I had originally intended to wait until I had the new Maximum Series Spider-Man in hand to weigh in on the pricing debate. When Hasbro first announced the new figure, I didn't have the opportunity to watch the stream. Instead, I saw photos on Mr. Stevie's Instagram and immediately questioned why we were paying for a re-used Renew Your Vows body mold. He did reply and said that this figure features new engineering. So, I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt and wait and see.
Then, Hasbro announced the price.
For transparency, yes, I have ordered one. I fully intend to review it and will try to be as objective as possible. That's my job, that's why I have this website and blog. However, I'm going to also admit that this figure and accessories will have a lot of work to do to justify that price. It's not looking favorable either.
From the get-go, we can see in pictures that the weblines are painted on, rather than sculpted in, which means... this body mold will be re-used moving forward. In fact, looking over my collection, it seems the only time we've seen sculpted weblines are on the movie figures. It appears that comic based are all painted on. Ok, that's great, IF it does actually feature new engineering with greater range of articulation. I'm not fully convinced it does. Sure, there looks to be new neck engineering, and if so, we should EXPECT to see greater range of motion. I've got my RYV Spidey right next to me... and the torso doesn't look any different. Mid torso cut, inverted abdominal crunch hinge and no waist swivel. Butterfly joints look the same, as do the bicep swivels and elbow joints. The only arm difference is the detachable forearms for the webshooter wrist attachments. All this tells me is that some figure down the line is also going to have swappable forearms. We're told this is a new sculpt... and maybe so, but specifically... what is new?
Well, you might say, of course he's packed with a whole lot of accessories... that's why the price is so high. My question is... does all the plastic add up to the same amount in the Phoenix or Ghost Rider figures? How can Hasbro justify $49.99 for this? By this reasoning, Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch) should have been damn near $75 for the figure, hands, chain, functional motorcycle and flame effects. Phoenix should have been $60 for the plastic base and flaming bird piece, and yet... both of those are $49.99. So, what Hasbro is telling us is that adding several more accessories... oh wait... let's actually see how much more we get...
I'm going to use the 60th Anniversary Amazing Fantasy Spider-Man in my comparison, due to the accessories it came with 4 pairs of hands, 4 web wings (1 pair collapsed, 1 pair expanded), and 1 webline. This figure retailed for $28.99 on BBTS. The $49.99 Maximum series Spidey come with: 2 extra head sculpts, 5 Pairs of interchangeable hands, 4 Web effect pieces, 1 Web blast piece, and 1 Spidey-sense piece.
Let's see what cancels out:
Amazing Fantasy Figure Maximum Series
4 Pairs of Hands 5 Pairs of Hands
4 Web Wing Pieces 4 Web Effect Accessories
1 Web Line 1 Web Blast Piece
1 Spidey-Sense Piece
2 Added Head Sculpts
Basically, this means the consumer is paying $21 for 2 extra heads, 1 pair of hands, and the spidey-sense piece. $21 is roughly 84% of the cost of a brand-new Marvel Legend, at the retail of $24.99.
Is there so much plastic in two head sculpts, one pair of hands and the spidey-sense piece that it makes up 84% of a total action figure?!?
Moving on... let's also discuss the forced consumerism, characterized by FOMO (fear of missing out.)
Hasbro Pulse, where "the fans come first" was the first to sell out of this product within a couple of hours of posting. Funny when you consider that the actual MANUFACTURER WAS THE FIRST TO SELL OUT from their website. Meanwhile, other online stores like BBTS held on to their stock significantly longer. I noticed yesterday that BBTS had finally marked their stock as "sold out." That tells me they had MORE pre-order inventory than HASBRO, for almost 24 hours?!? Does that make sense? Hasbro serves to exacerbate the fear in the collector by pushing a falsified sense of urgency on the consumer. They could have merely announced that the current number of pre-orders had been met, but that the figure will become available for purchase again at a later date. Sadly, this marketing tactic proves effective because the scalpers will buy up their maximum amount (Hasbro pulse limited to 5 pieces per buyer) and will try to inflate their profits on the secondary market. The average collector, or Spider-Man specific fan will probably pay the higher price because of their fear of not having one. In the meantime, Hasbro is sitting back with a smile, knowing that at some point down the road, this figure will likely hit shelves in a standard package or even retro card back for $25.99 with just a couple extra hand accessories. I'm certain we will also see this body mold on future Maximum Series figures of popular, strong selling characters, also packed with "special accessories" for the same retail price of $49.99.
I get that this may be Hasbro's attempt to be more competitive with the overseas products but, and I've said this before, this pricing inconsistency only fosters distrust from collectors.
Speaking of distrust... concealing the retail price for so long after announcing the figure feels pretty shady. The evident "leak" which was later confirmed on Hasbro social media and website (2/12) revealed the price was true and sent waves through the collectorsphere. Was Hasbro's intent to wait as long as possible to try and get people so excited that they'd commit to buying regardless of price? Regardless of any alleged intent behind this decision, it still gives Hasbro yet another black eye, in our opinion.
Ultimately, what does this all boil down to? In our opinion, Hasbro isn't living up to their self-glossed billing of the fans coming first. There is a sad disconnect between the corporate and the consumer. Instead of working to develop and foster strong relationships with their customers, Hasbro keeps putting out substandard products, with the occasional home run thrown in, just to keep us happy. (Like that one beautiful golf swing that I hit, once per round that makes me think I can actually succeed at the game.) We keep buying because for most collectors it's the most affordable alternative, even when the prices continue to slide upward, but the reward for paying more becomes minimized with each offering. When the products start to match the quality of their overseas competition, then we can talk about Hasbro charging outrageous prices. Until then, though, whenever Hasbro takes advantage of their customers, we'll keep calling them out. I really do hope that, in hand, this figure will somehow be worth the money, but as of right now, there is just too much stacked against it and probably, rightly so.