Marvel Toys Legendary Comic Book Heroes

[Vyn]

While the line is canceled as of series 2, the figures that I've bought at retail have been really cool. I purchased both versions of SuperPatriot, the "wife-beater" version of Savage Dragon, and Madman from series 1. The sections of PITT that came with those guys really had me interested in collecting all the figures simply to put together the entire big guy. Series 2 held less individual figures that I was interested in, with Marv and Star being the big ones for me, but looking at the Monkeyman BAF and O'Brien (who's not nearly as fugly as a lot of people are saying) has me interested in the entire series. I've also planned on checking out the Monkeyman and O'Brien tales anyway.

Well, I found little of series 2 at retail, so I was searching for them online, and found a site that had a case (8 figures, guaranteeing one of each variant and regular edition) of series 1 for $79.99 and a case of series 2 for $60.00! Their shipping was very reasonable as well, so I ordered both. I can't wait to build these guys - compared to some of the BAF's we've had from Hasbro so far, these are the way you do it.

If you check out http://www.cornerstorecomics.com and navigate on the left to "legendary heroes" you can get them also. I can't link directly to the page in question, because they unfortunately use a frames system and that would mess up their site.

[Rocketboy]

I was beginning to wonder if Marv was ever released. Its the only one I haven't seen.

[El Chuxter]

I didn't figure this line would last, sadly. Obscure heroes in a mass-market toyline, and a crazy assortment of them, too. Everyone will know Judge Dredd, Marv, and Conan; many will remember Savage Dragon and the Youngblood dorks; but the rest are well under the radar. Several I'd never even heard of.

If it were direct-only, they would've cost more, but sold more respectable numbers (since the sales expectations would've been lower), I'll bet. But when Wal-Mart can't get rid of SuperPatriots and Judge Deaths, they won't be ordering more.

I wonder if they were more "concentrated" if the line would've done better. Meaning, if the waves were centered on particular titles or families of titles rather than being totally across the board. Dragon and Patriot would've sold better with three buddies, and parts for a sixth, wouldn't you think?

[Vyn]

Everyone will know Judge Dredd, Marv, and Conan; many will remember Savage Dragon and the Youngblood dorks; but the rest are well under the radar. Several I'd never even heard of.

What Youngblood dorks? There were none in either series. The line consisted of

SERIES 1
Savage Dragon (with variant)
Superpatriot (from Savage Dragon, with variant)
Judge Dredd
Witchblade
Madman
Ripclaw (from Cyberforce)
BAF: PITT

SERIES 2
Star (from Savage Dragon)
Judge Death (from Judge Dredd, with variant)
The Darkness
Ann O'Brien (from Monkeyman and O'Brien)
Stryker (from Cyberforce)
Marv (from Sin City)
BAF: Monkeyman

There is also a variant of Madman that seems to be shipping with ser. 2, one that has extra yellow areas on the arms/torso. This may be a WalMart-only pack-in, similar to the Judge Death that was shipping with ser. 1.

I wonder if they were more "concentrated" if the line would've done better. Meaning, if the waves were centered on particular titles or families of titles rather than being totally across the board. Dragon and Patriot would've sold better with three buddies, and parts for a sixth, wouldn't you think?

I agree whole-heartedly. I found the assortments rather odd. A concentrated series that took one "universe" at a time would probably have gone over a lot better. If series 1 had consisted of Dragon, Superpatriot, Star, and maybe Ricochet and maybe a few badguys like Overlord, Mako plus a BAF of Barbaric (to go along with Ricochet) I would've been all over that like a sauce. I put together two "dream series" involving the "Invincible" universe over at the Image Comics forum:

i was thinking that another, more abstract, BAF for an invincible series would be a different variant of angstrom levy (from the different dimensions) with each figure. i think that would be pretty funny. or they could do one the way they did PITT and make a monster girl BAF for the monstrous form (like PITT), and one less articulated version of her human form (like timmy)?

series 1:
invincible (natch... maybe with battle-damaged variant?)
atom eve
allen the alien
robot
mauler twin (with "clone" variant)
rex splode
and BAF big honkin' robot

series 2:
omni-man
battle beast
dupli-kate (maybe with a sheet of stickers with different numbers to place in the circle on her chest?)
reanimen (triple-variant?)
damien darkblood: demon detective (hrm!)
angstrom levy (giant brain version)
BAF monster girl or multiple regular versions of angstrom levy

Not that most of you understand what I'm talking about, but you SHOULD! Go read Invincible. Now. I'll wait around until you're done...

[El Chuxter]

Okay, a few Youngblood figures were planned. I guess they never made it. Probably better for everyone.

It must suck for someone who only reads Monkeyman and O'Brien, or just PITT.

[Vyn]

Okay, a few Youngblood figures were planned.

Not that I know of... from what I can tell, series 3 and 4 were going to be:

Series 3: Mean Machine, Vanguard, Aphrodite IX, Conan, Nexus, & Grendel Prime with a BAF Ice Giant
Series 4: Ghost, Hunter Rose Grendel, Rogue Trooper, King Kull, Ian Notingham, Barbaric with a BAF ????

I guess they never made it. Probably better for everyone.

Ain't that the truth, though.

It must suck for someone who only reads Monkeyman and O'Brien, or just PITT.

Probably, although I bought both cases and I don't particularly care about most of the characters. I just think they're all rather cool looking and the BAF's are a big selling point for me, for some reason. I bet there's a lot more cross-over on the characters than you'd think. I'd be surprised if most Monkeyman and O'Brien readers didn't also read Madman. Madman crosses over into the costumed superhero realm, and that fits in with Savage Dragon. SD and the like are from the same time-period as Cyberforce, who in turn were just precursors to Witchblade and The Darkness, who go hand-in-hand. In that little "six degrees of articulation" Marv and the Judges are the only ones that don't necessarily fit, but Marv's got recognition from the movie and the Judges are rather cool designs, who also had a movie, though it wasn't all that well-received.

I forgot about the two-packs... the "Body Bags" one (which I will also probably purchase) doesn't really fit in as well, but it might get a little fringe-fanbase spill-over from Sin City. That said, Conan is really the only one that stands out as not at all fitting in, though with a Conan inspired BAF in series 3, they were trying to tie it in more. The jury's still out on whether we'll see series 3 or not, but we most likely won't get series 4. That's a shame, though if the line-up above is accurate, I'd probably only be interested in one or two of them at the most. Of course, that's what I said about series 2, but I ended up getting all of them, so what the hell do I know? All told, though, the only one that gets me interested is Barbaric, though he would make a better BAF than individual figure. Ghost and Grendel might've gotten my dollars as well, dependent on how well they made them...

[Rocketboy]

Okay, a few Youngblood figures were planned. I guess they never made it. Probably better for everyone..

They probably wouldn't have had feet anyway.

[Vyn]

Yes, but they would come with a BAF of a big mound of rubble for their non-existent feet to hide behind.

[El Chuxter]

I could've sworn I read that Badrock and one or two others were planned. Maybe they reached a deal, but hadn't actually scheduled the "characters" yet....

Odd, I can't find anything online about it now.

[Vyn]

In my research I found a claim that Diehard was going to be in series 1, but obviously that didn't happen and/or was never true in the first place.

It could be that McFarlane still has the merchandising rights to Liefeld's characters, though with the fallout between all the Image creators and Liefeld in general, and between he and McFarlane specifically, I'd doubt it.

[Rocketboy]

Maybe Mcfarlane still has the rights but won't let 'em go just to be an a-hole.