The Collector's Club...

[BlueFrackle]

Guys,

I agree with Electric Mayhem, You pay ONE Price to join the club and then you get the choice to buy Exclsuives from Palisades.

Then maybe they could make a Club Only figure.

Great idea !

I will not pay the $30 and then get all the figures, Some people might want the choice to get some.

So if they join ONLY to get Beaker then they paid a bit too much.

Anyway, im gonna get em all - LOL

See ya

 

[Luke]

Can someone just explain why it needs to be around $35 ? People are only paying to be on a mailing list and to be able to order figures. I doubt Palisades costs would be that much, and of course they'll make their money through the figures.

$10 - $15 is a much more acceptable price !

 

[kane31666]

MM-III, I'm having a real hard time following your logic.

$35 bucks is to join, correct?

Okay, so Palisades would probably charge 15 bucks for the figure and 5 bucks shipping. So that's 20 bucks a figure if you're in the collector's club.

So if there are 4 exclusives a year at 20 bucks shipped, then it costs 80 dollars for all 4 exclusives plus the 35 dollar membership charge-
80+35=115/4= 28.75. O ok never mind, that's what you got. I just wasn't following your words. I guess math is the universal language.

But seriously, I wouldn't join a club, if it would cost me almost 30 dollars per figure.

Realistically, I don't think people would mind paying 25 dollars a figure but to do that the club would have to be 20 dollars to join the club.


Luke I agree 10-15 is much more reasonable. And by doing that it would cost 22.50- 23.75 per figure.

 

[uncleduke]

Collector Club

I think such a club is the way to go. Here is my reply to Ken, followed by my further comments.....
"Kenneth, A canned reply is better than none at all, so although your apology is appreciated, it is far from necessary.
I think that forming a dues paying collector's club is a great idea, I even mentioned it in my original letter to you. As for the cost, I can let you know what Mezco does with their Club Mez (www.clubmez.com).
The membership was a one time fee of $30.00 ($40.00 for those who waited to join) for that you received:
an exclusive figure, a membership kit with a decoder ring, a quarterly news letter.
They sell the toys on their sight, both show exclusives as well as exclusives created just for the club. the cost of these has been $20-$30 per figure delivered. They also offer case pricing for those who want multiples.
Hope this helps out a bit, I really want that Beaker. I think it's one of the more clever ideas I have seen, and want it (forgive the in-appropriate quote) "by any means necessary"
"


At the aforementioned Club Mez, all of their figures include shipping. They sell show exclusive figures to the members with a 2 figure limit, for $20.00 delivered.
Club exclusive merchandise is available for $30 ea ($140 for a case of 6) with no limit. I think if we want any fan club exclusives (and I assume we all do) I do not think we should have any limits beyond the production run divided by the number of members. Palisades would not like to get stuck with extras. Or we could find an online retailer to 'share' the exclusive, with half of the run going to the club, and the other half going to the retailer.
On the page that shows the upcoming series' there are some planned variants that are not sold as of yet, maybe one of them could be the first Fanclub exclusive.

Enough of my random thoughts, anybody got a name for the club as of yet?

 

[uncleduke]

Originally posted by Luke
Can someone just explain why it needs to be around $35 ? People are only paying to be on a mailing list and to be able to order figures. I doubt Palisades costs would be that much, and of course they'll make their money through the figures.

$10 - $15 is a much more acceptable price !

Luke, the $35.00 mejmbership fee would serve two purposes:
1) It would be considered as earnest money, to show Palisades that we are indeed sincere in our commitment to the club. (also with most clubs, the $35.00 fee includes your membership kit with the first figure). Also it could be the seed money to "get things started" (especially if there is to be a club exclusive fgure)

2) It would keep away the Ebay Snipers. If it is just a flat $15.00 a figure, any bum could order the figure maximum X how-ever many email accounts he has, and just turn around and put them on Ebay, preventing us, the fans from getting them at a reasonable price.

 

[Electric Mayhem]

Is the point of this to prevent "eBay snipers" or to be able to get them ourselves??? I don't care how many someone else is buying or selling as long as I have one. If people are dumb enough to pay inflated prices when they could just join the club, that's on them...

 

[MuppetQuilter]

I think $35 would be a bit steep. I mean, paying $35 for the right to pay more money later to buy figures... just doesn't sit well for me. I'd pay it (I want the exclusives) but I would not be happy about it and I suspect there would be a lot of grumbling and people not joining because it was too pricey.

Okay, here's a simpler way for me to explain my thougths:

$25-35-- membership includes a club-only exclusive figure & the opportunity to buy all non-retail exclusives at $15 plus $5 shipping each. If it is an annual membership fee there needs to be a club-only exclusive every year and a gurantee of at least three non-retail figures (in other words, I don't want to shell out my $35 and discover there were no non-retail figures that year).

$20-25-- membership includes a Palisades/Muppet t-shirt (the shirt needs a Muppet tie in and not just the Palisades logo) and, again, a gurantee of at least three figures club members would be able to buy if they so choose.

$10-15-- membership gurantees the opportunity to buy at least two non-retail figures.

A quarterly newsletter-- probably email format-- would be nice. Something that keeps members informed of the upcoming figures (exclusive and regular). It would also mean members would know when to expect updates and wouldn't constantly be bugging Palisades for information. Perhaps there would be additional mailings for breaking news-- like the announcement of a non-retail figure. If the club also provided discounts on the regular series figures, well, that would be a great extra. Say members could pre-order each new series (4 figures) for $25 plus reasonable shipping (which would be a savings of about $6 off the EB price). Don't know if that is feasible for Palisades-- just a thought. A membership card is not important to me. I'd love a club exclusive figure (anything to get another Muppet fig) but I don't know if that is realistic for Palisades.

 

[BlueFrackle]

Originally posted by MuppetQuilter

$25-35-- membership includes a club-only exclusive figure & the opportunity to buy all non-retail exclusives at $15 plus $5 shipping each. If it is an annual membership fee there needs to be a club-only exclusive every year and a gurantee of at least three non-retail figures (in other words, I don't want to shell out my $35 and discover there were no non-retail figures that year).

I totaly agree !

I would pay that for something like this!

Here is what i would like for that price -

• Club Only Exclusive
  (Not a Repaint or Variant, An EXTRA character.)
• Guarantee of at least three non retail figures
• Monthly Newsletter (Email or Snail Mail)

This would be a good way for Hardcore Collectors to get ahold of other Mupptes like Season One characters. Mupptes which wouldnt have to be mad ein large quantaties.

See ya

 

[Pschtyckque]

I've emailed Ken about the VC Beaker, but haven't heard back. (I think I caught his mail system on the fritz.)

I would be happy to have a collector's club. The ideal way (in my mind) to do it would be similar to McFarlane. Free to join, limited number of pieces. But enough to get them in the hands of those that really want them.

As far as paying a fee to join, I would be hesitant to do that, because I don't want every variant. While the Teeth repaint looks great, I'm happy with the regular one. Same for Animal. I did however order the Tux Kermit and EB Piggy, and would love to have a VC Beaker. To me, those figures represent different situations for the characters, not simply repaints.

If I had to pay to join, I would feel obliged to buy the figures to get my money's worth, and perhaps end up with a figure I'm not all that crazy about. Now if a club-only figure was offered as well, it may be worth my while. I'd have to see. But my early vote is for a free club.

 

[MM-III]

You know, you're all right... I didn't consider the type of person who maybe would not want to collect EVERY figure. I can understand that 35 would seem way too high in that case. Speaking from a completist perspective, 35 seemed reasonable to me due to the average cost per figure from someone who buys everything.

To be honest I've never collected a line of figures as seriously as this one and therfore have no experience with collector clubs. I don't know what kind of costs would be involved to Palisades for setting this up but for 35, I guess in addition to access, a club exclusive figure would be cool... as far as I'm concerned, you can keep the t-shirt and membership cards... I'm just here for the figures.