Hasbro Doing Marvel Legends At Least Through 2026

On 12/6/2024 at 2:57 AM, leokearon said:

Also, doing armies of the popular characters allows the lesser known characters to exist, since Hasbro know that the popular characters will sell, thus off-balance the low sales of the lesser-known figures.

Yup. There is a reason waves that include lesser known characters are almost always buffered with a popular A-lister or two. If retailers were interested in a bunch of C and D tier characters they'd be ordering them, but they aren't so they don't. Hence the Trojan horsing. If this fan channel exclusive wave experiment they've been trying this past year takes off then that could be a viable avenue potentially, but even there you see them putting in some bigger name characters.

On 12/4/2024 at 7:11 AM, TheArrow said:

"The thing is that anything "Spider-Man" sells. Anything. To adults AND kids--that's the word from retailers...I'd love tom see more character-themed waves like iron Man Retro, as a way of inserting more secondary characters into the lines---because we've seen so many runs at the mainstays, we are now good and ready to plumb the depths of numerous secondaries and side-kicks. ML is waaaay lukewarm for me now, because of the aforementioned mainstay-bias, and I need more pull to get me excited about the line again. I'm hoping it comes back soon..."

Of course Spider-Man sells, he always has. I believe since the dawn of superhero action figures, he's been in the Top Three of that pantheon- Spider-Man, Batman, Superman. I'm not against Spider-Man, I'm saying there's more in the Marvel universe so that they can spread things around better. As you say they make so many runs at the "mainstays", eventually all they'll have left is lesser-known characters. That won't bother me, as I'm a Marvel Comics fan....my zeal isn't limited to starting just around the 90s era, I'm not moved or dissuaded whether a movie or tv show does well or flops, I'm looking for Marvel figures. ACCURATE Marvel figures. So yeah give me that Iron Man (Heroes Return- which was an EXCELLENT example of what hasbo can do when they want), but also give me Red Wolf. Drop Killraven in on one of these mainstay waves, like they did Crystar. They missed the boat during the last Thor wave but we can still get a comic Warriors Three, Beta Ray Bill, Valkyrie. And YES- even if hasbo loses the license I do think another company can pick it up.

Also, doing armies of the popular characters allows the lesser known characters to exist, since Hasbro know that the popular characters will sell, thus off-balance the low sales of the lesser-known figures.

On 12/4/2024 at 1:30 AM, Atlantis said:

You're coming at it from the perspective of a disappointed fan, but objectively, that is untrue. Their production capacity is far higher than anything Jada is currently doing with Street Fighter or any of their other lines. 2024 alone had well over 50 Marvel Legends figures, and that's just single releases, not counting two packs and box sets. Comparatively, Jada's Street Fighter in this year was around 6 general release figures (Ken, M. Bison, Dhalsim, Guile, Dee Jay and Cammy) plus a few repaints and convention exclusives like Violent Ken. Again, they simply do not have the production capacity for a line like Marvel Legends, and that goes for a lot of these other toy companies.

And if anyone else handled the license they'd also heavily feature Spider-Man and the X-Men because those are their evergreen sellers. The reason you don't see Captain America, Daredevil and Thor waves is because those are characters retailers only care about relative to their MCU releases. If they put up the numbers Spider-Man or the X-Men do, they'd get dedicated waves more often.

And I know this is the case because McFarlane Toys, one of the companies people fantasize about taking the Legends license from Hasbro, is like 75 percent Batman-related characters. Nobody is going to the hassle and expense of getting the Marvel license to not merchandise the characters they know make money reliably.

On 12/4/2024 at 1:30 AM, Atlantis said:

I think another company could indeed handle the license if they're gonna half add it like these guys. How about after this proposed Spidey wave, they do a Thor wave? Daredevil? Its been some time since we saw a dedicated Cap wave. And don't even get me started on the Hulk. There's just so many things they can choose from, but they don't.

The thing is that anything "Spider-Man" sells. Anything. To adults AND kids--that's the word from retailers. X-men come in a bit flatter and anyone else a bit flatter than that. Heck, remember the Iron Man 2 fiasco? Toys R Us and Hasbro darn near murdered Iron Man as a character because there was a HUGE glut of iron Man toys on the market.......and they didn't move. Hasbro remembered that for years after, and it was only until the uptick of interest in the MCU Iron Man did they stick their toes back into the waters with him. The retro Iron Man wave is his first solo headlining foray as a whole wave.Hulk stumbled with the Fin Fang Foom wave, but only just, and it got a lot of backlash because certain characters needed to complete the BAF were under-produced or badly distributed.The problem is, once you get beyond the Thors and the Daredevils, the character choices start become obscure. There's a LOT of peg warmers in the line's history, but.........fortunately, they are not wave killers. Machine Man, Misty Knight, the first black Suit Spider-Woman were outright shelf-glue because not that many buyer knew who they are---as figures go they were very good iterations. They were just not much on the public consciousness.I'd love tom see more character-themed waves like iron Man Retro, as a way of inserting more secondary characters into the lines---because we've seen so many runs at the mainstays, we are now good and ready to plumb the depths of numerous secondaries and side-kicks. ML is waaaay lukewarm for me now, because of the aforementioned mainstay-bias, and I need more pull to get me excited about the line again. I'm hoping it comes back soon.

On 12/1/2024 at 9:22 AM, watanabefan said:

Jada is doing amazing work, but there's no way they have the production capacity for something like Marvel Legends. They're a much smaller company and the Street Fighter line, while amazing, struggles to get out a handful of figures a year. The figures themselves are some of the best on the market, but they need at least a few more years of growth before they can realistically handle a license as massive as Marvel.

Ajh, but there's the rub: habso hasn't been handling the massive line that Marvel has; in fact the next fan stream is expected to, once again, feature yet another Spider-Man wave. Spidey, X-Men, rinse and repeat. I think another company could indeed handle the license if theyre gonna half add it like these guys. How about after this proposed Spidey wave, they do a Thor wave? Daredevil? Its been some time since we saw a dedicated Cap wave. And don't even get me started on the Hulk. There's just so many things they can choose from, but they don't.

Jada is doing amazing work, but there's no way they have the production capacity for something like Marvel Legends. They're a much smaller company and the Street Fighter line, while amazing, struggles to get out a handful of figures a year. The figures themselves are some of the best on the market, but they need at least a few more years of growth before they can realistically handle a license as massive as Marvel.

I disagree that Hasbro has mistakes or blunders with ML--I think, in terms of marketing, they've been absolutely brilliant!I mean, they've given collectors CHOICE.How many versions of Wolverine, Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, etc??? Wolverine with GOLD belt-buckle, Wolverine with YELLOW belt-buckle. Wolverine with NO belt-buckle........and we buy every one!!Why, if Hasbro made the famed Malibu Stacy dolls........they could come with...........HATS!!!Gosh.Truth be told, I think the figures Hasbro has made have mostly been really good. There's been some morts, sure..........but also some masterpieces too. And like I said, there's been lots of choice along the way.

On 11/26/2024 at 11:55 AM, AndyL said:

To start off while I am unhappy with a lot of what Hasbro does with ML at times I am not unhappy with them in general. I think at this point they have perfected the art of ML and continue to improve with their biggest and only problems being scale between figures at times and the constant and over use of some body models such as the Kate Bishop and Sunfire models. But as to the question of who else could do the job and make it exciting again within the price range I have two major contenders and one potential contender.

First, Jada Toys. Anyone who's been following these guys and maybe purchased one of the Street Fighter action figures should be nothing but impressed by these guys who literally came out of nowhere and started producing Hasbro quality or better right off the jump without even having that Ugly Phase that most companies have when they start a new license. Hasbro itself went through that phase which many people including Sharty call the Dark Days of ML. Not Jada. Their stuff is almost on par with anything Hasbro is doing and they are at a similar price point and often include more accessories for the price. At very least they all have an alternate face portrait. And another thing. They sell out very fast. So they are getting noticed. And they are only going to get better from this point.

Second, Jazzwares. When they were doing the Fortnite they were amazing. Not only were they on roughly the same 6" scale size of ML but they had more articulation with majority original sculpts that only saw re-use when they did alternate skin versions. Also the company is made up of former artists and creators and designers from companies like Toybiz and Mattel among others who have tons of experience in the business. The only reason they lost the license was because big bad Hasbro literally just outbid them. And immediately they scaled them down by thinning them out and virtually eliminating all but one or two accessories. And then tacked on a higher price tag to be sure. In fact I did and do continue to cherry pick the line even after Hasbro got it but I honestly don't remember seeing them produce anything new for the line in probably 6 months or so. Their standard AEW figures are on par with the WWE Elite figures and cheaper and also very little mold re-use and they also sell out very quickly. Even though they are admittedly produced in much smaller quantities as WWE figures.

Third, at a distance is the much improved Jakks Pacific. Long gone are the days from when they made WWE figures all on the same body model where Rey Mysterio was the same height as Edge and Kane. These guys have upped their game in the last few years. And even though the Apex Legends figures left a lot to be desired they looked good and all used specific sculpts and could be really good with a few articulation improvements. And if you look at what they're doing with the articulation for figures of a much smaller size like the Mario Bros and Sonic figures they are totally capable of Hasbro level articulation. In particular look at the kind of crazy articulation they are putting on figures with very thin limbs like the Sonic figures and even putting articulation on figures that they could honestly get away with not putting it on like Goombas and King Boo in the Mario Bros line. Every successful line improves but it's crazy to think this is the same company that use to do such garbage work back in the day.

Not only do Jada and Jazzwares do comparable product to Hasbro but at the price point of a standard ML they often include more accessories. Certainly much more than figures in line with ML Retro and Hasbro's Fortnite lines which are anorexic when in comes to accessories. So even if they stayed at the same price point they could probably include a lot more in the box.

In fact I think if any of these companies had been awarded the DC Multiverse license I bet we would have a 6" line and have Batman and Superman that could stand eye to eye with our ML by now. I'm not sure if any of them had bid on it but surely one of them could have put in a bid to compete with McFarlane who itself was a much smaller company at the time. Just think of what one of them could have done with that line.

But as far as ML I think either one of the first two could easily step into the Legends role with fairly good quality right from the start and with only minor hiccups. And the third one could probably become competent with a bit of growing pains and constant improvement. And given the history of what they've been able to do thus far within that price point I think there's not really any question that they could do it with ML as well. Even if they continued with some sort of BAF in exchange for accessories. It's nothing that Hasbro doesn't already do. And in product like Retro Waves the price point stays the same with no BAF and very little if any accessories. I don't think it would be that hard for another company to match or even beat prices. Especially a company with a lot less corporate overhead and not near as many poor and failing lines like Star Wars and stuff like Indiana Jones and Dungeons and Dragons.

Great points. One thing I would add is the underlying issue here is that people didn't just suddenly decide another company should take the reins. The quality, accuracy, output, distribution etc. has been hit and miss, mostly miss, and over the years, that takes a toll on collectors. Many feel that the mistakes and blunders made are easily preventable, and that basically they're not being listened to. And that's on hasbo. They're got the tools, they've got the talent. They have the most sought after IPs around, so they should respect that as such. The Marvel line (done correctly) is basically a license to print money. I don't see them losing it anytime soon, but I'd rather it not be done at all if its not going to be done right.

I guess summing up/tacking on to what I said: I think there are at least a few companies that could make perfectly serviceable Marvel figures on par with what Hasbro's giving us (Jada, Jazwares, Mattel just off the top of my head), but I don't think there is any company that's likely to give us something that is demonstrably and consistently superior for the same or lower price point.