Hasbro Celebrates Avengers 60th Anniversary! Part 1 of 7

[since83]

Not to belabor the point, but waiting is causing damage to the confidence of people on the fence about ordering. The fact that the new talking point is, "is it going to fund." Should be proof enough. If someone is gonna jump on a bandwagon, they need to see it coming. It can't be going 80 mph over a weekend. If it were already backed, people would know and be reacting to why did it back? Which will bring fans to the table. Success breeds success. Again with the Momentum aspect to these. Watching it falter and float in the water, doesn't give people confidence that they should care and back it.

[Jormungand]

Maybe the NYCC display will bump up the backers from their foot traffic there. We will see.

[AndyL]

I know the final product never looks quite as good as the painted protos but this thing looks better and better every time they show it. The mask looks like it fits pretty darn well against the various head sculpts. I do hope we get to see this happen.

[JayC]

On 10/9/2023 at 4:59 PM, Satam said:

The one thing I wish they'd do, which would help (but I don't know how much) would be to post a video demonstration of how the face plates actually work. Obviously they go in from the back, but it's also a lot less obvious than a Hot Toys figure (or similar) with big blank spaces where the mouth and eye pieces plug in from the front.

not a video demonstration though someone might give us that this weekend, but here is a look at the back of the faceplates and from what I understand you can adjust the eyes in three different positions.

Now I can only speak for myself about this and I have no idea how much a feature like this actually adds to the cost of the figure, but if its a significant cost then this is something I could easily do without if it meant the figure was cheaper. Again thats just me and perhaps this is something that many people really want with their figures IDK. Pics via Preternia.

[JayC]

On 10/12/2023 at 11:32 AM, since83 said:

Not to belabor the point, but waiting is causing damage to the confidence of people on the fence about ordering. The fact that the new talking point is, "is it going to fund." Should be proof enough. If someone is gonna jump on a bandwagon, they need to see it coming. It can't be going 80 mph over a weekend. If it were already backed, people would know and be reacting to why did it back? Which will bring fans to the table. Success breeds success. Again with the Momentum aspect to these. Watching it falter and float in the water, doesn't give people confidence that they should care and back it.

If someone is going to back it and is choosing to wait until the last for whatever reason, the only reason they wouldnt back it then is if the campaign is so far off the mark there is no way it would meet its goal and so what would be the point. If that's the case its hardly the fault of the person who waited that the campaign failed. And if there are truly 3-4k people who are that much on the fence about this, that in its own right is an indication this wasn't a great choice for a figure on Hasbro's part. It's not the consumers job to try and convince other consumers they should buy this, its Hasbro's job to present something that enough people want that they will decide to buy it themselves and there should be no problem with the campaign funding even if some choose to wait until the end.

[Satam]

On 10/12/2023 at 7:20 PM, JayC said:

not a video demonstration though someone might give us that this weekend, but here is a look at the back of the faceplates and from what I understand you can adjust the eyes in three different positions.

Now I can only speak for myself about this and I have no idea how much a feature like this actually adds to the cost of the figure, but if its a significant cost then this is something I could easily do without if it meant the figure was cheaper. Again thats just me and perhaps this is something that many people really want with their figures IDK. Pics via Preternia.

Okay. Cool. Despite what they said in that launch video, it looks like they don't go in from the back after all. It looks like they just swap in at the front, with the mask being painted on each plate (it isn't now, but it looks like it will be since the mask countours are sculpted on there) and then the eyes are swappable through the back of each plate. This makes way more sense than the way it was initially described, and I assume the engineering changed a bit as they went along.

[JayC]

Hasbro has released a image from New York Comic Con showing off their Marvel Legends Haslab Giant Man figure with the "ghoulish display mode" headsculpt that will be included if the first stretch goal is unlocked at 12k Backers.

Right now with just over 10 days to go, the campaign has 5,774 of the minimum 10k backers needed for this campaign to move forward. The figure is currently on display during the weekend for New York Comic Con at the Marvel booth.

In the last 29 hours since NYCC initially kicked off yesterday the campaign has gained 91 new backers.

[JayC]

On 10/13/2023 at 10:24 AM, Satam said:

Despite what they said in that launch video, it looks like they don't go in from the back after all.

I think they do go in from the back. I could be wrong but i think you pop off that little panel on the back of the plate to switch out the eyes.

[AndyL]

On 10/12/2023 at 6:20 PM, JayC said:

not a video demonstration though someone might give us that this weekend, but here is a look at the back of the faceplates and from what I understand you can adjust the eyes in three different positions.

Now I can only speak for myself about this and I have no idea how much a feature like this actually adds to the cost of the figure, but if its a significant cost then this is something I could easily do without if it meant the figure was cheaper. Again thats just me and perhaps this is something that many people really want with their figures IDK. Pics via Preternia.

I feel the same way. While I don't think the price is unreasonable as it is I also don't think the eyes thing would have swayed me either way. Seems a waste of time and effort.

[SpiderS]

To be honest I'm surprised it might not get funded, price is indeed reasonable but I would never imagine that ever growing (?) collectible market that now got used to paying 100 bucks for 6-7 inch figure is in reality so small and so niche for a Marvel's Giant Man. Yes he isn't the hotest character but he isn't exactly C tier either, but you do need him for Avengers shelf, he's not exactly on the level of Galactus but I would imagine that lower priced Giant man should get at least 1/3 of 30K Galactus got but I guess I was really wrong. 

[MeGrimlock78]

I am not interested in this fig at all (Team Cyclops, born and bred), but it will make me sad if it doesn't fund.

That would make the team hesitant to keep making HasLabs, especially Marvel ones.

[Reno]

I still stand by my optimism that this campaign will at least fund to the 10k mark, but I'm now starting to have my doubts about either of the tiers.

I was going to break down and break my rule and just back it earlier than I intended. I went to back 3 and saw that the shipping was going to be $48! That brought up a whole different dilemma for me! I normally do not do Pulse Premium because I usually only buy the Legends Pulse exclusives from Pulse and nothing else - so that's usually 2-3 purchases per year - which just doesn't justify that $50 premium subscription because shipping is usually around $7 per purchase. However the $48 shipping for these would basically pay for the Premium subscription by itself. However, I really only want 3 if both tiers fund - otherwise I only want 1. So, of course now I'm back to waiting this out to see where we end up. (The truth is that the shipping should really be included in the price for this thing, or for ANYTHING that costs over $100, period). Also there's still the possibility that this doesn't fund at all and then I would be giving that $50 to Hasbro for absolutely nothing for the Premium subscription.

I think that I'll go ahead and back one without the Pulse Premium membership, and just replace it with a new order for 3 (after a Premium subscription) if it looks like we'll end up hitting the tiers after all (which I absolutely hope happens!!). I really truly believe that this is a good value for this figure. Hopefully the pace will really pick up on this during NYCC and during the final week of the campaign (as I expect it to).

[AndyL]

On 10/13/2023 at 2:38 PM, SpiderS said:

To be honest I'm surprised it might not get funded, price is indeed reasonable but I would never imagine that ever growing (?) collectible market that now got used to paying 100 bucks for 6-7 inch figure is in reality so small and so niche for a Marvel's Giant Man. Yes he isn't the hotest character but he isn't exactly C tier either, but you do need him for Avengers shelf, he's not exactly on the level of Galactus but I would imagine that lower priced Giant man should get at least 1/3 of 30K Galactus got but I guess I was really wrong. 

Wow. That's a whole new perspective I never even saw but you're absolutely right. I gave up overpriced junk like SHF and Mezco years ago but there's still a massive market for them. Clearly evident by the fact that they still put quite a bit of product out and the prices continue to rise. It's not very often that we can say Hasbro is on the low side of pricing but in this case it is indeed.

[AndyL]

On 10/13/2023 at 4:06 PM, Reno said:

I still stand by my optimism that this campaign will at least fund to the 10k mark, but I'm now starting to have my doubts about either of the tiers.

I was going to break down and break my rule and just back it earlier than I intended. I went to back 3 and saw that the shipping was going to be $48! That brought up a whole different dilemma for me! I normally do not do Pulse Premium because I usually only buy the Legends Pulse exclusives from Pulse and nothing else - so that's usually 2-3 purchases per year - which just doesn't justify that $50 premium subscription because shipping is usually around $7 per purchase. However the $48 shipping for these would basically pay for the Premium subscription by itself. However, I really only want 3 if both tiers fund - otherwise I only want 1. So, of course now I'm back to waiting this out to see where we end up. (The truth is that the shipping should really be included in the price for this thing, or for ANYTHING that costs over $100, period).

I think that I'll go ahead and back one without the Pulse Premium membership, and just replace it with a new order for 3 (after a Premium subscription) if it looks like we'll end up hitting the tiers after all (which I absolutely hope happens!!). I really truly believe that this is a good value for this figure. Hopefully the pace will really pick up on this during NYCC and during the final week of the campaign (as I expect it to).

Honestly I don't even care about the tiers. I don't want a head-only zombie and I don't really have any faith that Hasbro plans to go all that much further with Secret Invasion after this anniversary and after the Disney+ flop. At least not enough that we could create a display with. If they were serious they could have included Skrull sculpts for Powerman and FA Spidey or even Hank and Mockingbird from the WCA set. Sure there's still a lot of potential and right now would be the perfect time as they're going back and redoing all these figures on these new improved body molds but I still think with MCU as their major concern this is really not one of their major initiatives. The tiers would be nice yes but completely unnecessary.

[RobertD]

On 10/13/2023 at 4:32 PM, AndyL said:

I don't really have any faith that Hasbro plans to go all that much further with Secret Invasion after this anniversary and after the Disney+ flop. At least not enough that we could create a display with.

I wouldn't sell the Skrull potential short just yet.  It's a super-easy way to double-dip on already-made sculpts. They'd be crazy not to do more when so much of the work is already done before they even head out of the gate. 

[since83]

Watch out if you are gonna get Premium for free shipping on this. The top header says it doesn't cover haslabs or selfie series. 

[Thwippersnapper]

On 10/13/2023 at 5:21 PM, since83 said:

Watch out if you are gonna get Premium for free shipping on this. The top header says it doesn't cover haslabs or selfie series. 

That header applies to non-premium members.

[Psychosomatic]

It will be so surprising if this thing doesn’t fund, as it is a core character, well priced, and beautifully done. 

[JayC]

On 10/13/2023 at 5:12 PM, AndyL said:

I gave up overpriced junk like SHF and Mezco years ago but there's still a massive market for them. Clearly evident by the fact that they still put quite a bit of product out and the prices continue to rise.

See this is where many collectors seem to have a very misguided perception of the size of this market and this hobby. NO, there is not a massive market for Mezco One:12 Collective figures and at least in this country the same goes for SHF. Mezco would sh#$t themselves if they could sell 10k units for one of their One:12 figures or even half that number.

I've seen people passing that meme around suggesting because someone paid $200 for an old Toy Biz Giant Man BAF, that somehow that 1 person willing to spend that kind of money on eBay is representative of the entire fandom. Sure you will always find some people willing to spend absorbent amounts of money for something they want. Sure there are small numbers of people who pay 2-3 times retail just to have the figure first, but in the overall scheme of things that is a very SMALL number.

And as far as a company like Hasbro, 10k units is nothing. Ten years ago they would have never considered doing a figure if they could only sell 10k units because it wouldn't be worth it. That's where these people who insist a figure like this could be sold at mass retail are so full of s#$t. The fact this figure is struggling to sell 10k units is exactly why a Target or Walmart would have no interest in carrying it.

There is roughly a combined total of 6675 Target and Walmart stores in this country. So if just those two retailers stocked JUST 2 Giant Man figures in each store, that would require 13350 units be sold. If you started counting other retailers like Gamestop or Amazon, that number would easily double, and if Walmart and Target only carried two figures per store that would be considered a very small order number for that size of a retailer.

No it's not surprising at all this hasn't funded because collectors are being bombarded year after year with these hugely expensive crowdsourcing items now, and yes many people who collect Marvel Legends also collect other action figure lines. This year alone we have had this many crowdsourcing items for action figures:

Hasbro Transformers Deathsaurus Haslab - $179.99

Hasbro GIJoe Classified Dragonfly Haslab - $274.99

Hasbro Star Wars Vintage Collection Ghost Haslab - $499.99

Mattel WWE Ultimate Edition WCW Monday Nitro Entrance Stage - $400

Mattel Jurassic World Gate - $250

Super7 ThunderCats Ultimates Cats Lair - $650

Super7 GIJoe Cobra Mothership - $495

NECA TMNT Sewer Lair - $300 (Technically not a crowdsource but still big and expensive)

Plus still to come is a Masters of the Universe Origins Snake Lair and likely something from Hasbro for Ghostbusters.

And that doesn't account for all the other kickstarters from smaller compaines and just the massive amounts of general figures companies are churning out each year.

 

[Jmacq1]

On 10/13/2023 at 10:42 PM, Psychosomatic said:

It will be so surprising if this thing doesn’t fund, as it is a core character, well priced, and beautifully done. 

That's the thing, he's not really a core character.  He's been a side character relegated to team books for most of his existence.

"Core characters" are the guys you get at least one of in virtually every wave:  Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Wolverine, etc....

[AndyL]

On 10/14/2023 at 7:34 AM, JayC said:

See this is where many collectors seem to have a very misguided perception of the size of this market and this hobby. NO, there is not a massive market for Mezco One:12 Collective figures and at least in this country the same goes for SHF. Mezco would sh#$t themselves if they could sell 10k units for one of their One:12 figures or even half that number.

I've seen people passing that meme around suggesting because someone paid $200 for an old Toy Biz Giant Man BAF, that somehow that 1 person willing to spend that kind of money on eBay is representative of the entire fandom. Sure you will always find some people willing to spend absorbent amounts of money for something they want. Sure there are small numbers of people who pay 2-3 times retail just to have the figure first, but in the overall scheme of things that is a very SMALL number.

And as far as a company like Hasbro, 10k units is nothing. Ten years ago they would have never considered doing a figure if they could only sell 10k units because it wouldn't be worth it. That's where these people who insist a figure like this could be sold at mass retail are so full of s#$t. The fact this figure is struggling to sell 10k units is exactly why a Target or Walmart would have no interest in carrying it.

There is roughly a combined total of 6675 Target and Walmart stores in this country. So if just those two retailers stocked JUST 2 Giant Man figures in each store, that would require 13350 units be sold. If you started counting other retailers like Gamestop or Amazon, that number would easily double, and if Walmart and Target only carried two figures per store that would be considered a very small order number for that size of a retailer.

No it's not surprising at all this hasn't funded because collectors are being bombarded year after year with these hugely expensive crowdsourcing items now, and yes many people who collect Marvel Legends also collect other action figure lines. This year alone we have had this many crowdsourcing items for action figures:

Hasbro Transformers Deathsaurus Haslab - $179.99

Hasbro GIJoe Classified Dragonfly Haslab - $274.99

Hasbro Star Wars Vintage Collection Ghost Haslab - $499.99

Mattel WWE Ultimate Edition WCW Monday Nitro Entrance Stage - $400

Mattel Jurassic World Gate - $250

Super7 ThunderCats Ultimates Cats Lair - $650

Super7 GIJoe Cobra Mothership - $495

NECA TMNT Sewer Lair - $300 (Technically not a crowdsource but still big and expensive)

Plus still to come is a Masters of the Universe Origins Snake Lair and likely something from Hasbro for Ghostbusters.

And that doesn't account for all the other kickstarters from smaller compaines and just the massive amounts of general figures companies are churning out each year.

 

Let me clarify. I know SHF and Mezco are only a fraction of business that Hasbro does but the fact that they do what they do and they still remain in business and still remain profitable still says it still does quite a bit of business. Plus those companies are far more popular in overseas markets. All I really meant to say, and it got misconstrued by my agreeing with another comment is that in comparison to what some of the other companies are peddling this is a much better bargain. I'm no schill for Habro either but I really do thing they made a big effort to get some of the customer trust back after the last debacle.

[JayC]

On 10/14/2023 at 4:34 PM, AndyL said:

Let me clarify. I know SHF and Mezco are only a fraction of business that Hasbro does but the fact that they do what they do and they still remain in business and still remain profitable still says it still does quite a bit of business. Plus those companies are far more popular in overseas markets. All I really meant to say, and it got misconstrued by my agreeing with another comment is that in comparison to what some of the other companies are peddling this is a much better bargain. I'm no schill for Habro either but I really do thing they made a big effort to get some of the customer trust back after the last debacle.

Lets leave Tamashii Nations out of it for a moment since they are an overseas company which is a totally different beast. I understand what your saying but my point is your making (as I see many collectors do) huge assumptions about Mezco and a lot of these small toy companies. Mezco is a small private company and since they aren't required to show their financial records we really have no idea how profitable they are or aren't or how much business they do. It's probably a safe assumption they manage to make enough money to stay in business, meaning they aren't operating at a loss, but beyond that its hard to say. In fact some business run off of investment money not actual profits, and do actually run at loses in hopes that one day they will start becoming profitable. Mezco has been around long enough I don't think that is the case with them, but they also have not shown much in the way of significant growth over the years IMO either.

I didn't intend to imply you were trying to shill for Hasbro and really took what you said to try and address a misconception I see from many collectors in the fandom when they say things like Hasbro could easily have sold this at retail and such. This hobby just isn't as big as some think it is. Whether Giant Man funds or not, we can definitely see it's struggling to sell what in the overall scheme of things is a very small production run of 10k units. I think if this campaign does fail to get backed there will be a number of factors at play as to why, such as Giant Man as a character just isn't as appealing to as many people which I think was the main deathblow for last years campaign as well. On top of that, we collectors are constantly being bombarded with these huge crowdsourcing campaigns now from all these companies which strains the wallets and the space we have to display these large items. So what was already a small consumer base now is getting more and more selective in what they choose to spend their money on making it harder and harder for these things to be successful.

Had Giant Man been released 3-4 years ago I think it would have had a much better chance of getting funded, but now its getting released in a sea of other huge crowdsourcing campaigns.

I guess all of this is to say if you start looking at these things from the business side of things and not just as a fan wanting a figure they like, it really isn't to surprising if this were to fail to get funded.

[JayC]

Tony who is a Painter/Designer/Sculptor and helped worked on the current Marvel Legends Haslab Giant Man figure for Hasbro has posted some behind-the-scenes images giving us a nice look at the faceplates for the figure.

Right now with just over 8 days until the campaign ends it has 5,936 of the minimum 10k backers needed in order to move forward.

[Satam]

Okay, so then it does look like the plates go in from the back (or the inside, rather). Now what I want to know is if the mask is made of some kind of flexible material to make it easier to swap the faces.

[tarot]

I notice the backing seems to be moving slightly faster since the start of the NYCC. Not saying it will be enough to back, which I'm even having doubts about now. Just making a observation.