The Pros of Marvel Legends
( Both Toybiz and Hasbro )
The Positives
( 1 ) Applies only to Toybiz - ACTUAL REAL COMIC BOOK REPRINTS CAME WITH THE FIGURES -
Even though they are all re-prints , there were some re-prints of some classic Marvel Comics . Actual real comics by Marvel themselves, and not some made up stuff by the toy company . So not only did you get a cool figure , but also an actual comic book for your reading enjoyment . Once Hasbro took over the comics ended .
( 2 ) Applies to BOTH - EXCELLENT LIKENESS OF ACTORS AND ACTRESSES OF THE MARVEL MOTION PICTURE MOVIES -
From the Spider-Man films with Tobey Mcguire as Spidey to the most recent Guardians of the Galaxy figures based on the films , both Toybiz and Hasbro have done an excellent job of making the figures look like the actors .
( 3 ) Applies only to Hasbro - THE LUXURY OF HEAD SWAPPING IS FUN - With the most recent Marvel Legends by Hasbro , you can now remove the head of a figure and place it unto the body of another figure . Just think of the options being almost limitless . Lots of fun and creativity to explore with head swapping . The older Hasbro figures do not have this luxury, same with the Toybiz figures . However the most recent Hasbro Legends are making head swapping a fun trend .
( 4 ) Applies only to Toybiz - MORE ARTICULATION THAN ANY OTHER KNOWN SIX INCH SCALED TOY LINE -
With the Toybiz Legends , a lot of figures even have finger articulation . You can actually move all five fingers on some figures . When Hasbro took over quite a bit of the articulation that Toybiz gave the figures got cut out . Also with Toybiz the female figures have ab crunches whereas till this day the female figures still do not have an ab crunch .
( 5 ) Applies only to Toybiz - REALISTIC LOOKING FACES ON THE FIGURES - Even though today's Hasbro's figures are catching up to Toybiz in this department, however the Toybiz figures have more details in their faces so far . For example , compare the faces of the Toybiz version of the Absorbing Man to all of the Hasbro Absorbing Man figures, including the build-a-figure, and you will immediately notice the differences .
( 6 ) Applies only to Hasbro - MARVEL LEGENDS STILL GOING STRONG TODAY - However the reason the line still lives on is because of Hasbro and not Toybiz . Why is it that Hasbro can keep the line going and Toybiz could not ? Did Toybiz's business practices did them in ? They suffered the same fate as Toys R Us . However Hasbro has been around much longer than Toybiz ever was and has much more business experience . Lack of experience in the business could have been a factor in the demise of Toybiz .
( 7 ) Applies to BOTH - THE JOY OF BUILD - A - FIGURES - Once Marvel Legends started the build-a- figure idea , other toy companies have continued the trend by following in Legend's footsteps . Toybiz's BAFs ( Build-a- Figures ) were bigger , however this could be a negative too as well as a positive because the bigger the figure the more shelf space, among just space in general it takes up . Rather you prefer the bigger BAFs of Toybiz or the smaller Hasbro ones , the build-a-figure concept was and is a great idea to keep one from spending a lot of money all at once on over-sized characters . By purchasing individual body parts over time is a great way to keep from spending too much at one time . A situation very similar to lay-away .
( 8 ) Applies only to Hasbro - THE FIGURES COME OUT MORE FREQUENTLY NOW -
Since Toybiz is no longer in operation . Now there are no more long waits between waves . Hasbro has been on a ball keeping the figures rolling into the stores without the long waits .
( 9 ) Applies to BOTH - MARVEL LEGENDS ARE CHEAPER THAN OTHER MARVEL FIGURES -
The other companies that make six inch scaled Marvel figures such as Diamond Select Toys with their Marvel Select figures and the Mezco 1 /12 Marvel figures are doing a great job, however the figures are on the pricey side . Even though Marvel Legends are not as cheap as they used to be under Toybiz , twenty bucks per figure is still better than what Marvel figures from other companies are priced at . How does Toybiz apply you may ask ? Because you can still purchase loose Toybiz figures off of places like Ebay and Amazon for fair deals .
( 10 ) Applies only to Toybiz - THE FRESH STRONG NEW SCENT OF OPENING A NEW FIGURE -
How many of you remember opening a Toybiz figure and inhaling a strong scent afterward ? It's not a bad odor but it's not exactly roses neither . It's kind of hard to explain in words however I'm sure many of you have heard people mention " that new car smell " . That's the kind of feeling you get when you open a Toybiz figure of some characters . I remember my Toybiz Sasquatch had that scent when I removed him from the packaging .
( 11 ) Applies only to Toybiz - STRONG DETAILED BIOS ON THE CARD BACKS -
I'm sorry but Hasbro's bios just do not cut it anymore . They started off similar to Toybiz but recently the bios are just too basic and seem more aimed at kid collectors than adults . For example , if you purchase any figure of the Hulk these days, the bio may say something similar to this " The Incredible Hulk uses his super strength to smash the enemy . " No bio has actually said those exact words, however those types of bios have been given to us recently by Hasbro . The bios are now basic and in my opinion are now also boring . They're not as fun to read as they used to be . The older Hasbro bios were good because they're similar to the Toybiz bios . The Toybiz bios provided a physical trait chart displaying a character's strength, speed, fighting skills and intelligence . You also got the character's origin story alongside the chart . I miss those old Toybiz bios .
( 12 ) Applies only to Hasbro - A LOT OF THE MOST RECENT FIGURES MAY COME WITH EXTRA HEADS AND HANDS -
Some Toybiz figures had alternate heads but not many came with alternate hands . This is where Hasbro has them beat . Extra heads come in handy for masked characters, such as a masked and unmasked head for multiple display options .
Before moving on to the Cons of Marvel Legends , let's see how both Toybiz and Hasbro compared with each other with the Pros .
TOYBIZ - Applies only to Toybiz - 5 out of 12
Applies to BOTH - 3 out of 12
FINAL TOYBIZ SCORE - 8 out of 12 for a total Score of 8
HASBRO - Applies only to Hasbro - 4 out of 12
Applies to BOTH - 3 out of 12
FINAL HASBRO SCORE - 7 out of 12 for a total Score of 7
Toybiz wins by only ONE point . Even though Toybiz has the winning score this by no means mean that Toybiz did a better job than Hasbro . Because there are some things not discussed in this article such as paint applications on figures . Categories like that vary from figure to figure so that situation alone makes paint apps a difficult category to judge . Now on to the Cons of Marvel Legends .
The Cons of Marvel Legends
( The Negatives ) - Both Toybiz and Hasbro
( 1 ) Applies to Toybiz - TOYBIZ WENT OUT OF BUSINESS - I sure miss Toybiz , but Hasbro has slowly caught up with them in the quality of the figures .
( 2 ) Applies to Hasbro - NEEDS TO CONTINUE TO IMPROVE THE TIGHTNESS OF JOINTS IN SOME FIGURES -
Some figures made today still have loose ab crunches , etc .
Well that;s it for now folks. I enjoyed writing this article and I hope you enjoyed reading it . Before I go let me leave you with some pics of Marvel Legends in action .
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