The Return of the Ebay Muppet figure price report!

[frogboy4]

Max Goof

I think that part of the comparison has to do with the quality of the figures, not necessarily the market for them and these are in a more limited release so I think they will be worth more on ebay a year from now (hope I've got them all by then).

Instead of saying that this will be the new Simpsons, it would be better to say it will be the new popular figure line. I'm not sure how much you have read of the threads, but each series comes out with 2 main characters 2 supporting cast (made in half the number of the main guys). The limited release secures the popularity and waves will be adjusted each time according to demand.

I guess we just see things a different way. There are apparently more Muppet fans than I imagined. These sold out in many stores the first day of release and I've heard people I never knew were fans talking about picking some of these guys up. We'll see. Hope the line does really well.

 

[Luke]

I have to say that i agree more or less with Max Goof - i love the figures but i'm under no illusions that once Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzy, Gonzo, Animal and the rest of the real main players (and by that i mean ones that are REALLY well known to the general public) are out the way, the popularity will wane quite a bit. People will ALWAYS be looking for a Kermit or Miss Piggy when they go to the shop and see a Muppet action figure line - theres nothing you can do about it aside from making lots of variants of them and keeping them going steadily.

It has EVERYTHING to do with the shows popularity, obviously a daily show like the Simpsons is wildly popular compared to a show that hasn't been on TV in years. Also i'd say it has very little to do with the figure quality - thats really something for the hardcore muppet fans and figure collectors to wow at - although being blatently truthful we haven't exactly had overwhelmingly positive reports on quality, quite a few people have reported defects and things which i guess if you think about a few people here must mean a lot more people 'out there'. The actual design and detail though is 110%.

There is an obvious flaw in all this - a lot of characters in the Muppet Show didn't appear as regularly as background characters in the Simpsons do - thats why those figures sell and the Muppet lesser known figures will probably struggle. I KNOW that WE will buy them, as will dedicated action figure collectors but it's not about us - its about the Toys R Us, FAO Schwartz, EB Games and how the general public (especially kids) react to them on a much greater scale.

Obviously i appreciate all the work that goes into the figures, and the ideas and creativity especially is so cool, but the figures being 'hot' right now are because they are new, when the next product comes out from someone else that'll steal the spotlight too. Reports of stores selling out didn't suprise me - they usually get smaller quanities in first to test the waters and the companies probably shared around a small number of cases between stores. I'm sure Palisades are under no illusions about this - and know the real test is yet to come.

At the end of the day, the Muppets are the Muppets, and Peoples is Peoples - the only hope i could possibly give is that the new movie and TV show will give the figure sales a boost so perhaps the wave releases could be staggered around when the shows debut. All this isn't anybodys fault - it's just the nature of the brand unfortunately, we hardcore Muppet fans get screwed like this every time basically because we aren't Pokemon or the Simpsons. It sucks but its life !

 

[Louis Kazagger]

Ah, but don't underestimate the power of Toyfare. They have a loyal flock of sheep who follow them. I've seen both a poll and a declaration both coronating the Muppet Show line as "The next Simpsons" as far as hot toy lines go.

And, like it or not, Toyfare has a stake in the line. Their interests are not purely journalistic, I can guarantee that. The last thing they want is to get stuck with their share of the Kermit exclusives. So you can be sure that Toyfare will continue to make sure that the line gets exposure. Palisades even said that TRU agreed to share the exclusive with Toyfare for the exposure.

Toyfare lost their Simpsons figure exclusives for this year due to their mishandling of them (the publisher let his brother scalp many many of the figures on ebay before they even came out while regular johnny lunchpail got his mail in redemption coupon refused and stamped "sold out"). They lost the "B-Sharps" Simpsons exclusives because so many people complained to Playmates (even submitting a petition), so Playmates decided to host the exclusives themselves this year. So it wouldn't surprise me to find out they were looking to get on board with the Muppets as "the next big thing".

Don't get me wrong, I love the line and think it is going to be great all on its own merits, but I have to believe that Toyfare has to power to create a snowball effect. People are going to want to collect the line just because Toyfare says how cool it is and says that everyone is collecting it. Then that gets the speculators, hoarders and scalpers involved, buying up each wave. Then the casual fan sees how fast the figures are selling out, and it feeds into the frenzy. Boom, just like that "New hot line! The next Simpsons!"

Personally I welcome all the added attention. Why? Because that is exactly what we need to get the figures of the real fringe Muppet Show characters made down the road. Palisades needs strong support of the line early to make it cost effective to continue to tool molds for future figures. Speculators, scalpers, and the sheep who collect what they're told to help create that strong support system. If the frenzy hadn't happened with the Simpsons line, I'm sure they never would have made it this far. If you would have told me at the Simpsons toy line inception that a Superintendent Chalmers figure was going to be made I would have laughed you out of the room. You've got to remember this is supposed to be the same toy market where they make three hundred different versions of Batman but you can't get a figure of a decent villain so save your soul.

Sure maybe the bottom falls out of an inflated after market for the Simpsons or Muppets toy line down the road, but only on the common pieces, not on an item with a production run of 424. And then the common figures at least exist, ready for us to pick up the pieces when folks dump their figs because the line "isn't cool anymore" and people are onto the next big thing. Better that then having the figures never made, scrapped designs on Ken's drawing board because there werent enough die hards to support the line.

The Star Trek Next Generation Tapestry Jean Luc Picard is the best example. Playmates Trek toy line is about as dead as they come, and you can pick most pieces up today for under retail price. Yet folks can still get $250.00 for the rare Picard piece on ebay because of its scarcity since only 1,701 exist. I know Jean Luc is a main character, but it's a crappy repaint of a bloated Kirk body with a Picard head on it, representing Picard as he appeared in only episode of the show. Sure this piece used to sell for between $800.00 and $1000.00 in its heydays, but $250.00 is pretty respectable for a toy line that nobody except the diehards cares about anymore.

I know Dr. Teeth may be a fringe character, but I don't think it matters. I've got to believe that there are more than 424 die hards out there worldwide, and I seriously doubt you'll ever see a $30.00 price on his variant ever again. Most of these won't resurface as the majority of the folks buying these now are die hards who knew the figure existed. I still say most people don't even know the variant is out there.

I think it was wise that Ken got the Vanishing Cream Beaker production run raised to 1,000. But I'd lay odds that they sell out of those 1,000 figs faster than the Dr. Teeth's sold out in Philly, as I'm sure the word will have spread like wildfire about Dr. Teeth's activity on ebay and people will be looking to cash in with a second lightning strike. I'll bet you Palisades could move 5,000 units at the convention if they wanted to.


...a message from Muppet Labs

P.S. Oh, and Max, the two Radioactive Homers that ended yesterday on ebay went for nearly $160.00 each, so if you don't get $100.00 for yours, I think you did something wrong.

 

[Louis Kazagger]

Three Dr. Teeth variants sold on ebay tonight with buy it now prices of $90.00, $90.00, and $99.99, so it looks like my prediction of Dr. Teeth selling for $100.00 by July 1st wasn't too far fetched. Each of the three auctions lasted less than six hours before someone grabbed Dr. Teeth.

...a message from Muppet Labs

 

[MM-III]

The auctions you refer to appear to be speculation buys from aspiring scalpers. I've noticed the same names buying up a lot of the figures.

I see this as a very artificial and fragile price raise and will drop after the initial furor over the muppet release dies down. I still maintain my opinion that the patient collector wins in the end...

 

[MaxGoof]

Yeah, keep in mind that the sheep...errr... scalpers are buying up EVERYTHING Muppets... because Toyfare told them to!

Once we get about a half dozen of these type of ultra-limited figures on the market, watch in amazement as disgruntled collectors give up and prices on these pieces plummet!

 

[Louis Kazagger]

I see no evidence that these are speculation buys by the winners of the last three auctions.

"Aurareader", who had been outbid on several of the previous Dr. Teeths seems to have simply gotten tired of being outbid and was willing to drop $99.99 for the fig (which included free shipping). And they bid on some 1970's Muppet stuff as well, so they seem like a fan to me.

The other bidder "C.P.K." who ponied up $90.00 each for the other two figs hardly seems like a scalper to me either, having sold only one item (not toy related) in the last month, and having only bid on three items in the last month as well, two of them being the Dr. Teeths. It could be they actually want two, one for a friend, or maybe....GASP... one to open.

But even if it were scalpers buying these up for speculation at those prices, it doesn't matter. It sets a new bar for the figure. Other sellers will see it and want to get that much as well. And bidders will see it and figure that's the new going rate. Until someone else raises the bar again by paying a little more.

If there were a great number of pieces involved, you could make a case for artificiality, but there simply aren't enough Dr. Teeth figures around to dump onto the market and take the wind out of the sails on those prices. Even if there were speculators involved who planned on reselling figures previously bought on ebay, there are so few figures available that they could trickle the figs in one by one and not affect the market at all.

You were already the patient collector, getting the figure when it bottomed out at $35.00 or thereabouts. Anyone who wants to be patient and wait for that price to come around again is in for a long wait. The line will have to be defunct before that happens, and I still say we haven't seen Dr. Teeth's high water mark on ebay yet.

..a message from Muppet Labs

 

[Louis Kazagger]

Yeah, I agree that folks will get ticked with too many unobtainable exclusives. When I heard Ken first mention that Palisades made the Dr. Teeth variant to bring to the Philly convention, I thought it was a terrible idea, because many people who collect have the "all or nothing" mentality with their figures, and they don't want anything "unobtainable" released. I really thought they were shooting themselves in the foot going with these exclusives, because I've heard of many people who have quit collecting the Simpsons because of the hassle with those exclusives. It's definitely a double edged sword. Perceived scarcity increases the interest in a line, but can turn people off as well if something is too difficult to find. At the same time, if a toy line is too readily available, that can create the perception that a line is too boring or that no one else must be collecting it, so it's not worth buying. BAAAAAA!

By the way MaxGoof, what did you end up getting for your Radioactive Homer?