Home News
Reviews The List
NYTS Links
Ramblin' Man Gallery
So why did one of THE manufacturers of toys hold-off from showing their goods at the Toy Fair? Well, considering what they unveiled at a MASSIVE display at the corporate offices in Rhode Island, it might have been to keep from scaring the pants off the competition.
Ok, after a year of Armada and 'Attack of the Clones' and GI Joe, what wonders could Hasbro be hiding? Yeah, whatever, Armada is 'eh', and Star Wars and GI Joe are being beaten to death. Come on, SHOW ME.
They did. Any major toy revelations? Unfortunately, no. With prototypes of just about EVERYTHING from Armada being splashed around and no new Star Wars film for about two more years, there were no eye-popping surprises. However, what you DID see is the proverbial sleeping giant bust out some SERIOUS merchandise.
Transformers-Armada
If you're a dedicated Transfan, you already know about Overlord, Tidal-Wave, and Unicron. However, there's a huge difference between seeing a scanky-looking prototype and having the COMPLETED PRODUCT. All three BIG pieces appear to finally display the full potential of Armada; have multiple toys combine... and combine... and combine.
Good; Hasbro is taking the tricks from Takara and really applying them to the new line. Both Tidal-Wave and Overlord attach to Megatron and Prime respectively, making the pieces bigger and MUCH more powerful. Oh yeah! We're talking SUPER robot-mode here.
Bad; Some of the dinobot-ish pieces from Beast Wars have been recycled for Armada.
Ugly; Can't you make Unicron a LITTLE bigger? He's a PLANET. Now, you can't make him to scale, but having him be the same size as Prime just seems WRONG.
Star Wars
Bad news; no Episode three yet. ... ok, depending on your opinion of the movies, that may NOT be bad news. Just the same, what do you do when you've got THE toy license on the planet? Well, you just watch the movies over... and over... and over... and over... and pick out whatever you can, turn 'em into toys, and make um even BETTER.
The usual huge army of figures from all of the movies continues to be pumped-out by Hasbro, along with an assortment of vehicles, and the return of Actionfleet!
Good; Ok, not Four Horsemen quality, but the new sculpts are MUCH better. Case in point is a killer re-make of Luke Skywalker in his all-black outfit dueling Vader. This is reminiscent of the Bespin Luke Hasbro created. Cheating? A bit, BUT, this is a much better piece, with improved sculpt, I imagine some cool extras, AND the lightsaber being held in both hands is always a nice touch.
Bad; Still two more years before more REALLY new figures come out.
Ugly; Waiting through most of the movie to FINALLY hear James Earl Jones.
GI Joe
So who gets bigger props for their re-launch; Mattel for He-Man or Hasbro for GI Joe? At this point, I would give a very slight edge to Mattel, because they're had more time and the new products are pretty sweet. Just the same, Hasbro hasn't been sitting and just watching as Mattel rakes in the money.
The new lines introduces even MORE two-packs of the universe of characters. Oh, and for those who just want single characters they're also selling single pieces now. Duke and Cobra Commander were displayed in solo blister-packs so I imagine more will be on the way. And what would GI Joe be without vehicles and 12" versions of the figures?
Good; Sure the figures and vehicles look cool, but THE pair to get are the 12" Snake-Eyes and Stormshadow figures! No, I'm not a huge fan of 12" DOLLS, but you gotta admit, getting both of these master-ninjas fully loaded with weapons is just too good to pass up.
Bad; Speaking of vehicles, could we have more? Got a good start with the Desert Attack Chopper, but what about a new stealth-fighter, maybe a new, badder tank?
Ugly; PRAYING the Cobra Emperor doesn't pop up...