We got an update from Toy Guru that next week’s Q&A would be the last before August, so our strategy to save up all the hard-hitting questions until the July 15 Q&A was tragically flawed. On the plus side, a lot of our questions were going to be about what lines would they have on hand at the show, when their panels were going to be, and what exclusives were they selling – and Mattel just posted all of that info on Mattycollector.com.
One license that I was expecting but is not in the announcement is WWE – they’ve told us in the past that with the license due to kick off in 2010, they wouldn’t be sharing any information until San Diego at the earliest. We’ll try to find out whether they’ll be talking about WWE at San Diego.
San Diego Comic-Con 2009—New Toys & More
By Matty
Comic-Con is coming!
For us toy collectors, the granddaddy of events has to be San Diego Comic-Con. The 2009 show starts July 23rd (preview night July 22nd) and runs through July 26th, and this year I’m bringing more cool stuff than ever before!
FAN PANELS
First off, we’ll have not one, but TWO fan panels at the show:
Mattel & DC Comics, a Powerful Partnership
Friday, JULY 24
11:00 AM – 12:00 NOON
ROOM 2
MattyPalooza
Friday, JULY 24
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
ROOM 2
NEW PRODUCTS
Then, visit me at Booth #2845, and you’ll find tons of new toys either just coming on the market or soon to come. We’ll have Ghostbusters™, DC Universe, DC Universe Classics, Infinite Heroes, Justice League Unlimited, Masters of the Universe Classics, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Disney/Pixar CARS, Toy Story, Hot Wheels, Scene It? The DVD Game, and the insane new Mindflex game — plus a few surprises!
PRODUCTS AVAILABLE AT COMIC-CON
Products will be sold starting preview night. Customer service and safety is our number one priority, so we’ll have a separate booth run by our Toy Club to handle sales. Lines will only be allowed to get as long as the designated roped-off area, but “fast-pass” tickets will be handed out to reserve your spot later that day. Limits on all exclusives will be six per person, per visit to the Mattel booth.
If you choose to wait in line a second time, you’ll be eligible to buy another 6 figures (there will also be a limit of six figures for online purchases after the show). It should all go very smoothly for the best buying experience yet!
We’re going to have plenty of gotta-get products available for sale, including (click each for all the scoop):
Disney/Pixar CARS Toon Rescue Squad Mater
3-3/4″ scale Buzz Lightyear figure
DC Universe Infinite Heroes Anti-Monitor figure
Justice League Unlimited Green Lantern Origins 3-pack
DC Universe Classics Wonder Twins 2 pack
Masters of the Universe Classics He-Ro figure
Ghostbusters™ Classics Dr. Egon Spengler™ with Slimer
Can’t make it to Comic-Con? Fear not, fair comic fan! You’ll be able to get everything listed above on MattyCollector.com starting at 12:00 Noon on Monday, August 3rd, except these items:
SDCC variant He-Ro
SDCC variant Buzz Lightyear (with “Andy” on his foot)
SDCC Gleek (but the onder Twins without Gleek will be available)
Whew! That’s it for now, but stay tuned to MattyCollector.com, because I’ll have more news as Comic-Con gets closer.
NECA’s series 2 of their Street Fighter 4 line debuted at NY Comic-Con, and will be available in July. The series continues with three big hitters – Chun-Li, Akuma, and Guile. I can’t figure out where Akuma and Guile are getting their four extra points of articulation. Anyone know?
At Wizard World Philly, Randy Falk announced we would be seeing new sets this fall featuring existing characters in alternate colors, including a set exclusive to Toys R Us. Series 1 included Ken, Ryu, and Crimson Viper.
Thighs To Die For
Chun-Li, Akuma and Guile SF4 figures ready for battle!
The new Street Fighter 4 Series 2 figures are NECA’s best yet! Series one brought you legends Ken, Ryu and Crimson Viper, and in July we debut the next wave of warriors. These 7″ figures of Akuma, Guile and a massively-thighed Chun-Li are in for the fight of their lives, and the gorgeous all new NECA sculpts put you front and center and in control!
The landmark franchise that defined a generation of gaming, Street Fighter has some of the most recognizable characters in the world. Whether you’re fighting with Chun-Li’s lightning kick or Guile’s famed Sonic Boom, these combos and this international league of warriors has proven to be a cross-cultural success like none other. Street Fighter 4 is the latest and greatest installment yet, and NECA is proud to be behind it with these awesome looking figures.
Chun-Li has 31 points of articulation and five interchangeable hands, while Akuma and Guile both have a whopping 35 points of articulation and two interchangeable hands. The full assortment will be available next month, and watch out for more Street Fighter news coming soon.
Cool Toy Review just published a great interview with Scott George, Dave Vonner, and Josh Lamb, members of the Hasbro Marvel team, talking about their 3 3/4-inch offerings, Marvel Universe, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and Secret Wars.
Lots of interesting tidbits. Among them:
They are considering rebooting the numbering of the line, like how comics have different volumes and restart at issue #1. This hasn’t been decided.
We may see new artists doing packaging art. Frank Cho has done about 35 drawings (should take us through the end of this year), Joe Quesada did the Comic-Con exclusives, and Bob Layton did the Secret Wars Comic 2-packs.
Nick Fury (the exclusive currently offered with a subscription to a Marvel Digital Comics subscription) will no longer be #025 in the Marvel Universe line. Electro will be swapped in, so that MOC collectors can have consistent packaging.
Secret Wars will be out in four waves with three 2-packs each. They’ll go through spring 2010.
Finally, they put up some pictures of the first wave of Marvel Universe Gigantic Battles (Captain America / Skrull Giant Man, Iron Man / Goliath), due out this fall. There will be a blue and red variant Goliath. Click through to the interview for the full-sized pics.
If you’ve been following our teaser reports over the past few days, then you might have been able to fit the pieces of the puzzle together and figure out exactly which character we’re announcing for the first time right here on Cool Toy Review.
Check out the packaging photos of the upcoming Wal-Mart exclusive Gigantic Battles sets of Captain America Vs. Skrull Giant Man and the Iron Man with Goliath, but also for the first time mentioned anywhere…it’s the red & blue costumed variation of Goliath, who will also come with the “pointy mask” Iron Man figure.
Each set will also come with a special reprint comic book, showing the inspiration for the characters in the set.
The guys at Collectible News (a German movie collectibles site) uncovered this teaser pic.
This was announced back in April.
He is not an animal!
He is X-men – Wolverine – In 2008 Summer, the first Sci-fi movie to hit the box office was the Iron Man, and we were more than happy to bring you the three generations of Iron Man! In 2009, who will be the first superhero to reveal on the big screen?
Here he is – the Wolverine from X-men Origins: Wolverine – a hero who never gets old or die!
In this movie, the story tells about how Logan became Wolverine and the enmity between himself and his brother – Sabretooth. Our Hot Toys team can’t wait anymore to watch this most anticipated Marvel superhero movie, because…… we are ready to bring you the Wolverine 12 inches limited edition collectibles very soon, exciting right?
Meanwhile, let’s buy your ticket online and enjoy the movie before our next announcement.
Khalil at Kastor’s Korner has posted some pics from the Four Horsemen at Wizard World Philly. The Question was a two-up (a prototype that’s sculpted at roughly 2x the size the figure will be in production). It’s a little more apparent here than in the pics of him in Toyfare magazine that the double-breasted coat is a separate piece and not part of the torso sculpt. Remind me to ask in an upcoming Ask Matty Q&A if there’s ab articulation under there.
For those of you who are Teela fans, what do you think of her badonkadonk? Personally, I’d like to see some more curves on her backside.
NEWS: WIZARD WORLD PHILLY
Kastor’s Korner was not able to attend Wizard World Philly this year, but our friend Pendragon was, and got some great pictures.
