General Marvel Legends

[Thor-El]

That sounds cool to see. Did you save any pics of the printed file?

This is an exact translation to 1:12 scale (according to my own math). Seeing the figures in it, honestly I feel like it needs to be bigger than 1:12 to work.

https://imgur.com/m5XFudB

 

[AceofKnaves]

So I like it from a historical perspective, but I can see how one would bristle seeing trends of *right now* showing up in new characters.

I hear that, and I think that my issue with Robbie’s pop culture trend trappings is that unlike the 70s trend-running characters I love, I was actually alive and literate when the “Ghost Driver” debuted. It’s the difference between “oh I see, this character was originally created to follow a then-popular trend back in the day, how interesting” vs “ahhhh jeez, this *new* character just popped up and is clearly based on a thing that is being pushed in pop culture *right now*”. I wonder if I would be so keen on the original Ghost Rider if I actually lived through all the Evel Knievel stuff in real time. I *did* live through the 90s Ghost Rider resurgence with enough media literacy to know what was going on there, and while I did dig on Danny a bit I was, even as a teenager, annoyed that they’d replaced the original character and were trying to chase current pop culture trends with Danny.

. . . also I admit that the particular trend involved with Robbie’s visuals is not a trend I’m charmed by. My stomach totally dropped when I saw the new Ghost Rider was 1) not Johnny and 2) obviously riffing on a movie series and general “attitude” that gives me big yuck. I do know that Robbie is actually interesting as a character and the F&F stuff is largely visual trappings, but still: ick.

 

[Enforcer]

I was just going through my Hulk shelf and trying to pair it down, especially with the new stuff coming. I've clearly held on to some older figures even after better update ... and I still really like the old TB Joe Fix it... even though I have two better versions.

This made me have to double check whether my original Joe Fixit survived the great purge of '25. He did not.

My intense need for a new modern She-Hulk and Black Cat are entirely selfish. I sold my modern She-Hulk without a replacement for the modern costume (one of my few pseudo regrets) - but that figure was so bad, I don't think I'd use it for anything now. It desperately needs an update. I also sold my extra carded Black Cat, and it's a figure I feel like is just enough of a pain in the ass if I had to replace that I'm hesitant to pose it for anything substantial. Felicia is a no brainer with all of the new female body stuff they've developed. And Spider-Woman

Also - having messed with my blue and black/dark blue Walgreens F4 for a recent photo - I think it's time Hasbro takes the Future Foundation bodies and repurposes them for those costumes immediately. Sue also deserves double elbows in that look.

 

[Damien]

This is an exact translation to 1:12 scale (according to my own math). Seeing the figures in it, honestly I feel like it needs to be bigger than 1:12 to work.

I think you're tricking yourself with the figures having their legs straight out. In a 3d model, they'd be sitting in chairs. Which would allow you to tighten everything up. So, I think your size there is pretty bang on.

 

[SDcomics]

Just an FYI: The original Ghost Rider first appeared in 1950 for a company called Magazine Enterprises. He was created by writer Roy Krank and artist Dick Ayers.

The series lasted for about a year and was then cancelled. In 1967 the trademark to the character's name lapsed and Marvel debuted their own Ghost Rider. It was plotted by original Ghost Rider artist Dick Ayers and written by Gary Friedrich and Roy Thomas. They were inspired by the novel The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and the song Ghost Riders in the Sky.

To me, one of the greatest strengths of comics is reworking a great concept for more modern times.

 

[PanchaMaestro]

Yes. I think the Avengers would be sitting in seats not kayak style. No reason the other row of three seats behind them wouldn’t extend past the window part of the canopy.

 

[AceofKnaves]

Just an FYI: The original Ghost Rider first appeared in 1950 for a company called Magazine Enterprises. He was created by writer Roy Krank and artist Dick Ayers.

Hehe very true. I meant “original” in the sense of the first iteration of the flaming-skull “rider” Marvel character.

To me, one of the greatest strengths of comics is reworking a great concept for more modern times.

And also one if its greatest weaknesses, depending on the rework.

My biggest issue with it is that I get attached to *characters*, not concepts. It really really REALLY bums me out when they dump a whole character and replace said character with a whole other character with the same costume/name and call it good. Sometimes it works out in the long run, I guess, but I’m always more interested in the “who” than the “what”. And when the replacement comes with the trappings of an annoying current trend? Oof. Not my jam. Maybe nostalgia will have me circling back and having an appreciative chuckle a couple decades later and maybe even enjoying the camp of it all (the 90s are largely like that for me now), but that usually goes hand-in-hand with some gentle in-universe ribbing of the silliness of the flash-in-the-pan concept. Much as I despise F&F-adjacent stuff, Robbie might become some fun and goofy nostalgia for me in, like, maybe 15 more years.

 

[Damien]

It really really REALLY bums me out when they dump a whole character and replace said character with a whole other character with the same costume/name and call it good.

To be fair... that hasn't really happened in this case. Robbie didn't replace anyone. In fact, by the time Robbie came around, both Johnny -and- Danny were variously still doing the GR thing.

Something I really appreciated as a kid that really started reading comics in the '90s and for whom Dan was THE Ghost Rider, was that John was still around. His story was still relevant. They were able to explain the new character by expanding the mythology rather than by going 'it's this guy now.' And Dan was a better character for having John still there as a mentor as well as clearly setting up for an eventual return to his own supernatural powers.

That being said, I'm consistently disappointed by GR stories because I don't think Marvel ever really knows what to do with this family of characters.

 

[AceofKnaves]

To be fair... that hasn't really happened in this case. Robbie didn't replace anyone. In fact, by the time Robbie came around, both Johnny -and- Danny were variously still doing the GR thing.

Totally. With Robbie, my annoyance is that his F&F visual vibe makes me want to scream in fury, and also I was worried for a bit that he’d be the live-action version in the MCU and NO NO NO.

Something I really appreciated as a kid that really started reading comics in the '90s and for whom Dan was THE Ghost Rider, was that John was still around. His story was still relevant. They were able to explain the new character by expanding the mythology rather than by going 'it's this guy now.' And Dan was a better character for having John still there as a mentor as well as clearly setting up for an eventual return to his own supernatural powers.

Agreed, but that all just made me hungry for more stories with Johnny *as* Ghost Rider. I remember getting the classic Ghost Rider figure in a later wave of the 90s action figure line and being all “FUCK YES THE REAL GHOST RIDER AT LAST!!” And like definitely I had never read a 70s Ghost Rider comic when I started picking up the various Midnight Sons books, but yeah my reaction was totally “wait, this kid isn’t the original, the other guy is? Fuck, why aren’t we reading a book with him as Ghost Rider then, that sounds way cooler and he’s clearly a cooler guy than this kid with the magic bike”. And also I was like “Midnight Sons = OG Morbius, OG Doctor Strange, OG Blade and . . . Ghost Rider’s little brother?” I admit: I was not the typical tween/teen, but yeah it felt like a bummer to read about Ghost Rider Junior when the real one was sitting on a bike right next to him.

 

[TheSameIdiot]

Obviously we do now have a version of that Magneto, but it's the 97 version so, depends on whether or not you're ok with that stylization.

It's a great figure. Probably the best Magneto Hasbro's done? I'm unbothered by the toony headsculpts, though your mileage may vary.

classic Black Cat are starting to become eye-sores on the shelf.

At the risk of inciting PantherCult, she made my top 10 this year, and Elektra is likely to join her next year. They're such easy wins on the new bodies. Personally, I'd like to get them both on the Gamerverse Psylocke body.

Robbie the classic muscle car instead of the amped up fuckin' Nissan or whateverthefuck.

While you're unequivocally correct and I'm not a car guy, keep the Nissan Skyline's name out of your fucking mouth.

I somehow never connected Robbie to Dom's 1970 Dodge Charger R/T.

 

[Damien]

I was worried for a bit that he’d be the live-action version in the MCU and NO NO NO.

Technically, he was. He was in Agents of SHIELD.

: I was not the typical tween/teen, but yeah it felt like a bummer to read about Ghost Rider Junior when the real one was sitting on a bike right next to him.

I think I almost viscerally had the opposite reaction. Maybe it was growing up near an old comic shop but I just do not give a single fuck what the 'original' of anything is/was. Don't care who did it first. Or how it was originally intended. About basically anything. I care about whether I like what they're currently doing.

I'm sure that stems from hearing about how Wolverine's costume is bad because 'that's not how it was originally drawn' or how the X-Men were better when it was Jean, Cyke, Beast, Angel, and Iceman. Or yeah, even hearing about how GR was better when it was Johnny's head on fire. Even, actually, Thor. I really like a lot of the oldest Thor stuff now. But man... just trying to enjoy Thor around 1993 when there was the Thor Corps and shit like that and having to hear guys 20 years older than me bitching and complaining like little babies because it wasn't the version they grew up with. I just become so deeply resistant to the idea of even caring a little about how a character, team, or concept started. Or what was considered the 'best' version.
It really only matters what my favorite version is, and that decision has zero roots in the origin of the character/concept.

 

[Thor-El]

I think you're tricking yourself with the figures having their legs straight out. In a 3d model, they'd be sitting in chairs. Which would allow you to tighten everything up. So, I think your size there is pretty bang on.

Considering that the vertical space within the crew cabin would be 6.8 inches (at least) with a horizontal space of a little over 10 you may be right.

 

[AceofKnaves]

Technically, he was. He was in Agents of SHIELD.

Yep, that’s why I was so nervous.

I just do not give a single fuck what the 'original' of anything is/was. Don't care who did it first. Or how it was originally intended. About basically anything.

Yep, almost viscerally opposite.

But I’m the guy who’s favorite book was written in a century before I was born and absolutely am all about the specific original depiction of the main character of that book, far beyond the way way WAY more famous pop-culture version(s) of that character.

In fact, I thought about this, and literally THE main reason I love Johnny Blaze as Ghost Rider so much is because I first read about him in the 90s book. Like I’d seen the cool old covers and art of 70s Johnny, then I read the Danny books in real time and was weaned on the *legend* of Johnny’s time as Ghost Rider, and that is specifically what intrigued me and made me want to read about him as Ghost Rider specifically. I doubt I’d be as big a fan of classic Ghost Rider without being introduced to him in the Danny books. And I just never wound up actually caring about Danny, specifically, even when he was the lead. I didn’t hate him, I just didn’t connect with him, as I generally don’t with “young adult/teen” characters.

For reference, my favorite 90s comic series *by far* was Legends of the Dark Knight, which was modern storytelling about Batman’s early days and which precisely hit my sweet spot of preferring original characters but wanting contemporary levels of “serious/good” storytelling.

 

[hmmberto]

I think Robbie is a win for Marvel in a lot of ways, despite being an 'of the moment' character.
A big one is that while he's conceptually of a certain time, one thing that has NOT gone out of fashion yet in comics is representation. There's a lot of value, especially in this political moment, to a Mexican-American superhero. Even if the 'Fast' franchise isn't newsworthy anymore.
They also made a smart call by giving Robbie the classic muscle car instead of the amped up fuckin' Nissan or whateverthefuck. Those classic cars just remain more evocative and have already proven they're basically timeless rather than 'oh yeah, I remember when those were cool' that might have been the case with a different type of car.
And finally, it's a Ghost Rider. There's already a history of more, and very different, types of GR. It's easy to slot him into the mythology and just make him a character that's part of something rather than being a character that necessarily has to stand on his own merits. Not that Robbie -can't- do that, but it's way easier for him leaning into an established multi-character mythology. That Race in Hell thing basically cemented Robbie is a fuckin' LEGIT Ghost Rider and I think he's basically inextricable from the rest of the GR mythology at this point.

Agreed across the board. Ghost Rider was firmly established as a legacy character before that was really a big thing with Marvel, and Robbie is a fun evolution of that. He's of his cultural moment not just in the F&F connection, but also of the push for more representation in mass media.

 

[hmmberto]

Even Legends single releases are littered with figures you can tell the team really gambled on in terms of how popular they would become. Maybe not so much the individual characters, most of the Legends we have are either timeless classics or newer characters that hung around. There have been a lot of Spider-Man releases based on "huge" comic moments that ended up falling flat, and so the figure was equally received. Looking at you Red Goblin and New Symbiote Spider-Man.

I wonder how often Marvel asks/tells Hasbro to include certain figures/looks. There are certain figures that seem like they almost had to have been a mandate, especially those that come out barely a year after the look debuts in the comics. I don't necessarily have a problem with it, because ML should cover the whole range of what Marvel is, and it helps me pay attention to stuff I might otherwise miss. But I have a hard time thinking Hallows Eve or Chasm immediately jumped to the top of the list without a little help.