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Times Center / Splashlight Studios, New
York, NY |
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DAY 1: HASBRO
PRESENTATION
Mr. Depriest also showed me that the inner packaging for the German cargo truck also seves an alternate purpose. If you take it and flip it inside out, it becomes a backdrop for your figures! It also features several cardboard crates that can be punched out from the top of the box and assembled to be used as accessories. The Adventure Heroes line continues what the Galactic Heroes for Star Wars and Super Hero Squad for Marvel started, and looks just as good as those do. The 12" figure line will consist of 9 different 12" figures. Some of the 12" figures will have action features, and be geared towards kids, but some will not. As far as the "Ticket to Adventure" promotion goes, it's the same as the Star Wars/Captain Rex promotion: collect 4 UPC codes and mail them in with a S/H cost (which is different for each promotion, but was not discussed). For the Adventure Heroes, you can get Indiana and his horse. For the 3 3/4" line you will get the Crystal Skull figure on the throne, which was not shown - only a silhouette was shown. And for the 12" line, you will get a 12" scale Ark of the Covenant, which looks incredible. Derryl DePriest also went on to say that the Indiana Jones is not a "one and done line for us, we see it continuing for a while". He didn't say how long Hasbro had the licensing for, but he made it sound like it could be a few years. There is a role play whip and sword being released from Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. There will also be some Indiana Jones Might Muggs made available, as well as a nice SDCC exclusive Mugg of the Golden Idol.
The Legacy Collection is due to ship in July (7/26) and will contain Jabba's Palace figures Ak-Rev and Yarna del Gargan, along with a Han, Luke, and Chewie from the ROTJ cut scene - the Tattoine sandstorm!! Rounding out the wave is a new Ewok (Letar) and a wokling (Nippet). This Legacy Collection will have a total of 30 figures this year. The Captain Rex mail-away offer will be a part of the Legends and TAC packages, starting to ship now. Captain Rex is an ARC Trooper pilot, and will have 2 figures released of himself this year - one in the regular Clone Wars line, and this exclusive. What's the difference? They will both be essentially the same figure, BUT the mail away will NOT have the battle damage deco that the regular line release does. It will be a clean, undamaged suit of armor. It will also include a fold down 3-D backdrop like the POTF2 Expanded Universe line did some years ago.
Hasbro announced that there will be 8 more evolutions packs scheduled for 2008 - 4 this spring and 4 around fall - including the Rebel Pilots (all new sculpts of Ten Nunb, female pilot Dorovio Bold, and Wes Janson) and Padme (Queen Amidala - Post Senate, Senator Amidala - Geonosis Factory, and Padme Skywalker - NightGown). Derryl also hinted that the pilots were all new, super articulated sculpts, and would be used as the base figure for plenty of other pilots to come. There will also be approximately 15 new sets of comic packs this year, including the Durge (with removable helmet)/Anakin, a pack that features Assajj/Tol Skorr, and several packs based on the older Marvel comics that included the likes of Fenn Shysa, Princess Leia, and Dengar sporting cool 80's Marvel Comics-style paint jobs. In Mighty Muggs look for Leia, Jango, Commander Cody, Yoda, Emperor, General Grevious, and Luke Bespin with a removable hand. Lots of exclusives will be coming this year as well, including the Aayla Secura Starfighter, Rancor Battlepack, and several Force Unleashed items, like the Wal-Mart 3-packs that should hit around the time of the game (whenever that ends up being) similar to the 3-packs that were sold to commemorate the DVD releases in the past. The new series of Order 66 2-packs were confirmed, and Hasbro stated that the Jedi figures are mostly new, mostly new toolings, a few all-new figures.
New vehicles being released in the Galactic Heroes line will be Darth Vader's TIE Fighter and Obi-Wan's Jedi Starfighter. New Cinema Scene packs of Mustafar (with Shocktroopers, Shocktrooper Commander, Padme, Anakin and Obi-Wan) and Endor (with Ewoks, Scout Troopers, Speeder Bikes and Luke). There will also be a Rancor!! The Rancor was so cool looking, too bad he wasn't on hand for photographs. A Dewback Patrol set that included several Sandtroopers, and a Geonosis arena set that features a re-issue of the Reek and a new sculpt of the Nexu!! All-in-all, it looks like a very exciting year is ahead of us, courtesy of Hasbro.
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Today's
Hasbro presentation started out with some information and sneak
peeks of the new G.I. Joe movie, the Transformers line, Iron Man,
Hulk, Spider-Man, and Marvel Legends. They showed trailers and
behind-the-scenes video from G.I. Joe, Iron Man, and the Hulk. Lots
of new and exciting stuff coming out from those lines, so if you're
a fan of those lines you'll have a LOT to look forward to. In all
honesty, I wasn't paying much attention, since I don't collect those
lines, and our website(s) don't cover them. I did take some
pictures, so you can take a look in our photo gallery to see some
pics. Some of the highlights that I can recall include the
introduction of the new Transformers and Spider-Man Animated toy
lines to coincide with the new shows debuting this year, a new Fin
Fang Foom build-a-figure promotion to run over 2 series of the Hulk
figures, and some new characters being introduced in the Marvel
Legends and Super Hero Squad sets, apparently some figures that
people would never expect, like Shang Chi and an SDCC exclusive Ka-Zar
and the Savage Land box set. As the presenter said, "We're going
deep!" 
Then
came the Indiana Jones segment. The lights dimmed, and the new
trailer was shown. Then Derryl DePriest broke down the Indiana Jones
line. There will be 3 segments to the line: 3 3/4" figures,
Adventure Heroes, and 12" figures, plus a few select role play
items. And, each of the segments will have their own mail-in
redemption offer via the "Ticket to Adventure" promotion. The basic
Indiana Jones line will consist of around 30 basic figures and 10
deluxe figures, being released in waves. The first 2 waves will
release on 5/1 and be Raiders of the Lost Ark and Kingdom of the
Crystal Skull, followed later on by wave 3 (The Last Crusade) and
wave 4 (Temple of Doom). The deluxe figures include Indiana with his
horse, a German soldier with motorcycle, and Indiana Jones with
several small environment areas like the idol base and a chasm to
swing across.
With
Indiana Jones out of the way, it was time for the presentation to
get to the end, and they saved the best for last: Star Wars!! The
30th Anniversary Collection will cease, and the two new lines will
be The Clone Wars and The Legacy Collection. The Legacy Collection
will use a cardback that is very similar to the one previewed for
The Clone Wars, but instead of the Clone helmet it will be a
Stormtrooper helmet. Very striking design. DePriest hinted that was
done because the difference won't be very noticeable to children,
while collectors will see it. The new Animated Series figures use a
look that is very... different. While the head sculpts are
definitely done in the animated style, most of the bodies are
staying true to the realistic styles of years past. Very cool IMO. 
The
Legacy figures will feature a build-a-droid line, and each figure
will ship with an extra droid part. Some waves will have 8 figures,
which contain enough parts to build 2 new astromech droids. Other
waves will have 6 figures, and give you the ability to build a
protocol droid. The parts will be universally interchangeable, which
allows fans and kids to build their own combinations of droids as
well. The build-a-droid line will start with a Wal-Mart exclusive
series, containing 6 2-packs of figures that will each contain a
repainted/retooled figure and a "new" droid. Each 2-pack will come
with one piece to build the first bonus droid - C-3PX the protocol
bounty hunter from the Droids comic series by Dark Horse!! 
The
AT-TE rumors are indeed true, and the vehicle itself is actually
quite impressive. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's true to scale,
but it's quite large. And pretty darn awesome if I do say so myself.
It has an MSRP of $100 and should be hitting shelves in July. The
only other vehicles that were shown were a Federation spider droid
and the V-19 starfighter - both of those were impressive (and
huge!!) as well. 
The
Galactic Heroes line also continues into 2008, and it just keeps
growing larger and larger. More 2-packs, more cinema scenes, and
even some new vehicles will be released in 2008. New figures in the
2-packs include Plo Koon, Shaak Ti, R2-D2 from Jabba's Sail Barge,
Destroyer Droid, Jar Jar Binks, and the most requested, talked about
Galactic Hero ever - Princess Leia in Slave Girl outfit!!
