Hasbro and Disney renew the Marvel (and Star Wars) license

McFarlane was never going to have the money to land Marvel, so this was always the most likely outcome unless Disney decided they wanted to drop Hasbro for some reason (also highly unlikely). I wonder if the current economic climate actually worked in Hasbro's favor here? They got to argue their costs were rising incredibly and unpredictably as a way to talk Disney down while Disney would also look at the uncertainty in the plastic and toys market and be more apt to just take what they can get before real damage is done. At any rate, it was a fun little bit of drama wondering if Hasbro would actually let these franchises go while it lasted, but the outcome was never really in doubt.
 
This does beg the question of what Todd does now. Not getting the master Marvel license (if he was even vying for it), losing the DC license...

Is he going to try and sustain off of IDW Turtles and Mortal Kombat Klassics? Does he go all in on Spawn?
 
As much as I do enjoy a lot of the Multiverse offerings Todd has given (mostly because spooky, odd/cool looking things are up my alley), I don't know if I'd want him to take over the Marvel license either. Not to re-open any can of worms, but you can guarantee that, unless Marvel themselves had a say in who he does, Todd wouldn't produce half the female action figures we've gotten, in either MCU or comic. I think if he's gonna dip his toe into the Marvel license, the statue route he's already taken is the way to go. It's his original wheelhouse, and allows him to be more creative and picky with character selection. Same reason why I'd never want him to take on a Star Wars figure line; he could probably nail some really cool-looking statues, like the Unleashed ones we got back in the day, but nothing beyond that.
 
RicksNerdLife said:
This does beg the question of what Todd does now. Not getting the master Marvel license (if he was even vying for it), losing the DC license...

Is he going to try and sustain off of IDW Turtles and Mortal Kombat Klassics? Does he go all in on Spawn?
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Honestly, I always groan when he gets a license I like. It just happened with the Fallout TV show. I'd rather get Fallout figures from basically any other company on the market. I don't think they're good toys.
 
Because they aren't really toys? And are the Fallout statues also in that same weird size as the rest of Todd's boxed stuff?
 
If McF had received the license I would have stopped buying Marvel comic characters and went back to having customs commissioned. It seems every action figure license he touches gets screwed in a certain way or another.
 
Schizm said:
Because they aren't really toys? And are the Fallout statues also in that same weird size as the rest of Todd's boxed stuff?
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McFarlane has the license for 7" Fallout TV show figures. They revealed them at NYTF but photos weren't allowed.
 
In some ways I find Hasbro and McFarlane remarkably similar. Both have the ability to do really awesome figures. There are A-game figure examples from both companies that I am happy to own. On the flip side, both have the ability to churn out lazy garbage. And somewhere in the middle is a lot of mediocrity which I think dominates the output of both companies these days. The value per dollar is hard to find more often than not.

Todd being an ego maniac throws a few extra wrinkles in there that make things less fun: He feels arbitrarily making certain figures hard to obtain is fun and cool. It is not. He also, in the final year of his licensure, just now decided to try to inject some variety into the line and give us classic characters and females instead of 90% Batman and Superman. That's nice, but the window is going to close before they get really deep into the DC characters. He has churned out A LOT of figures over the last 5 years....had that been dedicated to the entire DC universe instead of just Batman, fans' universes would be built by now.

Overall, while Todd having the Marvel license might have been interesting to a certain degree, it's probably better he didn't get it. The self-induced headaches he brings just aren't worth it.
 
Todd deciding to make Mr. Terrific and #4 Red Platinum figures in the Superman movie line is the final straw for me. I am glad he lost the license on that egregious act alone.
 
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