The internets are abuzz this morning with some color photos surfacing of the Masterpiece Rodimus Prime figure that we’ve heard about before and seen an unpainted prototype of at a recent convention in China. YFrog user GENograw posted images to his account showing not only Rodimus Prime (Rodimus Convoy), but also that he has the ability to become Hot Rod (Hot Rodimus) in both robot and vehicle mode. As we heard knew before, the trailer section will become the battle station as it did in Generation One. Better photos are now sure to follow.

 

The Terrordrome brings us new that Hasbro has issued a press release explaining the circumstances of the ill fated SDCC Sgt Slaughter variants on HasbroToyShop.com. Basically, so many people wanted these puppoes that they sold out quickly at both the show and on HasbroToyShop.com. So fast on HTS that most eager fans staking out the site for it go on sale never saw the site update with the product in stock. This caused quite a backlash. Hasbro is apologetic and will try to figure out a way to include the figure in a future multi-pack. Its not clear if its one version or both.

Press release is after the jump. Its a pretty decent read.

To the G.I. JOE fan community,

The passion displayed since Comic-Con on fan-forums regarding the special edition Sgt. Slaughter figures has been truly remarkable. It proves that there is a huge appetite to see this character in action figure form and we’re thrilled that the designs were so well received. We know the Sarge himself, who you may have had the chance to meet in the Hasbro booth at Comic-Con, would be honored to see such an outpouring of support and desire for this special edition figure in his likeness.

We understand there has been a misperception that Hasbro Toy Shop did not offer the primary or variant versions of the figure on the website after Comic-Con as has recently been tradition. This is not true. As publicized prior to the convention, there were indeed a limited number of Sgt. Slaughter figures (both variant and primary) available after the show; a reserve set aside specifically for HasbroToyShop.com as there is with all of our special edition figures.

Due to the overwhelming popularity, the figures sold out extremely fast. While we cannot provide a number of how many were available for practical business reasons, we do understand the frustration of those fans who were hoping to purchase the Comic-Con figures online after the convention. However, the very nature of these special edition figures dictates that they will be made in very limited quantities and availability cannot be guaranteed. Again, coupled with a strong demand for these figures, the supply available at both the convention and online afterwards went incredibly fast. Our primary goal is to make as many figures available at the show for the convention attendees. We are glad that we are also able to make some figures available online to those not able to make it to San Diego, but again, this quantity is limited.

It is important to note that the best opportunity to obtain these special edition figures is at the convention itself.

While we cannot guarantee anything at this time, because of the demand by fans who could not get the Comic-Con figures, we are looking at making the Sgt. Slaughter figures available again at retail, albeit in different packaging and likely not as single-carded basic figures. While details are not final we are making progress for late Spring ’11 and will have news in a couple months. We look forward to updating you then.

Thank you once again for the enthusiasm and support.

Sincerely,

The G.I. JOE brand team

The Terrordrome has relayed information on next year’s JoeCon. The 2011 GI Joe Collectors’ Convention will be held in Orlando, Florida at the Dolphin and Swan resort hotels. Sound familiar? That was the location of this year’s Transformers Convention, Botcon, hosted by the same company, Fun Publications. The dates for the convention will be March 31 – April 3. Should be a lot more pleasant than the ridiculous humidity and heat encountered at Botcon this year.

This year’s JoeCon was held in Providence, RI, hometown of Hasbro HQ and former Botcon host city. It looks like Joe fans have started a trend following Transformers fans as far as convention locations. Will JoeCon 2012 be held in Pasadena, CA, the 2011 Botcon location? Only time will tell and I’m sure that will have a lot to do with the progress of the second GI Joe movie.

 

In 2002, it all started out so innocently. Takara was reissuing some of the original line of Transformers. As an E-Hobby exclusive, special variants were made of brand new characters that never appeared in the original show. The result was Road Rage and Crosscut. After that, what followed could only be described as a wave of repainted G1 molds as new characters with new stories inserted into the Generation 1 canon. This is what we may call a ‘retcon’ since the books were more or less closed on new stories from the original canon up to that point. Repaints of Hound, Sideswipe, Starscream, Grapple and more would follow with new color schemes, names and bios. If a mold had been part of the Diaclone or Microchange line, that original paint scheme would be used as an option as well.

Read on to learn about Flipsides!

Generation One

Down the line, an E-Hobby exclusive repaint of Twincast, a repainted Blaster from the Japanese series. While the original Twincast came with Steeljaw, this reissue was offered with a repainted cassette that was based on the Eject/Rewind mold. This new character was a female called Flipsides. Her bio in short form is as follows:

You’d be hard pressed to find a robot more friendly and compassionate than Flip Sides. A former teacher, she is well-suited to managing data, military history and coordinating, and has been given the task of managing waves of remote-controlled combat drones. She’s well-liked and personable, and a valuable Autobot fighter.

And it’s all a lie, even to Flip Sides herself.

She is in actuality a sleeper agent placed into the Autobot ranks thousands of years previous. She has no memory of her former self, which has been carefully buried under her Autobot persona, and will not awaken until the intricate timer mechanism also buried inside her programming triggers. What her Decepticon self is like is entirely unknown, but the thousands of years of data she’s collected will undoubtedly be used to devastating effect. When this happens… nobody knows, possibly even the mysterious Decepticons who programmed her.

She has a phobia towards mechanoids with more than two legs, which can lock her systems up if she is surprised.

The long version of her bio can be found here.

This always seemed an unusually interesting and unique back story to me. It really made my mind wander in all sorts of ‘what if’ scenarios. As mentioned in the extended bio, the entire plot is even more devastating in its method of execution than its ultimate gain in military intelligence. I have often wondered whether the Autobot personality of Flipsides is actually called Flipsides. Her name is kind of a give away, so I pondered whether she might have an alternate identity.

Kiss Play Position

In 2007, a 3 pack of repainted mini-cassettes was released as another E-Hobby exclusive to supplement the bizarre and pedophilic Transformers Kiss Play series in Japan. This is referred to as the Kiss Players Position pack. At that point in the series, Ultra Magnus decided to form a Transformers / Human pop music group to go on a good will tour of the world to promote Transformer / Human relations, which were poor at the time (that might be the least ridiculous thing that happens in this series). The Transformer members of the pop group were the three figures included in this exclusive set; Glit (a repainted Ravage in white), Sundor (a golden laserbeak repaint), and Rosanna (a pink and white repaint of the Eject/Rewind mold).

Rosanna and Flipsides not only share the same mold, but very similar color schemes. My wandering mind likes to think that Rosanna is actually the Autobot alter-ego of Flipsides. I’m apparently not the only one with that idea, though, maybe not in the Generation One continuity.

Transformers Animated

On April 1, 2009, Derrick Wyatt, the creative director for Transformers Animated, posted an April Fools’ image featuring many characters that may or may not appear in the then-forthcoming final season of the series. Among them was Flipsides. She did not appear in the show, but Rosanna did appear in a very brief cameo during a crowd shot on Cybertron. All the way over on the right.

The Allspark Almanac 2 revealed several more details about these two. Rosanna was a member of the Entertainment Guild and was a pop star sensation. Flipsides was the name Agent Blurr gave to this unknown Decepticon sleeper agent whom he believed to be an important member of the Entertainment guild. Coincidence? I think not!

One of the great things about the Transformers franchise is the immense variety and quantity of characters. Add to that many different forms of great fiction that give these characters life. Everyone has a favorite character and rarely will they be the same as the next. Flipsides is one of my current favorites. How about you?

Yesterday, we posted some of the first images of the Masterpiece Rodimus Prime unpainted prototype. There were only a three pictures and they left more questions than answers. Today, a TFW2005 poster, posted new images of the unpainted prototype that give a better idea of what this toy is going to be like. I have mirrored them below.

The trailer pictures seem to confirm my underwhelming initial impressions. The robot looks fantastic, with what appears to be a rotating face gimmick to show Hot Rod’s face, similar to the gimmick on the Masterpiece Starscream mold. Overall, the figure looks entirely too short though. We don’t know for certain yet, but he looks much shorter than the Masterpiece Optimus Prime mold and that is a disservice to Rodimus as another Prime. Let us know what you think in the comments!

Pictures are after the jump!

        

Auto Assembly, a UK Transoformers convention released a statement saying that they had a partnership with Hasbro to give away 30 sets of the highly anticipated 3-pack featuring Classics Rodimus (Hot Rod), Classics Cyclonus, and Classics Galvatron. The set is called Challenge on Cybertron and currently was only known to be a limited exclusive to a convention in Hong Kong. The set will not be released in the UK, so this will be the only way to get it that market. The press release went on to mention that it is not even available in the US, where it will be a Target exclusive. That, right there, is the kicker because thats the first announcement of who the distributor will be for the US release.

You can all rest easy now and while you do check out some of the great pictures from the Animation-Comic-Game Hong Kong (ACGHK) event’s toy displays.

Press release after the jump

Auto Assembly 2010 Announces Massive Hasbro Giveaway!

Auto Assembly is teaming up with Hasbro again this year for some fantastic competitions this year that will blow everyone away!!

In the past couple of years we have had displays that have included displays of some of the curent toy ranges on offer in the UK and the unveiling the UK’s first lucky draw toy that was produced in 2008. But for Auto Assembly 2010, it’s going to be awesome…

This year, Hasbro have generously supplied us with no less than THIRTY sets Of the eagerly anticipated Challenge At Cybertron boxed set featuring Universe Cyclonus, Galvertron and Rodimus! This set is not being released in the UK and at the moment, it’s not even released in the US and when it is, it will be a Target exclusive!!

To be in with a chance of winning one of these, you MUST be pre-registered for the convention. We will then be holding a random prize draw and 30 lucky winners will be chosen, and winning tickets will be inserted into the attendee packs that you will collect when you arrive at the convention. If you find one, bring it to the Registration Desk to claim your prize!!

If you haven’t already booked, there’s still time to be in with a chance to win one of these great sets of toys and be entered into some of our other draws that we will be announcing soon…!

To find out more about Hasbro’s involvement and some other things they are doing, watch the official announcement video here:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9jh9MQ1PUU

Tickets are selling fast for the convention and if you want to be a part of this and the prize draw you need to book quickly! Every day we are setting a new attendance record so why not hurry and be a part of Europe’s biggest Transformers convention.

XBox.com has news that some of the Game Developers from High Moon Studios will be online tonight (7/29) from 9PM EST until Midnight, playing mutliplayer matches on War for Cybertron. Dev Gamertags will be
TFCybertron1
TFCybertron2
TFCybertron3
TFCybertron4
TFCybertron5
TFCybertron6
TFCybertron7
TFCybertron8
TFCybertron9
TFCybertron10
so send an invite or friend request to one of these gamertags to get in on the action!

This weekend will also play host to the second double XP multiplayer weekend for the game. This will last from Friday at 9PM EST through Monday at 3AM EST. Play any matches during this time and earn double the experience points. This is sure to help any players having trouble racking up those multiplayer achievements based on levels.

Word had it that we would be seeing some of the first pictures of Masterpiece Rodimus Prime this weekend because it would be on display as an unpainted prototype at a large Transformers convention in China called Transformers CybertronCon. Sure enough, the convention is being setup right now and some helpful fans in attendance snapped some pictures. You can see those pictures and many more from the convention setup here. Check out that thread because there are some other neat things on display including a gold lucky draw Brave Maximus among other things.

As for Rodimus, the pictures of the robot look fantastic. The trailer is leaving me a little disappointed. I was really hoping they would do more with it than just make it bigger, but there isn’t much to go on just yet with these photos. We’ll know more as we get it.

  

Hasbro and Marvel held their panel for their various action figure lines and there were some surprises including a promise to return to Marvel Legends in a big way in 2012. I take back what I said in this post, but I hope we are back to full waves of single figures and not these 2-packs. Its certainly a way off, but any news is good news at this point.

In the meantime, lets look at some of the big reveals for everything else they had to talk about after the jump!

Image in banner and where watermarked are mirrored from MarvelousNews’ Gallery here.
More images will be added as things are put in display cases and pictures of those start coming in.

Marvel Universe (3.75 inch line)

The series 3 (2011 product) artist for the packaging was named as Olivier Coipel from House of M and Thor.

2011 Wave 1 (Sping)
Captain Marvel
Doc Sampson
World War Hulk
Iron Man (didn’t see that coming)
Spider-man 2099
Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew)

2011 Wave 2
Apocalypse
Jim Lee style Cyclops
1st Appearance Wolverine
Gladiator

Team Packs (Sping)
Avengers
Classic Thor
Gold 1st Armor Iron Man
Hulk
Tiny Wasp and Ant-man

X-Force (all in their dark X-Force costumes)
Warpath
Wolverine
Deadpool

Gigantic Battles
Frost Giant with Loki
Bill Foster Giantman and Clone Thor (half metal face. ugh.)

Materwork Series (Think giant Galactus)
Sentinel (2 versions shown) comes with Wolverine

Thor movie figures
A brief slide was shown during the presentation showing the first Thor action figure for the movie. It was not clear what scale it was, but it said to check the display cases on Sunday. I will update with more info when I have it.

Iron Man (6 inch line)
This line will be expanded and will include Crymson Dynamo and Titanium Man. It sounds like this is what will lead into the return of the much missed Marvel Legends line.

The Transformers Panels have come and gone for the opening day of SDCC and we have nothing to really show for it.
There was very little discussion of toys. The War for Cybertron figures were shown briefly during discussion of the game. Some time was spent talking about the Powercore Combiners line, essentially reiterating that this line wasn’t replacing anything, only supplementing. They wanted to expand the world of combiners. When it came to talking about Generations, some of the new figures were shown including Hailstorm, Breacher, Seaspray, Terradive, Tomahawk and Highbrow. None of the showstopper reveals that happened at Botcon were shown here. No Jazz. No Thunderwing. No Scourge. No Windcharger. No Tracks. No Perceptor. No Grapple. No Lugnut. No Skullgrin. And what a lot of people were waiting for, No Kup.

Most of the discussion on both panels focused on Transformers: Prime. We got to see some new slides of what Ratchet, Arcee and Cliffjumper will look like (pictures after the jump). We also get our first look at the human characters. In addition, we were shown Decepticon troopers, which were described as being similar to Storm Troopers from Star Wars. No names. Just generic Decepticon bodies. Some avid fans may pick up on the fact that the Autobots had their own version of storm troopers in Transformers Animated in the form of AutoRoopers. Google that one, kids. Animated got that inspiration from another special place in Transformers history.

From what I can tell, it sounds like some very rough footage was shown as well, but there isn’t much on that. Frankly, it doesn’t feel like this show is as far along as they wanted it to be on the production side of things. They compensated for that at Botcon with lots of new toy reveals, but that was absent here.

[Update! - Crazy] IGN posted the teaser test footage from the panel! Added to top of post.

Images and more after the jump

This is a blog and we state our opinions here. Zac and I were on GChat earlier discussing the panel and here is how we reacted.

Zac: Transformers Prime Teaser Trailer – http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/transformers-prime-39/transformers-prime-teaser-trailer-170263/

me: what a tease
i’ll add it to my post

Zac: Fall is only 2 months away, right? the still don’t have final models?

me: yeah i’m mentioning that in the post
it doesn’t look like they are where they intended to be

Zac: Maybe launching a Tv network and animation studio is something you can’t just do in 18 months.
since a 2 hour MOVIE takes 2 years.

me: its a good thing they axed the really popular currently running show though
boy that had to go

Zac: You can tell that was a corporate decision, not an artistic one.

me: i can’t get myself to like anything from Prime so far if for no other reason than it partially killed animated

Zac: I don’t think it did.

me: the network did, but i cant separate the two

Zac: Now that they own the factory and the widget, its less likely we’ll see a preamature cancellation for prime.

me: i also can’t get excited for what is going to amount to more movie-like toys

Zac: You know what I don’t like about this video?
2 robots MINDING THEIR OWN BUSINESS
then bumblebee comes in and starts a fight.
Autobot terrorism is back.

me: good point

Zac: HUNT FOR THE DECEPTICONS!

         

Images are mirrored from TFW2005

Hasbro continues to show us that Marvel Legends are simply an after-thought now during preview night when they showed us the 3 2-packs we voted on last year. The winners of that poll were Black Widow, Valkyrie and Deadpool. Deadpool will be packaged with Warpath in his current X-Force. There will be a variant pack where Deadpool will be wearing his X-Men costume from Cable and Deadpool. The variant version of Warpath will feature his more traditional costume.

The second 2-pack is Black Widow with Winter Soldier. The variants have Black Widow in a grey outfit with shorter hair, while Winter Soldier has longer hair. The third pack is Valkyrie and yet another Hulk figure. No word if there is a variant pack for those two.

No other Marvel Legends were seen during Preview Night. I will be genuinely surprised and happy if more are revealed over the next few days. These figures should start showing up in October as Toys R Us exclusives

[Image via ToyArk.com]

Hasbro had lots of new Super Hero Squad assortments on display. I couldn’t really tell you whats new and what isn’t, but some of the multi-packs fascinated me. The one above includes Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Loki, Enchantress, and a Frost Giant! Notables single figures (from the 2-pack assortments) include MODOK, Taskmaster, Spiral, Bucky Cap, Ronan the Accuser and Thanos.

 

A full gallery of Marvel’s display from Preview Night can be found here at TNI where I mirrored some of the images from.

More images and updates for SHS after the jump including the SHIELD Helicarrier!

They had new pop-up playsets on display. Neat idea, cool implementation. Especially Doom’s castle!

  

SHIELD Helicarrier is Heli-awesome!

If you haven’t seen it already, the SDCC 2010 Super Hero Squad exclusive was a 3-pack with Iron Man, the Mayor of Super Hero City and Dr Doom in robe with tea and morning newspaper. Its pretty great.

TFW2005 is reporting that the long rumored Masterpiece Rodimus will in fact be Rodimus Prime (Convoy) and not just Hot Rod. They offered up some concept art to back up the claim courtesy of 2005 member, S250.

I’d be happy with a masterpiece Winebago. Rodimus Prime doesn’t get enough love in my book.
Can anyone offer anything meanings behind the japanese text in the image?

Not much to say here. I went to Botcon and he sold out in the first 20 minutes. I regretted not getting him, so I ordered him online as soon as I got home.

I don’t order toys online much these days, but boy am I glad I did in this case.

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend Botcon 2010. This year was the innaugural year of the Transformers Hall of Fame. Inductees included Megatron, Starscream, Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, Hideaki Yoke, Kohjin Ohno, Peter Cullen and Bob Budiansky. Watch the video for more on the topic!

And for more on Botcon in general, check out this week’s PowetCAST here.

This year I wanted to wait until each of the figures in this year’s set had been revealed to do this post. The last figure has finally been unveiled, so here are your Botcon 2010 Convention Exclusives!

All pictures and descriptions can be found after the jump.

The exclusives this year are featuring a Generation 2 theme. Though, Sky-byte doesn’t really fit that theme very well.

 

First up is Spark. A repaint of Transformers Universe Inferno. The original Spark was a European Obliterator, which was just a re-release of Pyro. Pyro/Spark was never released domestically in the United States as far as I am aware. Spark was part of Generation 2. Pyro was not, though he did use a G2 faction symbol. That is to say he came in G1 packaging.

G1 Pyro...or G2 Spark?

Second is G2 Breakdown. It is only appropriate for a G2 Botcon set to have Breakdown in it. The first Botcon convention exclusive was G2 Breakdown in 1994.

 

And in 2004, for the 10 year anniversary of Botcon, G2 Breakdown was used again, but in Actionmaster form.

 

Here is the G2 Breakdown for 2010 using the Classics Sunstreaker mold with a retooled head. I must admit that new head looks fantastic. Note his license plate, ‘BCFW94′ – Botcon Fort Wayne 1994.

 

Third revealed is Streetstar. Streetstar is an interesting figure. He almost exactly matches the color scheme of the unreleased G2 Streetwise, however his name Streetstar is actually from same mold used for the combiner limb in Guard City from the Japanese “Operation Combination”.

 

Next is Clench. Not to be confused with the Mini-con that came with Armada Galvatron, the original Clench was a European Obliterator, much like Spark. He wore the G2 faction symbol, but came packaged in G1 packaging. He was never released domestically in the U.S. as far as I am aware. You can see more about him here. I think they did a nice job with the new head on this exclusive. Its a little more embellished than the original, but I think in this case the changes work and look better than the original. If anyone reads the IDW comics, you will recognize Clench as the leader of the underground fighting ring from Megatron: Origins, in which, the refugee miners including Megatron participated.

 

Clench is funny because Streetstar’s images were reported earlier than the official announcement because someone got creative with a trial and error url search for the images (which I’m pretty sure every news site has tried already). When Streetstar was officially announced the name was a surprise because the images had the name Streetwise in the filename. Before Clench was revealed, a similar process was used to guess the file names, but the folks at Botcon went one step further and actually posted fake photoshopped images of a different figure with the expected color scheme under the expected file name. When Clench was officially revealed, it turned out to be a completely different mold and Pete@Botcon had the last laugh. Being someone who did not report this false information (like Seibertron.com), I found this all very hilarious.

This is not the Clench you are looking for.

And finally Sky-byte. Sky-byte doesn’t really fit well in this set. He’s not from Generation 2, but Robots In Disguise instead. He also lacks the garrish and fluorescent color scheme of a Generation 2 figure/character. He uses the Energon Sharkticon mold with a retooled head. This figure looks great and has been a long time coming, but probably should have been tabled for a future set. Some more G2 Stunticons would have been very welcome.

 

Images surfaced recently here, that show what could be a convention exclusive souvenir figure, Sharkticon Gnaw using the same mold as Sky-Byte with a G1 sharkticon inspired color scheme. It is expected that this will be offered as set of two or three as a troop builder set similar to the Sweeps from the 2009 convention.

 

Its anyone’s guess what the rest of the figures will be, but I have a hunch we may see more reuses of the Classics Prowl/Smokescreen mold. In the meantime, here are some images of the box art.

 

It hasn’t been announced officially yet, but if you click on the ‘Registration coming soon’ button, you can register for Botcon 2010 in Orlando, Florida.

[UPDATE: Its Official!]

Show Notes after the jump!

Autobot Whirl vs Bludgeon 2-pack Bio:

For the first time on Earth, two masters of the ultimate fighting art – Metallikato – face off in a battle to the very end. Wielding ancient blades, handed down through generations of warriors, Autobot Whirl and Decepticon Bludgeon circle one another, every sensor alert for the slightest opening. Though they move slowly and deliberately now, once they strike, the battle will be far too fast for the human eye to see. It will be decided in a matter of microseconds by flashing blades powered by centuries of training.

Decepticon Bludgeon (Voyager Class) Bio:

Decepticon Bludgeon was nearly destroyed by a fight with the Metallikato master Autobot Whirl. Forced to retreat and hide, he scanned a new vehicle mode and disappeared in to the Southeast Asian Jungle. He is desperate to prove himself against an Autobot, however, so he has caused just enough chaos locally to attract the attention of Ironhide. Now he lies in wait for the Autobot, ready to spring his trap and destroy his victim in an instant.

Side note: When pushing the torso down to the hips during the transformation, make sure it clicks, locking in place. That was an issue during the video that I didn’t realize until part way through.

Many of the images shown during the video came from this site on Bludgeon.

In a teaser image for Brandweek, it appears that Hasbro has given us our first look at what could be the new Transformers show’s Bumblebee.

From the Allspark:

Allspark member Monocle has posted an ad for the Hasbro/Discovery Hub network that he found in Brandweek…And Transformers fans will be giddy to see who makes an appearance! Making his debut to the world, a new character model for Bumblebee (one would assume he’s from the next new Transformers TV series that will be broadcast on Hub). This Bumblebee looks familiar for those fans of the Transformers movies, but has been tweaked to look younger and, well, cuter.

Looks like some My Little Pony fans will happy as well with this ad.

I totally missed all of the announcements for JoeConCobraCon 2010, in addition to the Collectors’ Club updates. After a little reconnaissance, I’m happy to report back with my findings!

Intelligence can be found after the jump!

2010 Club Updates
Membership figures
Renewing your membership by March 16, 2010 will net you one of the following two free figures.
First up is Big Lob, representing the 3 3/4 inch line. One of the new characters in the GI Joe animated movie, Big Lob features the classic O-ring waist. The figure will come with file card, weapons and accessories. Additional Big Lobs may be purchased by club members.

Can’t quite remember who Big Lob was? Here’s a video from the club.

The 12 inch exclusive will be the Urban Adventurer. This one was a little confusing to me because the accessory set does not come with the figure. It must be purchased separately by club members. Additional figures are also available for purchase by club members.

 

The club made another video for this figure as well. I didn’t realize that board is a skateboard. It looked like a snowboard in the picture to me.

Convention Updates
As it was mentioned in the video at the beginning and in the post banner, JoeCon will be in Providence, Rhode Island from April 29th to May 2nd. Featured guests that have been announced thus far include Larry Hama, Ron Rudat, and Kirk Bozigian. The author of most GI Joe fiction, one of the original toy designers, and the original product manager for GI Joe, respectively. I’ll point you to an interview with Mr. Rudat that I linked to waaay back in 2006.

12 inch Convention Exclusive Set
The theme of the box set is Escape from Spy Island. Box art is by Larry Selman. It looks like there is definitely left to be revealed, but here is whats been show thus far. Also I feel it necessary to point out that this set includes a ROBOT SHARK.

            

3 3/4″ Exclusives
Red Shadows Box Set
Black Major

 

Pyro-Trooper Red Torches

 

Flint

 

Red Shadows Infantry Troopers (I’m baffled by the back of the head)

 

Interrogator w/ removable helmet!

  

And now for something completely different.

PowetToys Collectors Edition is a new spin-off series to the PowetToys reviews. I wanted an educational video series on the industry and collecting as a whole. This is my attempt in this endeavor. Let me know what you think in the comments!

Links:
ITWTransTech Pad Printing 101

Press releases and sneak peak photos were all over the web starting last night. All the info is after the break.
This post will be kept at the top of the page today since I will be adding updates and news as I find it throughout the day.

Warning: This post may get image heavy as updates continue to come in.

Hasbro

Marvel Universe
ActionFigurePics had some great updates for us here on Marvel Universe.

2010 Waves 3 & 4 were announced and some were on display:
Wave 3 -
Archangel
Kitty Pryde (with Lockheed)
Havok
AIM Soldier
Colossus
Juggernaut

Wave 4 –
Iron Patriot
Skrull Soldier
Iron Spidey
Wrecker
Winter Soldier
Mary Jane Watson (with Ms. Lion)

Word also has it that Thanos will be coming later this year.

The Secret Wars 2-packs will be ending, but more are on the way that are not tied together under one crossover.
Cyclops and Phoenix (Dark Phoenix was shown in the presentation)
Dark Avengers versions of Spider-Man (Mac Gargan Venom as Spidey) and Wolverine (Daken)
Sentry and Spider-Man

Galactus is coming! 19 inches tall w/ electronic sounds and lights. He’ll be coming with a Universe Silver Surfer. Sounds like he’ll retail for about $49.99. If he’s successful, more will be coming. Quantities will be limited. Buy him if you see him!

SDCC Exclusives appear to be a MU Ages of Thunder Thor and Ultimate Captain America with Card Art by Joe Quesada.

Marvel Legends
Looks like TRU will be getting 3 new 2-packs for this line, each with one of the winners of last year’s SDCC fan poll; Deadpool, Black Widow and Valkyrie. I’m pleased with Hasbro’s selection for the accompanying figures in Warpath, Winter Soldier and McGuiness Hulk. Mostly I’m pleased about Warpath. Not so much about another Hulk figure.

GI Joe
HissTank.com has put up a nice demo of the new H.I.S.S. Tank w/ Driver.

Transformers
Lots of news on this front today.
Looks like the RotF line is being rebranded as just ‘Transformers’. Classics is back and now a subline called ‘Generations’. And we have a new subline called PowerCore Combiners that focuses on combining robots.

Transformers
Deluxe Jetblade
Deluxe Ironhide
Deluxe Drift
Deluxe Thrust
Voyager Class Darkmount (Straxus – Triple Changer dealing only in Death)
Voygare Class Seaspray
Leader Class Starscream
Leader Class Forest Battle Optimus Prime – This one looks like it has new blades that are actually when they were damaged and used as hooks to rip Grindor’s face off. Not sure what other changes there are for this.
Masterpiece Grimlock coming. (Toys R Us Exclusive!)
Human Alliance Jazz with Lennox
SDCC Exclusive Blaster with Steeljaw, Rewind, and Ramhorn

 

Star Wars
Hasbro has issued a press release for their forthcoming Star Wars offerings. Here are the highlights:

Boba Fett Voice Changer Helmet ($34.99, Available August 2010)

AT-AT in scale with action figures. We’ve mentioned rumors of this here before. Looks like its official.
Includes a 3 ¾ inch AT-AT driver action figure and a pop-out speeder bike. ($99.99, August 2010)

Galactic Heroes AT-AT Playset. Looks like the 3 3/4 inch figures aren’t the only ones getting an AT-AT. This is the largest playset for this line yet. Also comes with an AT-AT driver figure. ($34.99, August 2010)

It should be noted that it is the 30th Anniversary of Empire Strikes Back, so there is lots of product coming based on that movie including the above AT-AT’s as well as Luke’s snow speeder from Hoth.

Figures.com had a pretty nice gallery of Star Wars stuff located here. I have mirrored a few of the relevant images below.

   

Toy Story 3
Hasbro will be celebrating the release of Toy Story 3 with the release of some new Mr. Potatohead figures. The classic version and versions for Buzz, Woddy and Jessie as well.

Mattel
This goes under the general header of Mattel because it spans a couple brands.
DCUC vs MOTUC 2-Packs
He-Man vs. Superman
Skeletor vs. Lex Luthor

DC Universe
New Stuff to be revealed this evening

Ghostbusters
New Stuff to be revealed this evening

Maters of the Universe Classics
Count Marzo (sporting very much a 2002 look)

She-Ra (She has a very classic look and seems to come with a head piece similar to the original toy that can be attached as a halo around her face as the original toy did, or upside down so she can wear it like a mask as was originally intended by Mattel, but ended up testing poorly with test groups)

Whiplash (both classic and modern heads and weapons)

Keldor (There is a theory that the 2002 swords might be announced later as another accessory)
UPDATE: ToyGuru put the kibosh on that -

The 200X Skeletor swords are the vintage swords. The swords designed for the 200X Skeletor was the Horsemen’s tribute to the original classic sword look. Since this is the Classics line, Keldor will have a double bladed classic sword (both male and female Purple swords). There will be no “200X” style Skeletor sword. They are the same thing as the vintage sword without the anime flare which is not part of the Classics line.

Gygor (This was a figure that never made it passed the prototype phase in the original line)

Tytus (This is based on an oversized figure released internationally only)

Weapons pack (most of the weapons and colors were chosen based on the original series’ weapons pack and the weapons rack that came with that line’s Castle Grayskull.)

SDCC Exclusive 2 pack – Mo-Larr with Missing Tooth Skeletor

CoolToyReview seems to have some of the best photos so far. They can be seen here. I have mirrored a few of the images below.

    

MatchBox
This video is from last year’s Toy Fair, but in addition to Rocky the Robot, Mattel will be offering up Stinky the Garbage Truck, Smokey the fire truck and Lanky the crane truck.

Triad Toys
ASMzine has a gallery for this company’s strange assortment of licenses. They have figures for House, Dexter, Samurai Champloo, Ghost (comic book), Lone Wolf Cub, DeadCell, and more.

Others?
Playmates – Turtles
Shocker Toys – Indie Spotlight, Mallows

Forget the iPad and the State of the Union, the rumor mill has been busy hyping up a supposed release of an in-scale (to the action figures) AT-AT. According to a report on RebelScum.com, the massive toy was spotted at the UK Toy Fair (a strictly no photo event).

Rebelscum reader Boba Fatt sends in a report on the highly-anticipated BAT-AT: “Damn, it’s HUGE!”

According to this eyewitness account, it looks like a Turbo Tank on legs, with an interior similar to the inside of the Turbo Tank, but with 2 levels, opening doors, a gun rack, and an underside hatch for Luke to slice into. There are 2 strings that come out of a side panel like on a rescue helicopter. The neck seal is rubber, and the head holds 6 figures inside, including General Veers. Plus, the rear opens for a Blizzard Force speeder bike. Still no photos yet, but this matches all previous reports.

The photo at the top of this post is a supposed photo of the walker, but there is no way to get a feel for the scale. This report puts things in perspective. The Turbo Tank mentioned is the one in the picture below.

Skeptic rebels continue to smugly call them “Great, big, fat gray targets.”

Info from RebelScum.com
Hype provided by PoeGhostal.com

Hot on the heels of the Bumblebee figure’s reveal, UGO got some exclusive pictures of the upcoming Megatron and Optimus Prime releases based on the War for Cybertron video game coming to consoles soon. There wasn’t anything to really go on from the article aside from the pictures.

I have to say I really dislike Megatron’s alt mode. Megatron’s robot mode is slightly mistransformed and missing the cannon from the alt mode. Prime looks pretty good though.

    

The Transformers fan club has put up an exclusive image of the new War for Cybertron Bumblebee figure based on the forthcoming video game we mentioned back here, here and here.

This was the cover image to the latest club magazine and was posted on the club website.

We’ve been discussing this very topic on our forums here. Join the discussion or comment below on what you think of this likely filler sub-line until the new show/movie starts up.