Is Closed Box Packaging An Option For Marvel Legends?!?

Jay Cochran - October 21, 2020

Back in August 2019 Hasbro announced a company wide initiative to remove plastic from all of their toy packaging by the end of 2022. For many of their products this likely won't be that difficult to do, however when it comes to the world of collectible action figures like say Marvel Legends, that isn't as easy as it sounds.

You see many, at least those who still do their primary figure buying at physical stores, as opposed to online want to be able to see the figures they buy before handing their cash over. This is for a number of reasons. One is so they can pick the figure with the best paint applications, since all figures aren't created equally when they ship from the overseas factories.

Another reason people want to see the figure they are buying is to make sure it's the actual one listed on the packaging. You see an all to common problem that has developed in the hobby is the act of figure swapping. This is when someone decides to switch out an old figure with the new one and then put it back on the pegs. Usually these people will buy the figure, go home switch out the new figure with an old one and then take it back as a return. The stores who have know idea what the actual figure in the box should be take it, and then eventually put it back on their shelves to be resold. If one can't see the figure inside the packaging, then they have no way of knowing if a figure swapper has gotten to before they have.

Recently Hasbro has been selling army builder Marvel Legends figures which are sold exclusively online. These figures come in a unique closed box that features nice artwork on the outside. This packaging is totally comprised of cardboard, and has no plastic on it. The boxes are smaller than regular Marvel Legends packaging and the figures cost about $5 cheaper. So is this something Hasbro could switch the entire line over to?

Dan Yun from the Hasbro Marvel brand team poses a question not to long ago on social media asking what people thought about the closed box troop builder packages...

Just asking - how are you guys feeling the closed box troop builder packages?
— Dan Yun 윤 (@DanYunIsTrying) October 9, 2020

Was this just a random question Dan posed because he was bored, or was he trying to do some research, getting customer feeback about the new packaging? Most of the responses he got seemed to totally ignore the packaging aspect of his question, as people instead honed in on the troop builder aspect of it. Still this got me wondering, could they be considering this style of packaging for the entire Marvel Legends line? Is it at all practical for a mass retail produced action figure line?

For myself, I have no problem if they went to a closed box style for their action figures. I think modifications would need to be made to make it more difficult to take the figure out of the box and put a different one back in, but otherwise I would be fine with it. Of course I do most of my figure shopping online these days, and I open all my figures, so packaging to me is just something that goes into the garbage.

Since Dan didn't seem to get many responses about the actual packaging, I thought I would pose the question here for you all. Do you like the closed box packaging, and would it be practical for a line like Marvel Legends at mass retail? If not, then how do you think they can live up to the company mandate of no plastic in their packages by 2022? Let us know your thoughts on this in the COMMENT SECTION below.

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Comments...

Last 10 comments - ( Read All Posts )

sentinelofliberty41 - 2021-03-22 @ 1:18 pm

34 minutes ago, SUPREME007 said:
Yeah pains me thatwe have to worry about that. People being scammers will never end.

It's almost ended me being apart of the toy hobby to be honest. The scams, scalpers and people generally taking advantage of collectors and the collector mentality have forced me to stop collecting for the most part. Due to where I live my only choices anymore are preorders on bigbadtoystore/amazon or ebay which usually means spending more. Add the possibility of windowless packaging into the mix and its just going to get worse.

SUPREME007 - 2021-03-22 @ 12:41 pm

21 minutes ago, sentinelofliberty41 said:
I don't think it would take long. The amount of returns Walmart will get if Legends go this route will become a huge hassle. You know good and well people will abuse this to get build a figure parts and money back on figures they just cram in there.

Yeah pains me thatwe have to worry about that. People being scammers will never end.

sentinelofliberty41 - 2021-03-22 @ 12:17 pm

10 minutes ago, mako said:
Another potential wrinkle to "Blind-Box Buying" I've been thinking of is that some stores, like Walmart, won't accept returns on electronics that have been opened. Iwonder how long it would be before they enacted a similar policy for action figures in enclosed packaging.

I don't think it would take long. The amount of returns Walmart will get if Legends go this route will become a huge hassle. You know good and well people will abuse this to get build a figure parts and money back on figures they just cram in there.

mako - 2021-03-22 @ 12:04 pm

Another potential wrinkle to "Blind-Box Buying" I've been thinking of is that some stores, like Walmart, won't accept returns on electronics that have been opened. Iwonder how long it would be before they enacted a similar policy for action figures in enclosed packaging.

SUPREME007 - 2021-03-22 @ 12:44 am

1 hour ago, mako said:
There's a little rough spot in your logic. While I'm not as gung-ho as some, I do consider myself a serious collector. That being said, even I have a problem with the concept of dropping 23 bucks for a sight unseen action figure.

As do I, it would trouble me to buy the product without viewing it. But i think if it were in my hands at a store I would still buy it due to my history of having some of the worst luck when it comes to hunting. Also, I do like a lot of online shopping so its essentially the same thing buying something Ican't see. And a sidenote pains me to see the price to go up.

mako - 2021-03-21 @ 11:17 pm

50 minutes ago, SUPREME007 said:
See i was thinking this way a while ago like people who are not followers of the brand like you and I, so they have no familiarity with the product. So they are not gonna cough up $23 for a product like you said "without actaully seeing it". Like wouldn't this drawback the causal collectors? So could hurt the sales

There's a little rough spot in your logic. While I'm not as gung-ho as some, I do consider myself a serious collector. That being said, even I have a problem with the concept of dropping 23 bucks for a sight unseen action figure.

SUPREME007 - 2021-03-21 @ 10:20 pm

On 3/20/2021 at 4:18 PM, monron999 said:
Ya, it wouldn't be a problem for you or me or most of us here, mainly cuz we're familiar with all the molds and paint apps and general quality we expect from ML, but I think it would seriously suffer shelf presence at the brick and mortar stores. My kids are aging out of the toy phase now, but as a parent I would have a huge problem purchasing a now $23 product without actually seeing it.

See i was thinking this way a while ago like people who are not followers of the brand like you and I, so they have no familiarity with the product. So they are not gonna cough up $23 for a product like you said "without actaully seeing it". Like wouldn't this drawback the causal collectors? So could hurt the sales

mako - 2021-03-21 @ 10:11 am

10 hours ago, Flounnderr said:
So the toys and all the accessories are still made of plastic, right?

Does it matter? I mean think about it. Say a collector is one the "MOC" crowd. They'll be paying 20+ bucks for a figure they'll never see!

I keep flashing back to all those horror stories of people buying X-Boxes and Playstations only to get home and find the boxes full of rocks or old phonebooks. I don't know what, if any, impact this would have on the environment (other than increasing the amount of trees we need to make cardboard), but it could be the start of a new golden age for shop-lifters and repackagers.

Benn - 2021-03-20 @ 11:47 pm