How nice would it be to have an actual in-scale Sentinel? What about a vast army of tanks and soldiers for the Hulk to toss around? Would you like to equip the Punisher with enough weapons and ammo to level a small town? Well all of this is now not only possible but also likely with the recent news that ToyBiz will be bringing 4” Marvel figures to store shelves.
Part 1 – the Pros
How nice would it be to have an actual in-scale Sentinel? What about a vast army of tanks and soldiers for the Hulk to toss around? Would you like to equip the Punisher with enough weapons and ammo to level a small town? Well all of this is now not only possible but also likely with the recent news that ToyBiz will be bringing 4” Marvel figures to store shelves.
Finally!
I don’t know that it is a common thing among toy collectors but the idea of all this greatness in one convenient scale has been a dream of mine for a long time. I love all the different scales. They all have their place in my collection but if you ask me nothing says toy quite like 1:18. Figures that size are meant for one thing and it’s not display. Not sure if it’s because that’s the scale I became used to when I was just a wee collector or if it’s just the sheer amount of products that exist in the scale already. Either way I’m sure I’d be ready for this kind of thing, and I figure now is the time to lay out the pros and cons that come along with this prospect.
So much has been done before!
Not that I’d want Toy Biz to venture into the unoriginal but any 4” line of figures that comes out has a vast wealth of products and accessories to go along with it. You remember how many ET vans were sold once ML Punisher came out? Just think about the kind of goodies he could have if he was the size of a GI Joe. Planes, tanks, jeeps, cars, swords, guns, motorcycles, or anything else a tiny gun-crazed vigilante could ever hope to get his hands on. It’s all been made before. There are just so many compatible accessories out there for this scale it seems like a no-brainer to at least give it a shot.
Vehicles… Playsets!
I mentioned a minute ago the aspect of accessories and compatibility. There is a reason that there are so many vehicles and playsets made for figures in this scale. It’s what the scale is perfect for. Want a Danger Room? How about an alleyway or maybe a bank? The Baxter Building seems fitting. I don’t speak for everybody but I would a give a chunk of the Daily Bugle a second look. Hmmm, what about some vehicles? Ignore the stuff that’s been made before; given the chance, there could be a Quintet, or perhaps a Blackbird, maybe even a bathtub Fantasticar. All these great vehicles that people miss out on because of problems in the 6” scale. Not that there is anything actually wrong with 1/12th scale vehicles, but the issues of shelf space and price point favor the smaller stuff.
Space!
The final frontier, I have a big house, lots of room, high ceilings, big windows, wall space, closet space, and all that good stuff. And you know what? I got figures comin’ outta my ears. Some of you naysayers would say that’s my fault. And you are right, but it’s a problem a lot of us have. It’s always been hard to put away 6” figures and up; they all make such nice display pieces. They really are awesome toys but in a different regard I think of them as a form of art. So many of them just look great standing on a shelf and so I have more of them in display than I have in storage. Aside from that, looking around you would have no clue that the bigger things make up only a fraction of the stuff I have. Tubs stacked upon tubs of GI Joes and assorted stuff sharing that scale. All in all hundreds, maybe thousands of figures (gah!) taking up a few square feet of a closet in the corner. Admittedly a bucket on the floor of a closet marked ’86 doesn’t make for an impressive display, but I’ve always thought that that’s what the big figures are for.
Space!?!
Thought I was finished with space? Nope, because it matters in another regard. Yep, I’m talking about real estate in the action figure isle. Just looking the other day at Target resets, the GI Joes had nine pegs with some space for vehicles and box sets underneath. This Target had no ML or SMC (sad) but they had roughly the same amount of shelf space. Now in that space you can fit a lot more product, meaning the store can put out more than one case at a time. Distribution and availability have become major issues for collectors and it comes down to a matter of retail shelf space. The less space the figures take up, the more figures there will be on the shelf. And that translates into easier to find figures. This works to the benefit of everybody: retailers want things to take up less space, Toy Biz wants to be able to move more product with the space that they have, and I want a Deadpool small enough to rule Cobra’s armies. A lot of the shelf space allowed is determined more so by the packaging than by the figures inside so that is still up in the air, but if we have smaller figures in space saving packages, this gives Toy Biz and retailers the opportunity to move a lot of product.
Cost
No not the cost that you pay, but the expense that Toy companies pay to make these crazy things. Action figures are expensive things to make. It costs all kinds of money to have them tooled and painted. With oil prices as high as they are I am simply blown away by the amount of articulation Toy Biz has made standard on their figures. Every single point of articulation represents a different part that has to be molded. Not to mention the weight of these things. Companies and retailers ship cases by the thousands and I think it would definitely be a bonus if they had to pay less to get them on the shelf. Because when they pay less that means I get to pay less, and I’m all for paying less. That’s one reason why roto-cast figures were such a great idea while they lasted. They were huge figures that had very low pricepoints because they used such relatively small amounts of plastic. Shrink the figures and the price shrinks with it.
2-Packs!
This is totally wishful thinking on my part as this method of packaging has no real bearing on the scale, but I have grown really used to the idea of a 2-in-1. One villain, one hero. Or it can be mixed up with one popular character and one second stringer. Take a page out of Hasbro’s book and go the army builder route: one Hydra agent, one Hellfire guard. Keep the price point low and everybody wins. In 2-Pack land there is no such thing as one per case. Because you can’t sell heavy hitters without selling the villains with them. We know ToyBiz has some 2-Packs planned but at this point I haven’t heard whether or not that’s going to be a reoccurring thing. They may be trying it just to test the waters. I do think this packaging method has a great deal of benefits for collectors though.
Part II – the Cons
You gotta take the bad with the good, and last time we looked at the positive aspects that a 4” Marvel toy line will bring. So now it’s time to sit back and take a new look at the other side of the coin and see why this could be an utterly awful idea.
NO. Not my ML!
I mentioned before that having some of my favorite characters from comics and movies and everything in between in one consistent scale has been a hope of mine for as long as I can remember. I still feel that way, but not at the sake of the regular ML line. What I’m saying is that if a new smaller toy line meant the eventual end of the 6” figures then I want no part of it. Currently the stuff coming out of the folks at Toy Biz in the 6” scale (SMC, ML, LOTR) are really some of the best out there in terms of mass market lines. The only thing I can think of that I have wanted longer than consistent scale is a bunch of super articulated super heroes. And having that now I don’t know that collectors, myself included, would be willing to sacrifice the larger line for a new one. However that’s only speculation on my part. If both lines can exist together then this complaint is moot. But this does bring me to another big fat negative that might come with a Mini Marvel line…
Pfft! What am I made of money?
I mentioned how cost effective I think a line like this will be last time. The cost per figure should be less expensive than the lines we have now, meaning if you bought them instead of ML you would be saving money. But would you want to give up on good ol’ ML? No? Me neither. That leaves you with one alternative: buy both. But then who wants to spend more money on a bunch of stuff you essentially already have. I know not everybody has the cash or time to commit to collecting more than what they already do. And that means less collector interest. Because to some of us it’s redundant to have the same characters but in a different scale. It’s like the issues that people have with the Marvel Select line. It’s so frustrating to see figures that could very well fit into a ML collection if it weren’t for that extra inch we all hate so much.
Details, details.
I am blown away by the amount of detail that goes into the Marvel Legends. Yes it has its quality control issues, but what line doesn’t? I’m sure somebody will disagree with me, but generally a smaller figure means less detail. Whether that detail comes in the form of texture in the sculpt or paint application, generally smaller figures just can’t match the larger stuff when it comes to detail.
Articulation Shmarticulation
Have you been spoiled by an average of 30 points of articulation on all your figures? Well I have. Toy Biz has done some really great things in the realm of articulation. I remember being surprised at the first Blade figure’s toe articulation, and look how far we’ve come. A smaller line might require a few steps back in regards to the amount of POA they can pack into a figure. Now they’ve done some decently poseable figures, like the 4" movie Spider-Man released last year with 19 POA. But with that becoming the standard you can kiss the 40+ POA goodbye.
Say it with me… Scale.
I can see it now. Captain America and Wolverine looking eye to eye. Colossus and Nightcrawler side by side, the fact is figures in this scale have always had size issues. Even Hasbro still struggles with this, and they’ve been steadily cranking out 4” figures since the early 80’s. Just a while back Hasbro made a Tunnel Rat and Roadblock that had major scale issues. Judging by the response that people give to Toy Biz on the scale of the 6” line, it should be expected that there would be more problems with the smaller figures. I’ve grown used to the idea of relative scale so if that could be applied here I think I would be satisfied. But buying as many 4” figures as I have, this kind of thing isn’t something I expect to happen.
And So?
Like it or not these figures are on the way. If they are even close to being as good as Marvel Legends I will be kissing some more of my money goodbye. A lot of what’s been said is going to be repeated over and over again in the coming months once theses little guys get closer to release. But I’m ready and waiting to go along for the ride.