WWE Retro - General Discussion

Or a ninja superstars figure

Just unfortunate reality. They botched the lineups, virtually from the start and now the line is over. *At least we got Diesel. Seriously. But look at all of the other miscues, beyond distribution.

- Oldberg instead of Goldberg.
- KO was used as a repaint.
- Diesel took 10 waves.
- Sheamus was in the line.
- We got modern Jericho instead of a WCW or AE version to go with what we got in wave 2.
- HBK was in 2008ish attire with a super weird head.
- I know people are just happy to have flashback figures but Sheik and JYD were not demanded figures in this line when we could have had Mabel or USA Lex.
- It took them 9 waves to get us an accessory. (I ing love that Goldust, though)
- I'd argue Foley in wave 2 was a mistake instead of giving us his 96 look but I get the theme was supposed to be 98ish. Not to mention the shirt.

There just should have been an equal 2-2 assortment of current/past in every single wave from 3 on. There wasn't. Series 3 was over shipped, featured no flashback characters and rotted for a year. We got repaints of KO and Sting way too soon (I get the Enzo and Cass thing but it still impacted the line negatively by not having new faces). And guys like Bray and Nakamura were waning in popularity (to put it kindly) by the time their figures hit. I think you could argue the size/scale situation too. They were just a little over sized compared to the Hasbro figures. That's nitpicky but when most people collected both it's kind of a big factor.

The whole deal just hurts my heart. Primarily because I wanted Jeff Jarrett, who I think we're very close to seeing in the main elite line, and guys like Mabel and USA Lex who we have in the Elite line already. I would have loved the OG NWO, too. Regardless, spilt milk now. *At least we got Diesel.

This sucks, but Mattel seems to do this a lot. These corporations always want the next "new big thing". My prediction is they release a bunch of crappy new lines that get canceled after a year or so and then we will see retros back.

They do the same thing with legends figures every few years. Right now they're on the kick of "we release too many legends, lets scale back and make them exclusive and hard to find". After a year or two of this, they will say "we're not releasing enough legends figures in the main lines, we need more!"

There has to be some middle ground here. I know Mattel can't be a retro/legends only line, but at the same time all these new guys / NXT guys are NON-STARS to the general public, which mattel can't bring themselves to admit. Beyond a current guys first figure, most of the newer guys from Seth, to AJ, to Roman to Owens all warm shelf's like crazy to my eyes.

Like I said, there has to be some middle ground between a Harley Race figure being so hard to find it goes for $400 and seeing 1000 Charlotte elites warming shelves in every Walmart I walk into.

You really dont think they are just trying to let us down easy? Trying to give us that tiny bit of hope that they know will surely fade away? They probably dont want to piss us off.

Like SteveHulk said, they told us the same thing with the flashback line and look what happened with that. It's dead and gone.

All I know is Mattel can't be trusted or relied on to keep a line up and running unless it's Basics or regular Elites.
Look at every single line they ever made for WWE figures. It's lasted a few series and then it's canceled. Is it really any wonder why they aren't selling? For some it's like starting a new collection. Especially with the Retros. Defining Moments, Entrance Greats, Flashbacks, Superstar Entrances, NXT Elites, Retros, Womens Division Walgreens exclusives, and any exclusive line ever made. I'm sure i missed about a dozen more. They come, they go, rinse and repeat.
Anyone can criticize and say whatever they want about me complaining, but I feel like we have a right to. I've never seen a Toy Company/Line cancel as many as Mattel has with WWE. You like the new Ultimate Edition? Well guess what? It's going to be canceled in a few months.
One thing I've learned from this forum over the past year is that Mattel doesn't care about collectors. They throw us a few bones every now and then, but thats it.

I agree with you. And they definitely give us good stuff sometimes. But to me it seems like all of the lines that collectors really love are the ones getting canceled all the time. In all seriousness, I just don't understand what they are trying to do or what it would take for a line to not get canceled. Tell me if I'm wrong but Flashback Elites flew off the shelves.

What was different about the ring that was canned? 

The WWE/TMNT figures wouldve worked if it had been Playmates late 80s/early 90s style or even the TMNT 6" Classic Collection style. I like Donatello and Ultimate Warrior, but Im not interested in the new cartoon style where Donatello was missing a tooth. Calling it Ninja Superstars just because they didnt want to have the word wrestling in the name of the line didnt help either. There was nothing ninja or superstar about those figures.

Don't have social media, but I'm glad that's the case. They never gave the line a fair chance because they never managed to actually make it so that people could purchase these figures. Series 1 and 2 were glorious, with everything being available and great, but from season 3 onward the whole thing was a pain in the ass. Hiking prices to include interactive stands no one wanted that worked with a game that no one in the target audience for these figures would ever play, completely absurd distribution, dumb rereleases and character choices. It's weird to me that they'd have their fingers on the pulse enough to conceive of and produce this line and then seem so completely out of it in terms of how they developed and distributed it. 

Also, the response to that instagram question seemed pretty smug "When we are ready, we will let you know more about Retros." Basically telling you to stop asking because you'll get info if and when they feel like releasing it. That's all well and good and is obviously their prerogative, but perhaps if they had been a bit more transparent with this whole process from the beginning, they wouldn't be feeling this backlash now. And perhaps, if they recognize that these figures are so popular that they need to hide/temper news of the line's cancellation, they should've taken greater pains to actually do something with it in the first place. 

But....."I'm glad we got Diesel."