When the images came out over Toy Fair weekend and revealed that the brown VAMP MK II w/ Flint and the Night Landing w/ Cobra Eel were marked “ComicCon” it caused a bit of a fan fury, as one might imagine. After all, a vintage accurate Flint figure was voted the #1 fan demanded figure in the Concept Case survey back in 2012, and many fans were over the top excited that he was finally finding a way to retail shelves.
This excitement was quickly muffled by the thought that he might only be arriving on “virtual” shelves via ComicCon and the general chaos of HasbroToyShop the week afterwards.
Seeking some clarification, I reached out to the Hasbro Public Relations folks, and the current plans are a bit more fan friendly. Take this with a grain of salt, as full details are still to come in the upcoming months, but the current plan is for the “Danger at the Docks” with vintage accurate VAMP MK II and Flint to debut at San Diego ComicCon, but then be available through Toys “R” Us afterwards.
This same formula was used last year for the Transformers Masterpiece Soundwave and Acid Storm, and early indications are that Hasbro will do this for the 50th Anniversary “Danger at the Docks” vehicle set.
Keep in mind, of course, the winds shift frequently in the toy world, so things might change, but as of this moment, fans can rest easy, it shouldn’t be as difficult to get this highly sought after vehicle and figure as some folks thought it might be.
Thanks to the always receptive folks with Hunter PR for responding so quickly amidst a very busy Toy Fair weekend.
This is GREAT news, as I want at least 2 of each VAMP and multiple of each of the eels. =)
Ah, much better news. Thanks for the follow-up Justin. I think I’ll be able to get both now
🙂
DO LIKE. Thanks for reaching out to the powers that be. It’s one of the reasons I come here first.
Aaaand everybody… breathe.
Justin, Can we assume that this is the only product available at SDCC then? I was hoping to see some figures similar to Jinx, Zarana, Slaughter. Maybe even a 7 pack similar to Attack on Cobra Island to help get more Joes out.
Chris K, obviously we don’t know all the details yet … but I’d be very surprised to see anything more Joe offerings sold at SDCC. We’re lucky to even have any product at all at this point. 🙂 In fact, my guess is that since Toys R Us is the retailer carrying the line, some past TRU exclusives have debuted at SDCC but were then later available at regular retail (such as the Marvel Universe X-Factor box set, the newer Star Wars Republic Commando box set, etc.).
As someone who goes to SDCC every year I thought I’d comment and offer some information that may either clarify or confuse Hasbro’s statement depending on how you look at it.
We all know Hasbro attends SDCC every year and offers a variety Hasbro exclusives through the HasbroToyShop convention booth. ToysRUs also attends comic con. TRU shares booth space with Entertainment Earth and offers several of their TRU store exclusives through E.E. as an early premier for comic con. Occasionally these TRU store exclusives 100% sell out at Comic Con and never reach an actual TRU store, but for the most part these particular “exclusives” are just an early release for attendees and will show up at TRU stores later.
TRU decides what they’re going to bring every year for their convention offerings and some of the items they may choose may in fact be Hasbro product. But even so these are separate from the exclusives being offered by Hasbro. So, for instance, last year for Transformers if you wanted the SDCC exclusive Metroplex, the Shockwave lab set, or the set of 5 Transformer Titan Guardians you needed to go to the Hasbro booth to get those exclusives. On the other hand if you wanted the TRU exclusive Masterpiece Transformers Soundwave or Acid Storm mentioned in the statement you had to go to the TRU/EE booth to get them. Likewise with the Marvel X-Factor set mentioned that later showed up at TRU, that too was offered first at comic con at the TRU booth where they were selling TRU exclusives, not the HasbroToyShop booth where Hasbro was selling Hasbro exclusives.
So these are two different things. Items like Jinx, Zarana, Slaughter, Pimp Daddy Destro and the JoeFormer crossover box sets are “Hasbro exclusives” being sold at the Hasbro booth, and HasbroToyShop.com exclusively. On the other hand items like Soundwave, Acid Storm and the X-Factor set, although produced by Hasbro are actually “TRU exclusives” being sold at the EE/TRU SDCC booth AND TRU stores exclusively.
So understanding this distinction I find it odd that Hasbro would be commenting on what TRU is bringing to comic con in 2014. As far as I know that is entirely up to TRU to choose from their variety of store exclusives which to bring to their booth. This really isn’t a Hasbro decision or strategy but more of a TRU decision and strategy. Also TRU is notorious for not finalizing their comic con offerings until the very last minute. They are pretty much the last major exclusive announcement every year and last year when I spoke to Hasbro Transformer brand reps only 3 weeks prior to SDCC, Hasbro was still in the dark as to rather or not TRU was going to be bringing Soundwave, Acid Storm, both, or neither to SDCC. So it seems odd to me that Hasbro in February would be labeling this one item as a comic con item on behalf of TRU. Also seeing as the entire 50th line is TRU exclusive it honestly wouldn’t surprise me if TRU might bring a small quantity of the entire assortment as an early comic con premier thus making them all “comic con items” under this definition.