Hasbro rolled out not one but two exclusive product reveals at their MCM London Comic Con Hasbro panel yesterday.
The panel was divided in half, with Global Brand Managers Patrick Schneider (Star Wars) and Ryan Ting (Marvel) taking 30 minutes each. Both took the stage with props they then gave away (Poe’s helmet for Schneider, Thor’s hammer for Ting) and both gave us the lowdown on the process behind their toys, and their plans for 2018.
Schneider opened, with a detailed breakdown of how the Star Wars Black Series are constructed. This included everything from a look at the digital sculpting process to the ‘rapid prototype’ models which are constructed as a guide for the main line. Schneider clearly loves his work and went into great detail on how much care is taken with the Black Series. Most impressive though was the care taken on the paint jobs for the figures and the extraordinary attention to detail. Schneider used a figure of Luke from The Last Jedi as an illustration for the process and revealed it even has a dent in it’s cybernetic hand from the bolt Luke deflected all those years ago on Jabba’s barge.
Schneider’s big reveal though was also his smallest.
Black Series Porgs!
Coming in 2018, the ridiculously cute sort-of space puffins are coming out, to scale for the Black Series range. No word on how they’ll be released but we saw a photo of a two pack, one sitting, one standing, both adorable.
Ting took to the stage next and took a similar approach. He walked us through the construction of the new Wolverine Legends figure including a more detailed look at the 3D printing process and how fragile the initial prototypes are. In addition, he revealed some really interesting stuff on the way for 2018. The ‘Ultimate Riders’ series is going to be a long overdue return to vehicles for the 6-inch line and opens with an amazing looking Ghost Rider complete with clip-on flames for his bike, and a great comics-accurate Black Widow with a motorbike. Given how her big bike chase in Age of Ultron somehow became Cap’s big bike chase in the toys, this is a welcome, and overdue, redressing of the balance.
His big reveal though was a Black Knight Legends figure! The iconic Avenger will be coming to the Legends range in 2018 with a wide variety of helmets to reflect his various looks over the years. He’s a very odd character but a beloved one and it’s great to see him getting the respect he’s due. And hopefully Faiza Hussain, his Steward won’t be too far behind.
It was a great panel, lively and fun and informative with both men giving huge respect to the fan community and photographers who make the hashtag #hasbrotoypic so inspirational. All in all Hasbro couldn’t have got off to a better start at a European convention.
Now if you’ll excuse us there’s a line we plan to form for Black Series Porgs…
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