[Snowflakian]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thewriteguy

Well, it's disturbing if you go through the Ultron figures. I don't typically collect 4" Marvel, but I do check them out in the stores whenever I can to keep up with the trends. And the current trend doesn't look good. There are hardly any 4" figures for the movie, and they appear to all be basic 5 POA. I don't know if there are even vehicles for the 4" figures, but there are vehicles for those tiny 2.5" figs. Then there are the larger figures -- 6" I think, and even larger ones, which are essentially plastic dolls for boys.

We're talking a major superhero blockbuster movie this year, yet there is hardly any 4" support. Hasbro's actions suggest that this figure scale has not been selling well in recent years. (I think I recall coming across a toy industry article reporting on this.) What could this foretell with Mattel, who have been even more stingy with their 4" figures, when it comes to BvS? And their apparent ending of the MV?

Well in Hasbro's case it's cost cutting for now. For a full playset and vehicles alongside interactivity to figures on a larger scale, the size had to be pushed down. The 5 POA figures are also for costs.

I do expect 4'' to make a return later. Right now it's more of an unloading backstock for awhile to appease retailers and diversify product. Some stores still have the helicarrier from the first avengers movie. Toys R Us still has Ironman 2 figures to unload.

Cap 3 is where we might see if this new 2.5'' scale is sticking or if they're going to find a way to filter the 4'' back in. With the large amount of characters incoming between now and Avengers 3, there's going to be a lot of ratios to balance on what to release when and how. The other problem being that retailers don't really support movie lines larger than 2 waves. With the constant refresh coming up though thanks to the movie year announcements, now would be a good time to balance that though across all of them.

So personally at least, I'm not worried because in a way this makes sense to boost the market back up on the 4'' for the later movies. Cap 3 and Thor 3 might end up being repacks like Avengers 2 are on the 4'' front, but Doctor Strange, Avengers 3, Black Panther, and Captain Marvel are anyone's guess. Black Panther and Strange I could see doing the Ant-man method of the title character only, but Captain Marvel I hope dives a bit deeper because of Carol's current mainstream popularity and history. Avengers 3 would be the perfect opportunity to bring the 4'' back in a large scale. With 3 being two movies essentially, it'll be easier to mass market several waves across those years. Since it's set to have almost everybody Marvel in it that's appeared so far, it'll also be a great spot for every character that's not been made yet.

As for "dolls for boys." That pretty much is how GI Joe got its start. So I wouldn't knock that if I were you.