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AIC NEWS SPECIAL: 2026 SDCC RECAP
1 Playsin 7 hours
HOLY SMOKES! SDCC is in the books and there's a lot to bring you up to speed about — while we can't possibly cover all of it here, these are some critical highlights, preorder info, and more you need to know about headed into this week. Strap in.
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Transcript
Introduction to Comic-Con 2026 Highlights
00:00:05
Speaker
AICNN, where toy news matters.
00:00:12
Speaker
Welcome to this extended edition of AIC News. Give us just a few minutes of your time and we'll get you caught up on all the highlights you need to know coming out of the 2026 San Diego Comic-Con. Wow.
00:00:26
Speaker
There is a lot to talk about, a lot to cover. We're going to do our best to get through this. as smoothly and as quickly as possible because there are pre-orders that launch today that you're probably going to want to know about. So we'll do our best, like I said, to get this all in one
Marvel Legends Giveaway Announcement
00:00:39
Speaker
spot. So I'm going to tackle a plethora of things and then pass it on over to Dave to cover off on the WWE wwe wrestling news because, like I said, boy, there's quite a bit of it.
00:00:50
Speaker
ah But before we dig into the toy news, this is a quick reminder that ah it is still July, folks. We've still got a few days left. This week is your final week to enter to win the Marvel Legends Mephisto.
00:01:07
Speaker
from Hasbro. So um again, we have partnered with our friends Machu and J-Shot from Inbetween Two Sentinels to bring you an awesome giveaway this month.
NECA and TMNT & Horror Figures Reveal
00:01:18
Speaker
So go ahead and head on over to at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram. Look for that pinned post and and and enter yourself to win Mephisto.
00:01:29
Speaker
It's a great figure. I'm looking at it now. I love it. You're going to love it too. And this is your chance to get one for free. And that's pretty cool. But ah yeah, with that, like I said, we have a lot to cover off on ah in terms of housekeeping. Or I'm sorry, in terms of San Diego Comic-Con news, that was our housekeeping.
00:01:47
Speaker
Just that one thing. So ah let's let's start running through some things. so So let's start off with the folks at NECA. So they did confirm that ah with their reveal of Tempestra, who, by the way, is up for pre-order on Big Bad Toy Store, Anytime I mention that a pre-order is live on Big Bad Toy Store or, frankly, anywhere, um you can go to AICpodcast.com forward slash links ah to go ahead and and pre-order those items. So um back to the story, though.
00:02:17
Speaker
NECA did confirm, i both from Trevor and Blaine, um that with Tempestra, this is the end of their TMT offering. Ninja Turtles are done with NECA.
00:02:32
Speaker
NECA are done with the Ninja Turtles. um The news at the at the... earlier in the year was that Mattel would be taking over the license so um this is kind of the end of their run on png mutant ninja turtles and uh just a quick thank you to all the folks at NECA that worked on such great ninja turtles figures over the last bunch of years um it's been great to have them so uh they did have some other news there though uh we did get to see the ultimate edition of sweet revenge jason so this is the newest version of jason from the jason universe
00:03:05
Speaker
He's also up for pre-order at Big Bad Toy Store, along with Shogun Horror Ghostface. ah We did see two other ah installations in this Shogun Horror series, being Jason and Leatherface. These figures are inspired by samurai culture and and the art therein. They look really cool.
00:03:24
Speaker
We also got to see the I Know What You Did Last Summer Fisherman, who is also up for pre-order, and then a new... realm for NECA to enter in, we saw Powdered Toastman with interchangeable heads. Hopefully this means that more Brennan Stimpy figures are coming. I may beg Brennan Stimpy.
McFarlane, Jada Toys & New Collections
00:03:44
Speaker
From NECA, let's head on over to McFarlane. So we did see the next two figures in the Image Comics Founders Collection. So Witchblade and Prophet were both shown off.
00:03:54
Speaker
And then um a we are not done with DC Multiverse by by no leaps, by by no means. ah There is still a lot of year left and it seems like the folks at McFarlane are ready to crank some stuff out. So let's just run through a few highlights they showed off. This is not everything, but... ah These are, again, some of the ones that jumped out to us.
00:04:15
Speaker
So we saw from Hush, Catwoman, and Harley Quinn, Unmasked Ben Affleck Batman, Single-Carted Doomsday, a wave containing Mira, Wonder Girl, Raven, and Black Manta, Battle-Damaged Catwoman from Batman Returns, Gary Oldman, Commissioner Gordon from the Nolan Trilogy, and Absolute Batman.
00:04:36
Speaker
And the absolute Batman does appear to be a an elite edition. um And that specific version is exclusive to Walmart. From McFarlane, let's head on over to the folks at Jada Toys. So they revealed the next three Scooby-Doo 112 figures, that being Fred, the Zombie, and the Headless Horseman.
00:04:55
Speaker
We saw them enter a new realm with both a 112 scale Astro Boy and 112 scale Capcom's Strider. So very cool to see that. Dino from the Flintstones comes into their Serial Mascots line in ah representing Fruity Pebbles. um And then we saw the latest additions to their ah their growing Invincible line, i which includes...
00:05:25
Speaker
Omni-Man.
Hasbro's New Lines & Pre-orders
00:05:26
Speaker
It includes, ah let's see here, ah Battle Beast and Adam Eve. And then we did see them confirm that the Street Fighter Alpha collection is coming and a fan favorite Sakura will be joining that collection. So everyone who's building those Marvel vs. Capcom shelves, you've got ah you've got at least two more to add ah thanks the folks at From Jada, let's head on over to Mondo. They showed off the next three 1-6 scale Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle figures. Again, these are the what if ah Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 was not Turtles in Time, but was more of a continuation of Secret of the Ooze. We got to see Raph, Mikey, and Shredder.
00:06:11
Speaker
They also unveiled their 112 scale Ecto-1 for their extremely popular The Real Ghostbusters line. ah The Ecto-1 is completely decked out, as you would assume. It's got swappable hood pieces, ghosts, it's got all sorts of accessories. think everyone is going to be really happy with that.
00:06:28
Speaker
One of the new names that has kind of entered the DC space with with some really, really impressive deluxe 112 scale figures is Inart. And they have a little showcase as well where they showed off White Knight Batman and Alex Ross Batman and Superman.
00:06:44
Speaker
Classic Joker, Absolute Batman, which looks absolutely insane. Dark Knight Trilogy, Bane and Two-Face, The Batman, Robert Pattinson, and a Dark Knight Returns, Batman and Mutant Leader.
00:06:58
Speaker
No pre-order information for most of those. The Batman, the Robert Pattinson Batman is up for pre-order in places like Bombus. ah You can go to AICpodcast.com forward slash links.
00:07:12
Speaker
Now, From there, let's get into the absolute um drink from a fire hose amount of reveals that came from Hasbro. Again, these are just highlights. These are not comprehensive.
00:07:26
Speaker
um If you want comprehensive coverage of everything that went on during San Diego Comic-Con, I'm going to remind you again to go to AIC underscore podcast on Instagram, where we have tons of pictures Thanks to folks like Fraternia and Toy Shiz and MCU Collector and In Pursuit of Coys and Crimson Dawn Collectibles and Action Figure Insider.
00:07:46
Speaker
um There were a lot of people that were there, boots on the ground, who were very, very great about posting photos and we were able to kind of collect them. and hopefully help share the news that they were trying to get out. So um thanks again to our our peers for allowing us to do that.
00:08:02
Speaker
And um we are very excited to attend new York Comic Con in person later this fall and bring new in-person content. But with that, let's talk about Hasbro. So um we got two new lines from Hasbro at this event, both for the Street Fighter movie and The Legend of Zelda. Both of them went up for pre-order. The Street Fighter figures i am about to mention are Walmart exclusives for now.
00:08:26
Speaker
And The Legend of Zelda pre-orders are way out in the distance. So you can pre-order them now um at most places where toys are sold. This is Legend of Zelda Heroes of Hyrule, but they are not due until next May. Yes, that's right, May of 2027. So the Street Fighter movie figures include Ryu, again Chun-Li and Akuma. And again, those are Walmart exclusives. The Legend of Zelda Heroes of Hyrule features Zelda, Link, and Ganon from their looks in Tears the Kingdom. And it does appear that this license, this franchise, however you want to look at it, is franchise-wide. So team in Hasbro has an ocean of characters to hopefully choose from with blessing of potential.
00:09:13
Speaker
Hopefully the line succeeds. Would love to see them go deep. They look fantastic. Yeah. Moving on.
Star Wars Figures & Pre-order Dates
00:09:19
Speaker
ah Let's dig it into Star Wars. So starting off with the Black Series, Barak, Icarus, and the Mando Super Commanders from Maul are coming to the Black Series, along with Mother Talzin and Gar Saxon from the Clone Wars.
00:09:34
Speaker
Vintage Collection builds on the Battle of Geonosis with a new Anakin character. Padme, Obi-Wan, along with single packs of the Super Battle Droid we saw in the Army Builder pack, as well as a repaint of the B1 Battle Droid as the B1 Commander.
00:09:50
Speaker
We also saw the Amani from Mando and Grogu um revealed for the Vintage Collection. Big news for Black Series is they are getting an overhaul.
00:10:00
Speaker
So, a new packaging, new look. the first figure is Phantom Menace, Queen Amidala. And the Black Series and Vintage Collection are both getting their own versions of the Hutt himself, Road of the Hutt from Mandalorian and Grogu. um There are a bunch of great pictures out there. thing looks great. It looks like it has a a mix of plastic and rubber, and it's going to be really, really cool. So, really excited for the and add that my collection. So when can we do that?
00:10:28
Speaker
Pre-orders begin rolling out today. That is, if you are listening to this as it airs, this is Monday, July 27th, 1 p.m. Eastern Time. So again, that is for the mainline figures. So those are the
00:10:45
Speaker
Marak, Icarus, Mando Super Commander, Mother Talzin and Gar Saxon from the Black Series, and then Vintage Collection, Anakin, Padme, Obi-Wan, ah Super Battle Droid, B1 Commander, and then both versions of Road of the Hut.
G.I. Joe and Marvel Legends Exclusives
00:11:01
Speaker
Moving from Star Wars onto G.I. Joe, the big news coming out of the G.I. Joe presentation is that the Thunder Machine is coming and it will be a made-to-order piece on Pulsed, TBD on D. We also got our first look at TripTee with Sergeant Slaughter himself in the house. Super cool, always good to see Sarge.
00:11:19
Speaker
Name only reveals included. Hardball, Dana, as well as Ninja Force, Snake Eyes, and Jinx, which I'm super excited for, and a new G.I. Joe character in the Dreadnoughts named Flatline.
00:11:33
Speaker
Pre-orders for Retro Falcon, Cobra Valkyrie, Flash, the Crimson Snake Armor, and the Footloose, Mutt, and Junkyard 3-pack are tomorrow, Tuesday, July 28, 1 p.m. Eastern Time. The Triple T comes to Pulse on August 12th.
00:11:48
Speaker
Now, let's dig into Marvel Legends. Strap in, folks, there is a lot to talk about. So, on the Magic the Gathering subline of Marvel Legends, these are the figures that come with a special Magic the Gathering card.
00:12:00
Speaker
um The next wave of those figures will be Captain America, Doom 2099, Malice, and Black Panther. Again, they join that collection that comes with a Magic Gathering card. You can pre-order them on August thirteen Your next Maximum Series figure will be Symbiote Suit Spider-Man.
00:12:21
Speaker
um I think we all kind of saw this one coming. Looks great. Comes with a bunch of accessories. You know the deal with these Maximum figures. You can pre-order him on August first i a A hotly requested figure from the Marvel Legends March Madness tournament, Mole Man makes his his triumphant return to Marvel Legends packed with two Moloids.
00:12:41
Speaker
um You can pre-order him just a couple days, august twenty or July 29th. The next few figures that they revealed were a new Elsa Bloodstone, Earth X Captain in America, A Croire from the Micronauts, geez. And then we dug into some more Gamerverse. So we had Gamerverse Player 2 variants of Wolverine, Psylocke, as well as Iron Man and Spiral in a new two-pack, and a Pink Shuma Garage. Those are coming soon.
00:13:13
Speaker
The other big Game Reverse reveal was the Sentinel. So the Game Reverse Sentinel is live now on Pulse exclusively i for $100. This is major order item and your your order window closes on August 13th.
00:13:28
Speaker
Now, for the big reveal. So Doomsday time. In Hall H on Saturday, Marvel revealed a new trailer for Avengers Doomsday, um which has yet to be screened publicly, but it sounds like it was pretty intense.
00:13:42
Speaker
The entire cast was there. And while we're talking about reveals from Hall H, they also revealed that Ryan Gosling will be playing Ghost Rider and that we've got ourselves a new Black Panther.
00:13:54
Speaker
And his name is David Johnson. You might know him from the more recent Alien film. He played the android. was fabulous in that. Looks like it's going to be really cool. So Alex Levy is going to be directing... i'm sorry, Sean Levy is going to be directing Ghost Rider, and um Ryan Coogler is back to direct Black Panther 2.
00:14:15
Speaker
But anyway, we are here to talk about Avengers Doomsday. so We've got a bunch of figures revealed the pre-orders are coming in hot. um Like today hot. So we've got two packs of Johnny Storm who is half blazed up from the the lower half and Sue Storm who is translucent so in her invisible mode.
00:14:36
Speaker
That's one two-pack. The other two-pack is Herbie and Reed. um And all of the Fantastic Four in these two-packs have the coats on that you see them wearing in
00:14:50
Speaker
the first Doomsday trailer. they have that new look along with a new Thing. The Thing is is wearing his sweater, his Fantastic Four sweater that we see him wearing in First Steps.
00:15:01
Speaker
And he does come with the alternate head with Thingbeard, which pretty cool. Those, however, will be Walmart exclusives and they will be available this fall. So no pre-order information at this time, but the next few figures all do have pre-orders today, July 27th, 1 p.m. Eastern time. So first off,
00:15:20
Speaker
we've got Magneto with a soft goods cape. He's an Amazon exclusive. So again, that's today, July 27th, 1 p.m. Eastern time, Amazon exclusive Magneto.
00:15:33
Speaker
Then for your regular main line available where all good toys are sold, you've got Gambit. You've got Cyclops. You've got Captain America. You've got Thor, Doctor Doom, and Shang-Chi.
00:15:47
Speaker
Those will all be available again today, July 27th at 1 p.m. Eastern time to pre-order and they will be available widely um where where fine toys are sold. Now listen,
00:16:00
Speaker
This, like I said, these are just highlights of some of the things that we saw at um San Diego Comic-Con that we really like. We didn't even really get to touch on folks like Playmates, who are launching a Kickstarter for the Green Ranger Dragonzord.
00:16:13
Speaker
um Our friends over at Bandai and Tamashii Nations, who launched a pre-order for a battle-damaged Final Form, Final Form air quotes, Full power Frieza.
00:16:25
Speaker
i We didn't talk about really sneak attack toys who unveiled a 112 scale Inspector Gadget figure. This San Diego Comic-Con was packed. was absolutely packed with some really, really cool stuff.
00:16:36
Speaker
And before I kick it over to Dave to talk about wrestling, I will just remind you one more time that if you want more comprehensive coverage and looks at pictures of things that I just talked about for 16 minutes, um head on over to at AIC underscore podcast on Instagram where you can find pictures of everything that I just talked about everything that Dave is about to talk about when it comes to wrestling.
Jazwares & Ringside Collectibles Pre-orders
00:16:59
Speaker
So let's take a super quick break and then we'll come back and we'll talk about wrestling.
00:17:07
Speaker
Lots of wrestling figure news out of San Diego Comic Con, so let's get started. We'll begin with Jazwares. They showed off some AEW figures that are still in the pipeline.
00:17:18
Speaker
This includes the Ringside Collectibles exclusives of Hiroshi Tanahashi and Sting, as well as the Collect Major exclusive of Friend of the Pod's Smart Mark Sterling, and figures for MJF, Willow Nightingale, and our forever ROH Women's Champion, Athena.
00:17:35
Speaker
The Ringside Collectibles exclusives can be pre-ordered now, and stay tuned for more information on additional pre-orders. Did I say Collect Major? The Smart Mark Sterling exclusive is not the only thing coming from our friends of the pod at Collect Major, and it's not just wrestling.
00:17:53
Speaker
Major stars are stepping into the batter's box with a new Major League Baseball series including Aaron Judge, Shohei Otani, Paul Skeens, and Juan Soto. The next Big Rubber Guys MLB mascots will be Wally the Green Monster of the Boston Red Sox and Clark of the Chicago Cubs.
00:18:13
Speaker
Big Rubber Guys are also jumping into the music scene with Iron Maiden's iconic mascot Eddie in his Killers album cover look, as well as Ozzy Osbourne from the Bark at the Moon album cover.
00:18:26
Speaker
And in a wrestling and music mashup, the Insane Clown Posse are also joining the line. Many more characters from across film and comics are joining Big Rubber Guys as well, with Kickboxer, The Princess Bride, Popeye, The Phantom, Flash Gordon, and The Kool-Aid man all represented.
00:18:46
Speaker
The next set of AEW Big Rubber Guys includes MJF, Taz, Chris Jericho, Darby Allin, Kenny Omega, and Sting.
00:18:57
Speaker
Rounding things out are current stars like Shotzi and legends like The Killer Bees, Barry Windham, JJ Dillon, Randy Savage, The Barbarian, Nikita Koloff, Ric Flair, and Cactus Jack.
00:19:11
Speaker
Keep an eye out for more information on future pre-orders because remember, The pre-order is the order. Jumping to Boss Fight Studios, the latest round of Legends of Lucha Libre figures were announced.
00:19:25
Speaker
Frye Tormenta, DMT Azul, and Masquerita Dorada are coming soon. Watch this space for future pre-order information. Mattel brought their upcoming slate of figures to their booth and a star-studded panel.
Mattel's WWE Elite & Special Releases
00:19:41
Speaker
the wwe WWE Elite Squad avoided being cursed by showing four upcoming Danhausen offerings, including an Ultimate that can be pre-ordered for real human monies at Ringside Collectibles.
00:19:53
Speaker
Other highlights include first-time-in-the-line main event figures for Zarya, Lash Legend, and Ghoulhausen. That's part of a two-pack with Danhausen, by the way. As well as returning figures of Zack Ryder, who is in a two-pack with Chelsea Green, and Rusev.
00:20:12
Speaker
Upcoming LJNs include Cindy Lauper, the British Bulldog, Roman Reigns, Brother Love, the Hart Foundation as a 2-pack, and more. The Legends line is bringing first-time-in-the-line figures for Mike Rotunda, the Tonga Kid, Victoria, Abyss, Jimmy Garvin, and the ability to complete the fabulous Freebirds with a Build-A-Figure Buddy Roberts.
00:20:37
Speaker
There will also be new Rick and Scott Steiner figures, and Mr. Perfect and the British Bulldog are coming to the line as Legends Ultimates. The Monday Night Wars line continues with Kay Quick, the Nasty Boys, Dr. Stone Cold Steve Austin, a first-time-in-the-line Jacqueline Bildafigure, NWO Stevie Ray, Sherry, Kurt Angle, Shawn Michaels, and Terry Funk with a WCW Hardcore title.
00:21:06
Speaker
Monday Night War Ultimates include Chyna, Booker T, and Eddie Guerrero. There's also a certain very nice, very evil character named Cold Steve coming to the line.
00:21:18
Speaker
Ringside exclusive Defining Moments continues with Hornswoggle, Dennis Rodman, John Cena, Naomi, Triple H, and Zack Ryder. And a new ultimate Ultimate Moments line kicks off with Trick Williams, the aforementioned Dan Housen, CM Punk, and Dominic Mysterio.
00:21:38
Speaker
The Coliseum Collection continues at ringside with The Natural Disasters. These figures are two-in-one figures as Earthquake includes street clothes from his debut appearance in the audience, as well as Typhoon including his tugboat gear as soft goods.
00:21:57
Speaker
There is also a new raw real-scale ring coming out, and that includes an Ultimate Paul Heyman figure.
00:22:05
Speaker
Mattel is also expanding the Street Fighter crossover and starting a new Universal Monsters crossover line. Speaking of horror, a new Liv Morgan and Chucky 2-pack is coming to Mattel Creations, as is a CM Punk AJ Lee and Larry set that features CM Punk and AJ Lee's gear from Wrestlepalooza.
00:22:26
Speaker
The Standard Elite line is bringing new figures for Dan Housen, CM Punk, AJ Lee, Obafemi, the irresistible forces of Nia Jax and Lash Legend, LA Knight, Maxine Dupree, Finn Balor with Demonito, Kit Wilson, a first-time-in-the-line Repo Man, and a first-time-in-the-line Jordan Grace.
00:22:48
Speaker
Upcoming PLE lines include Ultimate Cody Rhodes, Ultimate John Cena, and First Time in the Line figures for Joe Hendry and Build-A-Figures for Armando Estrada and Harvey Whippleman.
00:23:01
Speaker
Finally, Mattel closed their panel with the announcement of a new AAA line. This line includes elites of Psicosis, Pagano, El Grande Americano, Mr. Iguana and La Yesca, Rey Mysterio, Dominic Mysterio, El Jijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., El Jijo de Vakingo, La Parca, Conan, and Lady Flammer.
00:23:25
Speaker
There are also 90s-inspired figures for Penta, Rey Mysterio, and Mr. Iguana. Finally, AAA will also be receiving ultimates of the Original Leparca, Psycho Clown, and a Mattel Creations exclusive Mr. Iguana and Lyesca.
00:23:41
Speaker
Mr. Iguana is available to pre-order now through August 13th at 11.59 Pacific Time over at the Mattel Creations website. The figure is $55 and is due to ship in September of 2027.
00:23:56
Speaker
Ringside Collectibles themselves made the last announcement of the weekend, bringing the legendary Extreme Icon Sabu to the unsanctioned line. Sabu comes with soft goods pants, an entrance headdress, alternate head and hands, and a folding chair. He is $35.99 and is due to arrive this September.
00:24:15
Speaker
And remember, whether you're pre-ordering or ordering at Ringside Collectibles, use code AIC to save 10%.
00:24:24
Speaker
On behalf of the entire AICNN team, this has been your not-so-brief AIC News Brief. Hope you enjoyed San Diego Comic-Con, and if you went in person, safe travels home, and we hope you enjoyed our coverage.
00:24:39
Speaker
Until next time..
00:24:52
Speaker
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