Marvel Legends close 1 by Carls Life
At their Marvel SDCC panel, Hasbro said that 6″ Marvel Legends would be returning “in full force” in 2012. I started to wonder why that would be, given how strongly they’ve been pushing Marvel Universe, and I’m wondering if it’s the success of DCUC that has them reconsidering.
Since the mid-1990s, there’s always been an “it” line or two in our hobby, a line whose notoriety isn’t necessarily just the sales, but also the influence and general reputation among collectors. In the mid-1990s it was Spawn and Star Wars POTF, and then in the late 1990s, Movie Maniacs. Spider-Man Classics/Marvel Legends took over in the early 2000s and, aside from brief appearances by Millennium MOTU and Lord of the Rings, Marvel reigned alone as the “it” line until the arrival of the 25th Anniversary G.I. Joes. Shortly thereafter, DCUC and MOTUC made their debut, and I think right now those lines have the strongest buzz and most rabid fandom.¹
A large portion of the Marvel collectors today got hooked on the 6″ Marvel Legends originally, so I’m wondering if Hasbro was unable to get quite the same traction with Marvel Universe that they (or rather, Toy Biz) were able to with ML. Fans had to start over with their collections, and while MU did get a big push, I haven’t noticed as much interest and buzz around the line from casual fans as I did with ML. Perhaps I’m just not paying enough attention, so correct me if I’m wrong on that. But I think a lot of ML fans (including me) migrated to DCUC for the 6″ superhero fix. Now I’m wondering if the popularity of DCUC is what’s behind Hasbro’s promise to bring back 6″ Marvel Legends.
Of course, I’m just speculating here. The Marvel Legends 2-packs I’ve seen at TRU don’t seem to be flying off the shelves, though as I said, I haven’t been paying very close attention. The somewhat lesser quality of Hasbro’s ML figures relative to Toy Biz’s efforts could be part of that too, though. And there’s another issue: ML had enough waves to get through quite a few of the major Marvel characters, so perhaps there’s some of your basic line fatigue there. Nonetheless, Hasbro apparently believes they can make another go at it in a couple years.
What do you think? Will Marvel Legends successfully rise again, or should they put the whole line on hold for a decade or so and let the ML nostalgia build?
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¹ Transformers has always been extremely popular, but there have been so many different lines I’m not sure any of them have quite gotten the cross-fandom respect and popularity that, say, 25th Anniversary Joe has. Maybe the movie line, but I’m not sure about that. I can’t count the Masterpiece line because the figures are too few and far between, and too expensive, to generate the kind of buzz an “it” line has.
I can't speak for people at large, but among my friends who collected ML there definitely was a resistance to "starting over" with Marvel Universe, not even mentioning the fact that the scale just doesn't excite some collectors. If ML wants to attempt a comeback they'll have to up their game in the sculpt department as some of the sculpts in the last few legitimate waves were really not good (Emma Frost).
I, myself, prefer things in the 6-7 inch scale for the detail that it brings with it. Little guys are nice to mass more figures for less cost and neat for army types (Storm/Clone Troopers and GI Joes excel at this) but when push comes to shove I'm much more of a fan of bigger figures.
Too little too late. I was a Marvel Legends collector for a long, long time but once Hasbro took over I found their 6 inch efforts really lacking (Emma Frost anyone?) so I left the game. Of course, I've since got hooked on the Super Hero Squad where almost every Marvel Legend has gotten a squad figure so Hasbro is still getting plenty of cash from me.
@Nicholai: We are clearly in the same boat on Emma.
I think Emma is an unfair representation of the Hasbro waves. That was from their very first wave and subsequent waves had only gotten better with each figure. Crossbones, She-Hulk, Asgardian Thor, Xorn and many more get an unfair rep because of a faulty start. There have definitely been some stumbles since that first wave, but progress was apparent. The new figures revealed this past weekend look great and I hope they look just as good once I get them in hand.
And as a long time collector that focuses mostly on Transformers, I appreciate the nod. The movie figures may have a wider appeal because of the movies, but the hardcore fanbase wasn't feeling a lot of them due to the poor reception of the second movie, which caused a lot of retroactive hate for the first. Animated was the shining spot in the TF portfolio while the Movie 2 figures were out.
I've always been a DC guy, so I can't see myself jumping on board with this unless they release some of the older, hard-to-find Toy Biz molds rather than trying (and failing, if the last couple of ML waves are any indication) to make their own stuff.
For instance, I'll buy a re-released Dragon Man on principal alone.
Of course they should bring it back. In fact, I think waiting until 2012 is a mistake, unless they plan to put out a fair amount of stuff in 2011 but just not call it 'the big return' until 2012.
Fans have been waiting TOO long for proper ML. My concern is that the longer Hasbro waits, the more fans, especially more casual fans, they lose. I've seen PLENTY of people that sold large portions of their collection, if not the entire thing, on eBay simply because they felt Hasbro had finally abandoned them.
Now what? I'd bet most of those people are not going to try to recollect their entire collection, and are fairly likely to harbour anti-toy bitterness toward Hasbro for, essentially, screwing with their heads.
Hasbro hasn't inspired a lot of loyalty in its customers lately. They dick around with their lines so much that it ends up just infuriating fans. They need to get on the ball and stop fucking around, in my opinion.
Bring ML back, and bring it back properly. If you can't do that, then just don't bother.
The reintroduction of G1-style transformers (Optimus Prime, Jetfire, Bumblebee, nerf gun Megatron), which are retroactively called Univers and were known in the fan community as "Classics", certainly ranks up there. Universe 2.0 (Powerglide, Onslaught et. al.) continue to ensure much fan supporrt.
Definitely thik this is a good thing. I only own a few ML figures (mostly Hasbro Legends) but I do enjoy them. Figures like Crossbones, Ultimate Nick Fury, Ultimate Iron Man, and Elektra were just too awesome to pass on.
@Damien
I'm definitely hearing you: Hasbro really has jumped around a lot lately on their lines, canceling and reshuffling everything quickly.
After an awesome lengthy run with the G.I. Joe 25th anniv, we get a brief period of Resolute stuff, hiatus in spring of 09, ROC figures for a few months, then nothing at all until late this summer/fall. POC looks awesome, but they're already talking about how awesome Renegades will be, leaving me to think POC will only last until spring of 2011.
I've loved every Joe line released, but I'd also like some longevity in my collecting habits. At least Mattel, other problems aside, seems to be able to keep things fresh while sticking with their collector lines.
Oh, and I'd also like to see Legendary Comic book heroes return, as well. Those are some great toys!
@Damien: Hasbro screws with their fans? Heh, you can't buy much from Mattel then!
I was a casual collector of Legends, the odd figure here and there. There were a few BAFS I managed to snare (especially when ASDA, the UK's WAL MART, put a few waves out on clearance) but it never really set the world alight for me, I often found the paint jobs were bad and the bodies looked too 'rag doll' for me, but there were some nice toys there and they excelled at muscular figures like the Hulk.
I'm much more of a DC person, I love DCUC so it's very difficult for me to call foul on the line, my love of the characters blurs their reception, so to speak.
But I was surprised how Hasbro seemed to can the 6 inch line. I think 2012 is there to capitalise on The Avengers movie more than anything else.
For one: stop bringing up Emma Frost. That's like parading out Wave 1 Toad or something from TB Legends. Rather than pointing out Frost's horrible head sculpt (which is there) let's look at the things Hasbro improved upon, such as horrible QC and floppy joints as well as ugly dirty paint washes all perpetrated by TB. Look at the more recent figures, such as the two-packs, most of which contain excellent figures as good as anything that TB did (Iron Man, Ronin, the excellent looking Black Widow and Winter Soldier we are getting). Combine this with good distribution (apart from the shipping snafu's early on, Hasbro had pretty much ironed out the issues with distribution, especially the two-packs) and I can see reasons to get excited. That being said, I've already been won over to MU.
@Fengschwing: I prefer Mattel's interaction with fans and how they conduct business, to be honest with you. I know that's strange to hear, so let me explain:
I get how business works. I know we're going to get double-speak, and a lot of 'we can't tell you that' no matter who we are hearing from. So things changing, or very corporate attitudes don't actually bother me.
Hasbro dicks around in ways Mattel doesn't. Mattel ran DCSH exactly as they said they would (I was not a fan back then). They only rebranded the one time, to DCUC, and the only major change was access to a far greater number of characters.
Let's compare that to Hasbro's G.I. Joe once 25A is out. Hasbro basically re-invigorates the entire franchise with just toys based on older toys, simply with updated articulation/sculpt. Awesome. But at this point it's important to note that it was this updating of figures that basically saved Joe.
So what does Hasbro do as soon as the line is hitting huge amounts of popularity? Cancels it in favour of a movie line with empty insinuations that classic figures might come back. So we get terrible movie figures for awhile, and pretty cool but not classic Resolute figures. Again, all because 25A breathed new life into the brand.
But then all the movie hype is over, so they start hyping the next movie.
In short: Constantly rebranding G.I. Joe and changing the game on us, all the while STILL not giving us even a quarter of the old figures from the '80s and early '90s.
I call that severely dicking around with the fans. "No, we're not going to make that.. but hey, look at THIS totally obnoxious all-black outfit for Duke."
And they did the SAME thing with Marvel Legends to Marvel Universe. Took the line that inspired such HUGE fan interest in Marvel Comics toys, killed it hard with terrible figures, and remade it into a different line. And every answer they gave about the situation was 'we may do some more figures, but for now we're going to dick around with you by pointing out that even though you asked us about a 6" Ultron, we have some awesome 3.75" Wolverines for you to buy!"
Hasbro is just the master of jerking off right in your face. And it pisses me off something fierce.
Mattel – not so much. They seem, to me, to be pretty steady in terms of doing what they say they're going to do. I can reasonably expect them to do what they say and not kill a popular toyline just because they FEEL like it, which is pretty much what Hasbro considers a hobby.
@DavetheBrave: To be fair, Hasbro only 'cleaned up' the OCCASIONAL bad paint app from ToyBiz by blatantly refusing to use paint at all, making their early figures look cheap and crappy. And a lot of their fixing of floppy joints involved simply removing the joint.
I get what you're saying, and Hasbro DOES have strengths as a toy company. But you don't fix a problem in your engine by just getting rid of the engine. Which is what Hasbro does as often as not.
@DavetheBrave
I think Hasbro's Legends have looked a little too much like plastic, but there's no denying that their classic Iron Man is magnificent! It's one of the best Legends ever.
That said, I still didn't buy it. I'm turned off by the 2 packs, with their mandatory purchase of another figure.
The Hasbro stuff has had some great character choices and excellent sculpts that probably could have benefitted from stronger paint. There were several unique sculpts that can't be used for other characters. The articulated fingers were nice from ToyBiz, but DCUC doesnt have them either and they make for a much more fragile toy.
If they can release single carded figures with BAF parts for $10-$12, I may go for it. It's worth noting that all the Iron Man 2 figures and even the upcoming MU stuff looks much better than the very awful MU launch, so the appetite for Legends has been dulled somewhat. It's hard enough keeping up with DC, MotU, and nice looking upcoming POC Joe line.
The biggest issue with Emma was getting that figure released THREE times (regular, diamond and as the Black Queen). It took Hasbro several waves before getting in the swing of things and combined with the increase in price, it left a lot of collector's disappointed. Hell, throwing in the X-3 figures was annoying too.
The other big thing was when ToyBiz had their final year of making Marvel Legends, they unleashed an absurd quantity of products – the two-packs and several waves. But Hasbro had some major missteps, like the retailer exclusives – especially Target's going for $15 a pop and then the Hulk Legends line that was ungodly expensive to finish Foom.
Hasbro has drastically improved lately, but some of their best work, like Crossbones, is just a repaint of Hulkling.
But at the end of the day, I think it's too little, too late. I sold off my entire Marvel Legends collection a few years ago and only kept BAF Apocalypse. Having to go another year and a half before this relaunch just feels unfair and odds are they're going to keep the $15 a pop price point.
I've given up on Marvel Legends two years ago, already.
I never was a complete collector, since the line wasn't offered at retail over here and thus rather expensive to import. But when Hasbro started offering waves en masse exclusively at stores like Walmart, prices became insane.
Thus, I had to pass on some of my most favorite toys/waves/sets and the fun of collecting was ruined for me.
Starting again would only remind me of the many figures I missed (or who were ruined be horrible sculpts and/or paint).
Marvel Legends was great during it's run and I picked them up, variants and all. I lost interest when Hasbro took over, partly because the quality wasn't as good as Toy Biz and partly because they had released most of the main characters by then. MU was a cool idea but I just can't get into small scale action figures, with the exception of G.I. Joe. If Hasbro wants another crack at it more power to 'em but with the big DC stories recently and the 4H in Mattel's corner, I think DCUC will still reign supreme.
Also, I'm a spiteful S.O.B. and I loved Toy Biz as a company so Hasbro had a lot to live up to and IMO they didn't deliver. That, and they completely RUINED the Indiana Jones line before it really got started so they get no love from me.
I do love Marvel Legends, but I wonder about a relaunch. Odds are, Hasbro will want to redo/make their money on old characters, so there'll be more Spideys and Wolverines and Iron Men. If they manage to keep enough new or unmade characters in the rotation, that would keep my interest up. And heaven forbid, if Hasbro were to toss all the old molds and start fresh with new ones, maybe a buck system? (That seems doubtful: Too many body types vs. DCUC…)
It's strange considering the lack of product that came out, but Transformers held the crown during the Alternators years. Best combination of top-notch design and a good license.
It obviously ruled amongst kids during the Armada days and the Movie year, but those lines weren't all that well received, especially in comparison to the oft-requested line (return of licensed vehicles, classic characters) that was Alternators.
But only having a couple dozen toys in three years means that it's not really in consideration.
"So what does Hasbro do as soon as the line is hitting huge amounts of popularity? Cancels it in favour of a movie line with empty insinuations that classic figures might come back. "
That one was pretty much out of Hasbro's control. The movie justifiably overrode everything.
I mean, I may hate ROTF for the mediocre toys and horrible movie, but I accepted that it was going to kill off Animated. That's just the way business works.
I collected Marvel Legends until it became far too difficult to do so (given they pretty much stopped being released in Australia). I had absolutely no intention of every collecting Marvel Universe primarily because I'm not a fan of the 3.75" scale and also because they're way over-priced.
The only Marvel Legends I would be enthused to collect in 2012 would be a "movie" line based primarily on The Avengers, but also including secondary characters and villains from the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor and Captain America films.
Not the same person as above!
When I was thinking about the Marvel Legends relaunch the other day, I was thinking about what obvious characters need to be made (as opposed to redoing figures that have already been done). Bucky Cap and Iron Man and Thor in their modern costumes immediately sprang to mind. Not to mention they still have unreleased figures like First Appearance Storm, the Hood, Silver Samurai, and a redone Magneto lying around.
Too little too late.
Hasbro dropped the ball starting with wave one of ML. (Eliminating Paint jobs, Eliminating Articulation, spreading BAF parts in a ridiculous manner,shoving X-3 characters in almost every wave, etc.) While some sculpts looked great, the artic was decreasing. Look at the Spider-Man sub Line Tarantula for an example of Hasbrofied ML articulation.
I've had the 2 packs in my hands and I end up leaving them all the time… Hasbro killed my love for ML.
I got into ML rather late, around 2003. A Wizard price guide article where they showed all of the Marvel Legends thus far in their own dioramas is what influenced me to buy them.
Shortly after this, Hasbro brought the Marvel license and butchered the line with terrible figures like Ben Reily, Vision, FA She-Hulk, Adam Warlock, Quicksilver and Ultimate Iron Man. Not only this, but we also got refugees from X3, clogging slots.
When they shifted focus to MU, I stopped buying their substandard, underpainted Legends.
Recently I got into MU from seeing the Enchantress and the Wrecking Crew…characters ML never got too and probably wouldn't have reached anyway. I was so sure that ML was going to finish soon, that I moved on to MU, thinking that this is where all of the energy was going. And now ML is to return in 2012…
I really hope those figures are good. This new Marvel Legends now has to handle the legacy of the Toy Biz version, the competition from the 4H's DCUC and fans having to start up a fresh Marvel collection for the third time.
If anyone was following the comics in the past decade, you'd probably have all you're energy sucked straight out of Marvel to begin with. I was one of those unlucky hundreds/thousands(?). Thanks Joe Q, Tom B, etc, etc
And DCUC a success? Really? Distribution, distribution. Tsk. Tsk.
@Damien:
I fully agree with you; they pulled the same thing in the late 90s with Batman Beyond, which I've never forgiven them for. Need I mention "Batlink"?
They didn't even try with it, and actually said 'we're seriously considering discontinuing our contract with DC", to which I wondered "you sound discouraged about making figures based on a hot license; why is this?"
I gave up on marvel legends about the nemesis wave. I only got punishe rand daredevil. I was not impressed with either and I love frank.
unless they jump their qualitly to the level of DCUC, I'm not buying anything from that line,which is sad cause im a sucker for punisher.
for the quality nuts out there, i submit that hasbro was kind of hit and miss, but they had some nice successes… lord thor, hercules, the hulks, all felt very solid and have held up well. vs like say the last couple TB waves, which was SUPER soft and rubbery.
i would also like to say that TB and then hasbro, were and are workiong on a buck system like mattel uses, the difference is, there's a ton of parts they can use to mix & match and make new charaacters… to my personal feelings, a FAR better solution than the say rehashed crap we get from mattel over and over again. you know what's great about the TB method? oh, daredevil and deadpool could share a body, but each has their distinct personalities and don't feel like a cheap rehash. whereas, GLU feels so third rate that only the C&C character can save that line. seriously, how many bloody DCU figs are a simple head swap and vague palette swap? for real?
i definitely will give everyone that hasbro could have done better w/ how they handled the line, BUT in comparison, i think their worst gaff, the price jump on the hulk wave, was still lightyears better than the quality of the figs and the quantity of the accessories that you're getting out of the modern DCU line for the same price. compare kilowog to FFF and seriously, price difference aside, you can easily see where your money went. and as someone pointed out, compare the first two hasbro waves of ML to the last two, and look at the gradually improving quality of the two packs and the MUniverse/IM movie figs. they seem to be getting their wits about them again, so while history would imply that they'll cancel ML in a year (about the time they're supposed to be firing things back up) i hold a candle of hope against the wind of pessimism.
oh, and one last note, to you 25th anniversary joe lovers… you wanna talk betrayal? i was a sigma six fan… THAT'S where your momentum came from, and that line was literally killed mid stride.
MLs were fantastic in their day but I generally like the sleek look of DCUC better. The marionette-like look of MLs has aged poorly (more among some figures than others) so if Hasbro brings the line back, they need to raise the bar another notch. Perhaps take some notes from the 4 Horseman's style but add something extra to the mix.
If that happens, I'll happily update/add to my Marvel collection with the next version of Legends.
I guess what I'm saying is, I hope it's a reboot with a fresh approach rather than a continuation of the old line, which will be a decade old by the time this relaunch happens.
@dayraven:
Sigma 6 is my favorite toyline. Ever.
@MegaGearX: "Ben Reily, Vision, FA She-Hulk, Adam Warlock, Quicksilver and Ultimate Iron Man"
Ben Reilly, Adam Warlock, Quicksilver and the Ultimate War Machine (later release of Ultimate Iron Man armor) are some of my favorites from the later waves of HML.
@Dlia: Distribution issues are irrelevant to the notion of "success" I'm talking about here. When the Fwoosh–the Fwoosh, Marvel Legends central!–has 92K posts about DC Universe to 90K about Marvel, I call that success.
Heck! I'm buying DCUC figs… and I'm what you'd say a Marvel Zombie, but as Dlia pointed out, Joe Q is a huge factor in the current anti-Marvel sentiment
@Damien: "Hasbro is just the master of jerking off right in your face." That my friend, is what I call a description!
I miss the old Toy Biz MLs a lot, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to invest very much in a new Hasbro line. Realistically I'll only choose the characters I really like and won't be scouring the aisles like I do for DCUC.
Marvel Legends 5.0 is a huge risk, and yes it's 5.0, 1.0 was through ML8, 2.0 was BAF through ML15, 3.0 was Hasbro, and 4.0 was ML's exclusives assortment.
ML9 was a relaunch, HML1 was a relaunch, the exclusive 2-packs and series were a relaunch. Every relaunch was an attempt to buy the brand some extra time.
Fans like to think of it all like one long line, but it's not. The line's matured and declined several times without any real expansion. The line will never expand like it did in 2002-2006, when it was only $1-2 more per figure than a licensed 3.75" figure.
I fell in love with the original Marvel Legends – 6" figure, base, and comic book for $7. I liked the ability to choose, and BAF took that away. For me, BAF was the first nail in ML's coffin because suddenly I was being told I had to buy 4 mediocre or unwanted figures to get the best figure in the series. Jesse Falcon swore up and down that Walmart didn't want a boxed Galactus or Sentinel, even though those were the "free money" years and everybody was living large relative to where we are now.
Why is Walmart taking big-box Marvel items now as opposed to them? Why did ML fall back on using marketing gimmicks instead of letting the figure speak for itself? Why is it so important to bring ML back? MU is entering the expansion phase of its product cycle in 2011 and it could expand through 2014. In the same period, ML is going to go through another maturity and decline. Why? Because 95% of consumers would rather have two figures than one figure at any given price point. Two 4" figures for $15 is better value than one 6" figure.
But what do I know? It's Hasbro's money, let them supplicate to a bunch of whiny complainers who will never realize that Marvel Legends will never again be the line it started as. The line is old, the fans are stubborn, and you don't make money at mass retail with what has become, ostensibly, a niche product.
…did I beat Damien's word count yet?
While I did not read all the responses, I would like to add my two cents.
As far as Marvel Legends goes, I am not really concerned unless it gets me a figure in scale to Marvel Universe. I will be honest MU pulled me in like a fish on a hook for several reasons. 1 is price, 7-9 bucks per figure/character is a lot easier to swallow than the 15+ for Legends. 2 size, I can fit a vast amount more 3.75 inch figures on a shelf or in a box than say my DC Universe Classics figures.
I also have to take exception that a 6 inch figure necessarily means more detail or whatever than 3.75 inch. All anyone has to do is compare DCUC to the upcoming G.I. Joe Pursuit of Cobra toys, or heck any Joe line since 25th Anniversary. Marvel Universe may not have had that level of detail but one only has to look at the most recent releases to see the ones that need it getting better and better. My only problem with the line is that being in the UK, distribution is patchy at best but that covers pretty much everything.
I would be happy for Hasbro to push the line as hopefully it will sate the group of fans that continue to demand them.
To those who say that Alternators were the best line of Transformers I have to disagree. 1 while licensed alternate modes of vehicles you like is cool, it can limit what can be done with the figure and either calls for a reduced quality figure or increased price. 2 at the price of 20 bucks a pop they were essentially collector only which was fine if another toy line was available to keep the franchise running. 3 size, though big enough to have seats no action figure Hasbro made at the time was small enough to fit inside the car so they were large for seemingly no reason other than to sit in a particular scale to the real car.
I like Marvel Universe, the toy line fits me, I like DC Universe as well but really end up just wishing that Mattel's DC Infinite Heroes were a better competition for my funds and better matched with MU.
I think if Hasbro brings back ML they definitely need to innovate the market. Perhaps if they treat these figures with true reverence like a Japanese comany might do. I really think it's high time they do things like add multiple heads (masked/unmasked), loads of gear, swappable hands, solidly constructed flying bases, and some sort of ratchet system for the joints. Because quite frankly just redoing old overdone characters again in the same tired way won't get people excited, especially with today's market. They would have to do something that's outside of what Mattel does. I think a reusable buck system would be okay if they could somehow add all this extra cool stuff to justify price. Besides these companies have to realize by now it is big kids like us (aged 20-35) who buy these damn things and not little kids who would just loose the spare parts.
@dayraven:
Sigma Six ruled! Man they could have done so much more with that line.
I truly feel that Hasbro knows that they erred in letting Marvel Legends go down… Toy Biz' Marvel Legends were truly legendary in the toy industry! Fair to say that the great combination of great sculpt and articulation in the 6" line became industry standards! We all know that Mattel's DC Universe Classics and Masters of the Universe are the "it" line and ironic enough they owe their existence with Toy Biz' ML line. Sadly Hasbro's mis-management of that line is something they should know and learn from and hopefully come 2012 we can start seeing new and better 6" action figures of our favorite Marvel characters!
I know I'll kill to have the upcoming Avengers movie 6" action figures!!!
NICE PIC, CAN U TELL ME WHAT KIND OF DISPLAY YOU HAVE USED? WHERE DO I CAN FIND ONE?
@Poe – "At their Marvel SDCC panel, Hasbro said that 6″ Marvel Legends would be returning “in full force” in 2012. I started to wonder why that would be, given how strongly they’ve been pushing Marvel Universe, and I’m wondering if it’s the success of DCUC that has them reconsidering."
I don't think Mattel's product has anything to do with it at all.
In fact, I would say that the resurrection of the line is due to 4 words, and four words alone; "Marvel Studios' The Avengers".
That film (along with the reboot of the Spider-Man film franchise) is going to be big enough to warrant the extra product out there, with such high media saturation, the figures will sell no matter what.
Make no mistake, 2012 will be Marvel's biggest year ever.
@The Historian:
Really? The line is old? I'm sure you haven't seen toys of Star Wars around, have you?? THAT line is old and still sells.
Fans are stuborn? Yes, fans spend money on figures of GOOD quality! Gawd forbid if I buy something and the quality isn't up-to-par.
A niche product? Yeah, I see your point, DCUC picked the idea and are making money off a "niche product".
I'm a huge Marvel Legends fan and think all lines were great! I've tried the DCUC line but the fact they have 3-4 body types for every DC character just doesn't attract me. For example, Robin should not be same size as Superman. I shouldn't buy a Sinestro then be told Mattel will make another one with appropriate body scale for me to buy.
Welcome back Marvel Legends! It's about friggin' time!
@RM:
That's their plan, for sure. Whether they'll pull it off is another question. I'm wondering if overexposure/oversaturation will become an issue for all these Marvel movies.
@Poe: I couldn't agree with you more, & with Hasbro's solid & proven track record of flooding the market come movie time, I definitely see them once again not learning from their own historical blunders.
I truly believe that, as a fellow Poester mentioned… unless Hasbro makes Marvel Legends into a line that is made with the same type of care & inventiveness that the Japanese grant their products, the line will be doomed from inception. Hasbro just can't focus properly on one thing & stick to it. They always fold at the moment they start hitting some kind of stride. They'll just take the opportunity to flood us with movie figs & inappropriate variants, & then throw in kit-bashes of what Toy Biz has already made.
Seriously, I'm really starting to dislike how Hasbro's just straight gunning for cash, & nothing else. I don't see care in their work, I don't see innovation & I certainly don't see longevity. Fuck, they did not even utter a goddamn word about the Micronauts or Sectaurs at San Diego. All they fucking showed was shit we've all already seen a million fucking times over… AAARGH!
Ok, I'm cool now.
I see a lot of people asking "what's the point" as they've moved on to MU figures. But I haven't. I'm excited for Marvel Legends as I loathe MU scale figures, no matter how "well made" they are. Sorry, but 3 3/4 Marvel figures don't blend well with my 6 inch DCUC figures. I didn't appreciate the way Hasbro seemed to abandon the line with so many characters left to produce, teams that have yet to be completed, etc. They started Alpha Flight, 90's X-Force, X-Factor and so on but never finished them which, I admit, had me feeling a bit butt hurt. I doubt it's a matter of them listening to collectors, because if that were the case they never would have started MU/dropped ML in the first place. I'm betting it the fact that many of us said "okay, drop ML but I'm not buying MU… I'll just focus on DCUC now ya' jerks". Sales, I'm betting, is the reason for this. And for those who are saying they should just "let ML go"… I'm flipping you the bird right now.
Marvel Legends for LIFE!
I hope ML does return. Seems we're getting a hulk (red hulk repaint) and a Hasblow deadpool. That's good for those that can't find or pay 100+ for ML Deadpool, but now they are going to have to JUSTIFY their collection…got this puny 2pack deadpool, to go with my puny banshee,fury,2pack ironman,yellowjacket…see? Now you are hooked… ML for 2011/2012…puny remakes=Dollars in their pockets guys. Somewhere between ML/DCUC scale and 3 3/4 MU is Your new wallet eater=continued hasblow. They control it, but , you get figures so no whining about it. I collected TB,ML and stopped at the piss poor Hasblow Scarlet Witch. Sold about all of my collection…then I missed em'…so I bought em' all back..and still looking for some of em'-fearsome foes and sinister six? 150+…sheesh. Anyway, scale was th ML/Hasblow main issue. I saw the suckiness of it all, but beared with it to complete teams I wanted. Customs are hard to get right..(paint), I leave that to the companies…and buy what I like /can afford.
Everything Hasbro is guilty of, Mattel is just as guilty. I've seen decent to blatant atrocious QC on both sides.
Mattel, IMHO, can sometimes make it downright impossible to find and buy some of their lines (namely DCUC and MOTUC).