BlackRook

Hmm... on the subject of the re-used Toy Biz molds (Spidey, Doc Ock, Goblin), how many Toy Biz sculpts does Hasbro now have the rights to? They released the "attack feature" Ock in the Origins set for play value, but what's stopping Hasbro from using the second version (with the bendy tentacles) in the more collector-friendly line?

It really does. To make matters worse, this can hardly be called an action figure. As far as I can tell, he's articulated at the shoulders, neck, and maybe waist. More a glorified statue than a BAF. As for everyone saying the images look cheap... blame Cool Toy Review. Since blue backgrounds in their image banks is a trademark of the guys behind the site (also seen extensively on Rebelscum.com), they like to photoshop blue backgrounds onto official images. The result is almost always cheap looking. That's not to say these figures would look any better with a regular white background, but there you go. I might've gotten Doc Ock if they up-scaled the 5" one, since I think that version captures the feel of the character better than the Toy Biz ones, even if the details aren't entirely accurate.

You know, I'm beginning to wonder if this debate is even about capitalism, or if it's just some surrogate for "America vs. everything." Christ.

You misunderstood what I said. I didn't say that people are poor solely because others are rich. But resources are limited, and if one individual controls more of them, it's only natural that there will be less to go around. Yachts aren't finite- but money is. You're describing the capitalist ideal, not the reality. You seem to believe capitalism is a perfect system. It's a good system, but by no means perfect. You sound like you've taken a few courses in economics, considering you know the theory, but don't seem to understand the practice or are a blind elitist, which I sincerely hope not, though you do seem to believe I favor communism (another knee-jerk reaction). Might I suggest you also take a few sociology courses? They go a long way towards painting a complete picture.

No, that's why individual capitalist nations work. Not the world as a whole. If you know anything about capitalism, you know that in a capitalist society, someone has to get the short stick, by definition. If there are rich folk, then it's inevitable that there will also be poor folk. Translate that into nations: when there are rich nations (the West), there's also going to be poor nations (essentially everyone else). This is what you should have been thinking about when you saw the term "the world." I think you should have considered what you were saying before going into a condescending knee-jerk reaction. You're only making your fellow Americans look like uneducated tools. That said, I agree that Hasbro can't be blamed for trying to come up with ways to make more money. It's only natural, since that's the way any business works. However, Hasbro has a tendency to make cost-cutting decisions that ultimately result in an inferior product, be it lack of paint, poor sculpting, different kinds of plastic, leaving out accessories, etc. I know that Hasbro has to pay a licensing fee (which, as someone explained, is the reason a 3 inch R2-D2 goes for $6.50), and it costs more now to produce plastic than it did two years ago. But in comparison to Hasbro's past actions, their current actions are rather miserly. I mean, look at the BAFs. They've been getting smaller since the tail end of Toy Biz's run. Annihilus was shrimpy, but passable- you only needed to buy six figures to get him. Blob is a well-scaled figure... But dividing Blob's pieces into a nine-figure wave? Come on. The only Toy Biz BAFs divided into such large portions were the really big guys (though they did kind of screw us with Onslaught, but the large-sized Abomination and Blackheart made it easier). Fin Fang Foom is supposed to be huge, but we'll wait to see if he's a decent size for a twelve-figure span. Really, I'd be satisfied if they agreed not to divide their smaller BAFs among larger waves (with only stuff like Fin Fang Foom being divided among 10-12 figures), and at least included (as someone mentioned) the same clear "flying" stand that Toy Biz included in a few release. Did they ever buy that mold from Toy Biz? If not, it couldn't be too hard to make their own version. And once they have the mold, Hasbro can partake in their favorite activity: reusing molds.

I do know why they do this (and things go awry anyway, regardless of how Hasbro may try to keep things under wraps). But like I said (in the very text you quoted), it renders these sessions mostly useless.

I'm relatively new to collecting Marvel Legends, but I've been collecting Star Wars for years. Hasbro has been doing weekly (and then bi-monthly) Q&A's for Star Wars for the last year. What have I learned? This is how they always talk. They are vague at best, blatantly dismissive at worst. Sometimes, they don't even read the question all the way through. Sometimes don't even understand what it is they're being asked, and yet they still give one of their automated, pre-written responses. Answers are usually some variation of "maybe," "no plans at this time," or "wait and see." The best you can hope for is to have Hasbro confirm that they won't be making something. Getting a straight answer out of them is like pulling teeth, and renders their Q&A sessions nearly useless. This isn't even a business move- they rarely, if ever, listen to suggestions made during these sessions. They don't use these to gauge opinion. This is strictly PR and nothing more.