Once Burned

For years, Marvel's Superhero Squad line was one of my favorites. I've still got a few dozen of these displayed prominently in my collection. Phoenix here is probably the best of the line. Really incredible work.

So. What happened? The line's still around; if anything, it seems to have expanded. But I have a hard time caring. And it's not the toys that bug me (well, not primarily). It's the show.

A little background: the line started as an attempt to cajole young children in taking an interest in Marvel characters. I'm not sure how well it worked on the intended audience, but a lot of collectors fell in love with the designs and the implied humor.

Whatever the reason, the toys were successful enough to expand the property into an animated program. The results were... less than good. In fact, what I saw was so bad, I haven't been able to bring myself to buy one of the toys since.

I feel like there's something wrong with that. If the toys are good, they're good independent of the show. Granted, Hasbro's redesigned things a bit to match the look, but they're still pretty similar.

Intellectually I don't believe this should matter, but I just haven't had the same interest in the figures.

That said, I've come close to picking up some of the Thor-themed figures that are being released to coincide with the movie. Some of those are cool, and I have an easier time thinking about the purchase.

I certainly don't love what this implies about me as a consumer. But, then again, it's my money.