Convention - NYCC 2023 : Let’s talk with the Hasbro team about The Marvel Legends HasLab Giant-Man

By Mulder, New York, Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, 14 october 2023

The spotlight at New York Comic Con 2023 turned to the larger-than-life Avenger, Giant-Man, as Dwight Stall, Ryan Ting, and Dan Yun from Hasbro's Marvel Legends team took the stage to discuss the Marvel Legends HasLab Giant-Man project. With only four days remaining in the crowdfunding campaign, the team shared insights into the development process and what fans can expect from this colossal figure.

The Marvel Legends HasLab Giant-Man, priced at $199.99, is a celebration of Marvel Comics' 60th anniversary of the Avengers. This project is a joint effort between Pym Labs, the creators of Pym Particles and the android Ultron, and HasLab, the crowdfunding platform behind previous successful projects like Sentinel and Galactus. Standing at an impressive 24 inches tall in the 6-inch Hasbro Marvel Legends Series scale, Hank Pym as Giant-Man has already captured the attention of avid collectors and fans. The project, which began on September 8, 2023, will conclude at 11:59pm ET on October 23, 2023, and it requires a minimum of 10,000 backer orders to proceed to production. If the crowdfunding goal is met, the Giant-Man figures are expected to start shipping around Fall 2024.

What sets this Giant-Man figure apart is its remarkable design, closely inspired by the character's appearance in Marvel comic books. With an astonishing 91 points of articulation, including 29 in each hand, the figure offers unparalleled poseability for display. Additionally, the figure comes with three faceplates featuring unique expressions and three interchangeable sets of eyes, allowing for a total of nine different configurations. For fans who enjoy customization, the figure includes both black helmet antennas and alternate white antennas to capture the comics-inspired display possibilities.

During the NYCC, the team's response emphasized their commitment to delivering an extraordinary, larger-scale collectible for fans and collectors who have long awaited the arrival of Giant-Man in the Marvel Legends Series.

As the campaign enters its final days, Marvel fans and collectors are eagerly watching to see if the Giant-Man project will successfully reach its 10,000 backer orders and become a reality. If it does, the Fall of 2024 promises to be an exciting time for those who backed this project, as they anticipate receiving their 24-inch-tall Giant-Man figures, a stunning addition to any Marvel Legends collection.

For Marvel enthusiasts and fans of high-quality collectibles, the Marvel Legends HasLab Giant-Man promises to be a true marvel of craftsmanship and design, further cementing its place in the pantheon of iconic Marvel collectibles. Don't miss the chance to back this project and bring Giant-Man to life!

Q: Can you tell us about the most exciting highlights from Hasbro Pulse Con this year ?

Ryan Ting : The most exciting release, yes. I'm going with Giant-Man here. This is our campaign at New York Comic Con promoting that, but we're always coming out with cool stuff for new Marvel Legends. We've got Spider-Man: No Way Home, and we've got the Marvel wave coming up in November. 

Dan Yun : So, we've got some comic waves such as the Void, that's Alpha now too, that's super exciting.

Q: What can fans expect from the newly announced Spider-Man: No Way Home wave of action figures ?

Dwight Stall : Well, the new No Way Home wave has some awesome updates that we haven't had in the past. We took our three awesome new Spider-Man, and they all have, for the first time, unmasked likenesses for Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland in his all-new suit from the end of the film, as well as some other great Supporting Cast members like MJ and Sandman. Did I miss anyone else? And Matt Murdoch, our favorite lawyer sorry, Matt.

Q: Are there any specific characters or designs in the Spider-Man: No Way Home wave that you're particularly excited about ?

Dwight Stall : I think my favorite one is the new Green Goblin. I think the deluxe Green Goblin with glider and the ultimate Willem Dafoe and Goblin head is my favorite. 

Dan Yun : I like the deluxe Doc Ock item because I really like bendy wire stuff, so the wire tentacles of that figure is my favorite, probably. 

Ryan Ting : I'll cheat and say the two-pack of MJ and then that final suit red and blue Spider-Man that we saw from the very end of the film, and hopefully we'll see more of it. That's cheating, definitely cheating, got to cheat to win.

Q: How do you approach designing figures based on characters from a highly-anticipated film like Spider-Man: No Way Home ?

Dwight Stall : We work really closely with Marvel Studios, and they work with Sony on that film in particular to get us the assets of the characters. And once we had the actual film assets, we were able to look at who was going to be in the film, what they were going to look like, and that allowed us to start the process on how we would translate those designs into fully articulated action figures. 

Dan Yun : Sometimes we don't even know who's in the film, so we find out after we see the movie, and we text each other, like, "Oh, we got to do this fig." 

Ryan Ting : Then it takes 16 to 18 months for the toy to come out, so it's a long process.

Q: Could you share any unique challenges or creative processes involved in bringing these characters to life in action figure form ?

Dwight Stall : Every action figure has its own unique hurdles that we have to overcome. A character like Green Goblin had all of that armament, how do you get him to move as well as he can when he's fully armored as well as to interact with his glider. You know, things like Giant-Man, we had to figure out how we could get the harness function to stay in place but be able to move and pose however you'd want it. So that every action figure, whether it's movie-based or comic-based, always has unique challenges on how to incorporate their amazing designs into a real 3D product. 

Dan Yun : Sometimes we get early concept art of new characters that we've never seen before, and then sometimes that concept art will change, and so we have to work very hard to try to update as best as we can to hit the time schedules that we can too,.

Q: The HasLab projects are always a big hit. Can you tell us more about the gigantic Giant-Man HasLab project that's currently funding ?

Ryan Ting : Our biggest project currently funding is the Giant-Man project. We launched it a couple of weeks ago, and it's running until October 23rd on Hasbro Pulse.com. We need 10,000 backers at the base offering to unlock it, and we've got a couple of additional tiers as well. We've got a zombie faceplate at 12,000 backers, we've got an ultimate head at 14,000 backers, and really, you know, I think fans at the show have been able to see for the first time a tremendous amount of detail in both the sculpt and also the paint, some of the facial expressions here. And we hope fans want to add this to their classic Avengers collection. 

Q : Why Giant-Man is such an exciting addition to the HasLab lineup ?

Dwight Stall : We've made a couple of awesome villains over the past few years with a giant Sentinel and a giant Galactus. You need something to punch them. You need a good guy to stand up to these giant threats, and obviously, Giant-Man was the perfect candidate within the anniversary year of the 60th anniversary of The Avengers. It made a lot of sense to do a giant hero to fight those Mega threats that you might have on your show. 

Q : Are there any stretch goals or additional features planned for the Giant-Man project ?

Ryan Ting : Not in the campaign itself, but he is within that greater Avengers universe, and we know there's still characters to do there, and I think we'll look to add those at some point in time.

Q: Can you give us insight into the design and development process for creating such a massive action figure ?

Dwight Stall : He is a massive action figure, and there we have to take a lot more things into consideration on this size. The weight of the figure and the joints to support him. The arms and legs will all be fully ratcheted, like Galactus, so that you can have this figure actually click and hold your poses because the weight of a figure of this size versus the normal ones is very different, and it takes a lot more engineering concerns on the inside to make sure that it's a quality product that'll last for your collection for many years to come.

Q :  What project like this one is coming in the HasLab projects ? 

Ryan Ting : Yes, we kind of take it one at a time, so we actually don't really know what the next HasLab is going to be. Everyone asks us, and the truth is we don't know because we're constantly listening to what the fans want, and we have to see how Giant-Man ends up. Hopefully, Giant-Man is a success, but we're currently brainstorming some ideas. So, if there's anything you guys want to see, let us know.

Q: How does fan feedback influence the decisions made regarding HasLab projects like Giant-Man ?

Dwight Stall : We really take learnings from every campaign that our Marvel team has, as well as the campaigns of our partner brands at Hasbro, to see what worked well or not so well for them, as well as us. We try to take the learnings from not just the campaigns themselves but what the fans are saying online into account to make sure that we're trying to develop the right item for the right audience. That's why this year we really wanted to go with a more streamlined approach to get that price down as reasonable as possible, which is why this thing is $200, which we're very happy about, to be able to deliver that for 200 US. You know, to get a chance to make something that was more affordable, as opposed to something we've done 

Q: In terms of marketing, how do you build anticipation and excitement for Hasbro Pulse Con and the brand's latest offerings ?

Ryan Ting : Well, I said HasCon is like our biggest Hasbro event every year, and we just try to keep fans excited, knowing that they're going to see comic stuff, they're going to see movie things for Marvel. Sometimes we can sprinkle in video games and other types of executions. So that's what's great about Marvel is that everyone loves something different about Marvel, right? We try to strike that balance, and I think you saw during PulseCon we had comic and movie. We had everything for everyone. 

Q: Could you tease any future projects or collaborations that fans can look forward to ?

Ryan Ting : no. I mean, just more comic figures, more movie stuff. Stay tuned to Marvel to see what they have coming.

Q: What role does social media and online engagement play in building and connecting with the fanbase ?

Dan Yun : Marvel Legends is what it is because of the fans who have built it for over 20 years. So, social media is a significant component of our marketing efforts. We're very grateful to those who have been supporting us. We know that Marvel Legends fans are passionate and opinionated, and we try to respect everyone's opinions. We work in a very respectful manner to engage with the community in the best way possible. We really appreciate the community. they make what Marvel Legends is right now. Even with just this HasLab project, it's the community that brings it all together, so we think that's very important.

Q: Are there any plans to expand the brand into new product categories or entertainment mediums in the near future ?

Ryan Ting : I don't know; we're pretty comfortable with doing figures. We also have roleplay items, premium roleplay items for Marvel Legends. So, we love doing those types of things like Iron Man's helmet, Captain America's shield, and we'll look to maybe tease out some more roleplay items. Premium roleplay is coming. 

Dan Yun : We also have a lot of team members who work on the kids' side. So today, we have a lot of Nerf blasters that we're working on, and there are a lot of kid items and preschool items on the way.

Q: Finally, what's your vision for the future of the Hasbro brand, and what can fans anticipate in the coming years ?

Dwight Stall : Well, I know for one we've got some really exciting projects coming next year that a lot of fans have been asking about for many years, and we're going to be delivering them shortly. So I think there's going to be some big reveals in the next 6 months or so that should make some people pretty happy.

For more information and to back the Marvel Legends HasLab Giant-Man project, visit Hasbro's HasLab website before the campaign deadline on October 23, 2023.

We would like to thank Dwight Stall, Ryan Ting, and Dan Yun for answering our questions