Review by Loc
How could it take so long to review Marvel Legends? How indeed. In all honesty, I’ve been putting this one off. The sheer breadth and scope of this line is immense and the ramifications that this product had on the adult collector markets is nearly immeasurable. And the impact it had on my collecting habits has been just as grand. Again, in full disclosure, it was Toy Biz’s efforts that brought me back into regular visits at Toys R Us or Target toy aisles. So, while this review will be brief in nature, I’m sure follow-up showcases will continue to expand on the line that is Marvel Legends.
A little history lesson. Toy Biz was the company that produced Marvel toys since the early 90s. In fact, through some random, circuitous circumstances, Toy Biz owned Marvel at one point. As you can imagine, the company had a very vested interest in capitalizing on the vast array of superheroes from Marvel’s vaults. Simple enough, an early Marvel Superheroes line was launched, followed by an X-Men line. These were your basic, 5-points of articulation, globs of plastic one would expect for a kid’s line. Wacky action features, little sculpting, hunks of plastic goodness, in all manner of speaking.
Then came some improvements due to the success of the X-Men animated series. The X-Men figures began a slow transition from ugly to passable. The sculpting got better, the character selection expanded, and suddenly, Toy Biz had hit on a grand epiphany: put out quality toys and geeky grown-ups would buy the stuff, too! Soon enough, you had other lines following cartoon counterparts: Spider-man, Iron Man, Hulk, Fantastic Four.
Next, came the precursor to Marvel Legends: Spider-man Classics. For years, the Japanese collector’s market employed designs that not only featured amazing sculpting, but insane amounts of articulation. You had more than neck, shoulder and waist joints, you also had elbows, knees, ankles, wrists, and torsos. You had more than cut/hinge joints that only bent 90 degrees; instead, you got ball-jointed shoulders and waists, double-jointed elbows and knees, joints that allowed the toys to become moveable works of art. And Toy Biz noticed and said, why the hell not!
So with Spider-man Classics, Toy Biz unleashed a Spider-man figure in 6-inch scale that had nearly 30-points of articulation, things never seen in the US market like finger joints and toe-arches. It was a thing of beauty, to be able to pose your Spider-man in an inhuman stance found so often in the comic. And the collectors went for it, big time.
On to Marvel Legends, where Toy Biz took the same philosophy and opened it up to the entire Marvel Universe. The first wave included Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, and Toad. Toad was the lone exception, an older, highly detailed sculpt that had little articulation. However, the others featured numerous joints, some cool goodies like a comic accurate Captain America shield or Iron Man’s removable faceplate, and large, detailed bases. These were the comic representations that fanboys had been waiting for a long time.
Over the next several years, Toy Biz released a plethora of characters: Dr. Doom, the Thing, Namor, Wolverine, Storm, Gambit, Colossus, Blade, Ghost Rider, and countless others. Each of these had incredible detail, amazing poseability, and gorgeous bases. For characters like Ghost Rider, bases came in the form of logical accessories like his flaming bike. These were great pieces and offered the character selection for all hardcore fans.
Toy Biz continued to push the envelop with their development, introducing the concept of Build A Figure. For large, complex characters, the idea of releasing a 16-inch figure was unrealistic. However, by breaking the figure into its core components and offering a different piece with regular issue figures, Toy Biz found a way to deliver these gargantuan characters to the fans. Its first series presented Galactus, the world-devouring demi-god, broken into six pieces for the entire wave of figures. If collectors bought each figure, Bullseye, Professor Xavier, Hulk, Deathlok, War Machine, and Nightcrawler, they’d have all the pieces to build a giant Galactus figure with the same detail and articulation that Marvel Legends were known for at the time.
It was a glorious time for Marvel fans. Some waves also included rare chase pieces, variations to characters that offered a slightly new take on the same toy. In early waves, these chase pieces were simple decoration changes: an unmasked Wolverine or a trench coat wearing Thing. Future chases included completely new characters: Goliath and Dark Phoenix come to mind. Other chases offered a new take on the same character: a phasing Vision or a transforming Ghost Rider. While these chases often frustrated collectors with their scarcity, the fact that Toy Biz continued to develop new ways to present characters was a great nod to its fervent fanbase.
However, the good times came to an end. First, rising production costs scuttled another great idea: pack-in sub-characters. For a wave of villains, Toy Biz had planned to offer in-scale henchmen along with the expected character. For example, fully sculpted, but less-articulated figures of Hand ninjas or Hydra goons were to be packed in with Loki or Green Goblin. In essence, you’d be getting two figures for the price of one. World economies and gas prices be damned!
Yet, that wasn’t the only change. Future Build A Figures became smaller figures as Toy Biz dropped the idea of offering huge pack-ins. Thus, you got the Mojo wave and the Onslaught wave, where these Build A Figures were little more than a regular figure when fully assembled. However, fans were still getting an entirely new figure simply from purchasing an entire wave, essentially a buy 6 get one free promotion.
Again, another great idea never came to pass in the realm of Build A Figure. Early proposals of Build A Vehicle were left on the drawing board due to increasing costs. Thus, fans would never be able to collect pieces to the Avengers Quinjet, and instead were left with Mojo or Onslaught.
These were changes that were acceptable. In the grand scheme of things, getting so many extra goodies was a blessing to begin with, and Toy Biz continued to churn out good stuff. Unfotunately, like I mentioned above, the good times did eventually come to an end. Toy Biz relinquished its license to produce Marvel toys, and Hasbro bid enough to obtain the license. With that, the Toy Biz era ended and Marvel Legends would see a new incarnation.
While Hasbro continued to assure fans that the Marvel Legends line would continue and that the key aspects like sculpting and articulation would remain the same, fans were weary. And rightly so. Hasbro’s first series was the Annihilus wave, which delivered the smallest Build A Figure yet. More alarming was the price increase in basic figures as well as the change to production pieces. No longer housed in clear clamshells with an included comic, Hasbro Marvel Legends were placed on a decorated cardboard back that included no comic pack-in. In one fell swoop, fans were getting charged more for less.
Even more disconcerting were the paint applications. Toy Biz, for all the production complaints, always tried to deliver a highly detailed toy. Hasbro did the same, but under more big business terms. Gone were multiple paint applications that brought out so much detail in the Toy Biz pieces. Instead, figures were now cast in their component colors and only painted where necessary. Imagine the weathered combat boot of Captain America, where before multiple browns and blacks brought depth and detail to the figure. With Hasbro, you simply had a boot cast in brown plastic, shadowing and depth left to your imagination.
Fans were disappointed, but the extent of their displeasure wouldn’t be realized for several more waves. Due to the nature of the transition, Toy Biz had provided Hasbro with sculpts of their unfinished projects. Thus, the first two waves from Hasbro were basically Toy Biz products, even if they were missing paints and packaged differently. With wave 3, Hasbro had employed its own sculpts and suddenly the reality that Hasbro Marvel Legends were a different beast came to light. Gone were double jointed elbows and knees, replaced by simple hinge joints. Detailing and precision also disappeared, and now fans realized that big toy companies may not have the same idea as the little guy when it came to fan appreciation.
In addition, the product flow has been sporadic and decreased. Continued reassurance from Hasbro does little to assuage the fears that Marvel Legends may be a dying line. Which makes little sense to collectors who have seen a magnificent line die an untimely death for no apparent reason. Yet, when looking at the larger context, it’s easy to see how Hasbro may be more interested in developing companion products that have found success in other licenses. Lines like Super Hero Squad deliver small, collectible, cartoony versions of heroes to kids. Transformer Heroes offer a crossover product that they’ve employed with Star Wars as well. In the end, Hasbro is looking to capitalize on these characters after spending billions to acquire the license. Catering to a single sub-set of consumers may not be the best way to spend their resources.
It is a shame though, Marvel Legends came to assume its own branding, offering a legendary line for collectors and fans alike. Companies aimed to keep pace with Toy Biz, creating lines in the 6-inch scale with buttloads of articulation to appeal to the same consumer group. Look no further than the SOTA Street Fighter line, which was made to fit seamlessly into a Marvel Legends collection and siphon some of those collector dollars.
The aftermath of Hasbro Marvel Legends has been significant. Collectors make a clear distinction in referring to TB Marvel Legends versus HML, due to the extreme changes in the line. In addition, sales may have left Hasbro weary of putting too much effort in continuing the line, as announced lines have yet to see store shelves. Mostly, Hasbro has been producing 6-inch scale figures to coincide with the Marvel blockbuster movies. Fans got Iron Man movie figures that were widely accepted. An upcoming Hulk line is hitting shelves; however, even this series is getting heat for its presentation. The Build A Figure concept is back with a giant Fin Fang Foom dragon being delivered. Yet, it is spread across two waves, and the retail price for each figure is around $15-17 each. In essence, you’re no longer getting a free figure from completing a series, you’re simply paying for it now. Keep in mind, the heyday of Marvel Legends delivered toys for $6-7 a piece, and even after production costs increased, you could grab a toy for $8. Once Hasbro took over, Marvel Legends jumped to $10, and now this Hulk wave is up to $15. That’s a hard increase to swallow.
Toy Biz Marvel Legends were great and catered sincerely to the vocal consumers we call fanboys. While it wasn’t going to last forever, its demise came when there weren’t signs of slowing down. For the purists, they can continue to pine for the days of Toy Biz and enjoy the originals to no end. I don’t own any Hasbro Marvel Legends and I’m not sure any of their new product impresses me to rectify this situation. I’m sure there’ll be more reviews for Toy Biz’s line, some pieces deserve their own spotlight. Until then, enjoy what we had, and hope we’ll get back there some day.
