I had a lot riding on the Iron Man movie. Maybe not as much as Robert Downey Jr., but it felt like a lot.

A pile of action figures, busts, statues, comics and various other collectibles found their intrinsic and personal value hinged upon just how awesome Iron Man was going to be. Sure, my love of Batman survived the pathetic Schumacher years, and I’ve even maintained a degree of affection for The Fantastic Four despite their lackluster cinematic debut, but I didn’t know if I could handle another disappointment of such epic proportions. When you see one of your favorite heroes brought to life, there’s a certain need to see it done right. If the movie failed to impress, my love of Iron Man could easily have gone the way of eBay.

And for two fortunate hours, I was blown away by how completely awesome Iron Man was. As Iron Man was transformed from a B-list Avenger to a household name and lent credibility to the new generation of hero-chic, I could stand back and say ‘I told you so’. This past Tuesday, the DVD that changed everything was released by Paramount. In twelve different retail formats.

The bare-bones, single-disc edition can be found at most retail locations, and includes deleted and extended scenes - which are always my favorite part of a DVD. These scenes are definitely neat and replete with that ol’ Downey charm, but ultimately add little to the story, and were cut for sensible reasons.

The ‘Ultimate’ two-disc edition expands upon this, with the entire second disc stuffed full of extras. The ‘I Am Iron Man’ making-of documentary is as long as the movie itself, and is a ridiculously complete view of the entire filmmaking process, from concept all the way through to final editing. The obligatory behind-the-scenes things that are tacked onto most DVDs are nothing compared to this 7-part journey through the veins and spirit of the film. Such radical transparency about the process, effects, methods and mystery could potentially take away some of the magic of the film, but it’s so well assembled that it only serves to enhance my appreciation of the 2-year process behind making this film a reality. It’s absolutely the selling point of the 2-disc edition.

Add to this another exhaustive documentary about Iron Man comic character, ten minutes of screen tests and rehearsals with Downey and Jeff Bridges, a bunch of galleries of concept art, and a short produced by The Onion in their trademark super-dry style. The whole package comes in a handsome slipcased DVD, and it’s worth the money. Not only because it’s shiny holofoil, which excites me now just as much as it did when I was 5. I mean, it’s EVERY COLOR. Clearly, this is beyond any understandable science.

Eight retail partners have arranged ten different exclusive DVD deals, and unless otherwise noted, all of them include the 2-disc DVD.

Arguably, the best exclusive deal was given to Best Buy, which included a great Iron Man mini-helmet made by Sideshow Toys, as well as a $50 Sideshow gift card. Keep in mind that Sideshow’s gift cards can only be used on a selected group of items, and not site-wide. The whole set effectively pays for itself. If this edition is sold out at your Best Buy, you can still hunt down the edition featuring a lithograph by Gerald Parel. If you’re into this Mark III helmet, Sideshow has also produced companion busts of the Mark I and Mark II helmets, life-sized and 1:2 scale busts, and a 1:4 scale statue. Bowen Designs have produced at least 10 1/6th scaled busts of Iron Man’s various suits, also.

In terms of other neat, toyetic collectibles, Costco’s set includes three Iron Man bobbleheads, depicting all three suits used in the film, with an exclusive ‘damaged’ Mark II suit.

Circuit City purchases include access to a limited selection of Marvel’s online Iron Man comics through their Digital Comics service. Walmart’s edition includes an exclusive Nick Fury comic, and they also offer a 1-disc edition that includes the first episode of the new Iron Man cartoon. Borders includes another collectible book that features the art of Bob Layton, and the ‘top 24 Iron Man covers’.

Packaging variations come from FYE & Suncoast, who both package the DVD in ‘steelbook’ packaging, and Target, which has packaging in the shape of Iron man’s iconic helmet. As I usually have a hard time fitting these into my collection space, I grudgingly opt out. That bowling ball packaged Big Lebowski would have looked great, too.

The ‘Least Exclusive Deal’ award goes to Sears & K-Mart, who offer $5 off of the DVD with the purchase of $25 worth of Craftsman tools, in the biggest stretch of a tie-in I’ve ever seen. My money’s on Costco and Best Buy, for sheer collectible value.

If you don’t mind a few more sentences of unmoderated nerd-gushing, Iron Man is absolutely one of the standards for the hit-and-miss superhero film genre. Bring it home and nestle it in between your Spider-Man and Dark Knight DVDs.

The Incredible Hulk has been around since 1962, one of the many many many creations of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby : the epic story of a man trapped inside of a green monster, or vice versa. These dueling personalities have given rise to a wide array of personalities through the course of the comic, and have made many friends and enemies.

This cast of characters, of course, means action figures. In 2003, ToyBiz released eight Hulk-related figures in a line that they called ‘Hulk Classics’, which coincided with their ongoing ‘Marvel Legends’ property. While the set of eight was comprised of six very diverse incarnations of The Hulk himself, the two villains (Absorbing Man and Abomination) proved very difficult to find, and now reach prices of over $100.

More recently, Hasbro has released a line simply called ‘Hulk’, a figure line that focuses on the Hulk comic rather than the current movie, and spans another eight characters as a kind of informal continuation of the ol’ Hulk Classics line. Because of the large size of most Hulk figures, the included bonus pieces of a buildable Fin Fang Foom, and the skyrocketing price of plastics and cost of transporting them, each figure costs about $15 at retail - an all time high price for a domestic action figure of this scale. So, are they worth it?

Let’s start with the Savage She-Hulk, as the smallest and rarest of the bunch. Hasbro’s previous She-Hulk figure remains one of my favorite Marvel Legends figures of all time, so there’s definitely a prejudice. This new Savage She-Hulk stands a full head shorter than her taller predecessor (which is acceptable, due to the nature of the Hulk family’s size-changing abilities), and is the only figure to include a fabric costume piece. I’m not a fan of mixing cloth and plastic on this small scale, because something never syncs up, and while the tattery white undershirt that she wears serves to allow for full movement, it doesn’t seem to be an accessory that will last long. Of course, action figure purists and weirdos alike can display her sans shirt, as Hasbro conveniently sculpted underthings onto her form. The angry face and messy hair belies her ‘Savage’ nature - something that she learned to control, subsequently joined the Fantastic Four for a little while and became a successful lawyer. I’m up for any She-Hulk, so I’m a fan.

Doc Samson is the next figure of the group, and also my favorite. Maybe it’s just something iconic about a guy with a lightning bolt on his chest, but it’ll always sucker me in. Madman, Captain Marvel, The Flash - all visually appealing guys. Doc is a great figure, cast in the soft plastics that allow for soft, sturdy movement, very simple in execution and just neat looking. He has the double-jointed knees that are rarely seen anymore (but were once responsible for making Marvel Legends a revolutionary force), and the points of articulation in his ball-jointed hips are cleverly masked by the stripes in his pants. If nothing else, he’s a classic Marvel character who we’ve not seen in this scale yet, and he’s a pretty great basic body for customizers who are interested in making him into different guys. Captain Hammer, anyone?

Absorbing Man is probably the disappointment of the set, and not really worth picking up (except for the Foom piece) - even as a stand-in for the excellent but rare Absorbing Man that ToyBiz made in 2003. While the ‘leg-made-of-brick’ is a pretty neat aesthetic choice, and the gentle transformation of his body from flesh to stone is well done, it doesn’t feel like enough. Carl Creel is a guy who once beat a teammate to death using the dead body of another teammate, so never in his life has he appeared as placid and pensive as he does here. Not only that, but the guy can turn into diamond, water, denim - hell, the guy could turn into a delicious buffet if he wanted to - so why limit him to a little bit of stone? As one of the most violent, insane characters in the Marvel universe, Hasbro’s recent penchant for bizarrely narrow heads and simplicity doesn’t match up with the character.

Wendigo is the largest figure of the line, and probably a figure I’d dig more if I enjoyed the character. He’s a big furry monster- what’s not to adore? Well, we already got a similar Wendigo in this scale a few years back, and I don’t feel the desire for another when we could have had something like Zzzax or Valkyrie (who was originally scheduled for this line), or even Psyklop. Yes, Psyklop. Regardless, this extra Wendigo is well made, and even features an uncommon ‘paint wash’ to bring out the details of the sculpt. Hasbro’s kinda eschewed the whole paint wash thing lately - mostly because it takes a little longer to produce, and thus, more expensive.

Skaar, or ‘Son of Hulk’, is a very recent addition to the Marvel universe, and not one I’ve caught up with yet. As we get into these larger characters, the plastic become slightly harder and less yielding, as parts are cast hollow to save on plastic, and they also become so muscled that they can’t really put their arms down at their sides anymore. As a result, they’ve always got that ‘chafed pits’ stance. Skaar has this cloudy-green paint scheme that seems to drift across his body at random, not really adding any definition, but instead serving to confuse the sculpture of the toy. He comes with a sword, a sheathed dagger that loosely pins to his loincloth, and hair sculpted in front of his eyes. Whenever I see the whole ‘hair sculpted in front of eyes’ thing, I just want to scream ‘JUST TUCK IT BEHIND YOUR EARS!’, because the last thing we need is an angry, orphaned, cross-eyed Hulk baby running around.

The last three figures of the set are all incarnations of The Hulk. First, we have the Savage Grey Hulk. This is how The Hulk first appeared (even though that was already covered in a previous ‘First Appearance Hulk’ figure), and the form that he sometimes reverts to when the ‘monster’ personality dominates the ‘Bruce Banner’ personality. He’s about standard size for a Hulk toy - a little above average in height and girth when compared to Spider-Man and the like, but he really doesn’t offer that much more than the previous Grey Hulk, or even Grey Hulk’s gangster personality, Mr. Fixit. That guy came with a hat - the best of all possible toy accessories - not to mention a trenchcoat and a classic mobster gat.

‘The End’ Hulk depicts him as the last survivor on a dead world, almost unable to die (even as Bruce Banner dies inside of him) because of his regenerative powers. As a result, he’s something of a zombie figure, skin all tearing and hair falling out. As with these larger figures, he’s all hard plastics, and the paint and sculpt are simpler than they absolutely need to be, but as a new interpretation of The Hulk, I enjoy it enough.

The final Hulk is ‘King Hulk’, another recent incarnation of the character from the ‘World War Hulk’ storyline. It’s a very similar character to the previous ‘Planet Hulk’ figure, and even re-uses the same torso. Ultimately, the newer figure drops a bit of the previous articulation, again simplifies the paint, and adds a few new details specific to the slightly-different character. Again, I’d just like to throw Psyklop out there. Just sayin’. Cyclops represent.

The scaling back of detail is an acceptable loss, because a more ‘cartoon’ aesthetic does lend itself towards seeing them as comic figures, instead of ‘comic figures trying to look realistic’, but I can’t say that the cutting back in articulation really aids in anything. Bring back the double-joints, Hasbro. Drop us a few paint washes. With recent reports that you’re going to be raising prices on everything anyhow, give us something to drool over so that the hobby doesn’t collapse upon itself like comics did in the 90s. We can’t afford to be moving backwards, financially or aesthetically. Were it not for the giant Fin Fang Foom made from collecting all eight, I could have passed on six of these eight. Damn you and your space dragons, Hasbro.

Collectors, buy these guys for the Fin Fang Foom, but don’t expect all that much from the figures themselves. The whole set will be available as a boxed set at San Diego Comic Con 2008, complete with all 8 figures and the assembled Foom - but it’ll be a heck of a task to try to ship that thing home. The set just might make an appearance on Hasbro’s website, but until then, keep hunting!

I know next to nothing about trading cards, so when I met Rian Fike, not only a trading card collector & writer for Upper Deck, but a really nice guy, I figured this was time to ask the proverbial dumb question or two…

Rian, what do you collect?

I have been collecting trading cards and toys since the mid-sixties, when I was five years old. When I came into the cash flow of adulthood, I expanded into original art from the cards I love best. I have a sizable stash of action figures, and my understanding wife allowed me to use them to decorate the guest bathroom!

What was the first item in your collection?

I remember buying a pack of Batman cards in 1966 with a dime, and I still have them.

I knew you collected some sort of cards…

I am a big sports fan, so I have a nice selection of the upper level cards from the four major sports. Nowadays that includes small swatches of game-worn clothing, and cards that are numbered “one of one” - the ultimate limited edition.

I have always adored the pop culture myths of comic book superheroes. My dreams came true in a way I would never have imagined four years ago, when Upper Deck trading card company introduced a trading card game involving Marvel, DC, and Hellboy comic characters. I became a large loud persona in the community, and got a job writing a weekly column. I also won $2,000 playing with my collection!

But supposing I’m not so much ignorant (which I am) and limited in my understanding of such things (to Pokemon cards which my daughter coveted then lost or otherwise mis-managed)… But suppose I was from another planet and I was on a mission to learn about humans and these trading cards, what would you tell me?

Our game is called Vs. System (pronounced “Versus System”). The original trading card game that started the industry is called Magic the Gathering, and that one is 14 years old. The cards are sold in packs, like baseball cards. They are randomly assorted and some cards are produced in smaller quantities. Those are called ‘rares’.

I was of the uninformed opinion that folks just collect and save cards — and OK, ‘trade’ as the name implies… How do you ‘play’ with these cards?

The game is played with 60 cards in a deck, but only 4 copies of any single card are allowed. Part of the skill comes from building a killer deck from all the available cards. Trading card games are like chess, with 200 new pieces every four months. There is also a way to play called ‘drafting’. In a draft tournament, 8 players sit around a table. One pack is opened, and you have a minute to choose one card. Then you pass the pack to the right, and take the pack from the player on your left, and pick one card from that pack. There are 14 cards in the pack, so after 13 passes you open another pack and repeat while passing to the left. A third pack completes the process, then every builds a deck from the cards they picked. The tournament is played with cards that you did not own before it started. It takes major knowledge of the available cards to draft well.

Can kids play?

For sure. We have had 13 year olds win big events.

And how do you — or anyone else — win two grand?! Not that you have to give us all your secrets *wink*, but what’s the deal?

When Vs. System started four years ago, Upper Deck tried to compete with Magic the Gathering. Magic already had a Professional Tour with millions of dollars in prize money. The prize structure is like a golf tournament; I won $2,000 for finishing in 35th place! Our Pro Circuit awarded over four million dollars in the first three years, but declining sales have forced that to be changed. Now we play for original art, uncut sheets of cards, and high-end electronics.

I’ve always just thought they were just small but pretty pictures… Worthy of collecting, yeah; but I had no idea of the serious competitive game play.

Oh no, it is a BIG business.

Is this how the sports cards work too?

No, I just collect the coolest cards of my favorite players. Mostly hockey. Sports collectibles are considered investments, and cards are always near the top in value.

You’re married, right? With kids? Does anyone else in your home collect — and if so, what?

I am married to the most wonderful woman ever, and I have three brilliant grown children from my first marriage. We have very fond memories of collecting superhero trading cards with the kids as they grew up, and at least once a year we remember them together.

I’m guessing from what I’ve read that your & your wife are in a codependent relationship as far as collecting goes… Am I right?

Indeed. She shares my love for small pieces of cardboard, we both have a thing for action figures, and I wallow in her obsession with costume dramas and Northern Exposure. She lets me spend money on little bits of paper, and I buy her the most fabulous memorabilia we can find.

What’s your most prized item?

That would be the original drawings from Vaughn Bode’s Tao Toons. He was the artist who defined the female figure for me when I was in my formative years. He is considered the father of graffiti. He is a true legend and there are very few original pieces in circulation.

But, of course, when Nina wears Shelly’s coat from the Northern Exposure television show, everything else goes out the window.

What’s the furthest you’ve ever gone for an object of your collection affection?

That coat was very very very expensive. It came up on ebay, after the show shut down, and I grudgingly climbed the bidding ladder until it was mine.

Good boy, Rian.

I’d also be interested in know what you think of the Collectors’ Quest community… Any thoughts?

I adore the idea of Collectors’ Quest, and I will definitely get involved. I started an account and I will upload a gallery on Tuesday. We built a strong community surrounding the game, and most of us collect comic books or memorabilia along with our cardboard addiction. It’s great to hang out on the interwebs with birds of a feather, and your community looks like a wonderful watering hole.

Thanks, we think so. *grin*

What came first, Rian, your blog or the gig with Upper Deck?

I was actually resistant to starting a blog because I abhor the word ‘blog’. I had been writing for three years before I started it.

Yeah, but it was by ‘blogging’ that you ‘met’ Vaugh Bode’s relatives, his son and niece, right? And me. So it can’t be all bad. *huge grin*

Seriously, it was great to have you here and thanks so much for educating this trading card alien.

Thanks for having me, this was big fun!

Rian’s blog is Full. Body. Transplant. and you can find the archives of his Upper Deck columns here; and watch for his current articles at www.vssystem.com.

So the first stop in this year’s Toy Fair extravaganza was Hasbro. Since many companies have drastically changed their press strategies since last year due to budgetary and strategic realizations, Hasbro actually decided to shuffle the members of the press through their showrooms in small groups on the Saturday preceding the actual Toy Fair, summoning me to the city on a day when I otherwise had nothing planned. Additionally, they’d set up shop at nearby Splashlight Studios instead of a traditional Toy Fair showroom in the usual toy buildings. While I didn’t feel EXACTLY like I was going to wake up in a bathtub full of ice missing a kidney or three, it came close. However, a dancing Spider-Man Potato Head danced around outside and ushered me and my traveling companion, Laura, inside. Check out the details in this handy photo gallery!

Hasbro’s most notably collectible properties encompass the enormous Star Wars brand, GI Joe, the newly-acquired Marvel Comics license and Transformers, including the upcoming live-action Transformers movie. While the uber-macho nature of GI Joe has always escaped my ardour, my barely-present awareness of Transformers has now officially flared into a full-on bout of highly contagious Transformeritis. It’s like my robot fetish never registered them, but now I see. It’s okay, though. They were in disguise.

Hasbro announced the slow continuation of the popular Sigma Six line of GI Joe action figures, (a stylized and highly-articulated series in the 6+” scale), and their plans to continue with a more classic GI Joe styling, as well as the return of the Kung-Fu Grip action feature on larger figures. Of course, I was also very distracted by a vat of silver, foam Kung-Fu Grip fists that were being given away to attendees, and a loud British man extolling the history of GI Joe to the Hasbro rep that was giving us our tour and barking over to his lap-dog photographer to get shots of this or that. You could hand me two vastly different GI Joes and I still wouldn’t be sure which one was original flavor and which one was honey barbecue.

Collectors were salivating for new pictures of Hasbro’s second set of Marvel Legends figures, since their inaugural set was met with a lukewarm (but hopeful) response. While the second wave will include a much-wanted Yellowjacket, She-Hulk, Quicksilver and a few characters from X-3, not a single new figure was on display. A single, carded Battle Armor Thor made an appearance, but the Marvel section was powerfully underwhelming. However, recent rumors have surfaced about future waves including a Build-A-Figure Brood Queen and Ronan the Accuser, as well as Fantastic Four and Spider-Man comic-based waves, also including the Build-A-Figure feature. Hasbro is deciding to focus much of their Marvel license on the Spider-Man 3 movie, including a 5” set of action figures with action features (smaller than most of the existing Marvel figures, and thus causing a scale problem among displays) and many plush and kid-centric Spidey items. As if toys are for kids or something. Also present were some uninspiring Fantastic Four movie figures, leading one to believe that we were missing something larger.

Marvel gaming will also expand from the Attacktix line, on beyond the failed Battle Dice game, and into Marvel Heroscape, which is actually a fairly successful tabletop gaming franchise in the vein of Heroclix and Warcraft.

Laura had wandered off to play with talking parrot toys and oinking pigs, mostly in the predominantly pink section of the showroom.

Next came Star Wars, which was the high point of the Hasbro showrooms for me. The most exciting revelation was that Hasbro plans to create an array of action figures based upon the original Star Wars concept art created by Ralph McQuarrie, which was significantly different between initial concept and final screen execution. Even the most obscure, barely-present Star Wars characters and aliens have been explored three or four times at this point (except for Yarna D’al Gargan, for some reason - kids have seen six-breasted pole-dancers before, guys), so they’re taking it oldschool. In addition to this line, a line of characters for an upcoming Star Wars video game is planned for release (including a battle-damaged Darth Vader), as well as a large collection of new figures that will include 30th anniversary coins, a coin album, and a mail-away offer for a special commemorative coin (which, incidentally, Toy Fair attendees were given for free and is now worth $125 at auction).

The small, cute, kid-friendly Galactic Heroes line will also continue, including fan favorite Momaw Nadon & Han in Carbonite. Probably most stellar was a Darth Vader Transformer that collapses completely into a perfect Death Star sphere. I tastefully refrained from asking about the relative position of the exhaust port. Continuing the existing Star Wars Unleashed mini-battle scene assortments are some great original trilogy arrays. Overall, Hasbro seems to have a large focus on revisiting the original trilogy (instead of the repulsive recent episodes) in deference to the 30th Anniversary events, complete with distinctive new packaging. There was a curious lack of Yodas, as my traveling companion Laura would point out, when she was done deciding that she’d rather have an animatronic parrot instead of a wedding ring.

One thing that Hasbro does that no other toy company has yet dared to approach is to mix and mingle their licenses. In as much, they’re occasionally use both Transformers, Star Wars and Marvel characters all in the same series of toys, such as their Attacktix game. As far as Transformers go, they’ll be focusing all of their energon energies on the Transformers movie. While we were banned from photographing anything in the top-secret Transformers room, we were allowed to snap shots of the high-end Bumblebee Transformer (a prominent character in the film), which includes lights and sounds, and full functionality as both a 10” robot and a sportscar. The rest of the Transformers line will span a large collection of figures, role-play items and huggable plush items which will have cashiers everywhere questioning the maturity of many grown males for the remainder of their adult lives, because laying my head upon a cushiony Optimus Prime is not entirely unappealing.

Hasbro presented us with the bonus of meeting up with the creators and programmers of the Transformers movie video game, who gave us a sample of their in-production gameplay. While still in debugging mode, with cut scenes and final character renderings far from complete, the game still seemed to play beautifully and look exceptional (even with the temporary Justice League Unlimited theme music playing in the background).

Despite the lack of Marvel fan goodies, it was not a disappointing trip. It’s my understanding that Hasbro is holding out for New York Comic Con in two weeks to roll out their big guns, and I’m willing to wait. At the conclusion of their press tours, Hasbro is fairly well known for giving out choice swag in their press kits (including a Darth Vader figure in 2005 that climbed to thousands of dollars at auction). We were given a big, bulky Transformers press kit that included a transforming pen (which is actually pretty neat), and a Spi-Dog, which is an i-Dog painted up like Spider-Man.

One can’t venture to New York City without exploring some of the sights, so after the press appointment, another lady-friend and I explored Giant Robot, Toy Tokyo and Forbidden Planet Comics (where a cashier generously offered to kill me for my Transformers press kit - I declined), and found ourselves a sushi dinner, only to return to the city for another three days. Stay tuned for Marvel Toys, Product Enterprise, Mattel, DC Direct, Diamond Select, Mezco, Sideshow Collectibles and a vast array of toy oddities, including, and remember that you heard it here first, Potty Monkey.

In the meantime, check out the growing photo galleries!