If you could Run Hasbro, what would you make?
 

If given the creative liscence to create, design, package,price and market items for Hasbro's Marvel Universe line, what would you do? Would you remake/retool currently released items, make figures that haven't been released? would you go completely off the rocker and change things up, and if so how?
Lets give this topic, 1 production year, so lets say head guy dies off, your next in line his right hand man/woman, and given complete control, however the Head CEO gives you a probation period to prove yourself of 1 year, make what you want but if it doesn't sell your out on your ass!

My selections would be:

Sinister 6 box set: electro,venom with enhanced range of motion, black widow, green goblin with removable mask, and open pouch full of pumpkin bombs and a mini flight stand.doc ock,rhino around 5-6'' and full range of motion, mysterio with light up dome.

Comic Faceoff 2packs:
Captain America vs Red Skull with unmasked version variant for cap, and nazi version Red Skull.

Punisher vs KingPin I feel their good enemies and I don't like Jigsaw as a character design.

Professor x vs Magneto, both have removable helmets, and wheelchair for Professor.

Iron Man vs Mandarin, removable 2 piece helmet for Tony, and remove helmet and cosmic waves for Mandarin, the variant would be Tony Stark, with snap on armour/removable tux jacket, and Mandarin would be a battle damaged version.

shield box set with 5-6 figues: Nick fury, Maria Hill,Dumdum, etc.. matching uniforms and there would be 2 options, 1 version comes with a jet and they have darker blue uniforms, another version would have lighter uniforms and a tacticle van.

Aim box set, 6 aim soldiers and Modok, along with the power cube.

Single Carded figures:
Jim Lee style Mr Sinister, Sauron, Apocalypse,Gambit,Rogue,Jubliee,Angel, professor x, Beast, Pepper Potts, Bruce Banner,

NYCC exclusives would be alleyway playset with peter parker figure whith cloth suit and a spidey figure with mask half down for the MJ kiss, long bendible webs and removable webbed villians. The other would be a MU size Stan Lee figure with collage comic art packaging.

SDCC exclusives would be Deluxe Maddam Webb and Beyonder box set,
Tony Stark Armoury, includes 5 light up display pods, workbench and tables, tools, and 3 scale vehicles parked in the garage bay.

In addition to this, I would sell a 3-4 different sized bulk packs of figure bases and mini flight stands on the Marvel website for every collector to buy from, team up with apex to make some awesome Marvel themed display bases, and there would be 2-3 different weapons,ammo and accesories packs, including different colored clip on ability accessories, ie cosmic beems fire hands.

Your Turn.

Vehicles and Playsets.

namely quinjets, blackbird, shield vehicles, avengers mansion, etc.

Great thread, unlimited improvements...but prioritizing, my bigest gripe would be their consistenly shoddy work with messy painted figs. This alone should be enough to down grade the pricing structure by a few $.

Other than that, I'd ask that the Hulk mold be retooled (and fire the dude that sculpted the head on green/grey hulk), and also fire the dude that created the daredevil mold and everyone else that decided to reuse it for other characters.

Finally, reassess the product marketing group and ask them to provide release dates for all up and coming figures, not just lousy uncertain time frames and questional release schedules. Departments would need to undergo restructuring and perhaps demote resources along with pay decrease for those involved with shoddy distribution plans i.e. vaporware waves like final IM2 wave and Thor wave 2.

I would stop producing those stupid gimmick firing toy accessories and useless Spiderman figs that are barely one step above Happy meal toys.

I think it'd be a great wake up call for many fans about how distribution works if they had their own plans screwed up by retailers.

Other than that, I'd do similiar to what they are doing now, with a few minor changes to how they approach the ironman/wolverine/spider-man to each line(no repeated costumes!). I'd also make sure there are at least 2 female figures per wave.

As for comic packs, I'd move away from repeating anything that was in the line already, and reserve those for new characters altogether, or entirely new costumes of characters. Going by a motto of no repeats unless the demand is so prevalent for them that it warrants it. Like say thanos. (Bucky Crossbones pack for example. Crossbones = Good, high demand and hard to find on shelves, but bucky cap I would have replaced with Sin pre-redskull scarring probably using the Helix joe mold or a retooled female buck.)

They already are doing more 3 packs for teams, so no improvement needed there. Including throwing in the harder to find versions of characters for them like x-force warpath. I would have also rounded out the 6pack X-men better to not use Cyclops at all, but instead toss in Banshee or Xavier, at the very least the Sunfire figure.

I'd gold plate and diamond encrust Stormtroopers and make a necklace out of them.

I'de add more articulation to the female molds, also make more female characters. My display was once a sausage party, then turned into a gang bang -.-. Come on Hasbro...

I would also love it if they made a smaller more common human hand size infinity gauntlet that you can put on other figures.

well I would re make the old marvel legends waves like sentinel , galactus with the same moulds they used to produce their figures also more other figures from movies like captain america and thor also take them furthur like hasbro did with the ironman waves they had a comic wave , concept wave and just the movie wave.All would be aviable in 6 inch and 3 1/4 inch ( for those that like that size).
thanks for asking
warmachine6

only release core characters from the movie line to prevent after movie hype clogging and no crappy concept figures, (no jungle cap or sleeveless thor) and take pages from mattel's and make the marvel lines more for collectors than kids, no cloak and dagger when it comes to 6 inch movie figures, but first thing I would do is FIRE THE ENTIRE HASBRO MARVEL TEAM and hire new personnel and someone similar to toyguru for a marvel toy forum linked to hasbro.com to answer occasional questions I would not treat them like government secrets.

Simple, if I ran hasbro i would be interested in makingas much money as possible. Thus I would begin to manufacture, wolverines and dildos.

Also the occasional other random X men figure.

Add more accessories to match what GI Joes have and stop using the same rifle for everyone or the same stupid iron man blast accessory.
Obviously start producing more molds that can be used for new characters that haven't been made yet.

I would make....more characters in movie sets and I would make sure they actually got to stores while the movie was still in theaters.

I think Hasbro moving in the right direction i could see them making every marvel legend figure in Marvel universe 3.75

This is pretty much in line with what I would do, given the opportunity.

He didn't say you'd be in charge of Hasbro - just the Marvel division of it. Besides, how would you move? ;)

I can also get behind this. Mix up the accessories a bit more but keep them appropriate.

Hard to do when you don't own the retail chains as well. And to me it seems that the stores are getting the toys too early. I'd rather see them show up a week before the movie hits rather than a few months before release.

But as I said, difficult to work out when you're only half of the equation.

Now that I think about it only thing I can ask is that Hasbro start release their figures online sooner then store date pre-order I guess. Full wave.

The thread's title was misleading.

But never the less I'd still make a pimping chain.

Maybe outta Spideys.

Or Crossbones and Red Skulls.

Well, if the theory is the ability to run Hasbro, I would not allow so much of Wave 1 to be produced or I'd have better case ratios. I mean, this is just a dream thread. Not a "let's be realistic" thread. :D

I'd focus on improving the Quality Control. We've all bought/have seen a figure from hasbro that just sucked due to loose or overly tight joints, or sloppy paint. It's something that's a little to frequent from such a large business with as many loyal shoppers that they have.

That said I'd have an entire wave of just Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Wolverine figures, and 1 repaint of each in every wave.

I would continue in a very similar vein as well with releases. I would, as Hasbro does, since it is cost effective, reuse the core molds to create a slew of new figures. I think this would allow for maximization of figures through inventive 2 packs and 6 packs as well. New molds would be used for single packs and reuse or repaints would be for 2/6 packs. Said repaints would not be slight variations (ala the 100+ Gold/Red Iron Men) but more akin to the Spider Man repaint that produced the Original costume, Black Costume, M Costume, 2099, Scarlet and Iron Spider. These type of re-uses give the most bang for the buck and allow a Spider-Man in the line to keep both the bosses and the fans happy. This would allow for repaints of say...Deadpool in his XForce, standard and XMen uniform but the XForce and XMen uniform would be in the form of multi-packs only. I would also consider it my personal mission to come out with a good version of the Punisher. As for Six packs I would keep up with the theme model so that fans could get a Cosmic pack, a X-Force pack, an Avengers/New Avengers pack, an XFactor pack, an FF pack, a Marauders pack, an AoA pack and so on. These can be further added to with 2 packs which can also be used for repaints of harder to acquire figures. I would change exclusive figures to a workable model by adding, even if it is latter in the sales stream, the ability to procure them through HasbroToyShop. Thus allowing the collectors a fair shake down the road and allowing them to buy them through Hasbro instead of being raped by the scalpers (thus increasing the Hasbro bottom line). I would also add the Marvel Subscription figures to HTS, again, perhaps after the year they were available exclusively through Marvel.

If I ran hasbro I would have already released a professor x n a single card magneto I would also give a five pack x men pack with gambit jubilee rogue angel n a iceman n ill call it xmen supporting cast lol I also would give the fans what they want figures like nova.. ares (size of juggernaut).. ill redo sentry make him short hair with beard n give a variant with mask on.. hope all grown up.. n all of galaxtus heralds cuz there all awsome.. I'm sure there is more ill like to put out but I'm tired n I wanna sleep lol

A line full of Wolverine, Iron Man, and Spiderman.....

Nah fuck that. Here's what I would do(serious story bro):

Make the following versions of Wolverine:

• Death
• Age Of Apocalypse
• Tiger stripe
• ASX/Civil War
• Brown costume
• ASX/Civil War like the Marvel Icons repaint that Hasbro made

ALL using a new, in-scale, Marvel Universe style buck, After that, NO MORE WOLVERINE figures for a substantial amount of time. Shit, after that, no one would want any anyways as that list right there brahs, is golden. Because I made it. And I'm awesome. And you love it. And I do too.

For Iron Man:

• Modular Armor
• Modern Armor before Extremis

Holy shit...I think that's it. After that, no need to see Tony for a while. Shelves are STILL full of him. Hell they even have those incentive $2 off coupon ads still intact...even though the sale expired months ago! Why? NO ONE BOUGHT THESE!

The flaw of the Iron Man 2 line wasn't the toys, as they were actually decent for the most part, but the ROSTER! I mean hell, yeah Tony has a shit ton of armor but when you have a line that is full of %^&*()_ing repaint after repaint of Mark VI and Mark IV, shit gets old ya know? Kids can spot the redundancy too. Whiplash and the drones in wave 5? WHAT THE HELL?

The Comic Series tended to do a better job with rosters but since the movie ones took forever to sell, the Comic Series was more scarce..well moreso wave 3 and beyond. If you guys found them last summer, well GREAT, my ass didn't find them til like November or some shit. I heard all these stories like "man Hulkbuster won't move over here, we got tons of them!". Pshh yea in YOUR area. Someone said the same thing about comic Iron Monger and I didn't see that figure all that much.

I DID see a lot of that damn so called "Ultimate" armor repaint of the Mark IV.

Rant over. NOT! On to Spiderman. Make the following:

• NEW body, red and blue, thigh swivels, and those damn rocker ankles(come the %^&* on Spiderman ISN'T the most fully articulated figure in MU? Are you kidding me, SPIDERMAN?)
• NEW black Spiderman, same features as above.
• New Spiderman 2099, same features as above
• ARMORED Spiderman
• Ditko based Spiderman

That's it. Then we don't need to see him for a while.

Kill off the Spiderman 3-3/4" line. It ain't selling, I think we all know why. Might as well kill it off and give the Marvel Universe line an expanded roster per wave. I am a genius.

Make Marvel Universe vehicles. Make them compatible with GI Joe.

Make an ALL NEW Captain America. The previous ones and the regular one in his own damn line don't cut it. Oh, and give him the shield that has PLASTIC straps. The elastic s%^&*( don't work, and the clips get loose. The elastic one that comes with movie Cap is %^&*(_ing brilliant. We need an ass kicking Captain America, bulked up but proportionate, with thigh swivels and rocker ankles.

Decimate elbrows and kneebros on the new Marvel Legends.

Make a new Hand ninja with thigh swivels, rocker ankles, no skirt, and scabbards this time.

Make a Punisher Captain America.

Make a box set of the core vol. 1 Ultimate Avengers: Cap, Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk. Why Iron Man? Come the %^&*( on NONE of us ever found him or his wave at retail(I think).

Make the initial waves full of new mold figures and balanced with villains. Iron Man and Wolverine lines suffered because most of the 1st waves were figures of Iron Man and Wolverine. What's the point of buying Wolverine if you have no one to fight him? WTF he's going to fight another version of himself?

If I ever fought myself myself would kick my ass. So see that s%^& wouldn't work and all of you know it.

Make movie line/tie-in figures IN SCALE TO MARVEL UNIVERSE. WTF why is this not happening to begin with? Kids LOVE TO mix and match figures of the same scale.

Hell if it takes a GI Joe repaint, repaint the damn Sky Striker as a SHIELD jet, and have it come with a generic ass SHIELD pilot, maybe a repainted Ace from GI Joe or something. WHY? Hell F-14's have shown up randomly in Marvel books and Joe fans would probably buy one anyways to boost up their ranks. WIN/WIN situation and hell I would buy some too. Hell I'd take a Rattler, Conquest X-30, I don't give a %^&*() those vehicles are cool.

Plus Hasbro isn't beyond cross pollination of molds in other lines. Nick Fury in the IM2 line used a GI Joe body and the XMO Wolverine line was going to have a repainted GI Joe vehicle from the 2002-06 years.

Besides there are some panels where Captain America rides a $%^&*(ing airplane only to leap off of it and punch someone in the tooth. How can I recreate that with no Marvel Universe vehicles?

Yeah. Sometimes I impress myself. Like with this post.

I'd go with atotal crossover with the GI Joe line- get their sculptors and every figure should be packed with tons of accessories like the Joes have.
Every MU figure should have a "unmasked" head or a variant head (Black Widow would have a short haired head for example).

Deluxe figures! The movie line deluse figures suck on ice but MU deluxe figures could be awesome- Hawkeye on his sky-cycle for example. Professor X with his hoverchair and Cerebro. Captain America on his motorcycle. Doctor Strange with the Book of the Vashanti, Orb of Agamotto and Wong. Annhililus with removable Quantum Bands and posable wings.

You get the idea.


Also, send away figures based on UPC barcodes of bought figures! reward the real fans of the MU line, not just people with $65 to blow on some crappy digital subscription!

More three packs! An Avengers Support Staff set of Maria Hill, Sharon Carter and Jarvis! Women of Marvel set with She Hulk, Mantis and Titiania! defenders three pack with valkerie, Gargoyle and Beast!

Finally, two vehicles: a SHIELD Flying Car! With accurate guns and fully capable of seating two normal-sized MU figures and a classic FF Fantasticar (the "flying bathtub")!

Hell, Shin, I'm impressed you got through that Spider-Man bit without having an angerism. ;)

Works for me ;)

Yeah, but this fantasy setup came with rules, just like most "What if?" scenerios. If I said "What if the USA became a monarchy and you were crowned king, how would you run the country?", you would still have to deal with the other nations and their governments (even if it was to nuke the shit out of some of them because you had access to that big red button). ;)

Having said that, if you decide to change the case ratios for MU while you're running Habro's Marvel division, I'm all for it :D

...especially if you can bend the ear of a certain head honcho in the Transformers division ;)

So, I'm in charge of Hasbro's Marvel group? Okay, here's what I'd do.

First off, I'm creating a new line of toys. 6", fully articulated. Brand new molds and sculpts, no repaints, no gimmicks. We're gonna get the heavy hitters in the Marvel universe their own line of proper toys. Repaints will be available online only at a premium price.

Wave 1: Avengers
- Iron Man
- Captain America
- The Incredible Hulk
- Thor

Wave 2: Spider-Man
- Spider-Man
- Venom
- Doctor Octopus
- Green Goblin

Wave 3: X-Men
- Cyclops
- Storm
- Wolverine
- Jean Grey

Wave 4: Fantastic Four
- The Thing
- Mr. Fantastic
- Human Torch
- Invisible Woman

Wave 5: Villains
- Apocalypse
- Magneto
- Dr. Doom
- Loki

Wave 6: X-Men 2
- Iceman
- Beast
- Colossus
- Gambit

Wave 7: Avengers 2
- Hawkeye
- Nick Fury
- Hank Pym
- The Wasp

Wave 8: Spider-Man 2
- Carnage
- Mysterio
- The Lizard
- Scorpion

Wave 9: Various
- Daredevil
- Punisher
- Deadpool
- Black Panther

Wave 10: Various 2
- Ghost Rider
- Silver Surfer
- Thanos
- Luke Cage

I'm releasing these at a rate of one wave a month in limited quantities to retail.

I'm continuing the 3.5" series and using it for minor characters, repaints, etc.

I'm keeping the movie toy lines short and sweet. If it appears on screen, it gets a toy. No endless repaints.

I like this guy give him an application!