One thing you can usually count on when it comes to action Marvel it’s that one of their biggest avenues for profit outside of their films is merchandising. One of the most popular forms of merchandise is of course toys, more specifically action figures and dolls.

For years Marvel has teamed up with Hasbro to produce toys based on their various heroes, villains and other characters of the vast Marvel universe. This includes various interpretations from the comics, movies and even television series.



Recently at the annual San Diego Comic-Con Hasbro unveiled a wave of figures themed after the Marvel Knights as part of their Marvel Legends line. The figures included in this wave are Daredevil, Lady Bullseye, Luke Cage aka Power Man, GameVerse Iron Man, The Fist Ninja, Clea, and Blade with The Mindless One as a build-a-figure.

However, when this wave was announced, Hasbro stated that it would be an online-only release. Why is that? Why would it be skipping retail? Well, we may have an answer.

Former Mattel executive Scott “Toy Guru” Neitlich (who spent over 25 years in the industry overseeing MOTU Classics and DC Universe Classics) on his YouTube Channel Spector Creative believed this was the reason.

“The answer is because there is no ‘content.’ I mean, there are comic books, but those are basically considered throw-away material. But importantly, the reason why Hasbro has been so successful at keeping Marvel Legends at retail is that they’ve tied every wave into a ‘content.’ Mostly a theatrical release or the occasional tv show ‘contents’ as well.”

“So, in other words, you can’t just buy Marvel Legends. Marvel Legends is divided up for each ‘content.’ The previous Marvel Knights wave was tied into the Netflix show. That was the ‘content.’ That’s why it was taken to retail, because there was ‘content’ to push it. The ‘new version’ not so much.



He also went on to explain that the reason why Hasbro’s 2023 SDCC exclusive Marvel Legends figure was of Deadpool. The reason is that Deadpool 3 was originally set to release in late 2023 before it got delayed to 2024. Hasbro had the figure planned out years in advance before the delay was announced. So, the Deadpool figure was meant to tie in with the release of Deadpool 3.

The idea that the mainline retail releases are dictated by the release of the most recent Marvel film or television show does make sense. But it does make collecting certain characters more difficult. Let’s say you’re a big fan of Nightcrawler, but the only way to get him is online since he hasn’t been featured in a movie or show recently. Not to mention internet scalpers.

What do you think? Does his reasoning sound accurate, or do you think there is more to that?

Source: Spector Creative