488 replies to this topic

[Gothneo]

Not that they should draw this conclusion... but they are probably thinking that if Kirk & Picard can't cary the kind of numbers they want.. then Disco has no chance.... also could be that the terms of the license make it untennable... meaning CBS is asking too much royalty to make it worth the while.

[s8film40]

I think Star Trek figures are at a point where they're kind of in a catch 22 type thing. The typical go to when creating a Star Trek line is to start with the absolute most popular characters, Kirk, Spock, Picard. The problem is we as collectors and even mainstream collectors with only a passing interest in Star Trek have had these characters shoved down our throats to the point where many just simply don't want another. It makes sense from a business perspective because while really avid collectors will want all characters some people may just want the top characters. So obviously you're typically going to sell 100+ Kirks for every Nurse Chappel. I think McFarlane just jumped in with this idea in mind and figured if it took off they would ride the wave and if not they had a nice one off set. I think if they had studied the prior offerings a little they could have done much better. The one easy thing to go after would have been a line of Voyager figures. Sure they're no Kirk and Picard, but there's a big hole in the market for those and a lot of collectors would've jumped on that and they could've kickstarted a whole new line.

[Whirlygig]

Shartimus Prime, someone I'm not really a fan of and do not endorse in any way, had a video from this year's Toy Fair where he interviewed Todd McFarlane, and he really rambled and explained a lot of things in it.  He believes that the top characters from franchises are "evergreen".  E.g. Rick Grimes, Batman, etc...  That there will always be someone walking down the aisle who wants one of those characters, every week, every month, every year.  So he doesn't fret about re-doing characters like that ad nauseum.

 

So most likely he thinks that's the case with Trek too and applied that logic to Kirk and Picard.

 

The trouble is, Trek collectors are different animals.  First of all, there's literally nothing about Shatner Kirk that appeals to today's youth.  Picard either, really.  You're targeting the old fogies like me (38) and above with that stuff and at 38 Kirk already didn't really appeal that much to me when I *was* yesterday's youth.  Unlike Batman, whom all kids and adults love...and Rick Grimes, who is in the spotlight in two forms of media right now so everyone has him on their minds.  We old fogies, by now, are either already Trek collectors or are not and will not be spending money on Trek action figures on whims.

 

But more than that, those Trek collectors that Shatner Kirk and Picard do appeal to have been Trek collectors for so long that, as you say, we've had Kirk shoved down our throats so many times we just can't take any more.  (Especially if he's going to have a crap paint job.)  I'll collect variants of Picard all day until I have him in every costume change that ever existed, but I already have more standard uniform gold Kirks and red Picards than I need.

[Shinzon]

I do hope, with discovery going into a third season, and the Star Trek: Picard series about to launch that either McFarlane will start producing or alternatively CBS/Viacom/whoever will pass the license onto someone else who is willing to create new lines. I personally wish Playmates would return to the license, but I am certain it won’t happen. I’d settle for a smaller firm.

[Alteran195]

I dont have much hope right now for any big Trek figure lines. That hope went away after McFarlane did virtually nothing with the license.

Maybe when the new animated shows come out there will be some stuff for those, who knows.

[Jpatrik]

Agreed - though this feels like a few years back when Hasbro was announced as a licensee.  They out out some of those knock off Lego sets or something no one cared about and that was it!

Had high hopes for McFarlane, but I think things look bleak on the figure front.  Eaglemoss seems to be the only game in town when it comes to consistent trek product (at least in my view)

[Alteran195]

The KREO sets were just poorly designed, poorly fitting together trash.

Mega Bloks were significantly better, and Im genuinely upset were not getting more sets from them. Id love another larger collectors series kit like their Enterprise.

[bgiles73]

I would not rule out Mattel as a possible fit for Star Trek. It was announced that they have the license for Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick recently and with the loss of DC Comics license, Star Trek would probably be a good fit. Playmates would be my first choice if I was cashing in on a wish. With the characters that have already been done by them they could really cover a lot and give us the most extensive coverage of the property. Just a few tweaks to articulation and changing sticker applications to paint tempos on starship registries and markings could really enhance what was done before.

[s8film40]

Yeah at this point I think Playmates is the only company that could make a Star Trek toy line work. DST already did the 7 inch collector line so anyone attempting that (like Mcfarlane) is just duplicating those efforts. I think it's been long enough that the 4 inch line has built up a big nostalgia factor and if they could couple that with also doing some new stuff in the same scale I think a lot of collectors would get on board.

 

 

[VulcanFanatic]

Looking back over the years of Art Asylum and DST Star Trek figures, I've never been as excited about them as I am about the Mego TWOK figures that are coming out soon. I've enjoyed collecting Mego Star Trek more than any of the other lines IMO. To each his own and all, but Mego and getting a QMX Spock in a few months is pretty much all I am focused on in the collecting world right now .

[bgiles73]

I do like the Mego 8 and 14 figures a lot. I know they also did 3 3/4 figures at one point for several properties Star Trek included. I also know that they are rumored to maybe be considering 3 3/4 again in the future. I think for the smaller scale to be successful they might be looking at having to reinvent the wheel. Id hate to see that effort diminish what they are accomplishing in the 8 and 14 offerings so I would really love to see Playmates roll out the 4.5 figures they were successful with and Playmates in turn could steer clear of dabbling in multiscaled lines.

[bgiles73]

Dont know why iPhone always leaves the inch marks off in my posts.

[Gothneo]

I guess going retro has its appeal to some current fans/collectors... and might garner some interest in new fans/collectors... but I think it'd be limited.

 

Playmates cashed in by having a decent product... even a great product for the times... while TNG was extremely popular.  Likewise Mego did a lot of Trek Sales and was a gold standard for its time, and seemed to be able to cash in on TOS in syndication. AA/DST then took the next step providing detailed/cutting edge product for its time, but the franchise popularity waned.

 

McFarlane tested the waters to see if they could re-sell some of Treks most beloved characters... and it seems the reception was Luke warm at best. My personal opinion is because 1) there isn't enough new media to pique the publics interest, and 2) Their product wasn't significantly improved over the last iteration the way Playmates was to Mego and AA/DST to Playmates. 

 

Playmates handling of the 2009 movie was a disaster IMO. The movie was very popular, but the toys weren't up to the current state of the art and just bombed.  I think to prove that playmates could be a successful retro market ... they need their version of "Dr. Mego" that provides cheap knockoffs to build a grass roots base... I think that had to be a huge boon to the Mego comeback. 

 

But for now, and the immediate future I can't see any Trek Product that for me to get super excited about... and I'd have grabbed some of the DISCO product had it come out.

[Whirlygig]

Well, they are about to have a lot of shows full of a lot of characters that we don't have in 7" DST form.  So if they could pull their heads out and just focus on the NEW stuff, they might be able to make more headway than trying to go back to the old well.  And for God's sake, take a chance and do some VOY figures while you're at it maybe?

[s8film40]

I think what I would like to see and what could work from playmates isn't exactly a "retro line" but more a modern day extension to the 4 inch line that kind of has a little retro style to it. Kind of like what Hasbro did with the Star Wars 3 3/4 line when they brought that back. The figures were way more detailed but seemed like a natural evolution of the old figures. Some of the old Playmates figures are really well done so it's feasible that new figures could work alongside the old ones. They could of course throw in some re-releases on retro cards much like hasbro did. I do agree the 2009 line was handled very poorly the figures were pretty terrible and while the movie didn't flop it didn't really generate the fan involvement needed to support a figure line, if anything it divided the fandom. Sure the movie did well, but that's mostly due to the general public who wouldn't consider themselves Star Trek fans who went to see a fun movie and couldn't have cared less about buying any merchandise. Playmates invested heavily in that line and I suspect they got burned pretty bad. I'm sure there's some fear of going back into Star Trek with them, although it's been 10 years and these new shows are developing a lot of content so it might be the right time, maybe this time just take a slow and easy approach.

[Gothneo]

The slow easy approach is what I was eluding to by "grass roots" collecting... I was hoping thats what ew'd get out of McFarlane... a few great bits released over time. 

 

And yes... Hasbro hit it out of the park... really starting with the OTC and VOTC figures circa 2006... they really took the 3 3/4 figures to the next level. I was entranced by that VOTC Darth Vader! what a fantastic figure! Hasbro continued to find ways to improve the sculpt and POA on their offerings. They've done the same with Marvel Legends... and thats how you sell people the same thing over and over. DST and Playmates don't seem to be trying to do this.

[Gothneo]

I should add... if we got super articulated 3 3/4 figures the way Hasbro has done Star Wars... I'd buy 'em all! 

[bgiles73]

Im really of the mind that I would absolutely love Playmates to jump back in with the 4.5 inch line and do playsets and ships and role play. Lets leave 8 and 14 inch real cloth figures with Mego and 12 inch at QMX. Lets let Eaglemoss keep pumping out ship after ship but also have a really deep line of Micromachines (Just think Eaglemoss but for the budget conscious!) Let DST do more of what they will and Megaconstrux too! The main thing though is back to my first point lets keep a strong kid and collector friendly line and keep it fresh and at the front of everything else.

[Gothneo]

I don't disagree with your main point... but I guess I don't know how thats done in todays retail environment. Heck even the previous gold standard Star Wars seems to have all but disappeared from the retail pegs.

 

In a way..  I gotta believe that the demise of "Saturday Morning Cartoons" goes hand in hand with the decline of the the toy isle... having several hours a week to target advertise to kids has to have boosted sales! 

[VulcanFanatic]

It seems that a great majority of kids today are into video games and not so much into toys, action figures in particular. Imagination was required in my generation to make your adventures come alive with your action figures. Today's children don't need imagination as much anymore since video games do it all for you now.