Of Wolverines and Wasps : The Swan Song of Marvel Legends, Finale
11.29.06By Collin DavidSo that’s it. The last few remnants of Marvel stock are leaving the ToyBiz warehouses, the dying whisper of a once-mighty franchise. There’s nothing left to see. The short-eared Wolverines are on the pegs, to turn a phrase. That I just made up. But I fully expect you to use and credit me for.
The dying sputter of ToyBiz and Marvel is a phlegmy, rattly and confusing one. Let’s get a few things straight. Last rites, so to speak.
For everyone looking for the rare Blue Wasp variant from the final wave of Marvel Legends, ToyBiz has personally assured me that it should be appearing ‘as we speak’, even though only one has ever been reported (and subsequently sold for a ridiculous amount), and the frenzy for her has reached such a pitch that people are bidding large amounts of money on auctions for hints about where to possibly find her. Yes, hints. Surely if more existed, collectors who have found her would happily set phasers to ‘gloat’ and let us all know by now. There’s really no way to resist the thrill of the ‘Look What I Just Found’ post-shopping internet gloat. For those of us who have no possibility of ever scoring a touchdown, or a slam dunk, or a woman, this is what we’ve got. This is our end zone dance, riddled with emoticons.
The Wasp figure from this final series has not one variety but THREE, the most common being a modern yellow and black costume. This is followed by an older red costume, and finally, by the impossible-to-find blue costume. As far as variants go, this makes sense enough, since Janet van Dyne is (at times) a fashion designer and socialite. Surely she’d be making herself all kinds of crazy superhero costumes, especially when her only other power is shrinking, kinda stinging people a little and staying in abusive relationships. Even if these figures prove too difficult to find, you can always go for the Bowen mini-busts that feature her in two different classic fashion choices, one of them being her spacegirl-chic first appearance costume. I think I’ll be going to Bowen for my obscure character fix, should Marvel Legends die in the hands of Hasbro. Ignore their horrible website - they make great stuff.
That’s another thing - we’ve been given some very distinctly different pictures of the post-ToyBiz Marvel Legends from Hasbro and various press sources. Some of the images of the future Legends are exciting and promising, and some come across as overtly insulting. Here, compare these two shots of the Jean Grey figure and see where it goes wrong. Which is just about everywhere. It’s like getting invited to an awesome costume party only to discover that it’s actually, like, a baptism. They really shouldn’t have printed those notices on Halloween letterhead. I was never more embarrassed.
Which set of images do we trust? Time for a little more disambiguation, this time from statements on the Fwooshnet message boards by Jesse Falcon, developer of the boys’ lines of ToyBiz products. According to Mr. Falcon, who has been involved with the transition of the Legends between the two companies, the first photographs were from very early mock-ups of the figures, and not at all meant to represent the final products, or even released by ToyFare Magazine (which is where the first image was snatched from). So, we ARE going to get a Famke Janssen X3 figure, and not the generic ug-face in the first image. Probably. We’ll see.
The final wave of ToyBiz figures couldn’t have been more finely produced. They’re all interesting characters, and they all look great. Except for Mandarin, from the Face-Offs offshoot series. Anytime you give a character a full rubber sheet for a robe, you’re asking for trouble. Have you learned nothing, ToyBiz? Now we can’t move the arms or legs! And what’s with the paint applications on this figure? Have you hired the restless spirit of Jackson Pollack to make these figures for you? I can still smell the anger and booze!
ToyBiz will continue to work with Diamond Select Toys to release the Marvel Select line of figures, which are released at a rate of one high-end figure every few months. Each one is still expertly sculpted, but has far less articulation and comes with a large diorama base or accessory, in most cases.
So, it’s a bittersweet farewell to Marvel Legends, and a bittersweet rebirth will be found through Hasbro. If I know Hasbro like I think I know Hasbro, they’ll soon be forcing Spider-Man to fight Luke Skywalker and Optimus Prime in one enormous crossover battle royale / marketing strategy. My money’s on The Incredible Hulk.
