Hasbro held their now annual two-day Pulse-Con on September 30 and October 1 of this year, and it was packed full of new product announcements. For those not familiar with Pulse-Con, it is a two day virtual event that was started by Hasbro to build excitement for all of their upcoming releases. The event covers most Hasbro brands, and here is a summary of those announcements broken down by each brand.

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Day One:

Transformers

The Transformers were first up as the Hasbro creative team revealed several new Transformers Legacy Evolution figures, such as SoundBlaster with Buzzsaw, Sludge, Deluxe Breakdown, Core Class Slug, Breakdown, Needlenose, Voyager Class Leo Prime, Tarn, and Scraphook. Also added were Target Masters Sunbeam and Zigzag. The Transformers crew also announced the Pulse Con exclusive Generations Shattered Glass Collection Soundwave, which is from the IDW comic version.

ALL TRANSFORMERS PHOTOS ARE COURTESY OF HASBRO

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Power Rangers

Next up were The Power Rangers team and their new release presentation. Announced were a brand new wave of Power Rangers Lightning Collection figures that included: Beast Morpher Yellow Ranger, Dino Fury Green Ranger, Dino Charge Blue Ranger, and Wild Force Putrid. Also revealed were Morphed Cammy Stinging Crane Ranger and Morphed Ken Soaring Falcon Ranger from the Power Rangers X Street Fighter Lightning Collection. Additionally, the In Space Astro Megazord was announced as the next Power Rangers Lightning Collection Zord Ascension Project.

ALL POWER RANGERS PHOTOS ARE COURTESY OF HASBRO

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Marvel

Not to be outdone, the Marvel team announced bunches of new additions for the Retro Marvel Legends Series, including Wolverine, Iron Man, Longshot, Avalanche, Multiple Man, Spiral, and Dark Phoenix. An incredible looking Legends Multipack with Daredevil, Elektra and Bullseye was also revealed. In addition, the latest Marvel Legends X-Men 90’s animated series was unveiled as Cyclops in the vintage VHS themed package

ALL MARVEL PHOTOS ARE COURTESY OF HASBRO

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Day Two:

GI Joe

Day two kicked off with big GI Joe reveals, including five new Classified Series figures, including Cover Girl, Crimson B.A.T, Outback, Falcon and Mad Marauders Barbecue. Also announced was the new Classified Series Serpentor and Air Chariot that was announced at this year’s SDCC is now available for pre-order exclusively as part of Pulse Con 2022.

ALL G.I JOE PHOTOS ARE COURTESY OF HASBRO

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Indiana Jones

The Hasbro Indiana Jones team showed off their initial wave of products which marks the first return to the iconic franchise since 2008’s Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The premium 6 inch Adventure Series was announced, which will kick off with Major Arnold Toht and Indiana Jones himself. Later Adventure Series releases will include Marion Ravenwood, Sallah, and Ceremonial Rene Belloq. The Indiana Jones Retro Collection will begin with a vintage packaging tribute of Indiana jones, with more figures to come. Finally, an Indiana Jones Adventure Staff of Ra Headpiece was also announced, which will feature the iconic Indy prop on a 1:1 scale with a beautifully sculpted base to display it on.

ALL INDIANA JONES PHOTOS ARE COURTESY OF HASBRO

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Star Wars

To end the day, Hasbro revealed a bunch of upcoming Star Wars releases on the second day of the event. From the Vintage Collection line, the team announced Cassian Andor and Vel Sartha from the Disney Plus Andor series, along with Hunter from the Bad Batch and a Modal Nodes Multi Pack, which will be a Hasbro Pulse/Shop Disney Exclusive. Next up were the newest 6 Inch Black Series figures, that included Bix Caleen, Luthen Rael, Mon Mothma, and Cassian Andor from the Andor series, as well as Axe Woves from the Mandalorian. Also announced was the first wave of the Return of the Jedi 40th Anniversary Collection, which features Princess Leia (Endor), Han Solo (Endor), Lando Calrissian (Skiff Guard), Biker Scout, and Wicket the Ewok. As with previous anniversary waves, this collection will feature a mixture of new and repacked figures on the iconic Kenner card backs.

ALL STAR WARS PHOTOS ARE COURTESY OF HASBRO

ALL STAR WARS PHOTOS ARE COURTESY OF HASBRO

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All announced items are currently available for pre-order on their respective sties, and will be released at various times during 2023.

Turn yourself into an action figure this fall!

Click this link to check-out Hasbro’s Selfie Series Page

Are you ready to make your wildest dreams come true…………………..well, at least the one involving you being made into an action figure. Beginning this Fall, that’s exactly what Hasbro is doing. Every child growing up with toys and action figures has dreamed about an action figure of themselves, and it’s finally becoming a reality.

In collaboration with 3D printing company, Formlabs, Hasbro is offering fans the opportunity to put your face onto the body of one of their favorite Movie or TV characters from Star Wars, Ghostbusters, GI Joe, or Power Rangers. Those are the only ones released at this point, but Hasbro owns a lot of licenses, so we’ll see who gets added to the party later on.

You will have to download the Hasbro Pulse App to participate in the Selfie Series

Hasbro’s Official Announcement

“Want to immortalize yourself as your very own action figure?”

“This one-of-a-kind experience will be launching in Fall 2022 exclusively on the Hasbro Pulse mobile app (for fans aged 16 and older, in the US only).”

Many details have yet to be announced, but the process is seemingly painless. First, you will have to download the Hasbro Pulse app to get started. Then, you will scan your face, choose your desired look, and then stand by the mailbox and wait.

Once again, exact pricing details have yet to be announced, but Hasbro has floated out the number of $60 for the entire process. That seems like an amazing deal for something this cool, but we will definitely have to see how the pricing plays out closer to launch. If the price point holds true, that’s a bargain, because I would pay WAY more than that to make myself an action figure.

The Selfie Series will all be made available this Fall, so stay tuned for more information.

Click this link to check-out Hasbro’s Selfie Series Page

The search for Indiana Jones treasures leads to Disney!

Click this link to check-out the Disney Indiana Jones Collection

Since the last Indiana Jones movie was released in 2008 (Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), tracking down new items has proved as difficult as finding a Sankara Stone for Indy fans and collectors.

All that changed on June 24th, when Disney announced they would begin selling exclusive Indiana Jones merchandise on their Shop Disney site. These items can only be found on the website and of course, at the various Disney parks.
These Items will all be made available on June 27th, at 7:00 AM PST.

Offered items include replicas of the more famous Indiana Jones props from the movies:

Click this link to check-out the Disney Indiana Jones Collection

As well as a couple of clothing items:

Click this link to check-out the Disney Indiana Jones Collection

Disney has advertised that additional items will be offered later, and don’t forget that several other Indiana Jones related items can always be found at the parks, including pins, clothing items and various kid’s toys.

A throwback to the good old days!

When it comes to toy brands, everyone knows the big boys such as Hasbro, Mattel and maybe even Playmates, but you are sorely missing out if you aren’t familiar with Super 7.

The Super 7 Company was founded in 2001 by Brian Flynn out of San Francisco. It started out as a magazine about vintage Japanese toys, which was published until 2007. Flynn, who was a designer by trade, also happened to be a rabid collector of vintage toys. So he began designing toy lines based on the popular brands from his youth. Super 7 now is the home of many fun and creative toy lines, but the one we are focusing on is my personal favorite, the ReAction line of figures.

Super 7 began the ReAction series in 2013 with the classic style of the vintage 3.75” Kenner figures from the 1980’s. The figures basically created vintage style action figures of movies and brands that we grew up with, but never actually had an action figure line of their own during that era. The figures feature some pretty basic sculpting, but that’s what makes these figures so unique and charming.

When the ReAction line first began in 2013, Super 7 partnered with Funko to give them the licenses and distribution channels they needed. A few years later, in 2016, Super 7 announced they had resumed control of the line solely, and would began producing figures of their own without Funko. The ReAction figure line has been going strong ever since, with an ever growing lineup of brands and licenses.

If you were to create a comprehensive checklist for all of the ReAction figures since 2013, it would be quite the long list. The line actually began with one franchise, and that was the classic 1979 movie, Alien. An action figure line was initially planned for the movie by Kenner, but never made it to release at the time, due to the mature theme of the movie. The figures were famously displayed in catalogs but were never actually releases to retail stores. ReAction launched an Alien line of figures in 2013 to mirror the figures that were originally produced by Kenner. The line launched at San Diego Comic Con that year, and turned into a huge hit.

The following year in 2014, ReAction went into full production mode with lines based on all kinds of franchises, such as Back to the Future, Goonies, Escape From New York, Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Predator, Pulp Fiction and the Universal Monsters. The next year, 2015, saw the launch of Gremlins, The Karate Kid, Jaws, Terminator, Big Trouble in Little China, Nightmare Before Christmas, The Flash, and several modern horror brands such as Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th.

Super 7 definitely had the reputation of making action figures from just about anything they could get their hands on, and that has only grown over the years. Nowadays, Super 7 produces ReAction figures based on everything from sports figures (MLB, NBA) to music entertainers (Grateful Dead, Brittney Spears, Johnny Cash), and from established franchises (Transformers, GI Joe, TMNT) to famous Disney brands (Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Haunted Mansion, Buzz Lightyear). Super 7’s ReAction line truly does it all, and then some.

In fact, more than 100 different brands or licenses have been turned into 3.75″ action figures, thanks to Super 7. The good news for collectors is there are no signs of slowing down anytime soon, as new waves continue to get cranked out each month. Much like Funko’s Pop bobble head figures, if you can’t find a ReAction figure that speaks to you, then you really aren’t even trying.

Mega Con 2022 Review

Mega Con is an annual event that’s held in Orlando each year, and is one of the biggest shows in North America. It began back in 1993, and has seen massive growth ever since. The show now attracts well over a hundred thousand visitors from all over the world. This year’s Mega Con was held from May 19 – 22, at the Orange County Convention Center. Since fans come in all shapes and sizes, Mega Con is the perfect gathering spot for those who enjoy just about every aspect of fandom. There is truly something for everybody, and this year’s Mega Con was bigger and better than ever before. The show was held at the North/South concourse of the Convention Center, which is their largest area. That means LOTS of room for shopping, cosplay, exhibits, photo-ops, celebrity autographs, panels, or just soaking in the atmosphere.

Mega Con 2022 boasted 400,000 square feet of fan goodness this year, with an incredibly massive area for shopping and sight seeing. This area included hundreds of exhibitors, retailers, and artists. If you can’t find anything to buy at Mega Con, then you’re probably at the wrong place. There are toys, clothing, comic books, masks, artwork, cosplay accessories, and more Funko Pops than you can possibly imagine. In addition, there are fan panels and displays set up on both, the north and south concourses. This allows for twice the amount of panels with just about every aspect of fan culture that you can think of. Each celebrity attending the show had a panel of their own, with the bigger ones being ticketed events throughout the weekend for the Hobbits, Frank Miller, Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes. Many other panels were also held for collecting, cosplay, podcasts, design, paranormal interests, art, gaming, and much more than I can list. Let it suffice to say, that there was a panel or display for everyone.

Another huge reason to go to any convention are the celebrities, and Mega Con always comes through with some of the biggest names in the business. This year was no different, as Mega Con featured the hottest names from the big and small screens. Attending the event were all four Hobbits from Lord of the Rings (Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, and Dominic Monaghan), Cobra Kai stars (Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, Martin Kove, Mary Mouser and Tanner Buchanan), Brent Spiner and Levar Burton from Star Trek, the crew from Clerks (Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, and the gang), Nathan Fillion, Gina Carano, Brendan Fraser, and so many more. For animated fans, there was the legendary Kevin Conroy, and Billy West, James Arnold Taylor, Ashley Eckstein and Matt Lanter from Star Wars, Paige O’Hara, Chris Sarandon and many more. Wrestling fans got to enjoy Alexa Bliss, Ric Flair, Jerry Lawler, the Bella Twins, Kevin Owens and even the UNDERTAKER!

One of the biggest parts of any convention nowadays are the absolutely amazing cosplayers! Since Mega Con has such a broad spectrum of fans, every single corner of pop culture was well represented. There were plenty of tributes to iconic franchises such as, Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, and more. The comic book world was certainly well represented with cosplayers from every part of the Marvel and DC universes. Disney was everywhere with their large selection of princesses and characters. The Anime world was also out in full force with Cosplayers from Dragon Ball Z, My Hero Academia, Full Metal Alchemist and more. The most commonly seen costume for men this year, would have to be Spiderman, with the Mandalorian finishing a close second. Most popular costume for the women goes to Marvel’s Scarlett Witch/Wanda, with a strong presence of female Batman villains for runner-up.

Mega Con in Orlando is a four day event, and even that isn’t enough to see everything. One of the most amazing aspects about this show, is that you could walk around for all four days, and still see things on day four that you had not come across. Mega Con has grown into one of the premier fandom cons in the country, and will only continue to grow as pop culture fans flock to the event each year. The company, Fan Expo, does an amazing job of putting this show together, and has come up with a winning formula in Orlando. Overall, Mega Con is a large show with something for everybody, and a complete sense of awe from the moment you walk in the door. Despite being such a large show, Mega Con maintains a tremendous sense of of organization with very few issues along the way. Even though it may get a bit tight on Saturday’s, it’s always a pleasant experience to get around. This show is definitely one that I circle on the calendar each year, and truly can’t wait to see what next year brings.

How did this whole thing begin?

The original Star Wars movie, A New Hope, was released on May 25, 1977, and the world was never the same. The truth is that none of the classic movies were ever released on May the 4th, but May is generally recognized as the month that most Star Wars movies are usually released. The exception being the new Disney trilogy movies, each released in December. The phrase “May the Fourth be with you” actually began back in the late 70’s as a clever pun, and it just grew over the years. Once Disney got a hold of it, they really put the marketing machine into overdrive. Now May the 4th has become a full fledged Star Wars Day. So rejoice, and take a moment today to celebrate one of the biggest movie and pop culture franchises of all time, and May The Fourth Be With You all!

Summary of Transformers Announcements

Hasbro held their now annual Pulse-Con from October 22-23 of this year, and it was packed full of new product announcements. For those not familiar with Pulse-Con, it is a two day virtual event that was started by Hasbro to build excitement for all of their upcoming releases. The event covers all Hasbro brands, but we will cover Hasbro’s Transformers announcements for now. Check my other posts to see what is happening with other Hasbro brands.

Hasbro revealed their upcoming Transformers releases on the first day of the event, October 22nd. The reveals featured characters from both G1 and G2, as well as a brand new Deluxe Legacy series.

First up are the beautiful figures from the brand new series called Transformers: Generations Legacy. This new line will feature characters from multi generations, with the first wave featuring Skids, Dragstrip (Stunticons), Prime Arcee, Kickback (Insecticons), Voyager Prime Bulkhead and G2 Leader Optimus Prime

These new figures will be given a brand new packaging to match the beautiful sculpting for each character. The new packaging will be more cardboard heavy, as Hasbro is scaling back the use of plastics with their green initiative.

Last but not least, we will see a new Galvatron & Unicron Companion Pack. This new set will feature a re-sculpted Leader Class Galvatron figure from Transformers: The Movie and Unicron, along with mini-figures and warships. This is going to be an epic set that every Transformers fan will want, but it will be a Hasbro Pulse Exclusive.

All announced items should be available at various times before the end of the year and next, so keep checking the Hasbro Pulse page for further updates.

Summary of GI Joe Announcements

Hasbro held their now annual Pulse-Con from October 22-23 of this year, and it was packed full of new product announcements. For those not familiar with Pulse-Con, it is a two day virtual event that was started by Hasbro to build excitement for all of their upcoming releases. The event covers all Hasbro brands, but we will cover Hasbro’s GI Joe announcements for now. Check my other posts to see what is happening with other Hasbro brands.

Hasbro revealed their upcoming GI Joe releases on the second day of the event, October 23rd. The reveals were from the absolutely stunning GI Joe: Classified series, as well as a new Retro Set, but the first big announcement came from HasLab, as the new Skystriker Jet was made official! The HasLab Skystriker campaign will run from October 23 through December 7.

First up is the newest 6 Inch Classified wave that included brand new sculpts of Spirit, Croc Master, Tiger Force Outback, Python Patrol Viper, Python Patrol B.A.T and our favorite ninja, Storm Shadow.

Each figure will come in the newly designed GI Joe: Classified packaging with all new accessories.

Finally, Hasbro also announced a wonderfully done retro two-pack featuring Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow, with the vintage 1980’s packaging.

All announced items should be available at various times before the end of the year and next, so keep checking back with the Hasbro Pulse site to get your specific dates.

Summary of Marvel Announcements

Hasbro held their now annual Pulse-Con from October 22-23 of this year, and it was packed full of new product announcements. For those not familiar with Pulse-Con, it is a two day virtual event that was started by Hasbro to build excitement for all of their upcoming releases. The event covers all Hasbro brands, but we will cover Hasbro’s Marvel announcements for now. Check my other posts to see what is happening with other Hasbro brands.

Hasbro revealed their upcoming Marvel Legends releases on the second day of the event, October 23rd. The reveals were from the Marvel Legends series of both the 6 Inch and 3.75 Inch series. The first big announcement was concerning the upcoming 6 Inch figures. We will be seeing a new Winter Soldier figure, as well as a Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson two-pack.

Two more 6 Inch “Retro” figures will be released in the form of Scarlet Witch and Vision from their West Coast Avengers appearances. Shopdisney will host two exclusive figures based on the classic X-Men Animated Series of the 90’s, with Jubilee and Wolverine.

A new wave of 3.75 Inch Retro Legends figures will hit the market next year, that will include Dark Phoenix, Falcon, Venom, Mr. Fantastic, and Wolverine.

Finally, Hasbro will be releasing two new 16 Inch figures and what better characters to start off with, than Captain America and Iron Man.

All announced items should be available at various times before the end of the year, with the 3.75 Inch figures made available in 2022.

Summary of Star Wars Announcements

Hasbro held their now annual Pulse-Con from October 22-23 of this year, and it was packed full of new product announcements. For those not familiar with Pulse-Con, it is a two day virtual event that was started by Hasbro to build excitement for all of their upcoming releases. The event covers all Hasbro brands, but we will cover Hasbro’s Star Wars announcements for now. Check my other posts to see what is happening with other Hasbro brands.

Hasbro revealed their upcoming Star Wars releases on the first day of the event, October 22nd. The reveals were from the Vintage Collection series, as well as the 6 Inch Black Series line, but the first big announcement came from HasLab, as the new 6 Inch scale Black Series Rancor Monster was made official! The HasLab Rancor campaign will run from October 22 through December 6, with a target shipping date of Spring of 2023.

Next up was the newest 6 Inch Black Series wave that included a brand new Mandalorian/Grogu Deluxe set featuring the pair from Maldo Kreis. Also included was a deluxe Cobb Vanth, Boba Fett (Tython), and Migs Mayfeld.

Three new multipacks (Droid Depot, Galactic Creatures and First Order) were also announced, and will be Disney park exclusives.

Finally, Hasbro made several announcements concerning their Vintage Collection line concerning The Mandalorian and Prequel Trilogy movies. From the Mandalorian, we will be seeing a new Ahsoka figure, as well as a Deluxe figure set with Mano and Grogu from Maldo Kreis. The most exciting announcement was about a new playset featuring the Nevarro Cantina from Mandalorian Season 2.

On the Prequel Side, we get brand new sculpts of young Anakin Skywalker, a bearded Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Mace Windu. A new boxed set containing four different Rebel Trooper figures will be a Hasbro Pulse exclusive item online.

All announced items should be available at various times before the end of the year