Tag Archives: sdcc exclusive

Aug 30 2024

G. I. JOE Classified: Cobra Commander (“Once A Man” SDCC Exclusive) by Hasbro

I think it’s safe to say that 2024’s Classified SDCC Exclusive generated a lot of surprise and delight among collectors. The line hasn’t shown a lot of strong ties to the Sunbow cartoon and yet here we are getting a Classified figure that references Cobra Commander’s grim fate in the ’87 GI JOE movie. Having been found guilty of incompetency, the denizens of Cobra-La sentence The Commander to slowly transmute into a snake. I’m not a huge fan of the film, but I will admit that Cobra Commander fate was probably the most disturbing thing I’d seen in a cartoon up to that point. Optimus Prime dying in The Transformers movie was sad, but this was just pure body horror that creeped me the hell out. As popular as this release was, I do think this was a great idea for an Exclusive, as I imagine there’s a good number of Classified collectors who don’t really care about that film and would be happy to pass on this figure. Then again, Hasbro did show off a Classified version of Nemesis Enforcer, so like it or not, Classified Cobra-La is very much a thing.

The set comes in a window box with a flap that has a lenticular front depicting the horrific transformation from man to snake man to snake creature. Alas, the effect baffles my camera, so you’ll have to settle for a shot of the flap open and showing off the goods inside. The set includes Cobra Commander in two stages of his terrible transformation, plus you get some extra hands and accessories, a lot of which are taken from the HISS HasLab Exclusive Commander and the yet to be released Retro-Carded Commander. Everything here is collector friendly, which is great because this is definitely a figure I will be displaying in the package.

The Commander comes out of the box as mid-transformation Snake Man after being exposed to the dreaded Spores! The waist down is borrowed from the previously mentioned Commander figures, although the belt buckle has been repainted from the HasLab figure. He still has his combat knife and sheath strapped to his left leg. The torso and arms are now newly sculpted snake skin with the remnants of his torn tunic worn like a vest. The snake skin is a cool mix of scales and bumpy textured areas and I think the mix of blue uniform and yellow orange snakeskin makes for a very attractive deco.

The mutated snake head is absolute nightmare fuel. It’s like his teeth have migrated to the outside of his face, a heavy brow ridge had formed and he’s got multiple eyes budding out on his cheeks and forehead. There are some sculpted fangs showing, but these aren’t painted so it can be hard to make them out. I think the printing for the blue eyes is a bit miffed, but otherwise, this is a great sculpt that would have make any David Cronenberg film proud.

You also get a fully helmeted head. This appears to be the same sculpt as the previously mentioned Commander figures. It does have the cartoon-style white stripe at the top, which the Retro-Carded release will have, but was lacking from the HasLab version. There is also a detached face mask, which Roadblock picks up in the movie. It has some cracks and the inside of the mask is highly detailed with all sorts of circuitry.

Also repacked is the classic hairdryer-style pistol and backpack to mount it on. This is a bit of an odd inclusion, as I’m pretty sure I remember him being disarmed when they put him in the giant clam and he’s never shown with it after inhaling the spores. But am I complaining? Nope. It’s great that they included it and I can always give this to the regular Classified Cobra Commander if I want to.

Finally, you get the extra hands that came with the other two Cobra Commander figures. These include fists, accessory holding hands, a pointy finger right hand and a open grip left hand.

The more mutated version of the figure is mostly cast in a dense rubbery plastic. The arms have some articulation at the shoulders, but otherwise it’s a static piece. The tail is partially coiled, which works well to have him stand. You can also use it to wrap around another Roadblock like he did in the movie. There’s a cut in the tail, but mine does not want to swivel, so I’m not sure if this is intended as an articulation point or just a seam from where the figure was assembled.

Hasbro did a nice job on the production side of this set, but no so much on the selling end. It was available after the convention as a Pulse Exclusive and it sold out immediately. Later it returned sporadically, selling out and coming back into stock seemingly at random times. And that was probably more frustrating than if it had just sold out quickly and was gone. Some people will argue that back in the day SDCC Exclusives were only available to attendees, so any slim chance to get one afterwards is better than it used to be. That may be true, but I still think Hasbro handled it poorly. And the idea of placing a five per customer limit is just ridiculous and seriously needs to stop. It serves no purpose other than to feed scalpers. In the end, I was happy to get one on Pulse, but I wouldn’t have chased it on the second hand market if I didn’t. Especially with it going for double the price. This is a cool figure to have, but certainly not one I would consider essential to my Classified collection. And I haven’t even decided yet whether I will pursue the Cobra-La Classified figures at all.

Aug 16 2024

Dungeons & Dragons Ultimates: Sheila the Thief (Cloak of Invisibility) by Super7

Yes, folks, I’m buried in Super7 GI JOE, ThunderCats, and Silverhawks Ultimates, so why not start collecting a new Ultimates line? Even better, why not collect a line of figures that I already bought when Hasbro did them? Sounds like a good plan to me! The truth is I was very happy with Hasbro’s D&D cartoon figures, but because I’ve been waiting for someone to do these for so long, I’m willing to double dip. Plus, it looks like Super7 is going deeper than Hasbro did with more of the minor characters, and yes a giant Tiamat, which God help me I did pre-order. The first wave includes two members of the adventuring party, Hank and Sheila plus Dekkion the Skeleton Warrior, and a pair of Shadow Demons. These are supposed to ship sometime in October, but we got a bit of a sneak peek with the release of the SDCC Exclusive invisible Sheila. This figure was available for purchase online after the convention and since she was easy to get, I decided to pick her up.

Oh wow, I really dig this packaging! The box is an homage to the entrance to the Dungeons & Dragons ride. There’s no slip cover, which I kind of figured since they’ve been deleting them from their longer running lines. The window shows off the goods nicely, which is impressive because she’s supposed to be invisible. The back of the packages have an actual character sheet for each character, and as an avid D&D player back in High School, I got a real kick out of this. Seriously, I had a big stupid grin on my face as I perused Sheila’s stats. Of course, this figure variant is based on Sheila’s special ability, using her magic cloak to render her invisible. A pretty useful skill for a thief, even if she didn’t do much thieving in the cartoon. I’m not gonna lie, this was a tough figure to photograph, so I’m not going to go too long today.

Sometimes when a cartoon depicts an invisible character, they just draw them as line art in white, but if I recall correctly when Sheila used her cloak in the cartoon, you couldn’t see her at all. So, S7 had to take some artistic liberties here. And what we get is the same figure we will be getting in October, only cast in translucent plastic and with a white cape. Does it work? Sorta? Kinda? The cape is made of a nice material, but the fact that it isn’t sheer really ruins the invisibility effect. Sure, you can take the cloak off, but that would break the rules, as she’s only supposed to be invisible with the cape on and the hood up. Also, the body does have a bit of a yellow tint to it, which I’m not sure was intentional, but I suppose it will save me the anxiety of waiting for it to turn yellow over time. One thing that I think is really cool here is how they even used thin translucent plastic for her skirt. I don’t recall ever seeing that sort of thing before.

You get all three heads that will be included with the regular release: A smiling expression, a surprised expression, and a mischievous expression. I do like that they painted the facial features in white to help pick them out a little more, but as you can probably see, it’s still kind of tough to discern what’s going on with the sculpts. I do, however, think these are going to look great when they’re all painted up.

The articulation is still in line with what we’ve been seeing in the other Ultimates lines, and that means lots of rotating hinges with limited range. One of the big issues with this sort of transparent figure is that you can see how the sausage is made, meaning all the joints and even the wrist pegs are clearly visible. It gives the figure a very mechanical look. The joints on the figure all feel good, but translucent plastic can sometimes have a habit of becoming brittle, so I probably won’t spend a lot of time playing around with her. With that having been said, I didn’t have any issues swapping out the heads or hands.

You get three sets of hands: Fists, a set intended to grip her hood for when she’s pulling it up or taking it off, a right hand with splayed fingers and a left gripping hand. But aside from the cloak there are no other accessories, which means they omitted the net accessory that will come with the regular release. That’s disappointing, especially since they didn’t replace it with some new accessory, maybe referencing a specific episode of the cartoon.

I don’t want to come down too hard on this figure, as it’s pretty tough to make the whole translucent thing work. You’re always going to see all the joints and inner workings of the figure and that kind of ruins the illusion. This kind of thing would most definitely work better as a statue. I’d love to see someone on Etsy with some sewing skillz make a sheer cloak for her that would make the illusion work better. With that being said, it’s a pretty good concept for an SDCC Exclusive, as I wouldn’t consider it essential to complete the collection and I would have been OK if I got shut out on it. As I write this, it’s still available on Super7’s website at $55, which is the going rate for all their regular-sized Ultimates. Still, I would only really recommend it if you’re going to be a completist. I’m not sorry I bought her, but I probably would have been better off putting that $55 towards the $300 price tag on Tiamat.

Oct 7 2019

Marvel Legends: The Grandmaster and The Collector by Hasbro

In addition to the non-stop torrential rush of Marvel Legends waves, Hasbro has also been cranking up the multi-pack releases. And I’m just talking the normal retail stuff. To make matters even more challenging for the collectors’ wallets,  they’ve also included a lavishly packaged two-pack for SDCC this year. Pulled straight from the MCU flicks Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor: Ragnarok comes The Collector and The Grandmaster!

The snazzy packaging looks like a drum with windows on each side to show the figures. It actually opens up too, so both figures can be displayed side-by-side in half-tubes. Flip it around and you get the poster art from each flick on the back panels. This is some really nice packaging, but mine was fairly worn even by the time it got to me, and I don’t think it’s going to be easy to store, so I’ll likely be getting rid of it, like I do most of my Legends packaging. Let’s start with The Grandmaster first!

Grandmaster is sort of the non-essential figure here, since he was issued at retail with a different head, and in a two-pack with Korg, a set that still sits unopened on my Pile of Shame. I will get around to it eventually, but this will be my first experience with the Grandmaster figure. Let me say straightaway, that while this is a great looking figure, it isn’t all that much fun to play around with. A lot of that has to do with his lavish golden robe, which is sculpted in soft plastic, is fairly form-fitting, and thereby limits the articulation in the legs and torso quite a bit. This might have been a really good time to try some soft-goods, especially since Hasbro recently cranked out a golden cloth robe for a certain guy over in the Star Wars Black Series department. Indeed, pretty soon I’ll be checking out a Black Series figure with some outstanding cloth robes! Now that I think of it, cloth robes would have been a great idea for this particular SDCC release, to further set it apart from the retail figure. Now, with all that having been said, the robe still looks nice, it’s sculpted with a faint texture, and it pegs together right where the sculpted red belt is meant to be tied. I also really dig how it bunches up on the floor behind him.

Under the plastic robe, he dons a pair of leisure pants, which have an otherworldly purple-platinum sheen and a long sleeve shirt, which is blue and red with a wide red cummerbund worn at the waist. His eccentric outfit is finished off with a pair of funky gold sandals. Grandmaster sports a sculpted ring on his right hand, and painted-blue nail polish on his fingers and toes.

The Jeff Goldblum likeness is pretty solid, especially from certain angles. As mentioned earlier, the head sculpt is the primary exclusive thing about this figure. Here he’s smiling, whereas the retail version has a more neutral expression. Your personal preferences may vary, but I really dig this portrait and I think it captures a lot of the madcap personality of the character. As usual the half-tone printing for the facial features does a fine job for the detail in the eyes and mouth.

The Grandmaster comes with a couple of cool accessories. The first is his infamous Melt Stick, which is cast in gold plastic and can be held in his right hand and cradled in the left. This is a simple, but fun accessory, providing you aren’t the one being melted by it.

The second accessory is the pile of melted goo. Is it supposed to be Carlo? That I’m not sure, but I kind of hope it is. Yeah, it’s just a lump of plastic bubbles, but fun nonetheless. Let’s move on to Grandmaster’s brother, The Collector!

Taneleer Tivan is the true exclusive figure of the set, as for now he has not been made available at regular retail. He’s also one of the MCU characters that has been most sorely missing from my collection. Benicio Del Toro’s weirdly eccentric performance fit Guardians of the Galaxy like a glove and made The Collector, even with his brief screen time, a truly memorable character. And Hasbro sure did a nice job with this figure. The outfit includes some great detail in the sculpt, particularly in the torso, where the texture and patchwork nature pays homage to a 19th Century waistcoat, complete with strings of sculpted beads reminiscent of the chains on a fob watch. His sculpted furry cape pegs into the back and is worn over the shoulders and plunges behind his neck. I think the sculpted sleeve on the left arm is supposed to be part of the cape, as the speckled pattern matches the interior of the cape. You can take off the cape, but it looks kind of funny since the sleeve remains.

As with his brother, The Collector’s portrait turned out great. It’s a fine likeness for Del Toro and I particularly love the high hair, which is again sculpted as a separate piece from the head. You also get a second head sculpt with The Collector wearing his special goggles.

One final accessory in the box is The Orb that housed The Infinity Stone of Power. It’s a simple little ball packed with a lot of tiny detail. The only downside here is The Collector’s hands really aren’t designed to hold it all that well. I can make it work, but it’s a careful balancing act. It might have been better to give him an extra hand with The Orb sculpted into it, or an extra hand with a peg in the palm and a peg-hole on The Orb.

It may irk some to have to buy a second Grandmaster just to get their hands on The Collector, but I get how the business works and sometimes Hasbro has to get some extra money out of a figure in order to make producing another one more cost effective. Truth be told, I would have much rather had The Collector in a box with some of his menagerie, similar to what Hasbro did in the 3 3/4-inch scale for another SDCC Exclusive. Maybe throw in Cosmo and Carina. I would have paid extra for that. But I’m still really pleased they finally got this figure out and that it was pretty easy to get off of Pulse. Maybe not essential for all Legends collectors, but to me that’s what Exclusives should be all about.

Sep 12 2016

Marvel Gallery: Spider-Gwen (SDCC Exclusive) by Diamond Select

What’s this? Marvel Monday without Marvel Legends? Yeah, since I’m between waves of Legends, I’m taking the opportunity to look at something different before engaging on a month-and-a-half long expedition into the Civil War Giant Man Wave. Marvel Gallery is DST’s extension of the Femme Fatales line of PVC statues and while all of the Marvel editions so far have been ladies, they will be including some dudes in both this line and their DC Animated series, hence the change in name. Today I’m checking out the SDCC Exclusive Edition of Spider-Gwen, which features an unmasked head.

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I really like the packaging for these statues. The boxes are fairly small and feature windows on the front, sides, and top to allow you to get a good look at the piece before you buy it. That is assuming, you’re lucky enough to have a comic shop in your area that sells them! And despite all the windows, the boxes are still quite sturdy. The Femme Fatale boxes have mostly been rather dark and bland, but these Marvel ones are bright and colorful. I especially like the printed insert. Everything is collector friendly, although Gwen here requires one bit of assembly. With over a dozen of these statues in my collection, this is the first time I’ve come across that, but all you have to do is attach her left arm, which is quick and easy to do.

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There is an SDCC Exclusive logo printed on the front of the box as well as “Unmasked Edition” lettered under the main window. Previous exclusives in this line have only been denoted by a piece of tape on the flap. You still get that here, with the limitation number printed on it. Mine is 2,847 of 3,000. Here’s where I point out that putting a number limitation on the tape that secures the flap of the box is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of, even if there is a flap on the bottom to go in through. Also, not putting a limitation on the statue itself sucks. Just saying, DST. If you’re going to limit your runs of these at least have someone write it on the bottom of the statue with a Sharpie.

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Once you get Ms. Stacey’s arm plugged in she’s all set to go and looking pretty damn nice. The pose features Gwen sticking to a wall via her right hand and the soles of her feet with her left arm stretched out and her hand getting ready to thwip out a web. I like this pose a lot and the paint and sculpted detail on the wall itself is very well done. You get a lot of texturing in the bricks and a goblin-style gargoyle head that looks to be glaring specifically at Gwen. A little bit of ivy here and there adds to the character of the setting. It’s nice to see DST learned their lesson. A little while back, they solicited a Star Trek statue of Seven of Nine in the Femme Fatales series with a sculpted plastic wall behind her and in the final release that was changed to cardboard. Even now, if you go to order that statue through most e-tailers, they’ll show the deceptive picture of the plastic backdrop.

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Gwen’s costume is recreated here mostly with paint, but all the paint lines are part of the sculpt as well, which is always nice to see. Some of the paint lines could have been sharper, but the black and white areas are clean. I was worried about the consistency of the white on this piece, but with the exception of a few visible brush strokes, the white is bright and vibrant. The black has a scuff mark here and there, but nothing major. The red web patterned areas under her arms and inside her hood look great, and her ballet-style slippers are painted blue. The designer even made sure that the left arm connects where there was a seam in the costume, so as to match it to the other arm.

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That brings us to the portrait, which is the only difference between this exclusive and the regular retail release. Here we get Gwen unmasked and I have to say they did a nice job on the sculpt and the paint. As much as I enjoy the Captain Marvel statue they did a few months back, there was something a little off about Carol’s face. Here, I think they nailed Gwen Stacey quite nicely. The skin tone is clean and the paint for the green eyes and red lipstick is precise. Even her familiar hair style and headband are recreated wonderfully here. I do wish they had sculpted the exclusive with the hood down, but I still like what we got.

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The base consists of a plain black disk, which supports the wall. With all the weight of the figure on the wall, I am a little concerned that over the course of time the statue may begin to lean forward a bit. Then again, I could be worrying about nothing. I may rig up a hook on the back of my shelf or wall where I display her to take up some of that weight just to be sure.

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Spider-Gwen seems to be the new go-to girl when it comes to marketing and as a fan of the comic and character, I’m glad to see it. I’m really happy with the way this piece turned out and I’m glad I went for this exclusive version. Gwen set me back about $45 shipped, which isn’t that much more than these statues usually cost. In fact, it can still be snapped up at a number of online retailers for around that price. Whether or not I’m going to double dip and pick up the regular masked release remains to be seen. I’ve actually already got Spider-Gwen from DST’s Marvel Premier Collection on pre-order, so I may just stick with one version of this release.