Between the morning press conference and the evening’s G.I. Joe panel, there was quite a bit of new Hasbro product on display this Thursday. This has to be one of the busiest Thursdays I’ve ever experienced at Comic-Con. While the final reveal of Diamondback was amazing, I think Roadhog ended up being my favorite thing I saw from Hasbro today.
Hasbro holds its annual press conference at SDCC to showcase some new and recently revealed data while also offering a free breakfast to the media. For Star Wars, the new items are battle droids and STAPs, which will be available at the upcoming Pulse Con for $49.99. Seeing the card STAP again really reminded me of one of the first episode preview characters, although I wish the burst had been green for the full effect. They also had Joruus C’Boath’s set on site, which was kind of ironic because the set I booked was already home by the time I was at the con. I really like the portrait of Jorus. Looks like evil Alan Moore!
The Legends team had the 80th Anniversary figures, Blackheart Wave, and Giant-Man on hand, and showed off Kang with three interchangeable faceplates and thrones, as well as some X-Men arcade-style Sentinels. While I think the pink color of the Sentinels is a bit on the protein side, these two packs still bring back memories of those times I spent fighting them in the arcade with my friends on that old giant multiplayer cabinet. Sentinels and Kang will be at Pulse Con, priced at $54.99 and $59.99 respectively. I’m not sure I need such a neat floating throne for my kang.
Finally, Team Joe showed off the Starduster, a Pulse Con exclusive priced at $34.99. He strikes me as one of the least luxurious characters since the Kamakura series, but that’s probably because he’s been reused so many times. When we heard the rumors about this character, I kind of expected there to be a jumping jet platform, but that’s not the case. I think my favorite bit was seeing the interior cockpit lights actually working on the Dragonfly because they diffused those lights beautifully.
The panel kicked off with an interesting visit from Sgt. Slaughter revealed another crossover with Transformers, this time his Triple T tank transformed into Kup from Transformers. From there go straight to the Rattler Haslab introductory video, narrated by Cobra Commander. He had to list so many features of this amazing thing that I started worrying about the voice actors’ vocal chords because the video was so long. Let me just say the features and sculpting look great. My only reservation is that the first layer is a few patches and to me it feels very “cardboard background and a bag of bones”. I like the new equipped pilot Baroness, although the gunner is less exciting due to his resemblance to the Wild Weasel. I kind of wish they went with a female shooter. However, these are minor issues.
We then went straight to pre-ordering the 60th Anniversary Editions of Sniper and Halo Jumper. These two look great, I particularly like the sniper’s personality in the portrait and the various pose options, including the bunny hat and hat/glasses combo. The bandanna with the face paint is nice and the ghillie suit looks neat too. The Halo Jumper also looks great, although they warn you won’t want to try to parachute this guy off a roof, it’s for looks, not function. Both items will be available for pre-order on July 26, 2024 at 5pm ET for $34.99 each.
Next up is the Pulse Con Starduster, which also retails for $34.99. Funnily enough, you can assemble a Cheerios box from his packaging insert, since he was originally a mail-in giveaway of the cereal.
Then they showed us the character I was most curious about, Road Pig, and he did not disappoint. If Dreadnoks was inspired by the original Mad Max movie, I feel like this guy took that and really ran with it, just like Fury Road enhanced the Mad Max franchise The design is the same. He’s got skulls, tattoos, spikes, metal, and a weirdly scary gas mask, as well as a unique body type that you don’t often see in more aspirational bodies in the action figure world. Road Pig is a fighter, a powerlifter, but clearly enjoys more than his share of grape soda and chocolate donuts. I also like that he uses another expression to show off his multiple personalities. Bulldog is also a clever reuse of a junkyard body. The doll and pet set will also be available for pre-order on July 26, 2024 at 5pm ET for $44.99
I love the weirder, more fantastical side of G.I. Joe , so I’m excited to see that the next character is a raptor. He is another deluxe retailing for $34.99 and will be available for pre-order on July 26, 2024 at 5pm ET. I feel like the larger wings somewhat justify the higher price, although I’m a little surprised that he only got a hooded bird and not one in flight mode. I really like the design they implemented here, however, the body markings give this guy a bit of a cool factor that I don’t think he’s had before. I think the more stylish bird headdress helps him here too.
Finally, for pre-order, there’s also an Army Builder Standoff Pack, featuring the Golden Helm Iron Legion figures and the Cobra Twilight Guard. Both of these are pretty serious kit hits and I’m not sure how I feel about that right now. My first impression is that we might be pushing for reuse on these guys, but I’m not sure how I feel about the officers wearing the Twilight Guard CG helmet look. The set will cost $54.99 and will be available for pre-order on, you guessed it, July 26, 2024 at 5pm ET.
From there, they moved on to renders of the Zandar, Leatherneck, and Cobra CLAW, all of which look great. Zandar is one of my childhood favorites, so I’m glad I love the redesign that pays homage to the original while changing up a few things. Lenny did mention that underneath the chest plate, he’ll have the original character’s lightning bolt, and that Falcon’s chest holster will work with him. The rendering of action scenes showing CLAW action is also particularly impressive. I do love those box art action scenes.
The only names revealed are “Heavy Duty”, “Retro Rock N Roll”, “Retro Dr. Mindbender”, “Retro Viper” and “Law and Order”, all of which sound great to me, especially the retro ” Rocky”.
Even under the harsh lights of the booth, I was so impressed that I was ready to sign up for the Rattler. Really beautiful. The size and features impressed me enough to justify the $324.99 price tag. Do I wish it were less and the first layer more impressive? Yes, but I’m still here.
Overall, I’d say it was a very impressive performance for Joe’s team.
