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Day Four is up, along with our entire SDCC 2007 coverage! 

Go check it all out now! 

Now Day Three is online, including Hasbro, Mattel, Marvel Toys, DC Direct, Gentle Giant, and Bandai.

We still have tons of pictures to get formatted and labeled over the next few days, including the ever popular CosPlay galleries, looks at all the con booths, and just lots of pictures of the con itself to say nothing of the small manufacturers and urban vinyl booths!

So keep checking back! Day Four coverage will be up tomorrow!

 Madman Mike "Sdcomics" Walker has done it again, coming at you with his Day Three report from the floor of the con. Yesterday he got a chance to talk with DC Direct’s big Kahuna, Georg Brewer, among other things. Let’s listen in:

So today I had an opportunity to talk with Georg Brewer, Vice-President of Design and Retail Product Development with DC Direct. I genuinely enjoy my annual SDCC chats with Georg. He’s a great guy and usually he’s very forthcoming with information. This year was certainly no exception. I asked questions, Vice President Brewer provided answers.

I asked about the Killing Joke boxed set. It’s interesting to me because Batman and the Joker are new scuplts. Previously, when DC Direct has released two figures in a set with a paperback, it’s been repaints (Superman/Doomsday and Hush Batman/Scarecrow being two examples). Georg said he saw an opportunity because of next year’s Dark Knight movie. He wanted this set in bookstores next summer because it’s the ultimate Batman/Joker story and interest will be high because of the film. He also mentioned that these two figures will be released in a later assortment if all goes according to plan. I asked which assortment and he said "It’ll make sense". It’s not a Killing Joke wave, he said, but something else. He declined to elaborate any further. I’m thinking maybe an Alan Moore DCU wave?

Next year is DC Direct’s 10 anniversary. DCD will be introducing two new lines of action figures. I asked what, and he said the fans will love it. They’re 6" scale and "very classic". One of the two lines will make it’s debut at Wizard World Chicago next month.

I asked the Neal Adams Batman question. I got the "It’ll find it’s time" answer. I’m wondering if that’s one of the classic lines that’ll be out next year. But really, I don’t know. I’m just speculating.

DCD Minimates are doing well. In fact, sales are going up. Wave nine is being worked on now.

The Orion figure in the New Gods wave will "probably" have an astro harness assembly.

A 13" scale Joker is on the way.

The regular 13" Batgirl will have sculpted hair. The variant will be rooted. They haven’t decided if Wonder Woman’s hair will be sculpted or rooted. Sculpted looks nicer but it limits the range of motion. They’re debating it now.

The Dr. Fate helmet prop is being held up because of quality concerns. Georg wants a gold finish that will look nice but at a reasonable cost for fans. It’s still on the agenda.

I asked about more Crisis On Infinite Earths assortments and Georg said that there are none on the schedule currently. He said that they’ll get back to it, though. The Crisis trade paperback continues to be a strong seller.

More First Appearance: Same as Crisis. None currently scheduled, but something they’ll get back to at some point. DCD likes the idea of First Appearance in general. Like Crisis, it’s a good umbrella line to produce different characters.

Here’s something you guys will like: I asked about a Kevin Maguire artist inspired JLI wave, and yes, that’s in the works! They’re talking about different things they can do, like maybe giving each figure in the assortment multiple heads with different facial expressions (For those that don’t know, Maguire’s JLI art was famous for the character’s facial expressions).

The Alex Ross Justice line will continue. Probably with fewer armored figures, though. Georg knows the fans don’t seem to care for ‘em. He would like to see the line branch out beyond the JLA.

I asked about Image era Jim Lee WildC.A.T.S. figures. Georg is not opposed to the idea, but in the past the Wildstorm stuff has not preformed well at retail. If this is something you guys would like to see, you might want to tell your local comic shop owner so he can let DC and Diamond know.

In the future, Mattel will probably be handling any figures based on DC’s direct to DVD animated movies. Superman/Doomsday will more than likely be the last movie line handled by DCD. So if we want to see figures based on, say, the animated version of New Frontier, we’ll have to ask Mattel.

Classic Metal Men? Georg just isn’t sure it would sell.

For my own edification, I asked how well the Showcase volumes are selling, since Georg is also in charge of collected editions. He said they’re doing very well. He loves that format. So do I.

Assortments based on the weekly Countdown series are possible. But because of the long lead time that figures have in production, the assortments would come out right around the time that Countdown ends.

I asked about Morrison era JLA figures and Georg says that it’s possible. Howard Porters art would make interesting figure designs.

Mike
(That’s it for tonight. One more report from SDCC tomorrow. Stay Tuned.)

We have nearly all of our Day Two pictures now online. Lots of good stuff every where, including Hasbro, Mattel, Marvel Toys, Diamond, DC Direct, NECA, Mezco, SOTA, Corgi/Master Replicas, Toy2R, Underground Toys, and Shocker (see below).

Whew! One or two more might go up tonight, with Day Three galleries online tomorrow.

 Enjoy!

Once again, Mike "Sdcomics" Walker has braved the crowds, attended the panels, and stood in line for 4 hours to get a bad hotdog just to bring you his amazing reportage directly from the floor of the San Diego Convention Center! Take it away, Mike! 

Okay, as we all know, Mattel and DC held their panel today. The panelists included the DC Brand managers at Mattel, a few of the designers, sculptor Eric "Cornboy" Mayse of the Four Horsemen and DC’s Senior Vice-President in charge of Brand Management, Cheryl Rubin.

I honestly thought it was a great panel. It was very infomative and entertaining. Mattel reiterated several times throughout the discussion that they’re committed to the fans. They know that it’s collectors that drive the sales of DCSH (And to a lesser extent JLU) and that’s why they’ve been reading the boards. They’ve read our tales of woe when it comes to finding new figures. They know that case packouts are a big issue with us. They’re aware of it and they’re going to fix the problem. With DCSH, BAF’s should help even out the case assortments.

Mattel has the DC license until 2012. They have access to over 3,000 characters now.

So, with the 6" DCSH line, they’re planning five assortments a year. Each assortment will contain a BAF. By my count, that’s 30 characters a year. In four years that’s 120 figures. Guess what, folks. DC fans finally have their version of Marvel Legends. A dedicated, comic accurate line with the same sculptors, all in the same scale and all in the same style.

No new JLU was shown with the exception of the Red Hood, but I certainly never got the impression that the line was going to end anytime soon. In fact, during the Q & A, a fan asked how long the line would continue now that the show is off the air. The reply was "How long do you want to continue buying it?". Another fan asked about the Teen Titans appearing in the JLU line, and a Mattel rep said that’s a good idea and it’s under consideration. During the slide show, Mattel put up a slide that pictured Captain Atom, Captain Marvel, Giganta, Cheetah, Blackhawk and a few others. They said that they read the boards, they know who we’d like to see and that they’re going to try and get as many fan favorite characters in the line as they possibly can.

I dunno. To me, that sounds like the line’s going to continue. Of course, Your mileage may vary.

One of the most exciting tidbits to come out of the panel was the news that the FH will sculpt some hyper-articulated 6" figures for the Dark Knight movie. It was made even more interesting when they said that there’ll be six characters in the line. Three heroes and three villains. Batman, Scarecrow, Joker and … ? Who’s Michael Anthony Hall going to be playing again?

I got to talk to DC Direct a little today. The Killing Joke two-pack will go on sale in April or May of 2008 and it will include a copy of the Graphic Novel.

Since we have a "finhead" Atom now and will soon have a cowled Hawkman, I asked Georg if we might see more Silver Age versions of the Golden Age JSA like maybe the Earth 2 Robin in his grey Batman inspired costume or the Star Spangled Kid. He said that they’re both on the radar. The First Appearance Earth Two Robin would be an easy repaint of the Silver Age Batman body.

I spent a little more time in the Hasbro booth today and made some new friends. I spoke with senior product designer David Vonner and lemme tell ya, he is a really, really cool cat. He’d love to do the Master of Kung-Fu in the Legends line. I asked if it would be classic or contemporary if it ever happens, and he said classic red PJ’s all the way. He said he envisioned Shang-Chi as being more Jackie Chan than Bruce Lee, and I thought that was an interesting take on the character. He said that to him, a character like Shang-Chi represents what a line like Marvel Legends should be all about. Classic characters that have been around for years and are iconic to Marvel fans.

Mike
(That’s it for tonight. For tomorrow, I’m hoping I’ll be able to conduct a sit-down type interview with Georg Brewer (Maybe 20 questions or so) and then later another one with Mattel’s Toy Guru. Stay Tuned.) 

 It’s almost like being there! Check it out!

Day One Galleries are now online: Hasbro, Mattel, McFarlane, DC Direct, Diamond, and BiffBangPow!

Our man Mike has done it again with his awesome reportage. He braved the crowds and the horrific stories about the nightmare that was Hasbro’s Store booth to bring us this stirring report:

As mentioned on our news page, Hasbro held their Marvel panel today. Daniel already covered most of it below, but here’s a few more items:

1) Don’t be surprised to see Shang-Chi show up in Legends at some point in the not too distant future. That’s a favorite character of one of Hasbro’s designers.
2) Someone asked if any Star Wars characters will show up in Legends. 6" scale, articulated Star Wars characters are something that Hasbro’s talked about doing.
3) HML 4 will be the first wave of 2008. Nova, Astonishing X-Men Beast, Black Bolt (Variant redeco), First Appearance Daredevil (Red variant), The "Tim Bradstreet" Punisher (Variant Crossbones) and Tigra. Nemesis will be the BAF. Six figure waves will be the norm from this point on.
4) The Black Queen will be a TRU exclusive.
5) No variants in the FF Ronan BAF assortment. That should hit shelves in October.
6) FF animated series toys: Only if the cartoon moves forward with new episodes.
7) Someone asked about Thunderbolts two-packs. Hasbro says it’s on their radar.
8 ) First Appearance Storm? That will happen. The Hasbro team loves First Appearance.
9) Will their be an Iron Man movie line? Yes. It will be shown at Toy fair. Scale? They won’t say. They don’t want to discuss 2008.
10) The brand managers and the designers that were on the panel acknowledged making mistakes. They said that it was a learning curve. They will try and do better. They read the boards to see what we want.
11) BAS (Build-A-Set) and BAVs (Build-A-Vehicle) were mentioned. There’s no plans for those right now, but Hasbro considers them an option.
12) Some of the ToyBiz stuff that was show last year was asked about. The X-Babies, Thor Frog, Forbush Man and the goons. Hasbro said they can’t confirm or deny that any of it will see the light of day.
13) Will we see the Jim Lee version of Jean Grey in Legends. Hasbro says it’s on their radar.
14) Hasbro says they’re going to conduct a Marvel Legends fan poll in conjunction with ToyFare. The details should be in the September issue. The winner of the poll will get a figure in Legends.
15) I asked about more Inhumans after Black Bolt. Yes, there will be. Hasbro knows that collectors like complete teams because that’s how we like to display them on our shelves (Hence the Jim Lee era Jean Grey getting a figure).

I think that’s it. If I remember anything else, I’ll post it.

Mike
(Should be some cool DCD and Mattel news tomorrow! Stay tuned for pics and reports!)

SD Comics has done it again! Mike has sent down more of his brilliant pics from the fun that was preview night, showing such items of interest as the Hasbro Indian Jones Ark of the Covenant, the re-launched SuperHero Showdown 2-packs, JLU hanging out in the desert, and lots of creamy goodness from DC Direct! So what are you waiting for? Go take a look at our galleries now! And don’t forget to take a look around the con floor in the Preview Night section!

Our man SDComics is on the ground and running around at Preview Night currently.   He’s calling us with updates and we’ll have pictures later tonight.  But for now this is what he has seen and read about:

DC Direct

Nothing is on display quite yet at the time of his call, but their schedule flier DC Direct mentions some cool new items.   I don’t have descriptions yet of what they will look like but here’s the news.

13" Figure  Green Arrow – April 2008

Smallville Series II - May 08 – Clark Kent, Green Arrow, Arthur (Aquaman), Impulse, Cyborg, Bizzaro

New Teen Titans II – May 08 – Jericho, Tera, Deathstroke, Robin 

HASBRO

Indiana Jones – No figures were on display, but they had what looked to be a 2-up of the Ark of the Covenant.    Coooooooool!

Marvel- The 6" Fantastic Four wave is on display – Dr. Doom, Namor (in Speedos), Mole Man, etc.

They don’t appear to be showing the 2 Hulk waves yet.  We may see them after the Hasbro Marvel Panel.

ML Wave III – The same figures that were shown at NYCC are on display. 

That’s the news for now.  Keep checking back for more updates and pictures.

One again, our man Mike "SD Comics" Walker is on the scene in his home town of San Diego to bring you the best all over look at the wonderful madness that is SDCC! Mike has been going to the big con since the late 1970s, so you be hard pressed to find a better guide short of Mark Evanier. Speaking of Mark, he linked to the the best "What to expect if I go to SDCC?" guide online by Tom Spurgeon so we’re linking to it too.

And now here’s Mike with his awesome look at today’s setup activities!

SDCC 2007 Preliminary Report

I went down to the convention center today to pick up my exhibitor’s badge. Because I’m basically a nosey bastich, I took a stroll around the exhibit hall and watched while companies were setting up their booths. Here’s a few thoughts on what I saw today (And bear in mind that SDCC is in the REAL early stage of the set-up process. They don’t even have the carpet laid down yet in some parts of the exhibit hall).

1) When strolling around the San Diego convention center on the day before the day before SDCC, you have to be careful not to get run over and smushed by a forklift. Seriously. Look both ways before you cross the aisles, fanboy. And listen carefully for the tell-tale "beep-beep". It may save your life. The guys who put these exhibits together do not dicker. And they don’t let anything slow’em down.

2) My Kingdom for some air-conditioning. Yes, it’ll be on tomorrow. But that doesn’t do the poor bastich’s who are busting their humps in there right now any good.

3) No Star Wars Pavillion. YES!! HAR!! Over the last few years, I’ve gotten sick of Star Wars and all the precious space that Lucas takes up in the exhibit hall. The Jar-Jar Binks Brigade will have to go get their fix somewhere else. MAWHAHA! May the frackin’ force stick it in your ear!

Okay, booth by booth …

MATTEL
As promised, they’ve done a total redesign of their booth. It’s huge. There’s lots of love for DC. They don’t have any figures displayed yet, but I saw two posters that you may find interesting. One said "The DC Universe Coming in 2008". The DC logo was used. It was basically a starscape background with the silhouettes of a lot of different characters in the foreground. I’ll take a picture tomorrow. Also, there was a double-sided poster that said "DC Universe Battle Figures". One one side of the poster it said "Round one: Batman Vs The Joker". On the other side it said "Round two: Superman Vs Luthor". I have no idea what that’s about, but I guess we’ll find out tomorrow. They have lots and lots of display cases so I think we’ll see plenty of DC stuff.

DC DIRECT
I saw Matt Kellor, Syndee Barwick and Shawn Knapp. They look to have the same amount of display space that they had last year. Nothing on display yet. Shawn says that Jim Fletcher won’t be here this year. He’s currently in China and won’t be back in the States until Sunday. Georg Brewer will be in town tomorrow.

MARVEL TOYS
Hang on to your arse, but Marvel actually has a booth this year. Yes, I was shocked, too. I think this is the first time they’ve had a booth at SDCC since the pre-bankruptcy days. There were some glass display cases there, so it looks like Jesse finally has a home at San Diego. And yes, the rumors are true about the Iron Man movie armor. The Stan Winston designed Mark One armor was proudly on display. I can’t wait until you guys see pictures of that. It’s so damn cool. The more I see of the Iron Man movie, the more I can’t wait to see it.

HASBRO
Nothing on display yet in the way of figures. However, they’re going to give Indiana Jones a lot of love. They have some life-size movie props on display, including the Well of Souls and the Ark of the Covenant. Pics tomorrow.

DISNEY
The Disney booth looks like it’ll be the talk of the show. They have a 40 foot long replica of the Black Pearl from the Pirates of the Caribbean. Fans can actually walk around inside. Again, pics will be forthcoming.

– Mike
(Preview night report will be posted tomorrow!)