marklud
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Post by marklud on Apr 10, 2024 14:56:34 GMT -5
That looks fantastic. Still think I prefer the two Jazwares Supremes but looking forward to comparing them all in person sometime
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marklud
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Joined on: Jun 5, 2009 21:10:30 GMT -5
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Post by marklud on Apr 4, 2024 14:38:42 GMT -5
What attire/date is that for Trish?
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marklud
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Post by marklud on Apr 4, 2024 12:20:53 GMT -5
Shoulda been 2006 Kurt wit Big Gold Belt wtf lol Hard disagree. I'm so thrilled for this one. This is the unreleased Angle that got leaked a year or so ago, the attire rules so hard imo
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marklud
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Post by marklud on Apr 3, 2024 16:34:10 GMT -5
Just buy from Ringside. Relying on retail for figures in 2024 is just not the right approach imo for either line. The days of TRU are long, long, long, long gone.
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marklud
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Post by marklud on Mar 30, 2024 17:18:20 GMT -5
I don’t care about the attendance, the shows were better in the Gabe era, that’s the era people talk about as being the best American promotion ever It’s when Joe, Danielson, and a bunch of other people they have under contract were there. There also weren’t 20 people in Bullet Club attires they aren’t going to make because it would need NJPW licensing WWE’s biggest crowd ever was Wrestlemania 32, was that the best show they ever had? 😂 Well of course a peak **creatively** is super subjective and we can all have our own takes. It might be those early years, it might be some of those later years. My point was if they want the line to be a business success, they might want to release figures from when, well, ROH business was in fact objectively better. Seems pretty logical imo.
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marklud
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Post by marklud on Mar 30, 2024 15:36:09 GMT -5
My concern with the ROH line is that imo they're starting off a bit too deep. There's a ton of us collectors who were dying to have figures of guys from the 2016-18 run when NJPW and ROH were on fire. They should've kicked off the line with those versions of Omega/the Bucks/Cole/etc. and not super early ROH ones imo. ROH was wayyyyy hotter during that 2015-18 era. I'm just hoping we get stuff from that time frame sooner rather than later. Lol the peak of ROH was 2003-2007 They chose stuff from the HDNet era when it started to suck. Starting with Claudio and trunks Omega over Danielson & Joe is a crazy choice And from 2017, before business got even hotter the following year:
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marklud
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Post by marklud on Mar 30, 2024 15:17:38 GMT -5
My concern with the ROH line is that imo they're starting off a bit too deep. There's a ton of us collectors who were dying to have figures of guys from the 2016-18 run when NJPW and ROH were on fire. They should've kicked off the line with those versions of Omega/the Bucks/Cole/etc. and not super early ROH ones imo. ROH was wayyyyy hotter during that 2015-18 era. I'm just hoping we get stuff from that time frame sooner rather than later. Lol the peak of ROH was 2003-2007 They chose stuff from the HDNet era when it started to suck. Starting with Claudio and trunks Omega over Danielson & Joe is a crazy choice Lol? Compare the houses and what they were drawing business-wise from 2016-18 to those early years and get back to me.
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marklud
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Post by marklud on Mar 30, 2024 14:43:33 GMT -5
I personally would have started the ROH line off with Danielson and The Young Bucks. Kenny is a big name. But he was never a true ROH guy at least to me. Rodrick Strong could have even been a better name. I think this was just a poor starting lineup. My concern with the ROH line is that imo they're starting off a bit too deep. There's a ton of us collectors who were dying to have figures of guys from the 2016-18 run when NJPW and ROH were on fire. They should've kicked off the line with those versions of Omega/the Bucks/Cole/etc. and not super early ROH ones imo. ROH was wayyyyy hotter during that 2015-18 era. I'm just hoping we get stuff from that time frame sooner rather than later.
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marklud
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Post by marklud on Mar 30, 2024 4:28:57 GMT -5
I'm all for deep cuts in the line but the reality is that deep cuts in the line were rotting on shelves. Riho and Nyla are still on shelves YEARS LATER and they've had wayyyyy more TV time than Alex. Getting deep cuts out of 5000 is a smart compromise imo. You can get multiples of the Bunny right now on eBay for $60. Jamie Hayter and Mox chases are going for regular figure retail price in facebook groups these days (35 including shipping). You just have to wait a little bit for the prices to drop. Putting people like Alex as a 1/5000 chase has zero to do with "protecting their own profit margin" and everything to do with protecting the long-term health of the line and ensuring that it survives.That's literally what I meant with "Protecting their own profit margin". They made the figures 1/5000 because it was a business decision for them, not because they were too concerned about making collecters "happy". Long before the Bunny and Alex figures were made (And Abadon as well, but they never got made) those figures were part of the regular waves. When the line started failing, they decided to start making the figures they felt would sell least chase figures to protect themselves. But the point was that, when the figures were first shown years earlier, there was no concept in place for people's only figures being chases. That came later. It wasn't a comprimise as much as it was pacification. It was a case of them being like "OK, yeah, we'll still give you these figures we promised, but you're gonna have to hunt for them or go on secondary." And then they didn't give us the Abadon anyway because due to the way that they will reveal a figure years before it releases, by the time Abadon was supposed to be made, they'd completely vanished from TV... something that is insane with the ultimate twist that they returned more popular than ever at the time when the figure would have actually hit shelves. Also, here's the thing. Alex may feel like a deep cut. But the way that the Mox chase is going for retail online... I don't know for certain if the Alex figure would have sold better or worse than yet another Mox. I get that this is the BCC wave, I do. But as said above, TV time doesn't necessarily equal figure sales and I'm just going from online reaction, but the reaction from the social media crowd is that yet another Mox was needed far less than the Alex. Out of everyone in that entire wave of figures the only person who has never had a figure before is the one they limited to 5000. Jericho, Hangman, and Eddie are featured on TV pretty much every week and it isn't just their Walmart exclusives that don't sell. Mainline figures and online chase exclusives don't sell either. The whole dang line is in bad shape and as much as you can say that Bunny and Alex are deep cuts, the point is that they are part of SETS. You needed Bunny to complete Butcher, Blade and Bunny. Alex is the last member of The Dark Order we're gonna get. Really, as said above, Abadon as the chase would have made sense in this format. But putting the final, needed member of a mainline stable as a chase kind of feels insulting because it means that, by definition, only 5000 people in the world who want to complete those stables will ever be able to. And say what you will about who will sell what figures, I'm going to have to assume there are more than 5000 people around the world interested in doing so. And that wouldn't make the collectors who can't happy at ALL. I just don't think you get it. There's got to be a happy medium between the line doing well and making us collectors happy. If you can't see that Alex would be warming pegs if he was released as a normal fig I don't know what to tell ya. You've got to put on the business hat for a minute and understand where they're coming from. It's a compromise. We still get some deep cuts, and they put them out in a way where he won't hang on pegs for two years. 5000 isn't 500, it's not a crazy limited quantity. Everyone complained and moaned about figures sitting on pegs, and now they complain and moan about them trying to do something about it. You can't have it both ways. I wish figures were $5 like they were during the Hasbro days. I wish every single wave had a Shibata figure. We're never gonna always get what we want. If the choice is Alex as a 1/5000 or no Alex at all, that's an easy choice for me. And it makes all the business sense in the world imo when we're talking about the long-term health of the line. I don't want this line to die, and they clearly had to make some tweaks in distribution.
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marklud
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Post by marklud on Mar 30, 2024 3:11:13 GMT -5
That Tatanka is the original Tatanka elite with a custom shirt, but based on his comment sounds like we're getting a new souped-up one (maybe with a headdress/additional entrance attire)
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marklud
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Post by marklud on Mar 30, 2024 2:58:13 GMT -5
Respectfully, this sounds kind of insane. It's not that complicated. First two series or so were short-packed in order to boost store demand. Jeremy has said as much. Then they made too many figures for the next couple of series and they flooded pegs. I love AEW myself but they're still a young, new, developing brand. This didn't surprise me one bit. They've since recalibrated and are putting people like Alex Reynolds (who would sit on the pegs as long as a Riho) as a limited figure so they can still make us collectors happy and not have it sit on pegs for a year. The Walmart exclusive figures are figures Walmart pays them for, to be store exclusives. They ship in full cases. Yes, they've made too many of them. But that's the explanation. The SAME EXACT thing happens with the Mattel legends line at target; they ship in full cases and sit on pegs far longer than the normal waves. Those legends figs are among my favorite figs out these days but they often end up in clearance. Mattel is not "not caring about the line" or "trying to tank it." I was simply reiterating a conversation I had with a friend but if you think there is any part of making Alex Reynolds a chase figure that makes collectors happy, I would invite you to visit IG where the RSC announcment of his chase figure is dang near nothing but people complaining about him being the chase. Not saying Alex would have sold as well as some of the other figures, but making Alex the chase didn't have a thing to do with making collectors happy and everything to do with protecting their own profit margin. In fact, if the community on IG is any indication, the collectors legit feel insulted by it. They make us wait this long for the figure then make it a chase. Feels like a slap in the face to collectors more than any sort of consession, especially with how he (along with Bunny) were figures that you needed to complete sets of regular release figures. Making Abadon the chase would have made sense if they had released them. But putting the final member of a stable as a chase that you either have to be incredibly lucky to find at retail, or shell out a ton of money on secondary to get, is in fact infuriating and in no way is designed to make collectors happy. Personally, and this is just me, if they had skipped making the Bunny figure entirely, I'd have been happier. As a AEW women's completionist, putting women's figures behind a chase barrier, I'd rather not have the figure at all than them make a figure which I will be required to spend about 200 dollars to get one both MOC and loose for my collection. I'm all for deep cuts in the line but the reality is that deep cuts in the line were rotting on shelves. Riho and Nyla are still on shelves YEARS LATER and they've had wayyyyy more TV time than Alex. Getting deep cuts out of 5000 is a smart compromise imo. You can get multiples of the Bunny right now on eBay for $60. Jamie Hayter and Mox chases are going for regular figure retail price in facebook groups these days (35 including shipping). You just have to wait a little bit for the prices to drop. Putting people like Alex as a 1/5000 chase has zero to do with "protecting their own profit margin" and everything to do with protecting the long-term health of the line and ensuring that it survives.
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marklud
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Post by marklud on Mar 29, 2024 23:18:44 GMT -5
Let's only make 3000 Malaki figs even though his original Supreme was gone instantly and his 1st reg figs are also gone instantly. Like seriously they probably would have sold out on twice that number. Instead we have 30,000 kingstons in every Walmart across America. I am trying to stay positive about this line but man they really don't make it easy. And Malaki is already showing up on mercari for 70. That is actually far less than I thought they would start popping up for. I actually sat down with my friend who has a degree in business law and tried to hash out the logistics of Jazwares business model for AEW figures. Why they would do things like make ftil figures chase only, why they would flood the stores with unwanted exclusives but never stock anything else, and why they have made an entire, high-demand figure line in very low numbers, when all of the above are essentially sold for the same price at retail and none of the secondary sales that those chase and rare figures bring are ever seen by Jazwares. Business Law guy said that either they A. don't care about the line and are trying to tank it intentionally so they can focus on their true moneymakers like Squishmallows, without worrying about any repercussions from breaking a contract, or B. there is shady ish going on where the people making the figures ARE gaining extra money from the chases, it's just being kept off the books, or C. A combination of the two that involves taxes tomfoolery. Because yeah, from a strictly business model perspective, what Jazwares, a supposedly experienced company, is doing makes zero financial sense. But the money never lies so one way or another, Jazwares is making more money by keeping the numbers low than it is from making the figures available to the public easily. However that works out. Respectfully, this sounds kind of insane. It's not that complicated. First two series or so were short-packed in order to boost store demand. Jeremy has said as much. Then they made too many figures for the next couple of series and they flooded pegs. I love AEW myself but they're still a young, new, developing brand. This didn't surprise me one bit. They've since recalibrated and are putting people like Alex Reynolds (who would sit on the pegs as long as a Riho) as a limited figure so they can still make us collectors happy and not have it sit on pegs for a year. The Walmart exclusive figures are figures Walmart pays them for, to be store exclusives. They ship in full cases. Yes, they've made too many of them. But that's the explanation. The SAME EXACT thing happens with the Mattel legends line at target; they ship in full cases and sit on pegs far longer than the normal waves. Those legends figs are among my favorite figs out these days but they often end up in clearance. Mattel is not "not caring about the line" or "trying to tank it."
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marklud
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Post by marklud on Mar 28, 2024 21:52:30 GMT -5
I was actually just thinking about this the other day. One of Mattel's rare "misses" in the line cause his scaling is so off. I hope they completely re-do his body mold someday to make the proportions right. Weirdly enough I think the unreleased R3 figure is actually the one that got his proportions best (thicker chest and legs, not too tall)
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marklud
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Post by marklud on Mar 27, 2024 0:35:07 GMT -5
For Mattels, I stick to legends. Just a personal taste thing, I respect the current product (they're clearly on fire right now) but it's not my particular flavor of ice cream. When it comes to current product, I'm all in on the AEW line, anything Japan and love the lucha stuff Boss Fight is putting out.
That's just my personal tastes. Either way I think Mattel puts out the best wrestling figures of all-time, bar none.
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marklud
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Post by marklud on Mar 19, 2024 22:11:42 GMT -5
The new ones are way taller (and that appears to be the right move based on other collectors I've spoken to, seems like the originals might've been too short in hindsight) and the new Earthquake doesn't have knee pads (sometimes he wore them, sometimes he didn't).
I plan on buying the new ones eventually cause I do think they're an upgrade in scale and throwing the knee pads from the old one on Quake
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marklud
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Post by marklud on Mar 14, 2024 1:07:23 GMT -5
I had no problem getting a Bunny for like $75 shipped days after she was hitting stores.. I have a problem with paying $75 for a $20 figure and I’m sure I’m not the only one. I’ve hated these chase figures the whole time. I'd rather pay $20 too. But the reality is the more obscure names have been rotting on shelves. Even some of those (Riho, Santana/Ortiz, etc.) had far more time on TV than someone like Alex and they're still sitting on shelves to this day. If it comes down to, we can make some of these names but they're limited to 5000 so they don't clog shelves and kill the line, I fully understand why they went this route. And ultimately they're not limited enough to go for crazy money. I think we need to be realistic here.
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marklud
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Post by marklud on Mar 13, 2024 16:38:09 GMT -5
I got Chief Jay for $700-something. In hindsight, seems like an absolute steal cause I've seen them go for over 2K. On a more normal level, I end up overpaying for any of the Walmart exclusives I want for both the WWE and AEW lines. My Walmarts are like the worst in the country and it's just worth the extra $10-15 or so to never have to deal with stepping foot in those stores ever again.
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marklud
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Post by marklud on Mar 13, 2024 16:30:32 GMT -5
Man some of y'all are miserable lol. People complain about peg warmers and then complain about the people who would pegwarm (Alex Reynolds) being STILL RELEASED but in a different form where they won't hang on pegs. You can't complain both ways lol. I had no problem getting a Bunny for like $75 shipped days after she was hitting stores. I'm super happy we're finally getting an Alex Reynolds figure out while at the same time it makes totally perfect sense to me that it's a 1/5000. 5000 isn't some crazy limited number.
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marklud
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Post by marklud on Mar 12, 2024 23:55:11 GMT -5
This week's Major Pod (released to public on Friday, I'm in the patreon so I hear it early) said AEW preorders are coming to RSC this week
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marklud
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Post by marklud on Mar 7, 2024 16:47:47 GMT -5
As someone who's been in on the Mattel line since Day 1 and has all the early figs already, while there's a tiny part of me that goes "ugh" I'm honestly super okay with re-releases. HOWEVER ... I really, really wish they would go all-in on the improvements/upgrades. They have the technology and the parts. I wish these had more than just pinless joints/etc. Give me more of an incentive to buy 'em again! Some of those early faces (as mentioned in this thread) were rough.
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