[RETRO] Wrestling Megastars by Epic Toys

there are no "action features" on any non-Mattel figures

they're all just poseable/articulated arms/waist/head etc

I agree, they glossed over the fact that Sal hasn't provided figures to many customers (but has started selling figures people have paid for, on ebay!)

the part I didn't like was how Mitch claimed that the breakages were minimal - I had an Ahmed that fell apart as soon as I opened the bubble, because he cut corners on production. I didn't smash mine with a hammer, I peeled the plastic bubble from the backing card and the figure practically turned into a Lego set.

that's not an isolated event, Matt was in no way rough with the articulated figures that he received, he showed a video where he rotated the arms (as one would expect on a figure with full 360 arm rotation) and the torso split apart.

yet Mitch is still claiming people were too rough on his figures. JUST OWN THE L AND MOVE ON.

I also have to question the way Mitch skipped over the Quality Control question - he's received a shipment of figures where the bubbles have come away from the card, despite he previously raised this risk with his manufacturer. So far we've had 4 figures, and from the sounds of it, each one has suffered issues that come down to Quality Control. Smoke Train doesn't even look like the guy, Ahmed's lifelike injury-prone status, MoM going from gold to yellow and bubbles falling off cards. It's clear from his answer that QC is nowhere in his mind as a priority, yet he's trying to sell figures in a crowded market where he's already managed to establish a solid fan base, and needs to keep the buyers invested in his products going forward. QC should be front of the mind Mitch, to maintain the good will of people (like myself) who are pissed off with the preorder scam and just want to buy quality goods from companies producing figures of characters that Hasbro/Mattel didn't cover.

his explanation was basically "Well, they're coming from China, what can you expect?"

so.... if a manufacturer knows Chinese goods aren't reliable, why go with China? obviously he can't produce them domestically in the USA because he can't afford it (every manufacturer goes to China because an average factory wage bill is $40 a quarter) but he's got the option to go elsewhere if he's charging $40 a figure and knows the quality of the end product is going to be an issue, rather, than saying "Well it's not my fault, they're coming from China...." to get out of the obvious failings of his own choosing.

I want Mitch to succeed. I just want him to produce figures that people can still hold (and kids can play with) in 10 years time without worrying that they'll turn to dust.