Who would buy a 90's Toybiz revival line?

They already basically went here with the retro 4" figures that came out a few years ago and those didn't do well at all.  90's Toybiz revival would be an inch or so bigger and a nostalgic card but otherwise has nothing to offer me.

I don't want them doing anything that takes away resources from Legends when they can't even get Marvel Girl's boots painted the correct color as it is.

Posted by: @justice

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They already basically went here with the retro 4" figures that came out a few years ago and those didn't do well at all.  90's Toybiz revival would be an inch or so bigger and a nostalgic card but otherwise has nothing to offer me.

I don't want them doing anything that takes away resources from Legends when they can't even get Marvel Girl's boots painted the correct color as it is.

I have to disagree with both of these.

That retro 4" line was based on nothing.  It matched with no preexisting toy line.  It was "retro" in that it was dumbed down to standards of a 30-40 year old toy line, that's it.  I hate using the phrase "who is this for?", but who was that for?  Nah, I'm talking about a completely different thing here.

Where are the "resources" for Legends getting us now?  You said it:  They can't even get Jean's boots right.  Todd can run DC Multiverse side by side with DC Super Powers, the same is doable for the world's biggest toy manufacturer. Nothing will be taken away from Legends.

I would consider starting an inbox collection for these if the price was right

Although I wish I'd kept more of my old Toy Biz 5" stuff, I personally have zero desire to start another scale again.

Posted by: @stephenwdavis

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Although I wish I'd kept more of my old Toy Biz 5" stuff, I personally have zero desire to start another scale again.

I concur.  That’s the reason I didn’t go in on McFarlane’s DC line.  I already had a substantial DCCU 6” line, and while they’re not without faults, starting over in a whole other scale didn’t appeal to me.

A smaller scale makes the possibility of vehicles and/or playsets/dioramas more feasible, but given the lackluster support of previous attempts Hasbro has done trying to (re)capture that type of size and figures, I don't think it's a good idea.

I used to LOVE the Marvel Universe line, but that died out. I enjoyed the heck out of the Retro 3.75" figures (and really thought that was our best best for some decent vehicles and larger characters), but that died a quick death. Collectors today appear to be laser-focused on Legends/1:12 scale, and that's just the zeitgeist right now. Even other smaller companies and competing toy lines are following suit.

So, personally, no. I don't have any interest in a revival line. But they're MORE than welcome to continue to homage that packaging with new figures like they have been. I LOVE that packaging.

What you're describing seems like it would be hard to pull off at a price people would accept. There's a reason the McF Super Powers and the ML retro line have like 5 POA - articulating them like a regular 6-7" figure is going to make them cost basically the same. I can already hear the reactionaries getting to work creating their irritating youtube thumbnails now.

I could maybe get onboard with such a line if the sculpt and paint were on point, but I don't think that's what you want. I don't care about McFarlane's Super Powers line because most of the sculpts and paint very much look retro to me. I don't see a point in that which is why I've never been big on ReAction. The few ReAction figures I have are the ones that actually look great and are fully painted (Simpsons, most of the toon Disney) and the only thing holding them back is they can't really pose for shit. If Hasbro had done their X-Men animated line in a Toy Biz scale, with Toy Biz articulation, but the sculpts and paint made them look like show then I would have been all over it. I don't think that I'm in the majority though and it doesn't sound like something Hasbro would be able to price out in a way that makes sense for them and is appealing to the consumer.

Posted by: @h-bird

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What you're describing seems like it would be hard to pull off at a price people would accept. 

I'm not sure I need them to go bonkers with the articulation, maybe a SLIGHT upgrade.  MOTU Origins and those Walmart TMNT from last year are what I'm thinking along the lines of, they were reasonably priced.  Spin Master added ball joined shoulders to their Batman Forever stuff and kept them under $10 a pop.

Anyway, looks like no takers?  I'm never going to get a 90's Toybiz style Jubilee or Jean to finish the 90's X-Men?  I see the apathy here which is fine, to each their own, and yet I'm still going to give this idea a 50/50 chance of actually happening.  Nostalgia is a powerful thing for the action figure maker.

I only ever bought one of those figures from the 5-inch line; and it kinda sucked IMO.

It's Legends-or-bust up in this bitch.

Posted by: @yojoebro82

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Posted by: @h-bird

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What you're describing seems like it would be hard to pull off at a price people would accept. 

I'm not sure I need them to go bonkers with the articulation, maybe a SLIGHT upgrade.  MOTU Origins and those Walmart TMNT from last year are what I'm thinking along the lines of, they were reasonably priced.  Spin Master added ball joined shoulders to their Batman Forever stuff and kept them under $10 a pop.

Anyway, looks like no takers?  I'm never going to get a 90's Toybiz style Jubilee or Jean to finish the 90's X-Men?  I see the apathy here which is fine, to each their own, and yet I'm still going to give this idea a 50/50 chance of actually happening.  Nostalgia is a powerful thing for the action figure maker.

 

I actually like the idea cause I loved the old TB lines! Just not sure of the feasibility.

Another challenge (but a fun one!) would be the question of how much to base the selection on what was/wasn't made in the old lines. You have to rehash the popular characters, but people who still have their old collections would be eager to get something new. Would be interesting to see how it was structured.

Posted by: @h-bird

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Another challenge (but a fun one!) would be the question of how much to base the selection on what was/wasn't made in the old lines. You have to rehash the popular characters, but people who still have their old collections would be eager to get something new. Would be interesting to see how it was structured.

 

Absolutely.  Here I'm looking at the newer O-ring GI Joes.  They're doing Duke and Cobra Commander and Snake Eyes, and that is to be expected.  But they are also doing deep cuts like Fatal Fluffies and Ramar which I love.  I personally don't need a new O-Ring Duke, but the new offerings, I'm all over those.

No doubt they would need to do tiger stripe Wolverine, etc, but if that's a vehicle to get new offerings, I'm just fine with that.

Posted by: @yojoebro82

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Posted by: @h-bird

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What you're describing seems like it would be hard to pull off at a price people would accept. 

I'm not sure I need them to go bonkers with the articulation, maybe a SLIGHT upgrade.  MOTU Origins and those Walmart TMNT from last year are what I'm thinking along the lines of, they were reasonably priced.  Spin Master added ball joined shoulders to their Batman Forever stuff and kept them under $10 a pop.

Anyway, looks like no takers?  I'm never going to get a 90's Toybiz style Jubilee or Jean to finish the 90's X-Men?  I see the apathy here which is fine, to each their own, and yet I'm still going to give this idea a 50/50 chance of actually happening.  Nostalgia is a powerful thing for the action figure maker.

 

I think if the tariffs come to pass and it is as bad as some think, the 50/50 is going to drop closer to a 100/0.

I don't see Hasbro devoting resources to this at this point. They are already doing the new maximum series sub-line. They know they are having to fight much harder for our dollar than they did during the time of stimulus checks and COVID. That much has been shown to them with the pile up of stuff at Ross and Ollie's.

Legends releases seem to have slowed down a bit and I can almost guarantee that the powers that be who are in charge of hearing ideas and greenlighting new lines aren't going to see this potential line as any different from the retro series.

So here's the thing... I still have every single Marvel figure Toy Biz made and the problem is there is almost zero consistency within that group of toys in terms of style, sculpt accuracy and even scale.    

Would you want figures designed the way the line started with very basic 7 poa figures in straight up and down poses like the first Marvel Super Heroes releases?   Or do you want stuff more like they were doing toward the end of the line with the exaggerated poses they were doing in the Monster Armor wave for example?

That Toy Biz collection has plenty of size and style creep of its own -  so doing a "retro" wave they would have to pick somewhere in there to land.     And where ever they landed new characters might not look entirely right next to old Toy Biz figures.

For me, while I loved those figures at the time -  because it was the first time I really got to build a robust Marvel universe on my shelf -  the aesthetics on a lot of them are pretty terrible, actually and I no longer have them on display -  though I do have a shelf above my customizing desk of the characters Legends hasn't done yet  (Attuma, Gorgon, Triton, Wizard, Ahab, Kylun, Senyaka)

But,  as we've seen with MOTU Origins and Star Wars Vintage Series -  the prices even on figures with simpler POA schemes -  is fairly high now.    Origins figures are $20 at retail per figure - and that's without having to pay a licensing fee -   so a similarly conceived Marvel line would likely have to come in at least a $20 retail price point and at that point Hasbro might just be cannibalizing sales of Legends product,  so unless they decided to pivot away from Legends and focus on a more retro line I don't see them devoting the resources to it -  I don't think there's enough market for both lines to thrive in the current environment.   Certainly not at retail.

I would honestly be shocked if this was a direction Hasbro decided to go.