Friday, August 11, 2017

Hasbro's Ever Evolving Marvel Legends

Hasbro Marvel Legends 2017
As a fairly hardcore fan of Marvel Comics and more specifically, the Marvel Legends action figure line created by Toy Biz and now residing at Hasbro, I feel I am very well equipped to talk about the fandom standing behind this 6 inch action figure line, able to speak on our proudest moments and our biggest gripes. The most common refrain from die hard fans like myself would be "DOESN'T HASBRO WANT MY MONEY??!!" This cry of anguish usually comes after painful tales of new product shipped in short supply, missed at retail as hordes of scalpers gobble them up...the lament of not having picked up a figure that is now going for upwards of 200 dollars or more and other well warranted communal moans. Well folks, we here at Idle Hands are pleased as all hell to finally say HASBRO IS LISTENING!!!

Legends collectors have been noting significant changes in action figure lineups and character selection, as well as quality and what we'll call "bang for your buck" in the Marvel Legends line. The most notable changes in the last couple of years include:

     - MORE WOMEN!! : Yes, men will buy female action figures. We've been yelling this fact for years and showed it with our cash, often making the sole female character in a wave the hardest to track down (and ultimately, the most expensive on the secondary market..I'm lookin at you Emma Frost). Now, it's obvious women are buying these action figures as well, but as far as ancient toy industry thinking goes, this is a "boy's line" and so, they are selling the lineups to retailers with boys in mind. NEVER THE LESS, SHE PERSISTED... and so more women were added to lineups and we bought them all and they kept making them and we kept buying them and now we are so damn proud to say our Legends collection is overflowing with ladies of the Marvel Universe. Yay! There's even an all female figure 6 pack IN STORES NOW!!

Hasbro Marvel Legends 2017


     - MORE BAD GUYS!! : Believe it or not, past waves of Marvel action figures were so packed with heroes and MAYBE the one lone bad guy, to the point where the forces of evil were woefully outnumbered. Now we've got villains galore, with the Build-A-Figure slot most often reserved for a chunky baddie.

     - MINING THE DEPTHS OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE : Do you know who Ex Nihilo is? Me neither...but he joins Jackal, Eel, Scourge, Cottonmouth, Dreadknight, Titus, Dazzler, Polaris, and other characters your average Marvel movie fan would have no idea ever existed. This means we can finally have an expansive Marvel Universe figure collection the likes of which 12 yr old me never could have dreamed of.

While the Star Wars figure lines seem to have stalled on any topics outside of the current big movie release (for the most part) and G.I.Joe is barely limping along, Marvel Legends waves are spilling into retail faster than fans can replenish their bank accounts. I'm not exactly sure what the strategy is in flooding the market with so much new product at once, but from my perspective, I'm seeing casual action figure collectors snapping up the harder to get Legends for trade and flip fodder, leaving the actual collectors scrambling to be the first into stores as each wave hits with little warning. How long collectors can keep up their enthusiasm, I do not know, but for now. it seems there are enough happy figure fans with deep pockets to keep the party going. Hasbro is showing their appreciation for this fast paced toy consumption by doing their part to make us want the lines even more. Among their latest accomplishments are a number of things we've been screaming about for some time now:

     - BETTER SCULPTS: Hasbro confirmed they are utilizing new technologies to nail those movie likenesses that were...well...extremely hit or miss in the past. The newest crop of Guardians of the Galaxy action figures look MILES better than anything released for the first film. This new tech opens the door for further (and revisited) movie and TV characters, so expect to see them sprinkled into future waves. Marvel Netflix series 2? Yea, it's coming.

Hasbro Marvel Legends 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends 2017


     - 2nd CHANCE AT HOLY GRAILS: With the insanity of the Marvel Legends market, China was bound to take notice. Pizza Spidey, Ares, Groot, Deadpool and other hard to find action figures and build-a-figures are being produced in plentiful numbers, crashing the secondary market on the originals. We'll point out Toy Biz used to do this themselves with re-releases of their most sought after figures in exclusive packaging, sometimes with a slight paint difference. It seemed a no-brainer for Hasbro to do this as well, but it may have been too sweet a selling point to tell retailers their past figures go for mad, mad money. Now, with a bit of prodding from China, they seemed to have changed their tune and are doing it with UPGRADES!! We've seen a Groot packed with a kid Groot and baby Groot in the same single package and more recently, an Ares figure featuring a way better chest deco and improved leg articulation. Expect more like this as Hasbro bathes in the thanks and praise of toy collectors everywhere.

Hasbro Marvel Legends 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017


     - ARMY BUILDING!!! : Now... Hasbro is no stranger to army building. In the past, they've released 4 packs of Endor Rebel Soldiers from Star Wars in plain white mailing boxes at a price you could not pass up. When their AIM Agent and Hydra Soldier proved to be extremely popular and hard to track down, Hasbro vowed to release full cases of just those troopers. Sadly, this never happened, and as they released a generic SHIELD Agent mod for their classic Nick Fury figure, we wondered when they'd bite the bullet and give us the multi packs we crave to feed our army building sickness. This year...at SDCC...they answered. The new Hydra 2 figure pack includes FOUR EXTRA HEADS, allowing fans to feel free to buy three sets and come out with 6 different action figures (though why anyone would want unmasked hydra agents is beyond me. Get me a thug body for those unmasked heads!) Will there be more? The usual answer is "money talks", so if we buy, they will fly! ..to China..and make us more army builder packs...presumably.

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017


     - VEHICLES!! : We dared dream. And we even begged a little. Still the resounding answer was "No..too expensive." Then Hasbro made vehicles and beasts for their Star Wars Black Series and we gave them the side eye. Still..we fell asleep nightly with visions of Quinjets and motorcycles for Wolverine and Captain America and Bucky and and...ANYONE WHO WANTS TO RIDE A MOTORCYCLE!!! ..and then an amazing thing happened. We got a motorcycle. 2 MOTORCYCLES!! Once again, SDCC was the stuff that dreams are made of with the reveal of a Ghost Rider on Bike pack and a Black Widow on Bike pack. IT'S A START!!!

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017


Here's a stack of pics of all the other awesome things we spied at San Diego Comic-Con. Use this as fuel to continue our fight to get everything we've ever dreamed of from Hasbro for our Marvel Legends collections. HEY HASBRO... DIORAMA SCENES NEXT WITH ACCESSORY PACKS AND EFFECTS AND FLIGHT STANDS AND AND AND.....

San Diego Comic Con pics by Alicia Glass

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017Hasbro Marvel Legends action figures 2017

1 comment :

  1. I really hope they go back and give us villains that were missed out on from previous movies. We need Ronan, Yellowjacket, Malekith, Chituari Soldiers, etc. But ESPECIALLY Ronan.

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