Anyone getting a lil bit worried??

[darthfoley]

And again we see the 'lower tier characters will kill the line' argument...if every wave had Batman and Superman in it there'd be bitching about 'the big two in every wave will kill the line'.

 

@bH@

[Ares6009]

And again we see the 'lower tier characters will kill the line' argument...if every wave had Batman and Superman in it there'd be bitching about 'the big two in every wave will kill the line'.

 

@bH@

 

 

Pretty much agreed - If I had to keep buying Supermen or Batmen to complete a BAF, it'd get pretty tired pretty quick. That's why I like this line - the unique 'lower tier' character possibilities!

[Lady Jaye]

I agree, it's the inclusion of all these "background" characters that drew me to the line. I think it was Killer Moth that really made me say, wow, this line could be very cool!!

 

I do think though that they really need to limit the distribution of these guys to 1 case, and get rid of the best of series!! If they continue the best of, limit it to one figure per case, which would allow a complete set of the new wave to be attained in one fell swoop!!! As much as some people may deny it, collectors are buying entire cases online and at the stores to complete their BAF. So why not make it simple and allow people to do so when a case comes in!!!

[cjflan32]

And again we see the 'lower tier characters will kill the line' argument...if every wave had Batman and Superman in it there'd be bitching about 'the big two in every wave will kill the line'.

 

@bH@

 

 

Pretty much agreed - If I had to keep buying Supermen or Batmen to complete a BAF, it'd get pretty tired pretty quick. That's why I like this line - the unique 'lower tier' character possibilities!

 

You are so wrong. What's the problem with buying worthless repaints and characters you already have?

 

Sincerely,

 

Ultimate War Machine, Age of Apocalypse Weapon X, Weapon X variant and Sabretooth, FFF Gray Hulk and pretty much any other figure you had to buy multiples of like Wolverine, Spider-Man and Iron Man.

 

It's like walking on a tight rope. If you're gonna attract kids you need some well known heroes. But if you want to attract collectors you need to throw in some spice. I think Mattel has done a good job with the balance and I thought Hasbro did a nice job as well but then again I'm a reasonable person.

[Ares6009]

And again we see the 'lower tier characters will kill the line' argument...if every wave had Batman and Superman in it there'd be bitching about 'the big two in every wave will kill the line'.

 

@bH@

 

 

Pretty much agreed - If I had to keep buying Supermen or Batmen to complete a BAF, it'd get pretty tired pretty quick. That's why I like this line - the unique 'lower tier' character possibilities!

 

You are so wrong. What's the problem with buying worthless repaints and characters you already have?

 

Sincerely,

 

Ultimate War Machine, Age of Apocalypse Weapon X, Weapon X variant and Sabretooth, FFF Gray Hulk and pretty much any other figure you had to buy multiples of like Wolverine, Spider-Man and Iron Man.

 

It's like walking on a tight rope. If you're gonna attract kids you need some well known heroes. But if you want to attract collectors you need to throw in some spice. I think Mattel has done a good job with the balance and I thought Hasbro did a nice job as well but then again I'm a reasonable person.

 

 

I should have been clearer. I do not collect every BAF. It just so happens with DCUC, I have wanted each character as much as the BAF, so I'm happy there was no repetition. ML, on the other hand, I have no complete BAFs simply because I will not keep schilling out for what same character over and over. For example, I do not own/want any of the ones you listed. So in essence, you have proven my point. Unless of course, you were just being sarcastic.

[cjflan32]

And again we see the 'lower tier characters will kill the line' argument...if every wave had Batman and Superman in it there'd be bitching about 'the big two in every wave will kill the line'.

 

@bH@

 

 

Pretty much agreed - If I had to keep buying Supermen or Batmen to complete a BAF, it'd get pretty tired pretty quick. That's why I like this line - the unique 'lower tier' character possibilities!

 

You are so wrong. What's the problem with buying worthless repaints and characters you already have?

 

Sincerely,

 

Ultimate War Machine, Age of Apocalypse Weapon X, Weapon X variant and Sabretooth, FFF Gray Hulk and pretty much any other figure you had to buy multiples of like Wolverine, Spider-Man and Iron Man.

 

It's like walking on a tight rope. If you're gonna attract kids you need some well known heroes. But if you want to attract collectors you need to throw in some spice. I think Mattel has done a good job with the balance and I thought Hasbro did a nice job as well but then again I'm a reasonable person.

 

 

I should have been clearer. I do not collect every BAF. It just so happens with DCUC, I have wanted each character as much as the BAF, so I'm happy there was no repetition. ML, on the other hand, I have no complete BAFs simply because I will not keep schilling out for what same character over and over. For example, I do not own/want any of the ones you listed. So in essence, you have proven my point. Unless of course, you were just being sarcastic.

 

I forgot to add Ultimate Wolverine, The End Hulk, Skarr, X-23, X3 Juggernaut, Phoenix and Colossus, well you get the point.

 

I was indeed being sarcastic. My biggest problem with the BAF's was they chopped the figures into tiny pieces. There was no excuse for things like Ronan's cape and Ares sword and helmet to be separate pieces. I put up with the crappy figures I mentioned because I could usually sell them to somebody else.

[SUPREMEQUEEN]

wow I guess every thing I heard about ML is true then.....they suck hard.

 

but DCUC is IMO a great line to collect. I love the diverse character selection & because I'm MOC the QC issues don't affect me that bad. only when the paint jobs are wack or crazy limbs.

 

if Mattel ever fixes its shipping woes they'll be on EZ street!!

[Pluvsjazzs]

i think that everyones opinion is valid (not that i agree with them all) other people may agree with each opinion therefore with compilation of all the collectors agreeing with the different reasons is probably whats flushing it down the toilet.

 

 

P.S. personally i think bad distribution and re-issues are the killer

[Pluvsjazzs]

if they continue this is my sugestion:

 

a)get rid of re-issues

b)get rid of split cases

c)fix Distribution

d)if you want to draw in kids with an A list character and you continue to do c&c then do not put a C&c piece with that figure so we are not forced to buy multiples of a character just because they are in a different uniform or have long hair or whatever that figure should come with the stand

e)space out the amount of time they put them out to give our wallets some relief

[Lady Jaye]

Yeah those re-issues are now definitely clogging the pegs!! Which should have people slightly concerned with stagnation.

 

Like I said before, if you plan to send out re-issued figures, just limit them at 1 per case!!! There's no need to re-issue so many a case, in order to split your newest wave into 2 cases!!! One case, one complete BAF, perhaps one extra headliner and one greatest hits figure!!! How many do come per case??

 

Well I just checked EE, and their site says 10 per case, so a complete set is very doable!!! In fact that's 3 slots open once you get the 7 new figures, since we are getting arny builders, we could get an extra one of those, and then one of 2 variants could take another slot, finally we'd get the best of figure!!! Easy as pie!! They could still have an alternating case, on that included the other variant and different best of figure!!! But most importantly another complete BAF!!!

[z0mbie]

And again we see the 'lower tier characters will kill the line' argument...if every wave had Batman and Superman in it there'd be bitching about 'the big two in every wave will kill the line'.

 

@bH@

 

And again, refer to the Joe Q. Public part of my statement. I think you people are overestimating your own worth in the retail market. The average consumer, i.e. people with kids or the kids themselves, doesn't want Cyborg, or Black Manta, or Killer Moth, or Captain Cold, or Booster Gold, or Gentleman Ghost, or any of the other peripheral characters that they've never heard of. And that's 99.999% of the retail market. Just because you want something doesn't mean the general public does. That's what is killing the line. Kudos to Mattel for trying to please collectors, but sooner rather than later, they're going to open their eyes and see that it's just not making them any money. They've already cancelled the Movie Masters line, and I'd dare say the characters in the upcoming waves were much more mass market friendly than anything they've got coming up in DCUC.

 

And, you know...the DC Superheroes line, which focused on Supes/Bats and their supporting characters did a hell of a lot better than DCUC is. I wonder why? Recognizable characters.

[cjflan32]

wow I guess every thing I heard about ML is true then.....they suck hard.

 

but DCUC is IMO a great line to collect. I love the diverse character selection & because I'm MOC the QC issues don't affect me that bad. only when the paint jobs are wack or crazy limbs.

 

if Mattel ever fixes its shipping woes they'll be on EZ street!!

 

Marvel Legends doesn't suck but they did some things that DCUC is doing now-like splitting up the BAF pieces into tiny parts so you have to buy more figures-that's just annoying. To be fair ML is/was very diverse but it was diverse with movie figures and the Ultimate universe which is cool if you're into that.

[cjflan32]

if they continue this is my sugestion:

 

a)get rid of re-issues

b)get rid of split cases

c)fix Distribution

d)if you want to draw in kids with an A list character and you continue to do c&c then do not put a C&c piece with that figure so we are not forced to buy multiples of a character just because they are in a different uniform or have long hair or whatever that figure should come with the stand

e)space out the amount of time they put them out to give our wallets some relief

 

Re-issues are one thing, read z0mbies statement. Splitting a wave up is two different cases is a horrible idea.

[Ares6009]

And again we see the 'lower tier characters will kill the line' argument...if every wave had Batman and Superman in it there'd be bitching about 'the big two in every wave will kill the line'.

 

@bH@

 

And again, refer to the Joe Q. Public part of my statement. I think you people are overestimating your own worth in the retail market. The average consumer, i.e. people with kids or the kids themselves, doesn't want Cyborg, or Black Manta, or Killer Moth, or Captain Cold, or Booster Gold, or Gentleman Ghost, or any of the other peripheral characters that they've never heard of. And that's 99.999% of the retail market. Just because you want something doesn't mean the general public does. That's what is killing the line. Kudos to Mattel for trying to please collectors, but sooner rather than later, they're going to open their eyes and see that it's just not making them any money. They've already cancelled the Movie Masters line, and I'd dare say the characters in the upcoming waves were much more mass market friendly than anything they've got coming up in DCUC.

 

And, you know...the DC Superheroes line, which focused on Supes/Bats and their supporting characters did a hell of a lot better than DCUC is. I wonder why? Recognizable characters.

 

You make a valid point about us collectors. We tend to not look at the big picture when it comes to this stuff. I'm guilty of that sometimes myself. I'd like to think that people seeing something they don't recognize as much as other items in a line would investigate and be drawn into the world o' comics like I was as a kid, but it doesn't work that way today what with ADD and all. (don't get me started!)

 

And though I hate to provide ammunition to what could be an opposing view, I still feel the need to be honest. Today I went to a Walmart to feel out the presence of wave 8, and while this store was well stocked, it was a few heroes from 6, and like 8 Captain Colds. The same thing happened with wave 5 - I found a fig here and there, but everyone had puh-lenty o' Riddlers.

 

Character recognition does play a part in mass market lines. It sucks, but it's true. It would help if something was included with each fig, a la Masters of the Universe mini-comics back in the day, to introduce people to the non-popular characters. The world at large is not as 'educated' as us collectors, and that would kinda push the buyer into the fantasy, like MOTU did.

 

I am still impressed, though, at the headway Mattel's made, even against the grain of general public recognition. But again, I'd guess alot of that 'sell-out' is due to small distro amounts. And the recent re-releases are a double-edged sword - people can pick up what they missed, which is great, but once they do, will they stop the process to avoid shelf-warming backup?

[ARROW]

Character recognition does play a part in mass market lines. It sucks, but it's true.

 

A small example of this: look at how many Marvel Legend Man-things or Man-Wolf figures were peg warmers. They are simply not widely recognizable characters.

[Ares6009]

wow I guess every thing I heard about ML is true then.....they suck hard.

 

but DCUC is IMO a great line to collect. I love the diverse character selection & because I'm MOC the QC issues don't affect me that bad. only when the paint jobs are wack or crazy limbs.

 

if Mattel ever fixes its shipping woes they'll be on EZ street!!

 

Marvel Legends doesn't suck but they did some things that DCUC is doing now-like splitting up the BAF pieces into tiny parts so you have to buy more figures-that's just annoying. To be fair ML is/was very diverse but it was diverse with movie figures and the Ultimate universe which is cool if you're into that.

 

Hell no, ML doesn't suck! They actually banged out pretty much all the A-listers, and were left with nothing but B, C, etc. I have no harsh feelings towards ML. Sure, I would have liked to actually complete a BAF, but that was my choice - not to buy the fig I didn't like. I didn't lose any money over it, so no harm done. I have <90%> of the figs I wanted, barring the waves that popped in and out so fast, I never even saw them (Jean Grey, Deadpool, Black Widow, etc). The fact that I have a collection of BAFs missing a limb, torso, etc doesn't thrill me, but doesn't compare to the massive collection that I am proud of.

 

I guess it a matter of how much of a completist you are. For me, aside from missing waves, I didn't want Tin Can IM, 1st app Hulk and Spiderman, and the like. But I don't fault Toybiz/Hasbro for my decision. I'm just happy they put out what they did! And I can only hope they eventually re-start the line - I need to complete my rosters! (Mantis, Swordsman, Jocasta, Boomer, Wolfsbane, Firestar, etc, etc etc!)

[Ares6009]

Character recognition does play a part in mass market lines. It sucks, but it's true.

 

A small example of this: look at how many Marvel Legend Man-things or Man-Wolf figures were peg warmers. They are simply not widely recognizable characters.

 

 

 

Actually, funny thing in my area - I never saw Man-Thing. He was one of those like Jean Grey and Deadpool who were in and out so fast, I never even saw them in stores! I'd have grabbed one if I saw one.

 

And I kick myself now for not picking up a Man-Wolf when he was so plentiful. But back then I just couldn't get over how gimmicky he looked. (roaring-jaw-feature? ewww!)

 

But spot-on with your example. What kid's going to know those guys?

[cjflan32]

Character recognition does play a part in mass market lines. It sucks, but it's true.

 

A small example of this: look at how many Marvel Legend Man-things or Man-Wolf figures were peg warmers. They are simply not widely recognizable characters.

 

 

 

Actually, funny thing in my area - I never saw Man-Thing. He was one of those like Jean Grey and Deadpool who were in and out so fast, I never even saw them in stores! I'd have grabbed one if I saw one.

 

And I kick myself now for not picking up a Man-Wolf when he was so plentiful. But back then I just couldn't get over how gimmicky he looked. (roaring-jaw-feature? ewww!)

 

But spot-on with your example. What kid's going to know those guys?

 

Man-Wolf was a pretty cool figure and the howl was an excellent feature. And Man-Thing was a peg clogger.

 

You know people talk about all the distribution problems DCUC has but no one ever talks about the distribution problems ML had. Remember when-and stop me if this sounds familiar-Wave 4 choked up the aisle? I swear in my area it was like the assortments jumped from Wave 5 to Wave 8. All I saw was Brown Wolverine, Movie Punisher, Weapon X and Cable. But the hardcore Marvel fans don't want to talk about that.

[Ares6009]

This being a DC board, I'm not sure you'll find any 'hardcore Marvel fans' to talk about it with. Just an observation - in no way a slight.

 

But yeah, that's where I missed out - that jump in waves, where there was a plethora of stuff to choose from, then alluva sudden, BAM! It was like 2 waves later. Thought I hit a time warp! Never had that trouble with the 5-inch figs!

[cjflan32]

This being a DC board, I'm not sure you'll find any 'hardcore Marvel fans' to talk about it with. Just an observation - in no way a slight.

 

But yeah, that's where I missed out - that jump in waves, where there was a plethora of stuff to choose from, then alluva sudden, BAM! It was like 2 waves later. Thought I hit a time warp! Never had that trouble with the 5-inch figs!

 

I don't usually expect them. They come over explain to us how DC figures suck when the truth is...nevermind. You know who you are.

 

To be fair I never had a problem after Wave 8. Waves 14 and 15 were cloggers too but by that time the Toy Biz/Hasbro switch was in effect.

[cjflan32]

I never really thought about this before but Mattel has a multi-year contract with DC right? I'd expect that the line will continue in some form or another at least until the contract expires.

[darthfoley]

And again, refer to the Joe Q. Public part of my statement. I think you people are overestimating your own worth in the retail market. The average consumer, i.e. people with kids or the kids themselves, doesn't want Cyborg, or Black Manta, or Killer Moth, or Captain Cold, or Booster Gold, or Gentleman Ghost, or any of the other peripheral characters that they've never heard of. And that's 99.999% of the retail market. Just because you want something doesn't mean the general public does. That's what is killing the line. Kudos to Mattel for trying to please collectors, but sooner rather than later, they're going to open their eyes and see that it's just not making them any money. They've already cancelled the Movie Masters line, and I'd dare say the characters in the upcoming waves were much more mass market friendly than anything they've got coming up in DCUC.

 

'You people'? Really? Come on down off your high horse, kemosabe. @horse@ @smilepunch@

 

I've been one of the main people saying that DCUC is a *small* part of Mattel's profit intake. I was simply pointing out the usual 'big guns' v. 'lower tier' argument that happens in almost every toy line out there. No matter which way Mattel goes in that debate, somebody always claims *that* as the eventual downfall and says that if they had only gone the *other* way things would be fine; see past examples of MOTU 200X, DCSH, or the current DCIH and JLU lines. Even when Mattel compromises and puts the big guns back in as filler (without a C&C piece, even) along side new releases, as they are doing with the WGSH figures, people #$#@# and complain.

 

And the Movie Masters line was killed because it sat (and still sits to this day) on pegs everywhere, even with the extremely recognizable characters it contained, and even though it was based on one of the biggest movies in history, which indicates that gauging a collector-intended toy line's success on sales to the general public is probably not the wisest way to go.

 

I might be crazy, but I'm fairly sure Mattel took the small size of the collector's market into account with DCUC from the start. While I imagine they expect little Jimmy to buy Supes and Bats I am quite certain they weren't expecting him to buy Mr Terrific and Deathstroke, which leads me to believe that @faint@ they went into the line with realistic expectations of what their profit margin would be and what their production numbers should look like; up until wave 7 DCUC didn't really hang around in any sort of numbers for long, with some exceptions (I'm looking at you, Black Manta and Superman Red/Blue).

 

And, you know...the DC Superheroes line, which focused on Supes/Bats and their supporting characters did a hell of a lot better than DCUC is. I wonder why? Recognizable characters.

 

Got any sales figures to back that up? I'm honestly curious. DCSH, especially the most recognizable comic-book character in the world, Superman, warmed pegs around here for quite a while.

[Neo Mikomi]

And again we see the 'lower tier characters will kill the line' argument...if every wave had Batman and Superman in it there'd be bitching about 'the big two in every wave will kill the line'.

 

@bH@

 

 

Pretty much agreed - If I had to keep buying Supermen or Batmen to complete a BAF, it'd get pretty tired pretty quick. That's why I like this line - the unique 'lower tier' character possibilities!

 

I had picked about 4 figures before the Killer Moth wave came out and for whatever reason Killer Moth was the "trigger figure" that started me on my way to completing this line. At one point in the time frame of wave 7 my Walmart had 10-12 Wonder Woman's (w stand) but it seems like they're selling through ok still as I don't remember seeing many on my last visit. They still have the same ol' wave 7 on the pegs but apparently they're still putting out cases of it. I have not seen wave 8 in my area yet but I haven't been looking too hard lately. I hope the rest of the waves are as easy to find as wave 7 was though. As far as Target goes... mine have not really had any changes at all over the past few months since the sales that were going on after the new year. They've had a few Cyborgs for a long time mixed in with an extra figure that will pop up now and then and sell within a day or two such as Harley Quinn this past week. I don't remember seeing any wave 7 at my Target.

 

And to those protecting Mattel... give me a break. There is a difference between whiny fan boys and a company that doesn't rise to the level of excellence that we'd like and seems happy being a second rate company. If the current rumors about what they're planning to do to the Pixar Cars line is true then there is another example of their lack of brilliance.