Playmates Update
#41 Guest_1701_*
Posted 31 January 2010 - 10:43 AM
#42
Posted 31 January 2010 - 10:54 AM
#43
Posted 31 January 2010 - 06:47 PM
Though ofcourse there are plenty of Bridge Playsets sitting on the shelves in Big W.
I feel really bad for collectors & kids around the world who bought that playset.
I bet Playmates has learnt a lesson....make the first set of any license count, as it may be the only set you release. Especially if your toys look like some crap from the 80's.
#44
Posted 31 January 2010 - 08:03 PM
#45
Posted 31 January 2010 - 08:27 PM
Ofcourse they don't look like toys from the 80's. They are far from the worst toys that have been put on the market lately.
Compare Playmates Uhura to Mattel's Avatar Grace Augustine & tell me which looks like a pile of crap!
We are sci-fi fans. Do we ever think anything we don't then type on a forum!
#46
Posted 31 January 2010 - 09:58 PM
I realize we're all entitled to our opinions, so I'll just say that I can't understand how anyone could think we've been spoiled by the quality of DST Trek figures over the last few years. To my eye, there has been nothing superior about any aspect of their recent Trek action figure output, and in many ways they've been subpar.
As for the Playmates comparison, I can't compare with what DST might have done if they had the license, I can only compare with the other product being put out at that scale. Hasbro blows them away at 3 3/4". Mattel is probably just as bad as Playmates with their DC line.
To your point, I'd still have been disappointed if the PM figures were at the DST quality level, and I'd still have bemoaned Hasbro not getting the license.
#47
Posted 01 February 2010 - 04:28 AM
#48
Posted 01 February 2010 - 12:22 PM
The first two waves were horrible, granted, but that hard to find Temple of Doom wave was excellent. I have the whole collection of Hasbro's Indiana Jones line-up. I only hope that Hasbro will give it another shot! It would be nice to get the secondary characters that were shown at SDCC that were going to be in Wave 5! Must be something about Wave 5, no matter which company!
#49
Posted 01 February 2010 - 02:51 PM
In that particular case the line was on the ropes and almost done after wave 5 waves 6 & 7 were darn hard to find, but Toybiz managed to pique interest and revive the line with the "Build-a-figure" concept that came out in wave 9.
As a result retailers gave the line another chance and ToyBiz was able to get more of wave 8 out, but wave 9 was just everywhere. That basically doubled the lines life.
Anyway, I digress!
I think that, with the exception of the 90's playmates line, Star Trek has always been more of a niche / collector line. Don't get me wrong, I like many of the products I have, but when you look at the history... Mego, Galoob, Ertl, AA and now DST... it's hard to say that any of them have been particularly successful and long lived!
I think if a line is to last these days (or in the past for that matter) it needs some kind of media tie-in. Star Wars or Power Rangers... are all examples of lines that seem to do well these days, and it's because they have media tie in right now. Star Trek, with TNG, was probably at the height of popularity, and Playmates was able to ride that wave.
Playmates isn't the only company to ever cancel a line that left collectors in the lurch, and as people have said, if wave 2 had come out so that the bridge set could have been completed it would have gone down better with people that were trying to collect the line.
#50
Posted 01 February 2010 - 04:25 PM
Picks 2009
Let's see how Trek did, shall we?
Worst Overall Company: Playmates
Worst Overall Low-End Line: Playmates Star Trek
Worst Figure 18" or Taller: DST Kirk Ultimate Quarter Scale
Worst Male Figure 12" - 18": Bronze, Playmates 12" Captain Kirk
Worst Male Figure Under 5": Silver, Playmates 4" Captain Kirk
Worst Female Figure Under 18": Silver, Playmates 6" Uhura
Worst Vehicle or Playset: Bronze, Playmates Bridge Set
Though it's not all bad: DST won Silver and Bronze in the best prop category for the DST Captain's Chair and Tricorder. But you can see, it's not just us who are complaining. People in general feel ripped off by the lack of quality merchandise out there.
#51
Posted 01 February 2010 - 05:21 PM
I could not disagree more. Not one PM Trek figure was half as good as any figure from Hasbro's Last Crusade or Temple of Doom waves. And there were some gems in the earlier waves.
Yeah, Capn, I saw MWC's year-end awards, and PM, not undeservingly, took a pounding there for both Trek and Terminator.
#52
Posted 01 February 2010 - 05:51 PM
The line was not a success and it failed because Hasbro produced sub-par product that got no interest at retail.
I'm just saying that Hasbro misses the mark too.
BTW, I'm a fan of MWC. Love his reviews, but if I have to find a criticism it would be that I think he's way to easy on many of his scores. MWC uses a 4 star rating scale and many of the items he is calling the worst of '09 (and railing against) he gave 2 or even 3 stars to!
If many of these items are really the worst I'd think they would be down in the 1/2 star or 1 star range. The Uhura I think is a good example of that. the overall rating was 2.5 stars... which I would take as better then the average toy.
#53
Posted 01 February 2010 - 06:32 PM
#54
Posted 01 February 2010 - 07:23 PM
#55
Posted 01 February 2010 - 07:57 PM
Well, that is one opinion. But the truth is that I don't buy ANY Hasbro products at the moment and am unlikely to buy much in the future. Hasbro took a line, Marvel Legends... a line that was a huge success and following BTW... and drove it into the ground and then beat on it with a bat!
I'm just saying that Hasbro is as flawed as any other company out there, and IMO they are far from hitting on all cylinders. In fact, IMO, Mattel's been putting out much better product with their DCUC, MOTU, Ghost Buster and Movie Masters lines.
#56
Posted 01 February 2010 - 09:20 PM
#57
Posted 01 February 2010 - 09:36 PM
I'm just saying that Hasbro is as flawed as any other company out there, and IMO they are far from hitting on all cylinders. In fact, IMO, Mattel's been putting out much better product with their DCUC, MOTU, Ghost Buster and Movie Masters lines.
Don't forget Mattel's awesome DC 3 3/4" figures and the Avatar line!
Ignore the major clusterfrak of the DCUC distribution, the failure of Movie Masters line (from the then-2nd biggest movie of all time) and the online-only nature of Ghostbusters and MOTU.
#58
Posted 01 February 2010 - 09:46 PM
The Avatar figures are actually very cool. I've gotten pretty much all of Wave 1 except the variants. I wish the Star Trek line had been as well made. There are a few blah figures but overall they have some really great details and fun vehicles.
#59
Posted 01 February 2010 - 09:51 PM
I wonder how the line is selling, considering the overall success of the movie.
Edit:
I only saw the movie once, but I don't remember the marines carrying giant yellow guns.
#60
Posted 02 February 2010 - 05:24 AM
Yes MOTU and Ghostbusters are online only, but they do seem to be a hit with collectors. Hasbro has been doing good with it's Star Wars Bell weather, as well as transformers, and even MU seems to have found a niche of collectors. So I'm not saying they can't make decent product. I am saying that what they make doesn't interest me. I'm also saying that of the lines they had that did interest, me they failed at.
I think that's a fair statement. All 3 3/4 figures are judged by the Best Hasbro has done. Even Hasbro! See... Hasbro doesn't always do the best that we know they can on their 3 3/4 lines. That's why collectors have to keep buying the same figure again and again!
But I'll give Hasbro this. When they make a fully SA 3 3/4 figure with great detail and paint, its a beautiful thing! I wouldn't touch Hasbro's Star Wars line with long pole before they started doing SA figures ala the Vintage line and I'm not ashamed to say that they got me to purchase a whole bunch of inferior figures along the way. But it was obvious to me that they didn't put the great effort into every figure, just enough to grab you.
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