General Marvel Legends

Beamish said:

knock back a few and not discuss toys.

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I feel like I would like to discuss toys with Dwight that don't involve things he's involved in. I'm positive he's very limited on what he can say publicly as a person representing Hasbro and Marvel. I want to hang out with him and find out what other toys he likes, what he thinks they're doing well, what he thinks of other companies in general, etc. The kind of stuff that professional-Dwight will not/cannot talk about.

Schizm said:

Also, I laughed watching the panel pre-post recap when Dwight said if you want an MCU Werewolf by Night, to just "flock it" - flock this one because the MCU version was fuzzier. "Flock it."

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Made me laugh so hard because MCU Jack is actually way *less* fuzzy in wolf form than comic Jack.

OK, this post isn't meant to be snarky at all so if it comes off that way I apologize.
Can somebody explain how much influence and power Dan (and formerly Ryan) has?
In the recent interview I just posted upthread, Carbon Scoring asked about getting a horse in the line. Dwight then looked at Dan for his response. At the NYCC and SDCC panels, paraphrasing here but Dwight referred to Ryan as the former member of the team who was holding up getting a horse.
How does Marketing have power over character selection?

I think it comes down to budget and how much money each character costs.

It was 2 or 3 years ago when Dwight told me about the Western Boxed Set idea he had. He said it would have included a horse. Then he said when he pitched the idea it was shot down. I said really? By who? And he said walk with me over here. So we walked over to Ryan and Dan. Dwight and I brought up the Western set and they BOTH seemed dead set against the idea. "Horses are expensive" they said. Dwight and I kept on them and they repeated it. "Horses are expensive."

Now at the SDCC Legends panel I believe it was Jesse who said Ryan was the one who was against horses and he wasn't with the team anymore. But my feeling is, whether it's Dan, Ryan or whoever is in charge, the price is the price. And if they don't have it in the budget, they're not gonna spend it.

Folks, don't shoot the messenger. I'm just telling you what I heard and saw. I want a horse in this line as badly as anyone else. I just don't think it's going to happen anytime soon.

Yeah, I think some people see 'marketing' as 'the walking commercial guy.' But they are also 'the money guy.' They're the ones with spreadsheets. They're the ones saying this or that won't cost out into a wave or into the year's budget or whatever.

I'm every bit as guilty as anyone of taking my frustrations out on the figureheads from time to time- the poor saps they often rope into the livestreams, regardless of how comfortable they are on camera. I do generally know who is and isn't responsible for what and try to keep myself in check, but hell hath no fury like a nerd scorned.

A horse would definitely be nice in the line, but I'm totally cool fudging the scale a bit and bringing over a McFarlane horse or what have you. As long as the difference between the two isn't comical, I'm usually pretty good with compromising.

SDcomics said:

Folks, don't shoot the messenger. I'm just telling you what I heard and saw. I want a horse in this line as badly as anyone else. I just don't think it's going to happen anytime soon.

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Maybe we should start hoping Ramen pursues that. White horse with both winged and unwinged options, as well as a black version with the same except an extra set of bat wings.

Depending on price, I’d be in for at least four white and one black.

Here's the thing... "horses are expensive" may be true relative to a basic figure. But that is different than 'horses are TOO expensive'

McFarlane made and released a horse. Mattel just released a horse (with wings) in their origins line. If their competitors can do it, Hasbro obviously can.

And while the first horse is expensive to tool up, if you amortize the cost over all of the inevitable re-uses it surely costs out.

They made a freaking Spider-Man Dinosaur figure... that had to be just as expensive as a horse to tool. Expensive tooling is only a problem if it doesn't meet sales expectations.

Any talk about a horse being too expensive to make is just self-serving bullshit by marketing guys. Make the first release a made to order deluxe set like Dragon Man and get the tooling out of the way... maybe Two Gun Kid.and Cyclone Then re-use the mold to do a Widow and Web Slinger two pack for retail. Then do a fan channel Valkyrie and Aragorn... and keep going. Its eminently doable

PantherCult said:

Here's the thing... "horses are expensive" may be true relative to a basic figure. But that is different than 'horses are TOO expensive'

McFarlane made and released a horse. Mattel just released a horse (with wings) in their origins line. If their competitors can do it, Hasbro obviously can.

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Well, in fairness to Hasbro, McFarlane and Mattel aren't paying Disney licensing fees.

Which I've heard are quite pricey.

So we need to keep that in mind. Licensing Disney characters ain't cheap.

Wasn't Ryan the brand manager for Legends? Essentially I think he would have had final say (within the team and within reason) on what the line would focus on, what types of products and characters to include, how to balance the expenses and production budget. He would always have been Dwight's boss in terms decision making. Dwight as the designer could advocate for things and presumably had to figure out what they could and couldn't pull off, and I am sure had some influence on character selection and so on. But if Ryan or others felt that a horse was not going to sell enough to be worth the expense, it wouldn't have gone anywhere no matter how cool it might be to design one or be part of the lineup.

What I am not clear about is whether Dan is essentially the new Ryan, or if there is someone else on the team that has chosen not to be public facing.

SDcomics said:

Well, in fairness to Hasbro, McFarlane and Mattel aren't paying Disney licensing fees.

Which I've heard are quite pricey.

So we need to keep that in mind. Licensing Disney characters ain't cheap.

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Oh for sure. But it's not really like Hasbro pays those fees. We do. It just means the Legends horse is going to be more expensive than the G.I. Joe horse.

SDcomics said:

"Horses are expensive" they said. Dwight and I kept on them and they repeated it. "Horses are expensive."

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I'm sorry, I can't not post this:


I'm on record over in that Star Trek thread with my general disbelief that those figures, packed with so much, are <$30......particularly Kirk with horse....probably my main source of disbelief out of all of their reveals so far. I'm not saying one company is trying to pull the wool over our eyes. It's just fascinating the degree to which things apparently can and cannot be done vary so greatly depending on who you ask.

I’m not at all familiar with that Star Trek line. Is that an articulated horse? Or just a statue?

Looks like a statue, and under-scaled if it fits in the box. Specs say "to scale" about the horse, but if it's not articulated it doesn't really matter.