Definitely agree that the DTC HISS was an awesome vehicle and possibly the best HISS incarnation ever as far as I'm concerned. Not that I have any problems with the original, and am very pleased to own an Arctic HISS (and hope to get a couple more so I can number them differently).

So the Helicopter is an all-new design, eh? Well, I guess I wasn't losing (what's left of) my mind, then. I just kept thinking, "Have I seen this before, or not?" If it's as cool as it looks in the pictures, I think it has the potential to be one of the best helicopters ever.

As for the red paint on the cockpit window of the Crimson Hydra being too pink -- hopefully that's nothing a trip to the arts and crafts aisle at Wal-Mart can't remedy...

As for those 2008 copyright dates, while it wouldn't surprise me if some of this stuff was originally planned for a pre-movie-line release, there is so much "lead time" in bringing a toy to market, that Hasbro might have had to stamp 2008 on these toys for legal purposes, even though they wouldn't hit the stores until 2009.

That's just speculation, but I've bought quite a few toys from quite a few toy lines over the course of the year so far, and very little of it is actually marked 2009.

Yep. the DTC toys just seemed to be stuff left over from the canceled Robot Rebellion series (of which I suspect the Sigma Six cartoon was conceptually based).

I mean, Hasbro doesn't create an entirely new line of vehicles (some of the best since ARAH days) to sell on a non-retail online-only toyline!

All initial Transformers 2007 movie toys have 2006 on them, and initial ROTF toys have 2008 on them. Clearly, these figures weren't in any pre-movie toyline.

I believe the date means the year the toy was finalized and completed for pre-production. On average, it takes a year to conceptualize and design Transformers figure (though it may depend on the size class), and I would assume it would take roughly the same time to do a GI Joe vehicle.

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The DragonHawk is giving me a very Sigma 6 vibe. Could it be that it was originally mean for the 2.5" figures then just retooled for 3.75"?

I mean even the Pit rolling boat HQ has seats that seem to fit the 2.5" line better than the 3.75".

- JM

Price points are way too high on all the new vehicles for me.
I'll have to wait for clearance. 5 bucks for the DTC Hiss was great!

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That was kind of my thought on the Dragonhawk. I figured it was going to be a S6 2.5" vehicle that got canceled but they liked the design of and kept it, retooling the cockpit to hold the larger figures.

It's a possibility for the Dragonhawk although it strikes me as odd that they'd wait so long to get it released...
How small is it anyway? I've seen pics of it here and there but not of a figure riding in the cockpit.

As for the HQ, I very much doubt it was intended for the small Sigma Six line given how many movie elements it has, like the wall you break down with a Mole Pod and such.

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It's a little bit bigger than the Chap Mei FANG/Commanche hybrid one seater (not much) and about half the tail section smaller than the Dragonfly. Wild Bill lays inside the cockpit like the 4" figures do in 2.5" vehicles with the seats removed.