Playmates on course to get the Entire Star Trek Liscense???
#41
Posted 09 June 2009 - 11:28 AM
I can guarantee it that if DST only did two-packs with every variation of Data, Picard,7 of 9 and Worf the four most recognized characters of the 24th century era, these would be selling through too.
But everyone one around here would be complaining endlessly about how repetitive the line is.
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But isn't that what's already happening with the endless Kirk and Spocks! Not according to DST that is what the retailers are wanting to meet preorders.
#42
Posted 09 June 2009 - 12:50 PM
#43
Posted 09 June 2009 - 01:54 PM
Yes, it is. And everyone is complaining.
#44
Posted 09 June 2009 - 01:58 PM
Is the Enterprise-D an AA achievement? I believe that was done under DST's flag. The tricorder may have its flaws, but it is still light years ahead of what Playmates ever did with their role-play. Their plans for the TWOK phaser seem even more ambitious. All of that is under DST's watch. So it isn't just AA that did great things. DST is also striving to raise the bar.
#45
Posted 09 June 2009 - 02:08 PM
Oh, well, I hate to be so cynical, but I'm usually right about these things. Just last month I predicted that Terminator 4 would be a huge hit. Also, predicted that Calvin Borel would win his own Triple Crown!
If you saw my post in the main Playmates Star Trek thread, you'll see that Playmates is committed (along with Wal-Mart apparently) to Star Trek for at least the fall of this year. In fact, the new wave plus pictures is supposed to be announced either this week or next. Anecdotal evidence of what seems to be selling around you doesn't help much as it seems to vary kind of wildly from region to region, I've noticed.
#46
Posted 09 June 2009 - 03:04 PM
#47
Posted 09 June 2009 - 05:56 PM
Is that really that much of a commitment though? See it takes something like 18 mos to plan manufacture and ship product so it can be on shelves, so that means that they really committed to Fall of '09 product back at the end '07 or beginning of '08.
To get product on the pegs in the fall, they need to be wrapping up the manufacture and getting them on the ship about now.
Yes, I know if the line was selling really poorly, they could probably exercise some clause to terminate production and liquidate any product made before it even ships, so the fact that they are committed to the second wave seems to be a sign that it's selling well enough that they know they can at least re-coup their production & design investment, so that's nice, but I don't really see it a s a strong commitment to anything more.
If they want to put more product out in 2010, then they have to start planning now! (if they haven't already started!)
#48
Posted 09 June 2009 - 07:19 PM
We've known since February or March that they had four waves planned taking them into early 2010. The planning is there... whether the line has sold well enough to justify it... that's another thing. But if Wal-Mart has just committed to carrying the product in the fall as of a week or so ago then it can't be doing THAT badly. And just because the toys are made for the fall doesn't mean they'd get into Wal-Marts automatically if the line was doing badly. The toy world is full of lines with waves that ended up being dumped at Big Lots and other discount stores because the chains no longer wanted them.
#49
Posted 10 June 2009 - 04:21 AM
All I'm saying is that it's not really that much of a commitment or that big of a deal as toys for the fall have to have been made by now. Those 2010 waves should be getting close to final pre-production stages, and I would expect that they would start making them before the end of the year if they want them to arrive on pegs early 2010.
If they were going to expand the line past the original 4 waves and expand it into 2011-2012, that would be some real news, but at this time all we are hearing is that they are still committing to what they had originally planned some while back.
I really don't see that as any indication that Playmates will get, or even try to get the entire Star Trek License.
#50
Posted 10 June 2009 - 06:15 AM
Yep, I agree. It's actually kind of hard for me to imagine that, to be honest. Not saying it's impossible.... but I do think past series might be a bit of a hard sell to stores even.
I wonder if they could do figures from Countdown though. It'd be neat to have future Picard, Geordi, Data and Worf figures along with a Reman or something.
#51
Posted 10 June 2009 - 06:58 AM
#52
Posted 10 June 2009 - 08:19 AM
I say this only because items like the Borg wave are in the DST "Delayed" repeat loop, while the TRU stuff seems to be coming rather quickly and with new (and welcomed surprise!) items such as Cage Spock and now Kang.
But I digress, back on topic!
I would like to see Playmates support the line through next year, not because I'm personally a fan of the playmates line, but because I know there are good amount of collectors out there who are, and (more importantly) I see any Trek Product that is on the shelves as an overall good thing for the franchise... after all I really doubt I'd be getting Chapel, Rand or Kang if TRU weren't interested in the line, and I know TRU wouldn't have been interested w/o the new movie and the Playmates products.
#53
Posted 10 June 2009 - 06:12 PM
This is true. TRU has the ability to buy into almost the entire DST line, but they choose to only carry TOS. I don't think Playmates would have any more luck trying to sell TNG or DS9 or Voyager to TRU either. At the most, Playmates may try to make 3 3/4" figures based on TOS. I don't think they would do a 6" line for TOS as DST/AA's 7" line is too close in scale and would be almost a redundant line now that TRU is carrying the 7" DST reissues.
#54
Posted 29 June 2009 - 10:21 AM
#55
Posted 03 July 2009 - 06:36 AM
The original 4
#56
Posted 03 July 2009 - 06:50 AM
If anything i believe that for kids - which this line is primarily for - the 3 3/4 scale is the ONLY scale to produce figures in. FYI, the articulation in these figures is much better than the figures of PM's past.
#57
Posted 03 July 2009 - 06:57 AM
#58
Posted 03 July 2009 - 07:14 AM
#59
Posted 03 July 2009 - 11:56 AM
#60
Posted 03 July 2009 - 01:35 PM
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