Happy Birthday Marvel Legends! We're celebrating 20 years since ToyBiz first started making the line of action figures for adult collectors!
In part one, I recap the history of how we got here. Humble beginnings of Canadian business Chantex, to when they became Charan Toy Subsidiary, and eventually bought out by an American company to become ToyBiz. We will look at how they first produced DC super heroes before making a deal with Marvel. Explore the 90's as they teamed up Avi Arad to sell toys alongside cartoons like X-Men the Animated Series, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Hulk, and Silver Surfer. I'll explain how Ike Perlmutter sat on the Marvel throne after Ron Perelman led the company to chapter 11 bankruptcy. Before Marvel would sell to Disney for $4 billion, they would sell movie rights of many properties to other companies like Fox and Sony. But, in 2001 ToyBiz brand manager Jesse Falcon would have the brilliant idea to make highly articulated action figures with lots of sculpted and painted detail. They would add comic book reprints and diorama stands to help sell the idea that these were collectibles with Spider-Man Classics. With it's success, they would launch Marvel Legends in 2002.
In Part 2, we discuss Series 1 including Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, and Toad. We will learn about Build-A-Figures, Chase Figures, the demise of ToyBiz, the abysmal early days of Hasbro AND… their heroic “RETURN OF MARVEL LEGENDS” with SDCC Thor. Hasbro tried the Marvel Universe figures to regain sales, but it failed. They rebukt the line with the inclusion of MCU figures, the INFINITE SERIES, and their modern LEGENDS SERIES. We will discuss the current situation with Deluxe Figure releases, HasLab Projects, and the future of the line. Currently, we are seeing the golden age of action figures with the current 20th anniversary line, bringing us full circle.
Theme Song
Artist: Paulo Kalazzi
Song: Hero's Time
Link:uppbeat.io/t/p...
License Code: TJNG4AJU5O9O8VWG