Take a look at these upcoming San Diego Comic-Con exclusives otherwise known as “Well, I guess I have to pay double for that on eBay.”  As exciting as the prospect of getting new toys as part of lines we already obsessively collect is, there are only so many tickets to get into the Con and the fact that it’s become such an across-the-board pop culture event means that it’s even harder than ever for comic fans to get in, what with the Twilight and Glee panels drawing in outside audiences.  (I’m not gonna hate, I’m a Gleek and proud of it, but still, I know that this isn’t the outlet for that.)

Do you have one of these? If not, he’ll run you about $40.

Not only is there the added financial burden for fans that can’t attend in person, but quite honestly, one of the biggest toy manufacturers Mattel doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to their handling of these already hard to find items.  In 2009, they offered animated favorites, The Wonder Twins as part of the DC Universe Classics action figure line.  Though they intended to offer some of these online after the Con, only actual visitors to the convention would receive their blue space monkey Gleek, packaged separately.  The free Gleeks ran out quickly, leaving many fans’ collections not quite complete.  Then on the last day of the show, the Mattel employees found an entire case of Gleeks.  What did they do?  Make an announcement, telling buyers that they’d found them?  No, they sold them online.  Not cool.

After launching one of its most popular original toy lines in 2010 with Monster High, a supernatural fashion doll line, the following year at 2011’s SDCC, they offered a Monster High exclusive, a black and white Frankie Stein, in homage to the black and white Universal Monster movies that inspired these characters.  Unfortunately, Mattel didn’t tell anyone about it, and they limited the number of exclusives any one person could by from them, so many fans maxed out their allocations, unaware that this doll was even available.  (There are ZERO on eBay as of this writing.)  That same year, they offered a Hot Wheels “version” of Wonder Woman’s Invisible Jet.  Unfortunately, they weren’t clear that this item was simply an empty package with weights to give it the heft of an actual Hot Wheels vehicle.  Some unfortunate fans, not realizing this, opened their packages only to find nothing but air inside.

Nevertheless, it’s hard not to get excited when new exclusives are unveiled.  Knowing this, Mattel is revealing a few at a time and have announced their first two, beginning with two of its biggest franchises, Hot Wheels and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

Hot Wheels is offering a vintage Cylon Raider from the original TV series Battlestar Galactica on vintage packaging in honor of the franchise’s 35th anniversary.  Surely this time, there will be an actual toy inside!

From Masters of the Universe come Rokkon and Stonedar.  Masters of the Universe was the first toy line to add “gimmicks” to individual action figures to make them more appealing, and these two emulated the “transforming” action the Transformers toys.  Unfortunately, the Transformers turned into sports cars and fighter jets, whereas these two changed into… rocks.  You know, that thing rude adults gave Charlie Brown on Halloween.

Seeing as how it’s 2013, they are more detailed and articulated.  These were later additions to the original 80s toy line… so late that they didn’t make it onto the TV show, and were instead incorporated into the continuity of She-Ra: Princess of Power.  But they were pretty neat!  Female Rock Man Granita is, unfortunately, not included.

So what do you think?  Are you adding any of these to your collection?  Would you have preferred to see something else offered?  Leave a comment below!