|
Post by casanova on Jul 8, 2020 13:57:34 GMT -5
Steve: 1. Thanks for taking the time to respond to these. Times are dark - some of us have serious jobs, and actions figures are an amazing escape. This thread helps me get away every day. 2. Thanks for your great insights on the Retro line. As a collector who ONLY bought that line - was very sad to see it end and had questions about how it was managed. Seeing your responses that you knew the older superstars sold the best - and that a manager was planned at TRU - makes me hopeful about the future and that you’re listening to collectors (I desperately want to give Mattel my money for Retros of 80s-90s wrestlers). 3. You said typical turn around time is one year, but Hogan MOTU figure with ring comes out next month, and you previously said Hogan was approved in January. Does MOTU have a quicker turn around? Glad you’re enjoying the thread. I know I’ve been a little less active here lately but I do have to run the day to day business plus working on lots of exciting things for you all for Comic-Con@home. Still popping on quickly whenever I get a chance. The Retro line lost its way a bit between fluctuating retail interest, TRU closing, talent selection, management leadership change, etc. It was honestly not one or two people’s fault but just a series of events that forced it to have to (hopeful temporarily) end. I came on board while planning what turned out to be the final year of the line and I think it’s agreed that the last three waves were pretty strong with an even balance of Legends and modern talent to satisfy hardcore fans, retailers, licensor, game partner, etc. But it was just too late at that point. And yes, you would have seen mote Legends in the “Collector Edition” type slots as retailer exclusives. I am hopeful we can bring these back in a way that makes sense and caters directly towards the real audience for them. I know the appetite is strong here but all of your continued patience waiting for these just helps ensure that if/when they do come back, they’re back in a way that can be successful and keep them going as long as there’s still solid collector demand. Hogan and speed to market - While the majority of items needs about a year or sometimes more, there are figures we can fast track. Fiend, Ronda, etc as examples. It is extra strain for the system/process as a whole, thus can’t be done for every figure but we do implement this as often as possible. With the Hogan ring bundle hitting roughly end of September, it falls in line with the typical fast track time frame. This being a one-off time also helps as we’re not shuffling around all the work that was done on a specific wave. Hope that explains things a bit more.
|
|
|
Post by showbizpizzabear81 on Jul 9, 2020 14:05:29 GMT -5
Hopefully. There should still be a lot of Series 9 & 10 out there since neither set showed up at Walmart & Target. Then all the Five Below stores around here got was Series 8. Series 6 never showed up anywhere either. Why can’t the stores find a bunch of these like they did with the Elite sets that never showed up last year. Found series 9 at Five Below last night. I've never even seen retros at a five below so that was a nice surprise. Where are you located? Chicago area here...just wondering if it's worth making a stop
|
|
alphadeltaxray
Main Eventer
Enter your message here...
Joined on: May 9, 2019 15:41:00 GMT -5
Posts: 3,003
|
Post by alphadeltaxray on Jul 9, 2020 14:35:56 GMT -5
Found series 9 at Five Below last night. I've never even seen retros at a five below so that was a nice surprise. Where are you located? Chicago area here...just wondering if it's worth making a stop Tampa, Florida
|
|
RedDevil
Main Eventer
Joined on: Aug 8, 2017 18:43:00 GMT -5
Posts: 1,544
|
Post by RedDevil on Jul 16, 2020 19:47:40 GMT -5
So we’re a week away from Mattel’s big announcement at SDCC of the Retros returning (I’m choosing to hear zero negativity at this stage ): -How do you guys think they’ll bring them back? -Line-ups? -Where will they be sold? -When will series 11 be released? I’m thinking they will be the big WWE announcement for Mattel Creations in terms of figures (I think they’ll also announce a crowd-funded Elite play-set with the Titan Tron). This will basically be Mattel’s way of telling us to put our money where our mouths are: no distribution issues with retailers like Walmart or Target, no excuses - it’s on us to order enough from Mattel to prove the line is worth the effort. And it will allow the WWE team to create waves without having to think about the average Walmart customer, or having to try to appeal to anyone other than the old Hasbro fans. Price between $15-20 each; or maybe they’ll only sell them as a complete set of four so one figure doesn’t sit unsold compared to others in the set - $60-70 for four for customers in the US, but international customers will be able to order direct from the US site, with additional shipping costs of course. Series 11 will have been worked on secretly for a few months now, so will be pencilled-in for a quarter 1 2021 release: -Hollywood Hogan -The Fiend -Lex Luger (Allied Powers) -British Bulldog (Allied Powers) They’ll also announce series 12 for the second quarter of 2021: -Jerry Lawler (blue and white) -Mr McMahon (Attitude Era suit) -Bret Hart (Hart Foundation 1990) -Jim Neidhart (Hart Foundation 1990) If the above sell in sufficient numbers (or succeed in crowd-funding if that’s the model they go for) then they’ll announce the final two 2021 waves at Axxess, with SDCC 2021 confirming another four waves will follow in 2022, expanded to eight guys per wave. And yes, I’m VERY bored this evening...
|
|
|
Post by hulkjoegan on Jul 17, 2020 2:23:56 GMT -5
So we’re a week away from Mattel’s big announcement at SDCC of the Retros returning (I’m choosing to hear zero negativity at this stage ): -How do you guys think they’ll bring them back? -Line-ups? -Where will they be sold? -When will series 11 be released? I’m thinking they will be the big WWE announcement for Mattel Creations in terms of figures (I think they’ll also announce a crowd-funded Elite play-set with the Titan Tron). This will basically be Mattel’s way of telling us to put our money where our mouths are: no distribution issues with retailers like Walmart or Target, no excuses - it’s on us to order enough from Mattel to prove the line is worth the effort. And it will allow the WWE team to create waves without having to think about the average Walmart customer, or having to try to appeal to anyone other than the old Hasbro fans. Price between $15-20 each; or maybe they’ll only sell them as a complete set of four so one figure doesn’t sit unsold compared to others in the set - $60-70 for four for customers in the US, but international customers will be able to order direct from the US site, with additional shipping costs of course. Series 11 will have been worked on secretly for a few months now, so will be pencilled-in for a quarter 1 2021 release: -Hollywood Hogan -The Fiend -Lex Luger (Allied Powers) -British Bulldog (Allied Powers) They’ll also announce series 12 for the second quarter of 2021: -Jerry Lawler (blue and white) -Mr McMahon (Attitude Era suit) -Bret Hart (Hart Foundation 1990) -Jim Neidhart (Hart Foundation 1990) If the above sell in sufficient numbers (or succeed in crowd-funding if that’s the model they go for) then they’ll announce the final two 2021 waves at Axxess, with SDCC 2021 confirming another four waves will follow in 2022, expanded to eight guys per wave. And yes, I’m VERY bored this evening... It would be very cool if this was the case; so I’ll allow myself to indulge for a moment....😂 (Assuming they continue with 2 current/2 retro, as I have my doubts they’d go full retro even if catering directly to this fan base. And this is who I think they would do, not who I would like them to do) - Hulk Hogan (maybe Hollywood) - Vader - Rey Mysterio - The Fiend
|
|
|
Post by Davey on Jul 17, 2020 3:45:17 GMT -5
I think you’re right. Mattel Creations is the perfect platform for a return of retros. I’d be very surprised if they didn’t atleast tease the return even if there weren’t any images of the next series. I’d be all in for a slightly higher price for these IF:
- The packaging card is thicker and all round better quality. - All singlets are moulded. This was a big disappointment on Diesel. - Each Series was legends heavy with maybe one current wrestler.
|
|
|
Post by gentlemanjohnny on Jul 17, 2020 14:17:59 GMT -5
It would be great if they came back. ONLY flashback wrestlers this time. Nobody who bought figures in this line cared about current wrestlers. The 2 legends and 2 current doesn't work because 50% of the figures are worthless. They also need to strike with the big names quick. They held off on Diesel way too long, he should have been put in from jump street.
If its going to be 4 per series
1. Hulk Hogan- You have to put in Hogan at the start. I'd prefer red and yellow, but Hollywood would probably be a better choice here. My NWO Macho Man is wondering why he was made. Give him a reason to live. 2. Tugboat- Hasbro guys get this. How did they not make him already??? 3. USA Lex Luger- Again, this is a no brainer. If you want this line to be successful, this is the kind of figure you produce. 4. Bobby the Brain- The biggest miss by hasbro was not making managers. So what does mattel do? They give us two Kevin Owens figures. I saw that AFA said there was a plan to get Heenan in the line at TRU, so lets see it happen.
I've given four good examples. Look at what else is left. Jim Neidhart. Roddy Piper in ring attire. Honky Tonk Man in ring attire. Andre in blue. Jeff Jarrett (If they can do it), Jimmy Hart, Vince, Surfer Sting, Harley, Dino, Gorilla... I could go on forever.
Sprinkle in Hogan, Savage, Flair and Warrior here and there and I think they'll sell.
And fix the card backer.
|
|
|
Post by MKSavage on Jul 17, 2020 14:57:12 GMT -5
It would be great if they came back. ONLY flashback wrestlers this time. Nobody who bought figures in this line cared about current wrestlers. The 2 legends and 2 current doesn't work because 50% of the figures are worthless. They also need to strike with the big names quick. They held off on Diesel way too long, he should have been put in from jump street. If its going to be 4 per series 1. Hulk Hogan- You have to put in Hogan at the start. I'd prefer red and yellow, but Hollywood would probably be a better choice here. My NWO Macho Man is wondering why he was made. Give him a reason to live. 2. Tugboat- Hasbro guys get this. How did they not make him already??? 3. USA Lex Luger- Again, this is a no brainer. If you want this line to be successful, this is the kind of figure you produce. 4. Bobby the Brain- The biggest miss by hasbro was not making managers. So what does mattel do? They give us two Kevin Owens figures. I saw that AFA said there was a plan to get Heenan in the line at TRU, so lets see it happen. I've given four good examples. Look at what else is left. Jim Neidhart. Roddy Piper in ring attire. Honky Tonk Man in ring attire. Andre in blue. Jeff Jarrett (If they can do it), Jimmy Hart, Vince, Surfer Sting, Harley, Dino, Gorilla... I could go on forever. Sprinkle in Hogan, Savage, Flair and Warrior here and there and I think they'll sell. And fix the card backer. I agree, I would love for them to focus completely on legends - especially those that should have gotten a figure at the time but didn't, sprinkled in with main stars with multiple looks (Hogan, Savage, Flair, Warrior, HBK, Razor, etc.) to help sell. I do see the point of them adding current stars, they wanted kids today to buy them - or their parents - to help expand the line but I don't think it worked, the legends seemed to go fast while the current stars just sat (series 3 was a disaster, 3 current stars and instead of a flashback Goldberg they gave us 2017/18 Goldberg). I think they should focus on the stars who didn't get a figure at the time (1990-1994) with updates on stars who did get figures from Hasbro (Hogan, Flair, Savage, Piper, Jake, Warrior, Ted, HBK, Razor, Bret, Taker, etc.), then expand the line by working forward and backwards (1985-1989) and (1995-1999). Also, try to get them to look as much like the original Hasbro line as possible, plastic throughout, and use actions that Hasbro used - if they can, try to make each figure unique to the wrestler like series 1-4 did. And like gentlemanjohnny said, fix the card backer; get a thicker cardboard to use, style it like the original, make the back look similar (black and white is fine, plus it saves a little money not using color ink here), maybe use the last few series style and each series is a different color for the front. One's they should work on first: Macho King - long tights Jake Roberts - heel version with cobra Roddy Piper - wrestling gear Jim Neidhart - Hart Foundation Tugboat Lex Luger - USA version Tatanka - long tights, rookie year Greg Valentine - Rhythm and Blues Honky Tonk Man - wrestling gear Ted DiBiase - white and gold suit, money inc era Razor Ramon - I always though he should have been styled like Hogan S1/Sid, that way you go perform his finishing move Dino Bravo - canadian strongman gear Earthquake - canadian earthquake gear Earthquake - natural disasters gear Rick Rude - definitely needs an update, his Hasbro figure was horrible Tito Santana - pre-El Matador era figure Brutus Beefcake - Mega Maniacs version Hulk Hogan - 1993 era and managers would be cool too.
|
|
RedDevil
Main Eventer
Joined on: Aug 8, 2017 18:43:00 GMT -5
Posts: 1,544
|
Post by RedDevil on Jul 17, 2020 19:14:12 GMT -5
The cards issue is interesting - clearly Mattel created it’s card designs as a homage to the Hasbros, but why didn’t they produce more exact designs for the cards compared to the Hasbros? Clearly Hasbro doesn’t seem to have anything related to the line trademarked, so I’d think they could’ve easily made near-identical backing cards for the Retros to match the Hasbros perfectly. Like why didn’t they pull the backing-colour down behind the back of the WWE logo like the Hasbro cards did? Fine if they didn’t want to be change the colour for each series, but at least do that so the blue or red colours make the figures stand-out a bit more on the pegs; make them more eye-catching. I can understand If the fading stars behind the figures might be difficult to achieve or something, maybe, but leaving the upper part white didn’t really fit either TBH and could’ve been avoided. Why didn’t they make the move graphic on the front more prominent? The text doesn’t stand-out at all it’s so small, and most of the time it’s just the name of the guy’s finisher instead of something more fun like “Bulldog Bash!” or “Conceited Crunch!” - feels like they were missing the point there. And of course the back of the card has nothing to match the Hasbros, which is a shame. I thought maybe toys now need to have more legal text on them than in the early 90s or something, but still couldn’t they have fitted-in a bio-card? Or at least go for the monochrome colour scheme - I expect the budget isn’t so much of an issue now as it was during the Hasbro days, but still that’s an easy move rather than the generic and forgettable card-backs we got. At least when they got rid of the stands then they brought-back the move graphic to the front of the card, I’m grateful for that. But I can’t understand how they got so close to recreating the Hasbro cards, but miss details that seem so avoidable. Hopefully when the return is announced at SDCC next week ( ) then they’ll have had time to improve the cards - both the designs and the quality, especially as this is a line that has a huge MOC collectors inheritance to build-on.
|
|
dlbb
Mid-Carder
Joined on: Jan 8, 2015 10:23:42 GMT -5
Posts: 251
|
Post by dlbb on Jul 20, 2020 19:27:46 GMT -5
Does anyone think SDCC will showcase new Retro's?
Are there any legitimate rumors?
|
|
|
Post by hulkjoegan on Jul 21, 2020 10:22:04 GMT -5
Does anyone think SDCC will showcase new Retro's? Are there any legitimate rumors? To be honest, I’m not sure it’s likely....but it’d be great if there was! I sure know our man Antisocial is hopeful! 😂
|
|
RedDevil
Main Eventer
Joined on: Aug 8, 2017 18:43:00 GMT -5
Posts: 1,544
|
Post by RedDevil on Jul 21, 2020 12:30:21 GMT -5
Does anyone think SDCC will showcase new Retro's? Are there any legitimate rumors? To be honest, I’m not sure it’s likely....but it’d be great if there was! I sure know our man Antisocial is hopeful! 😂
|
|
RedDevil
Main Eventer
Joined on: Aug 8, 2017 18:43:00 GMT -5
Posts: 1,544
|
Post by RedDevil on Jul 21, 2020 13:34:39 GMT -5
Does anyone think SDCC will showcase new Retro's? Are there any legitimate rumors? I don’t think there are any rumours either way, not that I’ve seen. Realistically the odds are against it just because it’s so difficult to see the way for them to return, but the continued hope offered by AFA/Corporate Steve when he’s asked about them keeps us going. There seem to only be a limited number of avenues for them to return: 1. Walmart and/or Target agree to take the line on again: we know how important these two retailers are, and that their withdrawal of support is what killed the line last summer. Could Mattel persuade them to take them back? You’d think the odds are heavily against it since they didn’t even take on series 9 and 10. Maybe Mattel could try to sneak them back in by changing the name to something else (Classics? Tributes? Homages? ), or packing them differently (e.g. two-packs with Basics or Elites?) but not confident here, and wouldn’t really change anything since we know how these two have treated the line in the past. 2. They return as Ringside exclusives: this seems unlikely to me, since I imagine maintaining a full line on this basis requires too much commitment, even for a business like Ringside, not least when they are already offering successful Elite exclusives throughout the year. Given the outcry at the last SDCC when the hiatus was announced then I’d have thought a deal could’ve been done in time for RingsideFest in October (I think?) to at least tease something, but obviously that didn’t happen, nor at Axxess. But Ringside have Tweeted support of the line before, so maybe. No other retailers seem to get exclusives any more, other than the big two obviously. 3. Mattel Creations: I wrote about it in my fantasy post above, but we don’t even know yet what Mattel or the WWE team are going to do with it. Best to downplay expectations of course, maybe all they’ll do is use it to sell the remaining Mr T stock and leave it there. But as Davey said, this could be the perfect platform for the Retros, if Mattel are interested in exploring that route. So hope rather than expectation.
|
|
|
Post by gentlemanjohnny on Jul 22, 2020 13:53:47 GMT -5
The Jake and Mr. T MOTU figs look awesome. It seems that mattel is putting major effort into that line. I feel like retros (if they did return) won't come back until they finish the MOTU line. I hope I'm wrong. I want to see a Hogan retro shown asap.
|
|
Eric
Main Eventer
Joined on: Jul 22, 2020 11:43:27 GMT -5
Posts: 2,810
|
Post by Eric on Jul 22, 2020 19:37:49 GMT -5
It's a shame it apparently has to be one or the other (no room for multiple non-Elite and non-Basic lines I guess). I loved Retros and want them to come back, and I love the MOTU figures and want them to stay.
As some have suggested, hopefully the Retros can start back with an exclusive of some kind (one figure or to a specific site) to show Mattel we're still interested. It's the line I've come closest to completing of all the figures I've ever collected; it was that awesome to me.
|
|
|
Post by machomadness386 on Jul 22, 2020 21:37:38 GMT -5
Hopefully. There should still be a lot of Series 9 & 10 out there since neither set showed up at Walmart & Target. Then all the Five Below stores around here got was Series 8. Series 6 never showed up anywhere either. Why can’t the stores find a bunch of these like they did with the Elite sets that never showed up last year. Found series 9 at Five Below last night. I've never even seen retros at a five below so that was a nice surprise. Found complete series 9 today (Macho green trunks, Joe, Goldust, Orton) at the Five Below in GA that is previously found Joe and Orton at.
|
|
alphadeltaxray
Main Eventer
Enter your message here...
Joined on: May 9, 2019 15:41:00 GMT -5
Posts: 3,003
|
Post by alphadeltaxray on Jul 22, 2020 21:51:13 GMT -5
Found series 9 at Five Below last night. I've never even seen retros at a five below so that was a nice surprise. Found complete series 9 today (Macho green trunks, Joe, Goldust, Orton) at the Five Below in GA that is previously found Joe and Orton at. Hopefully series 10 will pop up soon
|
|
|
Post by casanova on Jul 23, 2020 18:34:02 GMT -5
SDCC 2020 @home what a bummer for Retros. Not even a word.
As for the MOTU figures, they seem to do everything right. Great character choices. Jakes action feature is spectacular.
|
|
Lyle_The_Intern
Mid-Carder
Joined on: Nov 16, 2014 13:46:46 GMT -5
Posts: 107
|
Post by Lyle_The_Intern on Jul 23, 2020 21:00:39 GMT -5
Would anyone seeing these Series 8 figures at Five Below be able to pick some of them up for me? I really want that set, but I haven't ever seen it in person.
|
|
|
Post by showbizpizzabear81 on Jul 24, 2020 6:07:28 GMT -5
SDCC 2020 @home what a bummer for Retros. Not even a word. As for the MOTU figures, they seem to do everything right. Great character choices. Jakes action feature is spectacular. So yeah, why weren't the wrestlers picked like this for Retros? Jake? Piper? T? On a cool note, just by looking at the Savages and Warrior MOTU, I'd say that's what a Retro head scan would look like for those guys. I'm getting a few to convert to Retros.
|
|