Oh, sorry, you're right, Frodo.  Still, it's just the same territory being covered again because, really, a clear figure is a clear figure.  Plus this is the 6" fig, where's the look at the 3.75" stuff?

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So, apparently Hasbro has a huge display of proposed but never released (cancelled) figures and vehicles on display at Joe Con and pretty much everything that was on my short list that I wanted is in that case, all done in 30th/PoC style: Lady Jaye, Flint, Kwinn, Tele-Viper, Eels...

There's also an armored assault carrier called a "Steel Wolf" which is pretty much straight out of my dreams for what I'd like to see in a new vehicle.  Think Aliens PC...what a shame.

The thing that pisses me off maybe the most is Kwinn.  As late as NYCC Hasbro was still planning on him and now?  Probably never.

Unless they show something tomorrow during their panel, it's not looking like they have anything scheduled at retial until February 2013...so after the current stock of Retaliation is gone, nothing?  Guess we'll hear tomorrow.

My only hope for Retaliation at this point is that Hasbro doesn't manufacture/release any more wave 1 cases and skip right into 2, 3 and 4 for the movie launch.  Because, if they re-release W1, we'll never see that stuff either.

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Yeah, I wasn't a fan of that helicopter and never bought the RoC version.  The truck, while expensive, does look really cool with the different tops.  Cost aside, that's an excellent piece IMO.

Found out that there is no 12" souvenir but they are selling sets of three of the AT crates for $21 which isn't a terrible deal.  The 12" freebie was an extra mummy suit.

But, the huge prices weren't limited to the 3.75" stuff, according to reports the Man of Evil accessory set for this year's subscription figure is $45!  That's $25 more than last year's weather spotter outfit, $13 more than the 2010 Urban Uniform and $12 more than the 2009 Talking Commaner set and that had a repro box in it!

What gets me about the Darklon 2-pack is that at 1,000 pieces it's the highest edition on a souvenir figure since the 2008 Roddy Piper figure and it's still $75.  That's $30 more than last year's set, Telampago/Gatilho, which had an ES of 650 and the Manleh/Starduster set from 2009.  The 2010 set was O-Ring, Dolphin & Poole, which came with 2 kyaks, ES 650 and also only cost $45.

Makes you wonder, did manufacturing costs really jump that much in one year or are they padding the bottom line to offset all the money they lost during the credit card fiasco?  Anyone in the TF Club track pricing and can give a comparison of this year's Con sets & souvenirs vs previous years?

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Info is out about the 3.75" show souvenirs from this year's con:

Attendee Exclusive: October Guard motorcyle (Snarler Repaint)

Annihilator 3-pack ES 650: $85
IG Ground Assault 2-pack (Darklon & Sgt. Major) ES 1,000: $75
October Guard Attack Helicopter ES 600: $70
Cobra Stealth Paratrooper ES 500
Soviet Convoy Truck w/ 3 tops (OG, Cobra, IG) ES 500: $99

No photos of anything yet except the OG Cycle.  I also haven't seen any reports of a 12" show exclusive yet.  But according to GeneralsJoes.com and a couple other sites, looks like Darklon will be available somewhere.

They also have 500 pieces of the Footloose figure, carded. More will be available after the show in the Club store as it's a Club exclusive and now a show exclusive.

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Edit to add some info and pricing to the souvenirs.  And, I have to say, the IG 2-pack with Darklon & Sgt. Major for $75 is ripoff.  It's limited to 2 per person while everything else is 1 per.  The Truck, based on the Indy vehicle, is awesome. Probably my favorite of the souvenirs but the 2-pack is really cool also (Darklon!!!), but not at that price.  And, apparently there aren't any 12" souvenirs this year, I've seen no posts anywhere for one so...

Why was Curto posting over at RS again? They don't deserve the benefit of his knowledge.

Voted! I haven't seen him post much in the SW section, I'm assuming the above was in the Cool Toy Review section for Marvel?  I don't follow that part of the board.  I'm assuming he's still in the Rochester area of that forum, though, since a lot of his local friends are in there.

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I don't follow MU close enough to know if there were other signs, but when, right after Toy Fair, it was announced that Vonner was laid off I think anyone paying attention could see the writing on the wall.

I'm assuming that Curto's comment will have something to do with Star Wars but it could also do with GI Joe or Transformers after the problems those lines have suffered over the last 6 months to a year (Joe, specifically but TF has had probs also).

I would not be surprised to see a big shift in the Star Wars lines, though.  With the way DePriest was speaking at TF, I really believe we'll see the end of Vintage Collection sometime around the end of the year and the replacement line, even though it'll have some collector focus, will probably move in the direction that the Clone Wars and Movie Heroes lines are headed; less articulation, fewer accessories, more re-packs/re-paints/kitbashes.  I would also not be surprised to see the Movie Heroes line go away and have just one Saga line...what might happen with the CW line I'm not sure yet.  With the treatment it got this year, Hasbro could pull the plug on that also and do any future CW characters in realistic style like they did for the Tartakovsky Micro Series characters/outfits and they started with this year's Anakin/Obi/Ahsoka figs.

I just hope they don't can the MU releases until I get my Rogue figure!!!

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I ran across a blue CC at Walmart this weekend and picked it up.  The date stamp on this figure is 20611 while the black CC that I bought from Target, on launch day, is 20751.  That would date the blue version earlier than the black. 

I have 4 GI Joe troopers, 2 each blue and tan helmets/cloaks.  One blue version was purchased at Walmart at launch and the two tan versions were purchased at Target, one on launch and the other a week or so later when they put up another case.  The second blue version was picked up for me by a friend and I forget now if it was at Walmart or Kmart. 

One blue version is dated 20621 and the other is 20651.  Both tan versions are 20751.  I mixed up the two blue versions so I don't know now which I bought and which came from another location.

On Sunday I spotted two blue version GI Joe Troopers and, I believe, a blue CC at Toys-R-Us.  I didn't check the date stamps and for the price they charge, didn't buy any.  I don't know how long they've been there, the pegs were pretty full, so they could have put out multiple cases at launch and not sold any, sold through and restocked or just filled up partially empty pegs.

If I had to make a guess, I would guess that the black CC and tan GI Joe Trooper are the running change and that they were meant to go forward.  But, with the line being cancelled and coming back next year, anything could happen.  There could still be cases of each out there waiting to get stocked, Hasbro could be holding on to more W1 and we don't have any idea yet what's already packed up, as carry forward figures, in post W1 cases.  We also don't know yet if Hasbro will go back into production on W1 characters either as additional W1 case packs or as carry forward figures and what version those might be.

Lots of stuff up in the air right now.  But, again, if I had to guess, if there had been no interruption to the releases, we probably wouldn't see more blue versions of either figure after that first release.

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I can't believe it's the middle of June and we haven't seen ANY photos of these figures.  You'd think that these figures would be out by the middle of November, at the latest, and that's only 5 months from now.  It's really hard to build buzz and put in pre-orders this far in advance for product you've never seen.

Did they offer up any protos for buyers at Toy Fair?  Have, at least, stores that are going to be carrying the line seen it yet?

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