Marvel Legends

We've barely made it to the quarter-post of 2016, and already Hasbro's released three separate Marvel Legends waves into the wild. Captain America has been the focal point of two of those three, with Captain America: Civil War providing the inspiration for this latest collection. Not only do you get Civil War versions of Cap and Iron Man (yes, again), but you also get the first Marvel Cinematic Universe Black Panther. Some comic book faces like Nick Fury, Red Guardian and Nuke round out the line which is based around a spoilerish build-a-figure (don't worry, those images are all at very end if you want to keep it a secret).

Hasbro's settled into a nice rotation with its Marvel Legends line. By alternating Avengers and Spider-Man series with whatever movie is hot at the moment, there's a seemingly constant stream of new and returning characters to continue building up the fan-favorite toy roster. While that means there have been a number of repeats since adopting this format a few years back, it also means the prospects for characters that once would have been a pipe dream for an action figure finally have a chance. That's what the new Absorbing Man series brings for the first Spider-Man Marvel Legends wave of 2016. Sure we've gotten Ben Reilly Spider-Man figures, Venom figures and Morbius figures in the past, but when is the last time you got a Silvermane toy, let alone a Speed Demon. Of course Spider-Gwen is the new hotness, and her inclusion makes the most sense, but it's fantastic diversity of this Spider-Man Legends wave that makes it a true standout.

The first round of Hasbro's new adult-oriented Marvel Legends role play accessories isn't even out yet, but the company is already looking to you to inspire what comes next. Of course the announcement came while I was out on vacation last week, so I didn't have time to properly Kermit flail all over the house at some of the prospective choices. Cyclops' visor with light-up action? The Infinity Gauntlet with sparkly jewels and sounds? Black Widow's gauntlets to go with any outfit? I'll take two, don't bother boxing them up; I'm wearing them out of the store, thank you very much. It's up to you to vote for the products that will follow up Captain America's shield and Iron Man's helmet, both of which are due to arrive later this summer. Since unifying the adult collector lines under the Marvel Legends banner officially late last year, Hasbro's been on a bit of a tear with its announced products. There are a lot of strong figures coming from the Legends line in both scales. It's adult role play line, which finally gives people a chance to own replicas born from their favorite heroes or villains without having to play Hollywood replica prices, that has me most excited for Marvel Legends. Especially if we get some of these suggested prop toys.

How many Marvel Legends is too many Marvel Legends? Trick question; you can never have enough. Hasbro more than proved that this weekend at Toy Fair when it announced a wealth of new characters and figures for the 6", 3.75" and new 12" Marvel Legends lines. The all-encompasing collector brand is now home to every last figure that comes with more than five points of articulation, and while that has bristled some fans, the singular branding does make it that much clearer which figures are meant for the more mature collector. Regardless of your age though, there were plenty of announcements to get excited about for Marvel Legends' 2016 line-up. First and foremost, Miles Morales is getting a figure. It's about damn time. An entirely new teen boy body has been developed for the line, which means Miles and the new Ultimate Spider-Man Peter Parker coming will have distinctly slimmer frames than the existing Spider figures. That also bodes well for the future of teen heroes in the line. The upcoming Spider-Man series will also see Silk and Nico Minoru make the leap to action figure form for the very first time. Nico's managed to carve out a nice little niche in the Marvel Universe after the 75 times Runaways was canceled, and I never thought we'd see her get a figure. Silk has a been a hot character since joining the Spider-verse, and along with the recently-released Spider-Gwen, she should help round out that portion of the Legends line.

Well, this year is the year Marvel Legends becomes the all-encompassing elite collectors line for Hasbro. After being home to the 6" adult collector figures, then adding in the 3.75" figures, Hasbro announced earlier today a 12" scale would be under the Legends umbrella, too. The company isn't stopping there. While Hasbro has been making roleplay toys for kids for the past few years, including weapons and masks all with a decidedly childlike bent, there hasn't been much for those of us with hands big enough to hold a basketball. This fall, the Marvel Legends line will expand to take care of that. Coming sometime during Q4 this year, Marvel Legends' roleplay gear will finally give the big kids exactly what we've always wanted: replica Captain America shields and Iron Man helmets. There have been others, there's no denying that. Many companies have tried to fill that void, but have either been relatively cheap alternatives or so expensive, you barely want to breathe on it, let alone wear it. While the jury is still out on how well-made Hasbro's Marvel Legends accessories will be, they certainly do look up to snuff in these first teaser images.

If you thought the Marvel Legends line was going to stick to the 6" and 3.75" formats forever, you probably weren't alone in that thinking. Both scales of the Marvel Legends line have been doing well, and cover pretty much all the bases for highly-detailed and articulated mass market action figures. But Hasbro has bigger things in mind for the Marvel Legends, and ahead of Toy Fair the company announced a new 12" scale for the Legends banner. Hold onto your butts. This fall, Hasbro will release the first 12" figures in the Legends line, with iO9 announcing Captain America and Iron Man as the first characters to make the leap to the larger scale. Currently the only way to get figures of this size from Hasbro is in the Titan Hero series, which feature the familiar faces of the Marvel Universe, though with simplified designs and just five points of articulation. There's nothing wrong with the Titan line, as its $9.99 price point makes it a good budget line for kids. The new 12" Marvel Legends will be a bit pricier ($50 each), but pack in a lot more detail, articulation and accessories.

With the arrival of Captain America: Civil War comes a new wave of tie-in action figures, and Hasbro is making clear its looking to make right with all the Black Widow fans. While there were a few figures of the Soviet spy released in conjunction with Avengers: Age of Ultron, Black Widow was in high demand and short supply. Though we've yet to see just what Hasbro's full range of plans for Civil War include, the first sampling revealed ahead of Toy Fair offers a glimpse at a world where Black Widow is no longer lingering in the shadows. More than a dozen new figures were revealed by Hasbro today (via IGN), including the first ever Black Widow Titan Hero figure. The 12" figure line has predominantly been filled with male characters across Hasbro's Avengers, Spider-Man and Star Wars collections. You can technically count Captain Phasma as the first female to make that leap, but given her lack of defining features, the upcoming Rey 12" unveiled at NYCC last fall (and due this spring) is the one opening new opportunities for Marvel's scarlet-haired secret agent. Given that both have been the center of their own social media campaigns advocating for more female figures, that seems appropriate.

Since Hasbro took over the Marvel action figure license a few years ago, the Legends line has been home to a fairly diverse cast of characters from the classic Marvel Universe and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That trend looks to continue heading into the new year, where Hasbro already has its plans in motion for the early part of the year, including the Captain America: Civil War wave, and the first wave of the newly christened 3.75" Marvel Legends. During New York Comic Con, we were given an early look at some of Hasbro's plans for the Marvel Legends line for the upcoming year. Both the 6" and 3.75" lines will fall under the Legends banner moving forward, with new characters and some familiar faces filling out the rosters on both sides. After seeing everything that was on display, we had a chance to chat with some of Hasbro's Marvel Legends leads, Dwight Stall, senior Marvel product design manager, Mike Breslin, senior director, brand strategy and marketing, and Tony Colella, senior model artist, about Legends and its future.

Where Hasbro's pre-San Diego Comic-Con event treated us a new Spider-Man line, including Spider-Gwen and more, this week's pre-NYCC show was much more of a mixed bag. Though some of the figures shown actually made a brief appearance in San Diego (Captain America, Mockingbird and Taskmaster), the new additions were a stunning surprise. Of course, as great as it was to see such variation shown in the 6" Marvel Legends line, the news that the 3.75" line would be ditching its former monikers to fold into the Legend banner was just as huge. No longer its own separate brand, the former Universe/Infinite line of figures will now also be known as Marvel Legends moving forward. Though it might cause some confusion among less savvy consumers, Hasbro has been using a similar tactic with the Star Wars Black Series to keep its highly-articulated figures, which are geared towards the adult collector, portioned off from the less articulate series. By bringing the 3.75" figures under the Legends marquee, Hasbro's just making a smart business decision to put its highest quality figures all in the same room. But enough about branding, let's talk about that 1990s Rogue.

This past week, Hasbro and Marvel teamed up for another fan vote to determine one new figure for the Marvel Legends line. The qualifying rounds actually took place at San Diego Comic-Con, with each day of the convention hosting a different round of four. You had to visit the Hasbro booth to place a vote, but the initial round of 16 was quite intriguing. In addition to well-known characters like Symbiote Spider-Man, Quasar, Nebula, Lady Sif and Nova, there were a lot of fringe heroes and villains thrown into the mix like Lyra, Cosmo, Bor, the Executioner and Angela. Now that I look at these names again, there were a lot of cosmic and Asgard-related characters. Guess that means there's likely to be a Thor line and a cosmic hero line in the next year or two, which makes sense given Marvel's movie schedule (Thor: Ragnarok and Guardians of the Galaxy 2 are both due in 2017). Of the sixteen announced, only three (Mysterio, Spider-Man and the Hood) wouldn't fit into those two molds. When all was said and done at SDCC, only four characters remained, and fans would have to choose from Mysterio, Symbiote Spider-Man, Darkhawk and Angela to determine the next Marvel Legend.