Yesterday
Hasbro opened up pre-orders for their newest
Marvel Legends Spider-Man figure with the new
Gamerverse Advance Suit figure which is based on this summer’s new
Spider-Man 2 Playstation video game.
The figure is being released as a
Fan-Channel exclusive which means that it will only be carried by the smaller online toy etailers like our sponsors
BigBadToyStore and
Entertainment Earth. In other words you won’t find this one at
Walmart, Target or even
Amazon.
Like with many
Hasbro products being released these days, this figure has sparked much debate and controversy among collectors. If you spend anytime these days among action figure collectors on social media then you no doubt have witnessed the displeasure expressed by some collectors over Hasbro’s business practices. I will be the first to say that many times the complaints you see about
Hasbro seem unjustified, but there are times when they aren’t.
So what exactly are people complaining about in regards to this new
Spider-Man figure? Well they vary but the ones that seem to pop up the most include the figure not looking game accurate enough, not using a brand new sculpt, not having enough accessories and the price. The fact the figure only comes with 1 web-shooting hand seems to bother many folks. Now I will say that I disagree with it not looking game accurate. I compared it to how
Spider-Man looks in the only game trailer that we have gotten so far for the new game, and I have to say it looks pretty accurate to me. Granted the figure doesn’t have the texturing on the suit as seen in the game, but the overall suit on the figure looks pretty much like it does in the trailer.
Using an existing mold as long as it fits the character has never bothered me and in this case I think the mold they chose works. It does incorporate Hasbro’s pin-less technology. I agree having two web-shooting hands would have been nice but it doesn’t make or break the figure IMO.
However the one complaint about the figure that seems to be shared by most that I think is hard to justify in any real way is the price. This one figure is retailing for a whopping
$34.99. To me a regular sized
Marvel Legends figure that only includes 1 extra pair of hands and some webbing effect pieces costing this much is absurd.
A regular general release
Marvel Legends figure these days retails for
$25.99. Now some will say this figure costs more because it’s being released as a
Fan-Channel exclusive which translates to it being produced in smaller numbers since the big box retailers aren’t carrying it. So
my first question to Hasbro is why is that? This figure is based on one of the most popular characters in the
Marvel Universe on a brand new video game from one of the most popular game franchises based on
Marvel. Why on earth would this not be a general release figure that
Walmart, Target and
Amazon would want to carry? No
Sony isn’t going to put in a stipulation that would prevent these big box retailer from carrying the figure, a figure that would only help promote and advertise their new game.
In 2021 we got a
Marvel Legends Miles Morales Gammerverse figure which had sculpted texturing on the suit, an extra unmasked head, 3 sets of hands, effect pieces and a BAF piece that was released at regular retail for $24.99.
If
Hasbro couldn’t convince the big box retailers to carry this new
Spider-Man figure that begs the question, are the days of
Marvel Legends being sold at mass retail numbered?
If
Hasbro wants to start producing action figures made specifically for adult collectors sold in smaller numbers online which would translate to higher prices, I say go for it, but you can’t have your cake and eat it too. Higher prices like this means the quality and accessories have to be increased as well. This new
Spider-Man figure while not bad looking is nothing special. There is nothing about it that warrants the higher price tag over what general retail figures sell for, especially when compared to that
Miles Morales one we got just over a year ago. I’m not going to claim
Hasbro is milking it’s customers because they think collectors will buy anything put in front of them, but when you see figures like this sold at this price it certainly gives more credence to those who do make those claims.