monron999

I'd be lying if I said I didn't know the whole Marvel/Sony arrangement was gonna be a volatile relationship at best from the start and didn't see this coming from a thousand miles away. Truth be told, no matter who doesn't agree with it, Sony's Spider-Man movies aren't $#!+ without the MCU. I'm no Sony hater. They've done plenty of great movies/music/electronics in the past and still do but Spider-Man has been waning since the 2nd Maguire movie. They just don't have the formula and they don't have the right outlook. Making movies about Spidey's rogues galleries is not the right idea. I do like the last 2 movies and Tom Holland is the best P.P. ever (IMO), but the real reason these movies did so well is the same reason that preachy snoozfest Captain Marvel did so well. It's tied into a much larger and more exciting universe with so many more opportunities for expansion. Hell, sometimes the post credit scenes where everyone's on the edge of their seats waiting to see "what's next" are better than the damn movies themselves. Honestly, on the business side I do tend to lean towards Sony's point of view. It's no industry secret that Disney does not play well with others. It's usually their way or no way, and if that 50/50 arrangement was real it's way too steep for the company that paid fair money for the property and in turn helped bail Marvel out of a bind and increased its public image (along with Fox) and profits to make it possible to start Marvel Studios in the first place, especially if Disney owns all the product rights. I can understand where Sony's coming from but at the same time they need to understand the NEED the MCU if they ever expect to do anything nearly as profitable as Far From Home. Buuuuut, how do you make that profit if your giving half to basically a rival studio and getting zero merch profits? It's lose/lose for Sony either way and though I'd love to just see Disney back the bank truck up to Sony headquarters I think they're are waaay too vain to do it that way. I wouldn't put it past them to try and tank Spidey similar to the way they did with the X-Men, whether it's Marvel's largest franchise or not. They've already shown us they're just that vengeful and petty, and they have a big enough wallet to keep Marvel Comics afloat just to prove their point. To quote Mamma Boucher, "Disney is the Devil", but a Devil that makes damn good Marvel movies. Ultimately I think the solution will be more of a 30/70 or 20/80 split and both can part ways thinking they've gained some sort of victory in the process. I just think Sony shoulda used a better tactic to get to the bargaining table. Then again, if Disney was as unbudging as rumored, I guess desperate times call for desperate measures. I think an 11th hour deal will get done. As far as it affects ML, I honestly don't care if I see another Spider-Man movie merchandise (or any MCU movie merchandise) ever again, and I think ML would do no worse without it. Many long standing fans agree with this as well, but I don't speak for EVERYONE by any means, and we all know why Hasbro bid the rights and we know what Disney is expecting of them so it's a necessary evil I've learned to deal with, and even enjoy on occasion. Make 'em good and make 'em often and I'm always buyin'.

As for my picks for obscure figs I'd like to see but would most likely never see the light of day: 1. Kylun (90's Excalibur) 2. Ceris (90's Excalibur) 3. Tusk (Dark Riders) 4. Slayback 5. Mettle (Avengers Academy 6. Guantlet (New Warriors) 7. Hellfire (Secret Warriors) 8. Slingshot (Secret Warriors) 9. Nasty Boys (Mr. Sinister's 2nd Team) 10. Marauders (Mr. Sinister's 1st Team) 11. Calamity (Initiative) 12. Ringer (Masters of Evil) Seriously I could go on forever.

Good list. Looks like you pretty much covered them all. Just think about how long it woulda been if you'd included pre-Legends figures as they do with the Vintage Line. Destroyer and Mar-Vell are particular points of irritation to me because there's literally no reason they shouldn't have been done already. Though I'm pretty sure I know why one of them hasn't been done, there's still no real rationale why Destroyer didn't make it at least into the 10 Years line. It woulda been a double win as the MCU version is almost identical to the comic version and all it would take was an alternate head sculpt to get pretty decent representations of both. It's just a travesty at this point. And before anyone feels duty bound to call me out on this, yes I understand they're just toys and yes I'm being dramatic. Kinda sucks that we gotta stipulate that nowadays but that's just the way things are. I've been actually thinking about the possibilities of both Mojo and MODOK cuz they are just so outta the norm, even in the Toybiz days, but I really think they have a strong possibility of being done in the Premium (or Riders) line, similar to Professor X. I think MODOK has been portrayed having been separated from his chair before and I wanna say they've also done it with Mojo, but that one might be a product of my increasingly faltering memory. On the outset it may seem unfortunate if they make us pay a premium price for it rather than include it as a "bonus" like their predecessors, but to some it might seem like a better deal to just outright buy it instead of having to purchase an entire wave with figures they might not want just to get them as the BAF. Of course, they'll have to forego the actual Riders designation (which I think they've wisely never actually included on the packaging) as to be totally non offensive, but I think it would be a winner.

I share your sentiment there as far as movie figures go in general. But as a recovering completist I do have many, many movie figs and have also purchased them for the sole purpose of completing many BAF's, but if they never ever make another movie figure again I wouldn't be disappointed in the least. But, we know that ain't gonna happen cuz Phase 4 is coming and they have some young minds to influence, damn it! Also, it's parroted over and over by many people that a ML line could not survive without movie figures, but Toybiz did very few of them and the line did well enough to compel Hasbro to chase the license, but that's an argument that's been done to death and the mods are quick to put the kibosh on it pretty quickly after it pops up cuz it typically takes over a thread. I must admit though, if they were to do a figure based on and with a pretty spot on likeness of the best and most iconic portrayal of Wolverine (admittedly there have not been many), I might cave and get it. Not to mention Jackman is a class act and one of my favorite actors (damn shame about that Greatest Showman bit) one of the few actors in Hollywood who understands where his bread and butter is and doesn't try to interject himself social and political issues just cuz he has a celebrity pulpit. Cuz, y'know, actors are really smart and they know so much more than us, and the fans just love to be talked down to by them and told how to live their lives. That's as political as I'm gonna get. I swear.

That seems to be an ongoing issue with the star. Pretty much everyone is rampaging about it. If it's not smudged it's got a line running through it. It's weird.

What're the chances they'd be able to do throwback figures of the original X-Men using the new scan technology? Anyone who wouldn't want a Hugh Jackman Wolverine speak up.

I agree it sounds kinda cheesy but anyone who remembers these things knows it was actually quite durable. It was heavily laminated and almost impossible to rip or bend without intentional force. Much more sturdy than the say the displays included in the McFarlane Movie Maniacs figures back in the 90's. Admittedly, I can understand ones hesitation to invest in cardboard as a packaged item but for me I see it as paying for the artwork itself to be used to add some flavor for display purposes. If anyone has ever tried to buy comic book prints for decoration they'll understand how much that artwork can cost. In this case I'd say you'd be paying $20 for a figure and possibly $10 - $15 for the art. For those wanting fully interactive playsets, I can understand why a simple backdrop wouldn't interest you, but the concerns I hear a lot (and share) is the lack of space. For those of you that don't suffer this issue, I envy you.

Lol, I was so freakin' lost into the thought of this idea that I totally just missed the most logical name. Good thing you were there to catch it. So simple. Ha!

Therein lies the problem my friend. You know me by now so you know I could probably go on about this forever but I'll try and keep it short as to not fall off subject. The short answer is no, not a lot! A more precise answer would be yes, but a very, very, verrrrrry small part of "people" would actually be so offended that they would raise a stink about it, and as is the norm these days, when one is offended we ALL must share the guilt and therefore accommodate their sensitivities. I just think with Disney's modus operandi, they are more likely to go with the Offend No One and promote less product than Offend Just a Few and sell buttloads approach. I could be wrong, I have been before. I mean they totally let the "uncensored" Tiffany trough the filter, didn't they? Otherwise I totally agree with you. On base level alone it should be 100% shooo-in. If they were to announce it today I would be on the pre-order list yesterday.

I could even imagine them doing some type of "Iconic Scenes" sets similar to the Riders sets, where It would come with a figure and a decent sized backdrop rather than a vehicle. I could picture something like the now infamous and often imitated cover of Uncanny X-Men #251 with a beaten and weathered Wolverine figure pinned to a giant "X" on the top of a hill with the whole "Outback" location in the background. Of course this could never actually happen cuz.......well...y'know, sensitive people, but there are plenty of other memorable moments to choose from. Gives you kinda the general idea, though.

I remember these too. Guess we're showing our age here, but to me this was the perfect balance of price, function and detail. To be honest I have zero to no interest in some pricey 3D backdrop like the Daily Bugle or the X-Mansoin which would no doubt be somewhere in the $300 - $500 range if Hasbro did it. Not to knock those who do want something more "interactive" but something like the old days laminated cardboard things to take pics of your figures with or put in a display case and then be easily broke down and foldable to take up as little space as possible would suit a lot of people just fine. If I recall correctly (and I may not), but I think the Spider-Man backdrop from Mego even had like a plastic fire escape piece that attached though holes in the cardboard to give a little extra for the characters to interact with. Maybe even a dumpster. If they could do something like that and keep it in the $40 - $50 range, they would sell like hotcakes, guaranteed.

I"m with you on this one. No, she's not known to typically use a scooter (never seen Marvel Rising, probably never will) but just a case of that one time in that one issue in where she used a scooter to get to that one place to do that one thing. Another excuse to get some use outta the scooter mold. I haven't been all that staunch a follower of Deadpool (that 4th wall crap is waaaay too prevalent) and all his series but I think it was a similar situation. It's not a bad looking set, it's just.....unnecessary. When all is said and done I'll have paid $40+ to have Squirrel Girl and her friends and the scooter ends up in storage as not to take up precious shelf space. Good News for everyone else is that as soon as I make the purchase it will most likely be announced that she'll be released as a single card in a future wave. Just the way things go for me.

I have both as well. By far one of Toybiz's best work. I still like the proportions on the TB one but I'll have to say the Hasbro version edges TB by a hair, particularly for the hip joints and darker color scheme. I wish they had included a "serious" alt head sculpt though.

Lol, you paint a pretty picture my friend, but you and I both know that ain't happening. If they don't go the whole Jessica Jones look it's gonna be the most unflattering, monotone, uncreative, unappealing, most inoffensive get up they can get away with while making it look marginally like a superhero suit. Maybe some kinda colored trim or arm patch. Marvel likes to play that "it just doesn't seem realistic" card while making movies and shows about people with totally unrealistic abilities and powers. I think that was the root failure of the entire Netflix projects (aside from the fact tha Disney wanted to consolidate all of Marvel's properties, I suppose). I guarantee they woulda been much better hits if they woulda just gave all of them costumes and crazy power effects. Take for example Iron Fist. I think it woulda totally been acceptable to put him in a suit resembling the new One:12 Collective Iron Fist they're showing on the News page. DC seems to pull it off pretty well and if anyone's seen the Amazon show The Boys, they seem to have no problem getting over tha hurdle either.

Funny you should say that. Originally I did mean it to be a Doc Strange wave but I assume most of that wave is probably set to be MCU heavy and also couldn't foresee them allowing any character other than Strange to be the main focus on the wave. I assume the powers that be know a much demanded character like Robbie Reyes would overshadow every other character in the wave, much in the way they knew including Mar-Vell and Classic Ms. Marvel would dominate the Captain Marvel wave. The thing is, a Hellcharger BAV would almost assure that most everyone would buy the entire wave.

I'd totally be in on a wave where Robbie Reyes would be featured and the BAF would actually be a BAV. Honestly, it would mostly be panels and probably take less material to make than the Hulkbuster BAF. The problem would be finding a wave to put this entire arrangement into, cuz I don't think an actual Ghost Rider wave is an option at this point. I'm thinking maybe a Spider-Man wave with a kind of occult character theme. Maybe have Reyes in there, Sleepwalker, Blackout, maybe Wong and a new Immortal Iron Fist. I know that's all kind of a stretch but they've gone out on a limb before and managed to make it work. I think the biggest hurdle for the creative team is to sell it to the suits on high. Personally I feel the fans would support it. Maybe it's just me though. I'm also a huge fan of the whole FF with Fantasticar idea and the new Hobgobline (cuz the last one was weaaaaak) with swap parts to make scale versions of Green Goblin and Hobgoblin gliders cuz we all know the ones included with the figures were way too small. Personally I would buy two of them. Other than those I'd love to see: 1. Comic Winger Soldier on Motorcycle - Most likely just a repaint of the Logan motorcycle 2. Modern Captain America on Modern Cycle - Pretty much the same as above 3. Danny Ketch on Hell Cycle - I think this could be done with the Johnny Blaze cycle with different snap on parts 4. Colleen Wing on Motorcycle - Easy repaint of Black Widows bike 5. Tigra (just cuz she hasn't been done yet) with Skycycle - this would be all new, but will be compatible with all Avengers, of course. 6. Any figure riding a horse would be an awesome break from the same old motorcycle/moped thing that's more or less become the norm.

I have seen neither hide nor hair of Binary Cap Marvel (bought it on ebay at cost), Worthy Cap (I'll take my chances) or Loki/Corvus pack (pre-ordered 1, got 2) in any damn physical Wal-Mart location I've been to in the last couple months and that includes 4 states. So, I walk into my closest WM on Saturday and they have freshly stocked EVERY 80th anniversary figure that isn't Fan Channel, that I'm aware of. There's Cap, Thor and IM. There's Colossus vs. Juggs. There's Collector & Korgg. There's Luis & Ghost and Executioner & Hela. All of them. Of course my wife is well aware of my habit, but she's not fully aware of how much I "must" spend on my habit sometimes. Kinda "no ask, no tell" thing, y'now? They're all here but I can neither expose my addiction nor afford to trust that all the ones I want will still be there for a later time if I only select a few for "reasonable" purchases. What to do? So during our weekly rations gathering I manage to "forget" a few things and as we get home I reveal my mistake and convince my wife I must run back to the store immediately. It's pretty easy to sell a K-Cups emergency to someone who is not a coffee drinker and fundamentally does not understand the hardships of being a coffee drinker. I'll be careful not to over use this one. There's only so much coffee one can consume, even my wife knows this. On my way back to the store I rationalize to myself that this is my only chance to knock these off my checklist all at once and the expenditure is logical as I won't have to make another purchase of this size for some time afterward (yeah right, good luck with that). On my way home I've never, ever felt such a strong criss-cross emotional tsunami of satisfaction and gluttony. Technically I do well enough that I can support my own habits and it'll probably go mostly unnoticed, but times like these always make me feel like the finances could have been put to better use. Guess I'll have to up my charitable donations at work next quarter to clear my conscience. I'm such a lush. Yes it was a great/terrible day to be a ML collector in Northern Texas that day. This is my confession.

Agreed, the 80's seems to be the most stable period between the eclectic 70's and excessive 90's. Thats that mid point between disco inspired leotards and pointless pockets, pouches & belts, where the costumes were functional, stylish, sexy, practical and "realistically" uncomplicated. It was Rogues black body suit with green aerobics wear, it was Iron Man's Silver Centurion suit and it was Spidey's sleek, stealthy black and white suite. Best days of Marvel, by far.

Disney buying DC is unlikely, but Hasbro getting The DC license sounds feasable. As we know, Hasbro has done 5-point DC figures in the past and some still consider them to be better than the 5-point articulated figures Toybiz was doing at the time (I happen to be one of them) but the selection was very small as compared to Marvel's offerings who was digging into every nook and cranny of it's own universe and just blinding us with variety. Here's the problem. Disney is notorious for not "allowing" their contractors to work for competing properties. If anyone remembers, Disney even FORBID Hasbro purchasing DreamWorks at the threat of pulling the Marvel license. Now that's some serious leverage and some serious brass balls. Disney just simply would not let their licensed product be inferior to a rival. The only way I could see where Hasbro could ever do DC figures is if Disney manages to ruin the MCU and DC continues to improve the DCEU and Hasbro grows a pair and abandons the Marvel license to pursue the DC license. In that case I have no doubt that Hasbro would more or less follow pretty much the same formula that made ML such a success. Of course, by that time it's likely that companies like the re-energized McFarlane Toys and the phenomenal upstart JazWares will have advanced substantially, forcing Hasbro to up it's game, and we may well end up with DC Multiverse figures superior to ML. That would be a sad and tragic turn of events.

I don't see any of the companies like Mezco, NECA making a push to be the next Hasbro. I think they are content just the way they are. They really can delve into any property, pull a few character licenses and make due. They're both good independent companies that do a great business without having to commit to some huge mass output. If they haven't made a push to get out past Hasbro at this point I don't think it's gonna happen. SH. Figuarts and Mafex are cool, but waaaay overpriced and I find are very delicate. And honestly, the product does not justify the price. Mattel blew their chance. I think they're content producing for the WWE combine and picking up Hasbro's sloppy seconds like Jurassic World (which they're actually doing better IMO). McFarlane has a legit chance of reclaiming the throne but I do believe they will have a hard time usurping the 6" inch standard right now if they intend on going the 7" route. I'm not just basing it on my pure preference, I just think the 1/12 scale is the way everyone is leaning right now and the way many of the fans are used to and pretty much invested into right now. Trying to get everyone to move to a 7" scale just seems like a larger hurdle, not to say it can't be done. I think McFarlane has the ability, I just don't know if Todd himself has the desire to do it or even the discipline not to return to his old ways. To me the biggest threat to Hasbro at this time is JazzWares, the producers of the 6" Fortnite figures. If anyone's picked up one of these they've found that this is by far the closest to a Marvel Legends as any product on the market right now. They have as good, or better articulation as ML and the sculpts are comparable. This company has former employees from McFarlane, Mattel and most importantly, Toybiz. That's a pretty good database of what does and doesn't work in the industry today. I'm a fan and it's taking everything in me to keep from getting tied up in this line. They are a little on the small side to fit in with the ML line but I think that was done intentionally to make sure they are easily differentiated from the 7" line, but they are doing some good stuff. They have tons of accessories, realistic looking weapons, interchangeable face plates and good sculpt and paint work. Seriously, this is Hasbro's biggest threat. I really, really wish they woulda got the DC license. Rather than approach it in the sense that they wanted to create their own scale like McFarlane did (always does), I think they woulda tackled it head to head by going in scale with ML and then going above and beyond anything Hasbro is doing. Possibly even bringing back XL sized BAF. They just strike me as a hungry set of guys that got chewed up and spit out by the Big Boys and are ready to take the fight to them. The consummate underdog, just like Toybiz was. The bad thing is the Big Boys may just end up teaming together and taking them down, just like Toybiz.

And that's all I'm saying. It would be "nice" to have Batman square up with Captain America, Thor go toe to toe with Superman and Wolverine get all up in Lobo's ayass. All in scale. I'm not faulting ANYONE for doing 7" figs, as I've said I pick up quite a few as I like. I'm just saying I think they would not only pick up the DC toy fans who've been inundated with endless droves of Batman and Superman toys, and starved of pretty much every other character in the DC universe, but I would venture to say they would also pick up a large part of the Marvel toy fans who've been wanting a little cross company action figure epic battle displays. Not only would it be outright cool, it just makes business sense. I know the general opinion against it is that DC does not want to concede to Marvel by accepting that they have set the scale, but I honestly believe DC and McFarlane have a platform where their design, sculpts and paint applications could actually "motivate" Hasbro to up their game.

It's a natural tendency. It happens on most threads. Basically, everyone interested in the thread gives their answer and it "evolves" to other things. It's not necessarily a bad thing though, cuz even though there are other forums specific to other collections it's really nice for us in the ML community to find out what their compatriots are into. Personally I like to here others opinions and feelings towards lines like Fortnite and MMPR, not only as stand alone lines but as they compare to ML. Cuz as you know, we all don't just collect one thing. The thread will eventually die down or get cut off and we'll go to other things. I think it's just best to enjoy it for what it is.

I picked up some Fortnite figs mostly because I was interested to see what the notorious articulation hater McFarlane was capable of within the Ultra Articulated field and found them to be quite good. There's some innovative stuff goung on there, especially in the ankle, wrist and shoulder articulation. I must say I was not disappointed. Clearly he's finally working with someone who knows what the hell the "action" in action figure actually means. Now with that experience behind me I was actually kinda excited to hear he got the license for the 6" line. I was sure they could do a better job than Mattel had been doing and finally, finally we would have a good 6" DC line to go with our 6" Marvel Legends. Here's where everything went to shite. @JayCrecently reported that pre-orders for the first wave showed up on an overseas etailer for a short period, and for those of you who didn't see the video he originally intended to do a more in depth look into it but kinda pulled back as there seemed to be a lot more unconfirmed information than he originally thought. I can respect his measure to be a responsible reporter cuz hell knows there aren't any in the mainstream these days. The worst thing I got out of what he did report though is that the damn thing's are listing as a 7" line. WTF, Todd?! It's just like him to do his own damn thing to buck the trend of the market just to pleasure his own little artistic indulgences. Now there's nothing wrong with 7" figs. I pick up quite a few here and there, mostly things that catch my fancy, but I think it's a no-brainer that most fans want a 6" line to compete with ML, who is pretty much the standard for comic based action figures at this time. Seriously, we've never had a DC line where I feel like I can pull a Batman out of the package and fit him in proper proportion to any of my statistically similar ML figures. There is a huge market for that a it's something fans of both Marvel and DC have been begging for for years. The DCUC figures looked good but they were a little simplistic and they suffered in the articulation department. The new crop of DC Multiverse was headed in the right direction but Mattel took too long to pull their heads outta their arses and they lost their license. Here's the burner, the press release that announced McFarlane won the license specifically said they would take over the Multiverse brand and it would be a 6" line and I really believe Mattel wanted a 6" line. I agree with JayC that not doing a 6" line (not against 7" line as a whole) would be a major mistake on McFarlane's part. I for one would have zero interest in getting full on engaged with a 7" line when 6" has pretty much become the standard, especially in recent years, and not to speak for everyone but I would say thats probably the general consensus of most DC and Marvel action figure fans. Of course you'll have fans of both and I'm sure most of us would feel the urge to pick up at least one of the 7" figs every once in a while, but how many of us are ready to get fully invested in another line at $25 - $30 a pop that isn't gonna match up or look good with our collection we've been collecting for many years now. Now the information from the website could have been a typo or inadvertent misinformation and that's a real possibility and honestly I hope it is , but if, when all the dust settles, it ends up being a 7" inch line I'm out. And in all honesty it may be a blessing in disguise cuz right now ML and all its associated product are taking up a whole hella lot more of my disposable income than it used to. I know this is a ML forum but if anything it shows how ML is the standard setter for the industry right now and for both DC and McFarlane not to set aside their own selfish pride and tendencies to cash in on this obvious market trend is just bad business and they deserve what they get. Anyone else feel me or am I just totally off base

I think fan channel is Hasbro's way of setting up some of these risque characters. While I'm pretty sure they'll never do a Mephisto or Blacheart in any capacity I think we have a legit chance at getting Goblin Queen and Lingerie White or Black Queen through that avenue. Also, I think the only chance we have at getting a Mar-Vell or Ms. Marvel/Dark Ms. Marvel is through Fan Channel.

Lol. That was damn fine work.