You might be asking yourself, "Jeff, it's been months since you've posted anything. Are you okay?"
I'm fine, thanks.
You might also be asking, "Can you really call this post 'Hot Thing SUMMER' in December?"
Yes, I can. Hot Thing Summer is here. It is eternal. Let's look at the media/merchandizing blitz that surrounded Fantastic Four: First Steps. This one's about the General Mills cereal tie-ins. There's a lot of 'em.
Going into spring and summer of 2025, I knew that Disney and Marvel were going to market hard for the FF movie. Maybe it was to make up for the years that they pretended the characters didn't exist, or maybe it was because Disney was hoping that the Fantastic Four could bring Marvel's movies back to Avengers-level heights. Either way, the sheer amount of items with the FF brand that showed up this year, especially leading up to the movie, was pretty staggering. A lot of it was fun, and I tried to keep up with it all, as much as I could. The General Mills cereals were maybe the first of the deluge that was to come, and MAN, was I excited to see it.
This led to me taking pictures of cereal boxes at different grocery stores, and lining my cart with these things. Some people gave me strange looks. They didn't get it.
The first box to show up in my area was Cheerios with the Human Torch on the front. These appeared more than a week before any others, leading me to think that the other three would be difficult to find. What I think actually happened was that stores got all of them at the same time, but because Cheerios is a popular cereal, they probably moved through their stock a little more quickly, so Johnny Storm made his debut while the others were still sitting in stockrooms. Still, it was a harrowing few days of searching different stores for the right box of Reese's Puffs.
General Mills released the four main characters on four different boxes: the Torch on Cheerios, the Thing on Reese's Puffs, Mr. Fantastic on Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and the Invisible Woman on Lucky Charms. But there were a few others out there, limited to different stores.
First, Galactus got his own retro-style box of Cocoa Puffs, exclusive to Walmart stores. Since Walmart has stores all over the country, this wasn't too hard to find.
Trix, with H.E.R.B.I.E. on the box, was a different story, and I found some more out of luck than anything else. This box was exclusive to Kroger-brand stores, and there are currently zero of those near me. But I took a trip to the Pittsburgh area at the beginning of July, and I made the very irresponsible decision to drive from there to Morgantown, West Virginia to search the Kroger stores that surround the WVU campus. On my second stop, I found Trix in Giant Size (an absolutely enormous box), and let me tell you, I felt pretty good about myself.
Now, Kroger is not a regional store, but they don't have locations all around the country. I later learned that the same company that owns Kroger also owns Ralph's, which is a grocery store I visit in San Diego to get cheese (presumably other things) after a long day at Comic-Con. Did Ralph's also get H.E.R.B.I.E. boxes? Who can say? They didn't have any when I visited during the convention.
I learned from this experience that cereal boxes come in a lot of different sizes. I knew all about regular and family size, but many shops also stock giant size as well as mega size, which I guess you get if you have to feed an entire summer camp. Mega size should not exist. It is an abomination.
Anyway, I started seeing the Fantastic Four on different sized boxes, and I very reasonably thought, "I'll just get one of each, like, regular size box and that'll be that." This was a good thought. The fronts all looked the same, no matter the size.
And then I found a giant Reese's Puffs with the Thing on the front, and I knew it was all over. This was the Giant-Size Fantastic Four. I grabbed it.
It had been decades since I had tried Reese's Puffs, and now I was buying every box I could find. Whatever you paid for the license, General Mills, it was worth it.
I ate some. It was as I remembered, which is to say, there's no way it's good for you. But it was Thing Cereal, so I ate it, just as Ben Grimm would have wanted.
The backs of the boxes were all pretty much the same, though they each had a different phrase to decode.
A few days before Comic-Con, Walmart released yet another version, this one a retro, online-only Lucky Charms with a Human Torch toy inside. This one was product placement directly from the movie; Johnny eats some on screen and shows off the toy. His version had a line of dialogue, but in our universe, it's simply a tiny plastic standee (the base is on the other side of the card):
These boxes cost around $25, as I guess Walmart tried to recoup some of their advertising money, but the art on the back of the box might have been worth it:
Again, this was screen specific, but regardless, the designer did a really nice job with the art and overall feel. That's a Silver Age Human Torch if I've ever seen one.
So that's seven different boxes, most of which came in different sizes. If you made it about two paragraphs into this post, you know that I'm obviously a collector, but it would be pretty impractical to keep maybe two dozen unopened cereal boxes, so I swallowed hard and flattened them all to store them (I kept an unopened Reese's Puffs for display; I have some standards). Then I was faced with the question of, "what do I do with all of these bags of cereal?" So for a few weeks, I gave a lot of people unboxed bags of cereal and had to repeat the same story each time I did. But it was worth it.
These were fun to chase down, and they took up a lot of space in my head (and in the guest bedroom) for a big portion of the spring. I still have another bag of Thing Cereal to eat before it goes stale. Of all the tie-in food products, these might have been the best, but they certainly weren't the only ones. I'll show off more of 'em later.
You know I'm talking about that newly-released Fantastic Four: First Steps trailer! AND NOW I MUST DISCUSS IT!
Years ago, Marvel surreptitiously de-emphasized their Fantastic Four and X-Men lines in a roundabout attempt to regain the film rights to their wayward franchises. They stopped publishing Fantastic Four altogether for years, even though the Thing, the Human Torch and Dr. Doom showed up in titles like Uncanny Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel 2-in-1 and Infamous Iron Man. I knew the point of this embargo, but I still thought at the time that no single movie would be worth doing without the comics for so long. So, after seeing Marvel and Disney's new teaser trailer for this July's Fantastic Four movie, have I changed my mind?
NO! NEVER!
I'll never forgive them for it. That being said...boy, am I excited for this movie. I loved the trailer and I can't wait to see the whole thing later this year. It seems that the folks behind this movie finally learned the lessons about what didn't work with each of the previous versions.
There were a few things that stood out to me, and hey, this is my blog, so let's talk about them here.
I'm starting off with the Thing. You all knew this! Let's start by saying that I like it. It's a comic-accurate Thing with a thick brow and I can't wait to see him run through a wall. I know that sometimes studios will release a trailer before the visual effects are completely finished, so I wonder if this is the absolute final version of Ben Grimm for this film. If it is, it's pretty good, even if it's slightly more cartoony than I had expected.
I want to see this guy in blue trunks. I like the uniforms and I understand that the consistency among the four main characters is visually important. But give me this guy in the trunks. At some point. Do it.
I did think that the Thing's voice would be lowered a bit, but maybe Marvel wanted to do something more to distinguish this Ebon Moss-Bachrach version from the Michael Chiklis version.
H.E.R.B.I.E. looks...good? I don't know that they had to R2D2 the little guy's voice, and it's one of those tropes where people in the film can understand what he's saying while the audience doesn't. But we all know that the FF has translators sewn into their suits, so there's an in-universe explanation for it! Please send me my No-Prize.
Did they finally get the visual for Sue's powers right? You bet your buns they did. So glad to see (or not see) it!
TRENCHCOAT THING. Trenchcoat Thing!! This is a requirement for the movie to be good. I'm glad to see that they got my letters.
How much of an effect did Alex Ross's work, and the Marvels series in general, have on the look of the movie, including Johnny's powered-up form? Ross paints in that photo-realistic style, so maybe it's a coincidence. But the Torch here made me think of Ross's art more than anything else in the trailer.
There were several things in this trailer that made my heart beat faster, and this is one of them. These are versions of the Ben Cooper Thing Halloween costume. They're pretty much exact copies. I absolutely love this, and I really, really hope that some company makes and sells new versions of these again this year. Also make them in adult sizes and I will wear one. If they make them before July 25th, I'll buy one and wear it on opening night.
The Fantasticar should be a flying bathtub, but I will also accept this four-wheeled version. Maybe it flies? Splits up into four individual components? I'm excited to see it in action.
John Malcovich's appearance was the most out-of-place part of the trailer, but I guess if John Malcovich is in your movie, you should put him in the trailer. Maybe he'll be the Mole Man, hiding away on Monster Island? He kind of looks like one of the Council of Reeds here. I know that parts of the Hickman/Eaglesham "Solve Everything" storyline were adapted in the film. Who can say?
Others have said it, but it bears repeating: I'm glad they decided to use an apparently comic-accurate Galactus in this movie.
I'm buying the soundtrack the day it comes out. I assume you all figured as much. I was very happy when the choir's "Fantastic Four!" line was part of the theme music that played in the background. Thank goodness that the powers that be decided that it was time to lean into what makes the comic and the concept so wonderful. So Galactus looks like he has a bucket on his head. Who cares? So the team wears matching blue jumpsuits. Perfect! So the Thing and H.E.R.B.I.E. make dinner. Give me more of this!
It looks like they're going to make it fun, bright, and optimistic. Sign me up.
I'm hoping that there'll be a Super Bowl commercial for the movie - maybe even something different from this teaser. I'm also hoping to start seeing toys in stores before too long. Let's get some new Thing fists! It's been a long, long time coming for this movie. I'm going to enjoy it.
Here's a bunch of pictures from Comic-Con, these ones from the Thursday of the show. Was it awesome? Yes, it was.
I had mentioned this in a previous post, but the New England Comics booth seemed more crowded at this show than it had in previous years. At least part of this was due to the sketch covers that were available at the booth, which proved to be pretty popular. Here's a shot from the booth early on Thursday. Note the loving faces of people who were paying no attention to me. I'll take it.
This kid was, I think, 16 years old and he made his own Galactus costume. He's going places.
While waiting in line, this gentleman approached me and asked if I was in Franks and Beans. I mean it. It actually happened. Apparently he had bought the DVDs that Larry and I took to Comic-Con a few years ago...and he watched them...and recognized me. Phillip (who I found out works on the show "Bob's Burgers") here is in the Franks and Beans Hall of Fame from here on out.
Mary Marvel with...that rabbit Marvel character.
The Taco Truck was back for another year, thanks be to all that is good. Best place to eat at the convention is outside the convention.
I probably scare this guy by asking him to take pictures with me every year. But I'm just so dang excited about the Taco Truck. So excited, it seems, that I capitalize the first letters in "Taco Truck".
I was lucky enough to get a ticket to the William Shatner panel being held early on Thursday at the new Nerd HQ location. After leaving the Taco Truck (with a tear in my eye), I walked to the offsite location.
This year's Nerd HQ moved from Petco Park to the brand new Children's Museum a few blocks away. I picked up my wristband and took a quick look around before heading down to the panel area, which was separate from the rest of the building.
I had pretty good seats for the panel, which was probably as crazy as you might expect. I came hoping for a Shatner-esque time and was not disappointed. The aggrandizing, the aloofness, the fun of it all...Shatner even hit on a few women during the hour-long show. It was a great time and I left happy. The new panel room was a bit stuffy and cramped compared to years past. It's the only thing that I thought Nerd HQ had done better in previous incarnations. But there were bound to be some growing pains the first year at a site. I expect that they'll work out some bugs for 2016.
Here's a video of the entire panel, which is worth watching from beginning to end.
Scott Pilgrim's Ramona continues to be a popular costume choice. This one was pretty good.
After the panel ended, I decided to try my luck with Skeletor's Lair once again, as there was a huge line late into Wednesday night. On the way there, I spotted this car, which had been advertised leading up to the event. Adult Swim was sponsoring free rides for anyone who could flag down this (or a similarly-outfitted) car.
I didn't have very far to go, but I wanted to get a chance to take a ride, so I hopped in the front, sharing the ride with the two folks in the back. I got out after a block.
It was a good choice trying to get to Skeletor's Lair, the Mattel and Super7 pop-up store, on Thursday. There were probably five people in line ahead of me when I got there, as opposed to maybe 150 the night before. Still, it took me about 20 minutes to get in, as they were keeping the crowd inside to a safe number.
The store was tiny inside, but it was fun to see. There were a few paintings of Skeletor adorning the walls. The people putting it together had a lot of fun.
This is what the inside of the store looked like. A lot of things had been bought by the time I got inside, but I still managed to get some M.O.T.U.S.C.L.E. figures (He-Man-style M.U.S.T.L.E. toys) before leaving.
Someone had his collection on display, and why not?
The nicest addition to Skeletor's Lair was this Battle Cat trophy behind the register.
On the way back to the convention center, I saw more of the mysterious "Bart Club" art that I had seen the night before. Was it a part of the convention? Was it advertising anything? What's the story with these things?
Here's more from the same block. I checked, and "@bartclub" is not a Twitter handle. Instagram, maybe?
Ketchup is also a theme on these things, apparently.
Bart Club. I hope it's not some horrible sex club advertisement that I'm posting here on the blog. But I guess that's the chance I'm taking.
The new Sharknado was advertised fairly heavily during the show, including with a parade that had people dressed in shark costumes and stilt-walking Uncle Sams.
This Lego mashup was outside of the Hard Rock Cafe' in the Gaslamp district.
Back to the convention floor. Disney remains a popular costume choice at Comic-Con.
Oni Press recently started publishing the comic tie-in to the Adult Swim cartoon "Rick and Morty". The show is fantastic - easily the best new show on [AS]. Creators Dan Harmon (Community) and Justin Roiland (Adventure Time) showed up for a signing toward the end of the day. It was a ticketed event, but the ticket was easy to grab (I just had to ask for it). The line was long by the time I arrived and it moved slowly, but eventually I got to get a few autographs.
Also, Dan Harmon and I took a lovely, intimate photo together. It looks like we're about to kiss.
This was as close to Conan O'Brien that I got all weekend. I got tickets to the "Conan Bingo" event on Thursday evening, but I was part of the "B" team, I guess, and there wasn't any room for me once all of the A-listers showed up. This is a shame as I would have loved to at least seen what this was all about.
After being rejected at bingo (a phrase I never anticipated typing), I went over to the MTV part at Petco Park. I did this once before in 2013, but last year's event was so packed that I never made it in. MTV required badges again this year and I was able to get in with little waiting.
Some of the carnival rides from '13 made it back this time around. There was free food again, which I gobbled up.
...oh, and a unicorn.
...and a plant person.
I rode some of the rides before the show (an awards program) stared.
I was on the Ferris wheel when the program started, and I got outta there pretty soon afterwards. Not that this should be a big surprise to anyone, but I'm certainly not in the key MTV demographic so I snuck out after disembarking.
In contrast to previous years, Nerd HQ had two nighttime parties as opposed to one, the first being Thursday night. I checked it out with my brother-in-law and some friends. The photo booth is always a popular attraction, which is pretty funny to think about, because pictures have been around for 150 years.
Here's a shot of the main floor from the upstairs video game-themed section.
We didn't stay at Nerd HQ for very long as part of our party had to leave for parts unknown (or Los Angeles). But it was a full day with more excitement to come. I'll probably post pictures of that stuff. Oh, heck, I'll absolutely post pictures of that stuff. It's inevitable.
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