The first two Marvel Legends Build-A-Figures of next year (Super Skrull and Demogoblin) may have only been revealed exactly zero business days ago, but Hasbro is already ready to move in for the kill and lock in collectors’ 2020 dollars! That’s right–although they’re still months away from shipping, the Marvel Legends Fantastic Four and Spider-Man series are up for order now!
Here’s the direct links to the individuals for those who prefer Amazon:
Vulture ►
Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu! ►
She-Hulk ►
I haven’t spotted the Spider-Armor Mark III PS4 Spider-Man GamerVerse variant on Amazon just yet, but he is available for PO now on BBTS.
The case ratios for the Fantastic Four wave are as follows:
(2) Doctor Doom
(2) The Thing
(1) Mr. Fantastic
(1) Human Torch Johnny Storm
(1) Invisible Woman
(1) She-Hulk
Clearly the Hasbro Gods have taken mercy on our souls by giving us the ideal case pack for this assortment: two of each of perhaps the single most popular Marvel villain ever in Doctor Doom, and two of each of the Thing after his Walgreens exclusive sold out so quickly and thoroughly that tons of collectors never even had a chance to see a Marvel Legends Thing in person at all–much less buy one. Good job, Hasbro!
Note that Doctor Doom comes with interchangeable masks, so if you want to display Doom with both classic and modern masks, you’ll need to order an extra of him.
It’s also worth nothing that The Thing comes with two interchangeable heads for the Super Skrull Build-A-Figure, although Hell if I know who can afford to build multiple Super Skrull BAFs and utilize both heads!
Of the figures in the Super Skrull Marvel Legends series, I have little doubt that the modern grey (She-) Hulk is going to be the least popular. This design for She-Hulk hasn’t really gained any traction with comic book fans at all (despite being pushed in Jason Aaron’s “Avengers”), and even with the super-cool invisible arm for Super Skrull, I’m not convinced this is gonna be popular in stores.
Mr. Fantastic himself should fare fine, however. The black costume, new extended stretching fingers and bearded head sculpt all set this figure apart from the Walgreens exclusive version–and let’s face it: no one’s not going to buy bearded Reed Richards regardless because they need that leg for their Super Skrull Build-A-Figure.
The new Johnny Storm Human Torch figure is wholly different from the flamed-on Walgreens exclusive, and should have zippo problems selling out with a one-per-case distribution. The flame effects for the hands–and the switch-out fire effects hands themselves–are totally ace. This is a winner.
Rounding out the Fantastic Four Legends series is a black costume Invisible Woman. This is “fine”, but the real incentives for me to buy this figure are that badass new invisible force-field effects piece and the body for the Super Skrull BAF. Those are the true must-haves for me here–Sue Storm herself is sort of an “accessory” so to speak in this instance.
Meanwhile, the 2020 Spider-Man Marvel Legends Demogoblin Series pack-out is, well… not necessarily what every fan would have preferred:
(2) Velocity Suit Spider-Man (PS4 GamerVerse)
(2) Spider-Armor Mark III Spider-Man (PS4 Spider-Man)
(1) Vulture
(1) White Rabbit
(1) Superior Octopus
(1) Master of Kung Fu Shang Chi
Considering that there’s not even a shadow of a doubt that the Vulture is going to be the most popular action figure in this series–especially now that we see he’s coming with an alternate head–it’s definitely bewildering to see Adrian Toomes being short-packed while we get double the number of Spider-Man Armor Mark III figures in every case.
Be sure to reserve a Vulture early if you want one–he’s almost certainly destined to join Mysterio on the aftermarket as one of the most scalped Spider-Man Legends villains ever.
Although she’s a real fan favorite among hardcore Spidey fans, it was probably the right call to limit the ML White Rabbit figure to one-per-case. I’m not sure that many (okay, any) casual fans know who the hell White Rabbit even is, so this is a figure that could really languish at retail if she were double-packed. I’m just glad to get her at all–especially for her parts being used for an inevitable classic Emma Frost White Queen figure!
Even though the demand for a Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu Marvel Legends figure may be relatively low when this action figure launches in the winter, I imagine this is a figure that will become increasingly desirable as the MCU movie approaches.
I’ve never had a burning interest in Shang-Chi myself, but I’ll be picking him up to complete my Demogoblin BAF. And hey–gotta respect a Marvel Legends figure that comes with the crapload of extra hands Shang-Chi does, right…?
Superior Octopus is a flash-in-the-pan villain that appeared for a few issues and is unlikely to ever appear again in the comics. I’m as big a Doc Ock fan as anyone, but even I wasn’t crying out for this variant. Even so, I’ll be scooping this up for the Demogoblin Build-A-Figure arms.
Last but not least, we’ve got two versions of Spider-Man in various costumes from the PS4 Spider-Man video game: Velocity Suit Spidey and Spider Armor Mk III. The Velocity Suit is wicked cool and has even gotten its own (currently in progress) comic book series, so that’s actually a fine costume to choose for action figure treatment and perhaps even worthy of its two-per-case status.
Spider-Armor Mark III… I’m not so sure. It’s an interesting version of Spidey, and I like that it comes with a new web effects piece (as does the Velocity Suit), but this armored Spider-Man just doesn’t capture my imagination. We’ll see whether or not this gambit pays off for Hasbro at retail or not.
Thank you very much for posting the links to each individual figure on Amazon. It makes it easy to get them ordered. I appreciate it since I don’t like buying full cases and getting duplicates.
The new MSRP for these waves is $21.49
This is a big risk since it seems like the big retailers rolled back the price below $18 for almost all the ones released this year. The Marvel Studios/80th line (you know that costs $24.99) is dead, and I think Deadpool may be the last retro. Hasbro has a big pricing problem on their hands because the figures from waves without BAFs are not selling – especially the higher priced ones.
Well, we all knew the price had to go up at some point. Glad my collection is mostly done since this will just result in me cherry picking waves even more.
Thought hasbro has indicated they will have a new “anniversary” line next year along the lines of 10th/80th, but you’re right in that the vast majority of sets seem to go on sale cheap fairly quickly (especially the 80th line). Hulk/Wolvie and the target exclusive Hulkbuster set seem to be exceptions.
I do think that BAFs which people are enthusiastic about seem to make a big difference in selling the wave’s figures, regardless of how good the characters in the wave are. Most of the leftover figs i’m seeing are from either Kree Sentry, Caliban, or Molten Man waves. But of course its hard to gauge this stuff accurately just going by what the local stores have.
Definitely preordering Doom and Vulture.
White Rabbit and Doom is all I think I will go after this wave.
I preordered Dr. Doom, White Rabbit, and Vulture. I’ll still get Shang Chi, but I’m not too worried about him being available. I might pick up Invisible Woman later just for the invisible shield and maybe to see if that head looks better on the Walgreens body.
That Super Skrull doesn’t look nearly as nice as the one released by Toy Biz. That figure also had interchangeable arms and invisible and flaming variants. Doom is the only one I’ll be getting.