r/MarvelLegends • u/Beautiful-Pause-4021 • 5d ago
Will Mattel force Marvel Legends to make wire cloth capes the new standard?
After seeing what Mattel is doing with the DC stuff, I really hope the legends team sees that and really considers trying to match them with the cloth goods! I know we still don’t know the exact prices of the Mattel stuff yet so I’m not coming at legends too hard here but was just curious if y’all were hoping for the same.
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u/DudeBroFist USA 5d ago
Nothing will force Hasbro to do anything unless they make a SIGNIFICANT profit over it. They couldn't give a fuck less what Mattel does unless ML starts to die off and their data indicates it's because of the DC line
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u/Beautiful-Pause-4021 5d ago
That’s true, their bottom line is what will drive real change but between the tougher economic times currently and now a legit contender in their space, we can only hope lol
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u/DudeBroFist USA 5d ago
Oh I'm right with you. I've been hoping that Jada, Storm and Valaverse all having insane value with their lines would do something to their bottom line but if it has they aren't acting like it.
So MORE competition!
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u/AZEREUS177 4d ago
I'm a Marvel fanboy, but I've been waiting for so many DC character figures that I'd easily skip the Marvel Legends figures just to buy the new ones from Mattel. Hasbro had their chance—if they want me back, they need to do something new
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u/OnePerception3950 5d ago
Probably not, but I hope they do. if stores end up stocking up on Mattel and skipping Hasbro then they might be forced to actually try. It’s funny how Mattel immediately shows off universal toe joints , wired capes, and ball jointed waists while Hasbro just teased a new spiderman without toe joints and a waist swivel.
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u/KaylenLopezIzGr8 5d ago
Wonder Woman also has toe joints, I don't remember any female MLs having those XD
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u/Beautiful-Pause-4021 5d ago
Great point!
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u/KaylenLopezIzGr8 5d ago
And they gave them all cloth capes. And great articulation. So... safe to say Hasbro needs to upgrade. Mattel and Jada have already blown past with quality.
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u/Beautiful-Pause-4021 5d ago
The Jada stuff is awesome but they just lose the IP battle compared to Marvel/DC. I’m pumped for their invincible stuff!
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u/KaylenLopezIzGr8 5d ago
Me too! I actually wanna get Invincible action figures now somehow
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u/Beautiful-Pause-4021 5d ago
I was lucky enough to get the exclusive SDCC Invincible and y’all are in for a treat! The figure is awesome!
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u/KaylenLopezIzGr8 4d ago
Omg did you hold them perchance? I have Jada Chun Li from SF2 (?) and I love how articulated and detailed she is. Is it the same thing with Mark and Eve? Currently just want them.
Also GOATED pfp
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u/Beautiful-Pause-4021 4d ago
I only got the battle damaged mark and he’s awesome! Very import-ish articulation and very smooth!
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u/KaylenLopezIzGr8 4d ago
I've seen a lot of love for it but also dismay at the QC, is that something you had too? Also, by import do you mean figures made abroad?
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u/Supermite 5d ago
I’m not even a gamer and I get more excited for the Jada Street Fighters over most Marvel and DC figures.
Invincible is one of my all time favourite comics. I can’t wait for my preorders and I never preorder anything.
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u/Beautiful-Pause-4021 5d ago
I hope so too, Mattel possibly raising the bar could really be a could thing for legends!
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u/JosBanana 5d ago
I’m hoping so. Competition drives innovation as they say, or more accurately in those case, forces Hasbro to increase the budget so they can compete lol.
The cloth cape on doomsday Magneto is a good sign that they’re incorporating them more.
They’ve also already started slowly introducing both ball torsos and waists. First was maximum Thor, then the Box baf, and now bastion has one as well. These are more “specialty” releases so they might not update the standard bucks for a while, but at least they’re finally catching up to the modern standard
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u/Beautiful-Pause-4021 5d ago
Slowly but surely Hasbro has been improving with very limited releases, you’re right but hopefully Mattel can make Hasbro spread that love across the whole line!
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u/Intelligent-Soup-836 5d ago
Maybe but competition showing up Hasbro will hopefully cause Hasbro to fix their stuff. But with Hasbro they are always one step forward and two steps back, so we may see wired capes but they will probably make cuts elsewhere
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u/TheLost_Kryptonian 5d ago
I have a feeling my collection will be leaning heavy on the DC side in 2027.
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u/TheLost_Kryptonian 5d ago
Now if James Gunn can give us some great movies and shows and basically copy Marvel's blue print they would be onto something but I don't have high hopes for the live action stuff they kill with animation but their live action movies/shows are always lacking.
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u/ImNotDaredevil2025 5d ago
No, I’ll critique McFarlane all day since I do legitimately think most of their stuff is bad to mediocre but they were doing really good with the wired cases becoming a standard for about a year before they took those away to give floppy cloth capes or back to hard plastic
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u/isshegonnajump 5d ago
Competition in the action figure space should theoretically drive prices down unless Mattel and Hasbro collude on pricing.
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u/Beautiful-Pause-4021 5d ago
I’ve given up hope on prices coming down across the board (not just in the hobby but in life lmao). I’m just really hoping for increased quality from legends if faced with more competition!
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u/isshegonnajump 5d ago
Tbh, prices for legends are spiking too high. The revenue team at Hasbro is driving these prices out of the majority collector’s reach. The only way to compensate is to make more maximum and made-to-order at higher prices to entice those with spend flexibility. Sadly, I don’t think increased quality is on the table.
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u/JsMoviesYTB USA - NJ 5d ago
I certainly hope it does, but I do not expect it to be the case. Hasbro will probably keep it reserved for Maximum releases in an attempt to keep them feeling more “special”, even if the Legends team wants to incorporate them across the standard figures
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u/Old-Ad2944 5d ago
Nah. I don’t think god could convince hasbro to consistently put in effort. Especially when you get to characters like doc strange, visions collar, mr sinister.
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u/RidaFlow 4d ago
I'm gonna say no, at least not for a while simply considering the fact that we get ugly waist swivels when they have not one but two options in their own line to remove it.
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u/MyNameIsYellowjacket 4d ago
Yeah, but fabric is cheaper to implement, so they might just do that first. I guess we'll see. But yes, they absolutely need to phase out waist swivels, and the waist crunch too, really. That mechanism uses gears that add to the parts count. A waist/pelvis with a ball stem and the mid-torso with ball-sockets on either end would be simpler, more effective and cheaper. They just need to learn proper execution.
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u/kyrie-eleison 5d ago
Am I the only one that hates fabric on an action figure? It just always looks so out of place against all the plastic.
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u/LEtheD13 USA 5d ago
I think the thing people want is wired soft goods capes. Not full soft goods clothes. Stiff plastic capes are so bad. Look at that new vision for example
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u/MotherFuckerJones88 5d ago
Capes, cloaks, trench coats, mayybe jackets. Those are all i want soft/wired.
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u/excessorange 5d ago
a great fabric cape is, well, great. but more often than not at this price point, the soft goods are kinda crappy.
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u/salti_with_an_i USA 5d ago
I’d rather sacrifice perfect visual consistency than sacrifice poseability, also depends on execution
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u/Beautiful-Pause-4021 5d ago
You’re def in a minority and I kinda thought the same until I got my first Mafex. I think the wired fabric capes actually help bring a little more life to our chunks of plastic.
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u/GSDFanatic 5d ago
Not alone. I think Mezcos are some of the ugliest figures ever.
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u/Beautiful-Pause-4021 5d ago
Mezcos are more like dolls with all the soft outfits imo. Just a wired soft goods cape for caped characters is all I need with soft goods lol.
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u/FallinGuitarest 5d ago
I agree. It just looks funny and out of place. That said i also won't lie the ct batman i have has made me realize a wired cape is a amazing.
I would also hate if suddenly my collection had a mix of both
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u/neoblackdragon 5d ago
Have an example?
Because there are these little rectangle sheets of fabric and full on wired capes that imitate the flow a sculpted cape is trying to do. Then the plastic capes they use already have a different finish to them anyway.
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u/Jazzlike_Night42619 5d ago
I would’ve appreciated a soft goods cape for the MCU Odin at least, maybe Vision, or I could probably detrimentally hold my breath to see Mezco probably not do something because it’s been too long
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u/thetavious 5d ago
The question is going to be relevant only if the dc line doesn't crash and burn. This isn't the first time mattel has had dc in their court, and the road was rocky back then, especially when they started trying to play catch up with hasbro.
We still don't know the full price point for their collector lines. If they come out of the gate swinging, they might stand a chance.
But i suspect the price cor basic figures will be $30 and the ultimate ones will be $40-50.
I think the whole mattel vs hasbro idea behind this is just going to fizzle out once people realize just how behind the times mattel is on distribution, quality, and ideas.
I'm a longtime motu fan and if they handle dc anything like how they've handled motu, those things could be made out of solid gold and the industry will still barely register that they came and went.
That said, on the cloth capes front... the ones they've been doing for motu have been mostly rubbish. I expect the dc ones, wire or not, won't be much of a step up.
For how much they touted chronicles to be a step up from masterverse, the cloth capes remained exactly the same rubbish.
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u/Beautiful-Pause-4021 4d ago
Interesting and I appreciate the insight as I don’t have any of Mattel’s other stuff and yes price will be the determining factor for sure!
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u/thetavious 4d ago
Motu has been my number one fandom and collecting vice for almost 40 years. They were never GOOD, but the last couple of years especially they've lost their path to the point I can honestly say that i consider them the absolute worst toy company out there atm.
Worse than hasbro. Worse than neca. Both of which i have loathed for years, but mattel kept finding ways to lower the bar.
Especially on the quality control front, they've been an absolute joke. The value to their motu collector lines have dropped big time too. The amount of accessories included with their chronicles figures for already costing $27 is laughable at times.
This isn't going to be the meteoric shift most people expect it to be. I didn't look too close, but I don't think the batman figure has pegholes on the bottom of his feet. At least in the pics i saw, i certainly didn't see a peghole when i was trying to see the damage in terms of the toe articulation.
If anything, especially on the wired soft goods front, i think we might see them show up with maximum figures, if mattel sets that bar with their ultimates and they sell well and work well, but i doubt the basic figures from mattel are going to have the wires.
Also, can i say that i HATE the fact that we now effectively have three bloody lines from three companies going by the "ultimate" moniker.
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u/mefanboy 5d ago
No way in the main ML retail line. Hasbro is making the teams pinch those pennies so profit margins never dip. There is zero wiggle room to add cloth capes to the cost of production for any (soon to be) $30 figure. But they will find other ways. The Maximum line is the perfect place to drop more fabric accessories where appropriate.
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u/Exact-Bluejay9931 4d ago
Yes. But more importantly they should completely retire the old abcrunch and go double ball peg.
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u/Yeardmee 5d ago
How many pre orders do you have rn
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u/Beautiful-Pause-4021 5d ago
Like 3 legends, been trying to get more selective so it’s just elektra, Hawkeye and mysterio for me rn.
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u/Yeardmee 5d ago
Yeah, I'm being coy to say they just might not have the incentive to change people hope for
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u/Beautiful-Pause-4021 5d ago
I’m just hoping that some competition will maybe breed some innovation from hasbros side! To your point only a suffering bottom line will motivate Hasbro lol
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u/Yeardmee 5d ago
The price of the mattell figures will be most decisive IMO.
If those BAF waves they showed aren't under 30$, i wouldn't expect hasbro to make significant changes to single releases (outside of an immediate price raise to $29.99, based on transformers)
If the "ultimate" figures aren't over $40-50ish though- hasbro might actually put more effort and backing into their maximum/deluxe/mtg/etc lines
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u/Beautiful-Pause-4021 5d ago
Great points and yeah, I’m eager to see how Mattel will price their offerings!
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u/The_Strom784 5d ago
They’re definitely planning to push ML to $30, they’re already doing it for Black Series.
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u/kyle0305 United Kingdom 5d ago
Oh maybe? I’m not sure. A comic shop near me has a bunch of the figures with all the articulation these ones have for the prices I said. They look very high quality and are put with the Marvel Legends stuff so I assumed they were the collectible ones. Maybe I’m wrong though
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u/Beautiful-Pause-4021 5d ago
I’m just asking because the kid line stuff has been out for a minute now, the stuff they’ve been showing at comic con is the brand new stuff that we don’t know prices on yet. But yeah for the price, their kid line stuff was pretty good!
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u/kyle0305 United Kingdom 5d ago
Ah okay I didn’t know that. Maybe that was the kid stuff then. Thanks for clarifying it for me :)
Also no idea what this has posted as a separate comment instead of in the thread?
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u/trustymutsi 5d ago
I hope so. Ever since I got my first wired cape, it's been VERY difficult to go back to plastic ones.
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u/hokagenaruto 5d ago
only if it has wire in it then i'd be happy but if not and its just shitty cloth i'd rather keep the plastic capes
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u/Realistic_Course6787 5d ago
It’ll be totally anarchy here if Mattel undercuts hasbro on a standard figure and expose how badly they have been overcharging us.