The Muppets Figures Have Problems!

[uncleduke]

Originally posted by bhg738
I dont think people mind exclusives etc as long as you can get them (Merman & Captain C)!...

This WAS my point. I felt the club WAS set up becuse they did not realise that doing low run figures was a mistake.


So do we agree now?

No, we do not. I am sorry. I understand your point, I just do not agree. I read these boards with a fair amout of regularity, and YOU are the only person who feels this strongly. No one else has said they weren't going to collect the figures if they could not have them all.

• If you are a completist, all of the variants are available off ebay (you only need two if you join the club)
• I was looking at the retailers list for the exhibitors at San Diego
  Hasbro, Mattel, McFarlane, Palisades, Jakks etc will all have exclusives at the show.
  I think the only thing for you to collect and be completely happy with would be Lincoln Logs

You also comment that the error packaged Beaker is one of your concerns. This is just silly. I saw an eBay auction for a TRU Kermit with no hat... should Palisades make up a few thousand of those so every one can have this variant? Just because it exixts, it does not mean it has to be readily available to every one, hence the term EXCLUSIVE.
If you need every toy it is easy, you should have gone to the Wizard World shows in Penn. and Chicago, and San Diego. Then you would be complete. (or at least your toy collection would be).

What you propose does not sound to me like collecting.
A big part of collecting for me is the thrill of the hunt, the adrenaline rush as I watch the eBay clock winding down, waiting to see if I won......

Your mentality of "everyone should have everything, without effort" is almost some sort of Toy Communism, for lack of a better word, comrade.

 

[John Steffens]

Well,
I just want to put in my two cents.
I love these Muppet figures.
I will gladly buy anything they make.
WHY?
Because point blank, I'm a fan of the Muppets.
they are fun to play with and collect.

I will gladly support Ken and his company as long as they make great toys/figures.

Variants are fine. It's really no big deal.
Some figures you just need to have the differnt outfits and such.

You can't make everybody happy I guess.
But you have made this person really happy.

Thanks Ken!

P.S. just work on Sesame Street, Labyrinth and Dark Crystal figures and I'll truely be in heaven!

 

[MikeHornPalisad]

Originally posted by John Steffens
Well,
I will gladly support Ken and his company as long as they make great toys/figures.

I think the key to this statement is "as long as they make great toys/figures."

We don't expect you to buy every figure if they suck. It's our job to make them worth getting in the first place.

Just thought I'd throw that out there since it hadn't been mentioned previously.

MH

 

[grail]

Originally posted by bhg738
Yes Ken is a great guy to come here but that is customer relation based NOt marketing which is the domain exclusives come under!

I'm going to respect what Ken asked and not say much, but I would like to call your attention to the back of the packaging for the Muppet figures. See that credit there over Ken's name? His talking to the forum may be "customer relations", but he obviously has something to say when it comes to marketing too.

To end, I will point out that as someone who writes for one of the "press" sites, I think the exclusives were a brilliant move to stir up interest.

That is all...

 

[sideshow nay.1]

You know what, this line was created for us fans.Sure there are hard core collectors but for most fans just getting a floyd whether it be a blue or red shirt, we dont care[at least I dont]as long as we get a figure of a character cherished,liked or even hate is all that matters.

ss nay.1

 

[Drtooth]

I'm at a split view about this. I agree that there are a lot of repaints, exclusives, and what not. The only thing is I don't care about them. Now, I'm not the one to go on E-bay and by Vanishing Beaker, or Black suit Dr.Teeth, mainly beacuase the main streem ones are good enough for me.

And yes, some of the characters, like Crazy Harry and Lew Zeland, are on the obscure side, but the Simpson and Star Wars lines are much worse at this. You see, we have Disco Stu (I want him BADLY) and Uter (who hasn't been on the show in years) and they are mainly introduced for a gag. Uter's biggest role was the first one he was in (The Gremlin on the bus episode), and Disco stu is more of a recurring Background character. As for Star wars, they have EVERYBODY!!! They have that robot that blew up, R4D5 (?) He was in the movie about five-six seconds.

But as Ken said, you can either buy them or not!

 

[Aerosmith]

Yeah the also made that bounty hunter chic who was in the background in Episode 1 but you only saw her for a second.

 

[Louis Kazagger]

Yeah, it blows me away how the Star Wars franchise has stayed so bulletproof over the years. Making figures of the obscurest of characters, making tons of retailer exclusives, making limited figures only obtainable at industry shows or elite conventions. Making the same figure over and over again (Chewbacca, Chewbacca with chains, Chewbacca with a chess table, Chewbacca with snow in his fur, Chewbacca with a mechanical tool, Chewbacca with a bag full of C-3PO). No need to use your imaginations anymore kiddies, we've got every conceivable variant to fix that! Making the same ship over and over again (here's an X-Wing made from the original vintage molds, here's a new and improved X-Wing, here's a Snowspeeder, here's a store exclusive Snowspeeder which now comes with an exclusive figure!). Oh, and let's make sure that Queen Amidala changes into twelve different outfits in the next movie, okay? Can't miss out on the opportunity to pump out twelve different figures of her. They seem to get away with it all, with very little backlash. I guess it's because they have the largest diehard fan base known to man.

Yeah, I know you're going to say that Hasbro did feel the backlash because of the glut of Episode I toys, but that was their own doing because they went against projections. Their analysts gave them a projected sales figure and the executives decided to produce 150% of the sales projections. If they would have listened to the analysts they probably would have been okay.

By the way, if you haven't see the Conan O'Brien bit with Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and Herd of the Star Wars Nerds, go over to ifilm and treat yourself.

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilm/product/film_info/0,3699,2439321,00.html?refsite=&sid=