General Marvel Legends

AceofKnaves said:
Yes and also:

What makes a great comic book story/arc/etc and what makes great action figures aren’t necessarily the same thing. Like my favorite comic of all time is Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth. Do I want action figures specifically from that book? Bruh I wouldn’t even know *how* to suggest those be done. Conversely, I think a lot of 90s/2000s Marvel Comics stories are hot trash. Do I want action figures specifically from that era? Oh hell yes I do because even if “armored Daredevil” wasn’t in the best DD stories, that suit makes an awesome toy. No-nose feral Wolverine? Ugh, the WORST. And I can’t wait to get a Marvel Legend of that weird shit, because that toy will probably rock.
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Me holding my copy of Elektra: Assassin: "Alright, now how does Hasbro make a figure of her unresolved feelings towards her father, but in Sienkiewicz style? There's got to be a way."
 
SDcomics said:
As a big Avengers guy, I was hoping for Cap, Iron Man, Thor and maybe Hawkeye and the Vision. Wanda would have been a dream but I didn't see the line lasting that long.
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Keep this in mind when the next Warbow comes around. :)
fac said:
The haphazardness gives us Black Bolt and Medusa two or three times before we got Crystal and the rest of the team. You have a wave or sets of multipacks staring you in the face. They do it for things that are more obscure like Squadron Supreme, but leave X-Factor have complete for years.
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Just spitballing here, but for groups like the Inhumans, I'm guessing it's a combination of factors:

1) The last BB/Medusa didn't sell enough to warrant making the other Inhumans. Let's see if we can move more units now.

2) People won't buy the other Inhumans if they can't get BB/Medusa, and/or the old versions are terrible.
Lucid Silverback said:
Sigh. I miss the good ol' days shitposting on the Fwoosh and having unhinged lunatics outright threaten me on the board and in unsolicited private messages. Good times.
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We're doing our best to recruit them. Stay tuned.
 
Lucid Silverback said:
Sigh. I miss the good ol' days shitposting on the Fwoosh and having unhinged lunatics outright threaten me on the board and in unsolicited private messages. Good times.
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I've got time to kill if you're feeling nostalgic....



Lucid Silverback said:
Not only did I have no idea who she was or why she was included in a line branded as "Legends", but I was incensed I had to purchase her to get the Apocalypse torso and head.
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I think the latter was a much bigger problem for people. Especially early on in the line like that when so many people were more open to basically getting everything and then you finally hit that wall of 'I don't want THAT.'
Nowadays, we've spun our tires for two decades on 'why the fuck do I need to buy this character to get this BAF figure?' and we all seem to just agree that it sucks for -everyone- at some point or another and there's nothing we can do about it.
 
secondwhiteline said:
But crucially, that means that you're servicing everybody. If you release an X-wave that's all 90s, you've lost everyone who's not all 90s for that wave. You limit risk by providing something for everyone. You can't let people get out of the habit and you can't make them feel like nothing in a wave's for them.
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I suspect that is the reasoning, but my counter would be that the person who is thinking "Do I want to get that new Magik and hope we get the rest of the team?" might be a lost sale the other way when the history is that she could either be the start of a new team or orphaned in that era and team.

There is probably no right answer, but ultimately I think with collectible products, having a plan and explaining it helps.
 
fac said:
I suspect that is the reasoning, but my counter would be that the person who is thinking "Do I want to get that new Magik and hope we get the rest of the team?" might be a lost sale the other way when the history is that she could either be the start of a new team or orphaned in that era and team.

There is probably no right answer, but ultimately I think with collectible products, having a plan and explaining it helps.
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With ML, I think the longevity of the line's turned into an answer, but I also think the number of people who turn down a character they like because the entire team's not available yet is so minimal that they may very well not exist.

I've brought this up before, but the most well-meaning dumb thing I've ever seen a toyline do is when Jazwares AEW made full waves dedicated to stables of wrestlers. Get pretty much the whole stable in one shot. Awesome. Problem: what if the team's popularity doesn't support that kind of all-at-once, buy-the-entire-wave release strategy? What if a subsection of fans who want that entire stable can't really afford the entire thing in one shot and their figure budget assumes a more gradual release of the characters they want? What if you get your fanbase used to skipping entire waves?
 
Yeah, it's easy for us to criticize how they address teams. Especially those of us who buy most everything. From Hasbro's perspective, they probably look at a team like the classic New Mutants and see the potential for boom or bust. If people aren't that into it and they dedicate a whole wave to them, it's not going to be pretty. Plus we have to factor in retail who would also likely balk at a wave of mutants with no Wolverine, Cyclops, Gambit, etc. They slow roll it instead which also allows them to pivot if the early figures don't sell which has probably happened with some of the more obscure characters. We're all used to it by now that these toy companies expect us to support their efforts with almost blind faith that we'll be rewarded in the end, but we've all also likely been burned by that enough times. That's why I try not to worry about such things and just go figure by figure - if I like it I get it and that's great and if it's not worth it to me then so be it.
 
Damien said:
Nowadays, we've spun our tires for two decades on 'why the fuck do I need to buy this character to get this BAF figure?' and we all seem to just agree that it sucks for -everyone- at some point or another and there's nothing we can do about it.
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This BAF stuff is going to be a topic of discussion at SDCC. Not that I expect anyone to listen to me. I mean, they've kept this line going for 25 years so clearly they're doing something right. But when the BAF model started, things were different. Legends was mostly a comic based line featuring Marvel's most iconic characters and they only cost 6.99. Now they cost nearly 30 bucks and they're a mix of comic, movie, cartoon and video game characters.

Yeah. We need to talk to them about this.
 
Lucid Silverback said:
Not only did I have no idea who she was or why she was included in a line branded as "Legends", but I was incensed I had to purchase her to get the Apocalypse torso and head.
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Damien said:
I think the latter was a much bigger problem for people. Especially early on in the line like that when so many people were more open to basically getting everything and then you finally hit that wall of 'I don't want THAT.'
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The line was less than 100 figures old and many more established characters hadn't been made yet (for example Loki, Pyro, Falcon, Luke Cage, Psylocke came in the next two waves for the first time). It was a bit more jarring for that reason when we were getting 30 or 40 figures a year and many Legends had not yet been announced.

I was just pointing out that Hasbro has tended to use character affiliation as a connecting theme for a wave (its a Spidey Wave) and has not used era as much as a theme for a wave (its the 80's wave) even though it is probably a combination of the two for most people in terms of their comic reading history and I think you could still have plenty of variety in waves trying to take both into consideration.
 
Misfit said:
Yeah, it's easy for us to criticize how they address teams. Especially those of us who buy most everything. From Hasbro's perspective, they probably look at a team like the classic New Mutants and see the potential for boom or bust. If people aren't that into it and they dedicate a whole wave to them, it's not going to be pretty. Plus we have to factor in retail who would also likely balk at a wave of mutants with no Wolverine, Cyclops, Gambit, etc. They slow roll it instead which also allows them to pivot if the early figures don't sell which has probably happened with some of the more obscure characters. We're all used to it by now that these toy companies expect us to support their efforts with almost blind faith that we'll be rewarded in the end, but we've all also likely been burned by that enough times. That's why I try not to worry about such things and just go figure by figure - if I like it I get it and that's great and if it's not worth it to me then so be it.
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We also -cannot- ignore the power of engagement and investment. If someone is a hardcore West Coast Avengers fan and you give them all the figures in one wave, maybe they just kind of stop paying attention to your line at all? Give them ONE figure in a wave and suddenly they're paying attention to every wave you release and hey.. maybe they see some other stuff they like while they wait and complain online about wanting more West Coast Avengers.


SDcomics said:
Yeah. We need to talk to them about this.
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As someone that never complained overmuch about the BAF concept because I understood how and why it was used; I will gladly argue that it has overstayed its welcome, doesn't seem to do the thing it was designed for anymore, and is just largely unnecessary with the way they release figures these days. I think retiring the BAF model entirely would literally be best for the entire industry. I also don't necessarily expect them to abandon the format entirely as long as ML exists. But we'll see.
 
Damien said:
As someone that never complained overmuch about the BAF concept because I understood how and why it was used; I will gladly argue that it has overstayed its welcome, doesn't seem to do the thing it was designed for anymore, and is just largely unnecessary with the way they release figures these days. I think retiring the BAF model entirely would literally be best for the entire industry. I also don't necessarily expect them to abandon the format entirely as long as ML exists. But we'll see.
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The only BAFs I see a real need for anymore are the WWE quarterly event wave ones, where the BAFs are always suited figures of managers, commissioners, and commentators. Essentially, figures that would be unpopular as single releases but many people would consider necessary for full displays, and ones that require minimal tooling so that the cost of the BAF doesn't heavily impact the base cost of the figure. The equivalent to that in a comic book line would be a civilian, but we've already gotten people so used to the idea that comic book BAFs are crazy big guys and wild designs.
 
secondwhiteline said:
The only BAFs I see a real need for anymore are the WWE quarterly event wave ones, where the BAFs are always suited figures of managers, commissioners, and commentators. Essentially, figures that would be unpopular as single releases but many people would consider necessary for full displays, and ones that require minimal tooling so that the cost of the BAF doesn't heavily impact the base cost of the figure. The equivalent to that in a comic book line would be a civilian, but we've already gotten people so used to the idea that comic book BAFs are crazy big guys and wild designs.
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I'd still say it's unnecessary. I don't actually believe that you can't sell a commentator, manager, or referee figure single-carded. It's something wrestling fans are always asking for. Like, don't tell me a two-pack of Paul Bearer and Classic Mankind -wouldn't- sell. Of course it would, right?

Same thing in a comic book line. I don't think you -can't- sell civilians. I think they choose not to even try. Which is weird considering how many truly boring characters/designs we -do- get.
 
I'm thinking BAF is the only way we ever get figures of say... Box. They wouldn't do deluxe for someone so random. Not sure that trade off is worth it to some... many?
 
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