One of the most anticipated additions to the San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) exhibit hall is the new Marvel shop included in their booth at #2329. For years DC has worked with Graphitti Designs to offer exclusive SDCC items to attendees, and although Marvel has had a strong presence of items at licensed booths like Hasbro or Gentle Giant, they have not yet offered anything similar to DC with a specific booth designated to offer specific Comic-Con exclusives. With the change, attendees will be offered more Marvel exclusives than in the past and a line that is sure to be daunting.
Last week we covered many of the awesome items that Marvel will be sellng at SDCC and now we want to touch on what to expect in terms of availability of items and lines. As Marvelicious Toys discussed on their last show, there is a strong likelihood that the lines at this booth will be every bit as challenging as past con greats like Hasbro and Mattel. It is unclear exactly why Marvel has chosen such low runs on most of their items, but the exclusivity is going to cause hysteria with Marvel collectors.
Outside of non-exclusive items which they should have plenty of, all of their exclusive items are fairly limited in their edition sizes. If for no other reason than the Iron Man statue by Beast Kingdom (with a run of only 100), many people are sure to be changing their SDCC shopping plan to move the Marvel booth to the top of the list. While the aforementioned Hasbro booth is highly competitive, none of their items come close to having the limited runs that Marvel is putting out. An educated guess would seem to indicate that Marvel is unsure of how their booth will go and that is the rationale behind decisions like allocating only 350 pieces for the Rocket Raccoon Mug. Be it a fear of being stuck with product at the end of the con, or just a way to light a fire of excitement, the Marvel booth will be a must stop for 2013 for anyone interested in Marvel.
Because of the limited nature of the items, it is important to understand that this will be a necessary stop on Preview Night if you want a chance to get these items. It isn’t clear if there will be product held back for daily allocations of if they’ll just sell straight through. We recommend that you go directly to this booth if these are items that you must have. An additional warning here is that with this being the first time Marvel makes the jump to selling their own exclusives, there is no telling how well organized the booth will be run. Comic-Con vets have seen many booths crumble under the pressure of the hungry SDCC crowd and there is no history here to know how well prepared Marvel will be for the onslaught that is coming. Will lines be clearly defined? Where will the line end? Are there set daily allocations for each item? These are all questions that will only be answered during this year’s Comic-Con.
So, plan accordingly and pack your patience so that you can stand the best chance of getting some of these awesome Marvel goodies.
What do you think of Marvel adding their own SDCC shop? Will you be one of the first to brave this line? Leave us a comment below and let us know your thoughts on this new edition to SDCC.
