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With a lot of the Mattel and Hasbro stuff mostly wrapped up, I’ve heard the various opinions that this SDCC was invigorating or depressing. Speaking for myself, and remember Armchair Coverage leaves me in a sleep-deprived stupor, I think today was spectacular. If you’re a frequent visitor of this site, you have no doubt seen my love for the characters of DC Comics and the enjoyment that I get out of rediscovering Masters of the Universe. We try to cover as many corners of toydom as the small group of us here can, but those are the lines that we’re in love with right now. And I have to tell you that the two panels at Mattel today were fantastic in our eyes. If you don’t agree, we understand, but we’re particularly excited to kick off our Friday Coverage with all the great reveals from the two Mattel panels…
MOTU Classics: The MOTU panel completely bowled me over. I was put off by the “Preternia Disguise” He-Man (Strangor!) at first, but upon reflection he is the perfect silly/hardcore fan figure for the subscription. He’s even got some new tooling and the Cosmic Key! That’s pretty cool, silly or not! If you’re not familiar with this version of He-Man, Poe’s got you covered. I was most impressed by Vikor. I was skeptical of him when the list was leaked on Wednesday, but he looks great – if you want a super-articulated Conanesque figure, Vikor is for you. All together we saw nearly a dozen new figures and I really loved just about all of them. I question why I spend so much money on this line, but when I see the reveals I know that I love the line too much to drop it. You can check out ToyArk for great pics of the new MOTU Classics, but I’ll give a bullet point list of the reveals below.
But before I get to the list, there’s something else every MOTU fan needs to see. If you check out this FanEx thread with images from Fantastic Exclusive Forums member Izdawiz, you’ll see cool toys, hot women, great costumes, and a MOTU Classics Scale Battle Ram. Yeah, you read that right. The Battle Ram. It’s a work of art too. There’s no other way to describe it. You can find a couple more pics at FanEx and some at the Org (courtesy of member Prometheus), but don’t get too excited. If you read through the FanEx thread, the 4H speak out about the Battle Ram:
That’s ours. We created that to present to Mattel just to see what the possibilities of doing a vehicle might be. Like it? Let Mattel know & you may get it!
-FH-
Now we know the 4H made a vehicle. A we know Mattel is going to release a vehicle next year. But will it be this one? I doubt Mattel would let the 4H show it off if that were case. Either way, we probably won’t know what the vehicle is until SDCC 2011. There’s one thing that this reveal assures us though – whatever the MOTUC is, it’s gonna be awesome.
Here’s the list of MOTU items shown at the panel by their release date:
- October – Roboto (gears will work when he moves) with attachments.
- October – 2nd Weapons Pak, Mer-man acc in gold, Evil Lyn in purple, Whiplash & Optikk acc in new colors, green perch & armor for Zoar, Roboto stuff in Trap Jaw colors, new power sword, and Faker weapons!!! (Finally…!!!)
- November – Grizzlor (loincloth is removable)
- November – Armybuilder 2pk is Royal Guards. Ton of stuff. 4 heads (black, white, snakehead, cathead), 2 mouth guards, 4 swappable chest plates (battle armor damage), 2 shields, 2 axes, 2 clubs.
- November – King Grayskull reissue. Red cape, metallic chest plate, sword, shield, sword fading to translucent blue, and a blue orb.
- December – Buzz-Off. Includes helmet and classic and 200x axes. Wings look fantastic – just like I remember.
- January – Bow. 2 heads (to ‘stache or not to ‘stache). Heart on the armor, but can be swapped out with a red circle. Includes bow, arrow, and harp.
- January –Shadow Beast (Gygor body, includes club)
- February – Vikor, He-Man to the North. He looks awesome and looks to include a new sword, shield, and axe. And maybe the blue power sword again? Not sure on the last one.
- February – Battle Armor Skeletor! The figure is shown with a purple sword, but in the panel TG said we’d be getting the PURPLE AXE!! YES!!
- March – King Hsss. Vintage look. I love his head sculpt, he looks like he knows something you don’t – that his torso can be swapped out with deadly snakes! Includes shield and snake staff.
- Subscription Figure – Preternian Disguise He-Man! Includes Cosmic Key and Etherian Map. I admit, at first, I thought this was lame. But I’m loving it today.
- Non-Subscription Pieces – Monthly Reissues, Grayskull Stands Q1, Small Dioramas in Q2, SDCC Item in Q3, AND First Vehicle in 2011 Q4. (My wallet just ran off to Canada…)
- Sneak Peak of Grayskull weapons rack.
- Six DC/MOTU 2pks coming up. First two shown are Aquaman/Mer-Man (comic colors on Mer-Man) and Hawkman & Stratos (Stratos wing and jetpack colors are reversed).
ToyArk has pics from the panel here while AFI has the video.
In other news, the whites beat the pinks 2 to 1 in regards to Swift Wind. Oh, and I fear for the welfare of the Palace Guard… AFI let us know that the head sculpt for him is based on Toy Guru himself! Be kind to your Palace Guard folks!
Mattel / DC Universe: If you follow the rumors, you knew just about every single DCUC figure that Mattel was going to show in the DC Panel today. The DCUC16 lineup was confirmed to be Azbats, Riddler, Mercury (w/ scissor hand), Jonah Hex, Creeper, & Robin (w/ variant Sprang head) with a C&C Bane. Click here for pics from the booth via ToyArk.Com. I’m not totally sure about that Creeper head and I wish Mercury were metallic (I understand why he’s not), but I am ecstatic about the straight-out-of-Super-Powers Robin & the jumpsuit Riddler in particular. This should be a fun wave to pick up.
Yes, fellow DCUC collectors, the name “Green Lantern Classics” can finally be said aloud. The lineup is indeed the rumored list of Kyle Rayner, Black Hand, Sinestro Corps Mongul, Manhunter w/ a big square battery!, Low/Maash, & Black Lantern Abin Sur. C&C is Arkillo. ToyArk has some great pics. I love almost every figure, but that Arkillo just doesn’t look right. I know he wasn’t consistently portrayed by all the artists, but the DC Direct head is how I think Arkillo looks. I’ll keep an eye out for some other angles, that could help.
Also of note, it looks like Low & Maash (the two Sinestro Corps members) will be one figure with swappable heads and limbs. Guess I get to buy two? Okay? Mattel also let it be known that the Wave 2 C&C is a Red Lantern created by the Four Horsemen and named by Geoff Johns. I have mixed feelings about that. I KNOW it will be awesome, but there are already some Red Lanterns I’d like to see as C&Cs. And this really begs the question – why aren’t the 4H allowed to make their own MOTU character??? C’mon!!! Mattel also revealed a 2pk of Hal Jordan (yes, ANOTHER one…) in a classic metallic deco and a corrected height Sinestro. This will be at TRU. Finally, Ch’p is the sneak peak figure visible (from behind) here at TNI.
In the last bit of DCUC news, a Legion 12pk (Read that again 12pk) will be on Mattycollector. The giant pack will include Superboy, Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Matter-Eater Lad, Chameleon Boy, Brainiac 5, Ultra Boy, Karate Kid, Wildifre, Timber Wolf, & Colossal Boy C&C. I want all these, but WHERE ARE THE GIRLS? In a packout like this, Mattel could have done a better job of representing the Legion. The pack is said to cost around the equivalent of $15 a figure (that’s still gonna hurt). It will also include Legion ring and Proty!!! (I will covet my DCUC Proty. It could be the best 4H sculpt ever.) Click here for pics from the booth via ToyArk.Com. Check out Matter Eater Lad in particular! I love his head sculpt.
Six more DC/MOTU 2pks will be coming to TRU over the next year. The first two, shown today, are Aquaman/Mer-Man (comic colors on Mer-Man) and Hawkman & Stratos (Stratos wing and jetpack colors are reversed).
New Retro Heroes: Wave 3 – Wonder Woman, Cheetah, Captain Cold, Flash. Wave 4 – Captain Marvel, Black Adam, Martian Manhunter, Darkseid. Sinestro Corps Sinestro and Guy Gardner 2pk. For Retro pics, check out the middle of this page of Mattel/DC Panel coverage at AFI. Check out the pics of the Imaginext toys while you’re there. That line is getting a space heroes playset repainted to be OA! That’s awesome!
Action League squashdowns will expand to the full DCU. Too many to list, but they look awesome. I love the Bizarro with the giant chunk of Kryptonite, Atrocitus!!!, and Firestorm vs. Black Lantern Firestorm. Too cool. Here are pics from the booth via Toy Ark.
JLU will be back in 2011 – Toyman, Killer Frost, Angle Man, Adam Strange, Animal Man, Prince Gavyn (blue), Warlord, Deimos, Blue Beetle II, Fire (clear green-cool!), GA Flash, GA GL, GA Hawkman all in various 3pks with usual reissues. (If Angle Man (in 2pk with Firestorm & Killer Frost) had been Multiplex, I’d be in hog heaven.)There will be singles too, all appeared to be reissues. Mattycollector will have $25 2pks. First two: Braniac-Darkseid & Kalibak and an armybuilder 2pk of Parademons. AFi has a short video of the JLU portion for your viewing pleasure. You JLU fans crack me up! Here’s pics from the booth via Toy Ark.
Ghostbusters: I wouldn’t say I was underwhelmed by Ghostbusters, but the line just doesn’t seem to be going in a direction that I preferred. This is fine because I hopped off that train. I still like a lot of the figures I saw today – but Mattel debuted six figures and ONE comes with a ghost? C’mon… The figures are including proton streams now which is cool, but how will the figures I already have get those? And I like the GB stands, but the same problem applies. Where’s the stand 4pk? The figures still look pretty good, you can see them in Toyark’s Ghostbusters gallery. Here’s the breakdown:
- TRU exclusive GBII 4pk will be packed 50/50 with hats and without.
- September – “clean” Egon with PKE meter and a stack of books. (No ghosts?)
- November – “clean” Peter with “proton stream” (grr..) and GITD base (Where are the ghosts?)
- January – Winston with Slime blower and tri-pod trap.
- March – Courtroom Peter with Nunzio Scoleri (A GHOST!!!).
- May – Lewis Tully w/ multiple heads, messed hair, dog head, etc.
- Ecto Subscription figure is Marshmallow Ray.
- 12″ 2pk of Winston and either Peter or Ray. I’m not sure – the panels said Peter, but the uniform is Ray’s. Either way there’s a ton of accessories: two uniforms, slime blower proton packs, the dancing toaster, a tape deck, and more…
For video of the Ghostbusters reveals, hit up AFI.
FOUR HORSEMEN: Today, Battlegrip.com brings us some FANtastic shots of Symbiotech from the 4H booth. And if the Battle Ram wasn’t enough to get you to head over to the FanEx Forums… Go now there are 4H product images there as well…
Marvel: Head over to ToyArk.com to see a few new Marvel Universe figures. It looks like Spider-Man 2099, Spider-Woman, Doc Samson, and Goliath found their way into the display.
Iron Man 2: Articulated Discussion hit up the Iron Man booth on Friday. I didn’t see new pics, but all those little Iron Men continue to amaze me. I want to bring them all home, but Matty stole my wallet…
WWE: I don’t know the first thing about wrestling toys. They look cool, but if I got into everything that looked cool, I wouldn’t have time to sleep, eat, blog. But luckily, AFP has you covered. They have video from Mattel’s WWE Panel as well as a great gallery of pics from the booth.
Shocker Toys: Articulated Discussion takes a look on the Shocker Booth at SDCC. I’ve yet to pick up any Shocker Toys, but the character selection is getting too good to ignore.
Hallmark: I know it’s not toys, but I’ve met few people who didn’t like to look at Hallmark ornaments! Michael Crawford gives us the hookup on these Christmas offerings. The Star Trek ones are usually my favorite…
On the subject of Star Trek: Michael Crawford also has a gallery up from a company called Roddenbery Replicas. This stuff is probably out my price range, but it all looks so cool. Especially the TNG tricorder.
Around the Convention: Our friends over at Articulated Discussion have Dr. Nightmare & Wes at the convention beaming back pics. And he’s doing a great service – among other things, he’s sending along atmosphere and attendee pics. I love those because we can’t look at toys forever can we? Don’t answer that! Here are the good Dr’s galleries for Thursday in general, cosplayers on Friday, and a look at the swag they’ve hauled in so far.
Special thanks go out to the great sites beaming back or providing coverage from SDCC: ActionFigureInsider, ActionFigurePics, Articulated Discussion, BattleGrip, Cool Toy Review, CriticalMess.Net, Hiss Tank, Izdawiz from the Fantastic Exclusive Boards, Jedi Temple Archives, Marvelous News, Mattel on Facebook, MWCToys, Open Your Toys, Pixel Dan, Poe Ghostal, Raving Toy Maniac, TFW2005, Toynewsi, & ToyArk.
MOTUClassics.Com is now updated with all the new information and dates. Updates to DCClassics.Com and the other checklists will be forthcoming…
I’m gonna say it: in general this Comic Con has been very, very disappointing overall.
Last year I was kinda pissed that I couldn’t afford the cool stuff at the time.
This year..I know it’s coming, and I’ll pick stuff up, but the reveals were generally pathetic.
What’s worse is that I think the Four Horsemen dropped the ball a bit on the MOTUC, and I expect to say that about Mattel, not the 4H, which I find massively unfortunate.
That’s sad to hear, Russ. What bothered you on the MOTUCs?
well, first off all, I was really excited to see the MOTUC reveals after hearing the leaked list.
Roboto…looked pretty much exactly like the vintage toy. We couldn’t at least have the awesome back harness and removable chest armor that the 2002 figure had? Instead we get…an extra hand? Really?
Buzz Off….also did….and in his case, it really doesn’t help. The scary thing is that the night the reveals were leaked, someone did a quick Photoshop job of Buzz off to suggest what he might look like. The revealed figure looked EXACTLY like the rush Photoshop job. C’mon, the Horsemen can do better than that. The vintage head just looks ridiculous on him, and with the goggles on he looks like Willy Wonka.
Finally, King Hiss. Oh lord…
In the very least, I was hoping the Four Horsemen would put some 2002 influence into him; as little as an extra head, something regarding the head dress, or even just the Eye of Serpos would’ve been fine. Nothing of the sort. And then that alternate torso; it really looks like a rush job…that snake torso could’ve been so much more menacing than it turned out.
I’ve come to expect a lot more from the Horsemen than this.
They…couldn’t even give me a reason to buy the King Grayskull reissue. If there were some Snake Armor, totally sold! But…the orb? Really?
My first impressions:
Bow – I don’t get the lack of interest in this figure. He looks great. I think opinions OF Bow are more of a factor than the figure itself.
Buzz-Off – I’m surprised he’s so vintage. I like it, but I thought we’d see some 200x.
Roboto – The working gears are excellent. I think he might be the breakout MOTU figure for 2010.
Vikor – Tons cooler than I imagined. I thought he was a dud for sure and I was completely offbase.
King Hiss – Really happy with the straight up vintage look on the head Snakeman. I wish the snake arms moved, but I prolly won’t ever use them anyway.
I think Bow looks great too.
I didn’t know what the hell a Proty was. I don’t think Mattels ever going to stump you guys though.
I’ve said it many times, I would love for Mattel to include a character I didn’t know in DCUC!
Amber Butane? Brown-Outo?
So is the Shadow Beast the moved up item? We were all thinking Panthor, but Shadow beast is all abotu shared tooling too.
It’s entirely possible, but that conversation sounded recent so it could still be Panthor. Who knows?
I hope so, chief; I honestly hope we don’t get Panthor this soon; people complained showing Hiss so soon was getting too many heavy hitters out of the way.
Well geez…we’re already getting Swift Wind and King Hiss this year; ya really wanna throw PANTHOR into that, too?
DC has great stuff all over. Love the little Action League guys and am glad to see new ones for them too.
Ghostbusters: Meh, too many reruns of the same four characters and not enough ghosts. Tully is the best they’ve got. No sub for me.
MOTUC: I don’t like the all-in sub so I’ll pass on that too. I’m sticking mainly to nostalgic characters so I’m just going to go with King Hsss and Vikor so far for next year (Vikor not so much as a MOTUC character but rather as a kick-ass barbarian). I won’t be picking up any of the extras for the rest of this year either and will trade Chief Carnivus if I can find any takers.
Less GBs and MOTUC means more to spend on the DC stuff.
I can’t get addicted to Action League… And what’s up with Prometheus? I need him in DCUC!!
I don’t mind the all-in sub, but I really like being able to have two subs and picking the better figure. That’s a whole different ball game when that means a month like January when I’d have to buy 2 Bows and 2 Shadow Beasts – $100 without shipping. But 2 Shadow Beasts would be cool… (I’m a sucker).
Retro Heroes Captain Cold? Now he can pegwarm in a whole new scale!
OUCH!
So true though… 😉
DUDES!!!! long live motuc!!!
“Carry on, dudes!!”
I can’t believe that the Ghostbuster lineup will continue to be that weak. One non-ghostbuster and he’s so far from now that he’s not even painted.
I’m happy about the proton stream coming with Peter, but I need three more. Can’t Mattel pack him with 4? All he comes with is a lousy stand.
I liked the proton streams and the stands, but that doesn’t do me a lot of good.
For GB, I’ll likely get the 4pk at TRU and the movie 2 Winston with the slimeblower.
I’m Batman.
And ironically, you’re not spam. How odd…
That Vikor figure is a thing of beauty. I can’t believe how awesome it looks. I don’t know if I want Vikor to have a cool bio or if I just want to pretend he’s Conan in the MOTU world. What’s up with the blue sword in front of him though?
It’s MOTU. We’re supposed to make up whatever we want… right?
Man, the bad guys get the best figures!
Who are you liking best? I love that King Hsss and I’m not even a big fan of the character!
I really like Bow. I think it’s either his mustache, or that I love Archery themed heroes, or maybe it’s that his arrows are spades, clubs, hearts and diamonds.
SDCC has just been boring so far. Are all the major panels over or are there any left?
I should prolly know the answer to that. There’s probably some stuff to be had today, but Sunday is usually uneventful.
You win, Mattel. You win.
They show a few cool figures and you admit defeat??
I know how you feel…
Great reporting, Noisy! I can’t wait to see the updated checklists. So much MOTU goodness!
Thanks! I’m working on the lists… I might have to re-arrange the Ghostbusters one. Though I’m not sure much demand there even is for that one…
I find all your checklists extremely helpful, including the Ghostbusters one. =)
Not mentioned in the DCUC coverage above, but I noticed a lot of double knees and elbows beginning to appear in that line. (Check out Robin, Creeper, and Kyle.)
I wonder how this jibes with “not cutting up those beautiful Horsemen sculpts.” Personally, I’m glad to see them adding SOMETHING to try and justify the price tag they’ve slapped on the line, but I wonder how the long term collectors feel about losing the consistency they’ve championed.
Also, I have a hard time believing that $180 Legion boxed set is going to be a hot seller, but I suppose there are people out there with a lot more cash than me.
I am also happy to see my decision to stay away from Ghostbusters Classics justified yet again. That Venkman with proton stream is horrible.
I thought the same thing when I noticed the extra joints on Robin and Creeper too. I think these figures will survive the process because they’re generally thicker and bigger than Marvel Legends; put too many joints on a Spider-Man and he ain’t never standing on his own.
The consistency thing bothers me also, but in a way I’m out of the DCUC game and into MOTUC. The only DC I’m waiting for are the Secret Six, Catman in particular.
hey noisy…..so i may have missed it but where are all the release dates for the dcuc classics? i know 14 is shipping now and 15 in early fall but when is 16 scheduled and the new green lantern classics. and will they be at retail? im sorry to be a pest but i have looked all over the matty page and facebook but i havent seen any dates posted? buy the way i love the robin and riddler…..but we still need a jason todd =)
What kinda makes me sad is how DST just can’t figure out what to do with their Star Trek line. So much potential wasted as they dick around, hoping for ‘mainstream’ acceptance (i.e. TRU, the last national toy store in the US) and giving us the Wrath of Kahn ‘throw it together’ communicator while making a decent, real sized TNG Tricorder a ‘we’ll consider it’ item….
Mind, I’m just as nuts about Star Trek role play toys as many other lines and a TWOK communicator would be nice to have, but come on, it’s a electrical switch box with some lights. a nice TNG Tricorder, as nice as the classic Tricorder (but no voices, PLEASE) would be awesome. And not $500. 🙂
(sue me, I like prop-quality role play toys. )
First I have to say that Im pretty disapointment to Ghostbusters why only 1 new ghost???and secondly I need full GB team of course.GB Club bonus figure is lame I thought we gonna get Gozer or something else.New Motuc figures expecially Roboto,Vikor and King HSSS looks so amazing!!!I got 200x Roboto.I dont also like Motuc Club bonus figure it looks lamier than GB bonus figure.
Battle Ram isn’t officially confirmed for release yet, just a proto. Why make a proto then? The name was recently trademarked. More or less a dead giveway its coming Q4 2011 or 2012 if thins don’t “work out”, which past experience seems to dictate happens a lot.
Battle Bones was trademarked way back but its not really a vehicle.
Sentinels!!!!
http://www.toyark.com/news/san-diego-comic-con-58/marvel-booth-update-satcomic-con-2010-sentinels-3097/
and it appears a ben foster goliath and an ice giant… mu is driving me into the poorhouse next year, aren’t they?
sorry, bill foster, not ben…
in general i can’t believe the cool stuff i’ve seen thusfar from the big two… they’re weighing back in w/ cool toys again… hope NECA’s ready for the ride.
“…he knows something you don’t – that his torso can be swapped out with deadly snakes!” Sounds like his slogan.
I’m so glad that Hasbro is finally going to bring back Marvel Legends! The newest 2-packs and the NEw new exclusives have shown me that they can pull of sweet six inch scale figures. The Movie six inch wear machine is one of my most favorite action figures now!
My guess is that they have seen how well DCUC has been doing at retail, and they want a piece of that pie. Another inkling of mine is that we may see the re-use like Mattel does with DCUC. Which can possibly be a bad thing, but it may turn out awesome as well. 90% of the new TRU exclusives they showed are re-using the elektra body, Crossbones’s body, Nick fury’s body, and I assume that deadpool is built off of the “bullseye body”. I also read that they are going to re-do some characters…EMMA FROST! is all i have to say on that one. 🙂
Thanks for the link to the Future Nibbler review. The show was a lot of fun, and I’ve got more pics and toys to break out and share.
On the MOTUC:
Bow kicks ass in so many levels. Unfortunately Adora and She-Ra will look kinda plain next to him.
Roboto and Buzz-Off are WAAY TOO Vintage style for my taste. I can understand Roboto not getting Extra heads… Hopefully Action features will not be added into MOTUC… Aside Roboto’s) I WILL drop the line if spring loaded figs start appearing (I’m too old for action features Articulation all the way baby!) Buzz-Off Needed the Alternate 200X head (There are more differences in Buzz-off’s looks than there are on Whiplash.)
Vikor: OMG! I never expected him to be so awesome! I was going to skip him, but now I am not!
Hssssssss: Human form = Awesome. Worm Form… I mean Snake form: Absolute crap.
Weapons Pak: Meh… Roboto Parts look like they aren’t compatible with TJ’s…
Guard 2 pack: Only going to use the human heads. Non-Human Guards should’ve had a non-human body. (Might Steal Toyguru’s right limb armor for MAA and strip the guards off the Arm Armor so they look even)
ShadowBeast: Looks very filmationy. What’s going on?
BA Skeletor: Cool! but why does he get a Power Sword?
Santa Grayskull: Ok looking… Might give the cape a wash…
Not gonna subscribe so I won’t deal with Criminal Monk He-Man… Though That Cosmic Key should be available for everyone… (either with Gwildor or with the Weapons Pak#3)
Weapons Rack: Cool
4H: I so want the Battle Ram… or at least the Sky Sled… Toyguru better make it so!
Hasbro:
Marvel Legends: Too little too late… Hasbro dropped the ball a long time ago and I dropped teh lien… mostly because there was no lien so to speak. Now I have no interest on these figs. Last year I would’ve been all over them.
Marvel Universe: While in principle I hate this line, the little guys are looking awesome… might pick a few… (To boost my Joes and Cobra) Now I need a Decent Doc Ock to be made!
GI JOE:
Sarge… The biggest tease in Joe history… at least for me. I was never able to get the ARAH one, or the BNB one… Now I won’t have this one either… Mattel better make a WWE Legend Sarge so I can use him in my JOE Display. (If anyone asks he was hit with a Growing Ray… Some Crazy CC scheme to take over the world using Giant insects…)