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The Difference Between Hasbro and ToyBiz Marvel Legends
— May 15, 2007 5 Comments
There are 3 main differences between the new Hasbro Marvel Legends and the original ToyBiz Marvel Legends, price, the missing comic and the detail of the figures themselves. These are the reasons I really don’t like the new Hasbro Legends. The packaging is a big difference too, but that doesn’t bother me that much considering I open all my figures anyway, and the new Hasbro packaging is easier to open.
1. Price - The price on Hasbro Marvel Legends went up about $2 at retail. That is a pretty significant price increase for collectors, especially those collectors who buy one, or more, of everything in the Marvel Legends line. I believe the reason for the increase is so that the price of Hasbro Legends would be more in line with the rest of Hasbro’s offerings not because of cost or anything else.
2. The Missing Comic - I believe the reason the comic reprints were included originally is because ToyBiz is owned by Marvel. Marvel owns the rights to all the comics that have been reprinted and included with Marvel Legends. It only makes sense that Hasbro would not include those because they don’t want to pay Marvel for the rights to do that, even though they increased the price.
3. Detail - Lastly, collectors know that the Hasbro Marvel Legends are not as detailed as the ToyBiz Marvel Legends. I think the reason for that is in the manufacturing process for Hasbro. The plastic pieces that make up Hasbro Marvel Legends are usually cast in the color they are supposed to be in so that they will not have to be painted. Hasbro Legends are made with as few paint ops as possible. This results in a noticeable loss of detail and a more “mass market” appearance even though the sculpts may still have a lot of detail. ToyBiz Marvel Legends had detailed paint jobs that gave them the highly detailed appearance that made them highly sought after.
Out of the 3 reasons I listed above, #3 is the only one sufficient enough on its own for me to not buy the Hasbro Marvel Legends. Overall, character choice also plays a big part. I think the line was on the way out when ToyBiz had it. The only way they kept it alive was by doing the build-a-figures.
Hasbro is doing a good job of finding characters left to do though. I don’t think movie versions and artist specific versions will be enough. All the major characters have been done at least once and some many more than once. We may be seeing the end of the Marvel Legends as ToyBiz may have supported it for longer than Hasbro is going to, if sales start to drop.
I agree. I think it’s the end of the line since the detail is gone. Why pay 10 bucks for a quicksilver figure that looks so cheap?
I completely agree. Since marvel does own Toy Biz or Marvel Toys now, why don’t they go back to making the marvel legends we loved. That marvel legends colossus was one of the greatest action figures ever made and is now selling for over $70 now. As for differences, the other major difference with the toy line is the deminished articulation on the figures. Unlike toy biz’s marvel legends, these new action figures can’t bend their legs forward and to the side simultaneously. Hopefully the toy line goes back to its rightful place under marvel’s production.
I DISAGREE! What they hell are you guys talking about!? If you simply take a look at a hasbro-mnufactured character, you will notice the smoothness of detail, and the painting difference compared to Toy Biz. I own a vast collection of both and have noticed first off: Some of my Toy Biz figures have paint defects and bloches on some of the characters. For example my Psylocke figure has blue spots on her skin from where the blue straps are located. Falcon has obscure shoulder design making him and some others anatomically incorrect. What I like about the Hasbro lines is that not only is the paint detail super solid, they also went out of their way to scale every character according to their appropiate height and body mass unlike Toybiz, who only concentrated on some of their larger characters on this aspect. I do however miss the comic book that Toybiz provided and the info on the characters. The articulation is totally even despite Jose’s complaint. Toybiz and Hasbro BOTH have some characters who have limited articulation, but that simply depends on character. After my recent purchase with the Toybiz set I had to make a vow to convert strictly to hasbro due to the fact they just started and although some figures are flawed they have produced some bad-ass sculpts in the process so more props to them. Tere is a reason they were picked to continue the line…has anyone seen the SIGMA 6 selection of G.I. Joe? Look at those and they will sow you what solid color is all about!
forgive my spelling btw lol…i just had four pints of Fosters beer….yum
Oh yea and about price….bullshit! i can buy figures from Hasbro for 11$ here, and Toybiz where like 10$ and something, so i don;t know why the flip you guys are paying two bucks more for yours! I’m only paying a .50 difference so wherever you are buying your figures, you need to stop and just steal them