The Death of Marvel Legends Haslab

[@demetricsmith471]

The more u guys talk about Hasbro Marvel Legends offerings, the more I am reminded about all the extra world building ToyBiz put into each of their figures. It is amazing that a comic and base came with along with a standard figure. We truly had something special. 😮

True

[@thestrongcollectors]

I wonder how much that would cost per figure now for them to do a special run like that. Those were amazing times as action figure buyers.

[@JGARCIA2012FULL]

Solid Figures too, I have the two Onslaught Series Abomination figures, normal and variant, almost two pounds each without the Onslaught BAF part, just magnificent value!!

[@paulhitchcock2543]

Toybiz was able to do that due to unsavory business and production practices to say nothing of the fact it was 20 years ago.

@@paulhitchcock2543 a billion dollar company doing $300 + crowdfunds you have to wait a year for is unsavory too . The only thing different now is adults justifying any thing to get their plastic crack .

[@tomfin-wo5vc]

Hasbro really didn’t have a choice. The country couldn’t survive both a HasLab and a presidential election in the same year.

[@thestrongcollectors]

I think haslab has a shot life term no matter what happens in the world

[@retrorobo9700]

I might not mind that model. Initially it would suck a little while we wait that first year for the first orders to complete and ship but as they release new orders every few months, the deliveries will start to come in regularly and it may not feel much different than it does now. The main positives being that you would be guaranteeing that you got the figure you wanted and since they would probably take the money up front, you wouldn't have to worry about too many charges hitting your card at unexpected times. I think I like it.

[@thestrongcollectors]

Maybe I’ll make this a poll on the community page and see what people think.

I predicted after giant man they would run out of big characters that everyone would buy at a haslab price ,especially when giant man barely made it . However ,the problem with these pulse exclusives is everybody being able to get one . They should be available at other online stores because of the track record pulse has with its exclusives . And i still have a problem paying for stuff i wont get for a long time . I think a lot of people are getting tired of these expensive projects all these companies are doing just like the Mattel snake lair .

[@thestrongcollectors]

Yeah I don’t mind when it’s a smaller company but a giant one like Hasbro does make the wait a little harder.

[@pugman9672]

I wonder if the legends team would do an amor figure in through this program. Maybe they could make it big enough for Hisako to fit inside or maybe she’s too niche to get that treatment.

[@thestrongcollectors]

Yeah I’d love to ask Dwight about that.

[@JayWoods483]

Great video guys and I love the topic. As a Marvel action figure fan, I was pleased with the Haslab cancellation this year. As mentioned, there just isn't that many LARGE figures needed. However this Super Deluxe program has me curious to see what will become of it. Will Hasbro get "all-Hasbro" and charge astronomical prices? Will the product's value be reflective on the work done on the product? These are thoughts that keep from endorsing this program wholeheartedly. Yet I will be in line the day Dragon-Man is announced.

[@thestrongcollectors]

I think we’ll do a whole episode on the speculation of the price for dragon man. Realistically I don’t think it should cost more than $100 but I could see Hasbro trying to charge that.

[@JayWoods483]

@@thestrongcollectors I've got a bet it is going to be $120+

[@Vintage-Bob]

I'm not thrilled with this change of events. Dragon Man will be way overpriced, considering they overpriced Odin and Phoenix even more so (an extra $25 for an extra $.06 worth of plastic). If they price Dragon Man at $100 (as some are predicting), how can they justify that price when Giant Man was only $200? There is no comparison. And if you don't want to miss out on ordering Dragon Man, then for sure you'll need a Pulse Premium membership, which is ridiculous. And why a 1 year wait for Dragon Man? Hasbro is incompetent. I also think there are plenty of large figures that would fund. Hasbro made the mistake of assuming customers do not want figures as tiers, when in fact they only object to VITAL figures locked behind Haslab tiers. I still believe (as do several people I know who examined the issue) that Giantman did NOT fund, but that Hasbro fudged the numbers to avoid a 2nd failure. If the tiers has been say a Hank Pym in a lab coat and a prototype Ultron, it might have funded honestly. They could also do a Galactus sized Eternity (a major vital character) and have tiers of Dr. Strange in his original blue costume and Dormammu in his original green costume. I can guarantee that would fund and there would be no paywall complaints. Hasbro is either too stupid, too lazy, too arrogant, or some combination of all three to do basic market research and poll the customers so see what they want in ML Haslabs.

[@puffpuffpassmako]

Imo If hasbro is running out of such big characters why not do diorama sets? Imagine a Haslab Battleworld, Dr Doom Throne Room, Savage Land, Oscorp interior, Daily Bugle interior, X Mansion. Heck, for tiers give us some figures and props that go with the diorama. Example would be Battleworld tier 2 unlocks Beyonder, Tier 3 unlocks Beyonder and the Black Suit containment chamber

[@thestrongcollectors]

I think that could be a great option. there have been others that do dios or you can have one made for you but when the company you buy figures from makes a dio for those figures it seems like it just makes sense.

[@Vintage-Bob]

Amen! Playsets would be awesome!

[@liltacovato]

Now that’s a good idea, but ima need a fing fang foom, and apocalypse first

[@Vintage-Bob]

@@liltacovato Hey! Long time no see! Have you done any new custom work lately?

[@Leom_Leo]

First day of school today and I was happy to see a video from y’all to keep me going 😭

[@thestrongcollectors]

We try to keep to a schedule of 3 a week between this channel and Strong Collector Comics to keep you going. Only 2 this week becuase my audio was messed up on our other 2 but those will be out next week.

[@Slade_Havok]

It was bound to happen. Not that it’s a bad thing but how many giant sized characters like the Sentinel or Galactus can they make in figure form? Vehicles could work but we saw how the Engine of Vengeance went. Only time will tell if the HasLab comes back.

[@thestrongcollectors]

That's what we've been saying forever. most people don't have that much space to have many Haslab size items

[@ermac9275]

I’m completely fine with this idea. Hasbro’s Transformers have something similar with Commander Class figures. Doing 200-400 dollar haslabs of just huge figures was gonna get stale fast in my opinion. And there’s only so many vehicles in the marvel universe people would be willing to pay for/ would fit the haslab price

[@thestrongcollectors]

right. I think having it be an every other year thing or even just random times makes it feel more special too.

[@ermac9275]

@@thestrongcollectors this is true. With dragon man I think we’ve struck a balance between things like Juggernaut and Galactus. Something like MvC2 Sentinel seems possible now.

[@BladeStar-uq6xe]

The Ghost Rider car was a Joke! There were 5 cars and a Truck that were revealed to be perfectly compatible for $40 - $50! Wanting $500 for that car was ridiculous!

[@thestrongcollectors]

Yeah I really don’t think the popularity of the character had a lot to do with it. It was mainly the price.

[@ER1CK12]

While it’s another way to take money with those re-releases the Kang chair is a good sign of background/diorama type sets returning.

[@thestrongcollectors]

True. The kang is a cool offering. Not one I really need but I’m happy it exists

[@demetricsmith471]

Hasbro has already gone the online only route for build-a-figure waves. The figures are not being sold at retail stores. The last one I put together was the Mindless One. I don't like ordering online. I don't like not knowing what the paint apps look like and I despise damaged boxes. There's a lot more anxiety when ordering online.

[@thestrongcollectors]

That makes sense. For me I’d rather order online and not have to worry about going to the empty stores waiting for them to stock or wondering if they’ll even get stock.

[@robertmagana9125]

If the 2nd figure is Fin Fang Foom, (after they were giving out hints like "year of the Dragon, and think,thank,thump") I have a feeling that Dragon man was a tier for FFF, and maybe if the say more dragon characters are coming, (maybe like Devil Dinousar, Lockhead,Savage Dragon, or others) then maybe the price for Dragon Man alone will be like $150, FFF depending on the size $300-$400. Maybe they broke them up because if they put at least those 2 together as a HASLAB project, it would of been over lets say over $500 and they knew it wouldn't fund, so they did this as Plane B. Just my thoughts.

[@thestrongcollectors]

I don’t think theyer closely related enough for them to have been in the same haslab. My guess is they will hold off on fin fang foom for a while. Devil Dino would be an interesting one. I don’t think he’d make it as a haslab but made to order could work. Just depends on how bad people have to have it actuate to scale. For me, I’d rather save some money and use some imagination.

[@Vintage-Bob]

$150 is criminally insane for Dragon Man! Compare him to Giantman at $200. No way in hell can they justify that price. It would be outrageous!

[@foofoojojo]

I'd buy a Mole man Haslab with Giganto, Moloids and a bunch of monsters in it. I also hope that we get new Wrecking Crew and Absorbing Man figures

[@thestrongcollectors]

I've been saying with the way did the last xmen multi packs it would makes sense if they did the wrecking crew as 2 separate 2 packs

[@Southinator1]

This method is going to be interesting , i know its very small chance but let say for example 1 person orders dragon man , Will they still make it if one person orders it ? How much would that figure be? especially if only one is made. I also think this will some what compete with shelved stuff, e.g the detail on dragon man is good, but will the paint be better to what you see in stores for potentially the same price ?. A great way to get more nicher characters out there i have a feeling it will be short term.

[@thestrongcollectors]

That’s a good point. Maybe with that increased risk of price they may account for that and charge more.

[@jpuggy6793]

I like this new haslab system, now just gotta hope I can afford it lol btw, did you guys ever announce the winner of the wolverine giveaway? I never saw an announcment

[@thestrongcollectors]

no. and i forgot to do the drawing in next weeks episode too! I need to put Wolverine on the desk so i see him when we record. We will do that soon and then we will run another really soon after. My giveaway figures are building up

[@tejanoburns]

I always thought it'd be badass if they made a Skrull 8 or 12 pack of heads only to swap and kit bash of shape shifted main characters.

[@thestrongcollectors]

that could be cool. Then they could be used as alt heads for figures we already have.

[@youblnoznygt]

I would have preferred a Haslab from the Guardians of the galaxy with the spaceship together. And dazz maybe characters like the Collector, Nova Corps or Lady Hellbender. And maybe comic versions of the Black Order

[@thestrongcollectors]

I wonder if they ever would do an MCU Haslab.

[@youblnoznygt]

@@thestrongcollectors With the Guardians, I also meant the comic version. Or a giant Surtur figure. Another possibility is the Avengers Tower or Doctor Doom's Latveria Castle. There are so many ways to present a cool Haslab

[@Righteous_Prime]

Giant Apocalypse with the Four Horsemen

[@thestrongcollectors]

I feel like apocalypse could be a made to order figure and the horsemen could be multiple 2 packs.

[@Righteous_Prime]

@@thestrongcollectors not sure that a two pack would work with their horses

[@thestrongcollectors]

Ohh you’re wanting horses and everything. That would probably need to be a haslab it’s self or something.

[@ryanwillard9192]

I bet they make more than ordered. The Jabbas Palace was pitched as made to order and that thing is still sitting on pulse. Even went on deep discount sale for a bit.

[@thestrongcollectors]

hmm I wonder if they would have learned from that. I do remember seeing that on sale. Did other places like BBTS get the Palace? I would think that should be the only place to be able to get the made to order because that company chose how many they wanted to add to their site.

[@ryanwillard9192]

@@thestrongcollectors I don’t think BBTS had it. A couple small shops had it for sale but I’m sure that was regular stock, the same that everyone could order from Pulse. I do believe hasbro has learned the follies of over production. I wonder if “made to order” will reveal to be true or if they’ll order some additional.

[@twohandedaxe1212]

Four Horsemen must guess a minimum order amount to charge $37. Hasbro will have to do the same to create a price for Dragonman. It will be conservatively expensive. It would be shocking if someone did a true made-to-order action figure where the price drops with every 1k orders.

[@thestrongcollectors]

Ooo I like the price drop model. With four horsemen they have their window for regular folks to put orders in then another set time idk how long maybe a month for retailers to put their order in and then they tell the factory how many to make when all the numbers are in. I wonder if they would consider a cost reduction method if they did something like a dragon like a lot of fans have been asking for.

[@glennmiller6759]

An Apocalypse Haslab with the 4 horsemen as unlockable tiers

[@thestrongcollectors]

It would be sad to only unlock one or two horsemen.

[@marvelghost]

I hope they release a new Johnny Blaze with a cool new motorcycle. Like they just did with the Danny Ketch release.

[@thestrongcollectors]

I would hope that would be a normal release and not a made to order type thing

[@marvelghost]

@@thestrongcollectors Agree 100%!

[@liltacovato]

Ima need a fing fang foom, and apocalypse

[@thestrongcollectors]

I think apocalypse would be a cool made to order offering.

[@etb7856]

We gotta be real nowadays Hasbro knows that their stuff isn’t really for kids anymore, they know legends, black series, joes etc are made for the adults They KNOW this They know not many kids are buying these to play with them, they know an overwhelming majority is adult collectors

[@thestrongcollectors]

I’d love if they would share the breakdown of what percentage of figures are bought by/for kids. Probably a hard metric to track though for them.

[@youblnoznygt]

What I'm wondering is, if Hasbro wants to bypass Mephisto because they don't want to release a devil, what are they going to do when we see Mephisto in the MCU soon. Is Hasbro going to bypass the MCU version of Mephisto too?

[@thestrongcollectors]

I would bet if he ever shows up in the MCU they would do a figure for sure. Maybe that would be the green light they need to then make a comic version.

[@BladeStar-uq6xe]

Galactus, Sentinel, and Giant Man were all too big! 12" is plenty big enough for me. My Godzilla is 13" tall, I don't want anything bigger!

[@thestrongcollectors]

Although I love the size of galactus, I think you’re right in the others being too big. I want galactus to tower over everything. I don’t need the others in the same size.

[@Vintage-Bob]

@@thestrongcollectors Galactus had to be that size. In fact, I'd have liked him a little taller. Sentinel was a perfect size. Giantman? No way. He should have been a 12" figure. I the old comics, 99.9% of the time he was drawn between 9' and 12' tall. Almost never any larger.

[@vadoraid2517]

Johnny blaze bike!! Ramen toys already sold us. A dope raez car. & keep it under $$199. Die cast it , if you go that high. Ramen is dropping vans the end of this month! For $99 too. If haslabs stay around $300’sh, they might not last. Ramen is not the only Non licensed company doing 1/12 vehicles

[@thestrongcollectors]

its a smart move for them to do those non specific specific vehicles like that. Doing something like a FantastiCar might not work but a black car with some flames seems like an easy one. Maybe they could pull of a Black Bird too.

[@eddiegonzalez8168]

Hopefully they redo the ghost rider haslab as one of these made to order offerings. Id be down.

[@eddiegonzalez8168]

Also I don't mind the fan channel and made to order route for things that are considered risque, like mophisto or a scantily clad female hero and then mainstream waves can go to big box stores. Honestly I think the fan channel exclusives is what got us a new punisher made and for that I'm thankful. 🫡

[@thestrongcollectors]

I’d love to ask them if pulse exclusives could be used in that way. It does seem like there’s always an issue with putting the devil on store shelves but as an exclusive, it wouldn’t make to store shelves.

[@SauronIH]

Nope, gotta say i heavily disagree with the idea of many of these made to order products that really dont warrant it, even with the mephisto example, the easiest way to get around having "the devil" on store shelves is making him just a pulse exclusive, he'd still definitely sell well and im sure hasbro will make their money when they overprice him as usual

[@thestrongcollectors]

But what’s the problem with a made to order model then? It’s still an exclusive but this way everyone that wants one has the ability to order with no risk of selling out.

[@jacsenwheeler875]

But I want a new fin fang foom! He could be SOO GOOOD! Aaauiuuurrrgh! At least dragon man is very cool I have him pre ordered.

[@thestrongcollectors]

I think it's very possible we get a foom but i think it was smart to hold off on him and do this cheaper big boy first.

[@rzfigures]

I personally am not into the idea of made to order… I’m based in Australia and don’t have access to pulse here.

[@thestrongcollectors]

Oh man that definitely is not good for you then at all.

[@GRAYMATTER_235]

Marvel legends fans shouldn’t get anything besides figures delivered in two ways. A) six inch figures with multiple hands and heads and accessories for 30-40$ each. B) deluxe figures multiple hands, heads and accessories for 50-60$ each. No exclusive’s, no HasLabs, and nothing made to order. There should be an annual cap on figure production no restocks on products. Marvel legends fans have proven that they are not invested in the brand and in the products. Market rollout could be 6-8 figures a month or 72-96 figures per year. No more build a figures 30-40$ price points for newly sculpted figures with multiple hands, heads, and accessories. And 50-60$ for deluxe figures with a similar offering as a regular size figure multiple hands, heads and accessories. Clearly the fandom has lost interest, changing the figure quality and structure of the way products are sold will make the figures higher end, attract a specific clientele, and weed out the bad actors who can’t afford to pay for figures unless they are at Ollie’s or only use KZbin to talk shit. The business model has to change to keep the company profitable.

[@thestrongcollectors]

i kind of agree on some point but not all. I think having a leaner amount of figures would probably help make sure each figure we do get comes well worth the money. I'd really rather them not raise their prices to 30-40. I also like that there are different price points for different types of figures. like a regular figure at 25 is great, add a few dollars get some wings like Angel. add a few more dollars you get baf sized figure, add a few more dollars you get a vehicle like Ghost Rider. Add a few more Super Adaptoid. add more Galactus. I think the 2 standards you recommend could get stale.

[@Vintage-Bob]

$30-$40 for a six inch figure? When hell freezes over.

[@josealbertomartinez9739]

Early for ones

[@thestrongcollectors]

💪

[@terryann7354]

This is worse than the titanic disaster 🙏

[@thestrongcollectors]

the direct preorder?

[@paulhitchcock2543]

Do you want $55 marvel legends figures? Because if Hasbro pulled out of retail and went to a subscription only service that’s what you’d get, $55 marvel legends figures.

[@thestrongcollectors]

How do you figure?

[@paulhitchcock2543]

@@thestrongcollectors because of how production costs breakdown. While it may be counterintuitive smaller production runs cost more per item for the consumer, larger production runs cost less per item for the consumer when factored over the entire production cycle. If the big retailers were immediately cut out as vendors and carriers of the product, by Hasbro pivoting to a subscription type delivery style system, they would immediately have to scale back, significantly, the amount of figures they produce. That would then increase the cost per unit. An example of this would be the old Masters of the universe classics (MOTUC) line; yes there are more recent examples but MOTUC is a better comparator than say, mythic legions or the various Super 7 ultimates toy lines.

[@shanehai2699]

Another figure that I've been wanting is TERMINUS with Garok... That said, I really don't like having to support a Haslab because it is 100% a cash grab... those guys keep the funds in a high interest account for a year plus, drawing crazy interest off of that money EVERY month... they made MILLIONS off of those 30,000 Galactus figures at $400+ each... It's basically just a lot of free money they generate by having us required to pay them in advance, instead of just charging us once they're ready to ship... no one stops to think about that.

[@thestrongcollectors]

100% That's one of the biggest reasons I don't like doing far in advance preorders unless there's an incentive like with Mythic Legions you get them at a discounted rate vs waiting until they are released.

[@Vintage-Bob]

That's been a criticism of mine from day one. Hasbro is too damned greedy.