[Harbinger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain Nash

Even though X-Men are my primary corner of collecting, I do understand and actually agree with your first point. The X-men seem to be a nearly bottomless pit of characters - while they had almost nothing from 2012-2015 (two VHTF waves, and a half dozen if that of figures here and there that weren't wolverine, he probably got a few in there too), we have had a TON of X-Men product over the last 5 years - well, since 2018 anyways as it was just one wave each in 2016-17. And there's still likely a ton more coming. There are so many characters and so many looks, they were one of Marvel two tentpoles for the 80's and 90's,...and lets face it that's where many of us started reading comics and where our nostalgia lies - it's no surprise that the overall top 10 list is X-men heavy.

And it probably will continue that way for another 2 years at least. Phase 4 of MCU may end up being a softer push of characters. With many of the the main MCU flagship characters out of rotation (Cap, IM and BW*) or tied to limited movie appearances (Spider-Man) I think that while the movies will do well, there will be less..intensity maybe is the right word?...from the general collector to get figures of those characters.

*And I am aware of the Black Widow movie, but that's a one off case and she won't have more appearances more than likely, and the whole situation with that support Legends wave is extremely unique due to timing the wave to try to match the movie's original release date. But basically BW is out of rotation after this one movie does come out.

What I mean is while Joe Average may not have known who the main Avengers were, those of us already reading the comics already knew. And now the MCU has used these and told their main stories and is now expanding onto more side-characters. And again, those movies are probably going to do well, but I don't know if there's going to be as big of a push from a Legends collector (who is NOT Joe Average) to really dig deep into those characters. People are always wanting Captain America, IM and Thor - you don't see as many people asking for Shang-Chi, Ant-Man or (Carol) Captain Marvel. But that's what Hasbro is going to push as that's what movies are going to come out.

I think it will be a disconnect between what's being offered and what people are wanting. And that will continue to be a problem with future top 10 polls.

*whew* all that to say I basically agree with you, maybe it's time there were multiple official polls of at least X-Men, Avengers, Spider-Man and General Marvel which would include Hulk and F4 as I don't see them sustaining a full on top 10 poll on their own for very long. especially one that's not very deep in characters.

Your second point about the Spider-Man wave for later in the year and worry about it being MCU based. I completely agree. But it probably will either end up being the case, or that there will be a separate Spider-Man wave somehow. I really hope the Stilt Man wave is not the only comic Spider-characters we get this year. And I'm not talking about shoving the recently revealed white and neon spider-Man figure into that late fall wave and saying "but look, there's a comic character in the wave after all!"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ultra Seven

Preach, Stu, preach. I would buy (without hyperbole) every character that appeared in a silver or bronze age Spider-Man comic. I wouldn’t mind a non X-Men version of the list, considering that sans-mutant, there’s not even enough of the top twenty five to make a top ten. Hell, my personal list was almost entirely X-Men. I think the problem is that there’s so many characters and so much product that it’s hard to pick just ten. My original list was taken up almost entirely by the Sraejammers & Excalibur.

Quote:

Originally Posted by StuartGreen2019

@Captain Nash - Thanks for the reply. For the first point, the Hulk is a tricky wave. Most of the characters are large and would likely be either Deluxe figures or as part of a two-pack. There are different Hulks (classic green savage, Mr. Fix-It, Merged/Professor, Doc Green, etc.) that are too big for the main wave, while smaller Hulks like first appearance Hulk and purple-trunks/founding Avengers Hulk are smaller in height and width to go with "normal" sized villains like Tyrannus, Ringmaster, orange-and-black suit Leader, Boomerang, the Absorbing Man and Nightmare. Hasbro could do a Hulk with a civilian character for extra appeal for collectors, like Dr. Bruce Banner with Gray Hulk, Rick Jones with A-Bomb, Betty Ross with , etc. Or Hasbro could do a U-Foes boxed set. And there are so many characters from the Fantastic Four that need updating and/or first-time figures, it's not even funny. Heck, Hasbro could even do a "New" Fantastic Four boxed set of gray Hulk, Spider-Man, Wolverine and Ghost Rider if they wanted.

For the Spider-Man wave, that's why I'm worried about the second wave: we have 'Spider-Man 3' in December and the new toyline is in the fall. Granted, we could see figures in the first wave of Marvel Legends' 2022 figures in late December 2021/early 2022 January. But still, after how awesome the Retro Spider-Man wave actually was last year, I'd really love to see more comic-based Spider-Man figures instead of, say, Tom Holland Spidey, Alfred Molina Doc Ock, Jamie Foxx Electro, possibly Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire Spider-Men, and then two comic-based figures as possible figures as the majority of the wave (even though I'd buy all of those in a heartbeat, if my wallet allowed it). And let's put the Usual Suspects wish-list villains aside like Chameleon, Sandman, Lizard, Rhino, Shocker and so on. There are other fan-favorite characters fans want to see get new figures too, like classic Kaine, Stunner, Shriek and Carrion for "Maximum Carnage" collectors (and a better, bigger Doppelganger, but still...), Cardiac, the Spot, the Rose, Tarantula, Man-Wolf, Molten Man, Overdrive, purple-and-blue suit Boomerang, Swarm, Morlun and Mr. Negative. That's not counting the various Spider-Men and Spider characters, like Madame Web, Spider-Woman (pick one -- there are a lot of them), Ezekiel, Web Armor Spider-Man, Octo-Spidey, Spider-Lizard, Spider-Hulk, first appearance/Steve Ditko era Spider-Man, John Romita Sr./Gil Kane era Silver Age Spider-Man with the original chest emblem, a new black costume Spider-Man, the Amazing Bag-Man, Todd MacFarlane era suit Spider-Man with the big eyes, the Slingers, and so many more.

I am hopeful we'll see more classic/Retro villains like Chameleon, Doctor Octopus with bendable wire tentacles, Sandman, Rhino, Shocker, the Hobgoblin and so on. But if we got, say, Morlun and/or Mr. Negative instead, I wouldn't be surprised since they're long overdue. But it'd be nice to have at least one or two new A-list "classic" villains included this year.

Good lord ya long winded bastiges....write a novel already. i think i lost a day reading all this. haha. I kid i kid.