International Toy Fair 2015: The Hasbro Presentation
So what can we expect from Hasbro in the coming year? Plenty!
Transformers
John Warden and Jerry Devoin discussed Rescue Bots, Robots in Disguise, and Combiner Wars lines:
- Rescue Force Recruits to include a giant High Tide Rescue Rig, Salvage, and Blur
- Robots in Disguise to premiere March 14 at 6pm on the Cartoon Network
- The Robots in Disguise line Wave 3 includes Fixit, Underbite, Drift, Fracture, Thunder Hook, and Jazz
- The Mini-Cons line will feature Slipstream, Jetstorm and more new characters. "Deployers" of the Mini-Bots include a giant Drift and Fracture. There will also be a Mega Optimus and Super Bumble Bee.
- The "Fan Created" character for 2015 will be a new Combiner bot (with, per voting that happened during the presentation, an origin from the "Sea of Rust")
- The new Giant Combiner bot revealed was Defensor, made up of Protector bots
- Legends Wave 3 includes Viper, Warpath, and Groove.
- Deluxe line Wave 3 Protectobots Rook, Blades, First Aid, Voyager, Hotspot, a new Leader Ultra Magnus (whose chest opens to reveal Minimus Ambus), and Cyclonus
- Finally, they revealed the Combiner Devastator! "The one who started it all!" Devastator will be HUGE; he's made up of SIX Voyager scale Combiners (Hook, Long Haul, Bonecrusher, Scavenger, Scrapper, and Mix Master)
My Little Pony
2014 was a banner year for My Little Pony! The fans do love the brand (not just for little girls).
- "Cutie Mark Magic" is the theme for 2015
- Season 5 of the "Friendship is Magic" show will hit its 100th episode
- The new Friendship is Magic line will feature Sweet Apple Acres, blind bags, and more
- Rainbow Rocks Equestria Girls will get another film in 2015 ("Friendship Games")
Marvel: Avengers Age of Ultron
Adam Biel and Dwight Stall kicked things off for the Marvel team. It is their most expansive line to date in terms of styles of toys. They went reviewed:
- Avengers Monoploy coming soon
- 2.5" Mini Figure System which includes a "build a base" type playset (the first of the playset based systems)
- The Titan Hero scale is expanding into electronics (Hulk Bust recognizes other Avengers when they talk to him, for example)
- Avengers role play toys will include "gripping" Hulk hands, motion-based Iron Man repulsor gloves, and an Iron Man voice-changing mask
- Legends Wave 2 will include Capt. America, Hulk, Hellcat, Spider Woman, and a Thanos Buiuld-a-Figure, Batroc
- Legends Wave 3 includes Blizzard, Dr. Strange, new costume Vision, Iron Man in black and gold, movie War Machine, Thundra, Valkyre, and a giant Hulk Buster Iron Man Build-a-Figure (he's HUGE!)
- Marvel 500 2" figure line
- Infinite Series: Scarlet Spider, Corge, X-Men, Deadpool, Ultron, and Emma Frost
Marvel: Spiderman
- Playsets, vehicles, and more!
- Legends Wave 2 (due in the spring) to include Scarlet Spiderman, Misty Night, Ghost Rider, Chameleon, Hammerhead, J. Jonah Jameson, Kraven, Superior Venom, and a petite White Tiger. The build-a-figure for this wave is Rhino with a swap out head.
- Super Hero Mashers will feature Agent Venom, Ant-Man, Daredevil, Nova, Rocket Racoon, and more! They will also have a 2-pack Hulk v. Hulk Buster.
- 2015 retailer exclusives include an Entertainment Earth Titan duo, TRU multipack of 3-75" Capt American, Black Widow and more. A TRU SHIELD 3-pack, a Wal-Mart Hulk Buster foam fists and mask set. Target will get a Legends 3-pack with Hulk, Vision, and new version of Ultron. Amazon.com Legends 4-pack with a movie Thor, Bruce Banner, Hawkeye, and Black Widow.
Marvel: Ant-Man
- Marvel Legends style Ant-Man with itty-bitty ant, Wasp, Tigershark, Grim Reaper, Giant Man, Bull Dozer, and an Ultron Primer Build-a-Figure
- 3.75" Ant-Man and riding ant set (lots of articulation on this guy)
- Titan Hero is coming, in addition to Super Hero Movie Mashers style Ant-Man figures
Marvel: Jurassic World
22 years in making, 2015 is going to see plenty of JP toys for a new generation of fans:
- Hero Mashers Dinosaurs
- "Claws" and "Jaws" JP World dino role-play toys
- Indominus Rex "Ultimate Predator" with jaw articulation and LED color-morphing (inside the body)
- Stomp and Strike T. Rex with articulated jaw and legs (with stomping sound)
- Brawlasaurs battle set, wind-up stylized dino figures that battle each other with a launcher "battle arena"
- T-Rex Lock-down playset (you may recall this from 1994)
You can read about the Star Wars part of the presentation over at Rebelscum.com, though honestly it was quite underwhelming.
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