Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Hasbro celebrates ROM's 35th Anniversary?

So this just turned up earlier today. According to a source at MTV's website Hasbro is releasing some sort of  Rom doll commemorating 35 years of ROM. Of course the concept of 35 years of Rom is relative but I'm assuming we're not just talking about the time the series was in print or even up until when marvel lost the copy rights to the character but also the ROM fan cult that followed . . . that would be us.
Now I don't really care about the doll it's self cuz I think it's kinda stupid but if this news is legit it raises some interesting points. The first one being that we now know for certain who owns the rights to ROM spaceknight and we also now know that all the related documents and material to that copy right isn't just simply in the back of some dusty filing cabinet in a basement or warehouse filled with archival paper work Hasbro never bothers with. In effect that means there's a little less red tape then had been previously assumed which in turn makes me hate Marvel even more then I do now. You'd think by now somebody from Marvel or Hasbro would have gotten the idea to approach the other company and raise the issue of some manner of revival by now. Anyways, here's the MTV article let me know what you think . . .
http://www.mtv.com/news/1862227/rom-the-space-knight-hasbro-sdcc-exclusive/?utm_content=buffer91b85&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

In light of the comments left here I just wanted to make this posting update. Now if Hasbro was offering something like this I'd be all over that shit no matter how it was. And by the way Evil King Macrocranios I'm so down with what you said in your podcast about how the 2001 "spaceknights" mini-series is not part of the ROM continuity as far as you're concerned. I also really liked your interview with Al Milgrom it was cool hearing him talk about ROM and The Micronauts from back in the day although I don't share Milgron's words of praise for steve ditko's work
http://pleasesavemerobots.blogspot.com/

23 comments:

  1. Too bad it's a fucking Mighty Muggs figure... I have zero interest in all those types of uniformed/stylized figures that are so popular these days... Funko, Munny, Minimates- all that shit.

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    1. yeah i don't like the doll either it's not my thing but the fact that Hasbro has created some new ROM merchandise for commercial use is certainly intriguing. by the way K.o.T check this out . . .
      http://braveandboldlost.blogspot.com/2014/07/wild-dog-and-judge-dredd.html

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    2. Ha! Dredd would never team with a vigilante! He'd judge them all!!!

      Yeah, that figure looks like sweaty-ass... $50? -Fuck and no. They aren't gonna bring ROM back no matter how many of those they sell- and newsflash people; they will not sell a lot. No one cares who ROM is these days, and most fans will just think it looks lame.

      How cool would a ROM Mego have been instead? Or a re-issue of the original figure? Shit, I can come up with a list of ROM merch I'd rather buy than that thing.

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  2. Im actually really excited for this. If this shows that hey can make a profit off of ROM they might come out with other stuff.

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    1. Yeah- but who else is gonna buy it? It looks pretty stupid. An ACTUAL figure would have had my money in a heartbeat! Shlomo's too, I'd wager.

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    2. I can almost guarantee it will sell out. Mighty Mugs are very popular and that box looks stellar.

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    3. Yeah... packaging totally makes it worth the cash.
      *cough*

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  3. I just pre-ordered a Rom the Spaceknight Mighty Muggs figure on ebay for $50.

    Hasbro and Marvel are in the business of making $.

    If you're a fan and want to see Rom's return to pages of Marvel, you gotta be ready to show them the $.

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    1. thanks for sharing Anonymous and i can't argue with your financial logic. but i also just can't bring myself to pay for merchandise i don't really want rather it be this doll or more bad Rom related continuity from marvel.
      which kinda raises a good point actually. even if marvel worked out something with hasbro to bring back ROM in the marvel universe i wonder what kind of story they could come up with not that marvel has destroyed Galador and all it's spaceknights. even though IKON showed up later on despite having been on Galador when it was obliterated. see what i mean?

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    2. I am going to try and snag one off of the hasboro site.

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    3. if it all works out Vis. you'll have to feature it in one of your future videos.

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  4. ROM in the news!? That's awesome. So many thoughts on the Mighty Mugg... I'll take three! Just not at the 2 to 3 times markup of ebay speculators. Odds are "Anonymous" above is one of them; nice 'financial logic' indeed, or marketing tactics is more like it. I browsed one of the current listings that tried to look like the lowest priced option (but jacked up the shipping cost), checked out their negative feedback and see that they were unable to fulfill some 2013 SDCC pre-orders. To be fair I didn't search their positives to see how many they sold successfully, and even speculators gotta eat, but the risks aren't worth it to me. I will be squatting on HasbroToyShop.com from July 23rd ready to order at least 2 if they allow, and a 3rd mainly to qualify for free shipping. I'm in a gap between when I used to buy a lot of toys and my son becoming overly interested in such things, so there won't be anything else I could order. Mighty Muggs seem stupid but...ROM? ROM! ALL capital letters even. That, the reflective silver, and the sliver of the original box's green/blue striped tunnel on the right side, make this Mugg's package itself a big selling point, agree with VisionofComics wholeheartedly. Here's a related link as food for thought: http://friedgoldproductions.blogspot.com/2009/11/rom-spaceknight-x2.html . I prefer Hasbro's pretty-faithful body paint (with the minor exception of the single line at the top of the boots), but if only we could get the Neutralizer from Fried Gold's instead! Anyway, good luck to all curators wanting to snag this new collectible.

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  5. Welcome to the lame future of ROM merchandising. This is at least better than turning the character into a Bot Shot like they planned to do. At this point Hasbro are nothing more than trademark trolls who are unwilling to go all the way and make their own ROM line. Why they are so stubborn is beyond me. Just ditch the established history of the character and get a proper 3 3/4 inch figure out there already. Who cares if it doesn't have Dire Wraiths to fight or any of the Marvel ties. Just make the real figure! I don't care what new backstory they have to make up to sell it. I don't care if he has to join GI Joe. They obviously have the trade dress and the name. Just do it already.

    Hasbro shouldn't constrain themselves by thinking traditionally and trying to squeeze ROM into one of their existing lines. I can see where they're between a rock and a hard place when trying to find a way to get a ROM figure to market if that's how they want to do it. They can't fit ROM easily into something else without making drastic changes to the character like making it a Transformer or having ROM join GI Joe. So this Mugg is a decent compromise from their viewpoint I guess.

    I am not impressed with the Mighty Mugg. It's too little, too late. For whatever reason they won't just do a one off ROM action figure. Maybe they're afraid it's still 1979 and doing it that way didn't go too well for Parker Brothers the first time. This is probably as good as it'll ever get unless Hasbro gets bold or Marvel licenses toy rights from Hasbro, which really needs to happen. They really need ROM as part of the Marvel line.

    At the very least this is an interesting move that will show both these companies how much people want this character if it sells well. Because if this sells it's on the strength of the character and not the Mighty Muggs format.

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    1. Expert Kommentary Man. Am enjoying your latest podcast right now.

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    2. Thanks! Thanks for listening. i thought the parts with Al Milgrom came out pretty cool. I was so happy to talk to him even though I wish we could have gone on longer.

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    3. i'm with EKM his comment pretty much sums up my sentiments about all this. the doll it's self has more value from the stand point of it possibly being a turning point as opposed to being a great collectible per se.

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  6. Thanks for the plug Shlomo! Yeah I had to edit quite a bit out of the original audio because I went on for a while about how I hated Spaceknights and was questioning the commitment of the writer and just overall getting pretty angry. It brought down the tone of the show so I cut it because I'd rather ignore stuff I don't like than waste time being mad about it.

    -Steve

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  7. I know I've been out of touch lately.
    Haven't blogged anything in MONTHS (although, despite popular belief, it isn't because I'm in any kind of funk, I'm just WAY too busy these past months).

    BUT, as soon as I saw the news for this item, I'd be remiss if I didn't come on here and shout:

    WANT!!

    I'll take 2.
    Maybe 3, if I want to recoup some $$ by selling one.

    Otherwise, I look at it as a first step to more ROM goodies from Hasbro.

    Best to you all.

    ~P~

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  8. The mighty muggs market has always seemed to me to be a kitsch nostalgia one. Adults remember their heroes (or villains) lovingly and see these adorable toys and snap them up, usually with an eye towards introducing them to the next generation. I bought the Spiderman one for my son when he was little, before graduating him to action figures with tiny breakable bits. Seeing them put ROM into the line seems to me like they're feeling out how widespread the nostalgia market is for ROM, plus the added benefit of making people hungry for new comic related merchandise drool over a NEW ROM item. Which in itself will garner attention. I don't think they're trying to please every hardcore fan, I think they're trying to feel out market share. I wonder if it will work, but I hope so, simply because it seems to be a step towards actually using the property instead of letting it mold over.

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  9. Not into the mighty muggs at all but maybe this will lead to more to come. Its good news something

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