As we wind down our coverage of the 2010 San Diego Comic Con, we wanted to gather up all the news in one post for you to make it easier to keep up with everything announced. The information here is a collection of both news out of the Hasbro panel which was held last Saturday along with conversations we had with several of the Hasbro brand-team members over the course of the last week.
On hand at this year's convention for Hasbro's Marvel design team were
Jerry Jivoin (Marketing Director), Joshua Lamb (Design Director), Dave Vonner (Sr. Designer of Marvel Universe), Dwight Stall (Sr. Product Design Manager), Jullen Lee (Associate Brand Manager).
Here is a rundown of what Hasbro has in store for the remaining part of
2010 when it comes to Marvel products.
Iron Man 2
For their 3.75" figures, the 6th wave will actually become the first wave for 2011. This wave will come in newly designed packaging and will no longer come with the Armor Cards, but instead will just have additional accessories for the figures. This wave includes
Light Up War Machine,
Mark V upgrade, Quick Change Iron Man, Hypervelocity Armor Redeco Iron Man, Deep Dive Iron Man, Hammer Drone which is based on the movie, the one Whiplash wears.
Also look for comic versions of
Mandarin,
Whiplash and
War Machine.
The Iron Man Rolling Headquarters which debuted last fall during the New York Toy Fair is now slated to be released this Fall along with the RC Walking Iron Man which was also shown at Toy Fair.
For those of you still looking for those Wal-Mart exclusive 6" Iron Man 2 figures of the Mark VI Armor and War Machine figures, Wal-Mart has ordered more so look for them to hit shelves soon. Also for those waiting for the second wave which includes the
Mark V armor and the
Mark IV figure with removable helmet, or as we nicked named it here, (
Hungover Tony) are about ready to ship, so look for them on shelves soon.
As for those who found the Mark V already, that would be a case of something slipping out early, but more are on the way.
Hasbro will also be releasing a 10" Movie Repulsor Pack that includes figures of the Mark VI and War Machine this Fall. This will be the first time War Machine is released in this scale and it will have electronic lights and phrases from the movie.
Coming to Target stores later this year will be a second wave of Iron Man
Hall of Armor light-up display figures which will include 3.75" movie figures of the Mark I, Mark II and Mark III armors.
There will also be a new 3-pack of figures which will include a new 3.75:
Mark V, Whiplash and Sea-Assault Drone
Finally there will be a
"Iron Man 2 Actor 3-pack" of 3.75" figures that includes the first movie version of Black Widow along with Iron Man Mark VI and War Machine with removable helmets. The head sculpts are based on the actors who played the characters in the movie. This will be out this Fall at Target stores as well.
Toys R' Us will be selling a 3.75"
Fury 4-pack that has a movie Nick Fury figure, Iron Man Mark IV and 2 Hammer Ground Assault Drone figures. It will be released but the Fall as well.
Spider-Man
In 2010 Hasbro will be releasing in limited number, two new Battle 3-packs that includes several variant Spider-Man figures along with a translucent Venom figure and a Green Goblin on yellow glider.
For the 4th wave of 3.75" figures we can expect a new
Carnage and
Ben Reilly Spider-Man.
There will also be a 3-in-1 Spider-Man Battle Truck that can go on land sea and water. It will really float in the water.
Super Hero Squad
Coming this Fall will be a
S.H.I.E.L.D Car,
Quinjet.
The S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier which plays the theme song from the show and shoots out little discs will also open up as a playset for your figures. Look for it to retail for $29.99.
For exclusives you can expect to see a new Collector Pack that will feature a Asgard theme and include a
Frost Giant.
Marvel Universe
First they are aware of the distribution problems many collectors have been having in trying to find the more recent wave of the 3.75" figures. They have done some things and been working with their sales force and retail and all the waves have been ordered, so look for all the remaining waves to be hitting by the end of the year. Also when it comes to the
VARIANTS, look for them to be packed in randomly to future assortments of figures. This is done for logistic reasons when it comes to sku's for new figures.
As for the Fury Files website, that should be back up and running correctly within the next few weeks.
For those who have been wondering,
Constrictor will be the 25th figure in the MU number system.
For the
Transformers Crossovers, look for a new
Ghost Rider figure that transforms from robot to motorcycle. There is also a new combiner with Iron Man and War Machine.
The regular version of the new 19" Galactus figure will come with Silver Surfer and be out in October. The SDCC exclusive version sold out quickly at the convention. There will also be a
variant of Galactus released with darker colors (Ultimate Universe).
For Marvel Universe exclusives, look for the
Target 2-Packs that include figures of Iron Man/Black Panther, Iron Man/Jim Lee Punisher, Spider-Man/Green Goblin, Wolverine/Hand Ninja. These should be hitting soon. Here is a nice close-up shot of the
Black Panther figure from the set some of you had asked to see.
As for the
6" Marvel Legends 2-packs that will be released as Toys R' Us exclusives, look for them to be released this Fall around October time. Just to refresh your memory, these sets will include the following: Valkyrie/Hulk, Winter Soldier/Black Widow, Deadpool/Warpath. You can also expect to see some
colored variants for each of these sets thrown in as well.
One last thing to note for 2010. In October you can go to the site
Playsaver.com and download
discount coupons for select Hasbro products for their Marvel line.
As for 2011 and beyond, here is a rundown on some of the things we can expect. First here is a little highlight video from the Hasbro Marvel panel for you to watch.
In 2011 we can expect to start seeing a big push for the upcoming Marvel movies starting with "Thor" and the "Captain Americe: The First Avenger." There will also be a new Avengers animated series this Fall on Disney XD. Of course all of this is leading into the big motion picture event for 2012, "The Avengers."
So when it comes to how Hasbro will be breaking these down, you will have Iron Man: The Armored Avenger, Thor: The Mighty Avenger and Captain America: The First Avenger. You will start to see these themes play out on Hasbro's packaging in 2011.
Iron Man: The Armored Avenger
For the first wave of 3.75" figures in 2011 we can expect to see
Shield Breaker Armor Iron Man, War Machine, Space Armor Iron Man and
Subterranean Armor Iron Man. These are working names and could change.
There will also be new 3.75"
Deluxe figures that include new decos for War Machine and Iron Man.
Hasbro will also be releasing a new line of 6" Iron Man Legends which will be sold at general retail outlets, as opposed to a store exclusive. We can expect among others new figures of
Crimson Dynamo,
Titanium Man,
Hulk Buster Iron Man, and a new
War Machine.
Thor: The Mighty Avengers
You can expect a new 3.75" figure of movie
Thor,
Odin and
Loki. We are sure there will be plenty of other Thor related products released, but as of now those are the only 3 figures Hasbro is talking about.
Captain America: The First Avenger
Again we are sure there will be plenty of products released by Hasbro for this line, but for now all Hasbro admitting to is a
3.75" movie Captain America.
On a side note, while talking to the folks at Hasbro and making my annual pitch for a USAgent figure, I was told I will likely be very happy soon.
Spider-Man
The first wave of 3.75" figures for 2011 will include a new
Venom.
Wave 2 will have an
Ultimate Scorpion figure in it.
Super Hero Squad
We can expect new 2-packs in 2011 such as Spider-Man/Black Costume Spider-Woman, Red Hulk/Iron Man, Wolverine/Polaris, War Machine/Iron Patriot, Black Costume Spider-Man/Green Goblin, Spider-Man/Thor.
Also look for a new Captain America Squad Cruiser and X-Men Blackbird with Logan and Cyclops.
Marvel Universe 3.75"
The series 3 artist will be Olivier Coipel who will be drawing the card art for the 3.75" figures.
Series 1 for 2011 will include:
Captain Mar-vel,
Doc Sampson,
World War Hulk,
Heroic Age Iron Man,
Spider-Man 2099,
Spider-Woman.
Series 2 will include: Apocalypse, Jim Lee Cyclops (Will have a new body with more articulation), 1st Appearance Wolverine, Gladiator.
There will also be a new
"Super Hero Team Packs" coming in 2011. The first set which will be due out by next Spring will be of the original Avengers (Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, Wasp & Ant Man). All new sculpted figures based on their original appearances.
There will also be an
X-Force set which will include
Warpath, Wolverine and
Deadpool who just recently joined the team.
Comic Book 2-packs will continue with a "Greatest Battles" theme.
For exclusives, look for 2 new
Gigantic Battles sets coming to
Wal-Mart stores. There will be a
Frost Giant with Loki (Frost Giant will have removable helmet) and Bill Foster
Giant Man with Clone Thor from the Civil War storyline.
For the
Masterworks Series to follow up this years Galactus figure will be a new Sentinel. There will be two different versions released, one in the
classic Sentinel colors and one with more
modern colors. Similar to Galactus, these will have lights and sounds and they will be 16" as opposed to 19". It is undecided if these will come with a figure or not. Look for them to be released in the Fall of 2011.
Originally we were told the classic color version would be released as next year's SDCC exclusive but then we were later told it was undecided and possibly both versions would see regular release.
Marvel Legends
According to Hasbro, there will be additional 6" figure exclusive released in 2011 which weren't revealed this past week, however 6" Marvel Legend figures will return in a big way for 2012. Hasbro didn't have a lot of details to reveal but they said they had been listening and with the power of all these big movies on the way from Marvel, now seems to be the right time to bring them back. Marvel Universe will also continue and according to Hasbro, the two lines do NOT compete with one another.
Also don't expect to see a re-release of the old Toy Biz figures under the Hasbro banner, but we could possibly see updated sculpted figures of characters previously released by Toy Biz.
When it comes to the "Build-A-Figure" pack-ins for Marvel Legends, Hasbro is still deciding if that is something they want to include or not. Now days with lines like Gigantic Battles and Masterworks, they can just make the larger figures outright, so at this time there is no decision on what the future holds for that type of pack-in.