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New Sonic Figures!


jamaro

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I feel like we're all breaking up! This is so sad :(

 

I know I'm a noob relative to some of the originators of this thread, but it's definitely been fun checking in with you guys here. Clover, I'll surely still see you on Facebook, and I look forward to your movie endeavors ;)

 

As far as my take on all this, I'll admit Jazwares has it's flaws. But it's not like I haven't seen headless figures from McFarlane toys, who I'm also a fan of. In the end, Jazwares has given me figures I've wanted since I was a kid that I think look better than any other attempt made by previous toy companies. I assume there's a digital sculpting process with these things, and say what you will about that, but if it makes my toys look like they jumped out of the game, I'm all for it :P

 

Horrible scripting and voice acting aside, I love Sonic's supporting cast, and there's still dozens of great characters I'll be sticking around to see Jazwares dish out. It'll be a bit more lonely having less of you guys to talk about them with. My poor girlfriend is gonna have to carry that burden now and I'm sure she thanks you for it :P

 

But it's been fun. If you guys ever lapse back into this hobby, stop back in :D

 

See you guys later!

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Eh, you know,the whole toy industry has changed, one thing Ive thought about for years yet never really seen anyone mention, is how video games are pretty much always the coolest new toy around. In other words, toy makers have almost assuridly taken second place to video games, now more than ever. To make it all worth it, im sure toy makers have had to cut costs, now more than ever, toys need to appeal to older collectors, which means, sculpt matters.Case in point, i could totally not know what im saying but, it might be safe to assume that, toys are different these days, now sculpt can take priority over quality.

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Mark took the words from my mouth.

 

Omni, I think you're dead-on. The toy industry is an unending attempt to create a product with the widest appeal and most sales. Quality doesn't matter to some as long as they make money. jazwares has at least improved a bit and is willing to improve. Meanwhile, McFarlane has cut back a lot, and just churns out head swaps. I don't remember the last time I've seen a new sculpt on their hockey line. The facial likenesses are bad now too, so they've definitely become cheaper and lost their touch.

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Personally I feel that toys are doing fine in terms of quality. As I stated further up, I haven't had breaking problems since Toybiz's Marvel Legends; it was so bad that I took a figure back THREE TIMES for the exact same arm break until I got one that didn't break. Heck, I'm still picking up my older Marvel Legends and having them break. The leg fell off of one and the arm broke off my original Iron Man from thier early waves - and I've had that figure forever, it feels like! I dunno what it was about Toybiz back then, but I inspected every package I got.

 

Nowadays...well, I haven't noticed a problem. All my G.I. Joes are top notch (with the exception of a couple confusing choices, like inability to hold accessories - but it's less of a problem than it was in the 80's and early 90's with breakable thumbs and weapons with handles that were too giant to hold). I'm collecting Bandai's Thundercats as well, and I only bought a recent Panthro with a foot that broke off, but that's one out of ten or so figures I've bought, and I'll bet my next Panthro won't have that problem (unlike Toybiz where I have to keep buying a figure until one of them isn't broken). The Masters of the Universe Classics line is also quite well, dispite rabid compaints from those who don't know how to put things in perspective.

 

Speaking of perspective: you've gotta take Jazwares as a singular entity, and not as a view into toys as a whole. They are still learning. I was very vocal about how much I disliked Jazwares and even had a small conversation with Jamaro about it (before this thread was made). I agreed to wait and see, and I feel they've made VAST improvements. Do they still need to make more? Of course! But thier faults do not reflect the faults of toys in general. I mean, Jazwares started from SCRATCH - total lack of knowledge about current toy prodcution, I tell ya. All you have to do is look to thier first-run Mega Man product: it was worse than dollar store quality in terms of sculpt, materials, and function. Just awful. I can't even think of another toy company to compare them to in terms of mass-market action figures. I was appalled. Jazwares soldiered forth, however, and improved greatly. Granted, I still didn't consider thier next wave of Mega Man figures all that great either (the sculpting was pretty ugly) but they at least improved the plastic and articulation, making them on par with others and able to be handled without incident! The Sonic figures go even further to show how much they've done to improve themselves. The QC still needs tweaking, but they have improved. They may not be collector-grade figures able to stand on thier own, but they're FUN TOYS, and I feel that is a greater accomplishment. My seven year old nephew and I have a great time playing with the Sonic figures, and I've never heard a single complaint from him - nor have any of the figures fallen apart. They get a little loose, but no more so than ANY of my toys from my childhood (I mean, pick up an old well-worn G.I. Joe and shake 'em around and watch 'em jiggle like a ragdoll - you won't find that happening with many of today's toys).

 

So while I'm no expert, I can say that I've been paying attention. I agree that video games are on the rise and action figures may very well become a thing of the past - however - I do not believe we are sacrificing quality in this age. We are getting some of the greatest action figures of all time from many different companies, and I barely have a broken figure to show from all thier various works. Jazwares still has work to do as a company, but I can't fault one for wanting - and succeeding - to improve. What I hope to get from Jazwares as they move along is an increased abiltiy to catch problems BEFORE they go out, so we're not getting constant product refreshes. I do appreciate the fact that they fix what breaks, but they still need to catch up to others in terms of not putting out product that isn't completely finished. Get the product in hand first, look it over, take into consideration colors, look, feel, function, and all that - THEN bring it out. Once again, they are doing a great job of improving and fixing mistakes; I just hope they continue. If they can, then they'll have no trouble in making a spot for themselves among the top toy companies.

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@alex OHH wow, i remember the dreaded marvel legends line, yet, really, its kinda like this sonic line, if not like, the exact same, strange plastic breakage, comics, jaz obviously took the comic gig from it. You look at old transformers, and old toys, simple molds, articulation, even diecast metal parts, legos? Well, they havent changed much, same uber quality as ever. its true, notice how 3 inch toys flood the pegs these days? People musnt forget alot of plastic is made from petroleum, which...has skyrocketed, inflation factored in and all. Now we have 5 and 8 dollar 3 inch toys, the industry may be in a odd place these days. Finding cheaper plastics may be difficult, i wonder what vinyl is made from?Anyways, exactly, jaz is a much newer toy company, its not easy surviving these days as a toy company, a random company in japan that makes those high quality anime statues that sell like mad, have an audience, the american toy market is nearly all overseas, yet i wonder if with rising costs and competition, if its easy to survive? Hasbro has REALLY branched out in the past decade, they make games, license BIG BUDGET ROBOT MOVIES, what does a company like jazwares have? Lego survives with brand name and their own style, its not even, really, about their licensing. Their a house hold name, a hobby, and a toy. THEY EVEN HAVE THEME PARKS. Yup, with its history and even size,maybe jaz deserves less flack, perhaps. Macfarlane makes high quality stuff, its an adult oriented line, now they have halo, and appear in walmarts everywhere, id say theyve branched out. And even they suck ass at times, arms falling off, out of box, yeesh.Toys arent going anywhere, a physical item will always appeal in the wake of video games, really, its not a industry that rided off a ”fad” it changes and warps like every other industry, in our popculture driven society, toys wont stop appealing to adults either.

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To those that are leaving, you will be missed. As far as quality goes with toys, My roommate had the MacFarlanes Dragons and poles that are supposed to hold some up have broken because the figures are so heavy. Those that you have to attach their limbs to, they don't stay in place most of the time. They are nice figures but they have issues in terms of quality. As with the Sonic stuff, I'm glad Jazwares are making the figures. These are the toys I've wanted when I was a kid. Yes they do have quality issues though. I've had problems with my Espio and Jet figures breaking but that's about it. Some of the figures have loose joints but some don't. I think every toy line has it's flaws at times. I remember a couple of years ago when the Bionicle line suffered from breakage problems especially with the lime green plastic being so brittle. Let's not forget Gold Plastic Syndrome that a lot of earlier Transformers figures suffered from.

 

 

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I haven't heard a word that I don't agree with on this matter yet.

 

Quick question, can anyone tell me how the figure molding process works? And how people get ahold of old molds, like all these people do with the ReSaurus figures?

Someone can probably come in and set me straight, but here's what I've heard:

 

Bascially, the mold is where the money is. Creating a mold is EXPENSIVE, and when you do, you want to make sure you get the most money out of it. People complain about repaints, but repaints are how you keep a toyline alive - you simply cannot live if you're always making new molds. This is why Knuckles, Sonic, Tails, and the rest are constantly seen in many different waves, two packs, and multipacks. There sadly aren't many ways to repaint these guys, so they gotta make 'em. The molds are there.

 

As for getting a hold of old molds, I do believe either the company sells them, or other places manage to steal them or buy them when companies try to get rid of old stuff. That, and sometimes places that make dollar store toys can make a mold from an existing toy, which is why you'll see marks or mold lines on dollar store toys that are obviously molded from the real deal. Molds also get worn over time, so they can't be used forever. Mattel had to buy back a bunch of the old molds for the classic He-Man guys from various places that they ended up when they sold them, back in the day. When they got them back, the molds just weren't the same. If you look at a vintage MotU figure and one from the classic rereleases (I think that was in the early 2000's) then you'll notice differences in the faces 'n such. It's the same molds from the 80's....just old and worn down.

 

So that's the limit of my knowledge on molds.

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Ahhh, interesting, thanks lol. That makes sense. Haha. Would anyone happen to know just how the molds are made, what they're like, etc?

About that, I'm not sure...a friend of mine is having molds made for a toyline he hopes to start, but I didn't hear to much about HOW the molds are made. I mean, they're metal, so I guess you could look up anything you like about metal working 'n such. It probably involves some sort of model made on a computer, first. I know my friend sent out what he wanted made (computer designs, anyway), and the company sent him back some prices in terms of how much it'll cost to make the molds.

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Im at a loss concerning those horrid F4F fakers, usually at LEAST it takes these counterfieters some time, jaz brands them for store sale and their suddenly frikkin everywhere. It really hurts the collectibility, now their even more than their should be..and its such a great set too..

 

Ebay seems to have a pretty free policy, I kinda wish theyd crack down and police their site.

 

BTW Have any of you TNI users seen this?

 

Its made by GE, they produced the Online only classic plush line, the one with an amy. They have THIS AND a super sonic on the way, actually, I think the chaos are out now.

 

They are truly my heros. Ive wanted a chao plush for YEEEAAARRS.

 

EDIT: Just bought one, heh, I didnt know these were out yet. 13 bucks, free shipping on ebay!

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