[Robb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starlord67

Could you photograph the box please?

Here is the sides, back, and inside folded out.

[Archangel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bashpics99

I don't quite get why we are arguing about making marvel characters more diverse in an action figure thread. Seems like anyone who is upset about those changes should be complaining in an mcu or marvel comics thread, as i don't think hasbro has any say in the matter.

It’s usually the same handful of posters that feel the need to preach in a thread devoted to 6-inch toys. I don’t question it anymore. They seem incapable of grasping how to start another thread despite their superb ability to craft a lecture on diversity in comic vs the MCU.

Seriously, it would be a wonderful thread. Someone needs to start it...please, I beg of thee!

[Veronica Mars]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Archangel

It’s usually the same handful of posters that feel the need to preach in a thread devoted to 6-inch toys. I don’t question it anymore. They seem incapable of grasping how to start another thread despite their superb ability to craft a lecture on diversity in comic vs the MCU.

Seriously, it would be a wonderful thread. Someone needs to start it...please, I beg of thee!

Don't you just love passive-aggressiveness? How dare we voice opinions on the source material of the 6in toys in question.... the nerve. Sorry not sorry

[En Sabah Nerd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robb

Here is the sides, back, and inside folded out.

Yeah that definitely looks like one of those character collage posters, a generic image chosen because it contained all three candidates so the box could be made in advance. I don't think it should be read as a tease of upcoming figures.

[redfox]

Regarding the possibility of a Marvel Monday reveal, we still haven't seen the rest of the 2020 Stilt-man wave, so I'm going to say we see the rest of it. If not it'll probably be some kind of random outta-the-blue fan-channel exclusive. I'm down for both.

[Archangel]

NM...there’s no point

[redfox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by En Sabah Nerd

Yeah that definitely looks like one of those character collage posters, a generic image chosen because it contained all three candidates so the box could be made in advance. I don't think it should be read as a tease of upcoming figures.

^This.

Looks like a largely updated & rearranged version of this Marvel poster. Seems that they've swapped out the core Avenger leads for their Disney Animated character models, and then added pronounced placements for the three fan vote nominees.

[usernamedustin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starlord67

I'm about to set them up with their new home. So EXCITED!!
And here they are...Emma needs a cup-holding hand to complete the look but wow...what a great set!

I love that you are super excited about this set, but immediately threw Jean in the background to put in kitbash Selene.
I'm probably going to do the same thing and just use my custom Selene as the Black Queen. I might even sell the Jean because I'm not real attached to that storyline.

[Veronica Mars]

I'm really not liking Selene's head.

With the Legends team mentioning it being the 40th anniversary of Spider Man and His Amazing Friends right before the Firestar reveal, I have a feeling we should be expecting a 3 pack

[Benn Roe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by usernamedustin

I wish Hasbro would stop offering store exclusives and just sell them through Pulse. It doesn't make sense. I assume Target pays $5 wholesale for an action figure that sells for $20. If Hasbro is selling them directly, at full retail price, they make a lot more money and don't have to sell as many figures.

Yeah, so unfortunately this isn't the case at all. If Target was getting a margin that good, they'd do a better job stocking the line. I can't tell you what they're paying, because their wholesale rate is probably a bit better than what I pay, but it's a lot closer to $15 than $5. Hasbro needs stores like Target to sell the line for exposure, but Target doesn't make any money selling it. The compromise is exclusives. Target can use exclusives to force Legends collectors to shop there, but it doesn't actually want them buying Legends, so it stocks the line lightly to keep them coming in over and over again, rarely finding what they want, with the hope that repeated trips will yield sales of high margin goods they might otherwise've bought elsewhere, like batteries and toilet paper. Target wouldn't stock the line without exclusives, and Hasbro needs big-box stores to stock the line, thus the eternal song and dance. Preorders selling out quickly online is by design, as it stokes fear of scarcity, which powers the whole machine.

Exclusives aren't the problem: the toy industry's wholesale rates are. If Hasbro even charged $10, let alone $5, a $20 MSRP would be sustainable, and exclusives wouldn't be necessary, because Target would actually want to sell figures. Stores would stock a hell of a lot more too, which would--in turn--decrease customer frustration and increase sales. If exclusives did exist, and they probably still would, they'd be easy to get. Alternatively, stores could start selling figures for $30, but I think the former scenario would make customers happier, and ultimately probably make more money for everyone. Garbage wholesale rates have a long history in the toy industry, though, and I imagine it would be a tough habit for Hasbro to break, even if it might ultimately make them more money.

Honestly, flippers are the only people making any money off toys, and--even there--the math is frighteningly unfavourable. For instance, a reseller buys for $20 and sells for $40. They double their money, right? Actually, they barely break even. $20 toy + average of 8% sales tax ($1.60) + $8 to ship the toy to the buyer + 10% eBay fee ($4) + Paypal fee ($1.46) = $35.06 spent, to make $4.94 in profit. This is why figures are increasingly being flipped for $50-$100 each, rather than $30 or $40. $70 is a sustainable flipper price on a $20 figure. The industry's numbers are just tailor-made for feel-bads.

[Starlord67]

Quote:

Originally Posted by usernamedustin

I love that you are super excited about this set, but immediately threw Jean in the background to put in kitbash Selene.
I'm probably going to do the same thing and just use my custom Selene as the Black Queen. I might even sell the Jean because I'm not real attached to that storyline.

Thanks...I have a special case for BQ Jean..after I do some work on her. She needs red on the inside of her cape and the eye make up lightened a bit. I don't have a strong attatchment to Selene but I'm glad to have a female VILLAN.

[Mimicboy]

I hope we get a Marvel Monday! After all the reveals from Hasbro's con I feel like I dont really have any guesses for what they might reveal, though Im guessing it wont be anything X-men related. Maybe a Spider-man and friends 3 pack of Firestar, Iceman, and Spidey? Maybe it will be that rumored Hawkeye skysled?

I love everyones ideas for a Brotherhood pack! The BoEM's are some of my top most wants. A 3 pack could hopefully get us a new Blob, Avalance, and Toad. A 6 pack though could get us Blob, Avalanche, Toad, Unus, Mastermind, and wishful thinking a Destiny! Then my top villian want would be a new Spiral to round out Freedom Force.

[Veronica Mars]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mimicboy

I hope we get a Marvel Monday! After all the reveals from Hasbro's con I feel like I dont really have any guesses for what they might reveal, though Im guessing it wont be anything X-men related. Maybe a Spider-man and friends 3 pack of Firestar, Iceman, and Spidey? Maybe it will be that rumored Hawkeye skysled?

I love everyones ideas for a Brotherhood pack! The BoEM's are some of my top most wants. A 3 pack could hopefully get us a new Blob, Avalance, and Toad. A 6 pack though could get us Blob, Avalanche, Toad, Unus, Mastermind, and wishful thinking a Destiny! Then my top villian want would be a new Spiral to round out Freedom Force.

I was thinking about Freedom Force recently, trying to decide if I leave Julia Carpenter with the Avengers or put her with Freedom Force once they fill out the team more

[usernamedustin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Benn Roe

Yeah, so unfortunately this isn't the case at all. If Target was getting a margin that good, they'd do a better job stocking the line. I can't tell you what they're paying, because their wholesale rate is probably a bit better than what I pay, but it's a lot closer to $15 than $5.

$5 was probably a low estimate, but I'm not sold on that idea of $15 for the big chains that buy directly from Hasbro. I watched the Walmart exclusive Thanos go straight to $5 clearance. It was something like 2 weeks after it was released. I don't think Walmart would drop the price to a 66% loss that quickly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Veronica Mars

I was thinking about Freedom Force recently, trying to decide if I leave Julia Carpenter with the Avengers or put her with Freedom Force once they fill out the team more

I have her with Pyro, Mystique, and Spiral. I got her specifically for the purpose of filling out the team more.

[TheBlueMarvel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jester

You seem to respond almost entirely in cliché.

I suspect that you know this already but "First World Problems" are what you have when you're living so comfortably (including having the extra income to spend on large numbers of expensive pieces of plastic) that the only things that you have to complain about are absurdly minor annoyances that a less well-off person would never have the luxury of being bothered by.

In your case, this applies because, evidently, it's not good enough that a black superheroine is, and has been for decades, one the most popular and prominent members of her particular group of characters, strong, brave, beautiful and powerful, loved and respected by her peers and desired by numerous powerful and popular male characters (up to and including literal gods like Thor), no, none of that counts for anything because she had a brief career as a child pickpocket and was introduced "barefoot and topless." But neither of these things are in and of themselves unreasonable given Storm's backstory: Africa is an infamously impoverished continent despite its tremendous wealth of natural resources and while many nations are home to well-developed, modern cities, (often orphaned) street children engaged in endeavors of varying degrees of legality are still an issue in many places. Likewise, even in 2020, African women in some regions will still attend traditional ceremonies quite literally barefoot and topless (although it's apparently becoming common for many of the participants to wear sneakers).

But go on, do tell us more about your argumentative technique.

In your words, the genesis of the Storm character is a tale of "negative African stereotypes," involving "worst depictions of native cultures," "antiquated tomes like National Geographic," "cringe-worthy backstory," "other grating elements, "ugly silliness" and "off-putting devices." Token caveats aside, that's a very clear attack on Chris Claremont and other early X-Men writers, particularly given the pretentiously pseudo-academic tone that you're couching it all in.

For a guy who sees himself "as a person of color with a sense for both history and perspective" you're displaying very little awareness of the latter two categories. You've cited Daniel Patrick Moynihan; perhaps you've also heard of his contemporary, Marshall McLuhan, another influential figure in late 1960s/early 1970s public discourse, and his famous observation that "the medium is the message." In the case of Giant-Sized X-Men, what sort of message do you think is being conveyed, in 1975, by the medium of a group of heroes comprised of a Japanese man, a demonic-looking German, a reservation Apache, an ugly, near-midget Canadian, a Soviet collective farmer and a beautiful African woman?



"Accurate cultural depictions" could include such things as eating albinos to gain magic powers, raping virgins/children in the hopes of curing AIDs or lynching alleged "penis-thieves". Rather horrifying, of course, but certainly not bland or boring by any estimation.

But bland and boring is apparently what you want, given your whining about Storm's traumatic childhood and adolescence (which appears to betray an unfamiliarity with one of the recurring themes of the X-Men series as a whole, that being the titular heroes having to endure various hardships prior to finding a spiritual home with the team).

Do you even reed dance, bro?

Congratulations, you own a dictionary.

I'm glad that you're able to acknowledge that your objections are childish.

Don't throw stones from glass houses.

I have no grounds to regard your opinion as honest, if you're not even willing to accept that I am or that I even could be genuinely perturbed by such a tragic and unnecessary loss of life.

The fact is, though, that death was a predictable outcome of "Current Year" racial/sexual insanity, which appears to hold that any existing white fictional character with a bit of name-recognition is fair game for portrayal in a live-action adaption of the material by a non-white (especially black) performer, that women are physically equal to men in all respects, and that films or printed fiction featuring black and/or female characters should be directed/written by directors and writers with the same melanin count/genitalia as the primary characters (something that veteran comic-book scribe Christopher Priest complains has resulted in his being pigeon-holed into the box of "black superhero writer"). These are all obvious influences on your "series of tragically poor decisions" which started with casting Beetz as a sop to the fragile ego of Donald "let me play Spider-Man" Glover.

By any honest liberal assessment, affirmative action isn't good for the soul (or the body either, as experienced by the late, unfortunate Joi Harris), prioritizing as it does the color of your skin rather than the content of your character (or the extent of your experience and skill).

See here (nice backhanded accusation of autism, BTW):

stereotype (n.)

1798, "method of printing from a plate," from French stéréotype (adj.) "printed by means of a solid plate of type," from Greek stereos "solid" (see stereo-) + French type "type" (see type (n.)). Meaning "a stereotype plate" is from 1817. Meaning "image perpetuated without change" is first recorded 1850, from the verb in this sense. Meaning "preconceived and oversimplified notion of characteristics typical of a person or group" is recorded from 1922 (Walter Lippmann, "Public Opinion").

It's kind of like "bigot," appropriately enough. The truer sense of the word is a person who believes himself to occupy an exalted moral position versus his neighbors (cf. the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector in Luke 18:9-14) rather than someone who simply bears an unreasoned dislike of someone or something else, so in fact, the sort of people who nowadays are most likely to accuse others of bigotry are in fact bigots themselves according to the uncorrupted meaning of the term.

Have they ever explained why the male members of the Hellfire Club dress like 18th century gentlemen but their female counterparts dress like mid-20th century dominatrices?

My initial response to this was in keeping with the tone of this dialogue. But I decided to read again, doing my best to remove any inclination to react and found myself seeing one, or two things slightly differently.

There's no bridge on which to even meet halfway with Joi Harris's death and I still don't believe you care about the scenario beyond its usefulness as an anecdotal criticism of affirmative action. It's also obvious you are being purposely obtuse about the value of diversity within creative expression. Additionally, calling attention to pervasive imagery and questioning the associated connotations is not some form of reverse bigotry, your suggesting as much isn't surprising given the other opinions you've shared. All that said, I'm not invested in changing anyone's views; that happens when people are ready, or, in many cases, not at all.

I'm not sure you understood what I was expressing about Moynihan, but it doesn't matter either as it was an obscure, regional, and time specific reference. However, I did take the time to read up on Marshall McLuhan. He was definitely far more interesting than Moynihan. While my opinion is largely the same, what I read about the Medium is the Message was quite interesting and it did provide an alternative insight on Storm's early portrayal and the function of publishing/media/film/social-zeitgeist as a whole. The whole can often be greater than its parts and Storm fits that bill improving from her limited beginnings.

However, as interesting as Mcluhan's ideas might be about the formation of a 'global village', there is a distinct and familiar pattern for Storm's original presentation and the prevalence of these tiresome narratives to this day:

https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...es-tv-colonial

[Veronica Mars]

Quote:

Originally Posted by usernamedustin

I have her with Pyro, Mystique, and Spiral. I got her specifically for the purpose of filling out the team more.

I have her with the WCA at the moment, I started reading that comic when they added her to the team

I think we might be seeing that rumored Black Cat tomorrow, Dan Yun just tweeted about watching the 90s Spidey cartoon and his lady said Felicia is more interesting than MJ or what If we get an animated series style civilian Felicia Hardy?

[Benn Roe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by usernamedustin

$5 was probably a low estimate, but I'm not sold on that idea of $15 for the big chains that buy directly from Hasbro. I watched the Walmart exclusive Thanos go straight to $5 clearance. It was something like 2 weeks after it was released. I don't think Walmart would drop the price to a 66% loss that quickly.

Admittedly, I don't know what Target or Walmart are paying. I can only tell you that stores who have to use distribution networks are paying $15 to $17 per figure (depending on volume), and wholesalers (who are probably getting the same price as the big-box stores) normally have very thin margins. I'd guess $13 or $14 is probably pretty close to the mark. The thing is that Target and Walmart don't act like they make any money selling toys. Have you ever seen any other section in a Target or Walmart look as consistently decimated as the action figure aisle? They know exactly how much to order for every other section to keep those shelves stocked, and Hasbro basically manufactures to order, so there's no way Target's getting less than they're ordering. They're just intentionally ordering less than demand would dictate. Why would they do that? All their behaviour screams loss-leader. Nothing they're doing makes sense unless you accept that they want toy collectors as customers, but they don't really want to sell them toys. My guess with Thanos is that they over-estimated demand, and since the exclusives exist to repeatedly drive collectors into the stores, and rely entirely on scarcity to accomplish that, they just cut their losses and cleared them out. Clearance deals generate FOMO, which in turn creates scarcity, so it's a win-win for Walmart, especially since they likely broke even after considering their pre-clearance sales.

[En Sabah Nerd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by usernamedustin

I watched the Walmart exclusive Thanos go straight to $5 clearance. It was something like 2 weeks after it was released.

Damn, I barely saw Walmart Thanos at all. He just sold out at full price in my area, granted each store only ever got a single case of him.

[Dr Kain]

Quote:

Originally Posted by usernamedustin

I watched the Walmart exclusive Thanos go straight to $5 clearance. It was something like 2 weeks after it was released.

Seriously? I had to go to another state to get that Thanos.

[StuartGreen2019]

I replied to Dan Yun's Tweet, saying I love the '90s "Spider-Man" animated series, asked if there was any chance of a retro "Spider-Man: The Animated Series" toyline, and ended my Tweet with a P.S. saying I'm on Team Mary Jane. He Liked my Tweet. I added I'd love to see a classic John Romita Sr. version of Doctor Octopus with bendable wire tentacles and a Lizard with the head, left hand and feet of Dr. Curt Connors as alternate accessories for the Retro Spider-Man toyline. New figures for both villains are overdue.

I do hope we'll see the Black Cat and J. Jonah Jameson figures too, but I'm curious what the "TV 1" and "TV 2" figures are for the Retro Spider-Man toyline. Is one of them the Firestar we saw at Hasbro Pulsecon, or are there two characters left to be revealed we don't know about? I hope we find out soon enough.

[Dr Kain]

Put me on team Gwen. They had no right killing her off.

[En Sabah Nerd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Kain

Put me on team Gwen. They had no right killing her off.

Seconded on team Gwen. While I appreciate that her death as a story is a humanizing reminder that heroes can fail and suffer for it, I'm not a fan of the behind the scenes reasons for it. I might be a little bit off the mark here but as I recall they had her killed off because the story was getting too close to her and Peter marrying and that this would somehow result in his no longer being Spider-Man, and then secondly the team in charge wanted Peter and MJ to get together which apparently wasn't possible unless Gwen died. Oh but then later when MJ and Peter were going to get married the previous "problem" that marriage would end Spider-Man's heroics ceased to exist. I don't dislike Mary Jane, it's just that 4 times out of 5 I find she has less interesting things to do compared to Gwen.

[Dr Kain]

From my understanding, she was killed off because Conway prefered Mary Jane and thought her and Peter should be together, but because Stan Lee felt otherwise, his only option was to kill Gwen. I believe the whole aspect of the super hero duties was developed as an excuse to not bring in Conway's personal beliefs.

I don't hate MJ either, and I do love the relationship that was built between her and Peter as time went on, but I saw no reason for Gwen to die. He could have easily written off that she learned of Peter being Spider-Man and just couldn't come to terms with it believing he was responsible for her father's death. As such, she then decided to permenantly move to Europe.

I also find it frustrating that they then did the clone nonsense multiple times and then the children.

[usernamedustin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Benn Roe

The thing is that Target and Walmart don't act like they make any money selling toys. Have you ever seen any other section in a Target or Walmart look as consistently decimated as the action figure aisle? They know exactly how much to order for every other section to keep those shelves stocked, and Hasbro basically manufactures to order, so there's no way Target's getting less than they're ordering. They're just intentionally ordering less than demand would dictate. Why would they do that?

Toys can be very hit and miss products. Toys don't always sell well and the the big stores don't know if any line is going to be a success or if they are just going to have to clearance it or donate it as a loss.
There is a common pattern where wave 1 of something will be ordered in smaller quantities to test it out. If it's a dud, they usually give up on the line or they might give it one more wave. If it is a success, the following wave will be ordered much heavier and maybe a pegwarmer shows up. Rinse and repeat for as many waves as can be milked out of it..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Benn Roe

All their behaviour screams loss-leader. Nothing they're doing makes sense unless you accept that they want toy collectors as customers, but they don't really want to sell them toys.

I don't really see them screaming loss-leader. Those are usually advertised deals to bring people in and toy clearances are almost never advertised. The toy section seems mostly geared toward getting parents to grab a toy for their kid(s) while they are out shopping. I always thought the toys were to get a little more profit out of parents while they were there shopping for something else. That's also why they put toys up in the impulse buy stuff in the checkout lines.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Benn Roe

My guess with Thanos is that they over-estimated demand, and since the exclusives exist to repeatedly drive collectors into the stores, and rely entirely on scarcity to accomplish that, they just cut their losses and cleared them out. Clearance deals generate FOMO, which in turn creates scarcity, so it's a win-win for Walmart, especially since they likely broke even after considering their pre-clearance sales.

I don't think clearance deals generate FOMO or scarcity. Usually by the time something has hit clearance, anybody that feels that why probably got it already. I see all the FOMO related to uncertainty about street dates and stock levels.

I don't know how you conclude they over-estimated demand. Thanos was pretty hard to find. The one and only time I even saw it, there were 6 for $5 and I bought 2.

[TheBlueMarvel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by name

The “Overall” issue here is people thinking not liking something means “disagreeing” with something. The message of diversity is welcomed, the methods are mixed.
This type of “all or nothing” mentality has led to all nuance being lost, Which is why you have stupid shit like “you're just a (insert name) being thrown so casually.

I overlooked this...I not only appreciate the 'nuance' you mention, but agree with the sentiment. Quick fixes aren't usually fixes at all: i.e. Falc-Cap, Jane Thor, etc. Differentiating between what is intentionally "racist/sexist" (insert whatever) versus what is simply insensitive and "to be worked on" is becoming lost in the modern context. However, it's a two way street in that a certain level of fragility needs to be eased when being confronted with valid criticisms of a system, structure, or commonly held beliefs.