JediDefender.com Forums
Community => Other Toy Lines => Topic started by: MetalJedi on April 29, 2009, 03:19 AM
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http://toynewsi.com/news.php?catid=14&itemid=14408
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I've never really gotten the appeal of McFarlane's stuff... They're basically statues. I hardly even considered them as a toy company really. :-\ More like competition for Gentle Giant than Hasbro and the like.
Bummer for the people who work there though, I do feel bad for them... For the company itself though, I just never got the appeal... I buy toys. If I'm gonna put a lot into a toy, I want it to be poseable and stuff.
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McFarlane stuff has always been geared to adults so I think they were more than willing to trade articulation for really accurate look. Which when your making adult toys makes sense to me.
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McFarlane has been trying to do too many waves and now with other companies shrinking the toys down to the 4 inch size they either need to follow suit and increase articulation or get left behind.
If you look at what they have slated for this year so far it is nothing but Guitar Hero, Halo, & Sports figures. Last year they produced nearly 40 exclusive figures for various sporting events and figures exclusive to certain stores for HALO and sports figures.
Collectors don't have the time or the resources to keep doing that for that many toys. Last year Star Wars had less than 10 (Captain Rex Mail-a-way, Senate Clone Trooper, Commandar Fox, Holo Grievous, 501st Clone Trooper from Wal-Mart, & Disturbance in the Force set from SDCC, I am sure I missed a few).
McFarlane needs to trim the exclusives down, need to produce more unique figures and stop making the same sports figures over and over again since there are only so many of them people want.
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I'm not overly surprised in that, but it does suck. I think McFarlane got away from the actual toy business a while ago and were in the business of making small, low priced statues. The detail and paint apps on their stuff really blew a lot of things out of the water, especially for the price. But they weren't really making anything that I wanted to buy, at least not for the last couple of years.
I bought, I think, one Predator figure a while back and then a Master Chief from their new line. But while I liked seeing some of their stuff (Dragons, misc other non-sports stuff) in the store from time to time, I never really felt compelled to buy any of it.
McFarlane filled a spot in the toy aisle that there was a market for, but with a lot of economic things being the way they are now, that market has probably shrunk. One thing is for sure, for the last few years it never seemed like there was any shortage of any of the McFarlane lines on the shelves, except for maybe the chase figures. Plus all the exclusives, as mentioned, was kind of a kick in the ass some times.
I'd hate to see them completely go away, so if they can downsize and keep some of their more popular lines going, I think that would be a good outcome.
E...
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No big deal for me although I did get sucked into about 60 various Spawn figures throughout the years. I've only seen the movie and some of that HBO toon stuff, but I have no clue who most of these guys are - they just looked cool and I was stupid like that. I also have some Matrix and Alien stuff I have stashed away. Always seemed like a thorn in my side because I felt compelled to buy some Macfarlane stuff when there was no new SW stuff out, but it has been a long time since I bought anything new. Farewell...
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I didn't get from that article that McFarlane is RIP.
I got from it that they are downsizing their USA staff and sending a whole bunch of **** to China so they can make the stuff more efficiently over there.
There doesn't seem to be any plans to cancel their upcoming MLB/NFL figures due out this year, but who knows.
I didn't like how the figures got smaller looking lately without actually changing the scale. It made the newer ones look bad next to the older ones.
At any rate, I'm kind of confused about what this means for Sportspicks, which is really the only line I care about.
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Not terribly surprised as they'd been losing market even prior to the economic downturn of late. Even locally the sellability of hockey figures went down dramatically when TMP went with the new plastic, but prior to that it was too many of the same players and too many waves in a year. In the heyday, Walmart would have a skid of about 50 or so boxes (12 figures per) on the floor when a new wave of hockey came out. Much of that would sell within a week and little of it would reach clearance. Now they're lucky if they put out five cases total and most of it sits for a very, very long period of time. I imagine the football scenario was similar in the US.
Too much product with declining quality and a shift away from the need for all of it. Like others have said, it's more in line with NECA stuff as mini-statues, but until recently they did really nice stuff. I'm happy with what I have from the company and hopefully for them and their staff they can come out of the recession having learned some lessons and move forward. Always unfortunate to see folks being put out of work.
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I think they're downsizing how much they put out too... I could be wrong but I think it's a scale-back on all fronts, not just labor, but I could be wrong... They're definitely not dead though, and looking to save a buck with outsourcing.
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I see that article being much more about downsizing than shutting down. Especially in light of McFarlane recently announcing that they're taking the Sports Picks line into the realm of College Football.
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Got more info on this from a good source. I frequent a comic shop that a bunch of McFarlane sculptors/workers shop at. Apparently their workforce is being cut back by about 75%. They'll be farming out a lot of work to either freelancers or shops in Asia. But the company will continue on.
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All I know is I love me some of the new Johan Santana, Alex Rodriguez, and Jimmy Rollins figures. Scored them all at TRU this week.
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They're still cranking out Halo figures ad nauseam. I don't see them shutting down any time soon.
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I've always like getting the Spawn figs. Felt there were great for displaying on the shelf. I really liked the cover art ones they had a few years ago, they are my favorite. Hate to see the company get hit like this but they just haven't put out much I'm interested in lately.
I've also read they are going to start putting out statues instead of figures. Mainly as Spawn is concerned. I have the first statue but am still waiting for the second I preordered. They haven't even put the preorder up for the third one. I saw it at Phoenix Comic-Con and it looked awesome! I was hoping the line would do well but I guess not.
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They are stil putting out Halo stuff, though it does seem they've even slowed on that. Before say 6 months ago, we'd know at least 2-3 waves in advance of what was coming out. The latest wave (Series 6) has come out and we still do not have an official list for any subsequent waves. (Though they have cryptically eluded to series 7). I'm kinda bumming on that too. There are still several waves worth of characters they can create.
From what I understand their sports figures division is going strong though.