Dunno if anyone remembers me saying it, but I told you guys that Hasbro would plummet (their stock has taken a very steep nosedive the last two years and the investors are left asking where and when Hasbro can see things improving, lol) and that McFarlane would continue on as they always have.
Well, it turns out, McFarlane may fair even better than that. They may even take the lead again as the top figure maker above Hasbro. Hell, he may renegotiate the DC Toys contract in two years when it’s about to expire again, in order to secure an extended period of time longer than just the three year spans they’ve been allowing him to have.
And his toy awards, especially if he wins one again in 2023 (and judging from how successful the DC Multiverse line was this year, it won’t be hard to imagine—I myself have bought almost two dozen McFarlane DC Multiverse figures and over 16 or 17 Spawn related or Avatar figures) could position him to take the Marvel license from Hasbro, if he keeps it up.
McFarlane is also bringing back the Sports Picks, which is a huge fucking deal. They were his best selling figures back in the day. Even above Spawn stuff. And he’s not just bringing it back temporarily, as he has done a few times over the years and in smaller scales. Looks like it could be here an while.
Even as someone who collects almost no sports memorabilia, I can recognize how big this is. I have some Dale Earnhardt cars and a statue and the McFarlane Steve McNair and Troy Aikman, which were my favorite quarterbacks. Outside of that, I don’t really care about sports stuff. I’ll probably buy a Dale Earnhardt if McFarlane does one though. And I may even get a Tom Brady and Peyton Manning at retail price finally.
Hasbro’s NBA Starting Lineup flopped so badly that the figures ended up at discount stores like Ross and TJ Max for almost a fifth of the initial asking price of $50 per figure. Those things were grossly overpriced. People complain all the time about Marvel Legends costing so much now and the deluxe figures being $34 to $38…and Hasbro thought $50 for some sports figures was a good idea? Sure, they sold—just not well enough.
Todd most likely wouldn’t sign on for Star Wars, but he would be all for taking over the Marvel figure line from Hasbro, that much we know. That would piss off so many diehard Marvel Legends collectors though, because he definitely won’t do 6” scale. I still think it’s a possibility he could snatch the license from them. Hasbro is already licensing out figures for McFarlane’s Page Punchers line, which includes both 7” and 3” figures.
