Here I am, my first post from San Diego Comic Con 2019. Rather than jump into a big post like the cosplayers I saw or just my overall look at the convention which would have taken me a long time to put together I figured I’d start with something quick and easy so I could at least establish my presence on the web with content from SDCC which is why I’m talking about what Hasbro brought with them to SDCC.

I was pretty busy in the weeks leading up to San Diego Comic Con and I wasn’t able to keep up on what kind of toy exclusives or debuts would be coming up so I wasn’t 100% sure of what to expect. I knew that Hasbro held the trademarks and licensing rights to Transformers, My Little Pony, and GI Joe so I knew to at least expect something like that from them. After getting to Comic Con and seeing what Hasbro was selling, I was a bit disappointed that they weren’t selling anything that really caught my eye and made me desperately wanting. Although looking back, this is probably a good thing that I didn’t spend that much money buying toys.

What really surprised me though with Hasbro was all the stuff they bought out with them. Like I said earlier, I knew they had licensing rights to Transformers, My Little Pony, and GI Joe but I didn’t know they had the rights to so many other properties.

When I was a kid I remember pretty much anything that was even remotely aimed had children had an accompanying toyline with it and with all those toylines there were also so many manufacturers cranking them out. Today, a lot of those toy companies I remember from when I was a kid aren’t around anymore. Between high production and licensing costs as well as the fact most kids today are more interested with playing with tablets, smartphones, and videogames there just isn’t that much money in making real toys anymore, and a lot of those companies that existed when I was a kid—lot of them are gone— some having been absorbed by a larger company. This is why Hasbro has so many different properties with them at Comic Con—they’re the big toy company swallowing up all the smaller companies.

While those companies may be gone it’s somewhat comforting to know that at least the toys are surviving, and after seeing

With all the stuff they have it was only natural that Hasbro have an awesome booth display at San Diego Comic Con. Here are my highlights of what they had with them.

With me being a huge Transformers fan and with Transformers being a Hasbro property I really made it a point to get pictures of the Transformers display Hasbro had set up. The majority of the stuff they had was from their War for Cybertron: Siege line but they also had a variety of other things on site that they were promoting.

The biggest attraction Hasbro had in their booth was this: The Chaos Bringer, the Planet Eater, Unicron. This isn’t actually the first time Hasbro tried their hand at making a Unicron toy— however I will say this is their best attempt at doing it. Just look at it. In both planet and robot form it looks exactly like Unicron did when he debuted in 1986 in Transformers: The Movie.

I really wish my pictures of this thing could do it justice because it is freaking huge. In robot mode Unicron is 24 inches tall and that’s without counting the wings and horns. In planet mode, the planet itself is 15 inches in diameter while the rings almost double that height. Also, from what I heard Unicron has 50 points of articulation and weighs like 19lbs.

As cool as it is I did see that Unicron has been getting a lot of hate online.

One of the biggest complaints I saw online is speculation that Unicron is a “shell-former” in the sense that he doesn’t really transform. Instead, planet mode is just a shell and Unicron is folded up inside. I understand that this is a bit of a cop out but honestly if any of those keyboard warriors out there could design and build a realistic version of Unicron that could actually transform then i’m sure Hasbro is listening.

If you watch the transformation clip from Transformers: The Movie you can see that while there was some actual transforming they still had to do quite a bit of cheating and mass-shifting to get it right, but like I said if anybody out there is bitching then i’m sure Hasbro would love to see you design a better Unicron.

Another criticism I saw online is that the ring, wings, and spikes are a bit flimsy looking and could easily break off especially considering how heavy this thing is if it were to accdentially fall off its stand. I’m pretty sure the designers thought that through though and made them flexible enough to absorb impacts and be crushed.

The final complaint I heard is the price. This thing has a pricetag of $574.99. This is a lot for a toy but it’s pretty obvious at this point that this thing is not being marketed towards children—at least not poor children.

Here’s the backside of Unicron in planet mode.

Here’s the backside of Unicron in robot mode as you can see by all the plates surrounding Unicron’s feet as well as that backpack-looking thing it’s pretty obvious at this point that he’s a shell-former. I am a bit curious if this means Unicron is a “parts-former” as well which means the plate pieces come off instead of fold.

Here’s some signs that Hasbro had up talking about his dimensions. Like I said this thing is freaking huge. I am a bit surprised n robot mode he’s 12 inches wide from front to back but I’m thinking they did this to make sure he’s balanced enough to stand up on his own considering how heavy he is.

Right now, Unicron is actually part of a crowd-sourcing campaign by Hasbro. In order to put Unicron into production Hasbro is looking for a minimum of 8,000 backers to pledge their support by preordering Unicron for $574.99 by August 31st. If their goal is met Unciron will be put into production and will be shipped out by early 2021. I can’t blame Hasbro for doing this. Considering how big and crazy it is, it would suck if they put this into production and nobody buys them because of the price tag or in my case they don’t buy it because they have nowhere else to put it. Last I checked Hasbro only has about 2,000 backers. They still have until August 31st to get the backing they need but I’m having my doubts they’ll be able to meet it in time which is a bit sad.

Here’s my next big purchase: The Titan-class Omega Supreme. I’m a been drooling over Omega Supreme ever since it was first announced. It’s a lot bigger than I pictured it would be.

Omega Supreme in base mode. I really like how Hasbro set up a bunch of other figures to make it look like a battle scene and Omega Supreme is the location.

In the cartoon, Omega was used as the Autobots primary mode of transportation whenever they had to go into space or another planet, since Omega was made up of the entire base and not just the rocket it always made me scratch my head whenever they showed Omega being able to recreate his entire self from just the rocket component or that sometimes when he landed on an alien planet the rest of the base was already there. Chalk it up to ’80s children’s cartoon logic. I wonder if they just never thought it through or if they thought kids back then were too stupid to notice.

Here’s another future purchase, Jetfire. Like Omega he’s a lot bigger than I thought he would be but he is part of that new Commander-Class of figures.

Originally, I wasn’t planning on buying a Springer figure but after seeing this I think I might have to now after seeing this. Hasbro did a really good job getting him to look just like he did in the cartoon.

Galaxy Upgrade Optimus Prime. This really reminds me of Transfomers: Dark of the Moon where Optimus Prime had a trailer and the trailer could either transform into a mobile armory with all of Optimus’s weapons or into a jetpack with guns.

War for Cybertron: Siege Thundercracker, whose alt-mode is the “tetrajet/pyramid” jet mode from the first episode of the 1984 Transformers cartoon. I know realistically the jets are basically the same thing just in different colors but I really want to get all of them.

Studio Series KSI Boss, a character inspired yet never actually featured in Transformers: Age of Extinction. According to what I read online the KSI Boss is a retooling of a Studio Series Thundercracker figure which was supposed to be a Toys R’ Us exclusive. Following the closure of Toys R’ Us, the Studio Series Thundercracker is supposed to be really hard to come by now.

These skies and snowboard were don as a collaboration between Transformers and Gilson to commemorate the Transformers 35th anniversary.

This is the only con exclusive that I was remotely interested in but not interested in enough to buy. It’s the MP-100 Optimus Prime Ecto 35 Edition. Essentially, it’s Optimus Prime but he’s painted to resemble Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters.

Here’s the packaging for the Ecto 35 Edition of Optimus. I really like how the box is not only shaped like a proton pack but it also has straps on it so it can be worn like a backpack.

The Refraktor 3-pack which is supposed to be coming out within the next couple months. Right now if I wanted to buy one there’s a War for Cybertron: Siege Refraktor but they only come in singles and in order to build the camera you’ll need to buy 3 of them and rather than do that I’m just going to wait for the 3-pack.

Ratbat and Frenzy. I’m not sure if these are part of the WFC: Siege line or if these are from something else.

The War for Cybertron Siege Astrotrain. This version is supposed to be the most cartoon-accurate version ever produced with the train mode actually looking like a steam-powered train while past-versions had the train-mode looking more like modern trains. I’m a bit on the fence about getting this since I do have the Titans Returns version of Astrotrain and honestly while this is being touted as cartoon-accurate I’m really not that wowed by it.

The seeker/rainmaker 3-pack containing Acid Storm, Ion Storm, and Nova Storm. Like I said earlier with Thundercracker, I know they’re all the same thing just repainted but there’s something about them that makes me want them all. In this case, I think I want them just because they were used just rarely in the cartoon.

Frenzy/Laserbeak and Rumble/Ravage two-packs from the Vintage G1 reissue line that Hasbro is putting out.

A Vintage G1 of Soundwave with Buzzsaw.

Originally I wasn’t that into the Vintage G1 line but after seeing Soundwave and the Cassecticons I think I might have to at least get those.

When I saw all the Power Rangers stuff in the Hasbro booth at first I thought that maybe there was a collaboration going on between Hasbro and Bandai. When I got back to my hotel though I looked it up and learned that Saban and Bandai mutually decided not to renew their releationship in 2018 and that Hasbro stepped up to handle toys for Saban. I also learned that this deal only affects Bandai US, Bandai Japan still holds the toy license with Toei, the Japanese production company that owns Super Sentai, the property which Power Rangers is based on.

As part of their Power Rangers display Hasbro had all this stuff up promoting the current Power Rangers series, Power Rangers: Beast Morphers.

The Beast-X Ultrazord from Beast Morpher.

While I was really into Power Ranges as a kid like so many people my age, I did eventually grow out, although I did still watch it for a few years afterwards just because there was nothing else to do after school. I was actually really glad I grew out of Power Rangers after I saw the fanatic episode of MTV True Life and one of the guys they featured who at the age of like 24 had a very unhealthy fascination with Power Rangers. Because of that I haven’t really kept up with Power Rangers so I can’t really tell you more about it.

On the other side of the Hasbro was what really surprised me. This was the side where they had the Marvel and Star Wars toys. When I was a kid Marvel and Star Wars toys were made by Toy Biz and Kenner respectively but both those companies are long gone, and I know the properties had to go somewhere but I was just surprised that Hasbro is handling it for Disney.

One of the big draws that Hasbro had was this setup featuring figures from the Marvel Legends Series. It’s a giant battle scene featuring pretty much every single Marvel superhero and villain you could think of.

As you can see by the closeups this thing is like every kid’s dream battle scenario. To have every single action figure in the line and have them arranged in the biggest and craziest battle scene they could imagine. This thing had my inner child screaming for joy. I really wish I took my time to get more photos of this thing because I could have easily done a post on just this alone.

Aside from the battle on top of the case some smaller scenarios were set up on the lower parts of the case. Unfortunately, Hasbro decided to do some weird lighting for these setups which is why they look a bit weird. I tried to compensate the best I could but there was only so much I could do.

Here’s a dojo fight scene inspired by the recently canceled Netflix Marvel series featuring Iron Fist, Misty Knight, Elektra, and Luke Cage taking on the mafia and some Hand Ninjas.

Here’s a scene depicting a raid on a Hydra base. Notice on the right that that’s not actually Captain America, that’s U.S.Agent/Super Patriot the alter ego of John Walker, a soldier who was brought in to replace Steve Rogers as Captain America in a storyline where Rogers was forced to give up the Captain America identity. Also notice in the back, the evil-looking Iron Man in the armor. I believe that’s Frank Castle in the War Machine armor which was inspired by a recent storyline in the Punisher comics where the Punisher steals the War Machine armor from the government and uses it to wage war against Hydra.

On top of the giant battle scene Hasbro also had several other Marvel Legends Series figures setup in various other cases. Looking at some of the setups I’m wondering why they didn’t try to arrange the figures in cases in a more consistent manner.

This case is a mismatch of time eras. You have Dazzler wearing the costume she wore in the ’80s, Storm wearing the costume she wore in the early ’90s when X-Men volume 2 launched. Wolverine wearing the black costume he wore when he joined X-Force, which I believe was in the late 2000s, Cyclops wearing the costume he wore when he was a part of X-Factor in the ’80s, and Ice Man looking like he did in the ’60s. As for Silver Samurai, while he did have a different costume when he first appeared in Daredevil #111, he’s pretty much looked the same and worn that same samurai outfit ever since it debuted in Marvel Team-Up #57.

Here’s another blending of time. You have modern day Deadpool and Dogpool on a Scooter, ’90s era Professor X in his hoverchair and WWII-era Captain America complete with a motorcycle. Here, I can understand the mismatch because the theme they’re going is to show off characters who come with vehicles or larger accessories.

In clockwise order starting from the top left you have Blink, Caliban, Beast, Deathlok, Forge, Emma Frost, Jubliee, Weapon-X Wolverine, Mystique, and Gambit. Out of all the display cases there were this one reminded me the most of the Marvel toys Toy Biz put out when I was a kid.

In this case once again going clockwise starting from the left of the backrow you have Vindicator/Guardian, Nightcrawler, Magneto, Mr. Sinister, The Wendigo, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Boom Boom, Cannonball, and Wolverine.

This case I feel was an attempt to go for like a retro feel. You have the Hulk wearing his classic purple pants and the tattered remains of his shirt, a call back to his first appearance on the cover of The Incredible Hulk #1, Wolverine wearing the costume from his first appearance Incredible Hulk #180 which is from 1974, Colossus is wearing the costume he wore in Giant Size X-Men #1, Thor in his classic costume, Iron Man in his classic red and gold Mk IV armor from the ’70s and Juggernaut in his red armor. The only one who seems out of place is Captain America and that’s because you can tell that his costume is supposed to be chainmail which I don’t think they really emphasized in the comicbooks until recently.

This case is obviously inspired by the MCU. Clockwise starting from the left of the backrow you have Peggy Carter from Captain America: The First Avenger, Spider-Man circa Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, the Karl Urban as Skurge from Thor: Ragnarok, Ava Starr/Ghost from Ant-Man and the Wasp, Jeff Goldblum Grandmaster, Hela and Korg from Thor: Ragnarok, Luis with Hank Pym’s lab, Iron Man from Infinity War/Endgame, and a First Avenger-era Captain America complete with the triangular shield.

This case is obviously carrying a Avengers: Endgame theme to it. This is probably the only case that had a consistent theme going with it’s figures. Clockwise starting top left corner you have Ebony Maw, Shuri, Captain America, Pepper Potts in her Rescue Armor, War Machine, The Hulk, Thanos, and Ronin.

Another MCU-themed case. I really like Thor doing his impression of the Dude from Big Lebowski.

Here’s the cast of Captain Marvel in this case.

Spider-Man: Far From Home-themed case. It’s really bugging me that Mysterio’s head looks so much like a ping pong ball.

After checking out the Marvel stuff I found a section of the Hasbro booth devoted to Overwatch toys.

Here’s a Nerf gun from their Rival line modeled after Soldier 76’s rifle. This gives me the idea that if I ever got into making Sci-Fi movies I could save a couple bucks on prop weapons by just going down to target and getting some Nerf guns and spray painting them.

Here are recolored versions of Tracer and McCree.

McCree, Junkrat, Zarya, and Lucio.

Genji and Hanzo.

Some Fortnite-themed Nerf guns. Not to sound too preachy and I know that Fortnite is a videogame but seeing these just makes me think that Fortnite is desensitizing kids to violence by making it look so childlike.

Here’s a diorama recreating the Sarlac scene from Return of the Jedi.

I like how the skybarge features this interior scene Jabba the Hutt and his posse along with Princess Leia in the slave-bikini outfit.

I’m going to finish this post out with these Star Wars displays inspired by various scenes from Star Wars movies.

Obi Wan Kenobi and Qui-gon Jinn versus Darth Maul and some battle droids from Phantom Menace

Mace Windu leading the Clone Troopers against Jango Fett and the Droid Army in Attack of the Clones.

Obi Wan Kenobi and the Clone Troopers taking on General Grievous and his droid army from Revenge of the Sith. Notice how General Greievous isn’t lying down because he was defeated, he’s lying down cause he tipped over.

Obi Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader in A New Hope.

Darth Vader sending bounty hunters against the heroes while they’re on the run from Snow Troopers from Empire Strikes Back.

Luke against Darth Vader while Emperor Palpatine watches on along with Lando Calrissian and Princess Leia infiltrating Jabba’s palace from Return of the Jedi.

Rey vs. Kylo Ren from The Force Awakens.

Rey and Kylo Ren taking on Snook’s guards from The Last Jedi.

The Red Stormtroopers from the upcoming Rise of Skywalker.

Thanks for checking this out and don’t forget to check back later because I still have a lot of stuff from San Diego Comic Con that I’ll be putting up.