{mosimage}Can it really be? Two months in a row of Marvel Q&A? It looks like the combined nagging from the Hasbro Marvel brand team and the folks who manage the Hasbro PR for us to get off our lazy keisters has paid off. It wasn’t as if there were a ton of questions piling up in the Ask Hasbro thread or anything to clue us in.
Thanks to the folks at Hasbro for answering this set of questions, masterfully compiled by hagop9.
1. What is the focus of the Marvel Universe line, in terms of character selection? Will it focus primarily on characters getting heavy comic rotation, or will we see some random, older characters as well? For characters with different costumes/looks, will there be a tendency toward the current/modern look, or the classic? For example, if Luke Cage were to show up, is it more likely he would be in his Power Man costume, or in his New/Secret Avengers garb?
We’ve got 70 years of comic history to draw from so we aren’t focusing on any one particular era or segment. You’ll see some 70’s and 80’s specific characters and costumes as well as plenty of contemporary ones. Heck, you may even see some 40’s inspired choices, but we don’t want to give too much away. We want to throw some fun curveballs into this line and we’ve got some things planned for the back half of the year that are going to take fans by surprise. As for Luke Cage, it’s tough to beat that classic costume. Make sure to check out the "new news" on Hasbro.com/marvel this Friday for new in-package pics of Universe waves 2 & 3.
2. At SDCC we got to see some really nice looking Marvel Icons including Phoenix – the first female Icon! I believe these were set to be Previews and TRU exclusives. Can you give us a rough date when they will be available? Will we still see variants for Phoenix and Daredevil?
This new batch of Icons should be hitting a TRU near you by mid-January.
3. Can you give us an idea of what the future holds for the Marvel Legends 6" line? You intimated at SDCC that the BaF model was likely finished, and that two packs were the future. Can we expect to see new Two Packs unveiled at Toy Fair or NYCC? As you can imagine, this line has been around quite some time and has many hungry fans eager for news. The lack of upcoming product invariably feeds speculation that the line is being suspended. Can you give us at least a hint one way or another?
We’ll be revealing some new news on Legends shortly. There are still a lot of great characters left to do in 6" and we know that collectors are hungry for more. We also know that most Legends collectors want to avoid getting new versions of "A" characters that they already have, which makes it hard to drive the necessary volumes for mass retail. With that said, there’s a plan in the works that we think you’re going to like. Details to follow shortly…
4. The Iron Man movie line seems to be doing very well at retail. Will it continue? If so, is there a chance for comic based characters (such as Crimson Dynamo, etc.) to appear there?
The Iron Man line will definitely continue in 2009. There will be a whole bunch of heroes, villains and other surprises in there, some of which we’ll be revealing in February at Toy Fair and New York Comic Con.
5. There seems to be some discrepancy in regard to international distribution. Many of the overseas fans have a hard time finding product. You’ve said it’s a question of retailers not ordering the product. However, when some of our members have requested the product from their stores, they’re told by the retailers that these items are not made available to them for order. If a collector gets a response like that from their retailer, what’s their most effective course of action for getting their desires addressed?
We hear you. We’ve been following the discussion in the Negative Zone and we realize that it’s frustrating for Marvel fans who live in markets where it’s hard to find product. We’re working with Hasbro UK right now on some possibilities for getting more Marvel classic product into that region and we’re hopeful that things will start happening soon.
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