Honestly, I wouldn't care if the movie lines went to shit and MU was cut back (a bit). As long as it meant MU would still exist. Throw the 3.75" figures a bone because they sure as hell won't get my money from 6". It's just not my thing.

We have so many figures already that I wouldn't mind a lot less new ones every year as long as they kept coming. There are only a few characters left that I really want to get made. The rest are things I think need upgrades or different costumes.

Without remaking the big names, we delve further into the obscure, something which can be the death of a line. Especially when the kids and retailers are concerned

Exactly. They still have to sell this stuff and make money. I think we all get that. I've never been the one to complain a ton about the all the Iron Men or Captain America figures. A lot of the popular ones like Spider-Man and Iron Man they have been able to at least offer us a lot of variation since those costumes have changed often over the years.

A typical case has been 5 (x2) new figures and then two repacks. I don't mind the way they did it with the Professor X cases. Two of the 3 new figures and then repacks. Even 2 or 3 new figures is something.

Whose obscure nowdays? the super hero squad show has charactures that I have to look up on line,and its aimed at 4-5year olds, plus the avengers cartoon had, well every non xmen villan in marveldom. Theres charactures fresh in the minds of the new generation that I cant remember and I've been reading comics sence the early 80's, plus marvels recent universe incompassing events and storys.....again i'll ask whose obscure?

side note: I want TRU to put out an exclusive with the original x-men and first appearance juggernaut in shorts,

It IS funny that Superhero Squad had a much better character selection that Marvel Universe did...

The point is, out-with the Premier League heroes in Cap, Spidey, Wolverine et al, retailers are considering everyone else obscure and non-sellers. And, figures like MU falcon will further that mindset. I seem to remember a DC line struggling from the get-go due to a similar issue, I can't remember which one though.

I don't have any younger relatives into Marvel or DC so I can't ask this question but: do kids remember the names of the obscure from these shows? Or do they just recreate Hulk-Smash and Thor using his "hammer"?

I dont know why that would be the case. When I was little and had my Star Wars figures, I didn't just want Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Darth Vader. I wanted EVERYONE. Even guys like Lobot. I wanted them all. And I thought guys were cool that did nothing in the movies. I thought IG-88 was cool and all he did in the movie was stand there like a coat rack. Maybe he moved his head, I don't remember.
If I was a kid today, I'd be very disappointed. I know I wouldn't want 6 variations of Iron Man, I'd want someone for him to fight. Nowadays kids have to wait for Series 3 to get a bad guy, and sorry kids, its seeing a limited release because Target has a glut of Wave 1 & 2 pegwarming their shelves.
Hasbro like to say the make figures "for kids", but they seem to just be aiming at lazy parents who want to walk up to the shelf, pluck off an Iron Man, Hulk, or Captain America figure, and be on their way.
It's just sad to see my main hobby die a slow death due to the mismanaging of a company that owns all the major licenses.

I get that but the influence that retailers have on case-packing must be accounted for.

Thinking back to when i was a kid just a few lines that were pretty successful on the merrett of "obscure" charactures, with alot of selection and diversity...GI joe, TMNT(most of the charactures that got toy treatment were in only one or two episodes), HE MAN( who can honestly say they even know half the back stories on those guys!), ghost busters (did anyone else own an ecto3? what show was that in?) and while were at it STAR WARS!!!! boba fett had like three lines and 4min of screne time and he has more figures out than spiderman! the guy never even changed costumes! if I can get a white bobba fett, and a SW christmas special version I cant believe hasbro dosnt believe in the power of the obscure.

If Hasbro lost the Marvel license for 3.75"/4" I wouldn't mind Direct Toys (Marvel Select) giving it a shot. Provided they could make them in-scale with MU (4") and not under-sized like their Green Lantern figures.

I still question how accurate that is. I highly doubt Walmart told Hasbro they need more Falcons ASAP.

Those Lantern figures break like a Kit-Kat bar.

There goes that option!

I gotta agree on keeping the Joe scale going. Provides more room for display etc because of size. 1:18th scale is perfect. It's getting more accurate to it with durability that's the question. That's what hasbro was experimenting with and seemingly has currently perfected it between various molds outside of minor tweaks. Though that's also growing true for legends now.

There still are more premiere heroes growing. Some remember a few randoms like wasp. Antman with a movie coming up could be thrust into the limelight etc. The mainstays are mainstays, but hasbro also has to balance announcement news etc. Like Falcon for example. His excess granted maybe unwanted by most, was also right after his announcement to be in the next cap movie. So it was a name that retailers knew, or hasbro thought those that missed may want to grab now. It's a matter of picking the right times for cases, and how fast they reach saturation now for those times or after. Also in picking which ones are the best timing. Like some of the excess made me finally pick up a gladiator figure because of some cosmic story. Also like pushing Emma frost X-Men three pack towards the wolverine's release and timing around other movies for mass profit surges and getting what can move out in between the major line reminders. Etc. It's all about balance to best deliver merchandise that sells at the best costs to recoupe dev costs and create profit. That also means continual use of molds already created in various manners of reuse. Like a son of Fury figure.

Err, see above.

Assuming the best at least.
There's also the worst which could be yeah, they are deeming highly articulated comic book action figures aren't cost efficient anymore. I doubt that's true, though they could also be experimenting with ideas for later implementation into other lines. Could you imagine an MU Ironman subline in the future that just features armor parts? So and so arms, so and so biceps, so and so torso pieces, head, thighs, calves, feet. There's also the possibillity of just slashed budgets though currently too. Considering how poor this past shopping season was. Expectations are low for the next which should be pretty decent with the material coming now on tv and on film via demand. So we may have a lopsided season again where toon lines are prevalent but floundering and MU starts booming again.

if something isn't selling well you don't make it worse.

It's really disappointing that they're releasing these crap figures. I almost wish they would've kept the $10 price point and just only released a wave or two.

I agree quality over quantity.

They had a kids cartoon that could have allowed them to figure out figures to make that kids and adult collectors would have enjoyed.

If they made a figure from every hero and villain from A:EMH, they could have made at LEAST 30 figures and then ended the line with no complaints. Toss in people like Bishop, Sandman, a Ghost Rider villain or two and done. Heck they could skip a select few and repaint and bash a ton of figures. They could even have a sdcc box set of the Howling Commandos which sounds more like an execlusive than a market seller.

Who would they miss? Hope Summers? Banshee? Easy toss in figures.

The point is whoever is in charge just doesn't feel like they are paying attention to what they are holding. Marvel Universe: Avengers Assemble using that cartoon and maybe the new one as a base of who to create and not how to design them would be massive. Comes complete with a rebranded name too.

If you figure in memorable one shot charactures, costume changes, and, personaly I think some"Timley Comics" charactures would be a cool rout they've never explored.they could continue this line forever, theres always new charactures coming down the pike, hell in a few years we probably wont even reconise all the x-men, If they will give us a bag head spidy I dont think anything is off the table.

The future is the past!!!!

I LOVED those figures as a kid

While those are certainly good points, I think we may be overlooking the elephant in the room- Licensing costs.
Now that Disney own marvel, anything could have happened by way of their liscensing costs.
It ould also be something so simple as Disney telling hasbro that they wanted a lower price point- figure Disney will be stocking this stuff heavily in their own stores.

But we just dont know- Hasbro is obviously NOT trying to get out of making action figures- as the SW Black line shows- and with digital technology being what it is, it's not crazy to forsee hasbro making the exact same figure in both 4" and 6" scales with minimal tooling costs.

The biggest oddity of the IM3 line to me is that while the toys are obviously greared to a younger market, the movie is obviously a lot darker than the prior films.
This disconnect really kills toy lines- stuff like The Dark Knight, Spider-Man or Terminator Salvation are not kiddie movies, yet the toys were made as though they were...a stupid mistake. If little kids are not seeing the movie, but the line is made for them, the line will tank hard...but the same is not true the other way around- great quality toys like the IM2 line will sell to younger demographics- those IM2 toys sold a zillion units- the error there was the box stores ordering TWO zillion units! LOL!
Even then, some figures were damn hard to find.

Screw it- lets all hope Toyfair shows us some amazing 4" stuff...

At the Nurenberg Toy Fair (yes that's a thing) the Thor figures were shown and supposedly they are "very impressive". Of course it doesn't say what scale or have any pictures.

SOMEONE FIND PICTURES FROM THIS NUREMBERG TOYFAIR.