks one of Stark International's secluded desert storage facilities, intent on stealing what technology he can sell, and destroying the rest. Luckily, IRON MAN is there, testing his new desert combat armor. Using his remote systems, he takes control of two other powerful armor systems and turns the tables on his attacker!

Team up with these funky figures and create exciting adventures right in your own living room! Small in stature but big on fun, these cool characters are sure to save the day from a boring afternoon. So get ready to do battle with the Super Hero Squad!

Includes CRIMSON DYNAMO, WAR MACHINE, Classic IRON MAN and Desert Armor IRON MAN figures."

and The Genius of Tony Stark:

"No matter where Tony Stark goes, he never stops inventing. He is a restless thinker, and a constant engineer. Over the years, he has built dozens of battle suits, both for himself and his friends and allies. Every single one is the best of its kind, a top-of-the-line suit of armor designed to seek and destroy evil wherever it hides.

Team up with these funky figures and create exciting adventures right in your own living room! Small in stature but big on fun, these cool characters are sure to save the day from a boring afternoon. So get ready to do battle with the Super Hero Squad!

Includes Iron SPIDER-MAN, Ultimate WAR MACHINE, HULKBUSTER IRON MAN and 1st Appearance IRON MAN figures."

In short, it looks like the ugly brown Iron Man is now "Desert Armor" and not "Extremis Iron Man" as some sites have decided. Iron Spider-Man looks more metallic and a more classic Crayola red. The Crimson Dynamo looks like he's got some metallic reds, so here's hoping we have at least moderate repaints for all the characters (that way variant hunters aren't stuck with dupes.)

And on a semi-related note, did I already mention how you shouldn't keep calling a character "First Appearance" when you've already released 2 different versions of his "first appearance" look, and now you're onto his next armor design/color scheme?