It Came From San Diego Comic Con 2013: Wolverine Saga Minimates

Mini Mates are always a lot of fun and at San Diego Comic Con this July there is an exclusive Wolverine set. The most awesome is Wolverine an orange kimono. That’s his version of business casual.

The Wolverine-as-Venom is pretty cool as well. I’m not sure if the Space Suite Wolverine really looks more like Wolverine wearing the skin of the Thing. And as we all remember, admantium does in fact cut up the Thing very nicely. The set is rounded out with his current costume and him in his Ultimate Universe attire.

 

It Came From San Diego Comic Con 2013: Masters of the Universe Classics Rokkon And Stonedar

Now this is ridiculously awesome.Back in my childhood, Rokkon and Stonedar were two of my favorite characaters in the whole Masters of the Universe pantheon. And now they’re back…in San Diego Comic Con exclusive form.

These guys came out right at the tail end of the Masters of the Universe line and sadly don’t have much of a lasting impression, but they’re still really cool characters. They are part of a species of rock people called, well, Rock People. They never appeared in the He-Man cartoons properly but did make some appearances in She-Ra.

Rokkon and Stonedar were so much fun to play with. The original figures transformed between a humanoid form and an asteroid . The sculpting–for 1986 standards–was really well done, but sadly the articulation feature made them really fragile.

The 2013 version of the figures solves that. The bodies are the really cool modern version that the Four Horsemen sculpt and it solves the problem of the original figures. Their rocky exterior is clip on plate armor!

I’ve not been collecting the new Masters of the Universe figures, save for Faker and the Sorceress, but I am really tempted to get these…what do you think?

It Came From San Diego Comic Con 2013: Deadpool Corps Set

It’s no secret that Deadpool loves tacos and has found kindred spirits around the multiverse in the Deadpool Corps. To celebrate the Mexican delicacy and the friendship that has been found across the multiverse, Hasbro has put together a Deadpool Corps exclusive set for San Diego Comic Con this summer.

This set of three Marvel Universe-style action figures (and three non poseable sidekicks) are packaged in taco shaped blister cards housed in a taco truck box.

So who do you get in this package?

From left to right: Kidpool, Championpool, Squirrelpool, Deadpool, Lady Deadpool and Dogpool. Sadly, Headpool (the talking and disembodied head of Deadpool from the Marvel Zombies Universe) is not included.

The exclusive set is priced at $49.95 and will be available at SDCC. If there are any leftovers, Hasbro usually sells them at their online toy store.

 

 

Marvel’s Upcoming Movie Calendar: Guardians of the Galaxy and Beyond

Marvel Studios unveiled a new slate of films for the next two years. So what does the film division of the “House of Ideas” have for us? The biggest announcement was the confirmation of a Guardians of the Galaxy film, slated to come out on August 1, 2014. For most people new to comics or just fans of the movies, the question is why should you be excited about this.

Guardians of the Galaxy first debuted in Marvel Super Heroes #18 back in 1969, a few months before Apollo 11 landed on the moon. Space travel was a big thing at the time and Arnold Drake and Gene Colan created a team of super powered aliens in the 31st century. Present day astronaut Vance Astrovik (with a name like that he really could do nothing else than be an astronaut) is rocketed into space in suspended animation and wakes up way far into the future. That must have been one hell of a nap.

Anyway, Vance teams up with some well-meaning alien warriors to stop the Badoon, a race of genocidal aliens bent on conquering the universe. Occasionally the Guardians would travel back to present day in crossovers with the Avengers and Defenders. The team is probably best known for Image Comics founder Jim Valentino’s series from the early 1990s.

Guardians of the Galaxy was rebooted a few years back, this time taking place in the present day. Long story short, it’s a collection of Marvel’s alien heroes teaming up to prevent catastrophes, whether they be cosmic natural disasters or intergalactic warfare. I would assume that the film will be of how the team gets together and has to save Earth from something awful. Maybe they even might involve Thanos, since it looks like this will be out before Avengers 2,

So who are the Guardians? Based on the concept art that Marvel revealed it looks like the team is the following:

• Star-Lord: a human who winds up becoming an intergalactic police officer.
• Gamora: Thanos’ adopted daughter who happens to be the most deadly woman in the Marvel Universe (think a lady version of Chuck Norris).
• Groot: A humanoid living tree who debuted in Tales to Astonish long before the Fantastic Four.
• Rocket Raccoon: An anthropomorphic raccoon with mastery of combat and military strategy.
• Drax the Destroyer: A synthetic humanoid created to kill Thanos.

So yeah, it sounds like Thanos is going to be involved in this. Call it a hunch.

Anyway, this is a big gamble since it is going to be a movie featuring C and D list characters. No matter how great the film is, it’s going to be a harder sell to the public. Do you remember the last time you saw a Drax t-shirt? Me neither. I would assume they are banking on how well received the previous Marvel did. At the very least I hope I can get a stuffed Rocket Raccoon out of this.

As for the rest of the announcements:

• Ant-Man will be directed by Edgar Wright (of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz fame). They even showed some test footage of it, which sadly hasn’t leaked out yet. Apparently they were super-strict about the no photography/videography rule.
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier is slated for April 4, 2014 and pretty much confirms that Bucky will be back, turned into the Soviet killing machine. It’s reported that Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker) is in negotiations to play the role of the Falcon, Cap’s sidekick/partner.
• Thor: The Dark World comes out November 8, 2013. Just in time for Halloween!

SDCC 2012 Exclusives: DC Collectibles Green Lantern Action Figure 2-Pack

DC Collectibles (the former DC Direct) has this set of 3.75″ action figures as a San Diego Comic Con exclusive. But what’s more interesting than that is that this is part of a new line of convention-exclusive action figures.

This new line of figures can only be bought at conventions, which I don’t know how I feel about. I think they look really cool, mostly because they are the same scale as the Marvel Universe line. This finally gives me the opportunity to integrate DC’s finest alongside their Marvel counterparts, GI Joe and even Star Wars.

But, since this will be a super limited line, it will be pretty hard to collect. That I’m not too fond of. I’m sure people will be scalping these on eBay and at finer comic book stores everywhere.

That said, I do think that Kilowog and Kyle Rayner look awesome. I like that the line is starting with two lesser known characters, appearing to wear their standard, non-New 52 costumes.

They’re retailing this set at $25, which to me is a price point that just puts it out of consideration. However, if they release a Booster Gold and Blue Beetle set all bets are off. You can find out more about the line here.

SDCC 2012 Exclusives: Tiny Titans Figurine Set

This San Diego Comic Con exclusive from Mattel is really cool. It’s a figurine set of the lead characters from Tiny Titans. I’ve been a huge fan of this series and have been sad to see it go. But this set is really cool.

I try to avoid getting non-posable toys, but I just might have to get this.

SDCC 2012 Exclusives: GI Joe/Transformers Mash Up from Hasbro

Hasbro has some really cool GI Joe exclusives for Comic Con as well. Following up with last year’s Starscream/Cobra Commander team up, the toy company has some more fun stuff uniting Cobra with the Decepticons.

They are offering a modified Cobra H.I.S.S.–basically a souped up attack tank–that uses a plasma cannon as its main weapon. And that plasma cannon happens to be none other than the evil Shockwave in his non robot form. The vehicle is decorated in his color scheme of purple and grays.

The vehicle will come with two 3.75″ figures. It makes sense that Destro would team up with Shockwave, as they are the second-in-commands of their respective organizations. It also comes with one of Cobra’s robot B.A.T. soldiers. While neon green and purple might not be the best color choices for the battle field, these colors pay homage to the Constructicons. If it works for a gang of construction vehicles that turn into the menacing Devastator, its good for Cobra’s disposable soldiers.

What also is really amazing about this set is that it comes with Energon cubes (scientifically speaking, food for Transformers) and a scaled down Soundwave in his cassette player/boombox form. I’m really hoping that Hasbro has this available for purchase after San Diego.

Hasbro will also be selling two versions of GI Joe’s lady ninja Jinx, one in her traditional red look and the other in her GI Joe Retribution look.

WWE and Comics: Perfect Together

Let’s face it; professional wrestling and comic books are very thematically similar. Pro wrestling is a lot like comics coming to life, filled with heroes and villains (clad in over the top costumes) battling for supremacy. Even their fanbases overlap; they’re both constantly criticized for liking something many disregard as something you should have given up by the time you turn seven.

Over the years, comics and wrestlers have crossed over many times. Some of today’s best grapplers, guys like AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe and Shane Helms, are all devoted comic readers. Wrestlers like Rey Mysterio and Nova have worn many comic inspired outfits to the ring. ECW’s Raven and the Sandman spent the majority of the 1990s wearing t-shirts featuring art from Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. Even Hulk Hogan’s name is a reference to a certain gamma powered monster…

Anyway, it’s no surprise that the professional wrestling world would be represented at Comic Con last week. Both WWE and Impact Wrestling were out in full force. But WWE took it one step further, expanding one of their angles (wrestling speak for “storyline”) during one of their panel presentations.

During the presentation, wrestler HHH (who now runs the WWE in story) gets interrupted by WWE champion CM Punk, who himself is an avid comic book fan.

In the WWE storyline, Punk won their championship on his last night wrestling for the company and is keeping the title high-jacked. The question is when—or will—he return to the WWE, and by having him harass it’s on-screen chairman only keeps this moving. It was a nice little way to make those in attendance feel like they’re part of the story.