What's the future of Retro Marvel sets?

[ovenmitt]

Diamond replied to a question of mine on Facebook about the future of the Retro Marvel sets and said that there may be only 1 more set after Daredevil in 2016. That's only 3 sets this year. FTC has at least 3 more Super Friends/Legion of Doom waves planned for 2016 and even Wendy and Marvin. There's also Mezco One:12 Marvel figures.I'd hate to see Retro Marvel sets die from lack of support. Is the line ending or format being changed? Will SDCC tell us any news?

[LonnieFisher]

I hope the future of the series is bright and prosperous. I'd like to see the Spidey 2099 set come out before Punisher.

[Timothy2251]

Hope it continues - I have every set so far and am already locked in for Daredevil. SO many characters left to make!

[Brown Bear]

I finally got the Wolverine and Captain America sets at Mego Meet at liked them a lot. Hope to see Iron Man and a few others I've been hoping for.

[enyawd72]

The license restrictions doomed this line from the start. FTC has made 30 times as many figures because they actually listen to the consumer and give them what they want.

Marvel thinks they are the boss...they're not. WE are. Lines will thrive or die based on consumer demand.

[CrimsonGhost]

You mean Hasbro, not Marvel.

[PNGwynne]

I question some of the figure offerings, particularly the proposed second Spidey set. Before Iron Man or a villain--that's foolish IMO. And, the license limitation has hurt since day one.

[jayraytee]

Yeah with the licensing restriction, basically we have gotten Spiderman, Thor, Captain America, Wolverine, Daredevil, Deadpool and maybe Punisher. Six to seven characters since the line started (deluxe figures with extra suits and heads, I know). The offerings are so slow that the character choices really need to be the big names without repeats. We're likely to see the license end before we see some really major characters done.

[LonnieFisher]

Yeah with the licensing restriction, basically we have gotten Spiderman, Thor, Captain America, Wolverine, Daredevil, Deadpool and maybe Punisher. Six to seven characters since the line started (deluxe figures with extra suits and heads, I know). The offerings are so slow that the character choices really need to be the big names without repeats. We're likely to see the license end before we see some really major characters done.

Who are bigger names at Marvel than Spider-man, Thor, Captain America, Wolverine, and Deadpool?

[ovenmitt]

Where's Iron Man? He's been in 6 Marvel movies since 2008. Hulk has been in 4 movies and will be in 3rd Thor movie . Those 2 should be next hero sets after Punisher and before a 2nd Spidey set. Fantastic 4 and Dr Doom may be off limits but I want them. Green Goblin would be good 1st villain set and Spider-Woman 1st female since there's been 3 versions of her. I hope SDCC tells us something. An announcement about change in format/ license restrictions would be nice.

[enyawd72]

You mean Hasbro, not Marvel.

No I mean Marvel. Hasbro doesn't own the characters or license them.

[MIB41]

I think the Mego market is such a small niche of consumers, it's going to be very hard to sustain any line for an extended amount of time. In the past few years the market has been flooded with newly licensed figures from just about every imaginable corner of pop culture. The result is a glut of discounted product that is impacting even the value of recently released figure lines. I've seen STEEP discounts on fairly recent releases to the point where I question my own sensibilities in buying anything at shelf price anymore. And it's not like we're talking 10 or 15% discounts. We're looking at 30 to near 50% discounts on figures not even a year old (some times not even 6 months old). That's crazy. To me, that's a strong indicator that shelf pricing is out of lockstep with demand. So the deluxe sets with more of a "Cadillac" pricing structure are going to feel the burden of competing even more.

And like a few have pointed out, when you have other competing figure scales offering enhanced quality for similar or additional money, that bites into these lines as well. Add in the human factor where the people behind these are trying to make good product only to be undone by factory miscues and I'm sure that factors into the desire to make more at the creative level. By now, we've all come to understand no matter what you send to factories, there's a degree of finger crossing that plays into the final product when you're a company with a schedule to meet and no luxury of time to keep sending samples back until they get it right. I've lost count of how many companies have felt the sting (and backlash) when the factory delivered a product less than what was envisioned. And I think that becomes more glaring with these deluxe sets because there are so many more production factors that play into making these figures and accessories, plus getting it packaged right.

The possibilities of what could be done in this series are unlimited, but we don't have a big enough market to sustain it. I think that is just the sad truth to what is happening here. For those who really enjoy this run, I would just enjoy the ride for as long as it lasts.

[wise guy]

I hope the line continues, but it's hard for me to wan't to collect these at such a slow pace of 6-7 figures in 2 or more years . Each time they release one I keep
thinking that this could be the last figure( and if they could do only one more) I would rather have Ironman than a second Spiderman.

[jayraytee]

No I mean Marvel. Hasbro doesn't own the characters or license them.

But Hasbro is the reason for the 1 figure $80 restriction here.

[palitoy]

You should all storm the disney castle like braveheart.