As has been the case this last year, I’m confused on what to collect when it comes to Marvel toys. I’m the guy that culled most of his Marvel Legends collection years ago and swore he didn’t need to get into Marvel Universe before slowly accumulating more than a few Marvel Universe figures and then buying a bunch of Marvel Legends… ugh!
With Marvel Legends back, we’ve got two really nice comic-based toy lines going (score that one, Mattel) and I’m struggling with it. I’ve got the Marvel Universe Future Foundation 3pk and the Marvel Legends Future Foundation Spidey. Doom was shown in both scales at SDCC and I kinda want both. That’s just silly.
But looking at the SDCC news the part of me that wants to be a Marvel Legends collector is pretty happy, but the part of me that still leans to Marvel Universe is starting to wonder what the heck is going on.
Going into SDCC, we already knew a lot of the Marvel Universe product that has to yet to reach store shelves like the Future Foundation Spidey from Wave 19, the fantastic Nova from Wave 20, Professor X & Jubilee from Wave 21, new 2pks, new 3pks, and, of course, Mastersworks Fin Fang Foom. There’s been plenty revealed, but little shipped. With that in mind, maybe I was expecting too much when it came to the SDCC reveals this year. There were a few reveals, but in some cases there were figures I was expecting to see based on past WIP reveals like the Black Knight that went unmentioned at this year’s SDCC.
Most of what was revealed found its way to us through the display case over the course of the con. We got our first look at the Uncanny X-men 3pk (featuring Jim Lee Rogue) and the Inhumans 3pk (I need a Karnak figure really bad). There were some new 2pks too, Future Foundation (featuring White Doom and a FF Black Spidey), Spidey vs Rhino, and some X-Men vs. Avengers 2pks – but you gotta thinks old school on those because this is the 80s miniseries. The 2pks will feature Magneto vs Cap and Wolverine vs She-Hulk. The next day, Mysterio & Electra made their way into the case.
It sounds like a lot when I writer it out, but the sum total of new reveals was really just four 2pks so far. The panel loomed and then it seems MU was just kinda of a speed bump. Old Man Logan was revealed as this year’s Digital Comic Exclusive and another Uncanny X-Men 3pk was shown, this one featuring the current version of the team – Cyclops, Emma Frost, and Colossus as Juggernaut.
There is definitely some cool stuff. I’m not done with MU yet and it doesn’t seem like Hasbro is either. I will buy both upcoming She-Hulks, Nova, Rogue, Karnak, and a few others. And I definitely need that orange Foom for my Thor collection, so hopefully Hasbro will find a home for it somewhere. Still, I feel like we’re in a big MU lull and I’m ready for the line to get back on its feet.
Meanwhile, the 6” collector in me had plenty to chew for Marvel Legends. Again, we got the plenty of reveals/updates before the panel. We saw carded images of Wave 3 – images that caused some disappointment as there’s no BAF for Wave 3. The wave turns out to be somewhat of a filler wave as the Wave 2 came together quickly and left a big gap between itself and the 2013 product. As has been revealed over the past few months this wave will include U.S. Agent, Mystique, Dani Moonstar, Neo-Classic Iron Man, Blade & Punisher as “running change figures”, Deadpool in regular and X-Force colors, and Dr. Doom is traditional and Future Foundation colors. While there is no BAF, this wave will feature more of those swanky Avengers “Heroscape” stands.
Attendees were told that Day 2 would see the 2013 Wave 1 BAF find its way to the case. That next morning, two new figures debuted the All-New Savage She-Hulk (the time lost daughter of an alternate reality Hulk & Thundra) and Hit Monkey. I didn’t know what/who Hit Monkey was, but apparently he’s a monkey that learned the ways of the hitman and uses his skills to kill other assassins. Hey, at least it sounds better than most DCnU origins.
Anyway, so the confusion – a new BAF is supposed to be in the case, but instead there’s this tiny, hyper-articulated monkey. Well, friends, it turns out the age of the Micro-BAF is upon us. Marvel Legends is always innovating, right? I’m not so sure I need to build Hit Monkey, but he does come with a stellar line as revealed at SDCC: Archangel (in both standard and X-Force costumes), white Iron Fist / Protector (running change), Red She-Hulk/All-new Savage She-Hulk (running change), Hyperion/Sentry (running change and featuring a great new buck), Ultimate Captain America, and X-Force Wolverine. I’m not sure on the circumstances around all those running changes or variants, but it sure sounds like it could be easy to build two Hit Monkeys.
Marvel Legends closed out on some reveals for Wave 2 were also shown including Marvel Legends Wrecker (who will have Bulldozer as his running change mate), Moonstone (featuring an all-new female sculpt) and finally, finally, finally a Jim Lee Jean Grey.
Finally, the teaser, and possibly the most exciting Marvel news from SDCC for me personally was a sneak peak at Iron Man 3 toys. It was just one panel at the end of the presentation that said “Legends come to Iron Man” with an image that depicted the Wave 1 Iron Man standing in front of what appears to be a rather large BAF of the Iron Monger. I’m in line for that already (and yes, I do have that 1:18th classic comics series Iron Monger from Iron Man 2, so what?)
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Is it just me or is anyone else hating all these running changes that Hasbro has planned in Marvel Legends. At times is hard even to find them but now we figures getting swapped out part way which now makes not 1 but 2 figures harder to fine or more.
Not really. I hate the Sentry, so Hyperion is a great option.
But what if you can’t ever find him and all you see are Sentrys?
That’s what really bothers me as well. If I preorder through BBTS, there is no guarantee as to whom I’ll get. I want Hyperion but have no idea if I’ll get stuck with Sentry instead. Not what I’d call the best incentive for buying online.
Almost as it they are trying to make sure you cannot get the whole thing online, and you have to go into the stores. That’d be a big incentive for a store to carry the line.
It’s not just you. I was initially excited about the new Marvel Legends, but the “running change” thing killed that enthusiasm in its tracks.
I can’t find most of the figures in stores. The running change model has made online retailers unreliable. BBTS, which used to be my source for DCUC figures, flat-out says they “can’t guarantee” which version of Thunderball/Piledriver you’ll get if you order from them. I expect they’re just being honest. So much for building the team! I ordered Madame Masque from TRU, and I just received Madame Hydra instead. I’m not a happy camper.
I can’t get excited about most of the figures previewed at SDCC because there’s little chance I find them at retail, and for things like Wrecker/Bulldozer… what’s the point? There’s little chance of ever building the Wrecking Crew.
dude, all i can say is, i have both members of the crew released so far, and my town had the absolute worst distro on that wave that could be had, short of no distro at all… so if i can pull that off, i don’t feel like anyone else has an excuse. if you wanted the figs, they are out there. so yes, completing the crew is easily possible. you just have to stay positive. now, i will say, i didn’t find the whole wave, but i also made minimal effort to get to my TRU and only hit a walmart when we had other stuff to shop for… i didn’t hunt at all.
“completing the crew is easily possible”
Not trying to be jerk-o, but I strongly disagree with the word “easily” being included in that sentence. And it seems most of my collecting bros are in the same boat I’m in. But I congratulate you on your success. 🙂
You must live in a really lovely area, because I have been to multiple TRUs, Targets, Wal-Marts and – god help me – Kmarts over and over, over the course of months and in multiple cities, and all I found during that time were a lonely Drax and Bucky Cap who then, too, vanished from the pegs. I’ve never seen a villain or a female character.
There was no “easily” about it. This line has been nothing short of a nightmare to collect. You got really lucky. Congratulations.
I’ve recently expanded my MU collecting and decided to purge my Legends figures. I didn’t collect them from the beginning, but managed to amass a lot of them over the last four years. However, I felt “completing” certain teams would be difficult at this point and my new found appreciation of the 3.75″ scale motivated me to focus my attention on MU & G.I. Joe.
But that Neo-Classic Iron Man might reel me in still…
I think the coded message about Prime Breakdown is that Takara made him too expensive to be sold as a Voyager, and not complex enough for a Leader.
They’ve always been more open to just pricing things as they need to be, even back in the Beast Wars days.
Which DCnU characters got new origins? I collect a fair portion of the comics and can’t think of but a couple that got new origins. Superman is still Kryptonian. Batman is still annoying as ever. Aquaman is pretty much the same. The two changes I can think of is the Firestorm/s’ which is a bit lame, and Wonder Woman’s which is wonderfully tragic.
I hate it when I post prematurely.
Anyways… Hit Monkey looks awesome. I was a bit disappointed that he’s the BAF. Oh well I’ll get him off eBay.
The Dark Energon line for Prime looks great, but then I’ve always been a sucker for translucent toys. I won’t them all, but Megsy, Starscream (FE mold right?), Knockout, and Wheeljack will be pre-ordered ASAP. By a stroke of luck I managed to get the FE Prime translucent Optimus. Fingers crossed we see the weaponizer Bulkhead in translucent plastic.
Personally. I’m a little disappointed in the Iron Man 3 tease, since I was curious to see whether the 1/18th stuff would be Iron man 2/Wolverine/cap/Thor standard, Avengers standard or something else entirely. Then again, last year they teased the Amazing Spider-man line with the super-poseable figure, and we all know how typical that figure was in the Spider-man line.
Really, I just wanted to see a Mk.VII with a joint in his body, since that’s the one thing I can’t add to either Avengers series version of the armour. Roll on NYCC!
I’d be more excited about Hasbro’s reveals if I thought they could actually get them to the shelves. There’s hardly been MU and Star Wars product around here since Christmas and Marvel Legends barely exist.
I was surprised in a bittersweet way with the offerings for Transformers and Legends. After last year, I was expecting more out of the Marvel side, and usually they Hasbro has less to offer with Transformers since a lot of big reveals are done at Botcon.
I’m with Vault – Generations is going to kill my wallet in the next year or so. I was hoping with Voyager Soundwave being announced a little while ago that they’d be willing to upgrade the tiny FoC Optimus in a similar fashion, but getting Grimlock and Blaster in that size are a great trade-off.
Legends wasn’t disappointing necessarily, but I was almost expecting more; I wasn’t as impressed by the character selection this time. I might be mistaken, but I thought that Hyperion and Sentry were built off the Wrecking Crew base. The new female base should make for better proportions Mattel’s DC can only dream of, and will be an excellent opportunity to ditch the old ankles. Moonstar’s face looks a little disappointing and I’m not the biggest USAgent fan, but I’ll be happy to get a decent Doom, that Neo-Classic Iron Man, and truthfully that Wolverine looks like it might be the best yet.
I like Superion and Sentry too, but add me to the list of folks worried about running changes. It worked fine for the Wrecking Crew and the Madames to some extent, but not others. I had to resort to the obscure to get Big Time Spidey for retail.
naw, they said at the panel the hyperion/sentry buck is new, for guys between the steve rogers buck and warpath buck.
i too dislike the “running changes” feature, it forces you to impulse buy cuz you never know if the first time you see a character might prove the only time. that’s crap.
The running change thing is also a problem because it seems to be leading to situations where you never see one version or the other. I’d have bought Big Time Spider-Man on the spot if I’d ever seen one, but all I ever saw were Future Foundation.
I had two refresher cases of ML hit about a week ago, both with GL -I mean, “Big Time” Spidey, but most of the case at WM was crushed, but figures seem ok. If you’d like, I can swing by this weekend and see if he’s still there?
but yeah, I kept passing on FF Spidey, and now I’m wondering if I should regret that, even tho he’s not a “gotta catch’em all” character for me.
oh, and almost forgot: did anyone hear any last minute update on ML STRYFE? He was announced last year with Jean, but SDCC no show as far as I know despite her late appearance.
The running change seemed like a good idea at the time but seriously, a Hit-Monkey BAF? It just might finish off my interest in this line unless it leads to guys like Puck or Rocket Raccoon. Still hoping to see the 2012 MU waves that we’ve been waiting to hit for months. I’m betting that Hasbro has a better showing planned for New York. At least give us the Black Knight and Masterson Thor.
Rocket Raccoon was announced at one of the panels as being one of the Build-a-Mini-Figures
Puck is still coming in MU, which is good enough for me. At least it’s a better scale than the previous 5″ Alpha Flight wave Puck pack-in!
Jubilee, however, is still a bit short compared to MLs. It looks like she’s in black bodysuit? so vampire Jubes? I’m kinda wishing she was in Gen-X red, if not her classic/XTAS shorts.
and yeah, Eric-Thor or THUNDERSTRIKE is still in my Top Ten, regardless. I’m not sure about the Black Knight you’re referring to, however?
I saw the new TMNT the other day at TRU, and I’m not impressed. I considered the new van after seeing it online, but again, another no sale in person.
TF – it’s always pick and choose with these for me. the more classic the look, the better odds I’ll pick it up. still not decided on the Voyager class Soundwave and Blaster, tho.
I have seen the new bases popping up the last few weeks and saw the WFC Prime and Jazz at TRU the other day. Prime is TINY and not sure on Jazz, which I can wait to get him cheaper elsewhere, anyway.
ML – I am down with this line, but a few quibbles.
1- the “variant” pairings. Iron Fist and Protector? huh? (and I admit I thought Protector was Gravity at first pic, fro behind.) The Shulks I don’t mind, as it’s an obvious pairing, more than the Blade/Punisher pair.
Sentry and Hyperion I can understand, but don’t need Sentry. I’ve been hoping for several years that Hype would have a King Hyperion variant from Exiles. Of course, now that we have him, that’s two more teams they need to follow up on, Squadron and Exiles! (and no news of a 6″ Nighthawk?? the MU is still coming, right?)
2- BAF Hit Monkey. I heard he was supposed to be MU, but then someone decided to give us a mini-BAF instead? ISN’T THAT WHAT MU IS FOR???? There are at least four BAFs I think are fairly needed: Erik Josten as Goliath (to go with MOE 3pk) and Atlas, and with the Thor movies going, it would be nice to see ODIN and VOLSTAGG (Blob body base) in BAF form. I can’t think of many others still needed outside of Sentinel variants or even Celestials, except maybe the Shi’ar Imperial Guardsman Titan. Without even ML Gladiator to back him up, he’s not even on the radar, despite the MU Gladiator.
3- Orange Foom – was he a late reveal? I’m not caught up and I heard he was pulled due to lack of retailer interest? Maybe if they hint he could be in IM3? or somehow tie him into that? I balked at most of the Hulk Legends because it was the first price increase and I stupidly refused to pay $15 then, and besides, only saw a few figures ONCE. I don’t even have a complete Rulk, either, for the same price hike reasons.
With the marvel toy reveals I got mixed up on the scales. I thought She-rulk was a MU fig. I buy MU for a cousin and digs them all so, liked the reveals just waiting to see new stuff. I am wanting to find both Ultimate Spideys badly. On legends I admit I tried to get Terrax complete but the 1st wave but it went fast and wave 2 barely saw and only got Bucky cap. (Selling ‘strictor, Klaw, and skinny Drax)
On TFs that Grimlock is a must buy and hope to see some G1 homages later on cause the cybertron molds are fun but want those more. Trailbreaker and Hoist need good ones.