Chapter 299: Interlude-y December I
All in all, Top Gun filming was coming along quite great and the nuances to keep track of were already covered by Alexander.
There were a lot of tidbits to keep track of but he felt that he's already skimmed through all of them. Comparing and contrasting productions was fun but he had to move on.
The rest of his November wasn't going to be preoccupied with filming stuff as there are school matters to catch up on.
Tyrant Cameron's Terminator comic book deal had to be handled with a lot of appropriation as well.
Skynet and the Connors were in Alexander's grasp and he had to handle it with care. He didn’t want It to fall to the disgrace that it would be.
Of course, December was also coming up.
Amidst all the prepared Creed Christmas season movements, Terminator could probably fit right in.
It wouldn't be the perfect induction but it would be a much-needed introduction for a new Creed Comics title to look forward to.
Avid Creed fans would probably hail this unexpected Creed addition as a Christmas miracle.
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Well, December did come and the expecting fans really had a lot of potential Christmas gifts to choose from.
It is a fact that the anticipation for this month's surprises had long been built up... ever since August and Creed's talked-about display at the SDCC.
The September release of the Hobbes stuffed toy is considered to be just a teaser in itself but the simple toy had pretty much cemented itself as a best-selling toy.
The Ruxpin-Hobbes duo had dominated the attention of the public ever since its inexplicable ties with each other.
Aside from the popularity of the Hobbes stuffed toy, there were the October Creed products to base on as well.
Costumes had been ready-made for people who want them and Prey had been a refresher to what Creed Comics is all about.
Of course, not in any way inferior to Stuffed Hobbes... Back to the Future paraphernalia took the stage!
To those that kept track, DeLorean toy cars were not that far behind Stuffed Hobbes at all. It was clear that a dominating blockbuster film is more than enough for a toy to base on and succeed.
With that monthly trend of consecutive new product releases, people kind of expected November to be the same.
People realized that Creed was doing things in stages and a lot were looking forward to what was coming next. However, the 11th month was null on anything new.
Creed Toys seems to have planned this as well. A break stalled expectations but it also built anticipation.
Of course, it is also a move that avoided fierce competition!
As it turns out, the new and improved Marvel and DC toy lines actually rolled out in November, and Creed seems to have effectively dodged market saturation.
Come December, Marvel and DC toys wouldn't be the new thing and Creed Toys will be free to do their thing!
Although the competition had its own success, Creed just did its thing and avoided the combined efforts of its enemies.
That shouldn't have stepped on the competitor's toes but given their petty track record... they'll probably consider the non-confrontation as an affront to their abilities.
Those were just messy annoyances to worry about for later though. The important thing is that Creed had rolled out what they need to roll out for the Christmas season.
The ripples ever since the splash of August would finally be reinforced and people's anticipation would be appeased!
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The tens of comic titles had been reached and new Volume Books would be made available and the addition to their bookshelves are here.
Other than the popular conformity of Volume Books, Creed Toys' were actually the ones to look out for.
A new selection of ThunderCat's high-detail figurines was eventually made available. There's no doubt that collectors that hadn't been able to make it into Comic-Con could now be at ease.
Adding something to an aesthetically pleasing collective display is always welcome.
Still, some of them were vexed that there were true 'Comic-Con exclusives' that they may never get their hands on.
Well, they could only move on and try to grab hold of every new thing that their allowance could allot.
After the expansion of the ThunderCat's toy lines, there are still the Cybertronian Chronicles with their new Autobot and Decepticon offerings.
Their automobile and robot toy needs were appeased with every new Cybertronian character and its cool-sounding name!
As opposed to new characters, the RoboCop toy line takes a different approach. Alex Murphy is progressively improving on his cyborg-policing and his toys matched all that.
Granted, there are the ED201s but there's just something pleasing about putting RoboCop toys side-by-side each other and note of the man's cyber progress.
Instead of an evolution chart from ape to man, Alex Murphy has toys to mark his upgrades up.
Of course, there are also the much newer toy lines to ogle their attention at.
On only a relatively small availability, there are Hotaru and Shinri toys that people could buy.
What's interesting is that Creed Toys seems to have made this a lesser selection. For something that's been speculated in SDCC as a match for Barbie and Ken, Hotaru and Shinri seem to be in low supply.
On the other hand, the Phoenix Wright toy, which was considered low-appeal in SDCC, seems to be more abundant.
This was a puzzling puzzle but it wasn't when you really take a step back on it.
‘A Mysterious Feeling Called Love’ and its toy line was a niche in romance. Not really something to be gifted at Christmas but it should be expected to surge when Valentine's comes around.
As for Phoenix Wright... well... it may have been a low-earner in the nerdvana of Comic-Con but it may just become a surprise hit in the Christmas season.
The target of this toy was law-focused children and families after all. These were the types that had strictness and that 'son-you-have-to-be-a-lawyer' tradition.
The Ace Attorney comic book happens to be popular in those legal families. After all, children that feel constricted by the lawyer's expectations finally had a legal "character" that they can admire.
Hence, the most probable go-to Christmas gift for these parents to appease their forced lawyer-guided children could very well be Phoenix Wright.
It is a bleak situation but the Phoenix Wright toy just happens to fit into the bleakness!
After that, there were the JoJo Bizarre toys to discuss but fans of the bizarre comic book would still go for this.
Of course, there were the Watchmen toys to look out for as well. The acclaimed comic had everyone questioning superheroes and their toy version may just be the perfect representation of it.
As noted by everyone in the last month, superhero toys were the buzz with Marvel and DC flooding the market. It was just pleasing for Creed fans to see that Watchmen toys to keep up with it.
Keeping true to lore, the Watchmen toys seem to be contrasting the traditional hero toys as well. Perhaps the Dr. Manhattan toy's controversial "nude" effect is to account for that.
Anyways, the glaring lack of Dragonball and TMNT toys was apparent to everyone that were actively looking for them... but everyone also knew why they were absent.
The rumors about the animation shows have been buzzing around and the release of the toy lines could probably be compounded along with the wait for the eventual televised release of the shows.
That is not to say that TMNT and Dragonball are completely absent this December though.
New compounded Volume Books of their continued story arcs are available... but it is also important to note of that certain Creed Decemberian tradition.
The rare and sought-after crossover issues were here!
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles meet Brown Turtle and Turtle Hermit Roshi. This was last December's Dragonball-TMNT combo.
Now, it was actually 'TMNT trains under the Turtle Hermit School'!
Goku and Krillin that were training hard for the Martial Arts tournament were surprised by these turtle student additions and the Ninja Turtles were surprised by their fellow little-r students too.
In any case, these crossovers were mostly intriguing hilarities and a deep-dive into how improbable cross-comic titles interactions could be.
Snarf and Pu'ar Adventures. This one had new adventures as Hobbes had met up with this duo as well. This crossover issue could very well indicate Creed Toys' next stuffed toys.
'Girl Talk' was the other one that was popular. Last year's rendition was just Bulma, Charlie, Cheetara, and April but girl additions such as Hotaru, Erina Pendleton, and Silk Spectre would spice things up a bit.
Mumm-Ra and the Phantom Mask. A clear parallel to the 'Mumm-Ra and the Decepticons' of last year but this had lore elements to it. The Phantom Mask had always been an intriguing mystery and it was interesting to speculate Mumm-Ra's connection to it.
After those, 'RoboCop versus Predator' was the obvious crossover spectacle to many. This was the crossover issue that was most sought after.
Plenty was expecting a new exciting fight for the cyborg cop of the future and the "new" primitive Predator from the past.
Imagine their surprise when they weren't actually getting just that. A rogue T-3000 was actually at play!
Terminator versus RoboCop versus Predator!
This was the crossover issue title and Creed fans pretty much froze at that.
This was the Terminator after all. They had seen the film in their own time and to think that Creed Comics was now going to be involved in that!
Excitement was really in season this Christmas!
Of course, that wasn't the only surprise as there was still another crossover comic book to cover.
Back to the Future for the Terminator.
That title tells a lot and the time-travel shenanigans were clearly aplenty! Doc Brown and Marty would most probably explore the dystopian future of Terminators and readers can't wait to find out more about it!
The recently attracted film fans would probably be looking out for this comic book.
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Evidently, Creed's December selection was a lot.
They can't be blamed since this was the last month of the year. A splurge had to be done to celebrate what a year it had been.
These were the last few days when the Creed Comic events of the entire year could be remembered.
Other than compounded volumes, toys, interesting cross-comic materials, and a sneak peek of a comic title to come... what are better ways to culminate all that?!
Of course, as high as a start did this month begin on, it was also the last month of 1985 and the last interlude for the year to come!