Could Hasbro Complete 2 X-Teams In One Marvel Legends Wave?

[memocromatico]

2 hours ago, mako said:

Actually, I don't think that's been established at all. I think most people are "middle of the road" about the whole thing. A Marvel Legend is a Marvel Legend. if its a good figure (and sometimes even if it's not) they'll buy it.

I don't know how many time I've read variations on the sentence: "Well, I don't buy MCU figures at all EXCEPT . . . "

Just to further the conversation and agree with you a bit, I'd argue that about 60% of the ML collectors on site are middle of the road, 30% are pure comics, and 10% are pure MCU. Obviously with certain exceptions, but yeah, most buy everything they can/like.  

[monron999]

8 hours ago, Chunkylover said:

This is the second time he's been mentioned. I'm not asking this question to be argumentative, because I want all the figures, but how did he actually sell? Does Hasbro publish the number of units sold? I know this gets tricky because they aren't selling directly to the end customer, but can we see how many they produced and how many they sold?

For example, how do the number of units produced versus how many are sold compare to each other, and then by figure? If they produce a ton of Tom Jones Deadpool and we see shelf-warmers, but only a few of Rock Pythons and they are never seen in the wild, which one produced a better return for Hasbro?

New characters make the fans happy, hands down, clear and simple. Repeating and repeating the main characters over and over again makes the suits happy. I too have not been able to find Rock Python in the wild, but The Execs have such a disconnect from the public it's not even funny anymore. They still operate from the old Barbie model in which a "main draw" or what they consider a main draw has to be in ever single set release. This is the reason there has to be at least one Cap America, Iron Man, Woverine or Deadpool in every wave. As fans we know this is BS, we will buy as many new and different products as possible but for the decision makers on high they can't pick up on this concept. Nowhere was it more apparent than with the premature death of the Masters of the Universe 200X line. Those figures were awesome, innovative, the Four Horsemen's best work to date but every series released had at least 2 versions of He-Man and Skeletor and they were all double, triple and it seemed even quadruple packed. Mer-Man, Clawful and Whiplash were nowhere to be found among pegs deep with endless He-Man and Skeletor. It was a well received toy line, but it was just a matter of time before it tanked with that old style marketing approach. This is why I've gained so much respect for Dwight and crew. They are somehow able to keep the line healthy by balancing what the fans and customers want versus what the executives want, and without alienating either side. As a bigger fan of the comics, I'm personally excited about the movie light upcoming year. I know there are a few movies, but as new franchises I hope the associated waves will be comic figure rich.

[Chunkylover]

47 minutes ago, monron999 said:

New characters make the fans happy, hands down, clear and simple. Repeating and repeating the main characters over and over again makes the suits happy. I too have not been able to find Rock Python in the wild, but The Execs have such a disconnect from the public it's not even funny anymore. They still operate from the old Barbie model in which a "main draw" or what they consider a main draw has to be in ever single set release. This is the reason there has to be at least one Cap America, Iron Man, Woverine or Deadpool in every wave. As fans we know this is BS, we will buy as many new and different products as possible but for the decision makers on high they can't pick up on this concept. Nowhere was it more apparent than with the premature death of the Masters of the Universe 200X line. Those figures were awesome, innovative, the Four Horsemen's best work to date but every series released had at least 2 versions of He-Man and Skeletor and they were all double, triple and it seemed even quadruple packed. Mer-Man, Clawful and Whiplash were nowhere to be found among pegs deep with endless He-Man and Skeletor. It was a well received toy line, but it was just a matter of time before it tanked with that old style marketing approach. This is why I've gained so much respect for Dwight and crew. They are somehow able to keep the line healthy by balancing what the fans and customers want versus what the executives want, and without alienating either side. As a bigger fan of the comics, I'm personally excited about the movie light upcoming year. I know there are a few movies, but as new franchises I hope the associated waves will be comic figure rich.

I agree. I like the 90's and earlier X-Men figures, so they've been doing great work.

[Atlantis]

11 hours ago, Chunkylover said:

...how did he actually sell? Does Hasbro publish the number of units sold? I know this gets tricky because they aren't selling directly to the end customer, but can we see how many they produced and how many they sold?

I hear you. I'm just a  consumer like anyone else, and have no idea how, overall, Rock Python or any other lesser known character sells. Evidently for them, enough to justify producing the figure.

And, specifically on Rockhead here, we know he's a minor character on a very large group- the Serpent Society- and it looks like Hasbro's working on completing them. We have yet to see some of the heavier hitters in the group, and haven't seen ANY of the females yet, so I think we can safely say theyre on the way.

So I'll just repeat what I said before, in trying to answer your question. Of course take it with a grain of salt, as a guy who's not an insider, doesn't have his thumb on the pulse of whatever Hasbro is planning- I'm not thinking of whether or not Hasbro can make enough money to justify producing obscure figures. Its an $11 Billion corporation,  so I'm not worried about what they can afford- I'm more concerned about MY wallet.

[leokearon]

12 hours ago, monron999 said:

New characters make the fans happy, hands down, clear and simple. Repeating and repeating the main characters over and over again makes the suits happy. I too have not been able to find Rock Python in the wild, but The Execs have such a disconnect from the public it's not even funny anymore. They still operate from the old Barbie model in which a "main draw" or what they consider a main draw has to be in ever single set release. This is the reason there has to be at least one Cap America, Iron Man, Woverine or Deadpool in every wave. As fans we know this is BS, we will buy as many new and different products as possible but for the decision makers on high they can't pick up on this concept. Nowhere was it more apparent than with the premature death of the Masters of the Universe 200X line. Those figures were awesome, innovative, the Four Horsemen's best work to date but every series released had at least 2 versions of He-Man and Skeletor and they were all double, triple and it seemed even quadruple packed. Mer-Man, Clawful and Whiplash were nowhere to be found among pegs deep with endless He-Man and Skeletor. It was a well received toy line, but it was just a matter of time before it tanked with that old style marketing approach. This is why I've gained so much respect for Dwight and crew. They are somehow able to keep the line healthy by balancing what the fans and customers want versus what the executives want, and without alienating either side. As a bigger fan of the comics, I'm personally excited about the movie light upcoming year. I know there are a few movies, but as new franchises I hope the associated waves will be comic figure rich.

Indeed, I remember the MOTU 200x line and the armies of He-Men and Skeletors, it was a far cry from the 1980's line were there was only one new He-Man and Skeletor a year. 

[DylanRaven055]

I sure hope we get all of this 90's versions of the characters, even those that are rather obscure. I agree with @monron999, even with the couple of movies coming out, there's enough space for Hasbro to give us far more comic based waves than this year. 

Even though I got into Marvel Legends with MCU figures, I really love many of the comic based figures, even if I don't know some of the characters. As @memocromatico said, I buy what I can/like, I guess most of us do.

[monron999]

On ‎10‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 11:29 AM, Chunkylover said:

OK, you win. 90's Feral and Wolfsbane will both be in the line, not Deadpool or Wolverine.

To be honest, I think as well received as the Alpha Flight box set has been so far, I wouldn't be surprised it Hasbro started to do some of these other team rosters in boxed format. Anything within the 5 to 7 character range would well be within the realm of possibility. I could see a Reavers box set (Bonebreaker, Pretty Boy, Cole, Macon, Donald Pierce). Bonebreaker would count as the typical "larger" figure and pretty much the rest of them could be done with reused bucks and new head sculpts. Of course, Deathstrike would be done as a single pack, I predict if not in this wave, at least in one wave this year, possibly a vintage wave. Teams like Mauraders (or Nasty Boys), UFoes and Winter Guard could fall in short order. Personally I think it would be a good idea and an ingenious way of getting some of these obscure, yet much wanted figures out of the way.

[leokearon]

6 hours ago, mako said:

Uh, I think you kinda missed your own point. See, there's a reason they repeat main characters. Main characters makes fans happy to.

As a kid, I could personally attest to the disappointment of hitting the stores and not finding those main characters, Duke, Snake Eyes, He-Man etc. I never understood the argument that they should make less of a given line's main character. That's like saying KFC shouldn't sell so much chicken.

Main characters should be done, it's the frequency of which they have been done that (personally) is the problem. Back in the 80's there was 1 new He-Man and 1 New Skeletor a year to make sure that kids had a chance to get some version of them. But in the 2000X version, they were getting one nearly every wave. The problem comes that these then take up space which could be used for other characters. The same thing with Transformers recently, every year and every line, there is at least 3-4 Optimus Primes/Megatrons, Bumblebees, Starscreams etc and it doesn't help if they look very similar.

[leokearon]

40 minutes ago, monron999 said:

To be honest, I think as well received as the Alpha Flight box set has been so far, I wouldn't be surprised it Hasbro started to do some of these other team rosters in boxed format. Anything within the 5 to 7 character range would well be within the realm of possibility. I could see a Reavers box set (Bonebreaker, Pretty Boy, Cole, Macon, Donald Pierce). Bonebreaker would count as the typical "larger" figure and pretty much the rest of them could be done with reused bucks and new head sculpts. Of course, Deathstrike would be done as a single pack, I predict if not in this wave, at least in one wave this year, possibly a vintage wave. Teams like Mauraders (or Nasty Boys), UFoes and Winter Guard could fall in short order. Personally I think it would be a good idea and an ingenious way of getting some of these obscure, yet much wanted figures out of the way.

If the Alpha Flight set is a success it could happen and as shown this board came up with loads of ideas

[monron999]

18 hours ago, mako said:

Uh, I think you kinda missed your own point. See, there's a reason they repeat main characters. Main characters makes fans happy to.

As a kid, I could personally attest to the disappointment of hitting the stores and not finding those main characters, Duke, Snake Eyes, He-Man etc. I never understood the argument that they should make less of a given line's main character. That's like saying KFC shouldn't sell so much chicken.

Not really, but selling you Captain America over and over with slightly different clothing is like KFC selling you the same chicken leg in a different box.

[AnotherPunkChef]

Hopefully when they finish up we'll get Generation X

[SpiderS]

In my opinion,  strategically it isn’t wise to give so many wanted figures at once but considering how many figures we are getting it doesn’t seem Improbable. Furthermore, I hope that Warpath comes with alternative head sculpt, that hairdo doesn’t do it for me personally.   

[monron999]

On 10/12/2019 at 9:38 AM, mako said:

No, It's like a company giving people what they want, even when a vocal minority, claiming they speak for everyone, says they're not.

Now, now you and I have been over this again and again. You happen to live in this magical little place where MCU figures just fly off the shelves and comic figures linger like Grandma's fruitcake. Where the Care Bears ride unicorns and Captain Marvel was a good movie. That's all good and cool, but me, I live in the real world where I can go to any Walmart, Target, Walgreens, Best Buy, Gamestop, hell even JC Penny and find pretty much any damn MCU figure I want (save for Infinity War Thor, for some reason), but things like the X-Men/X-Force waves and the Vintage Waves are barely anywhere to be found in the wild (thank you internet). Sure, there are people who want 50 MCU Captain Americas, and sure even those who don't will even buy 50 MCU Captain America's (myself included), but being one of those people who didn't want, yet still bought all the countless boring retreads, there's a reason I've posted several pictures in the past of MCU (including Netflix) figures outnumbering comic figures 5 to 1 on the warmer pegs. I've thrown down the gauntlet to you to show me and everyone else otherwise several times and you've never stepped up to the challenge to back it up. Let's make a little wager. I will put up my MIB Dark Phoenix & Classic Cyclops 2 pack from the late, great TRU if you can post more pics than I can of comic figures clogging the pegs than I can of the MCU figures doing just that, I've got plenty of pics on my global tracking device right now and can probably gather at least a half dozen more today. Let's do it.

It's not a factor of who likes what or which figures are better (cough, cough, comic, cough), but it's a matter of how many times you want to buy the same Malibu Captain America "but with a different hat" (credit to the Simpsons). Like I said I buy them all sooner or later, regardless of how much I protest (damn you Captain Marvel Wave), but do I "want" another MCU Captain America that bad or do the Execs want me to feel like I have to buy another MCU Cap? The later waves of DCUC showed that every wave does not need to have a major character to sell well and sell out, and though it will never happen, I venture to say ML would sell as well, or better if waves included some more obscure, lesser known figures instead of a major character.