During their Marvel panel at San Diego Comic-Con today, Hasbro announced that in 2011 we would see an Iron Man Legends 6-inch line with broad distribution. This would lead in to 2012, with a relaunch of Marvel Legends in the 6-inch scale.
Iron Man Legends
Long-time Marvel Legends fans will remember Crimson Dynamo and Titanium Man – they were first announced at Toy Fair in 2009 and then were removed from their display booth before the opening of San Diego Comic-Con last year. We’ve seen test shots that were sold on eBay since then, but this is the first time we’ve seen Hasbro make a definitive statement that these will hit shelves – well, at least since the first time at Toy Fair.
I suspect we will see more figures like the Hulkbuster Iron Man and War Machine in this line – reuses and repaints of the existing stable of 6-inch Iron Man figures that have been exclusive to Wal-Mart and Target thus far. To really satisfy the collector base, I think Hasbro will need to include more unique characters – but in a non-movie year, I’d be pleasantly surprised if we do get more than repaints, aside from Crimson Dynamo and Titanium Man.
Marvel Legends
The reception for Hasbro’s upcoming Marvel Legends 2-packs, featuring Deadpool / Warpath, Black Widow / Winter Soldier, and Valkyrie / Hulk, have been well-received. I think that Hasbro has come a long way in meeting collectors’ expectations for Legends. Coupled with what appears to be solid performance of the last wave and a half of 2-packs, Hasbro is planning for a big return of the 6-inch scale for Marvel.
Yes, 2012 is still a year and a half away, but what I hope this means for the line is that Hasbro will come up with a product strategy that allows for a lot of leverage from new body sculpts, with reuse like what we’re getting in the 2-packs – there’s enough uniqueness in the added parts for this wave that I don’t even notice the reused base bodies. This will be needed to keep the line financially viable.
I know Hasbro wouldn’t go out on a limb to announce this so far in advance without being fully committed to the relaunch, but I’ll try to remind myself that a lot can change in 17 months. If performance of Iron Man Legends is abysmal, for example, that could put plans for a Marvel Legends relaunch in jeopardy. But I’ll remain positively optimistic for the return of one of my favorite toy lines.
What are your thoughts?
i hope that by next year at SDCC, Hasbro show us that they’ve spent the last 12 months creating some really decent figures that can be reused for multiple characters with minimum extra tooling required.
BTW Hasbro, if you read this, bring out the heavy hitters (Extremis/Heroic Age Iron Man, Bucky Cap/Steve Rogers: Super Soldier & Modern Thor) within the first 3 waves.
If those guys are there (or are planned to be), i’ll be there to greet them.
sooooooo glad to see the return of Legends as a mainline
i would like to see obscur characters not ones that have been made in the past like thanos and punisher in the captain america outfitt ,soaron,maybe some what if characters this is what my first wave would be snowbird and puck,terrax,blastarr,zzzack,grey gargoyle,demalition man,u s agent,american dream,how about a rogue,vermin,dazzler,the fallen,havok,cable in the space suit I mean i can go on and on
as a long time collector I want a lot of new characters too, but I also want to see Marvel Legends take off again in mass market retail. for that to happen we will need to revisit the Marvel roster’s big names in each wave. it’ll be a tough balancing act including enough big hitters in each wave to keep the big retailers interested while slotting in more obscure choices to keep the line interesting to die-hard collectors. I think Mattel has a pretty decent model with the all-star cases that Hasbro could leverage for Marvel Legends.
Anyone else interested in seeing a dark avengers line? I know its over with now but I would love a DA ms. Marvel, daken, and iron patriot. How about an X-23 in X-Force gear? Bucky Cap seems like it would be a no brainer. Modern rogue and havok would be great and a new namor and magneto that fit in with other ML figures.
I definitely agree that balance is necessary. It will be interesting to see how they improve on those. But as for the characters we haven’t seen yet, I would echo the requests for the classic Alpha Flight characters that haven’t gotten the ML treatment yet, along with Jack of Hearts, Nova (Galactus herald), 1st Appearance Captain Britain, and (swoon) Bug from the Micronauts (since I know the rest of the team is basically impossible because of the rights issues).
gah i am so flipping excited about this!! i hope during its relaunch we get a ultimate colossus and a new genis-vell. and hey a throw back to legendary comic book heros wouldnt hurt either ;P but if anything were to come out of the line i hope we get a x-force archangel! i have the angel figure from toybiz and i would love to suspend it from my ceiling fighting the modern archangel.
hey Hasbro, the new 2-packs are pretty good!
I love Warpath! I plan on getting the Hulk and Valkyrie series next, then Black Widow and Winter Soldier.
BUT PLEASE can you stop with the v-crotch!!!! It is ridiculous especially since you never see a v-crotch on GI Joe or Star Wars figures!!!
Hasbro has a chance to really do Legends BIG!!
Hit me with the following and watch they fly off the shelves:
Modern Thor, Modern Luke Cage, Grey Gargoyle, Blastarr, Terrax, Snowbird, Stingray, Annihilation Nova, the Wrecking Crew, a classic Crimson Dynamo, Sebastian Shaw, Titania, Moonstone, and Atlas, and people will stop talking DCUC and start talking LEGENDS all over again!!!
is there any chance to see an Spider-Man Unlimited (TV) action figures?
cus i am an big fan so…
i eant with his cool costume (black,red and the cape)
will be so cool if they make that version of spidy,…