So … SDCC. Nothing throughout the year really compares to the frenetic cornucopia of reactions that come from a handful of colored bits of plastic all polished and ready for their close-ups. I didn’t know that “SDCC” as the living, breathing engine of possibility existed until I joined Fwoosh and was able to see firsthand what kind of response it provoked. I always assumed that magical toy fairies waved a wand and new toys showed up fully formed on the shelves. I never realized that there was an actual staging ground where those toys were first unveiled to a salivating public awaiting each and every bit of news.
I mean … they don’t just grow like lichen on toy shelves? How bizarre.
This year was, in many ways, absolutely no different than any other year. Toys were shown and people reacted. Some reacted with insanity, some with calm, some frustration, some irritation, some ennui … you know — all the basics.
I’ve noticed a definite shift in my own reaction. Maybe it’s my getting older, maybe it’s my having watched the slow dawn of inevitability creep slug-like through the years, or maybe it’s a mixture of both, but I find I’m much less frantic about, well, pretty much everything to do with this process. I think it takes a few years of watching these things unfold before your eyes before you start to let it happen, without trying to make it happen. There is a difference, and I’m enjoying this outlook. I mean, I’m still super pissed about Ultron any time I think about it, but anything else? I’m much more Beethoven than Buzzov*en about it. So when they make a character in the wrong costume, I’m less likely to get all murderdeathkill, and I find my inner Mr. Rogers. It’s a wonderful day in the neighborhood, after all.
Schmaltzy BS out of the way, let’s get down to bidness.
Hasbro is doing some freaked-out stuff out there. It’s getting nuttier than a nudist squirrel buffet, and I’m enjoying the unpredictability. Sure, it can’t be wild and crazy all the time — I mean, have you seen Johnny Rotten lately? But Hasbro and the Marvel Legends team seem very comfortable tossing in a handful of surprises lately, and a lot of these surprises are really tickling my Jeeves and Wooster, if you know what I mean.
Let’s get some of what we already knew about out of the way first: the Dr. Strange wave. Now, a lot of this wave is built around stuff we either already have or different versions of stuff we have. As waves, go, it’s probably the least exciting as far as what could have been, but then pretty much any wave is a little less than exciting when you factor in what could have been.
For me the best thing about this wave is that the BAF — Dormammu — is the same as the one released in last year’s SDCC. Which means I can skip some of the figures I don’t care for with impunity.
Nico is the standout for me, even if I don’t know if we’ll ever get any more Runaways. I guess she’s grown past Runaways, as have they all, but it will still feel bittersweet if we never get the rest of them. And I am, of course, talking about Molly Hayes who was nonstop awesome.
This Iron Fist is in the familiar updated green, and putting him on the Pizza Spidey figure means he will be way better than the previous white-suited one, even if I didn’t mind him. While the high-yellow-collar look will always be my preferred look, this is how you do an update: aesthetic similarity with an applied streamlining. All other redesigns should take note.
Brother Voodoo and Dr. Strange are tweaks to figures that have already been made. Voodoo was an SDCC figure, so giving him a wider release is nice, and the addition of a cape to the Strange is a nice touch as well.
The movie figures are exceptionally well done and look like the actors, even if I’m not really collecting the movie figures. I do like those extra hands and magic effect, though.
Moving on, we’ve got most of another Spider-Man wave shown. I’m pretty damn excited about all of this wave. First off, Symbiote Spidey is getting a brand new figure, and it’s about time. He’s had plenty of opportunities before, but this is the first one on a body that isn’t plagued with issues — hips aside. I think it’s hard if you weren’t reading comics at the time to really understand the excitement based around Spider-Man’s change of clothes. This wasn’t something that happened in every other issue at the time, so for him to get a brand new costume that was such a drastic change was a huge deal. I’ve always loved the creepy black-and-white aesthetic of it, and a part of me was almost sad when he went back to the familiar red and blues — heresy, I know.
I’m glad that Spider-man 2099 already got the more familiar costume, but this one is … well, it’s kind of growing on me, I’ll admit. I still prefer his original but this one is okay. I don’t think it needs the blue on the feet, and maybe a little less designing would have helped, but overall I’ll allow it.
Green Goblin is another strong update. Like Hobgoblin, I think the ToyBiz head is really hard to top, but the figure itself looks great. They’ll be getting a lot of miles out of those scales.
Jackal is a brand new body. This is the first time this long-time Spidey villain has made an appearance, and it’s about damn time. One noticeable absence this year is new villains, so Jackal’s presence was a definite welcome sight. Now let’s use that body for some other furry characters. Just … not Beast. It’s a little too slight for him.
Spider-Man UK is another Spider-verse addition, and as I’ve gone into at length I will take all the Spider-verse Spider-Men I can get. I love this design, and this looks like a brand new body for beefier characters. Hasbro really pumped out the tooling this year. I can’t wait to see who else will find a home on that body.
Finally, and the standout of the wave for me is Ms. Marvel. Kamala Khan is the breakout character of the decade as far as I’m concerned, and clearly Marvel agrees as she’s been quickly promoted to upper-tier status. The best thing about her inclusion is getting a figure before a decade of stories have passed or she got redesigned six times. Kamala looks like she’ll have swappable lower arms to replicate her stretchy powers, which is great, because big fists.
A bit later, two Netflix characters were shown off. Jessica Jones and Punisher look like great figures with sharp likenesses, so if you’re into that sort of thing, you should be pretty pleased. I won’t be getting them but I see a lot of reuse that can happen with Jessica’s sculpt alone. I’m looking at these more as customizing fodder than anything else.
The final two waves shown were — watch out while I break out some absolutely modern slang for these — hum-dingers. Yeah, you got that right, these were hum-dingers. Say it slowly and it almost sounds dirty.
Three of these were shown off early, but it’s when you look at the entire wave that you start letting the awesomeness soak in.
First up, we got a fair amount of wave 1 of the Guardians of the Galaxy. While we still don’t know all the characters — you can bet some movie figures will be in there — we got a handful of strange surprises. 
First, they’re getting some use out of their new teen mold by making the newest Sam Alexander Nova, which many figured would happen. Now I haven’t read any of his comic yet, but a new figure pretty much guarantees that I will.
Research, kids. That’s how you stave off ignorance.
Angela was last year’s fan poll winner. I’ve already done my research/reading on her, and find her better as a Spawn character that I didn’t care much about. I mean, her figure is great, but shoehorn would seem to be a better name for her, you know? Nelson laugh! Apologies if you dig her, but not really, just because.
On to better things, namely Vance Astro, Carrying Captain America’s shield, which is so much awesome. I’m super-happy that some classic Guardians niftiness is getting shoved in here because that bodes well for the future. If we could get the entire classic team along with the newer one, then the world will make sense.
And then came Darkhawk.
Finally.
Darkhawk was one of the best new characters and designs of the much-maligned (unfairly maligned, one could say) ’90s, and even though he got a 4-incher a while ago, I was beginning to lose hope that he’d ever get a 6-inch figure. But he is, he did, and he looks just perfect. I don’t think there is a “perfect” way to do his wings, but these look decent enough. I pretty much love everything about the character so his reveal makes the so-so Angela’s inclusion completely immaterial.
The BAF for the wave appears to be Titus, which is a giant humanoid cat with a cannon for a hand. That sound you just heard was my inner child giggling. Apparently this is also a character from the Sam Alexander Nova series, but really, you had me at everything about the damn figure. It would take an electron microscope to find something not-awesome about that concept.
And finally, we’ve got more X-Men.
It’s very apparent that the people have been more starved for X than a bachelor whose Internet went out. While I’ve never been as single-mindedly X-crazed as some — I tend to be an equal opportunity lover, amirite, ladies? — I do dig new characters, and when Marvel Legends is deprived of a significant portion of its populace in toy form don’t we all suffer just a little? Eh? Eh? Of course we do.
Disco Dazzler.
I’m sorry, what did I just say?
Disco … Dazzler …
Sure, some other figures were shown, but they made Dazzler in her bestest and most awesomest and comicest costume and that is how it’s done!
With the revelation of Dazzler in her most funkadelic of costumes, the rest of the X-Men wave reveals could have been consecutive mounds of dung and I would have been content that they didn’t go for some stupid update or whatever for Dazzler, they bedazzled the crap out of her and made her in the ABSOLUTELY CORRECT look.
While the term “disco” has been applied to this costume and has clearly stuck as an easy shorthand, I just like to think of it as her “rock star” look. It is straight out of its time, of course, but there’s nothing about it that doesn’t have flavor and panache. From the roller skates to the bell-bottoms to the hair, this toy pretty much hits every note that a toy can hit in executing an iconic look. This required new tooling and a resolute defiance of any thoughts of “is this silly or goofy?” Because screw those thoughts. It is a damn comic book costume of a chick that can turn sound into light and she’s wearing roller skates because why wouldn’t she be wearing roller skates? That’s a serious question. I mean, I still want to have sex with Heather Graham and Boogie Nights was almost 20 years ago.
Holy crap, Boogie Nights was almost 20 years ago …
Anyway … now, of course, the blue leotard look can be made with a clear conscience, because Disco Stu is happy.
The rest of the wave was not the previously mentioned “dung,” despite Dazzler blowing them all away. Several hundreds of people’s top tens took tumbles down a terrace when Polaris and Jim Lee Cyclops were announced. 
I’ve never had a strong opinion on Polaris, so this costume is fine for me. Jim Lee Cyclops isn’t the skullcap Cyclops, but …
Okay, mini-rant. I am admittedly tired of the boners that happen whenever people talk about Jim Lee and his X-Men (or Jim Lee and his Batman stuff, for that matter …). My preferences for many X-Men characters is based in earlier times. But you know what? Despite the fact that I dig stuff that was designed in the ’70s more, the X-Men were getting rather dull by the time the the ’90s rolled around, and the new Blue and Gold team stuff really gave the brand a shot of adrenaline. I absolutely remember the excitement that surrounded the X-Men when that new number 1 debuted. It was huge. So in a way, I get it. While I would bet more people probably dig it because of the cartoon or arcade game or whatever, the X-Men comics were rejuvenated for a brief time and this costume was a large part of it. I’m all about anything that tickles my nostalgia buttons, so even if it’s not the one I want, this is fine with me because I can actually remember how exciting the X-Men were before Scott Lobdell happened. And I guess even he had some okay stuff.
Colossus is another costume choice I’m sure I’ll learn to dig, so I’ll get over the disappointment that he’s not classic or Astonishing. Colossus is one of my favorite X-Men so I’ll get over it. He needs more of his metal showing. Show off those legs, dude! Costume choice aside, it looks like his height will be exactly what it needs to be, both against the rest of the X-Men and against Juggernaut (who I felt was still a little too tall but is the best Juggernaut ever made regardless). I am a sucker for Colossus. And at least he wasn’t Juggernauted.
Let’s finish this all up with relief and shock, shall we?
The relief comes from Sunfire. YES. Classic. No Age of Apocalypse, no whatever else, just a nice, simple classic Sunfire. I’m actually surprised they put him on this body. I was assuming the scaled body, but that would have been a bit too thick for him. This is a better body even if it’s missing the scales, and I don’t mind that loss at all, really. I’m just glad that, like Dazzler, they made the right decision here, absolutely awesome mask and all.
And now the shock: Warlock? 
Yeah, I think we were all shocked by this one, expecting perhaps Apocalypse or anyone else. I’m not complaining one bit, though. I hope this leads to more New Mutants for starters, and for … seconders, I guess … this is a fantastic-looking figure. I mean, he’s got visual interest coming out of his butt. Maybe not literally, I didn’t see a back-shot, but still. He appears to skew a bit modern in his interpretation, but the basic gist of him really hasn’t changed all that much, so that’s fine. I’m honestly just shocked that Warlock is the BAF of an X-Men wave.
But wait … there’s more.
Hasbro has liked to toss out a teaser lately. This time around, who did we see (and, boy, are we lucky we could see her) but the Invisible Woman!
The Fantastic Four!
Now look very closely at her. Drink it in. Blue and black. Classic styling. Iconic look. Is the Fantastic Four we’ve all been waiting “four” just around the corner? Will I have to wait an entire year for it? Am I going to lose my mind in the interim?
Say it with me, Hasbro: short and wide Thing. Short and wide Thing.
Now where’s our First Appearance Storm?
