*tap, tap, tap*. Yeah, I’m going to ramble about 2025’s kid-focused junk for all 2 of your that might actually be interested, besides me.
General summation:
Hasbro has renamed their “Epic Heroes” segment into “Epic World of Action”. Maybe an attempt to make it obvious the figures are small for more characters/play value?Regardless, a lot of the incoming retail products are still sporting the “Epic Heroes” moniker. This could be an issue for online searching since both names are cropping up on upcoming listings.
Marvel has 3 films on deck this year: Captain America Brave New World, Fantastic Four First Steps, and Thunderbolts*. There have been no leaks, nor do I expect Thunderbolts to receive a kids product line. The new Spider-Man animated series is slated to premiere in January, but no products have leaked and it would not surprise me if there were either no directly associated toys or they didn’t appear until next fall.
The Evergreen Avengers and Spider-Man are both engaging in Venom theming called “Venomversus” (day late in terms of coinciding with this fall’s Venom movie).
Any summer/fall initiatives will be revealed at Toy Fair in March, what I have is what is hitting for the spring season. I’ve heard nothing in regards to new single pack characters, though packaging revisions are always probable. My focus is on the Epic Series of figures, most lines will have the usual Titan and roleplay items.
Captain America BNW: Products have started to hit online and specialty retailers. Notable roleplay items include the return of Hulk hands!
Red Hulk- Plus Sized figure ($9.99 “hulk/thanos” assortment). Pretty sure this is just a repainted Evergreen Hulk figure with a new accessory.
Captain America, Bucky Flight Control- Both figures are based on the same gimmick of a handle control system to flap wings. Both figures are sporting “helmeted“ heads, though I suspect the ball joint will be universal. $14.99, these appear to be the ONLY way to get these characters in this format. I’ve seen nothing in regards to a basic figure assortment.
Evergreen Avengers: As stated, the Avengers will be joining Spider-Man in fighting (or joining?) a symbiote invasion. No new basic or Plus figures have been seen/reported, but package refreshes always likely. New Products have just been the deluxe and small vehicle categories. Interestingly, there IS some pseudo-cross selling returning to figure packaging, with other figures appearing on the back of others. It’s not much, but more than has been done recently. An overriding element is translucent plastics on the heroes, maybe to emulate a “glow” effect?
Deluxe Figures, $12.99-
Loki- Our yearly new character, Loki is “venomized”, but it is all paint work. The underlying sculpt is a traditional Loki figure which will probably be repainted later on. Interesting staff weapon, but being a “pre paint” with the same old Venom spider is just a bit bland. I very much appreciate that Loki is depicted fighting Thor on the back. A nice touch that shows someone is at least trying to keep things interesting.
Iron Man (anti-Venom Armor)- The red and clear blue with the purple highlights is a nice remix of colors. The jet pack isn’t quite clicking with me, nor is the shield sporting Venom detailing. Despite the complimentary details (props for matching power cores), the jet pack feels like something that should have gone with Sam Wilson or a flavor of Falcon. Iron Man was always the “big cannon” type to me.
Black Panther (Anti Venom)- Again, dig the use of translucent plastic. But the whole figure has a “been there, done that” vibe. The big claw and spear aren’t terribly far off from what other Black Panther toys have utilized, and the colors are well tread ground for the character. It just feels a bit like a “check box” release, compared to the other two entries which at least felt like there was an attempt to spice things up within means.
Captain America Shield Shot Cycle, $19.99- Replacing the Black Panther ATV Quad, this release does not sport the Venomversus branding, despite carrying much of the same themology (Pending packaging variation?). The figure here is a bit disappointing by lacking contrast. The blue translucent plastic really doesn’t stand out against the dominantly blue deco of the base figure. Where as Iron Man had a solid contrast with his red, Cap really could have used a different base color. The cycle is fine, the gimmicks look fine. But as with the included figure, the use of translucent blue with a dominantly blue base color makes it all look a bit “samey”. I wonder if it wouldn’t have been more compelling on both to use red as the translucent element?
Evergreen Spider-Man- Since Venom is a big Spider-foe, there’s a LOT of it in this category. Again despite a new cartoon, Hasbro seems to be working behind. I’m a bit disappointed that we still haven’t see a compelling increase in side characters and villains. We managed to get Vulture and Green Goblin via two packs, but the line is still lacking in Spider-friends and foes. I’m surprised that Spider-Gwen or a variation on Spider-Girl/Woman hasn’t cropped in. Also disappointed that Hasbro hasn’t tried to “piggy back” the increased exposure the impending film has brought to Kraven, Chameleon, and Rhino. Well, maybe not Chameleon, but the other two are classic villains that just so happen to be featured in a major film. ANYWAY…
No new basics revealed, not expecting any until fall, if that.
Deluxe, $12.99. Another trio, replacing the current water themed figures with “symbiote armor(?)”.
Venom- Despite appearances, he DOES look to be different tooling that the Green Symbiote figure. The torso and back/wings are new. He looks to have a metallic blue coat, which is a new change from just another black Venom figure.
Spider-Man- Not enough of an expert to tell if there is any tooling change besides the decision to exclude a webshooter hand. Dig the darker blue, though. The armor is really interesting, if nothing more than seemingly offering some “story element” to the proceedings. The tendrils are a nice accessory, but the “talking head” is a REALLY fascinating decision. Before the film, the comics never had that element to the character (that I know of), so to see Hasbro incorporate that into the toyline is really interesting to me.
Miles Morales- Poor Miles got a pretty “traditional” deluxe offering. Wearing armor that looks more like he’s being possessed by the green symbiote (Hey, I dig that little bit of “toy continuity”) with four “pokers”. No packaging images to tell if Hasbro did anything interesting with the base figure’s deco, but it will probably be whatever floats your boat.
Venomsaurus Rex, $30-35. A repaint and remold of the Spidersaurus Rex. You can use its flexible tongue to wrap around bad guys. Nifty.
And that’s the current slate of Epic World of Action products I know of. If anything else slips out, I’ll make an update, but I like that Hasbro is seemingly putting some damn effort into this segment. I’ll still argue we’re short on characters, but at least adding the unified theming is keeping things interesting…especially as DC/Spin Masters looks to be doing their own “kid initiative” with Metal Force.
