I called Toy Biz

[Cloud]

I think right now the biggest questions is what's in Hasbros' planning for the Marvel products.

It's makes sense for them to play safe and follow what TOy Biz did with SMC and ML. I'm not too worried with the new company.

[boogie]

hasbro is a big company they don't think that way of keeping toybiz products,you should be worried i am. with hasbro you will see price hike,neon colors and different scale figures.i just

hope we get ml 13-14,box set and 2-packs and then i can breath but keep your fingers cross,

just because we see toybiz product at toyfair does'nt mean we will get them.so toybiz if your

listening rush these babies out now. #US1#

[Maxim]

Guess my fears have been confirmed. The only reason I say fears, is that I know we'll get a revamp!! No way Hasbro would miss out on losing sales from characters that have already been done!! Again this is just what I think will happen!

 

What characters? Even Toy Biz continues to make Spider-man, Wolverine, Hulk, Thing, Captain America, etc figures in each wave. What needs to be re-done? They can easily continue and still bank on the big names.

[ARROW]

Its the run-up to Toy Fair.

Every year the doomsayers crawl out of the woodwork and profess the sky is falling on their favourite toy-line and offer PROOF that THEIR rep says its so.

 

Next week, we'll all get the skinny.

 

Why not wait until then?

[Magic 8 Ball]

Guess my fears have been confirmed. The only reason I say fears, is that I know we'll get a revamp!! No way Hasbro would miss out on losing sales from characters that have already been done!! Again this is just what I think will happen!

If it's just what you THINK will happen, then NOTHING has been confirmed! Huge difference there, just thought maybe some intelligence should be inserted.

 

Again, as many people have tried to point out (not just to you, but it would help if you didn't need the monthly reminder), Toy Biz Worldwide is dead. Toy Biz America has been designing the figures all along. They are still very much alive. They are part of the Marvel mothership now. They will be partnering with Hasbro to bring us Marvel figures.

 

Let me make this one clear: WE DO NOT CURRENTLY KNOW HOW MUCH INFLUENCE HASBRO WILL HAVE IN THE DESIGN PHASE. All the people who have been designing the toys are, so far, still on board, and as far as we know, will keep churning out designs so that we can moan and complain about them being the worst toys ever until we see the next wave and it's worse, but yet we still buy them all...

 

Plain and simple: We don't know enough for Chicken Littles to keep running around proclaiming the end of civilization as we know it, and it would help a lot if people would just stop overreacting to random opinions they are 'confirming' with no actual information. Get some facts -some actual, useful facts- then let's talk about what it means.

[MysterioMenace]

*Shakes the Magic 8 Ball* .........it says "decaf". @loll@

[Magic 8 Ball]

*Shakes the Magic 8 Ball* .........it says "decaf". @loll@

Stop making me dizzy, or I'll tell my mommy you touched me in the bad place! @smilepunch@

[HUSH]

Well speaking from a person that missed all the ML figures from Series 1-5 and having series 5,7 and 8 not even released here I hope Hasbro does start the line again.As long as there still multi-articulated and arnt gimicky or have crappy action features though.

[synch]

Plus lets face it ,most of these people who work there are idiots ...

 

or at least if not idiots... then ignorant in whats actaully going on/going to happen

[thanos0341]

To tell you the truth, I could give a hoot about who's in charge of what! My only beef is that if Hasbro messes with the scale of this line & either shrinks it to a 5' scale or enlarges it to an 7-8' scale, I'm done collecting Marvel based figures! I cannot afford to start all over again from wave 1 of a new scaled line! Also, keep the same sculpters that have been doing these figures since it's inception. They are awesome sculpters!

[Psycho_JOhnny]

To tell you the truth, I could give a hoot about who's in charge of what! My only beef is that if Hasbro messes with the scale of this line & either shrinks it to a 5' scale or enlarges it to an 7-8' scale, I'm done collecting Marvel based figures! I cannot afford to start all over again from wave 1 of a new scaled line! Also, keep the same sculpters that have been doing these figures since it's inception. They are awesome sculpters!

 

I totally agree with you here. I don't care about a revamp anyway, as long as they keep the 6" format and use the same sculptors I'm good. Just don't buy repeated figures, that's all, if that's the case.

 

But let's wait until the "official" word.

 

JOhnny

[JoeRhyno]

just saw this on yahoo news(and heard it on the radio today):

Hasbro Announces Completion of Marvel License

Friday February 3, 4:58 pm ET

 

 

PAWTUCKET, R.I.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 3, 2006--Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE:HAS - News) today announced that the Federal Trade Commission has terminated the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 with respect to Hasbro's license agreement with Marvel. With termination of the waiting period, Hasbro's license agreement with Marvel Characters, Inc. and Spider-Man Merchandising L.P. is now effective. This license grants Hasbro toy and game rights to Marvel's renowned Super Hero franchises such as Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, X-Men and Captain America. Hasbro will now have the right to bring those toys and games to retail beginning January 1, 2007.

...

Contact:

Hasbro, Inc.

Karen A. Warren (Investor Relations)

401-727-5401

or

Wayne S. Charness (News Media)

401-727-5983

[darthsith]

Yeah I saw that too. I think it means they can start production and make sales Jan 2007 right? I mean basically its letting them get a jump on production to get ready for when they legally have the license.

[Glaken]

At least 8-ball is listening. Look guys (& gals), READ WHAT I POSTED EARLIER. We are dealing with 2 companies here ToyBiz/MarvelToys & TBWW. TBWW will NEVER MAKE MARVEL AGAIN, but they NEVER DESIGNED THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE. That was all done by Jesse & the gang AT MARVEL. A license does ot give Hasbro COMPLETE CONTROL, it gives them the right to do what MARVEL TELLS THEM. If MARVEL wants to kill the line, then Hasbro will do it, but if MARVEL wants it to keep going the Hasbro will manufacture it under the guidance of MARVEL (Jesse & the guys at Marvel Toys). This latest statement on the front page has no new info, it's just clarifying that the change over in licensing has been completed. It's a formality. If you read the original statements that came out, there was a line that stated "Marvel will provide developmental services to Hasbro for these products". Everyone seems to keep missing that. If hasbro were to take on full responsibility for developing the lines, they would have to add a whole new staff and start from scratch to launch the lines. This is not how it works. They will pick up where ToyBiz WW left off because that's how it works. If you want a good example of how this works, look at the transition from Hasbro to Mattel of the DC properties license. When Mattel started making the BTAS figures and accessories, there was NO difference between the figures, the packaging, the instructions other than a change in logo. You know why? Because DC/Warner Brothers provided them with a "Style Guide" which is the bible licensed manufacturers HAVE to go by or they lose the license. Mattel even used the same molds Hasbro had because DC OWNED THEM and gave them to Mattel to continue with the lines. They had established a brand, had established a look and all Mattel had the rights to do was manufacture what DC wanted, the way they wanted, and make money from it. The same thing will happen here. Hasbro will get all the manufacturing dies & molds and they may do a relaunch to "catch people up" but they won't reinvent the wheel, unless they can convince Jesse & the brass at Marvel it's a better direction to go. One BIG difference in this transaction is that they have a product manager who LOVES the product and it's his baby so there won't be any scaling down the line or scaling it up to replace it, only some things to compliment the other lines like SHS & Icons will do now. The reason everything this year has the "Marvel Legends" brand name on it is because they want that brand as recognizeable as possible from here on out. They wouldn't go to that trouble if it was going to die. The name is not owned by ToyBiz, it's owned my Marvel. All of this is NOT just a fans pipe dream. This comes from 15 years experience dealing with manufacturing licensed goods for some major licenses, Harry Potter, Spiderman, LOTR, NASCAR, NFL, and several others like Martha Stewart and Cheri Blum. Trust me, no decision is made by the manufacturer without every bit of it being scrutinized thoroughly by the License Owner. You don't blow your nose or wipe your butt when you are working on licensed goods without them giving you permission.

 

Here's what will happen guys, Marvel Legends will EXPAND, manufacturing will become better and more prolific. Distribution will get BETTER. The Hasbro name on the packaging will give more cred to the vendors and they will be willing to order more, more regularly. The ancillary lines will expande. SHS will have vehicles, playsets, thugs, etc... and will lose the game. ML Masterpieces will be marketed like Unleashed in Star Wars. You will see Packaging you would SWEAR is still ToyBiz but you will turn it over and it will have a Hasbro Logo. You'll see metamorphs die, but a new line up of official Marvel Transformers® come up. You'll see Spiderman and friends with a Playskool logo.

 

What else will you see? Marvel Mr. Potato Heads. Marvel My Little Ponies. Marvel Trivial Pursuit. Marvel Monopoly. Marvel Candy Land, Marvel Twister, Marvel HeroScape (that should be cool), Marvel Operation, Marvel PlayDoh sets, Marvel Furbies, etc... All of these things, Hasbro will utilize the Marvel Brand in their existing products but they won't mess with the Male Action because they won't be allowed to.

 

Why can they do what they want with G.I. Joe? THEY OWN THE PROPERTY OUTRIGHT. So they have full control over it and decide what happens to it. Why do they make Star Wars figures they way they do with the same figure repeated over and over in minor pose changes and poor (if any) articulation? Because Lucas gets a couple of pennies off every redundant figure out there and counts on collectors and kids to have to have ALL of them so he WANTS them to make the same stuff over and over so he keeps getting more and more money off the same characters. If they only made one, super-poseable version that could do anything of Luke, he'd only sell one figure to each person, but with 163 different "Tatoinee" Lukes all with minor redecos, he'll make more money off the same person over and over. Again, this is Lucas marketing plan, not necessarily Hasbro's call. Hasbro will do as it's told. If the line gets trashed, it won't be Hasbro's doings, it will be Marvel's and Marvel is NOT going to kill it because they KNOW they've got the best figures out there now and they'd be IDIOTS to change it. They changed manufacturers to KEEP it from getting worse in third rate factories with no quality control and erratic standards (which is where it's going if it stays with TBWW-look at 10 & 11). By moving to Hasbro they will have the best manufacturing facilities, with the best QC in the business. Again, Big Kid with a HUGE SANDBOX now. Jesse will keep making great figures but now they will be even better.

Edited February 4, 2006 by Glaken

[OB1Killa]

Imagine how many calls they have gotten ever since the breakup news came out.... so they are stickin to a script to tell the customers to F@#off for a while til they decide to tell the public the actual truth...

So for now, at least we know what the future holds....

 

A WHOLE bunch of repaints from HASBRO!

[AlphaPrime]

*claps at Galken* Nice post, tobad it seems people don't read your posts, maybe then we wouldn't have so many being whiners.