What's this talk about terifs and the line stopping? Over in the DC thread they're musing over McFarlane and Hasbro trading licenses. What the heck is going on???
What's this talk about terifs and the line stopping? Over in the DC thread they're musing over McFarlane and Hasbro trading licenses. What the heck is going on???
Welcome to the new reality. Just wait until you start to ask these questions about things that are not toy related.
I don’t envisage there ever being a point where Hasbro have made every Marvel character I’d be prepared to buy. Like, there’s never going to be a Chtylok the CheK’n-Kau figure (and I’ve made my peace with that). So while my purchases will probably slow down, I doubt I’ll ever close the door entirely while there’s a line to buy.
Legends was the line that got me into adult toy collecting - over the years I’ve dipped into other lines (DCUC, Street Fighter, Black Series), but I always come back to ML.
All that said, the number of ‘essential’ figures remaining unmade is ever diminishing. If things come to a grinding halt right now, I can make my peace with it.
I do think Hasbro is going to have an interesting decision when both the Marvel and Star Wars licenses come up again - I think Disney will have to come down on their financial expectations as neither is at the peak it was 5 years ago (and projected for more with Disney Plus at the time), and Hasbro could decide that they want to stick with their own IP with GI Joe, Transformers and maybe try to build up something like ROM or Micronauts or other house brands.
Don't worry, I'm with you on wanting a Chtylok the CheK’n-Kau figure, too. That makes at least 2 of us, now. 😀I don’t envisage there ever being a point where Hasbro have made every Marvel character I’d be prepared to buy. Like, there’s never going to be a Chtylok the CheK’n-Kau figure (and I’ve made my peace with that). So while my purchases will probably slow down, I doubt I’ll ever close the door entirely while there’s a line to buy.
Legends was the line that got me into adult toy collecting - over the years I’ve dipped into other lines (DCUC, Street Fighter, Black Series), but I always come back to ML.
All that said, the number of ‘essential’ figures remaining unmade is ever diminishing. If things come to a grinding halt right now, I can make my peace with it.
What's this talk about terifs and the line stopping? Over in the DC thread they're musing over McFarlane and Hasbro trading licenses. What the heck is going on???
Welcome to the new reality. Just wait until you start to ask these questions about things that are not toy related.
AH, OK, I read a few pages back. I..........just deleted a lot of stuff. Letting this one go.
I love Legends, but if they stopped making them I wouldn't be mad lol.
I also LOLed. But I also feel the same way. It might even benefit me really.
I feel this. I think I'd be happy where I am with my collection if they stopped making them. But I am betting that there will be several more purchases over the next two years regardless.
@enforcer well see, I wonder if part of the appeal is having an ongoing, living collection. If it was finite and you reached your ultimate list, would you still enjoy it? Would the act of simply having them give you pleasure? Or is acquiring where it's really at? I wonder about that but not enough to scare myself into quitting, because the answer is probably that my collection owns me.
I do love the feeling of having a complete collection. I also have my Figure Photos Instagram which benefits from the new and improved stuff but also means I can build out any roster I want from a full universe of figures. Maybe I'm just preparing for the next ML Cover Contest that never comes 🙂
That said - I have like 12 of those older Ikea display cases with the pine frame and 5 shelves that are absolutely filled with figures. I own a home, but it's to the point where it's a pretty significant consideration of future homes where to store this shit. Like... what have I done lol
If Legends and ended and McFarlane picked it up, for example - I don't think I'd have any desire to restart a collection or replace it. I truly would end my collecting habits as they currently are, maybe the odd Classified Retro. I don't need anything else to fill the void. Save myself several grand a year...
Legends has tackled so many characters to the point I have Marrow & Deathbird sitting at my top 10. There’s so many new characters to be done of course, but updates to existing ones will happen. Look at Medusa- she is in dire need of an update when compared to today’s standards. So I’ll probably find myself having redos in my list eventually. I enjoy the hobby too much 😂
@enforcer well see, I wonder if part of the appeal is having an ongoing, living collection. If it was finite and you reached your ultimate list, would you still enjoy it? Would the act of simply having them give you pleasure? Or is acquiring where it's really at?
I have a couple of examples of a "complete" collection and both give me joy:
Power Rangers Lightning Collection was canceled. But they completed my favorite team and gave them a very generous amount of bad guys before it ended. I have them displayed in a Detolf and love looking at them.
Toybiz LOTR figures. TB went nuts with this license going deep, DEEP into the cast of characters and army builders. I don't have them all, not even close. I gave myself a strict cut off. I have the Fellowship, Sauron, and a very select few others. They're displayed in my porch/wife's office. I love going in there and looking at those too.
So one collection has a self-imposed cut off, the other was cut off for me, but neither are going to really grow and I'm satisfied. I want to reach that point with all the lines I collect.
Legends has tackled so many characters to the point I have Marrow & Deathbird sitting at my top 10. There’s so many new characters to be done of course, but updates to existing ones will happen. Look at Medusa- she is in dire need of an update when compared to today’s standards. So I’ll probably find myself having redos in my list eventually. I enjoy the hobby too much 😂
As a bored-at-work experiment awhile back, I took the 2018 Fwoosh poll (when we still got to see the full tallies) and put it in a spreadsheet, keeping track of what they've made since. And you have to get 60 figures into the list for a full unmade top 10. It's wild how much ground they've covered.
If Hasbro would get the DC license, and make Marvel Legends-compatible DC figures, I'd be running into the same issues with that line that I do with Legends. I've no interest in any of the characters or designs from the Nu52 forward, so I'd only be interested in the classic stuff. Plus, I'm a HUGE Fourth World fan, and I get the feeling they'd treat them with as much overall disregard as they do Thor's world. We'd get Darkseid for sure, and MAYBE Orion to fight him. But I doubt we'd go as deep as I'd like. Mattel never did (though I love the ones they did make).
I wonder if part of the appeal is having an ongoing, living collection. If it was finite and you reached your ultimate list, would you still enjoy it? Would the act of simply having them give you pleasure? Or is acquiring where it's really at?
So, I pretty much have the answer to this for myself, honestly - at least from a DC perspective. I collected DCUC and the associated Mattel lines. When they lost the license and McFarlance took over I stopped building my DC collection because the new figures are incompatible - they are too big to blend well, so except for the rare exception that can be fudged in I don't add to the DC shelves. And yet I still prominently display my DC figure collection happily. It gives me joy to look at it.
If some fateful day Hasbro stops making 1/12 scale Marvel figures I very much doubt I'll start over with something new but you can bet I'll still happily display the existing collection. I also display my collection of 1970's Marvel Slurpee Cups which they haven't made in 45 years and my collection of Bowen Mini Busts which have been out of production for years now (though there are a few I still don't have)
So for me, I know for sure the having and displaying gives me more pleasure than the acquiring. Which isn't to say I don't still love the idea of getting new things to add. I'd be perfectly happy to keep getting unmade characters for my Legends shelves for another decade.
Enjoying this discussion and everyone's thoughts on collecting "goals", where a collection ends, etc.
For my part, I'm content to collect Legends as long as it goes on. I kept with it all these years because I loved the idea of an ever-expanding Marvel universe in plastic form. As it has continued for nearly 20 years the practical considerations around that have changed - even if you only display one of each "unique" character, and even if you put limits around that (comic 616 only, for example) you're still left with a massive display - plus storage for all the parts, pieces, extra figures, etc.
I'm happy to see people acknowledging how incredibly deep this line has gone on character selection. I have my "How have they not made this yet" character list just like anyone, but it really is remarkable how many characters have been committed to plastic.
If Hasbro were to ever lose the license I can't help but think whoever carried it forward would keep in mind the rich history of the line. Even if it were to be a total relaunch, what would that really mean? We already have a recurring cast of A-listers every year, with the back bench of unmade characters slowly being worked through. A total scale or dramatic style revision would definitely be a deal breaker for me - no way I'm starting over - and I'd still have 20 years worth of collection to appreciate. I'm hoping it never fully ends, though.