[Prem1x]

How to Re-Launch Marvel Universe and Not Fail. I'd like to hear what everyone who wants more 4" Marvel figures actually wants if the line were to kick off again.

The top two most successful action figure lines have to be Kenner Star Wars and GIJoe ARAH. So, 4" (I'm too lazy to type 3.75") has history and strong nostalgia to lean on. Let's discuss what made those lines and current lines successful.

I'd argue that 4" has always been (and should be) FOR vehicles and playsets. SW and JOE had great vehicles that you could fly around and carry a lot of your figures. That doesn't translate well to super heroes but there are ways to make it work. Kids need more than blister-carded figures in the aisle, they need Hell-cycles to zoom around (think land-speeders), Quinjets to carry the Avengers in (think Joe APC), and The Raft to have their villains break out of (think Joe HQ).

There were a lot of things that MU got wrong up front that made it an uphill battle for the line. They had quality issues with factories. They had too many sculptors doing different bucks and scales (including movie lines). Their sculptors were okay but clearly not what they are hiring for 6". The line rode comic-packs and singles too hard. There wasn't enough variety in the line. The SHIELD cards were a nice try but it seems people aren't really going to bother with the online aspect (unless it unlocks some characters in a MMORPG?).

It did do some things right. The packaging was awsome. Figures were scaled up from 1/18 to improve the fragility and paint applications. There were supporting movie lines and an overall huge amount of variety. It increased articulation and produced amazing figures. It created some obscure figures that were obviously for collectors (though that may have actually been a mistake). It had some accessories (for a while).

I know we'd be all over the place. Maybe we should have votes on blisters v boxes; $8 v $16; how to mix A v B v C+ listers in the first year and onwards; keeping the "Legends" branding or back to "Universe", etc.

For now, let me hear what you must have and absolutely don't want.