Marvel terminates deal with Toybiz.....

The guys over at Fwoosh have magnaged to clear up some of what is going on and it looks like it might be good for us rather than bad. read on:-

Only manufacturing and distribution is affected. Right now Marvel owns the characters, but Toybiz owns the license to make Marvel characters into toys. TB also designs the toys and owns the molds. TBWW, has been in charge of manufacturing and distributing toys, and is owned by a guy named Jeff Hsieh who is very, very rich, because he is a small time manufacturer, given a good deal to make the Marvel toys.

How it works: Jeff's license ends in 2006. TB knows that they can get more for the license from a larger manufacturer such as playmates or hasbro. Apparently Hasbro won the bid and will own the license to produce the toys for X number of years. Toy Biz inc still owns the molds and still designs the toys, Jesse's job is safe (for now). Instead of sending it to Jeff's contracted factories, Hasbro will produce it in their contracted factories. Hasbro has to purchase several licenses, Marvel Legends, SPiderman Classics, SPiderman Movie, Fantastic Four, FF Classics, X-Men etc. It is unknown which ones they are getting.

How this affects the you: Intead of a Toybiz worldwide marking on your toys. Marvel, the parent company, will still be stamped on the package. Instead of having to deal with TBWW, a small-time manufacturer, Hasbro has better manufacturing techniques (believe it or not) and MUCH better distribution means. From what I know, TBWW was rubbish at distribution, making the timed schedules etc. Toy Biz had to work by itself to push distribution. Hasbro will take some of that out of their hands. Possibility is that more toys will be made, and there will be more shelf space and they will be distributed better by schedule around the country, instead of 10, then 12, then 11 etc.

Hasbro will not reuse peices and parts like in Transformers. Because ToyBiz designs and owns the molds, they decide if they want to reuse the parts, they decide the waves, what goes in them, etc. TB remains the brains, Hasbro the manufacturing.

Marvel legends will remain as long as there is interest, so don't worry. Marvel has an interest of making toys not for money, but for brand recognition. Same goes for comics, comics are for developing characters and finding out if they are marketable for other areas outside of comics. If you look at some of the "weird" picks for marvel legends, you will notice that many are there to create recognition, before a film is to come out (Man-thing, Deathlok and Dr. Strange (films are planning to be made), Angel, X-23 (they are promoting her big because she has potential to be popular), Iron Fist (movie was planned but on hiatus). The fact that comics and toys are self-sufficient makes them advertising that pays for itself.
More brand recognition means more licensing, that's where the real money comes from.

Marvel will get paid a large amount by Hasbro for them to manufacture. They will use the money to make themselves a better company, as toys and comic books are no longer their most profitable areas. Among many things they are putting their money in, they are putting more funding into their movies, so they are more Marvel controlled, as opposed to Fox or Universal (ex. no more Ang Lee directing Hulk).

This will only be a bad thing if 1) hasbro mucks up the manufacturing, and they shouldn't because they are more experienced than TBWW and they are paying much more for the license so they have an interest in doing well for their tenure. and 2) If Hasbro tries to demand more control in the process or tries to screw of the consumer in their distribution, both of which are also unlikely.

Thank you RCD for clearing that up. I kind of got that basic jist from the press release, but it was so mixed up in all that legalese gobbledygook that it was hard to make out for sure.

So Marvel/Toy Biz chooses the lines, sculpts the prototypes, designs the packaging, etc. Toy Biz World Wide produces the product and distributes it. Now, Hasbro will be producing the line and distributing it. No big deal.

Oops, I guess it might not be that cut and dry. Check out action-figure.com's assessment of the situation:
action-figure.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=18783

Specifically:

"I think we can say a lot about what the next couple of years hold if we can answer the question of what happens to ToyBiz. There's a number of theories currently (because we're waiting for the press representatives to get back to us).
1) Toy Biz continues to design and develop the lines, much as before, with Hasbro replacing Toy Biz Worldwide as manufacturer and distributor
2) Toy Biz get absorbed into Hasbro and are no more. This could mean Toy Biz employees get jobs in Hasbro, or (though Marvel has not announced any which is a good sign) there are redundancies
3) Toy Biz continues as a Toy Company without the Marvel License

At the moment, the debate on the internet is that it will be option 1. However, it's my impression (and that's all it is until I get official word) that option 2 is more likely."