ML's are DYING! What r u gonna do?

FAST FWD TO 2018 & We're all singing a different tune about Hasbro!
Night & FREAKIN' DAY! 2010 those were some dark days...now Hasblow er, Hasbro done picked up the rebound & scored some major touchdowns & grand SLAMS!

On a personal level, it sux 4 me cuz I don't have the funds nor the space to keep collecting, but Damn it feels good to be a gangsta!(Or Toy Collector.)

Personally I say move with the times, if that's all thats available we have to use them. I bought some 3.75 joes the other day just to have a go with them and see how that works out. If it's bad I've always got the WWE and there countless moneymaking figures to fall back on. Besides, I reckon it will be a while before most of the more common legends become stupidly expensive and hard to find. We will find a way!!!!!

Oh god no! u can't do that! Dou have an idea how many customizers would b out of work? some of us can only make deadpool

Very interesting topic. What I'am gonna do? customize every character I like from the Marvel Universe . Surely ToyBiz was a pioneer on making a so articulated figure, at a reasonable price and produce a good quantity of them. But in my opinion, a 30 % the figures were not brilliant, with over-articulation, too skinny, etc (like Mystique, Captain Marvel or many others).

I'am a 100 % DCUC fan, and I think it isn't a bad thing that they reuse the same base body for every figure. In Marvel Legends you get some very strange proportions between two characters that should be the same, although I agree that they're avoiding characters that needs new tooling and new proportions (it seems that anything more built-up than a Bizarro will be BAF).

I don't trust hasbro to re-vitalize the line. If they do something, it will be a mega exclusive line that will be seen two weeks on some weird Wal-Mart and ending at exhorbitant prices on eBay. I don't like the 3/3 4" line as I always have thought of superhero figures being 6 inches, and it is lame way to win more doing less.

I just hope the DCUC continues a loooong time, and that they don't end up under-producing figures, doing 50 variants of Batman/Superman, or too many Wal-Mart exclusive waves.

Dragon man.

I say release the original toy biz deadpool minus the doop to cut down on costs. your welcome hasblow!

Ya know, id be okay with $10 for a fig with no accessories, like dcd did for years, as long as it wasn't the bullseye/quicksilver/yellowjacket/forge/gaurdian/tarantula/everyothermalefigure body!! Hasbro needs to stop recycling. Or rerelease some rare figs.

As far I'm concerned the ML line starting dying when Hasbro took over the line. Increased prices for a cheaper product was already causing havoc but when they banked on selling 3.75 inch figures for $9 (effectively replacing ML) that was the last straw in my case. I can understand the economical side to the discussion but quality and price is certainly a issue imo. I did see that Hasbro was starting to improve then the line disappeared. If the quality was up to par I may pay $10 for a 6 inch figure but not $15 such as with the DC figures. Don't get me started on DC....

Where's the beating a dead horse icon?

It's cool Redmist, Just something I've been wanting to get off my chest and this was just the thread to do it on without others thinking I was starting the old Toy Biz VS Hasbro Legends argument again. An intelligent thread with both the concerns of the fans and toymakers in mind, I hope it continues. As for Hasbro in their Transformers line I'm a G1 guy, I took a step into the expensive but worth the money world of TF Alternators and then into the great selling TF G1 Classics line that got tossed to the side for the 1st movie line after that I never went back.

*Whew!* )

I'm considering buying some more of the Marvel 2 pks that are currently on shelves...they make great bantha poo-doo! And I totally agree w/yer sentiment about MU being 20 yrs late- I feel you!

Also Seph, While I don't deal much w/Hasbro(Tho I wanna buy those new joes! ) I don't trust'em on like a GP basis!

I'm glad this is becoming an interesting thread thanx 2 the rest of ya'll!

Never trust Hasbro. They're barely supporting the new TF: Generations line they just launched or the new combiner ones. THey're out but hardly any stores are getting them. I think everyone's goign to have to get used to making Marvel characters using DC bodies.

Not much of a forum writer, than I am a reader but I like where these posting are going on this question that brings to light the future of a great toyline and our new custom fodder reserves.
Yes, Hasbro has released news at SDCC 2010 of the return of Legends in 2011 - 2012, not because they are being loyal to the fans, but mostly because those will be Marvel movie heavy years with Thor, Cap, new Spidey, and others coming to the silver screen that will bring more household recognizability to characters otherwise unknown to the regular person on the street and in turn bring them more money, can't find blame with that because that is what the game is all about in the end ain't it. In the end we customizers get new Loki', Thors, Caps, Spideys, and any other characters that might show up in these movie and if were lucky some that aren't. I personally am not to excited about the new TRU exclusive 2 packs filling the void of a legend-less world mostly because it's like Hasbro throwing the loyal fans dog scraps and saying "this is what we are capable of selling to you in waves like 3 times a year, but this all you will get until we feel like giving you more" I'm still going to buy them just that TRU sees that Legends still bring in the business and doesn't give up on non-movie Legends like all the other retailers have. I personally denounce those 3 3/4 universe figures because it's a cool idea that should have been implemented like 20 years ago. Do you know how awesome it would have been to have GI JOE sized Marvel figures when I was young, having Thor and Cap helping Duke storm the Terrordome or having Wolverine battle Storm Shadow and Zartan, but now I'm too old to appreciate this line other than to display them or customize them and an $8.00 price is kinda pricey when regular Legends with BAF piece is like $10.00.
DC Universe Classics, a great line that the DCU has been deserving for decades, but for me the problem is in the pricing and what I'm getting out of it. They started out at $11.00 to remain competitive with Legends prices, but because Legends for all intended purposes no longer exist Mattel starts charging $15.00 at retail and like $18.00 online for as Redmist said 90% reuse of the same figure. $15.00 gets the average customizer an awesome headsculpts, great characters acurate accessories /capes/wings, strong plastic mostly same body bucks (if you customize in DCUC), a pin LOL, and a BAF piece to a slighty larger hit or miss figure (I can't get a giant Anti-monitor or Doomsday, but I can get an Imperiex, Chemo, or a Valadus...REALLY) I only buy figures from this line at retail if I enjoy the comic character and then I get the rest buying cheap lots off the Bay. I personally think while this is a great line and getting better with the new double jointed knees and elbow they still are not Legends.
Leafman343 posted a great comment about company profitablity both for the retailer and toy company. This is a good point that figures that aren't known by the average kid/collector/adult won't sell, but in reality that was magic behind the history of Marvel Legends. a fifth tier toy company by the name of Toy Biz with the licence to make Marvel figures (mostly because they were inleauge with Marvel Comics) enjoyed a lengthy ride of profitability on these 5" toys that sold mostly because of animated series they are based on than the comics they originated from, but boy the oddball characters they dare put out in waves during this time for comic fans was astounding and appreciated. Then the Marvel Animated series' dried up and nothing but reissues and kitbashes for years. Then came two waves of Spider-man Classics with multiple points of articulation, detailed stands, and a relevant comic reprint for $8.00. With these figures selling out the Biz thought to use the same formula to bring other Marvel characters into an adult comic collector only toyline, so no more having to dumb down a character's costume or accessories for kids. At a $10.00 price point it was a rollercoster ride of profitability through the waves of figures 1) sold very well. 2) not so well, 3) sold well, 4) overproduced; not well at all and because of series 4, series 5 through 8 that had some awesome figures were underproduced. Then came the BAF series 9 and 10 sold out everywhere and now retailers now knew the selling power of Legends, series 11 was overproduced and featured vehicles instead of a BAF sold, but did not go over well with the fans and retailers as figures sat on the pegs, series 12 went back to BAF and was a very confusing wave for fans as almost every figure had a variant even the BAF figure, but in the end it helped sell the wave. Because of an oil shortage and gas prices going through the roof, the BAFs for series 13 through 15 became smaller. Series 13 overproduced was an all villian wave that a brave experiment by Toy Biz in the selling power of Legends and in unknown characters, the experiment slated to fail by many fared pretty well. Then came the news of the Hasbro sale that made Toy Biz rush series 14 and 15 out of the factory so fast that waves started showing up at outlet stores before actually retailers/toy stores/comic stores and between all this a Walmart exclusive 11 figure Giant man BAF series that couldn't even be seen on pegs that is how fast they sold out. Many tie-in figure lines came out of Marvel Legends through out the years some did very well like Face-off, Icons, Spider-man classics, and X-men, while others did not like Hulk, Fantastic 4. At the end of the day for the $10.00 a relatively unknown toy company called Toy Biz was charging for their Marvel Legends, we got an awesome super posable, "most of the time" comic accurate figure, flight stand, reprint comic, relevant Marvel figure BAF part, character "mostly" accurate weapons/pack-ins/display base/items, display backboard with stand. This is why I try not to write on forums I get real longwinded with facts and stuff. If you take anything away from my ramblings is that it's sad that we have to settle for scraps or weird future toy promises or outragously priced figures, When Toy Biz showed us that we could get a lot for $10.00 and regardless of character known and unknown choices Marvel Legends were still profitable and sold well all around. We just settle with what Hasbro and Mattel gives us, well at least we have customizing....long live the customizers of the world and two middle fingers to big toy companies that we must with regret buy from.

Well I'm just taking Hasbro's word for it, they've got 2 years to go back on their word

As for what anyone can do about it? I don't think we can do anything, maybe try to get Marvel to yank the license from Hasbro. If Hasbro can't find a way to maintain profitability on a 6" line without making it ridiculously priced, then we have to accept it and move on. Personally I can see how difficult it is for them to keep profits rolling in.
Right now at my Walmart, we have plenty of the IM2 3 3/4" line but not because we keep them well stocked, but because no one is buying them, we have MU figs from the first couple of waves and no one is buying them. Our DCUC section is packed with Cap Cold and Green Arrow and some other characters that aren't well known because what Mattel calls the "moms and kids" market doesn't recognise them. I sure all the collectors in my area have bought the figs they want, but there aren't enough people that are buying to even sell more than a case.
With a line like Marvel Legends, Hasbro has to look at the fact that retailers don't want to buy what they can't sell. So unless you can accept getting a new Iron Man/Spider-Man/Hulk/Wolverine every wave and having those being the more heavily packed figs your gonna be out of luck.

You hope...

Things change.

Hasbro said that they are bringing back ML in full force in 2012 at SDCC this year.