Marvel legends Prices & Future

[gpmartin414]

Well, I sold almost all of the rest of my 3.75" MU figures last year, so definitely not looking to get back into that scale. The figures themselves weren't great, but the character selection was much wider and expansive than was seen in the 6" ML scale at that time.

I do think the ML line will converge at some point with a higher price point, less releases, and (hopefully) better sculpting/articulation/paint/accessories. They're kind of testing it out with releases like the ML 20th anniversary. I think that could become the standard.

[TFitz]

There's no way in hell this line would ever change scales, but if it did, I'd be done.

[Handsome]

The price did have me cut back a lot on the figures I purchase. My focus has always been '90s X-Men. But I would buy other characters if I thought the figure looked cool. And sometimes I'd buy a figure I didn't even want just because it included an accessory I wanted to use with another figure. I would only keep one figure of each character on shelf, but I would buy multiple figures of a character just so I could mix-and-match parts. Like I would buy another Wolverine figure because I liked the unmasked head it came with, etc.

That didn't happen this year. I have the Retro wave Jim Lee costume Storm on my shelf. When the Animated Series VHS version went up for pre-order, I thought sure, I'll pick her up. I like the Retro wave version, that's the version I'll keep on my shelf. But the VHS version had hands with lightning coming out of them, I thought that looked better than the cheap lightning effects the Retro wave Storm came with. But the price with shipping and tax came out to almost $40. And I just thought, do I really want to spend $40 for a pair of hands? So I didn't buy it.

The new Stryfe is another example. In the past, I'd always get the new version of a figure I already had to be able to compare them in-hand and decide which version I liked better. But being stuck in a 5-pack where I didn't want any of the other figures, I said whatever, I'm fine with the old version.

The Bonebreaker wave Havok is another example where I would have bought the figure in the past, but passed on him now. My collection is '90s focused, so X-Factor Havok is the one on my shelf. I didn't want or need the costume he has in the Bonebreaker wave. But I like his effect pieces. In the past, I would have bought the figure just to take his effect pieces, but this year I didn't.

With Morph being released, that was the last character I really wanted. So there is a chance I would have slowed down my collecting even if the prices were lower. I've always been about quality over quantity, I only have less than 30 Legends on display, which is still a lot compared to the average human. But compared to the average collector here, my display is tiny. And I have no desire to make a larger display that overtakes a room. I do have the #275 X-Men team pre-ordered. But outside of that, I don't have anything else on pre-order, and unless a new figure is a major upgrade to a character I already own, I don't see myself pre-ordering anything else at the moment.

But I do think it will hurt them with new collectors. I couldn't imagine wanting to jump in to this line and starting to build a large collection today. Yes, the price of everything is going up. But everything isn't essential. If your grocery prices are higher, people still have to buy them because they need food to live. They still have to pay high gas prices because they have to drive to work to be able to pay the bills. If rent is high, they still have to pay to keep a roof over their heads. They don't have to pay for toys.

[TheSameIdiot]

The new Stryfe is another example. In the past, I'd always get the new version of a figure I already had to be able to compare them in-hand and decide which version I liked better. But being stuck in a 5-pack where I didn't want any of the other figures, I said whatever, I'm fine with the old version.

There does feel like there's been more of this. I hate when they nickel and dime us for minor upgrades, but I understand that's the name of the game. I have less tolerance for throwing a minor upgrade in a box set.

[chaosMonkeyPoo]

People have been talking about dropping the line due to the price increases since the line went from $7.99 to $9.99 (usd) waaaaaaay waaaaaay back in the toybiz days and very few people actually did. I'm not saying there isn't a line people won't cross but as long as they are the lowest priced Marvel action figures that target "adult collectors" I HIGHLY DOUBT people will drop the line in any notable manner, at least not enough to outweigh the new collectors pulled in by the inevitable reissues and new versions of popular characters.

[Handsome]

But are that many new collectors gonna be pulled in? The jumping in price seems too high to me to attract too many new people. The MCU also gave a huge boost to the Legends line, and the MCU movies haven't been as popular lately either. Plus while I don't care about windowless packaging, there's no denying it doesn't as good as the old packaging. If some non-collector's walking by the toy-isle, I don't think a Legends box is gonna draw them in anymore.

[PantherCult]

My focus has always been '90s X-Men. But I would buy other characters if I thought the figure looked cool.
...
The new Stryfe is another example. In the past, I'd always get the new version of a figure I already had to be able to compare them in-hand and decide which version I liked better. But being stuck in a 5-pack where I didn't want any of the other figures, I said whatever, I'm fine with the old version.

I honestly can't see how these two statements make sense in the same post. You are a collector focused on 90's X-Men but are not interested in a 5-pack littered with 90's X-Men villains? You want Stryfe but not his mode of transport - Zero? Random is one of the 90's-est X-characters that exists. Pretty Boy I guess is more late-80's, but was certainly active in the 90's too... for someone who says they are an X-Men focused collector to say they have no interest in the characters in this 5 pack, I can't square it.

[Handsome]

My focus has always been '90s X-Men. But I would buy other characters if I thought the figure looked cool.
...
The new Stryfe is another example. In the past, I'd always get the new version of a figure I already had to be able to compare them in-hand and decide which version I liked better. But being stuck in a 5-pack where I didn't want any of the other figures, I said whatever, I'm fine with the old version.

I honestly can't see how these two statements make sense in the same post. You are a collector focused on 90's X-Men but are not interested in a 5-pack littered with 90's X-Men villains? You want Stryfe but not his mode of transport - Zero? Random is one of the 90's-est X-characters that exists. Pretty Boy I guess is more late-80's, but was certainly active in the 90's too... for someone who says they are an X-Men focused collector to say they have no interest in the characters in this 5 pack, I can't square it.

Because I also said in that same post I have less than 30 Legends figures on display. Stryfe gets a spot because he was the main villain in the '90s crossover story X-Cutioner's Song. The others don't make the cut. I'm not putting every C and D-level '90s character on my shelves.

[PantherCult]

Because I also said in that same post I have less than 30 Legends figures on display. Stryfe gets a spot because he was the main villain in the '90s crossover story X-Cutioner's Song. The others don't make the cut. I'm not putting every C and D-level '90s character on my shelves.

I guess that's fair enough - but if you're a guy who is going to limit his collection to 30 figures Hasbro doesn't really care what you want anyway.... they released something like 120 Legends figures last year - they can't be basing their sales on trying to find the two figures you're going to buy.

[chaosMonkeyPoo]

But are that many new collectors gonna be pulled in? The jumping in price seems too high to me to attract too many new people. The MCU also gave a huge boost to the Legends line, and the MCU movies haven't been as popular lately either. Plus while I don't care about windowless packaging, there's no denying it doesn't as good as the old packaging. If some non-collector's walking by the toy-isle, I don't think a Legends box is gonna draw them in anymore.

Only got purely anecdotal evidence but new collectors have no perspective on costs like older long time collectors like many people here. A lot of us remember the sub $10 and low teens days so every bump just reminds us of the "good ol days" when collecting was way cheaper. To newer collectors these have cost in the $20s their entire tenure collecting so to them the current prices are the baseline normal, and going up a few bucks is less impactful to them.

Unless your a pop collector (which shockingly have managed to stay cheap) you simply don't have a better low end option.

And plus, what other options does someone have to collect this sort of thing? Literally every other option has blown up in price. It's not like the price creep is putting them in the price leagues of the mid and high end stuff. Anyone remember when the first Mafex figures were sub $50 bucks and now they are all around or above $100. The fist One:12 Mezco Batman was $65 and those are all above $100 now too. My first hot toys figure was $125 and now they average around $280 to $300.

Thats all of course assuming that collectibles is something that really matters to someone and they won't just abandon the hobby entirely. I know for some that is entirely possible but theres a lot of us here, myself included, who absolutely love this shit with a passion and won't stop until we die or go broke (which lets be real is a possibility with all these price hikes ).

[fac]

Unless your a pop collector (which shockingly have managed to stay cheap) you simply don't have a better low end option.

And plus, what other options does someone have to collect this sort of thing? Literally every other option has blown up in price.

This is a good point - while many of us compare the price of Legends to the past or to other mass-market lines like McF's DC stuff, if you want Marvel figures Hasbro is the most reasonably priced - and really only - option. Hasbro is probably correct that if you don't want to pay $25 for figure X, you likely aren't going to get the $100 import version either, and may not buy it if it was $20 either. They are the market for lower-end collectibles for Marvel action figures. You have Diamond but those are priced about the same most of the time. Unless McF or NECA can make me Angel in his Halo outfit, in some ways what they charge for a figure is irrelevant if you really want the character, or only care about Marvel.

I also think this board is likely not as representative of the Legends market as we may think. Lots of folks here talking about picking and choosing more, already having large collections amassed over 20 years - Legends has to be picking up new collectors as well or else the line would have died out, and if the new collectors are all in for 21st century Marvel comic figures and happy to pay $25 to get the House of X and other current figures, that's great for the line.

[september_death]

Well I'm hesitant to jump to optimistic conclusions for other lines, but Starting Line-up figures just dropped from $50 to $30 on Pulse. Guess they greatly overestimated the interest for the general public.

[fac]

Hasbro's revenue was down 17% for the past 4th quarter, with $240 million less revenue in 2022 than in 2021. They announced plans to cut 1,000 employees or about 15% of full-time staff.

However, they did say they had growth in the licensing business line, which is where I think Legends resides.

But still, not a good day if you are a Hasbro employee.

[JPC]

Isn't ML Partner Brands?

Is Starting Lineup sold in stores, or Pulse-exclusive? Problem #1 is absurd price, but Problem #2 is that.

And are normal people still becoming collectors in high amounts? We don't seem to have a ton of new people here (and I realize this is one place).

[Handsome]

I grew up a huge basketball fan, I would be willing to spend $50 for NBA players. But I'm 40, I'd want legends, not current players who are younger than me. I was tempted to buy the MAFEX Jordan, but ultimately passed because I was worried about the soft goods jersey at that small a scale, and thought it was too much to risk the potential QC issues. But if there were more players from that era available, I might have jumped in.

Like if we got modern upgrades of these players, I'd drop $50 on them.


Maybe not Karl Malone, because of what we know about him now. But I'd grab the rest at $50.