Official Ultimate Edition New Gen Arena Megathread

All this talk about “We don’t need a ring!” Mattel still hasn’t released a properly scale ring in their entire 10 years. The best scale wrestling ring is still the Jakks one from over 15 years ago. How many people have the Jakks one still in quality condition? Not many because I remember all the comments when Wicked Cool Toys started rereleasing Mattel’s scale ring. What was the top complaint of the Mattel/WCT ring? It was too big. Then Mattel made the Main Event ring. What was the top complaint? It was too short. Here we have what looks like a perfectly scaled ring based on photos with Diesel. Those of us who like rings want to retire the old worn out Jakks ring.

The problem people seem to have with funding this appears to be this: They only want pieces of the cake and not the whole cake. They want an entrance and a Diesel or an entrance and a Doink or the figures or the entrance and the ring. I have a Diesel and I think Doink is lame. There’s a bunch of items racking up the cost. And I assure you that Doink is baked into the initial price because companies aim to make profit. So there are 4 separate items (and ring skirts) increasing the cost.

Hasbro’s big ticket items seem to be one item. You want Galactus? Here’s Galactus. That’s all you’re buying. Just Galactus. People who want Galactus get Galactus and people who aren’t interested don’t need to fork over cash to get like the Fantastic Four Fantisticar or whatever. It’s just Galactus. You want the Star Wars Barge? You can get the Barge. I know it came with a couple figures, but I’m pretty sure they already made a Jabba. And if not, it’s still the Barge. It’s not the Barge and the only X-Wing they’ll release.

For Mattel’s crowd funding, you gotta want a ring, the entrance, a Diesel, and a Doink or you have to want any one or combination of those things to pluck down $275 after tax/shipping. Any one of those things would fund no problem. You combine them all and you’re asking for people who don’t want all of it to put down a lot of money, it’s a weird proposition. And all of this after we’re leaving one of the worst economic periods in at least American history if not world history. That part pisses me off a little and Hasbro is guilty of the tone deafness, too.

Well, Sarge sold out. Did you get one?

Kinda silly to base your decision on spite.

The ring design looks great but I am hesitating for several reasons. The biggest one being I really disagree with the emphasis on including figures, especially big names that would EASILY sell via other channels (like Diesel and Doink), and as ultimates too? SO much cost being diverted into the figures here... This is a rare opportunity to make large and obscure arena-related accessories (e.g. ringside mats, announcer table, barricades) or at the very least an obscure arena-related figure (e.g. classic referee, ring announcer, etc.)

I'm also primarily a WCW/NWO era fan first, then WWF attitude era second, so the new generation theme isn't my preference. It's not a deal breaker as I can customize the ring, but it still puts me off. I also have no interest in the neon stage, again not a dealbreaker as I can sell it, but again puts me off.

I am torn as I know it's important to support this, and it might lead to future versions being produced that are more to my taste (i.e. this ring with a WCW theme, a Nitro stage, a Thunder stage, etc) but really other than the ring design nothing else about this set interests me.

I believe you can get a refund, but you have to call a number to start the process.

Well if it fails I seriously doubt there will even be another project. All I’m saying from years of collecting MOTUC, is there were always threats (or whatever word you want to call them) from the brand manager as to what would happen if the subscriptions failed. I agree the only way to guarantee those releases is to back this project, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if it fails that we still see those releases eventually

I’m genuinely asking here, why do you think that?

The way I would look at it is, they spent the money on tooling this, all the work is already done, all they gotta do is mass produce the mold. The next time they need to fill a slot in a line with a legend, well, we know they liked the Evil Doink figure. Maybe it won’t come with all the heads and stuff, but maybe it will be a ultimate and it will.

I think they've only made one to show off. These don't go into production until it's for certain that the project is back. Not a lot of money loss if they only produce one for show.

I see what you’re saying, I know a good deal of the work goes into tooling these figures. For example, they already scanned Doinks face, they made the molds…all they gotta do now is mass produce them which costs money of course, but I’m honestly not sure what’s more expensive. Do they flush all the money they spent on making the Doink molds, scans and tooling or do they lose more money in mass producing a figure they know a great deal of people are interested in?

I mean, they spent the money now on the molds…mass producing it just allows them to make the money back.

Agreed. And "all they gotta do is mass produce the mold" sounds easy, but molds are a massive expense. Even if there's a decent amount of reuse, and I expect there is for Doink, there are still going to be significant production costs. That probably makes a midcard gimmick wrestler from the 90s a less appealing prospect for a line set at a premium price point. Maybe if the Legends offshoot of the line does really well, there's a chance, but I think that's going to hit a lot of different looks for star-level guys to squeeze the Legends collectors.