Oh lawd, Caldwin, you're gonna get a rant out of me! 
First, the clearance price is more reflective of the limited amount of time retailers are giving this stuff to sell. X-Men was only planned to sell this past year (presumably, Hasbro was told X-Men 97 would run in the fall before Disney pushed it back). I saw Avengers MechStrike Mechasaur figures clearanced out only to see the same figure made available in a different packaging (or a slightly different accessory). Further, $10 is pretty much the entry point for action figures, these days. While Playmates and Spin Master are, generally, cheaper, it typically isn't by much ($8-9 vs $10-11).
THAT SAID....
The shift in companies, production methods and overall market trends aside....I still maintain (as I've said in other threads) that companies, particularly Hasbro, are REALLY shortchanging the quality of their "kids action figures". It's hard to tell which end the issue is originating (or which combination of both), but Disney has frequently left Hasbro out of the loop, leaving Hasbro having to guesstimate what they should be making. Or Disney might be dictating the active "marketing period" for lines and might be dissuading Hasbro from old school evergreen type lines. Hasbro, for its part, is seemingly running its kids section on a VERY tight budget with some very...uneven...priorities.
Hell, depending on how you interpret Steve Evans' teaser images from last year, Hasbro might consider the "Epic Hero" segment to be its own thing with a limited about of resources. Meaning you have Avengers, X-Men, Spider-Man and whatever other movie or show(s) all competing for a limited amount of resources.
To me, I think the decision to go with 4" was a play to a collector base that isn't there or isn't interested in this sort of product. The old 4" guard aren't going to be looking for these sort of main characters with the (relatively) lesser articulation and paint apps. Further, the nature of the market really doesn't support the kind of widespread vehicle and play set support the scale was largely designed for. My assumption is that Hasbro opted for the scale to better differentiate the value between "the kids toys" and the larger 6" Legends figures, but I didn't have a big issue with the 5" aside from the soft sculpts and lack of paint. I think the smaller scale also helps hide a LOT of those latter issues as well, so those might have been a reason for the scale change.
Disregarding THOSE considerations...Hasbro's output has been almost excessively conservative. The first wave of Epic Hero basic figures (Hasbro branding term for the kid 4" lines) for Spider-Man was only four figures, X-Men was 3, and Avengers Mechasaurs was TWO (upped to four in the 2024 rebrand). Core character focus aside...how are kids to become invested when the ENTIRE YEAR of X-Men figures was SIX?! And of those, one was a plus sized figure and one was limited to a retailer exclusive multipack.
You compare that to Spin Master's offerings, which typically have 6-8 figures per "wave", plus battle sets.
To me, ESPECIALLY these days when kids are buying toys over a shorter period of time, you need to ensure what you have offers enough to become at least somewhat invested in the property. If you can get that initial purchase, CAPITALIZE by ensuring kids/parents have at least a FEW figures to build a meaningful set of scenarios. I'm not asking for two dozen figures across a single property...but at LEAST offer more than a half dozen (50% or more being just one or two main characters).
First, the clearance price is more reflective of the limited amount of time retailers are giving this stuff to sell. X-Men was only planned to sell this past year (presumably, Hasbro was told X-Men 97 would run in the fall before Disney pushed it back). I saw Avengers MechStrike Mechasaur figures clearanced out only to see the same figure made available in a different packaging (or a slightly different accessory). Further, $10 is pretty much the entry point for action figures, these days. While Playmates and Spin Master are, generally, cheaper, it typically isn't by much ($8-9 vs $10-11).
THAT SAID....
The shift in companies, production methods and overall market trends aside....I still maintain (as I've said in other threads) that companies, particularly Hasbro, are REALLY shortchanging the quality of their "kids action figures". It's hard to tell which end the issue is originating (or which combination of both), but Disney has frequently left Hasbro out of the loop, leaving Hasbro having to guesstimate what they should be making. Or Disney might be dictating the active "marketing period" for lines and might be dissuading Hasbro from old school evergreen type lines. Hasbro, for its part, is seemingly running its kids section on a VERY tight budget with some very...uneven...priorities.
Hell, depending on how you interpret Steve Evans' teaser images from last year, Hasbro might consider the "Epic Hero" segment to be its own thing with a limited about of resources. Meaning you have Avengers, X-Men, Spider-Man and whatever other movie or show(s) all competing for a limited amount of resources.
To me, I think the decision to go with 4" was a play to a collector base that isn't there or isn't interested in this sort of product. The old 4" guard aren't going to be looking for these sort of main characters with the (relatively) lesser articulation and paint apps. Further, the nature of the market really doesn't support the kind of widespread vehicle and play set support the scale was largely designed for. My assumption is that Hasbro opted for the scale to better differentiate the value between "the kids toys" and the larger 6" Legends figures, but I didn't have a big issue with the 5" aside from the soft sculpts and lack of paint. I think the smaller scale also helps hide a LOT of those latter issues as well, so those might have been a reason for the scale change.
Disregarding THOSE considerations...Hasbro's output has been almost excessively conservative. The first wave of Epic Hero basic figures (Hasbro branding term for the kid 4" lines) for Spider-Man was only four figures, X-Men was 3, and Avengers Mechasaurs was TWO (upped to four in the 2024 rebrand). Core character focus aside...how are kids to become invested when the ENTIRE YEAR of X-Men figures was SIX?! And of those, one was a plus sized figure and one was limited to a retailer exclusive multipack.
You compare that to Spin Master's offerings, which typically have 6-8 figures per "wave", plus battle sets.
To me, ESPECIALLY these days when kids are buying toys over a shorter period of time, you need to ensure what you have offers enough to become at least somewhat invested in the property. If you can get that initial purchase, CAPITALIZE by ensuring kids/parents have at least a FEW figures to build a meaningful set of scenarios. I'm not asking for two dozen figures across a single property...but at LEAST offer more than a half dozen (50% or more being just one or two main characters).
