Vacation Fozzie

[kansasteen14]

Louis Kazageer

yeah I sometimes read lee's but I ALWAYS get Tomart.I also like that it does a magazine called Tmart's Disneyana Update which I LOVE disney and love seeing updates on it especially for pins.and I agree that people are only getting into what's hot,I had no idea about how popular the muppets were at first but just picked up Kermit and Piggy because I liked them.I am one of the few teens that doesnt really like the Osbournes I mean I can find things more interesting than an show with the only word being"bleep"

 

[Louis Kazagger]

Originally posted by Luke
I do though see them as taking away Muppet publicity. The Osbourne figs are gonna be all over the covers of the toy magazines once they hit.

True. Well, you can't have the Muppets on the cover of Toyfare every month!

 

[Luke]

Of course however popular the Osbourne figs are there is just the massive disadvantage of there being four characters and thats it wheras the Muppets have so many possibilities. I know they are doing a couple of chases of Ozzy and Jack but theres only so far you can go. It'll start to get boring although they are apparently doing some very funky stuff with the house playset. It also relies on the TV series which is also pretty limited - very much doubt that would go to a third season.

So i'm not saying this is the biggest of threats ! LOL !

 

[Louis Kazagger]

Hey Luke, check yer mail.

 

[Louis Kazagger]

Remember how I told you that the fella who runs ToyWiz.com is the brother of the publisher of Wizard/Toyfare?

Well, I noticed a link to old ToyWiz.com on one of the San Diego Con report websites, so I decided to mosey over there. I haven't been there since the days of the preorder scandal of the Toyfare Simpsons exclusives.

ToyWiz has the Muppet line as their feature spotlight product on their website. They're also following Toyfare's lead, touting the Muppet line as "the next hot thing".

Check out what they're offering. As you can see, getting the Wizard convention exclusives in stock isn't a problem. Prices not for the faint of heart, but the Philly Dr. Teeth price isn't half bad considering three have sold for more than that on ebay.

http://www.store.yahoo.com/dragonballzcentral/paltoymupacf.html

 

[Walterfego]

Louis - Thanks for reminding me of another reason to dislike Gareb Shamus and the whole Wizard code of conduct. Besides making their own market for the right price in the comic world they can also bring a little nepetism (sp?) along for the ride for good measure.

 

[kansasteen14]

folks please DONT buy from that site.I once bought a simpson product9about 3 months ago) and never got it,luckily we sent it via money order and traced it back but that took 2 months so DONT order on there.

 

[DasGoot]

Please don't flame me to oblivion...

Good afternoon everyone,

My name's Jon Gutierrez and I'm the price guide editor for ToyFare. It may seem a little crazy for me to post here (I know ToyFare is not well liked by a lot of people on this board) but I'm a Muppets fan who reads the site on a regular basis and I felt compelled to speak up.

First, I can't address the whole Simpsons line controversy, simply because I wasn't here at the time. (I was hired in January as the first actual ToyFare price guide editor. Before that, one guy did the pricing for all three of our magazines.) When I was hired, though, I specifically asked if I was expected to jack up the prices on our exclusive figures. I was given (by the earlier editor) a definitive "no." (To be honest, I'm not sure if would've taken the job if I had been told to be a shill. I had other offers at the time.) All of our prices are taken through Ebay and store surveys and I honestly try to reflect actual market values at the time we go to press. I have no contact with Toywiz.com, apart from the fact that they are one of the stores I contact from time to time to check on pricing. (We have a database of about 7,000 stores across the country that I cycle through.)

As for the shipping of exclusive figures, that's all done in house by our staff now. (The warehouse is actually part of our office building.)

Also, one of the main reasons we're promoting the Muppets line is that we, the editorial staff, just plain love them. They're great figures and we've been blown away by the design and attention to detail the line has. I've got Bunsen, Dr. Teeth, Piggy & Kermit on my desk, not because I've been told to like them, but because I do like them. (Frankly, I wish I could get my hands on an invisible spray Fozzie. )

I'm not saying we're perfect (far from it in some cases) but for the most part, we're just fans who are happy to support a line that we really enjoy.

Jon Gutierrez
Price Guide Editor
ToyFare & Anime Invasion
Priceguidecorrections@yahoo.com

 

[Phillip]

Joe,

Great to meet you and glad to see you posting. The info you provided is very helpful.

It's wonderful to hear how much you guys appreciate these figures, especially when there are multiple other lines and new releases out there. No doubt, ToyFare's continued support will play a part in this line continuing for several years.

Are you aware of Palisades Collector's Club? You can get the Invisible Fozzie, Vanishing Cream Beaker, and other convention exclusives directly from Palisades. Here's some info if you haven't seen it yet...

http://www.muppetcentral.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1432

 

[Louis Kazagger]

Re: Please don't flame me to oblivion...

Originally posted by DasGoot
(I was hired in January as the first actual ToyFare price guide editor. Before that, one guy did the pricing for all three of our magazines.)

Frankly, it showed.

Welcome Jon, glad to hear that there's no pressure on you as far as pricing goes. Actually, I have noticed a difference, as I was shocked to see some of the Simpsons Toyfare exclusives actually go down in price! Here's a taste to give you an idea how your predecessor handled things.

This is from a post on the Simpsons board in September 2001. Draw your own conclusions. Folks were talking about all the bundle offers on
Wizard World. You know, Pin Pal Moe offered with this and that.... Pin Pal Moe/Spidey Bust, Pin Pal Moe/Wizard subscription, etc....

"I tell ya, the thing that really ticks me off is the ancient Luke's Dagobah
X-Wing they're bundling Pin Pal Moe with.

That sucker came out with Toyfare 14 or something like that, and they're
still stuck with it. They kept that X-Wing on the bottom of their
subsequent exclusive coupon offers, as a "Still available, quantities
limited, order now!" add on for at least ten more months in their mag.

When that didn't get rid of them, they even tried to make it an after the
fact, shared exclusive with Diamond, and it was offered through Diamond
Comics distributors. AND they're still stuck with them.

Now I know you must be thinking, big deal, who can blame them for trying to
unload these puppies any way they can, why are you so ticked about it?
Well, I'll tell you why.

Pull out your copy of Toyfare #50. Turn to the price guide and look at the
"Toyfare Exclusives" listings. Look what went up last month, Luke's Dagobah
X-Wing. It jumped $10.00 from the previous month! Yet there it is, still
for sale online at Wizard World, for the same price that it debuted for
three years ago. If that isn't blatant self promotion, I don't know what
is.

Tell me they're not trying to entice some fan boy who goes through the price
guide item by item to see what went up, to notice the jump in price, and
think "I've gotta have that" then jump for joy when they find it online at
the original price. Or to see that they can buy this "$30.00" gem bundled
with Moe. What a deal! Little do they know they've been trying to unload
that dog for years.

Wait, they've raised the price on this piece of cow-pucky online now up to $25.99! It was
$17.99 last month. Well, I guess they've got to milk a little more money
out of Moe somehow, without actually charging extra money for Moe.

Gee, I guess it wouldn't have gone over too well to charge $25.99 ($26.99 plus the price of Moe for the X-Wing/Moe bundle) for an item that only books for $20.00 in their
price guide.

If you are one of those who are still hanging on, thinking that Toyfare has
some shred of integrity when it comes to the prices of their own exclusives
in their price guide, well this should snap you out of it. The price guide
increase and the increase of the X-Wing price online are so blatant, it
sickens me. I'm sure they thought they could slip it by and no one would
notice. But they were wrong."

I found this post very enlightening at the time. Here's to change Jon. Cheers!