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Post by RamczyK on Jun 5, 2004 16:22:42 GMT -5
I was wondering why toy companies seem to shortpack villains? The Batman line, He-Man (I think), Spiderman Classics, and Hulk Classics, to name a few, all do this. Really, it is frustrating because the pegs become filled with all sorts of variants on the same figure (see SMC). Shouldn't villains be more readily available than heroes? IMO, they (villains) seem more vital to a collection once you have obtained the hero... Opinions or thoughts
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Post by miamidolphins on Jun 5, 2004 18:45:14 GMT -5
because if little kids buy them, they only know of the heroes....they dont give who the villian is...so they make less..
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Post by blu3blazer on Jun 6, 2004 4:59:30 GMT -5
The reason they shortpack villains is because ToyBiz does not gear their toy lines towards collectors, with the exception of Marvel Legends. ToyBiz gears their lines towards kids which is why there are 5,000 different versions of Spider-Man and Wolverine.
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Post by J Sylar on Jun 6, 2004 10:33:21 GMT -5
Which STILL makes no sense. I know when *I* was a kid, I got one...maybe TWO...versions of a particular guy. My folks would never shell out for 7 different Wolverines. They'd just yell at me for having the same guy in different suits. I wasnt able to buy different versions until I could buy them myself.
Hence why we still see an assload of Spideys on the pegs-parents are still the same no matter time or place.
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Post by Doc on Jun 6, 2004 11:56:33 GMT -5
Two reasons. 1. These companies use outdated research, and determined that kids want variants of the same character. This research also tells them that kids won't buy a female action figure. 2. The major retailers want people to come back to their stores to hunt for those figures, because they think we'll buy something while we're there.
Personally, I buy female figs, and I just leave the store when I don't see something I want.
If you think these ass backward marketing techniques don't exist, just ask anyone that collected the recent MOTU line. Mattel screwed them over royally.
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Post by RamczyK on Jun 6, 2004 13:27:37 GMT -5
Which STILL makes no sense. I know when *I* was a kid, I got one...maybe TWO...versions of a particular guy. My folks would never shell out for 7 different Wolverines. They'd just yell at me for having the same guy in different suits. I wasnt able to buy different versions until I could buy them myself. Hence why we still see an assload of Spideys on the pegs-parents are still the same no matter time or place. This was my line of thinking. I would think that having an avg. of 2 or 3 variants of one character (as a kid) would be fine. And kids play with the villains too, right? I know I did-- it's kind of hard to play out certain scenarios if you lack, say, Venom, Red Skull, or the like.
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Post by J Sylar on Jun 7, 2004 15:25:59 GMT -5
This was my line of thinking. I would think that having an avg. of 2 or 3 variants of one character (as a kid) would be fine. And kids play with the villains too, right? I know I did-- it's kind of hard to play out certain scenarios if you lack, say, Venom, Red Skull, or the like. Yeah, as a kid, you could only have He-man vs EVIL He-man only so many times. You NEED Skeletor. You NEED Venom, Lizard, et al. And regarding the MOTU line, I'm one of the people screwd on that fiasco. Luckily I found Teela and Evil Lyn. I saw Ram-Man once and Man-E-Faces a few times, but mostly it was He-Man in some stupid jungle armor or Samurai Skeletor. Its too bad...the line had such promise but was FUBARed by stupid marketing idiots. And they're making the SAME mistakes in the Batman line. I dont need Batman in "action slacks", ok? Just the grey and black and maybe a Bruce Wayne.
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Post by RamczyK on Jun 7, 2004 16:59:45 GMT -5
Yeah, as a kid, you could only have He-man vs EVIL He-man only so many times. You NEED Skeletor. You NEED Venom, Lizard, et al. And regarding the MOTU line, I'm one of the people screwd on that fiasco. Luckily I found Teela and Evil Lyn. I saw Ram-Man once and Man-E-Faces a few times, but mostly it was He-Man in some stupid jungle armor or Samurai Skeletor. Its too bad...the line had such promise but was FUBARed by stupid marketing idiots. And they're making the SAME mistakes in the Batman line. I dont need Batman in "action slacks", ok? Just the grey and black and maybe a Bruce Wayne. Agree with everything you said. As for Batman, I have never seen Killer Croc in stores. Just every silly variation of Batman there is... and I don't think anyone has bought a single one .
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Post by The Sam Kinnison Corps on Jun 7, 2004 23:07:10 GMT -5
I want a Backyard BBQ Doc Ock.
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cosmicspidey
Main Eventer
Remove Joe Quesada
Joined on: Feb 18, 2003 3:07:12 GMT -5
Posts: 4,037
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Post by cosmicspidey on Jun 8, 2004 1:42:38 GMT -5
The idea that kids don't want villains is ridiculous. However, in the case of Spider-Man and the other Marvel lines (and Batman for that matter), it's a matter of kids not recognizing the villains since there's no mass-media tie-in like a cartoon or what not. Kids might recognize a Venom (who you'd think they'd use more often) or a Doctor Octopus, but none of them know who Ultimate Rhino or Kraven the Hunter is, so it would make sense that they would be short-packed.
The LOTR line is a great example of a line that has enough media tie-ins that the kids recognize the characters and want to buy the villains. Look at the latest series of ROTK: the figure that makes up 1/3 of each case isd a villain, the Witchking of Angmar.
However, I think all the toy companies vastly underestimate just how much of an impact on sales collectors have. He-Man was obviously a collector-carried line from the start, but the supply never quite matched the demand for the second-tier characters like Zodak and Fisto. Kids don't want Zodak and Fisto. Kids want He-Man and Battle Cat and Skeletor and Orko, and maybe Man-At-Arms and Beast Man, but that's about it. So obviously it's adult collectors buying most of the product.
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