This Week In Your Plastic Crack, Action Figures and Toy Collection 26 26

[F For Fake]

On 6/2/2022 at 4:00 PM, fantastic_four said:

REALLY?  Hadn't noticed, let me check that out.

Pretty sure they had Snake and Stormy in the sale, unless my eyes deceived me...

[F For Fake]

Yup, sale knocks them down to $89.40. Hard to beat!

https://hasbropulse.com/products/g-i-joe-storm-shadow-collectible-figure-1-6-scale-by-threezero

edit: Snake Eyes is now sold out.

[ADAMANTIUM]

Just in passing

there is a non cable TV show called The Collectors Call Featuring Lisa Whelchel

It comes on "MeTV" channel, you can probably google what channel that is for you.....

Anyway, they highlight collections every week, it's only a 30 minute show, but this Sunday it is a GI Joe collection....

 I thought y'all might be interested....

[Buzzetta]

So I hate to be the doom and gloom guy with the Hasbro Pulse 40% off sale but it has definitely raised an eyebrow or two.

There is a LOT of good stuff in there.

There is a lot of stuff in there that is TOO good to be in there.

The Snake Eyes and Timber set along with the Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow O-Ring Reissue sets are eyebrow raising.  There are a LOT of Star Wars Black Series AND Vintage figures that were very recently released.

To me, I interpret this as either they overproduced, or people are simply not purchasing the volume that Hasbro anticipated they would from the online store. 

Moving forward I would not be surprised if 2023 brings us a lot of desirable things that are underproduced.  Hasbro does not want to see these things at 40% off but they probably have to make room for so many other products that they are bringing to market.   Those ordering numbers should be as healthy as the numbers that these were produced in.

2023 and 2024 though... 

I feel like I have seen this before and when it happens the following years have slim pickings. 

[fantastic_four]

On 6/2/2022 at 6:28 PM, Buzzetta said:

To me, I interpret this as either they overproduced, or people are simply not purchasing the volume that Hasbro anticipated they would from the online store. 

They're not, but there's a VERY specific reason for it.  Hasbro recently killed what are almost certainly the vast majority of their Pulse Premium accounts late last year including mine.  It's clear from posts on the Fwoosh forum that a VERY small percentage of people renewed that thing since it offers at best very little advantage, but I would argue it offers almost NO advantage.  So buying anything for those tens of thousands of people who used to have free Pulse Premium accounts now involves $6.99 shipping.

I used to order regularly from Pulse when I had a multi-year Premium account that I got for just buying a $25 Archangel figure, but I haven't ordered at all from there since it expired except for ordering the Mojo con exclusive and whatever I end up buying from this sale.  I knew once they killed all of those accounts without offering ANYTHING new to Premium memberships that they wouldn't get many of them.  And with few to no sales (before this one) and full MSRP pricing, Target beats them almost every day of the week...so why would hardcore collectors buy from them?

The answer seems to be that they aren't.  But I doubt sales are down across all retailers so I'd be very surprised if Pulse's struggles with clearing inventory affects Hasbro's sales estimates for the near future.

[707comics]

@Buzzetta

MJF is the man.

That is all.

[Buzzetta]

On 6/2/2022 at 8:44 PM, 707comics said:

@Buzzetta

MJF is the man.

That is all.

@djpinkpanther67 

@jaybuck43

We are legion in number.  We are the silent majority  

There are more fans here than we probably realize. 

Edited June 3, 2022 by Buzzetta

[jaybuck43]

On 6/2/2022 at 8:57 PM, Buzzetta said:

@djpinkpanther67 

@jaybuck43

We are legion in number.  We are the silent majority  

There are more fans here than we probably realize. 

They're all lining up to ride Space Mountain! WOOO

[Cat]

Masterpiece Skyfire is up for preorder, pics included. Not bad a price at $270US. Much cheaper than I was expecting. 

[F For Fake]

On 6/3/2022 at 1:54 AM, Cat said:

Masterpiece Skyfire is up for preorder, pics included. Not bad a price at $270US. Much cheaper than I was expecting. 

Yes, a lot of folks surprised by the price. I'm curious to see how it scales with other MP's. It SHOULD tower above most of them, but at that price I wonder if they've fudged the scale a bit. I really loved the Siege toy, I'll wait until this one releases to see if I think it's worth $200 more than that one cost. If not, I may go 3P with it.

[F For Fake]

On 6/2/2022 at 6:28 PM, Buzzetta said:

So I hate to be the doom and gloom guy with the Hasbro Pulse 40% off sale but it has definitely raised an eyebrow or two.

There is a LOT of good stuff in there.

There is a lot of stuff in there that is TOO good to be in there.

The Snake Eyes and Timber set along with the Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow O-Ring Reissue sets are eyebrow raising.  There are a LOT of Star Wars Black Series AND Vintage figures that were very recently released.

To me, I interpret this as either they overproduced, or people are simply not purchasing the volume that Hasbro anticipated they would from the online store. 

Moving forward I would not be surprised if 2023 brings us a lot of desirable things that are underproduced.  Hasbro does not want to see these things at 40% off but they probably have to make room for so many other products that they are bringing to market.   Those ordering numbers should be as healthy as the numbers that these were produced in.

2023 and 2024 though... 

I feel like I have seen this before and when it happens the following years have slim pickings. 

I'm curious about the timing of the sale. Why now? Is there some significance to this random week in June that I'm unaware of, some sort of Hasbro anniversary? It seems odd, but I'm not complaining about the prices. I wonder if supply chain issues have them backed up on old products they can't move, meanwhile stuff that they solicited a year or more ago is still not here. Some waves have broken through (Transformers Legacy is on shelves around the country already) but there are a lot of pieces that are still on the boat somewhere (how far out are we on GI Joe solicits at this point?)

In addition to the Premium membership kerfuffle that @fantastic_fourmentioned, I also wonder if there has been a bigger pushback on the recent price increases than they may have foreseen. Deluxe TF's, Marvel Legends, Classifieds etc that used to be $20, are now $23, Voyagers are now over $30, etc. It's been a slow death by many cuts. At $23 I start to think "Do I really need this Deluxe?" At $13-$15 I'm filling up that cart!

[fantastic_four]

On 6/3/2022 at 8:21 AM, F For Fake said:

In addition to the Premium membership kerfuffle that @fantastic_fourmentioned, I also wonder if there has been a bigger pushback on the recent price increases than they may have foreseen. Deluxe TF's, Marvel Legends, Classifieds etc that used to be $20, are now $23, Voyagers are now over $30, etc. It's been a slow death by many cuts. At $23 I start to think "Do I really need this Deluxe?" At $13-$15 I'm filling up that cart!

Hasbro Pulse is just the most expensive retail option right now, and they also tend to get product more slowly than ALL of their competitors.  By design, as Hasbro seems to want Pulse to be a secondary option for fans behind their main retail customers, i.e. Walmart, Target, Amazon, etc.  They weren't the most expensive when they had free shipping, but without that they are since they rarely ever discount anything.  At any given moment Target, Walmart, Amazon, Gamestop, or Best Buy are usually cheaper than Pulse is on almost any given item.

They've seemed pretty clueless about how overpriced that Pulse Premium membership is from the start, and once they cancelled the open-ended subscriptions they handed out reality set in and their warehouse started to fill and fill and fill until they realized they had no room for new product.  Hence the sale.  I see no reason to view the sale as a death-knell for Marvel Legends; it just unveils the need for Pulse to change their pricing to be more competitive.  More sales, cheaper premium membership, or whatever; they need to do something.  Example--make some Premium-only figure that's at least semi-desirable and they'd get thousands of new subscriptions, which in turn would lead to more fans choosing Pulse over competitors due to the free shipping benefit of membership.

The better conversation about the future of Marvel Legends is why in Target's most recent planogram for the summer they gave DC Multiverse a LOT more pegs and took away ALL of the Marvel Legends pegs.  My local Targets have 10 or more pegs for McFarlane's toys and none for Legends; they chose to go with all cheaper Marvel toys like the Titan Heroes and 3.75" line of Legends.  That's got me more worried about Marvel Legends than Pulse's sale.    Not big-time worried, it's just a clear indication that McFarlane is out-doing Hasbro right now in the superhero action figure fight.  He did an interview a few months ago linked below where he just outright said he's forgoing profits right now to get a bigger share of the market by keeping his price point cheaper than he knows Hasbro can compete with, and it seems semi-clear that his strategy worked with Target.  It'll be interesting to see how that pans out over the next year or three.    He's rich, but there's only so long he'll be fine with minimal profitability or a loss.

 

[Buzzetta]

On 6/2/2022 at 7:24 PM, fantastic_four said:

They're not, but there's a VERY specific reason for it.  Hasbro recently killed what are almost certainly the vast majority of their Pulse Premium accounts late last year including mine.  It's clear from posts on the Fwoosh forum that a VERY small percentage of people renewed that thing since it offers at best very little advantage, but I would argue it offers almost NO advantage.  So buying anything for those tens of thousands of people who used to have free Pulse Premium accounts now involves $6.99 shipping.

I used to order regularly from Pulse when I had a multi-year Premium account that I got for just buying a $25 Archangel figure, but I haven't ordered at all from there since it expired except for ordering the Mojo con exclusive and whatever I end up buying from this sale.  I knew once they killed all of those accounts without offering ANYTHING new to Premium memberships that they wouldn't get many of them.  And with few to no sales (before this one) and full MSRP pricing, Target beats them almost every day of the week...so why would hardcore collectors buy from them?

The answer seems to be that they aren't.  But I doubt sales are down across all retailers so I'd be very surprised if Pulse's struggles with clearing inventory affects Hasbro's sales estimates for the near future.

Excellent point that I did not consider and upon consideration you are probably right.  I renewed my subscription only because it is near impossible to find things at retail here on Long Island.  However, the only orders I have placed are the two Star Wars items I showed above so next year I will probably take a hike. 

I do always fear the worst though because of Hasbro's history of botching stuff like this.

[F For Fake]

On 6/3/2022 at 8:52 AM, fantastic_four said:

Hasbro Pulse is just the most expensive retail option right now, and they also tend to get product more slowly than ALL of their competitors.  By design, as Hasbro seems to want Pulse to be a secondary option for fans behind their main retail customers, i.e. Walmart, Target, Amazon, etc.  They weren't the most expensive when they had free shipping, but without that they are since they rarely ever discount anything.  At any given moment Target, Walmart, Amazon, Gamestop, or Best Buy are usually cheaper than Pulse is on almost any given item.

They've seemed pretty clueless about how overpriced that Pulse Premium membership is from the start, and once they cancelled the open-ended subscriptions they handed out reality set in and their warehouse started to fill and fill and fill until they realized they had no room for new product.  Hence the sale.  I see no reason to view the sale as a death-knell for Marvel Legends; it just unveils the need for Pulse to change their pricing to be more competitive.  More sales, cheaper premium membership, or whatever; they need to do something.  Example--make some Premium-only figure that's at least semi-desirable and they'd get thousands of new subscriptions, which in turn would lead to more fans choosing Pulse over competitors due to the free shipping benefit of membership.

The better conversation about the future of Marvel Legends is why in Target's most recent planogram for the summer they gave DC Multiverse a LOT more pegs and took away ALL of the Marvel Legends pegs.  My local Targets have 10 or more pegs for McFarlane's toys and none for Legends; they chose to go with all cheaper Marvel toys like the Titan Heroes and 3.75" line of Legends.  That's got me more worried about Marvel Legends than Pulse's sale.    Not big-time worried, it's just a clear indication that McFarlane is out-doing Hasbro right now in the superhero action figure fight.  He did an interview a few months ago linked below where he just outright said he's forgoing profits right now to get a bigger share of the market by keeping his price point cheaper than he knows Hasbro can compete with, and it seems semi-clear that his strategy worked with Target.  It'll be interesting to see how that pans out over the next year or three.    He's rich, but there's only so long he'll be fine with minimal profitability or a loss.

 

That's interesting, and a shame, because the McFarlane DC stuff is terrible. I don't really collect ML's except for a few random figures here and there, but I think they knock it out of the park on sculpts, and usually cool character choices. So if there is a Marvel character I'm interested in, it's an easy choice to pick it up.

But McFarlane's DC stuff is a total pass based on both character selection and sculpt. They don't make characters I care about (or even recognize, for the most part), and the few that I would be interested in are terribly ugly. I was spoiled by the golden age of the early 00's, where we had DC Universe Classics, Infinite Heroes, and Justice League Unlimited cramming the shelves from Mattel, and DC Direct kicking in with more comic specific lines. Limitless character selection, beautiful sculpts, so many great figures. it was an age we'll never see again for DC action figure fans, I'm afraid. Oh well, I'm saving a lot of money!

 

[Buzzetta]

I went through the Hasbro Pulse sale but anything I would have bought, I already paid full price for.  I don't want to be drawn in to something that I didn't see the full value in on the first go around.

However, it is hard at some of those prices not to pull the trigger on and enter the 1:12 market.   As of now I am still sticking to 3 3/4"

[fantastic_four]

On 6/3/2022 at 11:38 AM, F For Fake said:

But McFarlane's DC stuff is a total pass based on both character selection and sculpt. They don't make characters I care about (or even recognize, for the most part), and the few that I would be interested in are terribly ugly.

Some of it is good.  McFarlane's sculptors are better than the Legends team was about five years ago, but they make large, glaring mistakes somewhere between a third to two-thirds of the time.  They're clearly a cut below the Legends sculptors right now, but quality keeps improving.  The aesthetic of the plastic they use is very different from Legends; it's firmer, stiffer, less give.  At first I didn't like that, but it's growing on me.

I'm a Marvel zombie so I ordinarily don't buy DC stuff, but I recently bought the McFarlane build-a-horse wave of four Dark Knight Returns figures pictured below mostly to use the horse with Marvel Legends.  I generally enjoy all four of them, although I wouldn't call any of them great.  The horse is fun though and I'll definitely be using it in Marvel displays.

I would buy more McFarlane DC stuff if he didn't obstinately make the scale of the line 7 inches instead of 6 like his DC predecessors did.  I still think he did it for obstinate and stubborn reasons and that he's doing action figure fans and himself a disservice, but hey, his figures are selling better than ever so I'm sure he disagrees.

Edited June 3, 2022 by fantastic_four

[Namtak]

Alien maquette project update:12 issue done so far!the lower jaw is funally fixed in and open and close in sync with tongue.with 13th issue ill have the lower back of the head an more tube vains.theres the metal ball joint pin in place for head/neck where i hold it on pics,it articulate quite well!

[BabaLament]

My LCS was on point today with their books & Funko selection! The only What If pop’s I still need are the zombies (which I’m not all that excited about), and I managed to get the two Blacklight pop’s I wanted most: Spider-Man & Carnage!
 

I’m no longer a D&D player, but R.A Salvatore’s Legend of Drizzt novel series has been my favorite fantasy series since I was a kid. I saw the two pack & had to get it. 
 

I just picked up the Funko Soda’s & haven’t opened them yet. Let’s see if I can find a chase…😁

Edited June 4, 2022 by BabaLament

[ADAMANTIUM]

On 6/4/2022 at 2:09 PM, BabaLament said:

My LCS was on point today with their books & Funko selection! The only What If pop’s I still need are the zombies (which I’m not all that excited about), and I managed to get the two Blacklight pop’s I wanted most: Spider-Man & Carnage!
 

I’m no longer a D&D player, but R.A Salvatore’s Legend of Drizzt novel series has been my favorite fantasy series since I was a kid. I saw the two pack & had to get it. 
 

I just picked up the Funko Soda’s & haven’t opened them yet. Let’s see if I can find a chase…😁

I've noticed all the LCS in my area have posted that they got new "pops" in too  

Hope not "everyone" is selling  , I mean they still bought my comic related stuff today too, so all good  

Glad you found what you were after  

[BabaLament]

@ADAMANTIUM Well, no chase on the Funko Sodas, but that’s ok; I think the regular Carnage looks better anyhow. 😁

The guys who own my LCS are doing just fine; they’ve built a good shop with a loyal clientele. The only downside for me, being a guy who likes to sell books from time to time to finance new/old books and/or toys, is that they don’t like buying books over $50. They like having keys in the shop, but the neighborhood isn’t flush with high rollers, so high value books tend to sit, so they avoid them.