Wait, wait ,wait. Hold on. Disney owns a porn company?

That would be sweet. I could see that being useful to this site. First guy i'd make would obviously be myself.

I'm sorry, but this would be awesome. All you'd have to buy is well sculpted files, which you could get from anyone...

I have a friend at work who is working on making his 3d printer create parts to make another 3d printer.

Yes. Disney owns a mess of companies, and distribute different things through different companies.
Many companies they don't want people to know they own.
I'm not sure if they still do or not, but they *did* own Miramax, at one time. So, basically Disney published Clerks, and Dogma, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, amongst others.

Among the things they don't want people to know they own, is a porn company. Not being familier with that industry, I've never known which one it was, and I also don't know quite how to find the information. But I do know it's out there.
Disney owns a *lot.* And they'll play dirty for it, too (Pixar is evedent of that. Pixar felt Disney wasn't giving them their fair share of profit, given they were doing all the work. So when their contract came up, they started to shop around for a new company to work with, and disney did a hostile takeover and bought them out.

Lemme dig around and see if I can't find anything on the disney/porn link.

EDIT:
I can't find anything concrete one way or another. So file under urban legend, or rumor. I just don't know where to look. And it probably would not be anything very obvious, and shielded by a few fake companies.
But this is what I did find:
Disney's Not-so-disney interests- the rumor is on there. But it's the only thing on that page that can't easily be verified.
List of assets owned by Disney- They no longer own Miramax, but I was right, that they used to.

yup, then we wouldn't have to worry about who gets what license, what version of the character, articulation, scale, distribution, and production timelines. tons of really talented 3d modelers out there who'll make all kinds of anything. especially with the software becoming more and more accessible or even free like Blender. companies like hasbro already utilize 3d printing to do their prototyping. once that tech gets really cheap, it won't even matter.

Yeah that what be awesome. The same buck for every figure that would get over with legends fans.

they just need to go back to something like this:
http://images.comiccollectorlive.com...3913227394.jpg
BAM! 4 different figures
:P

Dude, you know if that was in MU, it would be 4 variations of the same single pack.

hells yeah it would! all in the same wave too :)

Well, can we enjoy it for now? I mean some of their 6" stuff is cool and all but their 3.75" stuff are like statues. Thinking of this makes me =( The day Mattel gets the gig I'm walking away from this hobby.

First, its an assumption that this is actually Vonner. There is no reason to believe one way or another. In the end, its none of our business - unless you have a spare $900. Otherwise, it is just speculation. (I will say that it looks like it is him only because the seller sold a stroller a while back with that name - an odd thing to sell if you were going to make up a name). It is also speculation to assume he doesn't have permission to sell these figures. Most companies are VERY protective about what you can take with you when you leave the grounds. Certainly he could have snuck it out but there are much quieter ways of selling an illegal toy than ebay! They may have given him the figures as a parting gift or representation of his work to show other companies.

About Disney, I have seen plenty of examples of both products that are very well crafted and others that are terrible - all with the Disney logo on them. Fair warning - I'm a Disney enthusiast. That said, stuff I've bought from both the theme parks or in stores have been hit and miss. Some have held up for ages; others didn't get home from the store. I make no assumptions about quality of their licensees. I only assume that the profit margin for Disney is great.

Because of certain lines like Super Hero Squad(which is on the hub now!) that's a hit with kids, and now how Marvel Universe is marketed, I don't see Disney dropping hasbro anytime soon. There's too much hand in hand marketing going on.

If anything it works too much in Disney's favor to keep working with Hasbro. The Potato heads being a prime example(since he's used in toy story). Mattel also doesn't have the best sales track record outside of Barbie. They're also too much the source of scandal with the lead paint and other recalls. When you add in how much they are the go to for WB, it also makes it seem like a conflict of interest for which lines they push.

As much as I love the Four Horsemen Sculpts, I don't trust mattel handling Marvel well at all. It'd be the death of the 4'' scale lines, no squadies, and while the legends could see some interesting additions they'd be sparse and hard to find. All around it's in Marvel's best interest to stay with hasbro and their distribution channels. The only perk that could come out of this would be Female Marvel superheroes Barbies.


If anything. My main concern right now is that Disney might be thinking Hasbro would make a good acquisition because of their brands. Something that would help bolster Disney to have another in house mass released toy company under its hat, another channel, and tons of IPs to work with in the future. Considering they have a fairly friendly business cooperation abroad, it does make me a little concerned.

your sort of right about costs, but looking back, i remember the prices for, say, beast wars toys. guys like TM1 megs cost like 20 bucks. A MONTHS allowance for me....I dont think costs today are too much different to tell the truth.

I think Hasbro is too big for Disney to be able to swoop in and take over. Ten years ago, woulda been a different story. But now Hasbro has become more than just a toy company, and is now becoming a Media empire. It has several monster franchises that it owns, and a few others that it has strong alligiences with. And it's the largest toy company in the world, with several global blockbuster movies, and now even it's own TV channel.
Hasbro's nowhere near as big as Disney, but if Disney came knocking now, I think Hasbro could fend them off (Unlike Pixar, or Marvel). Or at least put up enough fight to make it not Disney's worth while.

However, something no one's really considered...
Given how Disney either does everything themselves, or aquires companies to do it for them, I'm surprised they haven't started their own toy company, years ago.
But, let's not forget that Marvel aquired Toybiz years ago, and turned it into Marvel Toys. No one's considered that Disney now owns Marvel Toys. It's far more likely that Disney will return the marvel lisence to Marvel Toys, than it is that they'll give it to Mattel.
But, if Hasbro's handling of the Marvel franchise is still successful by '17, Disney won't do anything.

They are when you consider the fact that back when Beast Wars was king, that Basics cost $5, and now Legends are $7, and Cyb Commanders are almost $10. Both classes smaller than Basics were, and Commanders now cost the same as a deluxe did back then.
Back then, $8 got you a Marvel Legend with a 6" fully articulated figure, a full comic, and a gigantic BaF piece that was as big as the action figure.
Now it doesn't even get you a 3.3/4" MU with no accessories.

I agree with Iceman completely on this. Rising prices do have a lot to do with the failing toymarket.

yeah, lol, i forgot about the whole size class renaming. and 8 bucks for a new legends is pretty incredible considering the cost of a figure the same size today went up about 100%

pretty much sums up this entire thread.

@Shockwave

LOL! Nice.

Same here- and as to gimmicks, look at MU and ML- gimmick free baby!
Even when we see gimmicks like in the Avengers, it's almost aways the crap with the figure, not built into the fig itself like Toybiz used to do.

Hahahahahahahaha @SHOCKWAVE!!! And @Crazy Jetty you should try Hoboken way,i hear theres some kinda mothguy living in the woods there who swears him,Bigfoot,and the Tooth Fairy will be getting the license for MU...You think that MU are hard to find now,wait until they are only sold at full moon from a mushroom circle in the forest.(Apparently they are also the company behind the near mythical SK Omega Joe-compatible line as well.)

IIRC, Marvel Toys was dissolved when Hasbro was granted the master toy license to the Marvel characters. If that's the case, Disney/Marvel would still have to create a toy company from scratch if they want to keep the license in-house.

No, this is speculation at best.

It's the rising price over such a short period of time (5-6 years) that is doing it. Look at how fast housing prices rose compared to income. Eventually it became unsustainable and housing far less affordable. That market corrected itself but a lot of damage was done.

A lot of things combined to make higher prices for many products such as shipping going up when fleets became docked because of less goods moving around in a slower world economy. Oil prices directly effect the price of many plastics but even when prices to make figures go down it's not like we will ever see lower prices at retail. Once a price gets bumped up it stays there.

Thread began with a hypothetical question. Like a "What If" its possible. Its understandable why fans like MU to stay with Hasbro; and reacted accordingly. Yet surprising news of Hasbro firing Vonner conjures the following question = why should Hasbro keep Vonner when they MIGHT not keep Marvel? It may explain why Hasbro fired an otherwise great fan-favorite David Vonner.

As repeated, we won't know till 4+ years when Disney decides which toy company to give it to in 2017. Can go either way; Hasbro or Mattel. Its not about that. Question is "What If" Disney does what they often did (and give another license to Mattel) to add to that toy company's already long laundry list of Disney-owned licenses? Focusing back on topic. WHAT IF it POSSIBLY does happen = what would you guys like (or don't like) to see?

Sample (hypothetical) Answers:

1. I like to see you (Mattel) keep the same quality / articulation of MU figures which Dave Vonner crafted in his previous employ.

2. I'd like to see Amalgam action figures if you (Mattel) use 4H bucks for both Marvel and DC. Using 4H bucks for both, may work well, achieving a "uniformity" across super hero action figure lines. However great this uniformity, I still also like to ensure there remains a great variety of body types. Example, 4H bucks used on Bane should not be used on Puck.

3. Because I'm a fan of both quality / articulation of Hasbro's MU, I want to see Mattel keep it that way; or improve upon it. And in the event you hire Vonner, please have him craft his same articulation / quality in your DC Comics 3.75 inch lines, too.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DSh4Fm6GOd...0/reign124.jpg

On a related note:
Mattel cancels YOUNG JUSTICE 6" and 4" lines? - Toy Discussion at Toyark.com