Disney in talks to acquire Hasbro

robodog

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It might make certain action figure fanboys happy though. A lot of Marvel fans have been worried that since Disney owns Marvel and Mattel does a lot of licensed stuff from Disney that Disney will take away Hasbro's license to make Marvel figures and give it to Mattel. Mattel has a bad track record when it comes to action figures. The Masters Of The Universe classics line and the DC line is plagued with quality control problems. Everything from limbs falling off to figures shattering into pieces. A few of them are already showing signs of plastic degradation. If Disney owns Hasbro then that's probably a worry the Marvel fans won't have anymore. Of course even Hasbro has their share of QC problems but nowhere near as much as Mattel does.
 

Drtooth

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That's some good points. I pretty much hate Mattel's general handling of certain toy lines. The Shonen Jump stuff (One Piece and Shaman King) was pretty dodgey. And that's even if you could find the Shaman King stuff. And the best One Piece figure was the one that was recalled (The quick draw swords Zoro with magnetic sword handles). Not to mention that Kakashi figure that snapped in two right out of the package (good thing I only spent 3 bucks on it). Of course, I love my large Zatch Bell/Kiyo figure... I got that one pretty cheap.

There stuff is expensive and breakable, and their general retail lines are pretty lousy (and sexist... they HATE girl cartoon characters on men's teams). Hasbro has been on the ball since their disastrous 2003 year. Expanding the Star Wars line to include classic characters was a help... not to mention acquiring licenses for Marvel comics and having movie after movie and cartoon show after cartoon show. I'm no fan of their prices by any means, but they're the only mainstream toy maker that gets it. I wish Bandai knew what the heck it was doing in the US. Their Japanese stuff is killer (especially blind packaged candy figures).

But overall, I'm not quite at ease with an entertainment company buying a consumer goods corporation. Disney has made some great stuff on its own. I love their figurine sets. The paint jobs are so so, but the sculpts are out of this world in most cases. The Chicken Little set alone was a masterpiece, and their recent Muppet set was excellent. They don't really need Hasbro. They can still have a symbiotic relationship through licenses. I'm sure this doesn't bother the Star Wars and Marvel plans. I'm more worried about Hasbro's TV output and the licenses that come with it.
 

SuperGzilla12

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I don't care how big of a company you are... After spending $4 Billion to get Star Wars, you'd think they'd slow down a little... :rolleyes:

I mean, seriously... Well, as long as they don't get Barney, I'm OK. (Mattel bought out HiT Entertainment recently, and they're already thinking of selling the rights to Barney and Angelina Ballerina, since the main goal of the sale was to get Thomas & Friends)
 
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