Yup, people will buy a FA Wasp no matter what, whether a 24” Giant Man existed or not. A FA Wasp will also pegwarm just like every Wasp figure has.
I'm with you on the "give it a rest" idea. Take a year off, that is what the Transformers team is doing with Haslab. Now that is also geared towards having a Haslab for the 40th anniversary, so who knows. However I think if Giant-Man does fail, maybe take a break for a year.
As for role play items...."HELL NO!!" 🤣
I love me some ML role play items. I think the team has done a good job of giving us variety in the line and smart reuse of molds. Plus re-releasing older stuff to keep the secondary market down on some items.
I would hate for them to put something into Haslab and all the associated issues with that (cost, limited availability, FOMO). They would probably also face the same issues as Reva's Lightsaber. "Why is this a Haslab?" "A similar item can be released at retail" "This would cost $XX at retail, they are just ripping us off"
Reva's Lightsaber was an utter disaster for a number of reasons. However the biggest ones, to me, were cost and reason why it was a Haslab. I think the same thing holds for ML role play items. If role play items were not a thing, and they did one as a Haslab that would be different. However they have a whole line of role play items at reasonable prices, at retail. So that would make offering up something through Haslab very difficult. It would have to be ultra premium (metal) and something not likely to be sold at retail, and legally safe for Hasbro so no swords, claws, etc.
Of course you could argue that the Ghostbusters Proton Pack was a great success, especially considering it was offered at the same time as two other Haslabs. However GB doesn't have much, if any, "adult" role play items from Hasbro. Yes there are a bunch of kids items, but nothing that could reasonably be used by adults for a serious roleplay. From what I read it seems like most people have to go a more expensive route to get their role play items and the $400US for the Proton Pack was a steal in comparison. They also had the wand out at retail which went with the Proton Pack (and did a re-release even) so they did have some good synergy there. However GB is definitely lacking in the adult role play market (from Hasbro) so I can see why it did so well. If there was already a bunch of role play items, including an existing Proton Pack it might have been a different story.
Giant-Man:
6,076 / 10,000 (+96) 60.76% of funding goal with 6d 18h left.
Another nearly triple digit daily gain, looks like it finally has some legs again. Let's see how it goes by the weekend.
I’m surprised this hasn’t funded yet but still think it will hit the total. The stretch goals just don’t seem compelling to me or many though and in my view should be all just base offering since they’re alt parts, I’m definitely in the camp of preferring figures to be the tiers though I do appreciate many aren’t happy with them being locked off
In watching the NYCC interviews--and I've seen four now from Toying Around, Marvelicious, Shartimus, and The Figure Report in addition to the podcast from Adventures in Collecting--Dwight pointed out something I hadn't noticed. He was hyping the straps across Giant-Man's chest. It was either in Shartimus's video or Toying Around's, I forget.
On the recent animated Cyclops his straps break up across the torso articulation points, and that worked out MUCH better than the Warlock wave version where the straps were one big piece that went over the articulation. Dwight said though that they worked something out with Giant-Man where the harness is a separate piece over the torso articulation that doesn't interfere with deep crouches in the diaphragm joint or lower ab crunch at all, and he seemed pretty proud of the design they came up with to make that work. Not sure I understand how the design is allowing for that yet, but it sounds really interesting and I look forward to seeing how that design works. I hadn't even noticed the harness was one big piece until he pointed it out.
The design of the chest harness/strap was actually something they talked about in the launch video as well. It sounds to me like it's all one big piece that is connected under the torso/at the crotch, which helps it stay in place when the torso is articulated. Pretty neat!
@fletch Giant-Man a 3rd-string member of the Avengers? For shame! He's a founding member, been on most iterations of the team, and was consistently referred to as the "most powerful Avenger" back in those early, drama-filled adventures. You do Hank dirty with your cruel words.
I'm not saying he shouldn't be that big. That's a matter of personal preference. From the looks of it, this campaign will fund at 24". Would it have done better at 18"? Worse? We'll never know. I hope this does fund, and I'm happy for those who have space for it.
As someone who has a vested interest in Marvel Legends, I'm merely saying it would be prudent to downsize future HasLab projects. It's hard for me to imagine another character getting across the finish line at 20"+.
I would honestly be thrilled if after this project is said and done (and funded!) they eventually released a 12-18" version. Having that much variety is only a good thing to me, and they need to have a base body for big characters at that size anyway - we need Erik Josten as Goliath and Atlas, blue and yellow Goliath, Bill Foster Goliath, Clint Barton Goliath, Raz Malhotra Giant-Man, and many more, and none of those are getting made as 24" tall $200 figures. I'm sure some people would balk at having gone in on the Haslab first, but this would give more fans a chance to get the character in a scale that works for them.
Agreed. I'd be in for Bill Foster, Raz Malhotra, and 616 Cassie Lang at 12''.
I'm not saying he shouldn't be that big. That's a matter of personal preference. From the looks of it, this campaign will fund at 24". Would it have done better at 18"? Worse? We'll never know. I hope this does fund, and I'm happy for those who have space for it.
As someone who has a vested interest in Marvel Legends, I'm merely saying it would be prudent to downsize future HasLab projects. It's hard for me to imagine another character getting across the finish line at 20"+.
I would honestly be thrilled if after this project is said and done (and funded!) they eventually released a 12-18" version. Having that much variety is only a good thing to me, and they need to have a base body for big characters at that size anyway - we need Erik Josten as Goliath and Atlas, blue and yellow Goliath, Bill Foster Goliath, Clint Barton Goliath, Raz Malhotra Giant-Man, and many more, and none of those are getting made as 24" tall $200 figures. I'm sure some people would balk at having gone in on the Haslab first, but this would give more fans a chance to get the character in a scale that works for them.
My hope is we get a 6" Hank and Janet 2-pack, and then a growth pack full of Hanks at multiple small and large sizes. A pack with a 1-inch, 3-inch, 9-inch, and 12-inch Pym would be an insta-buy.
I would agree that the reason we haven't seen an FA Wasp announcement would be that how she is released is dependent upon the success of the Haslab. My guess like Enigmatic said is they plan on a Jan/Hank 2-pack but if the Haslab fails maybe scrap Hank and just do Wasp as a solo figure in some future wave whenever or perhaps in a set/multipack with other characters.
I do think it probably would've helped sales here to promote an FA Wasp but seems like they've decided Giant Man is going to sink or swim on entirely his own merits. The campaign mostly seems designed not to provoke or anger the fan base and seems mostly successful in that regard, nobody's screaming about ripoff prices or figures locked behind firewalls or underboob or whatever. Maybe it won't succeed but i don't think its going to generate a lot of negative energy either. its certainly an interesting approach, usually you want to hype these projects out to the max, but here we got the initial pitch and some pics and that's pretty much it. Take it or leave it.
I would agree if this doesn't fund take a break from Haslabs. Frankly i think they could've used a breather this year after the Hellcharger mess but can't blame them for taking one more shot at a big figure.
And yeah i'd be down with a 12 inch, as long as he's noticeably taller than 80th Hulk i'm good.
I'm still going to cross my fingers and hope for a future Hank Giant-Man (normal size, in this costume)/1st-ish Wasp two-pack. I'll still happily buy whatever Wasp costumes they want to make. I think they're fun.
I'm still going to cross my fingers and hope for a future Hank Giant-Man (normal size, in this costume)/1st-ish Wasp two-pack. I'll still happily buy whatever Wasp costumes they want to make. I think they're fun.
One possibility is that they're planning a Hank/Janet 2-pack either way the Haslab goes, but if it fails they would use a different sculpt for Hank. If they use a mini version of the Haslab but it fails then that figure becomes a permanent sad reminder of the failed Haslab in the minds of everyone who wanted him. 
I'm with you on the "give it a rest" idea. Take a year off, that is what the Transformers team is doing with Haslab. Now that is also geared towards having a Haslab for the 40th anniversary, so who knows. However I think if Giant-Man does fail, maybe take a break for a year.
...
I think at this point Haslab is expected for the main brands every year. Taking a year off means not having a chance to meet the previous year's revenue and the bean counters probably won't stand for that. It's literally millions of dollars with no middle man taking a cut. A drop in the bucket for Hasbro as a whole, but a huge difference for the bottom line of the individual brands.
I don't think Transformers is actually taking a year off, I fully expect that Haslab to launch early in 2024 and finish before the end of March to get the money in their current fiscal year. For what it's worth, I fully agree with you, I just don't see it happening.
I really don't know where ML goes from here though. I'd love Fin Fang Foom, but I don't know if there's enough love for a C-tier character to fund. I think eventually we'll get Galactus and Sentinel again with more classic looks as justification, though it's still to soon for that.
I can't believe the fencesitters n' nay-sayers are going to make me order two of these just in hopes of getting it funded. Ain't no WAY I'm going back for that Toy Biz BaF after seeing what could've been for almost the exact same price our archaic friend goes for on the aftermarket in 2023. BAH! 😤 As we noted before, this is pretty much the cost of an 8-figure BaF wave, which many of us buy in full just to complete the BaF.
If this does fund and the production count just barely crosses the funding threshold, it'll easily be one of the most sought-after Legends, and with good reason.
Transformers fits REALLY well with Haslab since big robots is the entire point of the property. Any bean counter expecting Marvel to be an evergreen source for big projects will be meeting up with the reality of the content very, very soon. 
I think there are some who are being awfully, awfully nit-picky in regard how these projects are handled. If they just did this...or they should have done this...or if they would have included this...or if they would have just announced this...
The bottom line is, do you want a giant-sized Giant-Man at this price or do you not?
If your answer is, "Yes, I want a giant-sized Giant-Man but only if my specific conditions are met"...well, then, you may not REALLY want a Giant-Man.
I know there's been back-and-forth discussion here about Haslabs switching to more obscure team sets, but that might be the next logical step. The discussion of popular enough large characters running out is true, and sure Fin Fang Foom or a Celestial or Living Monolith or something would be cool, I don't see those getting the Backers needed to push through. But teams like The Imperial Guard would be viable. Maybe. But ultimately, what do I know.
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