MonsterChris

I'll be surprised to not see a vintage Iron Man wave on the 90's animated series card back in the next twelve months.

It's not you, it is semi translucent. I distinctly remember one of the guys pointing it out in a livestream saying it was someting new they were trying and he really liked how it came out.

Absolutely. They put their efforts in all of the wrong places with this guy. The alternate head really adds nothing of value for me. The flaming fist effects indicate the design team either isn't super familiar with Pyro or they just didn't care that much. Unfortunately, I think it's likely the latter. And not to beat a dead horse but yeah, wrong buck for the figure. Pyro is the first figure in a long, long time that is not going to replace its Toybiz counterpart.

Seconded. And Sandman too, please! I'm halfway through collecting the pieces for both of them but paused when they started re-releasing the build-a-figures in the standalone deluxe format. I'd want to grab them both. Spidey in the original silver & black Spider-Armor is the most urgently outstanding Spider-Man figure to my mind right now. The Amazing Bag-Man would be great as well. I missed 2099 from the Hobgoblin wave and would love to see him come back around again. If the secondary market prices are to be believed, I think it would be a smart move. As for villains, I hope they continue to work through the symbiotes until those guys are done. Then I'm hot for some of the more goofball characters: Leap-Frog, The Spot, Gibbon, Grizzly, Kangaroo, and Rocket Racer.

How did Peter Gabriel cover Arcade Fire and I missed it?

Yeah, that part looked much better. I'll admit, he's a difficult thing to translate onto screen.

It's...*sigh*...it's what we do. People like us can't get together and not do this. Like Thanos, it is inevitable. He's organic steel, lol. That "organic" buys you a lot of nonsense science. I just wonder how he sees out of them steel eyeballs! That Bishop figure is badass, though!

So, why do you think a character would wear body armor when their mutant ability is to absorb, store, and redirect kinetic energy? Probably be more efficient without it. Unless he's fighting Hawkeye or Sabretooth, I guess.

Yes, I understand Professor X wears a suit & tie. I contend that in the animated series he wore a specific green suit and blue & black striped tie that his action figure replicated exactly and intentionally. I seriously doubt reproducing his animated series look was a pure coincidence. And then they packaged him directly over art from the show. Also, assuming that image hasn't been recolored, it looks like it's from Adam Kubert's run on Uncanny maybe? The debut of the animated series predates that run by many years. In any case, it's clearly a reference to the show, and not the other way around.

What!? Professor X was made wearing his animated series suit & tie. The monochromatic backdrop in his packaging is literally art from the show.

Well, it kind of depends on what you mean by "Hasbro". If you mean Dan or Ryan or Dwight, then no, of course they don't make huge, unilateral decisions for the entire company, and maybe they are doing everything in their power to fix this. But if you actually mean Hasbro, then yes, they could dramatically ameliorate the situation by taking two decisive, concrete actions: 1. Immediately discontinue single-store exclusive practices. 2. Manufacture enough product to cover pre-orders taken by all of their retailers. I understand that fan-channel exclusives are a preferable avenue for some releases. The Hellfire Club boxed set is an example. There is no reason in the world that Moon Knight needs to be a Walgreens exclusive. There is no reason in the world that Storm & Thunderbird needs to be sold only at Target. What, realistically, are Walgreens and Target and Walmart going to do if Hasbro stops single-store exclusives? Not carry Marvel Legends? That's absurd. Marvel Legends is a collector-targeted product. Yes, Grandma wondering through Walmart might pick up an Iron Man for her grandson's birthday present, but I think a much larger percentage of the purchases are being made by adult collectors buying figures for themselves. And adult collectors will find their toys at the place that makes it easiest for them. They just will. Are Department stores maybe going to stop carrying other Hasbro or Marvel products unless they get their regular sweetheart deals? Maybe that's not as absurd, but it would be highly unlikely and, frankly, stupid. Hasbro's Hasbro. Selling Marvel toys. Marvel! And Star Wars. And Transformers. And G.I. Joe. They need to throw some weight around at somebody other than their fans for a change. That was really great of Dan to acknowledge the issue. He's passionate, I can tell. He's a great hype man. But until something actually changes, it's just lip-service from the hype man. Don't say that you're sorry and that you hear us because how many times has this SAME. EXACT. SCENARIO played out in just the past few months? If figures are released as fan-channel exclusives, then retailers would have to compete for business. And you know who I'm going to buy from assuming uniform MSRP? The store with the best customer service. The store that makes an effort to care about customer concerns. Stores may demonstrate attention to these areas by taking two decisive, concrete actions: 1. Ensuring that pre-orders are never canceled under any circumstances that are beyond the customer's control. 2. Placing safeguards (such as captchas) to ensure that bots can't place pre-orders. Stores that cared to implement these two policies would get the majority of my business. Obviously I can't speak for anyone but myself, but I bet they'd get the business of a lot of people on these boards as well. Dan, thank you for acknowledging the issue and for bringing the hype. I appreciate you. Now tell me how the next time is going to go: fans first, as Hasbro promises, or fans last as Hasbro consistently demonstrates? What are you going to be tweeting next Friday, Dan? Is it going to be "Thanks, guys. We listened, and we're glad everyone had fun today", or is it going to be "Sorry, guys. We hear your frustrations. We're working on it"? Hasbro needs to get real. Adult collectors do not have the time for this kind of stuff. Folks are starting to rage quit. I see it on here. I see it on Reddit. I see it on other boards. I see it in real life. Hasbro is poised to start hemorrhaging fans and revenue. They are custodians of some very important and very lucrative brands, and the mismanagement of those brands is getting worse, not better. It's time for Hasbro to take action. Those actions right up there at the top of this post. So what's it going to be?

Happy Fan First Tuesday, everybody! Don't you all feel like you came first today?

Nah, fam. Doctor Octopus. They could reuse most of him with some soft plastic parts for his jacket and cravat, etc.

The link is live! My pre-order went through! Go Go Go!!! https://www.target.com/p/-/A-79659824

Because we're now three pages deep in an online discussion about what Walmart's plan is and what are they going to be selling and when will they be selling it.