Anyone who inhabited video arcades in the ’90s was intimately familiar with the X-Men side-scrolling game, occasionally seen in a double-wide cabinet. Over the years, Hasbro‘s Marvel Legends team has featured nods to the game in some of the figure choices, but this time it’s blatant. The newest army-builder two-pack in the line features the human-sized Sentinels who serve as fist fodder in the game, along with appropriate accessories to grab and throw. Lest there be any doubt about what the source material is, the box art features conspicuous pixels.
Another Marvel Legends reveal was a comic-style Kang in his time chair, clearly anticipating the character would continue to be the MCU’s big bad. That’s up in the air right now, but since this is a comics-based figure, Jonathan Majors plays no part in its release.
Pulsing On
Announcing Hasbro’s Pulse Con 2024 for September 13th, the company also revealed their Star Wars exclusive will be a Black Series upscaled version of the original Episode I STAP with Battle Droid. As to why they reverted to in-hand items and queues after conveniently handing out preorder codes last year, Hasbro told us — and a few guests confirmed — that people want to leave the convention with an item in hand, and feel like they got it there. (Those of us who work the Con, meanwhile, would much prefer not having to carry them around, but anyway…) As to why a super-popular character like Darth Maul on his speeder would be relegated to an exclusive, the answers weren’t really clear. Yes, he’s clearly in demand, but he seems like a figure who could move even more units at mass retail…
Though they’ve leaked at other outlets, the official Star Wars Halloween figures for 2024 made an appearance: the Grand Inquisitor as Dracula, and Cad Bane as Frankenstein, with a bat-like Mynock. It’s a surprisingly good fit, if decidedly non-canonical.
Indiana Jones is not officially dead at Hasbro, but nothing is planned for now. The Lucasfilm team denied to us the rumors that Disney wouldn’t let them make Thuggee characters. For whatever reason, though, that Mola Ram many of us want doesn’t look likely any time soon.
From G.I. Joe, jetpacked hero Starduster makes his Classified debut, and one of his accessories will be a cardboard box for G.I. Joe cereal (how we wish that were real). The final version of the HasLab Dragonfly was also on display, along with a handful of other recent releases.
Note: Starduster and the game-style Sentinels will also be PulseCon exclusives.
Check out our photos below, and stay tuned for more Hasbro coverage.
