Sorry if this has been discussed before, but I was looking at some of my Marvel movie figures that TB did, and I have to say they were fantastic, the plastic, paint, and articulation was awesome, then when Hasblo started making them the quality went way down, (well IMO it did.) So what happened, hadn't Toybiz been making Marvel figures for 15+ years? why and how did they lose the license to Hasbro?
thanks,


D.

I miss those Marvel movie figures too

For sure, I dislike Hasblo very much,



D.

Do I still wish Toybiz made the license? Sure I do, but pretty much went out with a whimper in my opinion and so has Hasbro. If Hasbro had been smart they would have put these out in the 3 3/4 scale from the gate. Toybiz had pretty much spoiled us from the get go and there was no way fans were going to be happy. It's very similiar to the DST Trek vs the AA Trek debate that goes on another forum I'm on and it pretty much goes now where too. Mainly because it's the same folks that were talking bad about the licensee, but are now talking smack about the current licensee

Sob. Miss them too.

Marvel corporate decided that they could get more money selling the license than continuing with their internal toy company, so they shut it down shortly after giving Hasbro the license. Theoretically, Hasbro had better distribution worldwide and could push a greater volume of toys than Toy Biz (briefly Marvel Toys) could. Hasbro paid millions up front for the license too, I don't know if there was any revenue sharing agreement.

Basically it was all a financial decision that we can't totally understand, and it's a shame. Still Hasbro has improved over the years and the upcoming Legends two-packs look like some of their best stuff yet (aside from Valkyrie who was created a couple of years back when they were cutting the articulation)!

Agreed look at the quality of these, Lord of the Ring figures, and LCBH figures some of the best toys ever

I really miss them, as well, but the Marvel Universe line is growing on me, especially as it continues to give me figures that Legends never got around to (like the Wrecking Crew, Crimson Dynamo, and Klaw).

Ah,well. No use crying over spilled milk.

I really like the Marvel Super Heroes line (the first?). I collected them back when they came out. They're fairly easy to collect too, due to their low value.

After that though, I know little to nothing about any comic book-based toy lines.

BTW, anyone know why the Marvel Super Heroes line is so cheap to get? Just a matter of them being mass produced or just not popular?

Is that the proper name for the Secret Wars line from the 80's?

No, Secret Wars is Secret Wars. Marvel Super Heroes was the Toy Biz 5" line from the 90s.

Since everyone else disagrees with me, I'll throw in a dissenting opinion. I have the following figures in both Toybiz ML and Hasbro ML, and I think the Hasbro version is way better (if I had easy access to the figs and the time to take comparison shots, I would provide pics to back up my opinion):

Daredevil
Black Widow
Iron Man (basic classic version)

Those are just three quick examples off the top of my head. I also think nearly every single female fig in the Toybiz ML line is an abomination of action figure aesthetics. Hasbro's ML ladies are definitely an improvement (IMO).

I do agree in that I think the worst thing about most Hasbro ML figs has been the paint apps. There are some great customizers who take Hasbro ML figs and re-paint them, and then you see how great the fig could look (the sculpts pretty good), if the paint apps were better.

But, when you factor in that Hasbro gave us Mighty Muggs (which I enjoy a lot), Super Hero Squad (which are really fun and I have enjoyed a lot), and MU (which has pumped out some great characters super fast--although I'm just not a big fan of that scale overall)....I'm left feeling pretty good about Hasbro's Marvel output. I personally have enjoyed Hasbro's Marvel stuff much more than I enjoyed Toybiz's overall. I actually kinda thought Toybiz's movie based figs were some of their worst.

I'll agree that once Hasbro went through their learning curve, they've adjusted well. The most recent wave of Legends is top notch. I'm curious to see what they come up with in 2012.

Most of my excitement comes from the MU line nowadays. Legends are getting way too expensive.

I just started collecting Marvel Legends, and even though its quite expensive, it's been pretty fun, I just wanna get the mutants and a couple others (bullseye, who I already have and Hawkeye....someday). Regarding Deadpool...I think I'll settle for the one with Warpath...

Sometimes. However, if that ment 6 inch figures (or close to that) from the animated Marvel shows then YES!

The "Iron Man Armoured Adventures" and "Wolverine and the X-Men" lines were crap. The figures were too small and cost WAY too much for such a small figure. Hopefully if Hasbro makes figures from "The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" they'll be at least 4.75 scale.