The Action Figure and Toy Collecting and Discussion Thread!

Both Hasbro and Mattel could use fresh, new leadership, that's for sure. How they both managed to survive in this market and with these suits running them is a bit of a mystery.

 

Mattel rested on its laurels, focusing more on being a global company (acquiring Mega Brands and trying to break into various overseas markets) and kind of forgetting that it was a toy company. It thought it could survive solely on the strength of its more well-known brands--namely Barbie, Fisher-Price, and Hot Wheels--and discovered too late that name recognition can only go so far if you're not actually doing anything new with them.

 

Not to mention DCIH, Green Lantern, Young Justice, and the current 4 inch line. Scale really does matter.

cooleddie74 Both Hasbro and Mattel could use fresh, new leadership, that's for sure. How they both managed to survive in this market and with these suits running them is a bit of a mystery.

IMHO, you could very easily drop the words fresh and new from that sentence.

CCC.

 

At this point a room full of hyperactive and nearsighted rhesus monkeys would be preferable to the leadership those companies have recently had. It's really sad how both have declined in such a short space of time.

 

First Scott leaving and now this. Hopefully this sparks some much needed change and bringing in someone with a vision and a plan to execute that vision and clean up the mess that Mattel has found themselves in lately.

 

Some people keep saying that the entire toy industry is in the doldrums right now and we can't blame individual companies and their leadership, but that's a complete load of bunk. TMNT are doing gangbusters at the moment and have been for a while now, and LEGO is always racking up terrific sales and great customer feedback. So, yeah. It's not the whole industry.

 

Build it and they will come.

CCC.

 

I mainly collect 80's Transformers and G.I. Joe and they collect dust. It is a vicious circle.

 

^
I know the feeling. Oh, do I ever know that feeling, let me tell you.

 

When you first start collecting you really don't mind having to dust your toys occasionally. It gives you a chance to pick them up and look at them. Then your collection grows, and grows, and grows, and suddenly dusting is like "Oh my god! This is going to take frelling forever!"

 

And boy, does it ever. When you have to dust your collection in stages or shifts, you know you have a problem with how much you've collected.

 

I thought I would put this here, just revel in it.
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6_XBSRVY38#t=141[/yt]

 

Just.

WOW. That's....impressive. You don't see that everyday.

 

Funko's Marvel Collector Corps!

I signed up, just for the first two packages.

Also, Holy crap. Epic helicarrier Lego set! Waaaayyyy out of my price range. Glad I'm not that into Legos.

 

If I were into Legos I'd have gone flat broke about ten years ago and I'd still be broke. They look fantastic, but between the space issues and the cost they've just never been my thing when it comes to collecting.

 

Interesting that instead of the usual microfigures that you usually see in the LEGO games, they're basing these microfigures on the trophy.

 

I went online and bought the Black Series repack of Bastila Shan because I had gotten a little tired of waiting for the local toy shop or retail stores to get another copy of her, and with the focus right now on the new (TIE Pilot) packaging phase and wave assortment of the Black Series and most Wave 4 and 5 figures from earlier in 2014 having dried up (if some stores even bothered to stock them at all) I just went ahead and picked up a cheap carded copy online.

She's a couple of bucks more than she would have been at brick-and-mortar retail but with chains like Target raising their prices on Black Series 3.75" figures to $12.99 (or higher) I'm not really spending more than I probably would if stores still carried her. This now means I have every 3.75" Black Series release from the first six waves except for the R2-D2 with the Episode II rocket booster accessories that was packed one per case in Wave 2 and not carried forward.

 

I got these today.

 

Funko Pop! Jewel?

Glorious. They look great.