McFarlane Toys: “Done with Originality!”
In a move that wasn’t really surprising to me, McFarlane Toys has announced that they are canceling their original toy lines. That means that their Dragons, Legend of the Blade Hunters and Warriors of the Zodiac are dead.
I say it’s not very surprising, because I don’t really know anyone that’s ever purchased any of these figures and whenever I see them in Toys R Us, there’s a lot of full pegs. It’s a real shame that an original concept can’t make it in today’s marketplace, but given the choice between buying a cool Batman figure and something that just looks kind of neat, most people are going to go with what they know. I always enjoyed the Dragon figures, but I always spent my collecting cash on G.I. Joe and Star Wars.
So what does the future mean for McFarlane? Halo, Spawn,sports figures, and poorly articulated television series based toys for sure. Even without adding any additional licenses they’ve got a pretty good line-up, so fans of orginal IPs might be saddened, but I don’t think McFarlane Toys is going to suffer much in the long run.
June 12th, 2008 at 8:27 am
I’m working on a post for PGPoA about this, but I don’t think it’s fair to blame the lines’ cancellation solely on the fact that they’re an original concept. I think McFarlane misunderstood the current nature of the collector’s market.
The market for original property toys, I think, is largely composed of the same people who like articulation; collectors who are interested in toys first and what those toys are based on second. Personally speaking, had the Legend of the Blade Hunters figures been as articulated as, say, the Viking Age figures from half a decade ago, I might have bought them all.
June 12th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Yarrr, McFarlane has some awesome designs, that’s why I buy Spawn figures when I can afford them, but the lack of articulation is a kill-joy. I always think, hey maybe this figure would look cool engaging with this other one but a lot of the figures are sculpted in unique poses which make them look goofy when you try to make a scene with them.
I still like them though, they’re great representations of the Spawn art, and I know that adding more joints means adding more to the already iffy prices so I can’t complain too much.
June 12th, 2008 at 9:30 am
I second the articulation issue. A line of funky exotic dragons? Meh, a line of highly articulated exotic dragon that I could say, pit against my Lord of the Rings toys? Awesome.
June 12th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
I was a huge fan of McFarlane’s Movie Maniacs lineup. While I didn’t grab up everyone, each series had at least one figure that I HAD to get i.e. Snake Plissken & Cpl. Hicks.
Out here in Philly, I too would see pegs and pegs clogged with dragons & the bizarro christmas figures. But despite the fact that they are pretty damn cool looking, I too would much rather buy Joes or Transformers.
June 13th, 2008 at 1:26 am
Hi All,
I would tend to disagree with the above comments as an ex-dealer and retailer in action figures.
I think the main problems are:
i) a lack of support from the retailers who tend to play it “safe” with known licenses.
ii) The lack of product available OUTSIDE the states as often these figures are unavailable or hard to get outside the states.
iii) Poor marketing. There is very little if any PR or marketing on any of these lines.
iii) Poor targeting. Most of these lines ARE NOT toys so should be geared towards the Collectors market and not the toy or kids market.
iv) The rise of ebay and other such auction sites. The problem with these sites is they encourage the “dumping” of product in order that premium prices can be achieved for the “variant” or “rare” figures.
v) A general lack of availability. As an outside “trader”, i.e outside the states, it is very difficult to get ANY of these action figures at a reasonable price.
In fact as a UK dealer I was often having to pay the US Retail price from my wholesalers in the UK.
I would suggest that the poor distribution not only of these but of many lines of action figures is detrimental to the hobby.
Another problem: Most retailers, even online stores DO NOT keep items in stock, once a line has sold out that was it.
As a retailer I used to stock ALL the McFarlane lines and would keep in as much “back stock” as I could get hold of.
In fact my sales constantly consisted of more “old” products and non-licensed products, than licensed and new releases.
OK, sorry for the rant.
I look forward to reading other comments
June 14th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
The dragons idea would have kicked all kinds of ass if A) They had good articulation, I’m talking bendable tails and/or necks. Working jaws. Articulated appendages.
Or B) MAKE THEM F’ING HUGE.
15 bucks for a tiny dragon statue made of breakable plastic sucks ass when I can get a porcelain/resin one in the same scale that will have weight enough to justify the 15 to 20 bucks.
I’d drop 30 to 40 for a big ass poseable dragon figure. Something that’d go with Harry Potter or Fantasy based figures.
Also I totally called this months and months ago when I stated “Wow those Legend of the Bladehunter figures look bad ass… oops no little line showing articulation, I’m buying Halo 3″.
August 4th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
I have mixed feelings towards this, hopefully they come up with something nice and new!