Comments on: Goodbye, Hasbro.

By: Gareth

Gareth — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 10:43:12 +0000

I completely agree with your original post. I live in the UK and collecting Marvel Legends has never been an easy thing over here.

From the ToyBiz series one it was extremely difficult to find the figures as very few high street stores ever stocked them.

Up until series 10 I was paying on average $19.00 per figure! After that more stores finally got the message and collecting was sweet until Hasbro got their hands on the license.

Now it’s next to impossible to find this figure in the UK. Hasbro ML series 1 only ever came out in one high street store. Hasbro has now taken the decision to stop stocking ML to the UK.

I’ve tried to contact Hasbro customer service but soon realised my folly as the staff in the UK call centre hadn’t even heard of Marvel Legends!

It looks like now I have been forced to stop collecting Hasbro ML, so from now on Mattel DC universe will get my attention.

I’m really confused at Hasbro attitude regarding shipping to the UK. The price hike and lack of paints and articulation was bad enough. Now I’m finished.

By: mkjeeves

mkjeeves — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:20:29 +0000

i can understand your frustration. im not a fan of hasbros sculpting, price hikes or downsizing of the build figures. so i also stopped buying. as far as mattel, while i am very upset at what has happened to the masters of the universe line, i do like their dc figures. but im not a dc fan so out of the 8 or so waves listed i can only see 2 or 3 figures i want. i didnt stop collecting, it was more like being pushed out of collecting. sad days.

By: ToyOtter

ToyOtter — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 19:28:46 +0000

Not to get too deep on it, but Tonka bought Kenner with very little changes in the late 80s. Hasbro bought Kenner (and Parker Bros) along with Tonka in the early 90.

While they left Tonka and PB relatively alone, they slowly forced Kenner into doing things the Hasbro way, eventually killing the Kenner name altogether and shutting down their headquarters.

By: CantinaDan

CantinaDan — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:29:23 +0000

“re: 5) I still can’t forgive Hasbro for what they did to Kenner.”

Maybe you could elaborate on this topic a bit. I’m not savvy to all the details and would be interested to read (a blog entry perhaps) about the subject.

By: ToyOtter

ToyOtter — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:53:04 +0000

I’m going to address this more fully in another post later today/tomorrow, but:

1) I’m more of a Marvel fan than DC fan.
2) “The other guy does it too/does it worse” is not a defense.
3) I’ve never been a fan of GI JOE, Transformers, He-Man, WWE, Naruto, etc. so past accomplishments buy no love from me.
4) I think Hasbro is a better toy company than Mattel.
5) I still can’t forgive Hasbro for what they did to Kenner.

One more thing. I’m not boycotting anything. A boycott implies that you will buy the toys again if/when something changes. I’m not buying any more toys from Hasbro. Period.

By: JJJason

JJJason — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 23:36:50 +0000

Perhaps ironically, I just this week decided to stop buying Mattel’s figures. Their management, Q&A spin, and non-distribution are an embarrassment to the industry and a frustration I can live without.

I’m more of a Marvel person, anyway.

And that’s the point, isn’t it? I wonder if you’d feel the same way about Hasbro if they were handling DCUC. I suspect you wouldn’t as AFI is a decidedly pro-DC, and thus pro-Mattel, site.

As for me, I don’t like how Hasbro mishandled Indiana Jones any more than anyone else, but they gave me G.I. Sigma 6, which I think are the best pure boys action toys of the last 20 years, so they have my nerd heart.

By: Beast

Beast — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:40:56 +0000

Frankly they’ve improved the lines.

The plastic is of a better quality. Which means I haven’t had figures breaking out of the package or falling over cause their joints are weak.

And there hasn’t been near as many problems with paint slop and stuck joints due to paint slop. And nobody looks like they’ve been swimming in a sewer like ML10 “Sewer Swimming” Cyclops.

And the price hike was going to happen no matter who was making the line. The cost of plastic had went through the roof. Why do you think other similar lines are the exact same price point as Hasbro’s Marvel Legends right now.

By: Spilldog

Spilldog — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:43:12 +0000

I agree with ToyOtter… I said from the minute I heard that Hasbro was taking over the Marvel Legends line that they would end up ruining the line, and so they have. I haven’t actually boycotted buying these figures, but I haven’t bought nearly as many as I used to when ToyBiz produced them. The price hike has also played a part in why I haven’t bought many too.

By: Oddjob

Oddjob — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 03:41:14 +0000

I understand what you’re saying, but I find it funny you blame Hasbro and then say you’ll continue to collect Mattel. Mattel has done everything you mentioned Hasbro doing, but twice as bad to four times as many lines.

By: 4LOTT

4LOTT — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:13:40 +0000

I remember Toy Biz making a Swarm figure. Althiugh I couldn’t find a pic, here’s the description from Wikipedia:
An action figure of Swarm was released in 1997 as part of the Spider-Man: Spider Force toy line. It was molded in a translucent yellow plastic, and featured a removable cape and hood, and snap-on bee armor. This armor could also be assembled to create a “giant” bee accessory.