The Rumor Buster

Vote the next Marvel Digital Comics figure

Marvel.com have a poll up for the next Marvel Digital Comics exclusive MU figure. The three choices are Osborn in HAMMER outfit, Archangel in X-Force outfit, and Dark Avenger Ms. Marvel.

Contest: How Cool is Your Collection?

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The Story: A little while back, the fine folks of Hasbro passed along a box of swag to pass along.

Read the rest of this post to find out more, or head over to the message board
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Ask Matty Feb. 1

We just got answers back from our most recent round of questions!

Regarding the Secret Saturdays cryptid line, will we ever see the Popobawa figure on the shelves – even under the Devil’s Cave Bird name?
We are still talking about the Secret Saturday line so stay tuned.

Is Mr. Potato Head off limits for the Toy Story line?
Correct. Mattel will not be including Mr. Potato Head in our Toy Story line.

Will we see Brave and the Bold/Action League or a continuation of the Infinite Heroes pack-ins with DC DVDs?
We are looking into future plans for DVD pack-ins but we’re not ready to announce anything quite yet.

Are there any characters from the various lines that, due to legal or copyright reasons, we probably won’t see?
At this time we will not be including Filmation characters in the MOTUC line.

Do the packages with female characters sell significantly less than the all-male packages?
Female characters tend to appeal primarily to collectors so we typically produce fewer figures overall. All of our lines at retail need to appeal to both kids and moms as well as collectors.

Time Squad Build-a-Figure Master?

While many of us missed out on the first batch of Doctor Who related Time Squad figures offered by Character Options, a new wave is being offered with a unique twist: collect all the packs and you can assemble your very own version of the Master, straight from the recent End of Time special! Head over to the Rumor Buster Message Board to discuss.

Brave and the Bold Action League Wave 3 in the Gallery

For those still looking for Brave and the Bold Action League Wave 3, hopefully this gallery update will whet your appetite. Doctor Fate, Wotan, the Demon Etrigan, Joker, the Top, Blue Bowman, Owlman and, naturally, Batman are all represented. And as an extra special treat, we’ve added the Atom single pack as well. Head over to the Rumor Buster Message Board to join in the discussion!

Rumorbuster 2.5?

As you can no doubt see, we’ve finished rolling out our fresh new look, but we’ve got a few new features to talk about too!

First, we have to thank Livedog for the new logo, Clanure for the new gallery layout, and really_rather_not_nice for the idea of isolating links to the Board, gallery and Wiki. Now, onto some of the new features!

(1) The front page should now display a list of recent message board topics, right above the latest wiki edits. Previously, each individual front page post had a list of recent message board posts, but other than those that read us through RSS readers and whatnot, most people were just coming to the front page and not really seeing that what stuff we were discussing over here.

(2) The gallery has been streamlined. Gone are the columns and endless pages of thumbnails. We have a few more tweaks to make, but right now, the photos are categorized first by toy line, and then going into the toy line you can see the sub-serieses or individual waves. Also, the thumbnails are bigger, so you can get a better idea of what you’re looking at.

(3) Individual figure voting on the Rumorbuster Wiki! Each figure has a mini-poll attached to it so you can help rate individual figures. Visiting the Wolverine Super Hero Squad page, for instance you’ll see that each figure has a poll to the right where you can vote it. Same for Combat Heroes, Robot Heroes… all the Heroes lines! And eventually, it’ll come to the other toy lines too. A few votes have already been cast, but more votes are always welcome so be sure to vote when you visit!

(4) Galactic Heroes joins the rest of the Hasbro Heroes! Clanure’s already begun the arduous and thankless task of getting pictures of the Galactic Heroes and in addition to that, he’s also worked out a lot of the kinks in the Galactic Heroes checklist

So that’s a handful of the bigger changes, but there are some other features hanging around, and even a handful that aren’t fully implemented yet. As you can see, we’re still innovating and evolving, and we have no intention of stopping any time soon. It’s entirely possible that this time next year, you’ll be looking back at how quaint the Rumorbuster was back in the day, and if nothing else, we need to keep giving other sites new ideas.

If you’ve come across any of the other new features, feel free to mention them. Either it’s something that we’re still working on, or it’s something I’ve forgotten to mention, but either way, we look forward to comments, critiques and best of all suggestions.

Marvel Universe News Roundup

There’s no Super Hero Squad related questions in the latest round of Q&As to hit the web, but there are some Marvel Universe and 3.75 inch figure questions. Ignoring all the questions about Galactus (which were answered with the usual coy playfulness), here’s the takeaway points:

1) The 3.75 inch Spider-Man figures are launching May 1. Kastor’s Korner and Cool Toy Review both snagged that answer.

2) The Fwoosh reports that the response to Nick Fury was “tremendous”, and Hasbro’s looking at other possible promotional programs.
3) And apparently Hasbro’s also pleased with the response to comic packs and plans to “continue offering theme team packs as well as items like the comic packs moving forward” according to Action Figure Pics.

Rumorbuster 2.0 Anniversary Contest Details

Ok ladies and gents, as promised, here’s the lowdown on the Rumorbuster 2.0 Anniversary Contest:

You guys have been enjoying our wiki for months and months, and as you know, it gets better every single day. From our exclusive pictures to comprehensive checklists, and ever innovative ideas… it just keeps improving.

But we need your help to keep improving. We need fresh ideas, fresh perspectives and fresh faces. And to encourage you guys, we’re going to offer prizes for the three highest 30-day contribution scores. For those that don’t know, the Wiki assigns a contribution score to every signed in user that makes a contribution and the three individuals that have the highest 30-day contribution scores, as of noon on October 31, will get prizes:

- $50 for the highest score

- $35 for the next highest

- $15 for the third highest

You’ll get an e-mail congratulating you and asking how you want your prize. You can choose between an Amazon gift card (awesome for getting cheap books!), Toys R Us gift card (awesome for toys!), or straight up Paypal (awesome for eBay, or stores like SciFi Genre.) And we reserve the right to add some sweeteners to those prizes if there’s enough interest.

It’s tough coming up with something that Super Hero Squad, Combat Heroes, Robot Heroes, Infinite Heroes, and Marvel Universe fans will all want equally… and it’s something we can all use! For obvious reasons, myself and the other Rumorbuster staff are ineligible. We’ll still work on the wiki, like always, but we don’t get to win prizes. It’s ok, we enjoy it anyway!

If you don’t know where to start, here’s a brief guide:

- First be sure to log in using your message board name and password. If you don’t have a message board ID, then you have to go and register. It’s quick and painless, and most importantly, logging in makes sure your edits get counted properly!

- Next, find something you want to edit. There are literally an infinite number of things you can do. If you want to edit a pre-existing page, at the top of each page there’s a tab that says “edit”. Clicking on that opens the entire page for editing. Most pages have subsections too, a horizontal line with the word [edit] in blue text above it. Clicking on that opens that particular section for editing. If you’re logged in, the edit page should like a word processor document. You can type anywhere in the document. If you break something, don’t worry, it’ll get fixed! We’ve even created a sandbox page to experiment with and explain what some of the buttons are and do.

- If you’re having trouble finding stuff you want to edit, here’s a few suggestions:

On the Super Hero Squad figure pages, we haven’t added articulation or costume notes to the various profiles. If you run across a figure on your shelf, or have some information about it, feel free to add it!

For Infinite Heroes, we have yet to add the cardback stats! We’ve scanned them into the gallery but we haven’t added them to the wiki. That’s an easy way to help out!

And of course, if you’ve ever read a comic book, watched a movie or played a video game, you can help give that character a biography! Some characters have more developed biographies than others, but they can all use work!

If you’re really adventurous, you can help create a page! Here’s a list of the most wanted wiki pages If you click on the link, you’ll be taken to a blank page where you get first crack!

So there you go… make some wiki contributions, win stuff! And if you have any questions, you can either send a private message to myself or one of the other staff on the message board, or you can send me an email at clevernamehereshs@yahoo.com.

Happy Birthday 2.0!

We’ve picked up a lot of new visitors since our humble beginnings, but for long-time visitors (both the ones that like the site and those that don’t but visit anyway), you may remember that last October was when we evolved into our current form, with new features and ideas constantly evolving.

So in honor of the Rumorbuster 2.0 one year anniversary, we’re going to hold our first real contest. Yeah, over on the board we’ve done cool things like helping fans and collectors get Spider-Man Saves the Day (aka City in Crisis and Winter Soldier Super Hero Squad sets, or helping with other impossible to find figures and sets, but this will be our first, honest to goodness contest. With prizes? Yes with prizes!

Details will be released tomorrow evening, so check back then.

Heroclix Hammer of Thor, The Legend Returns?

While many toy collectors have probably already heard about this, NECA will be carrying the HeroClix line onward, starting with the release of the long rumored, oft whispered, Hammer of Thor series. They’ve gotten off to a good start promoting the new set with a Thor’s Mighty Chariot retailer exclusive piece and a call to retailers to carry on the organized play events. Meanwhile, HCrealms.com has all that’s known so far about the upcoming set, including a rundown of leaked dials, mystery cards, promotional posters, sightings of Surtur and the Runaways… just an overwhelming amount of information on the current state of the line. Jump over to the board to discuss further.