From the photos released by Hasbro the exclusive looks very similar to the original (which you probably couldn’t buy without spending a small fortune). It’s my understanding that Soundwave will come with four “tapes”: BUZZSAW, LASERBEAK, RATBAT and RAVAGE. I’m feeling all giddy just thinking about it.

From Hasbro:
“One of the most recognizable characters from the TRANSFORMERS brand lore, SOUNDWAVE is making a retro-comeback for San Diego Comic-Con in honor of the brand’s 25th Anniversary. Hasbro is re-releasing the original 1984 edition of the figure that will include four of the SOUNDWAVE character’s cassettes, two of which have not been released since the 80′s. The cassette characters include BUZZSAW, LASERBEAK, RATBAT and RAVAGE. The four figures fully convert between robot and cassette mode and fit into SOUNDWAVE when in cassette mode.

It’s no surprise this particular Transformer was discontinued a long time ago. I’m pretty sure the target audience isn’t even old enough to remember what a “cassette” is. Maybe they should bring Soundwave back as an Ipod or an Iphone… that would be cool! Make it happen Hasbro!

Anyway, this year one of the Mighty Mugg exlcusives will be of Wolverine/Logan. From the stock photo he looks pretty awesome. For those that don’t know Wolverine is my favorite comic book character. I collected comics when I was in junior high and later on when I was in college. I was an avid reader of the X-Men and Wolverine titles.

From Hasbro, “This Righteous Rebel with claws coming to you in exclusive foil packaging for Comic Con. “Made from 100% Recycled AWESOME™!”, this X-Man sports a lovable sneer and retractable claws on both hands.” RETRACTABLE CLAWS??? SWEET!

I plan on buying a good number of these and will most definately keep one and open it. He’ll go nicely on my office desk right next to my Snake Eyes Mighty Mugg.

Hey, did I mention my son’s name is Logan? snikt!

We still had a good time being at a different toy convention for the first time. Logan and Leia especially had fun.

Here’s the life-size Optimus Prime in Truck mode. The con was small but Optimus was huge and would be most impressive in robot mode I’m sure.

Like the Comic Con some fans at the BotCon came dressed in some pretty impressive costumes. Here’s my favorite costume of the day, Bumble Bee.

Sorry this photo has a lot of glare but here are some of the exclusives that Hasbro was selling at the BotCon. IMHO, way overpriced. $300+ for the boxed set. Nice packaging though. They were also giving a discount and a limited bonus figure away to those purchasing a membership.

This isn’t your father’s Millennium Falcon! If you collected Star Wars toys as a kid or adult you are probably familiar with the original Millennium Falcon from Hasbro. The mold that was used 30 years ago when I was a kid has not changed until now. At this year’s comic con, attendees were able to see the revealing of Hasbro’s new Millennium Falcon. I took the pictures at the Hasbro booth on Wednesday (Preview Night). The actual toy went on sale at retail stores Friday night.

At first glance it is quite impressive when you compare it to the old mold. The first thing you notice is how big it is. It’s about 30 percent bigger than the original. Then you start noticing the details like the cockpit having seating for four unlike the 2 seater of the original. This always irked me because in the movie it was clear the cockpit had four seats. There are more sounds in the new falcon including voice quotes from the movies. There are multiple compartments and although it’s not to scale it seems the inside is big enough to re-enact your favorite scenes from Star Wars.

One of the new features I feel a little funny about is the detacheable fighter pod. I don’t recall seeing this in the movies. Maybe it’s part of the expanded universe written in novels. Anyway, here’s a picture of what I mean:

Action figures sold seperately? Nope, not here. This one comes with both Han AND Chewie. Expect to pay a lot more for this bigger version. I believe retail is about 150 bucks. I still have the original version in my bedroom. Unless I can find the new one for a large discount I won’t be replacing mine anytime soon.

The good news is I got most of the exclusives that I wanted to get and then some. This includes the G.I.Joe Cobra Commanders, the Lightning Storm McQueen, and the Lego Indiana Jones exclusive (only 500 made). We also brought home the Batman exclusive from Hot Wheels, the He-Man “King Greyskull” from Mattel (both the normal and bronze color variant), Lobo (also from Mattel) and a gripload of free swag.

My family was so exhaused after Saturday that we decided to skip the con on Sunday and head home. As soon as we got home we unloaded all our loot and organized them. Going through all the stuff you got from the con is one of my favorite things. The con had less swag this year but some of the stuff they gave away was much better than years past. This year Mattel was giving away inflatable He-man swords, Disney gave away Tinkerbell Fairy wings which my daughters got a kick out of, Hasbro gave out Stormtrooper masks and Lego had this cool scavenger type of game where you had to go find 3 pieces of a lego “Joker” from the Lego, DC, and WB booths. At each booth you had to try a demo of the upcoming Batman Lego Video Game. Once you have all the pieces you turn them in and you get a Lego Batman, the completed Joker, and a collector box.

The lines to buy the exclusives were incredibly long. The Hasbro line was probably the worst. It was about a 2-3 hour wait. For those that complain about paying 2 to 3 times the retail price of an exclusive on ebay let me tell you this… YOU ARE GETTING AN ABSOLUTE BARGAIN! If you wanted to pay retail, be my guest to take a day off from work, buy convention tickets, wait 1-2 hours before the convention opens. Once it opens run to the booth where you want to buy, and then wait in another line for 3 hours to purchase. That was our experience on preview night.

For me, going to the con isn’t just about getting all the convention exclusives. I also enjoy seeing all the new and upcoming things in the toy industry. I’ll write more about that later. What I also love doing at the con is checking out all the people in various costumes. Some of the famous people I saw at the con this year was Hayden Panettieri (from one of my favorite shows, Heroes) and Neil Patrick Harris who was promoting the latest Harold and Kumar movie. I also got an autograph from Natalie Morales from that new TV show The Middleman. I took a bunch of pictures this year and I hope to share them here on the site in future posts.

My family and I have been going to the con every year for the past several years now. This year we significantly reduced our expenses. Thanks to my buddy Jay who let us camp in his vacant studio condo we saved a ton on hotel costs. We also packed our own sandwiches for lunch at the con. Not only are the food lines long but the prices are ridiculous. I’m talking airport restaurant ridiculous like. This year I was also pretty choosy about the items we bought at the Con. My wife and I are getting pretty good and knowing what will sell and what will sit on our storage shelves for a very long time.

Anyway, I’ll have more on the con in future posts. I’m exhausted and I gotta finish listing stuff on ebay and amazon.

One more week until the San Diego Comic Con!

I was one of those boys that collected G.I.Joes when I was a kid even though my favorite grade school teacher once called them “dolls”. They are action figures! Of all the G.I.Joes my favorite was Snake Eyes. I think everyone’s favorite was Snake Eyes. He was all dressed in black and always looked like a mysterious butt-kicking bad-ass.

Hasbro came out with a line of toys a few years ago made for the 3-5 age range bracket. They are called “Heroes”. For the most part they are cute versions of various pop-culture icons. The Star Wars versions are called “Galactic Heroes”, the Marvel Super hero versions are called “Super Hero Squad”, and there are other versions such as Transformers and even Indiana Jones versions.

For kids they are fun to play with. They don’t have the articulation of your typical action figures but they are the perfect size for toddlers and there’s no pieces such as guns and swords to easily lose. They are cute looking and very cartoonish. These figures are easy to store and are quite durable.

Hasbro will introduce the G.I.Joe version of the “Heroes” line with an exclusive “Snake Eyes and Timber” at this year’s Comic Con. These will be called “Combat Heroes”. This will be extremely hard to get I’m guessing. The Hasbro line is usually one of the longest and busiest at the comic con. I’m making this a target when I arrive on Preview Night.

It’s hard to believe that some of the first versions of the Star Wars lines fetch a hefty price on the secondary market. After all, aren’t these made for toddlers? For this reason, I think people will make a b-line to this exclusive. I’m hoping to get several next week if I’m lucky, two of which will be reserved for my son Logan.

Logan isn’t into action figures yet. He’s more of a car guy right now. But I’ve got a bunch of “Heroes” waiting for him when he’s ready. I think my daughter Leia already has every Galactic Princess Leia Hero out there.