I understand Mego-type collectors are excited. The 8" Borg figure is cool!
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- Thread starter MatthiasRussell
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I understand Mego-type collectors are excited. The 8" Borg figure is cool!
I think there is something fundamentally wrong with a soft and snuggly Borg (unless its Seven). I also think the majority of collectors want accuracy. Retro is good for TOS cause it fits the period and memories of those who were kids then, but it just doesn't work for TNG figs. Plus, why make new figs like this when they still have other Art Asylum figs which they have yet to release.
Not enough pre-orders were forthcoming.
Because Picard and Borg from the hugely popular TNG have a hope of selling.
Tuvok and Neeliz from the significantly less popular VOY have little chance of turning a profit.
Art Asylum are a business, folks. If something will make them money, they will do it! I am sure they've considered the costs/returns of future Voyager or any other franchise figs, and the bottom line is not sparkling.
I don't think you realize the buying power of the Voyager fans. There is a younger fan base who much prefer VOY to TNG. Fans who have had few collectables provided to them. Plus, there are no casual trek merchandise consumers, just the dedicated fan base. That fan base wants accurate collectables and has sets they want added to.
If this isn't enough evidence, check startrek.com's facebook page for where they announced the new dolls last week. The response from fans was over whelmingly negative. Clearly DST is NOT doing their market research.
If this isn't enough evidence, check startrek.com's facebook page for where they announced the new dolls last week. The response from fans was over whelmingly negative. Clearly DST is NOT doing their market research.
The fan base is too fragmented. For every DS9 fan there will be another DS9 hater who is a Voyager fan. If DST sees nothing but negativity to their products I don't expect that to encourage them to diversify, do you? If people buy the products and also tell them what else they would like they will diversify. Hardcore Trek fans might be intelligent (I said MIGHT) but many seem to struggle with the concept of cause and effect. 
I agree the fans hurt themselves by being so divided. That is why I have been pushing a write in campaign. That facebook post also showed the fans are at least united in wanting more.
As far as VOY is concerned, I don't think they could go wrong with at least making a Janeway since many might just want all the captains (of course, which hair style do you choose?). You could probably make a doctor and Seven as they are fairly universally popular. I don't think Neelix and Kes would be worth the investment, though.
Some unique trek aliens would also be welcome, like 8472, Hirogen, Breen, and Cardassian. Such aliens might appeal to general figure collectors. They certainly would appeal to the STO crowd.
As far as VOY is concerned, I don't think they could go wrong with at least making a Janeway since many might just want all the captains (of course, which hair style do you choose?). You could probably make a doctor and Seven as they are fairly universally popular. I don't think Neelix and Kes would be worth the investment, though.
Some unique trek aliens would also be welcome, like 8472, Hirogen, Breen, and Cardassian. Such aliens might appeal to general figure collectors. They certainly would appeal to the STO crowd.
DST do do their research. Their Seven of Nine figures surprisingly failed to garner enough pre-orders and were cancelled. DST also knows the numbers of figures that were sold by Playmates - and Playmates' VOY figures sold far fewer than their TNG figures.
The Mego-like figures are being promoted to Mego collectors, in any case. And TOS/TNG fans. If VOY collectors are that young, they'd have no nostalgia for 60s Mego.
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Well, the Playmates figures royally sucked!! They were of such low quality it was ridiculous. They also made so many figures, it would have been hard for a collector to keep up. Also take into acount than Voyager got more younger viewers than older ones, whereas TNG got younger an older. The VOY fans mostly probably didn't have money for figures at the time because they didn't have jobs but now they do (if they aren't unemployed).
Also, I won't preorder from DST for 2 reasons. I usually want to see a figure in person before I buy to check quality and when I have preordered from DST, they end up indefinitely pushing back their release dates so why bother? That is why I wanted fans to write startrek.com, toys r us, big bad toy store, and amazon. Let them show DST they have consumers waiting to buy and are willing to preorder in bulk.
If DST IS doing market research, why are they releasing retro TNG figures? The response to the news was overwhelmingly negative. How did they not know fans don't want them? This is evidence to me of lack of research. If there are so many Mego collectors, I didn't see their comments on startrek.com's release bulletins.
Also, if they did market research in the past and enthusiasm was cold, things have changed. ST09 and STO have revitalized the fanbase to a large extent. Shows like Big Bang Theory have also made being a nerd and having action figures cool.
Also, I won't preorder from DST for 2 reasons. I usually want to see a figure in person before I buy to check quality and when I have preordered from DST, they end up indefinitely pushing back their release dates so why bother? That is why I wanted fans to write startrek.com, toys r us, big bad toy store, and amazon. Let them show DST they have consumers waiting to buy and are willing to preorder in bulk.
If DST IS doing market research, why are they releasing retro TNG figures? The response to the news was overwhelmingly negative. How did they not know fans don't want them? This is evidence to me of lack of research. If there are so many Mego collectors, I didn't see their comments on startrek.com's release bulletins.
Also, if they did market research in the past and enthusiasm was cold, things have changed. ST09 and STO have revitalized the fanbase to a large extent. Shows like Big Bang Theory have also made being a nerd and having action figures cool.
Depends on where you hang out. I've heard lots of people say they're looking forward to a Mego Borg. I don't really want the Picard, but they are probably shipping as a pair.
You're entitled to your opinion of course (though I couldn't disagree more about the Playmates line - absolutely loved them) but are you seriously complaining about them making too many figure choices??
Um - would you have preferred nothing but Kirk/Spocks (thanks, Diamond Select). Playmates gave us wonderful variety - I can guarantee you'll never be getting a Lwaxana Troi, Grand Nagus or Vedek Bareil (!) figure again!! In fact, they did a great job at balancing the need to appeal to kids with making a collector-orientated line. As a franchise, Trek isn't always so easy to sell to kids, but - esp. in the first couple of years with the TNG figures - Playmates excelled in this.
Diamond ARE doing their research, trust me. TNG and TOS are the profitable Treks. They've already done TNG in "realistic" style, therefore retro-Mego is the best option for them right now.
And it intersects two collector-bases, which any businessman will tell you is good for profit. They'll appeal to (some) Trek fans, but they'll also appeal to (some) Mego collectors.
You might not like it, but dem's the facts.
Also - LOL at the idea that the Big Bang Theory has made owning action figures "cool". It really, really hasn't.
If TOS and TNG are where the money is at then how about some figures from those we are missing- Rand, Chapel, a Mugato, a Tellarite, Sarek, the borg queen, Q. Voyager figures also have duel markets- VOY favs and STO players. Janeway, Paris, and the Doctor could also have TNG versions.
There are also much demand figures that could use to be remade. Ezri is an especially hot item when she shows up on ebay.
I'm honestly shocked so many people here are against requesting more figures or see no value in them.
There are also much demand figures that could use to be remade. Ezri is an especially hot item when she shows up on ebay.
I'm honestly shocked so many people here are against requesting more figures or see no value in them.
Every time Rand and Chapel's wave has been put up for perusal at Toy Fare, there has been a dearth of preorders. Surprisingly, the same thing happened to what would have been a great Kruge and Maltz twin-pack, and a Voyager set that was supposed to have a Seven of Nine, Borg Queen, Borgified Seven, a generic Borg and a partially assimilated "First Contact" crewman. Insufficient preorders.
Hey, even Playmates failed to produce a Tellarite, although Manny Jesus of Art Asylum had once worked on a 5" sculpt.
Again, the problem is that there are many more TOS and TNG collectors than VOY collectors. Even Playmates' 9" line had difficulty getting key figures onto the market. No Kes, no Torres - and Kim and the EMH were extremely limited Target(?) editions.
Because she was a deliberate shortpack in that wave, the only way that DST could generate enough interest in those DS9 figures.
I'm not against "requesting more figures". Having shared emails with one of the sculptors a few years ago (I provided research and pics on Andorians and Tellarites when 5" Andorian and 12" Shras were being sculpted by Art Asylum for Playmates), I know that the sculptors are keen ST fans who get just as frustrated as MatthiasRussell when their proposed figures don't end up getting into collectors' hands. But it's a numbers game: wholesalers' preorders are the main numbers that count.
For me, the biggest DST surprise was a highly-anticipated Borgified Data. Due to it needing to be a limited figure, they capped it at only 1701 figures. It created a storm of protests and people raced to several online stores to place orders. I was in such a panic, I ordered one from three separate sites. A year after the figure came out, the online stores still had this figure in stock, and the price kept dropping and dropping till they were all sold. It seems that even a really, really cool figure like this can't always sell 1701 units.
You've misunderstood - nobody is against requesting more figures. Bring 'em on! We just understand the business moderl perspective as well.
It may not be pleasant to DS9, Voy and Enterprise fans (I am a DS9 fan) but there just isn't the same market to make a viable profit for much merchandise based on these lines as opposed to TOS and TNG.
Yeah - I was expecting Chapel and Rand to come in two-packs with either Kirk, spock, or McCoy, particularly an Enemy Within 2-pack with 'evil' Kirk, since they even produced a Saurian brandy bottle. When they were available for pre-order, I actually pre-ordered 3 of each so I would have spare heads available for TWoK and TMP customs (although some more possible TMP 2-packs had been mooted at the time, there was nothing on the horizon).
I think part of the problem must be the business model. The full set of TWoK figures came out quite quickly and were quite popular. I think too much drip-feeding with these kinds of collectable models puts off more casual collectors. Plus of course, kids these days play computer games because they have nowhere to play with their action figures. When I think of the hours of my childhood spent making spaceships out of shoeboxes for our games... ah happy days.
What shocked me with that wave is that I was on vacation in Brisbane (Australia) when they came out (I already had a pre-order for a set with NewForce Comics mail order in the US) - and a comic shop put them onto immediate clearance! I ended up grabbing about three of each figure for customizing. The price couldn't have even paid for the airmail shipping the shop would have paid!
Agreed. Although the odd ST two-pack does seem tempting for comic shops buying from the Diamond Orderpak each month; a few geeky items for the open shelves, which are either snapped up by random browsers on Day 1... or they sit there gathering dust.
Nothing depressed me more when the original Playmates run finally ended and the only new action figures in the toy aisles seemed to be... TV wrestlers!
Mind you, I did find a great figure of The Rock (to customize as Seven of Nine's opponent from VOY) and then I located a great figure of Big Show (to paint green as his Orion Slaver character from ENT).
As for shoeboxes, I once had to wear school shoes that were a bit tight because my mother couldn't return them - because I'd already made a house for action figures out of the box!
I think I'm going to get creative on a Bashir fig and turn it into Mackenzie Calhoun.
I understand (though still disagree and willing to accept may be wrong) that most ds9 and voyager character figures won't sell.
But does anyone think that genetic figures of crazy looking aliens like Mugato, Cardassians, Jem Hadar, 8472, Hirogen, Breen, etc would sell? I think these might have wider appeal than a specific character.
I have all 3 Borg figures and love them.
Also, what about significant and popular ships like a Bird of Prey or Voyager. I understand the AGT D not selling (though I keep trying to get one) but you'd think more widely used ships would sell.
But does anyone think that genetic figures of crazy looking aliens like Mugato, Cardassians, Jem Hadar, 8472, Hirogen, Breen, etc would sell? I think these might have wider appeal than a specific character.
I have all 3 Borg figures and love them.
Also, what about significant and popular ships like a Bird of Prey or Voyager. I understand the AGT D not selling (though I keep trying to get one) but you'd think more widely used ships would sell.
I think funky looking aliens have a better chance of selling than lots of human-types in similar uniforms, absolutely. Playmates understood this perfectly, and offered so many (Ferengi, Klingon, Borg and Romulan got figures before Dr. Crusher!)
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