American Punch!

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First time finding the Love and Thunder wave at Walmart. With all of the stories of collectors getting register-locked, I was hesitant to even pick them up, today. Glad I did, because they cleared the check out without any issue. Love the detail on these two, both are simply fantastic figures.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...849223d8_c.jpg

False thor looks more like rachel miner

Which city & state did you find the Thor wave in?

Love and Thunder wave is going up for preorder right now. Dorkside has it listed as In Stock.

Ravanger Thor and Starlord sold out at Dorksidetoys.com. Amazon has them in stock.

Why are they not listed in whole cases?

I wonder why they aren't listed on Walmart or Target yet?

Was hoping Amazon would have the Thor Wave at $22.99 like they did the Multiverse of Madness Wave alas no $24.99 blech.

Based on the comments I've seen online about the new L&T Thor figure, I'm sure I'm in the minority of people who actually like it. If by some chance anyone else does and you're wondering what the Ravager Thor head looks like on the new Thor body; here you go.

https://i.imgur.com/2yNCwcW.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/2ubxdRQ.jpg

Thought on Love & Thunder Mighty Thor, or comic Mighty Thor? I can't decide...

Dude im with you as i love this fig and you did exactly what i was gonna. I like the blue n gold for Thor as it really works with that body and that design.

Wish Hasbro had just included that head with the helmeted Thor.

I also like the design other than it SCREAMS Black Knight to me due to the overall color scheme. That being said, I have no intention of buying the figure unless I find it on some dirt cheap sale down the road.

I think the Love and Thunder version is the best. The cape and the skirt pieces are a better fit on the MCU figure whereas they seem a little too big on the comic Mighty Thor.

https://i.imgur.com/qoKVI0r.jpg

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I'm loving the colors on these, especially the blue and gold on Thor. Plus, the capes on Thor, Jane, and Valkyrie are really vibrant.

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I hate they had finally started to scale down movie Asgardians with Endgame Thor and Odin...but now sized them back up for L&T.

The scale is what is keeping em from buying Ravager Thor.

I was thinking that with the elimination of the plastic shell, which I've heard was expensive on Hasbro's part, and making the figs come in a cardboard box, that the price would go down, not up. What is Hasbro's justification for the price hikes if they knocked out the plastic shell? They didn't add extra hands or alternate heads, extra FX accessories? I've just got 3 figs pre-ordered for the rest of the yr so far, classic Sabertooth, US Agent & Walmart Ulik. I don't know how many more wave reveals we have yet to see, but 2022 might be my final yr collecting this line, especially if single normal sized figs are now gonna cost close to $30 with zero upgrades. Hasbro seems to not know that gas & food has gone up 50% in the past yr. I'm putting in an extra $200 a month in gas & almost that same amount in groceries, so that extra $400 I woulda had for my ML comic based figs budget, is now going to gas/food.

The price hike is going to force the hand of many collectors. I really believe the best path forward, considering these rates, might be to shift to a collectors model. Offer more pack-in accessories and smaller yearly runs. Collectors are already paying $35 (and up) for 1/12 figs that Legends aren't really that far off from. If more care is taken on paints, adding modest textured detail, and the aforementioned accessories, Hasbro might offset the departures with collectors of other lines migrating over.

Because the price of cardboard also went up so it's mute, although the elimination of plastic shells wasn't going to make much a difference for rising production and shipping costs anyway.

To your other point, having to budget sucks, but most people are just going to have to buy less action figures. Especially anyone who was priced out already but didn't want to admit it, this is going to be a wake up call. And when you're out you're out, there's nothing Hasbro can do about it.

Eliminating the plastic from packaging was about being environmentally conscious rather than lowering the cost.

But why the price hike? Corporate greed on the part of oil companies would be most likely. A lot of major corporations have raised their prices past the need to combat inflation, especially the oil companies. And since plastic is a byproduct of petroleum, Marvel Legends suddenly cost more to make. Here's an article from The Guardian talking about the price hikes.

https://www.theguardian.com/business...prices-profits


FYI, anyone reading the article may need to use Google Chrome. There is a table in the middle of the article that didn't load correctly in Safari but viewing it in GC solved the issue.

I'm sorry man but I gotta disagree with you.

First, if people are being priced out at less than $30 per figure, turning this line into a premium collector line with a higher price tag isn't going to help. Even if the value is high and the releases are spread out, people will still eventually come to our current dilemma of "is X amount of money really worth it for X amount of figures".

Second, most collector lines are very niche. They appeal to a smaller number of buyers and have a limited focus. Marvel Legends on the other hand covers everything Marvel from all corners and eras of the comic book universe, the MCU, and even some of the video games. Just tackling the different eras of the comic books is going to be a nightmare for Hasbro to accomplish on a collector's model.

And third, I know this is a massively unpopular opinion on this forum but adult collector's aren't the only age group that collects Marvel Legends. The same goes for other Hasbro lines like Black Series, Lightning Collection and Classified. I know from past discussions that people always point to the cheap figures like Titan Heroes and say "those are the toys that kids play with" but those figures are typically meant for little kids, like 5 years old or younger. But Marvel Legends is the main Marvel toy line. Generally speaking, it's meant for everyone. I've been in Walmarts and Targets and seen parents buying their kids Legends or figures from the other lines that I mentioned. I've even had buyers contact me on eBay a couple of times to ask if I could do better on one of my prices because their kid wanted to spend their birthday money on a figure I was selling. Now granted, those kids and their parents probably aren't completing BAFs and buying convention exclusives. But I just don't see Hasbro making the price so far out of reach that only adults with good paying jobs can afford to buy Marvel Legends.


To be fair, I think you are on to something with the premium model. Applying that to a concept like the Infinity Saga, ML 20th Anniversary, or Spider-Man 60th Anniversary would work far better than what they are doing now. The price hasn't quite matched up with what we are getting in those lines. For something like that Hasbro should go big or go home. Make it a higher price point, one release every single month, a dedicated sculpt, premium paint, and lots of accessories. Do a theme for one year and then change it for the next. No store exclusives for any of the releases.

One component of the price increases not being discussed is ocean/air freight and domestic freight costs. Ocean freight has gone up from $4,000 a container to $20,000 for the past 18 + months. It is not going down anytime soon. This increase has been included on every item.

We don't have to agree on this, dude.

I appreciate where you're coming from and I have always known and accepted that ML is a 'play-line' that adult collectors take a liking to mostly because of the license involved.

I see the conundrum of this price hike as being part of a bigger problem beyond the scope of just toys and these rates (and worse ones to come) are here for the foreseeable future. The destabilizing war in Ukraine (and other conflicts that look to be on the horizon), current rates of inflation, the overvaluation of housing (again, as if we didn't learn the dangers of housing bubbles in 2007), growing political/cultural polarization and animus between citizens, a pandemic that's gone endemic (with more outbreaks fated as these viruses are byproducts of global climate change that isn't going anywhere due to general apathy/misinformation/corporate greed) along with an inability to get on the same page societally to control spikes, and an economy that, while improving, is still in a tenuous stage of recovery from the pandemic and recession before it all make for a pretty tough backdrop. The austerity pushed by our American oligarchs in concert with their like number around the globe has become the norm and the economic peril that the wealthiest among us experience is simply shifted to our backs with toy prices just being a drop in the bucket. We know this because after they bankrupted the economy in 2008 they were summarily bailed out, at our expense, then we watched as it happened again with the PPP following the recent pandemic inspired downturn. To a large degree, we've simply accepted this and they will maintain the course as long as we remain acquiescent and tractable...something that I also see being the case for the foreseeable future.

Bottom-line: the prices of most consumer goods aren't going back down and Hasbro will hemorrhage many collectors along with the parents you mention who are suffering under the very same conditions as everyone else. I'm sure Hasbro is aware that they're going to lose a sizable percentage of patrons and they've crunched the numbers. I'm also sure that Hasbro is looking at other lines like Mezco, Mafex, Tamashii, NECA, and Mythic Legions to assess how these brands have maintained high entry points and to determine where they might pivot their own model to appeal to an adjacent community of collectors that also like Marvel characters.

Hasbro could certainly opt for a hybrid approach to how they shift, but I'd be surprised if they simply tried to soldier on in the same manner, while raising prices. That would make a bad situation a disastrous one.

$30 Marvel Legends are already at retail, the future is now. If they're committed to the price increase, then they're going to have to offer more. I'm ok with deluxe rates, as long as the product merits it and there are fewer runs.

The problem isn't the price hike itself, but rather the frequency. For like 7 years the figures were $20 but within the last year they've gone from $20 to $22, $25, and now $28. Hell, they weren't even $25 for more than a month before going up to $28, let alone even a year at $22. If they're going to keep the prices rising like this, pull out of China and come back to the US! At least we'll be paying for American jobs!

Safe to assume when someone contacts you on eBay like that, there's no kid and they're just a cheapskate :p