San Diego Comic-Con took place last weekend and among the many exciting announcements, were some fun reveals by the Marvel Legends team at Hasbro. We got a chance to speak with Ryan and Dan from the team about some of those reveals and what might still be to come.
Of the announcements made by the team during their panel, the most interesting may have been the fact that there will be no Marvel HasLab project coming this year. Instead, the team revealed a new premium Dragon Man figure that will be coming soon. Ryan shared his thoughts on that change.
“We’re always trying to learn from every HasLab and type of campaign that we do and we just felt that, how Giant Man ended up, we think Marvel Legends HasLab momentum is in a different space than all other brands,” he said. “All brands are not the same. And so, what works for one might not work for another. And this is just a different way I think, again speaking for Marvel, there’s a lot of debate and spirited conversation when it comes to HasLab on things like price point, what’s included, tiers, this and that. There’s less consensus.”
New premium Dragon Man figure model, with HasLab Giant Man in the background
Ryan continued on his reasoning for creating this new Dragon Man premium figure.
“We wanted to do a Dragon Man for a while,” he said. “And we thought about making it a campaign, but you would have to add things to it. Is it a team box set? Is it other things? But then I think, not everyone who wants Dragon Man values that other stuff as much so it’s harder to find a consensus.”
Ryan did go on to explain that this is not to say there will never be another Marvel HasLab project. There just won’t be one in the calendar year 2024. Dan then shared some details on the new Dragon Man figure.
“He’s going to be 10.5 inches tall, his wingspan is about 17.5 inches wide too, bendy wire tail, articulated tongue. It’s going to be an awesome figure,” Dan added.
Sentinel Troop Builder
Another reveal during the panel was a new Sentinel Troop Builder based on the iconic X-Men arcade game. Ryan teased that there could be some more coming from that game in the future.
“We’re testing the waters. I mean, we’ve done those costumes over the years but this sentinel 2-pack is the first time from the character design to the packaging, we are very much leaning into that arcade, video game type aesthetic,” Ryan said. “So yeah, if that item does well, it’s a [Hasbro] Pulse exclusive so we can definitely track how it’s doing, so yeah that could add more options down the line for on-model type things from that game.”
With Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine now in theaters, I had to ask what it’s like for them to see a new Marvel movie like that and whether they are simply able to take it in as a fan or if they are thinking about work as they watch.
“It’s hard not to turn on the brain work, you know what I mean,” Dan laughed. “When you see something that you really like, you’re like ‘oh man,’ in the back of your head. You’re always thinking ‘I want this in a Legends figure form.’”
During the panel, the team also teased a new Premium Role Play item based on a comic book villain, coming in 2025. While they couldn’t say any more about that item specifically, they did explain there is plenty more Premium Role Play coming.
“2024 is not done with premium role play either,” Dan said. “We’re super excited for the 2024 Premium Role Play item that might be coming out soon.”
“I think the past couple of years, for Legends, our role play offerings, there haven’t been as many new ones,” Ryan added. “2024 is going to be our biggest year in a while and then 2025 is going to be even bigger than that.”
And finally, with a long slate of Marvel Cinematic Universe projects already in place, I asked the team about which projects they are most excited to turn into figures in the future.
“Fantastic Four just from, you know they’ve talked about the importance that it’s going to have on the MCU. And we were all excited about it when they finally announced the cast,” Ryan said. “We actually saw early movie reference for costumes before the cast was announced, which was kind of a trip. But now we see everything.”
Dan went in a very different direction with his answer, turning to the world of animation.
“I’m really excited for more X-Men ‘97 stuff,” Dan said. “I think the beauty of that show is there are so many different looks too. Like at the end, even the key characters went back to their old school kind of comic looks. So I’m super excited about maybe, potentially having the opportunity to make those looks.”
For now though, we can look forward to the slate of new figures that were announced at San Diego Comic-Con.