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Mattel is going down the toilet


Nightwing4984

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In 1990 I thought I was the only collector around

 

 

You needed to get out more. @smilepunch@

 

There were a lot less of us then, but we were around.

I peg around 1990 as the dawn of the golden age of action figure collecting, because it was around that time that trade magazines, manufacturers, and dedicated toy shows started addressing action figure collectors specifically--which essentially brought us all together.

 

 

No

 

Where I lived it was me or parents with there kids

 

Now its me with other adults and parents with their kids

 

Plus in 1990 I was more of party animal then toy collector

 

I was worried where the next party was then any new toys

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Just when I thought you had no style. smile2.gif You were out there just like the rest of us. The 90s were both brutal and yet an epiphany, so to speak. The fact that you could actually collect comic book figures was NEW in thoughts days. ...And no I'm not talking about the Mego days.

 

I was doing it years before the 90's. I started collecting toys in 1985 ( started comics back in 1979), and have been doing so ever since.....and yes, there WERE toy shows back even then. From what I gather the toy collecting hobby started up in the States in the early 70's, and a sort of off-spring of comic book, cereal box, antique toy and such spurred action figure collecting in the mid 80's.

Heck, comic stores were plenty big in the early 80's as well, before the speculator craze took over.

 

On reason I put 1990 as about the time of the modern age is because prior to that there was really only one serious trade magazine: The Toy Shop news, as a national source for collectibles.

Once Tomarts, and then Lee's (and to a degree Wizard) started publishing in around 1991, iirc, they were primarily sold via comic shops anyways. The clientèle in comic shops naturally dovetailed into action figure collecting and really fuelled the adult collector coming on board.

It was when collectors could easily communicate with other collectors that the hobby really took off, but it all started when isolated collectors began to realize there was, indeed, a national/international community of like minded hobbyists. That is when toy collecting became really chic.

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Just when I thought you had no style. smile2.gif You were out there just like the rest of us. The 90s were both brutal and yet an epiphany, so to speak. The fact that you could actually collect comic book figures was NEW in thoughts days. ...And no I'm not talking about the Mego days.

 

I was doing it years before the 90's. I started collecting toys in 1985 ( started comics back in 1979), and have been doing so ever since.....and yes, there WERE toy shows back even then. From what I gather the toy collecting hobby started up in the States in the early 70's, and a sort of off-spring of comic book, cereal box, antique toy and such spurred action figure collecting in the mid 80's.

Heck, comic stores were plenty big in the early 80's as well, before the speculator craze took over.

 

On reason I put 1990 as about the time of the modern age is because prior to that there was really only one serious trade magazine: The Toy Shop news, as a national source for collectibles.

Once Tomarts, and then Lee's (and to a degree Wizard) started publishing in around 1991, iirc, they were primarily sold via comic shops anyways. The clientèle in comic shops naturally dovetailed into action figure collecting and really fuelled the adult collector coming on board.

It was when collectors could easily communicate with other collectors that the hobby really took off, but it all started when isolated collectors began to realize there was, indeed, a national/international community of like minded hobbyists. That is when toy collecting became really chic.

Ouch. :( It's one thing remember a dying era, but it's very different to witness it first hand.

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Ouch. sad.gif It's one thing remember a dying era, but it's very different to witness it first hand.

 

Nah, its not dying now (or then)--the hobby is cyclic, like many, many things.

 

I've seen so many things I thought would never get made, and then actually get made--and things that I thought we'd never see more than one of become stuff that was widely available. Collectors today just don't realize they have it so good.

 

Its why its kind of amusing ( in a pitiful way) some of the complaints and comments people have, because they just do not realize the trends that have come and gone in this hobby. I cannot say that i have seen it all, but I have watched a good part of it for a long time....and I'm NOT worried.

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Well interesting replies to my question!! Cheapskates!! LOL!!!

 

Anyhow, I could not believe when I walked into the action figure aisle at Target, lo and behold Green Lantern himself!! My jaw dropped for a second, them recomposed myself before anyone else could get to him!! Finally one more character closer to my Super Powers team, or my JLA team!!

 

Man does Green Lantern look boss next to my Aquaman and Batman up front, with Red Tornado and Firestorm behind them!!

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i checked mattycollector today and they have NOTHING. thats right kids no stock on a collectors site its a joke, and to top it off the news section of the site has not listed any new products for the site its only for k-mart, tru, and halloween auction exclusives not the stock for the site itself.

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i checked mattycollector today and they have NOTHING. thats right kids no stock on a collectors site its a joke, and to top it off the news section of the site has not listed any new products for the site its only for k-mart, tru, and halloween auction exclusives not the stock for the site itself.

 

MattyCollector can't carry the regular waves of figures because of agreements Mattel has with its retailers. They had exclusives, but obviously those sold out long ago (except for the JLU Giganta that nobody wants). ToyGuru/Matty said this week that November will see the site updated again with pages dedicated to the lines and new information, though the only thing for sale will be figure stands.

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i checked mattycollector today and they have NOTHING. thats right kids no stock on a collectors site its a joke, and to top it off the news section of the site has not listed any new products for the site its only for k-mart, tru, and halloween auction exclusives not the stock for the site itself.

 

MattyCollector can't carry the regular waves of figures because of agreements Mattel has with its retailers. They had exclusives, but obviously those sold out long ago (except for the JLU Giganta that nobody wants). ToyGuru/Matty said this week that November will see the site updated again with pages dedicated to the lines and new information, though the only thing for sale will be figure stands.

 

 

I know they won't carry the regular waves but they don't have anything and that is stupid for a mattel collector site to not have any mattel products for sale at all. As for the figure stands that is ##$%$#ed oooo a collector site that sells stands and only stands and not the exclusive product they are supposed to carry. They can update the site all they want but if they have nothing of real interest then its a waste of time hasbro has their exclusives on their website but mattel has no online store. They can't even get their product evenly distributed which was supposed to end when they released wave 3. But i still can't find any dcuc in my area (oak forest, il) all i ever see is wave 1. I've only seen wave 2 & 3 at my local comic shop (a&f books & comics) no wal-mart, target, k-mart, or even toys r us has had any new waves. Sure i found them at the comic shop but they only had a couple figs anyway someone already picked through them so i managed to get harley quinn, and green lantern but thats it. You should never have to rely on buying things online if a company wants to push their product then they should make enough to go around and not make 100 cases and call it a day. In case you can't tell i'm bitter about mattel i stopped buying marvel legends cause i wasn't happy with the figures but guess what i can find the new legends not the dcuc.

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i checked mattycollector today and they have NOTHING. thats right kids no stock on a collectors site its a joke, and to top it off the news section of the site has not listed any new products for the site its only for k-mart, tru, and halloween auction exclusives not the stock for the site itself.

 

MattyCollector can't carry the regular waves of figures because of agreements Mattel has with its retailers. They had exclusives, but obviously those sold out long ago (except for the JLU Giganta that nobody wants). ToyGuru/Matty said this week that November will see the site updated again with pages dedicated to the lines and new information, though the only thing for sale will be figure stands.

 

 

I know they won't carry the regular waves but they don't have anything and that is stupid for a mattel collector site to not have any mattel products for sale at all. As for the figure stands that is ##$%$#ed oooo a collector site that sells stands and only stands and not the exclusive product they are supposed to carry. They can update the site all they want but if they have nothing of real interest then its a waste of time hasbro has their exclusives on their website but mattel has no online store. They can't even get their product evenly distributed which was supposed to end when they released wave 3. But i still can't find any dcuc in my area (oak forest, il) all i ever see is wave 1. I've only seen wave 2 & 3 at my local comic shop (a&f books & comics) no wal-mart, target, k-mart, or even toys r us has had any new waves. Sure i found them at the comic shop but they only had a couple figs anyway someone already picked through them so i managed to get harley quinn, and green lantern but thats it. You should never have to rely on buying things online if a company wants to push their product then they should make enough to go around and not make 100 cases and call it a day. In case you can't tell i'm bitter about mattel i stopped buying marvel legends cause i wasn't happy with the figures but guess what i can find the new legends not the dcuc.

 

I agree Matty should have something for sell even if its not current figures but maybe older figures that they can't seem to get rid of. Or just something we might be interested in. I know it sounds silly to just put up something to sell it but in contrast its about as bad as a website that doesn't have a damn thing for sell either.

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i checked mattycollector today and they have NOTHING. thats right kids no stock on a collectors site its a joke, and to top it off the news section of the site has not listed any new products for the site its only for k-mart, tru, and halloween auction exclusives not the stock for the site itself.

 

MattyCollector can't carry the regular waves of figures because of agreements Mattel has with its retailers. They had exclusives, but obviously those sold out long ago (except for the JLU Giganta that nobody wants). ToyGuru/Matty said this week that November will see the site updated again with pages dedicated to the lines and new information, though the only thing for sale will be figure stands.

 

 

I know they won't carry the regular waves but they don't have anything and that is stupid for a mattel collector site to not have any mattel products for sale at all. As for the figure stands that is ##$%$#ed oooo a collector site that sells stands and only stands and not the exclusive product they are supposed to carry. They can update the site all they want but if they have nothing of real interest then its a waste of time hasbro has their exclusives on their website but mattel has no online store. They can't even get their product evenly distributed which was supposed to end when they released wave 3. But i still can't find any dcuc in my area (oak forest, il) all i ever see is wave 1. I've only seen wave 2 & 3 at my local comic shop (a&f books & comics) no wal-mart, target, k-mart, or even toys r us has had any new waves. Sure i found them at the comic shop but they only had a couple figs anyway someone already picked through them so i managed to get harley quinn, and green lantern but thats it. You should never have to rely on buying things online if a company wants to push their product then they should make enough to go around and not make 100 cases and call it a day. In case you can't tell i'm bitter about mattel i stopped buying marvel legends cause i wasn't happy with the figures but guess what i can find the new legends not the dcuc.

 

I agree Matty should have something for sell even if its not current figures but maybe older figures that they can't seem to get rid of. Or just something we might be interested in. I know it sounds silly to just put up something to sell it but in contrast its about as bad as a website that doesn't have a damn thing for sell either.

 

Ya, it is kind of silly. When Matty Collector first opened, I figured within a month or so we would start seeing regular items and stuff for collectors... Guess I was wrong. How can a website, put out by a toy company, for the seemingly sole purpose of selling their toy to collectors, not have anything at all since the initial launch! Atleast let us but that Adam Strange and Starfire two pack! Atleast take preorders! Something! Common!

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I think MattyCollector has suffered the same way many other things have suffered with Mattel.

 

When MattyCollector opened, there were tons of problems with the orders for King Grayskull and Lobo. Because of that, I think they realized the site wasn't quite ready, so changes needed to be made. To do that, they had to take some time to fix it.

 

You also have to look at the figure problems Mattel has had. MOTUC was delayed till December instead of the end of this month because of having to change the figures' sculpts, and the DCUC two-pack of Starfire and Adam Strange probably had the same problems the other DCUC stuff did because it won't be ready till the end of the year.

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