why did Marvel 9" figures fail

[rche]

riffing off of grayhank

Why did Hasbro's 9" Marvel Signature Origins line fail?
One would think they learned a bit from the earlier DC items. They did not do exclusives for these until the line was folding. The packaging, tho still large, was toned down a bit. The figures were well executed and consistent. So why are they not making more of these?

from what I recall there were 11 figures in the line?

Spiderman - 2x blue/red outfits and the black outfit
Doctor Octopus
Green Goblin
Captain America
Daredevil
Wolverine
Iron Spider
Punisher
and I think Mr. Fantastic was at KayBee?? as the line was ending

[MIB41]

riffing off of grayhank

Why did Hasbro's 9" Marvel Signature Origins line fail?
One would think they learned a bit from the earlier DC items. They did not do exclusives for these until the line was folding. The packaging, tho still large, was toned down a bit. The figures were well executed and consistent. So why are they not making more of these?

from what I recall there were 11 figures in the line?

Spiderman - 2x blue/red outfits and the black outfit
Doctor Octopus
Green Goblin
Captain America
Daredevil
Wolverine
Iron Spider
Punisher
and I think Mr. Fantastic was at KayBee?? as the line was ending

I LOVED the Marvel Signature Series. I lost my mind with that line. I probably have three of each figure. Love them. By and large the sculpts were excellent, and the figures made nicely. I especially like the way they did Sandman and Doc Ock. And to finally have a "Stretcho" with Mr. Fantastic is very cool. Or should we just call him bend-o? I'm not sure. Hey at least we have a Mego-sized Cap that has the right outfit now. I was hoping they would release the Human Torch but it doesn't look like that ever happened. I have no complaints with the Marvel line up except the way Target kept trying to push up the price points with the variants. I wish Hasbro had kept it going. I do consider that a tragedy in the action figure business. I thought they did Marvel characters justice.

[Megospidey]

There was also a Sandman figure...I was collecting this line too. Really liked it. Sorry to see it end.

[MIB41]

I might add if any action figure company does produce Marvel characters again and wish to do the Fantastic Four...PLEASE...do them all at once so we can have the whole team. Famous Covers did only Reed Richards and Sue Storm and Hasbro just got Mr. Fantastic out the door before it slammed on the Torch. The Fantastic Four have been by and large the Orphaned Four. I'm all about the "team" concept here.

[BlackKnight]

The Line clearly Failed because there simply was not enought Spider-men in it.

[MIB41]

The Line clearly Failed because there simply was not enought Spider-men in it.

That is so true. They had four total - The classic, then the variant with the comic, the black one, and the armored one. Jeez. Yeah, they definitely needed more.

[david_b]

I guess I have to review this line. I've only seen Cap, Goblin, Doc Ock and Spiderman around on eBay and the 'net. Didn't even know they had a Reed Richards.

The Signature Cap looked really nice.., probably closest to a decent figure of him.., I don't know why it would be THAT hard.., serious. The Secret Wars Cap was alright, but only had minimal articulation.

[rche]

The Line clearly Failed because there simply was not enought Spider-men in it.

the jest aside.

four of basically the same figure

I think this was originally marketed as Spiderman Origins, so multiple Spideys makes sense. But then they added other characters, sort of randomly. So that indicates a lack of focus on the line. Or, perhaps they were changing focus as it was running to try and see what would work. Either way, it didn't and those were probably causes.

[grayhank]

There were a total of 12 Hasbro Marvel Origins. I think the reason these failed were because the majority of them had recently been done prior as Famous Covers. I remember TRU had a large bin full of these guys on clearance and they still couldn't sell them. Walmart had also clearanced them down to $3.97 and I bought most of them at that price. Target's exclusives didn't do much better. I don't believe KB Toys had a Reed Richards but they did buy the remainder of the Cyclops (and possibly Sandman) figures from Target for the Outlet Division.

Wave 1

Spider-Man (regular)
Doctor Octopus
Green Goblin
Spider-Man (black suit)

Wave 2

Daredevil
Captain America
Wolverine
Iron Spider-Man

Target Exclusives:

Spider-Man (1st Appearance)
Punisher (1st Appearance)
Cyclops
Sandman


ADDED: Oops I was wrong there was a Mr. Fantastic... just found one on Ebay.

2007--HASBRO--MARVEL LEGENDS--9" MR. FANTASTIC FIGURE - eBay (item 200317912768 end time Aug-05-09 0748 PDT)

[MIB41]

There were a total of 12 Hasbro Marvel Origins. I think the reason these failed were because the majority of them had recently been done prior as Famous Covers. I remember TRU had a large bin full of these guys on clearance and they still couldn't sell them. Walmart had also clearanced them down to $3.97 and I bought most of them at that price. Target's exclusives didn't do much better. I don't believe KB Toys had a Reed Richards but they did buy the remainder of the Cyclops (and possibly Sandman) figures from Target for the Outlet Division.

Mr. Fantastisc was a KB Exclusive and I was able to buy up several at a discounted rate before they closed their doors. I bought like three or four Sandman at Target for $3.98. They were never put on the shelves! They literally were taken out of the back and placed in the discount end racks for that price. The craziest thing I ever saw.

[GaryPlaysWithDolls]

Those things clearanced out so fast, I was waiting for them to be released directly into yard sales and goodwill bins.

I think they dropped the ball when it came to having them out with the marvel movies. A silver surfer probably would have sold if it had come out with the movie. Why do they keep making Reed Richards. He sucks sooo bad. I'm sure a Human Torch or a Thing would have sold better.

I just don't know if there is a market for "dolls". Even some of the G.I. Joe (12 inch) started having molded clothing.

I was in a restaurant and saw a little kid with a Daredevil from that line. It seemed so odd to me.

[thunderbolt]

I really think these were placeholders for Hasbro to get product out there quickly. They didn't require full body sculpts, just heads. It was pretty much the first thing that hit the shelves after the switch of the Marvel stuff to Hasbro. Of course, I stockpiled the bodies so I can customize for years.