Interesting article about the action figure industry

August 19, 2009 | Poe

There’s an interesting article up on Playthings.com, “Back in the Fight,” which provides a fairly in-depth look at the state of the action figure industry. I’ll write up something longer about it later, but for now, I highly recommend you check it out. Michael Crawford contributes some quotes to the piece.

Here’s one eyebrow-raising tidbit that surprised me–and I’ll admit I appear to have been flat-out wrong on this issue; such are the results of paying too much attention to one part of the elephant (though I think the industry’s reluctance to release these numbers deserves a bit of the blame):

NPD’s Frazier pegs online accounts for about 4 percent dollar sales in the action figure/accessories supercategory versus 70 percent at mass/discount and 20 percent at toy stores.

Fwoosh has 6″ Public Enemies and Webstor first looks

August 18, 2009 | Poe

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The well-connected folks at Fwoosh have posted first looks of Mattel’s 6″ Public Enemies and Webstor. First off, Fwoosh–and I think I speak for all toy collectors, but particularly those of us who wile away our time writing blogs about toys and secretly but arrogantly think we deserve some sort of compensation for all the free publicity and yet are ignored like–wait, where the hell was I going with this? Oh yeah, Fwoosh: you go to hell. You go to hell and you die for getting all these weeks-early free samples to taunt us with.

There, now I feel better. Moving on… (more…)

Mattycollector to refund “tax” on international collectors

August 14, 2009 | Poe

I know a number of fans were concerned about the $3 tax that they received with their Mattycollector subscription orders. Mattycollector has posted this on their website:

Oops!

Lots of you have asked and we’ve finally gotten to the bottom of the $3 tax on international customers who purchased the Club Eterniaâ„¢ subscription for 2010. Turns out it was a tax coding error on our part. My team has identified how the error happened and is processing refunds to all customers who were mistakenly charged. You should see it on your statement within the next two to three weeks

Sincere apologies for all the confusion.

—Matty

DCUC Walmart Imperiex Wave packaged images

August 13, 2009 | Poe

Man, just can’t keep up today…Mattel has posted in-package photos of the next Walmart wave on their Facebook page, along with assurances that Walmart has ordered more this time around.

They’re calling it Wave 9 for some reason…maybe it was supposed to hit stores in force before the Chemo wave?

Rumor: DCUC 2010 SDCC Exclusive is Plastic Man

August 12, 2009 | Poe

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Blue Canoe Stew, the poster at RTM who’s been pretty accurate with his DCUC leaks so far, says the 2010 SDCC DCUC exclusive will be Plastic Man:

Plasticman with various attachments and shapes that wouldn’t normally fit on a single figure card. He’ll be the last figure needed to complete Mattel’s re-making of the SUPER POWERS
collection. (The others will come in waves announced prior to Comic Con).

Is he right? We’ll find out next April.

Walking Dead gets a TV show; countdown to figures begins

August 12, 2009 | Poe

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I’ve read The Walking Dead up through volume five or six, and I realize I need to catch up, because it’s some of the best comic storytelling out there right now (it even inspired me to write my own zombie-themed novella). Now it appears AMC is teaming up with Shawshank Redemption director Frank Darabont and Aliens/Terminator producer Gale Ann Hurd to make a TV show based on the comic. For those of you concerned about the amount of gore/strong language, apparently f-bombs get dropped all the time on Mad Men and AMC hosts the annual “Fear Fest” movie marathon around Halloween, so chances are it’ll be almost as gory/violent as it would be on HBO or something. (Also, excessive gore and swearing aren’t necessarily required for something to be good.)

The question is, will we get figures and if so, how long will it take? I figure if Heroes can get a toy line and the Walking Dead is as good as the first season of Heroes (not really a very high bar), then it’s only a matter of time. Who will it be? NECA? Mezco? Will the likes of Bif Bang Pow or Shocker Toys try to swoop in? I doubt we’ll see any movement on that front until we see how the show fares with viewers, but I do think there will be a few companies chomping at the brain for these.

Mattycollector update on Club Eternia

August 12, 2009 | Poe

He-Fans,

The 2010 Club Eternia subscription ends this Friday at 12:00 noon eastern time. This is your only way to be guaranteed the Jan – Dec figure of the month plus the exclusive Club figure Wun-Dar the Savage He-Man which comes complete with removable battle armor, black Power Sword, half black Power Sword, ray gun and Eternian meal. This figure will not be sold in any other way. You must be a member to get him.

Club members will also get a poster-sized map of Eternia. This is all-new art shown postcard sized at SDCC. The poster will also feature secrets of the Power of Grayskull and the Elders printed on the reverse. These will be never before revealed secrets to help complete the storyline behind MOTU Classics for the true fans.

There may be a few other bonus items thrown in during the year for members only such as coupons and other MOTU schwag.

To become a member and sign up for a year of figures, visit my site MattyCollector.com today! Hurry, offer ends this Friday!

PS: The Jan figure will be Adora, the Feb figure will be Trap-Jaw/Kronis and the March figure will be Moss Man, most likely with partial flocking. Still working on this one…