This may well be the first Haslab I back thanks to a friend with a credit card who plans on getting 3. One would be for me and I just pay him back. Half now and half when it comes in. I love no figure tiers with this one. I truly believe we will get additional Hank and Janet figures over the next year either in waves or Fan Channel. Especially when this starts shipping sometime next year.
I could see it with that example, people already have that figure in (and I'm not sure about this because I don't collect Joes full time) 3 different deco's?
It's different with a figure that's long demanded and hasn't seen an announcement or retail confirmation.
I'd say it's fairly similar, none of the Cobra Commanders in Classified up until the one released with the Haslab were the look people were aching for with C.C. (much like Wasp), but with his inclusion in the Haslab they made it abundantly clear that this look is going to show up in mainline, with a minor variant.
Classified Haslab figures have primarily been this, with the Dragonfly recently having two Nightforce variants as well as Glenda. May as well be outright telling us that mainline will be getting Scarlett, Crazylegs, and Ripcord soon.
Again, we've seen no indication of a main line release, not on leak lists (and we pretty much had a complete rundown of every figure released at the begging of the year).
I doubt it's something they can just pull out of their ass in two months for the Haslab, and have a retail version ready to go to coincide with it's release.
It would be a completely different story if the prime version everyone wanted was readily available, and the redeco came out a year or two later with the Haslab.
So I'm thrilled they've decided, so far, to nix the idea of extra figures, because the only one that would have made sense is FA Wasp, and it could have backfired on them if they didn't do X, Y and Z first, which I really doubt they could pull off in the timeframe.
Not to go WITH ITS RELEASE but MM Cobra Commander didn't get that either. They pulled him out of their butt during the campaign. They didn't finish a 3D render until after the campaign. And MM Cobra Commander, by all indications, ships any day now and the retail version is probably mid-2024.
They could absolutely decide to do an obscure Wasp (a deco variant, most likely), announce the tier, say they'll get to the more popular version eventually, and roll it out late 2025.
There's also SOME wiggle room in their plans. Crystar is currently homeless and hoped to release in 2024. Either something else gets bumped for him (which they suggested was possible) or he gets to be an exclusive or in a boxed set.
They can commit to eventually releasing something without needing to know when and where. That's exactly what they did with Crystar.
Again, we've seen no indication of a main line release, not on leak lists (and we pretty much had a complete rundown of every figure released at the begging of the year).
I doubt it's something they can just pull out of their ass in two months for the Haslab, and have a retail version ready to go to coincide with it's release.
It would be a completely different story if the prime version everyone wanted was readily available, and the redeco came out a year or two later with the Haslab.
So I'm thrilled they've decided, so far, to nix the idea of extra figures, because the only one that would have made sense is FA Wasp, and it could have backfired on them if they didn't do X, Y and Z first, which I really doubt they could pull off in the timeframe.
There was 0 indication or leak of any Classified Haslab figure being in mainline either (to my knowledge), since those figures are far off from production. It'd be the same in this hypothetical.
The Marvel brand already have one failed Haslab behind them, even if they announce Wasp as an inclusion with assurance she'll be available elsewhere, they're playing with fire, as that'll then bring into question what use is she as an incentive, especially when the proposed redeco isn't anything to write home about.
Put her in the mainline where she belongs!
Easy fix for the 'no figures'.Not including figues as tiers is a bit ridiculous unless they've decided to incorporate the budget for tier worthy characters, which are typically too obscure or "hot" for retail, and release them.
Release Mephisto, Goblin Queen, and the Son of Satan as retail releases then.
#1. Offer the Early Bird as "IF YOU ORDER IN THE FIRST WEEK, WE WILL GIVE YOU THIS FIGURE", maybe Hank in matching outfit. It's not locked behind a tier, it's a sign on bonus. If you don't want it, don't order early. If you want the bonus, order early. Period. The figure may be released later, but not with the same paint scheme (which HASBRO would do anyway.)
#2. When it FULLY funds and the Tiers are finished, show a 'Thanks for playing' bonus. Unannounced. Maybe it's another face plate, or a weapon or a tiny Hank Pym in matching outfit.
The Early Bird would get some extra excitement going and bolster the opening numbers. The 'Thanks' would be like an after dinner mint. Nothing locked behind tiers, no blame on HASBRO. Back it or don't, it's on you.
BTW, I'd wager lunch that Pulsecon will have complimentary figures for this HASLAB, and the Underworld box set will be out in the next 12 months with Mephisto, GQ and SoS. That's money that's been left on the table.
Count me among those that believes the marketing team when they say that those figures (Robbie, Mephisto, Goblin Queen and Hellstrom) will not see a comic based release any time soon in the line. It will be at least 5 years just out of principal/spite, if they ever get released at all as long as Hasbro has the license. However the path to getting Mephisto and Robbie figures is probably the MCU route (which I don't like) if and when they show up there.
I 100% agree that we'll see Pym related figures announced later - but I actually think they will be release to line up more with the HasLab shipping so released next fall... which means they probably won't be announced until the spring?? Just a guess. I don't expect to see announcements for those before the end of this year, but I certainly could be wrong. I was certainly wrong when I said that they wouldn't do a Marvel HasLab this cheap!!
I think the focus will mostly be on the No Way Home figures and just showing off an in person sample of the HasLab at Pulse Con and NYCC.
I do wonder, as I do with all Haslabs, if it was mass produced and sold in store, what could this price get down to? I'm guessing considerably less.
There should be some current market comparisons. I know NECA is still cranking out their 1/4 scale figures that range from 12" to 18" for $120 MSRP. If anyone can think of others closer to 24 inches please do share.
Just that comp alone suggests the price on this isn't much different. The two hands alone add something like $30 to $50 above the cost of the completely unarticulated hands we usually get with action figures.
Your best comparisons might be with Masterpiece Transformers. How much was Fortress Maximus (not Masterpiece I know) or Skyfire?
I do wonder, as I do with all Haslabs, if it was mass produced and sold in store, what could this price get down to? I'm guessing considerably less.
First, you'd have to find a brick and mortar store willing to stock it and buy enough inventory to make it worth Hasbro's while. Clearly there's not interest in that from the Targets and Walmarts of the world and there's likely not any other retailer (outside of Amazon, which is online only) that would ever buy enough to make it worthwhile for them.
I'd argue that "Clearly no interest" part. Are any of those big box stores on record saying they wouldn't take a Marvel Legends figure this size? I see Spin Master Batplanes, JP dinosaurs, and those big, 5POA Darth Vaders the size of my 6 year old on toy shelves that take up at least as much (and probably more) shelf real estate than this would. Heck, Hasbro could even break this guy down and have the customer pop the legs on themselves to get him into a smaller box.
If you don't want to go brick n mortar, am I to believe that a specialty online store that caters to collectors like BBTS or EE wouldn't take this?
This guy could come down to $125 easily if he were mass produced, and there would be plenty of retailer interest.
I'm sorry, when the biggest toy company in the world holding the license to one of the biggest IPs you can ask for tries to tell me there's no way a retailer would be interested in something fans clearly want to buy, I just flat out don't believe it. You are free to call that a character flaw 🙂
The big difference there is what the retailer is paying the manufacturer for those products and what they have to eat when they inevitably have to reduce the price to clear the product out.
Those Spin Master products (for example) might take up a lot of real estate but they are not costing the retailer anywhere near as much. For example I just bought a huge Spin Master Batwing (the one that came with the 12" Batman to ride in it) on clearance from Target for $20 that was in a box not that much smaller (but a lot lighter) than what Galactus and Sentinel shipped in. Target likely paid Spin Master like $12 for that item.
It might not be true nationwide but I know that I've seen reluctance on the part of the big retailers Target and Walmart locally to carry these figures at all recently (they got tired of clearancing everything out or selling their excess product to place like Ollies and bin stores)... and no one else could move the type of volume that Hasbro would require outside of Amazon. Yes BBTS and EE can certainly do some volume but they're not at anywhere near the level of those big 3 - which is why their exclusives are usually limited to around 3,000-5,000 pieces each for items that retail around $25-$30 (that they're paying around $8-10 per item for). It's safe to say that Hasbro isn't ever going to go to mass market on anything with 20,000 or less pieces. It would have to be at least 2-3 times that (and probably much more) before they could seriously consider it.
I'm confident that Hasbro would take a smaller margin per item in a heartbeat if they knew that they could easily make it up in volume and their Fortune 500 marketing team has likely decided that they couldn't. We sometimes act like these guys are dumb or don't know what they're doing, but I guarantee that they have a team of MBAs and data scientists that have already worked out hundreds of scenarios and predicted peak profitability - and this is where we've landed. No large company makes any decision today without doing tons of predictive modeling. This is the type of work that I've done for a living for the last 25 years so I have a pretty good idea of exactly the type of analysis they're doing behind the scenes before they ever decide to offer a product. I've never personally worked for a toy company or any manufacturer, but I have done this same type of analysis every single day of my adult life in the financial services and healthcare spaces.
Don't care about the zombie head because I'm not a fan of gross-looking action figures, but I'm sure some will like it. But that Skrull head is awesome. I'd much rather have had that come with Galactus than that Doom head we got.
Also if a big box item went to retail you’d have a lot of people deliberately not buying it at launch so they can wait for clearance. It’s their money and they have the right to wait for a deal but that doesn’t help the retailer or the manufacturer. Plus if you have one big dud they remember that for a long time when you show up next year wanting a huge piece of their aisle or endcap.
Target certainly stocks a bunch of items as large as the Giant-Man box might be. Barbie Dream House is an example, and that's $200. The box is about as big as Giant-Man will be.
But Barbie Dream House is a long-standing exception. That thing probably sells more units every year than Giant-Man will get during this campaign, and every year they just keep selling more. There may be no more longer-standing staple item for little girls than Barbie Dream House.
I'm kinda the opposite - I'm not excited entirely because of the lack of 6" figures. Bastion was one of my most wanted characters. Nova was the reason I got Galactus. Hoping Robbie will find his way into the next Avengers wave (with that unmasked head!) and I very, very much want Hasbro to release that Goblin Queen head/hair somewhere because that looks like the Phoenix head I want.
But this time it's just... Giant-Man.
Yeah, I agree with this. The whole point of adding those figures is to make the package more appealing so people want to buy it. I don't understand not including it so you can placate the people who already don't want to buy it. Sell your product! Make it appealing!
But I guess this is the result of them hitting that $200 price point. If they'd included 4 figures, they'd probably be charging $300, so this way they just release it at $200, and can offer those 4 at retail and you can either buy them all and pay the same, or skip you don't care about and save $$. I'm much more excited about it now than I was originally now that the shock of no figures has worn off.
#1. Offer the Early Bird as "IF YOU ORDER IN THE FIRST WEEK, WE WILL GIVE YOU THIS FIGURE", maybe Hank in matching outfit. It's not locked behind a tier, it's a sign on bonus. If you don't want it, don't order early. If you want the bonus, order early. Period. The figure may be released later, but not with the same paint scheme (which HASBRO would do anyway.)
#2. When it FULLY funds and the Tiers are finished, show a 'Thanks for playing' bonus. Unannounced. Maybe it's another face plate, or a weapon or a tiny Hank Pym in matching outfit.
The Early Bird would get some extra excitement going and bolster the opening numbers. The 'Thanks' would be like an after dinner mint. Nothing locked behind tiers, no blame on HASBRO. Back it or don't, it's on you.
BTW, I'd wager lunch that Pulsecon will have complimentary figures for this HASLAB, and the Underworld box set will be out in the next 12 months with Mephisto, GQ and SoS. That's money that's been left on the table.
Lol. After EoV, they are NEVER doing early birds again.
And while I think we'll see last year's tiers eventually, I doubt it will be that soon.
Didn't they say at the end they are still working on the third tier? So it could still be a figure?
Target certainly stocks a bunch of items as large as the Giant-Man box might be. Barbie Dream House is an example, and that's $200. The box is about as big as Giant-Man will be.
But Barbie Dream House is a long-standing exception. That thing probably sells more units every year than Giant-Man will get during this campaign, and every year they just keep selling more. There may be no more longer-standing staple item for little girls than Barbie Dream House.
This is a very good example because like you said, it's a similar price point -- but also like you inferred they actually probably sell more of those every single month nationwide between their stores and website than Hasbro will sell total for this project. Target KNOWS those will sell whereas they've constantly had to clearance out all of their Hasbro inventory (Legends, Star Wars, Power Rangers, Indiana Jones, etc --- Joes might be the one exception but I've seen quite a few of those clearanced out also). I know exactly why my local Target and Walmart stopped ordering because I've personally watched them have to mark all that stuff down to get it off their shelves over the last few years. That was never going to be sustainable long term. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I live in a decently populated area (town of 80k, county of 750k with other multiple Targets and Walmarts within) and the last Legends wave my Walmart ordered was the Black Panther Legacy wave. The last BAF wave my Target carried was the Infinity Ultron wave. They just finally had enough. Brick and mortar retail is quickly becoming obsolete for this type of product. It's why I personally switched to ordering everything online quite a while ago. As product becomes harder to find in the stores, more and more people will do that and it creates a death spiral.
I’d prefer they bring the figures back. But if they want to omit electronics going forward to lower costs then right on.
Also if a big box item went to retail you’d have a lot of people deliberately not buying it at launch so they can wait for clearance.
I happily buy anything I see at full price if I feel the value is there.
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