Hasbro Made-to-Order Figures

In one of the SDCC interview videos Dwight addressed this. He said that two years ago Jesse Falcon had told them that a Haslab extra was the only way they would EVER be allowed to release a character that is essentially Satan from a company as concerned about their image as Disney. Two years later Mephisto was in a Disney Plus show, and that changed Jesse's mind.

Amazing info drop. Which interview was this?
 
Not quite. Here's the original post:
Thanks. I figured there was more nuance to it than that. Hopefully he didn’t break something when he opened that pack of cards.

Frankly, I don't even need Mephisto's throne. It's cool, but I'm going to have a bitch of a time fitting it on my packed Marvel villains shelf. That said, if I have to flip a throne at a huge loss to get a decent classic Loki or Dr. Doom, so be it.

I eagerly pre-ordered Mephisto today. He was #11 on my Marvel want list. I'm glad I finally get to participate in one of these HasLab/made-to-order campaigns. I didn't have enough vertical space for the Sentinels or Galactus, even though I wanted them.
It does suck that this MTO model apparently has a price floor, or appears to, and people who want Mephisto have to also buy a big, evil, chair. I guess it’s not that different from sticking a BAF piece in a low effort figure no one wants or packaging a less desirable character in a two-pack with a heavy hitter, though it’s a bigger added cost in this case. At least with this particular one, you may be able to offload that throne on Danzig collectors. That fanbase will sometimes pay big money for certain items and there’s going to be a lot of folks who miss this.

And speaking of, I’ve been in a Danzig fangroup on Facebook for years. The community stretches back to the mid 90s and an old online bulletin board and fan-site. It’s now the official fan-site on FB and there was a post about this thing when it was announced. Coincidentally or not, after I made a comment about how the item was presented at the panel the thread was deleted which would indicate that Mr. Danzig is not pleased. People trade/sell Crystar comics in there all of the time, but I saw at least one of those was locked. He can be a litigious fellow, but surely he wouldn’t be dumb enough to go after Marvel/Disney? I’m guessing he’ll just pout and refuse to acknowledge it publicly.
 
Kang and his chair was - and still is - $60. I think that chair has zero paint? I don't know - still waiting for a sale to get it.

Why is everyone upset about Mephisto's torso articulation? He's got thoracic which means he can lean - are people wanting the ab crunch, which would break up his shirtlessness, or the ball-joint waist? For $70, we should get all the things - just curious what exactly people are wanting.
 
Jesse totally rubbed me the wrong way the year I met him at NYCC. He came off like a meathead bully.

He's always given off cocky asshole vibes IMO. Back in the day over at the Fwoosh, when I asked him a silly question about what country the latest wave was in at the moment, he said something like, "suckmydickistan" or something like that.

And um,...

i-took-that-personally-keegan-michael-key.gif
 
If it makes y'all feel any better, I flustered Jesse at SDCC on the panel once. I think it was '08? The year they were all-in on 4" figures and just had a few half-ass 2-packs at 6". I asked if those didn't do well if someone else could get the 6" license. The Hasbro folks all sort of looked down and then over to Jesse who was having a side conversation. I had to repeat the question for him. He stumbled something about Hasbro's 2-Pack strategy being a great plan, but you could tell all of them were surprised by the question. The big reveal that year was the Galactus for the 4" guys. They teased an image with a bunch of 4" figures at his feet to not much fervor and one of the Hasbro guys asked "Isn't anyone going to ask us about Galactus?" It was a weird time.

Also, you're all welcome for single handedly embarrassing them back into the 6" scale. :LOL:
 
And speaking of, I’ve been in a Danzig fangroup on Facebook for years.
Ah, hence your username. Checks out.
The year they were all-in on 4" figures
That was a weird time. The other day I was thinking about how Hasbro gave a half-hearted attempt to continue Toy Biz's 6" line before abandoning it for the 1/18 figures.

What do you think happened to the genius executive who came up with that plan? (They're sitting on a private island drinking piña coladas.)
 
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I like his articulation like it is. It will do what I need it to do.
Yea, I’m pretty much the same way. Looks like he’ll have a swivel waist and a ball-torso. I guess he’s so tall people just can’t deal with the way he doesn’t have torso joints every 2 cm or something. It’s got me wondering how much anybody might need to bend to sit in a chair.
 
Weirdly the Kang with chair sells for $100 on eBay
Yeah that happens more often that it should. For whatever reason items that are still available at "retail" pricing go for more on eBay. It probably has something to do with availability of Pulse for the buyer. That or more money than sense to check and see where it might be available.
 
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Yea, I’m pretty much the same way. Looks like he’ll have a swivel waist and a ball-torso. I guess he’s so tall people just can’t deal with the way he doesn’t have torso joints every 2 cm or something. It’s got me wondering how much anybody might need to bend to sit in a chair.
I miss the ability to crunch forward when it's not there. Having the ball torso along with a waist swivel is better than most female characters get, but the ideal setup here would have either added an ab crunch, or had a balljoint at the waist. It's definitely standard fare for Legends, and not something I comment on for most releases, or where the body just clearly wouldn't accommodate it (Odin, possibly Dragon Man). But for a more premium item where the opportunity (and, in my opinion, the need) is there, it would be nice to see some advancements and improvements beyond what is standard. I do think they achieved that with the accessories here, but fell a bit short on the actual figure.
 
Everyone needs to heap praise on the MvC Wolverine if it turns out well to push Hasbro towards ball-jointed waists. It's past time that become the standard for new sculpts.
 
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