Hasbro’s 2009 Collector-Fan Media Day officially kicks off our coverage of Toy Fair 2009 in New York City. Like last year’s innaugural event, there were two portions to the Media Day (well, half-day, really). In the first, brand managers and designers highlighted the four key brands in the boy’s action category – Transformers, GI Joe, Star Wars, and Marvel. The second portion was a well-organized tour of the Hasbro show room.
Although the event was limited to one person per outlet, it still seemed just as packed as it was last year, but the herd was separated into 5 groups, and aside from having one of the slowest, most deliberate photographers in my group, we managed to get through it unscathed.
This report will cover the Hasbro Marvel presentation given by Jerry Jivoin (Brand Manager) and Dave Vonner (Designer). I have sparse notes on the other brands, but won’t be publishing separate reports for those – there are plenty of other sites who know the properties a lot better than me.
Despite the absence of Marvel Legends, Hasbro still has plenty of product planned for 2009 – and surprise, surprise, some of it is still in the 6-inch scale. For those of you looking for new news on the plans for Legends, the Marvel team gave the stock answer, that they will announce their plans for the continuation of the 6-inch line at San Diego Comic Con.
Iron Man
The Iron Man brand will continue with 3 "expressions" – the movie 6-inch line (see?), a new 3.75-inch line supporting the animated show, and the continuation of the 12-inch electronic line. The 12-inch line is the simplest to cover – we’ll be getting a Stealth Iron Man that is a redeco of the Repulsor Blast Iron Man that’s shown up in both Mark 3 and Mark 1 decos.
The 6-inch movie line will continue, with the same kind of mix we’ve seen in the past year. A boat-load of Iron Men of various flavors, with a handful of villains mixed in. The Iron Men will be a mix of redecos using existing molds and some new concept figures. On display were: Punisher Iron Man, a Deep-Sea variant, a Hulk-Buster Iron Man, and a comic-colored Stealth Iron Man.
And, here’s the big Iron Man news, they showed as part of the presentation new villains: Titanium Man and Crimson Dynamo (that old sculpt has finally surfaced!) These both looked great, but unfortunately they were not part of the showroom display.
The animated line, based on the show featuring a young Tony Stark, also has a healthy mix of Iron Men with some villains sprinkled in. This line will also have vehicles.
Wolverine: Origins
With the Wolverine tentpole feature coming this summer, and the Wolverine and the X-Men animated series, we will see plenty of hairy mutant figures. In the six-inch scale, we’ll seee some movie 2-packs featuring some reissued figures in the costumes from the X-Men movies. One 2-pack will feature Beast and Wolverine – the headsculpt shown for Wolverine in the presentation looked new, and was a fairly decent representation of Hugh Jackman. The other 2-pack will feature Colossus and Cyclops. These were not on display in the showroom.
The 3 3/4-inch movie line will indeed cover both movie and classic representations of the extended movie cast. In addition to the figures that were part of the New York Comic Con display, they also had on display the comic-based figures for Deadpool, the Blob, and Sabretooth. They also had on hand a set of the 3 3/4-inch animated line.
Spectacular Spider-Man
The 6-inch line will continue, although not a lot of details were given in terms of the number of assortments, but I would expect that the mix of Spidey repaints and new figures would likely remain the same. They did show a teaser of an unpainted prototype for a new 6-inch Green Goblin, very classicly styled. The Goblin will come with his glider.
The animated line will also continue, and will focus on the Sinister Six. There will also be vehicles and playsets for this line.
Marvel Universe
Love it or hate it, Hasbro is pushing the new Marvel Universe 3 3/4-inch line in a big way. Fury Files (I wasn’t clear if this was a line name, but they talked about it as such) will have 34 single-carded figures this year.
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Wave 3: Black-costumed Spider-Man, Hand Ninja, classic Iron Man, Ms. Marvel with classic variant, a black-suited Punisher (with smaller head, joked Dave Vonner), and the Thing
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Wave 4: Hobgoblin, Red Hulk, Blade, Moon Knight, and Union Jack
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Wave 5 teaser: Electro
Nick Fury will be a mail-away figure, with details coming around SDCC. Dave Vonner mentioned that the figure will have a space for customizers to add the trademark Fury accessory that Hasbro could not include.
They also introduced the Secret Wars 2-packs that had been widely rumored. This line celebrates the 25th (?) anniversary of Secret Wars, and will feature comic reprints from the series. The 2-packs revealed were:
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Brown / tan Wolverine and a new Human Torch
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Klaw and classic Captain America
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Spider-Man and Thunderball (also shown in package in the showroom)
The second Gigantic Battles set will feature the new Captain America (Bucky Barnes with the Alex Ross-designed costume) and a giant Skrull from the Secret Invasion series.
Marvel Mighty Muggs
More, more and more coming. The one that caught my eye is Deadpool, who looks both cuddly and deadly at the same time. He’ll come with a gun and a sword.
Upcoming Exclusives
Jerry and Dave revealed 3 Marvel-based exclusives for SDCC and HasbroToyShop.com:
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Single-carded Marvel Universe Captain America, with a black and white deco. The packaging will feature art by Joe Quesada.
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Marvel Universe Invaders box set, also featuring Joe Quesada art. It will include the original Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner, Captain America, and the Red Skull.
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Mighty Muggs Logan, with the first action feature to be included with Muggs – retractable claws.
So, while Marvel Legends is being given a rest, the Marvel license is still going strong. We’ll still be getting some 6-inch figures through the other lines, but the push this year is clearly on establishing Marvel Universe in the 3 3/4-inch scale.
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