With SDCC and it’s amazing Hasbro exclusives and reveals behind us, it’s time to look forward to what incredible merch is coming our way at Hasbro’s own convention, HASCON, this September!
More Than Meets the Eye
While, despite my hoping and wishing and pleading, we didn’t get an SDCC exclusive Trypticon deco, attendees did get a clever “Trypticon’s Titan Master Crunch” poster that folded up into a cereal box. What made it interesting (other than the fantastic throwback artwork) was the listing of Titan Masters on the back of the box, some of which we haven’t yet seen. In particular, there were listings for “Leinad” (otherwise known as the G1 human companion to the Autobots, Daniel) and Ultra Magnus. To deepen the mystery, collector card artwork was uncovered for Arcee (Daniel’s buddy in Transformers: The Movie) and Ultra Magnus, leading many to believe they’d be the next exclusives. Well… they were right!
Titans Return Arcee is a G1-inspired retool and redeco of Titans Return Blurr (a fantastic toy from the first wave of the line). She comes with the aforementioned Leinad as her Titan Master and a spare head in the form of Ultra Magnus. (Though, really, shouldn’t he be Minimus Ambus?)
She and her disembodied friend will be available as an “early access” set at HASCON for $30. So it’s possible we could still see Arcee released at retail after the convention. I’ve got my fingers crossed. We need more fembots!
Also revealed as an actual HASCON exclusive was a fully-functional, fully transforming Optimus Prime 6500mAh power bank! The design is a bit spindly, but considering the designers made this into an actual functional product, I’m OK with it. Prime joins last year’s (non-functional) Soundwave tablet as part of a slowly growing line of Transformers made to look like real-world products. He even has a sword that you can plug into the USB port to make its LEDs glow! Optimus Prime will make topping off your phone the right of all sentient beings for $50 at the convention.
Rolling Crits Is Magic
I’m not going to lie, this set of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic-themed Dungeons & Dragons dice almost has me more excited than the Transformers reveal. The dice themselves are a glorious translucent pinkish-purple, like something Twilight Sparkle would conjure up. The set includes all the dice you’ll need for a campaign: a d20, a d8, two d10s (standard and percentile), four d6s, and a d4. What sells me on this exclusive is the magnificent artwork on the cover of the tin, with each of the “Mane Six” dressed up like their most analogous D&D class. Pinkie Pie is on the left as a Barbarian (I’d assume with Chaotic Good alignment), then Rarity as a Cleric, Twilight Sparkle as a Wizard (obviously), Fluttershy as a Druid (specced out, of course, to communicate with animals), Applejack as a Ranger, and Rainbow Dash as a Thief (hopefully with a default bonus of 20% on her coolness saving throws). It’s amazing and I would dive back into this series in a heartbeat (with or without my daughter) if they made an episode where they actually played as these characters. Heck, if they made this available as a D&D supplement, I’d track people down to play it with! You can pick it up for $20 at HASCON.
If you’re not ponied out yet, you can also pick up a box of MLP merch for $20. It’s full of figurines, stickers, and a t-shirt… kind of like most other subscription boxes out there. Is this a sign that we’ll be seeing additional branded subscription boxes from Hasbro in the future?
Three Cards to Rule Them All
This last exclusive might be the best, simply for how insanely disruptive it is. Magic: The Gathering fans can pick up a box of three HASCON exclusive cards for $30. Which seems like a lot, until you read a bit closer. Remember, these are actual MtG cards that you can use in actual play (though likely not in tournaments). The D&D themed card lets you conjure 4/4 dragon creatures every time you hit with it, then roll a d20 to see if you create more. The Transformers card has you grabbing your nearest Transformers toy and transforming it to power up Grimlock (sadly, there’s no picture of what the “Grimlock, Ferocious King” card can do). If you use my favorite of the three, however, you get to grab a Nerf gun and shoot at your opponent’s library from two meters away, move all cards that are knocked off the library into the graveyard, and then deal half that much damage to your opponent. It’s an insane, completely game-breaking card that would be epic to see in play.
With brand reveals, special guests, and family play and movie viewing events, HASCON is gearing up to be a destination convention. Hopefully, these exclusives will be widely available and won’t require the kind of lotteries and lines we’re used to at other conventions. GeekDad will have personnel on the ground at HASCON the weekend of September 8, so keep an eye on our Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook feeds for real-time updates. And, of course, if more convention news drops between now and then, I’ll keep you up to date.
Thought you might like the clarification on the MTG exclusives, specifically Nerf war. They are silver borders meaning not legal for any game except for games running anything from the ‘un-sets’ like the upcoming ‘unstable’ which these were made to advertise. It is also considered polite to not bring silver cards to casual games because of their disruptive properties unless everyone agrees to it.
Furthermore, nerfwar says ‘a library from more then two meters away’ if I recall correctly. This means you can not shot your opponents library as he is too close to you. It however means you should find a library halfway across the store and shoot that instead. Assuming of course that the entire store is playing unstable that night. These are just a taste of the madness and unpredictability you can expect for the upcoming un-set.
There was an MLP episode called “Dungeons and Discords” where they played an RPG.