Batman (from Batman Series 4)

[thunderbolt]

wow, that costume looks terrible even on the slightly bigger type s body. FTC blows it on DC's flagship character.

[PNGwynne]

Asymmetrical bat-ears? Ugh. In 1978, an 8" Mego cost, what, $4.00? Adjusted for inflation, that would be about $16.00 today. We're paying nearly twice that, admittedly for a "boutique"/niche item. However, I'd expect a boutique item to feature greater attention to detail and production.

I love the variety, parts, and (very "Mego") interchangeability FTC is offering. But unless you keep these on the card and accept them as "good enough," FTC is laughing all the way to the bank as we buy extra parts, extra bodies, and tolerate huge heads. I get that it's fun to tweak these--I do that, too and did also did so with extrs Megos. But really....

Someone here posted what terrific fans work at FTC. I guess that must be why they released characters like Scarecrow, SF Aquaman, and Capt. Marvel, Jr. off-model. Three of my most-desired characters, so I guess I'm too picky.

[lilbrosj66]

Asymmetrical bat-ears? Ugh. In 1978, an 8" Mego cost, what, $4.00? Adjusted for inflation, that would be about $16.00 today. We're paying nearly twice that, admittedly for a "boutique"/niche item. However, I'd expect a boutique item to feature greater attention to detail and production.

I love the variety, parts, and (very "Mego") interchangeability FTC is offering. But unless you keep these on the card and accept them as "good enough," FTC is laughing all the way to the bank as we buy extra parts, extra bodies, and tolerate huge heads. I get that it's fun to tweak these--I do that, too and did also did so with extrs Megos. But really....

Someone here posted what terrific fans work at FTC. I guess that must be why they released characters like Scarecrow, SF Aquaman, and Capt. Marvel, Jr. off-model. Three of my most-desired characters, so I guess I'm too picky.

I completely agree. We are getting more product than we every thought possible and some are home runs. That being said, adjusting for inflation, when you look at the oversized heads, poor, rough and off-kilter sculpts, bizarre fabric choices and costume styling we are getting less bang for the buck.

I just looked at every single original Mego that I have displayed and head-size not withstanding, they are far superior sculpts to what is being turned out now. With the possible exception of Tarzan (IMHO), they are smoother and more symetrical.

This Batman will NOT be joining my collection.

[Teemu]

Asymmetrical bat-ears? Ugh. In 1978, an 8" Mego cost, what, $4.00? Adjusted for inflation, that would be about $16.00 today. We're paying nearly twice that, admittedly for a "boutique"/niche item. However, I'd expect a boutique item to feature greater attention to detail and production.

I love the variety, parts, and (very "Mego") interchangeability FTC is offering. But unless you keep these on the card and accept them as "good enough," FTC is laughing all the way to the bank as we buy extra parts, extra bodies, and tolerate huge heads. I get that it's fun to tweak these--I do that, too and did also did so with extrs Megos. But really....

Someone here posted what terrific fans work at FTC. I guess that must be why they released characters like Scarecrow, SF Aquaman, and Capt. Marvel, Jr. off-model. Three of my most-desired characters, so I guess I'm too picky.

My guess that it costs FTC $2-5 to produce each figure in China, which is why they can make a ton of variants over and over.One figure bought at full price pays for 8 figures ...so yeah,I bet the profit margin is high for them.It has to be when they are sitting on a ton of product in the wharehouse

I completely agree. We are getting more product than we every thought possible and some are home runs. That being said, adjusting for inflation, when you look at the oversized heads, poor, rough and off-kilter sculpts, bizarre fabric choices and costume styling we are getting less bang for the buck.

I just looked at every single original Mego that I have displayed and head-size not withstanding, they are far superior sculpts to what is being turned out now. With the possible exception of Tarzan (IMHO), they are smoother and more symetrical.

This Batman will NOT be joining my collection.

You should just be happy we are getting Mego-like figures today (sarcasm)

[TRDouble]

This Batman will NOT be joining my collection.

Can't blame you. I am still going to try and make this Batman work, even if it is just parted out (head, belt, new costume, cape, new gloves, etc). But there is just so much wrong with it, it feels like an impossible fix, especially for a novice like myself. I know it would be a loss, but FTC really needs to write this off as just that, a loss, and start over on a modern Batman.

[ODBJBG]

I actually doubt FTC is making a killing on these. I am guessing that they don't have as much control or influence over their factories as Mego had years ago and when a product comes out flawed, FTC has a choice to either sell it as is, or bite the bullet and have it remade at their cost. Sadly, I think it's a case of them often passing on the inferior product due to them losing money otherwise.

That said, it's pretty easy to know when things are messed up and if they are, simply pass on them. Otherwise caveat emptor with all pre-orders.

One thing I've learned in recent years with smaller companies and even bigger ones like Mattel, they are much more at the mercy of factories in China than they were decades ago, which accounts for so many of the uneven products.

Now I do think FTC should work to improve, always and I think this Batman looks like a major misstep. And it does boggle my mind sometimes that they can produce a absolutely flawless 66 Batman and then turn around and produce something else that is riddled with issues. But I would hazard a guess that these are not intentional mistakes and sadly, when problems arise they don't see it in their finanical interest to correct them unless it's a really major problem.

[jeffbearco]

I've always suspected it was more like ODBJBG said above. It would be hard to control a factory that is watching their own bottom line, especially when that factory is overseas.

JeffBearCO

[thunderbolt]

I've always suspected it was more like ODBJBG said above. It would be hard to control a factory that is watching their own bottom line, especially when that factory is overseas.

JeffBearCO

Yeah, but they are also damaging their reputation by just accepting this stuff as is and probably reducing the buying fan base as they get burned. It would be worth their while to do some QC and save a lot of this public grief.

[scott metzger]

ODBJBG - There are a few problems with blaming everything on the factories here. I would assume that FTC is likely using one factory for figure production, maybe two if there is one doing the bodies and one doing the heads (depending on what the factory in question can produce). A small company like this isn't going to be hiring multiple factories to produce their small run products, so it's not like one factory is making properly scaled heads and another is not. Also, add in the fact that this scale problem goes back a LONG ways with FTC; their Space 1999 figures had the exact same issue, and we know they are not using the same factories as they did then (not even the same country). The final piece is the plugs on the heads; I have seen no difference in the plug size between the properly scaled new heads and the oversized ones, which means the problem isn't the factory oversizing some heads in production. It means the heads are out of scale when they receive them for mold making, placing the problem at the FTC end of things on this side of the ocean. Paint jobs, materials, those kind of QC issues could be at the factory end, but the biggest problem with the FTC figures seems to trace back to Florida, not China.

[thunderbolt]

^^^ Its always Florida getting the blame.

[TRDouble]

I've completely given up on this Batman. I changed out the gloves, and it helps, but not enough. I've pulled the legs down as much as I can and put the belt right at the waist in an attempt to de-puff-ify the shorts; it's not great, but I can deal with it. The cape covers the neck and short top if the suit enough.

But those short pants legs... nothing I can do about them. I tried regular boots, but they just creep up and then bunch up, even after shoving them into the boot, because there is nothing to keep them down like a full footie or stirrup. If the pants just went down to the ankle of the Hero boots, I could probably deal with the many other shortcomings of the figure. Even the arms are long enough to fit into the gloves and stay. Not the legs though.

Just a terrible, terrible figure. That's my final word on it.

[jeffbearco]

The Super Friends Aquaman that I just got has a similar issue where the tights just aren't long enough, and they are uneven. This causes the crotch to stretch too low and the shirt is stretched unevenly so the detailing makes it look like he has one saggy boob.

I ordered a second costume yesterday. If the new costume is better, I'll just use it. If the new costume is also too short in the legs, I'll cut the toe out of the tights and make a small cuff. Then make socks out of the tights from the other costume so it looks like the legs are longer. There will be a seam, but the chest and crotch will look better. A lot of work when all they needed to do was add an extra half inch to the tights to make them look right. Maybe because I sew I am less forgiving of things like this that people would never put up with on their own clothes.

So, that is 4 figures in a row that just ended up being disappointments. 2 of them I sent back. On Aquaman, I'm afraid all of them would look better with longer tights, so I didn't bother to send him back.

At this point, it will take something really awesome for me to order another figure. Tired of paying double to fix figures that should have been right to begin with.

JeffBearCO

[CrimsonGhost]

The Super Friends Aquaman that I just got has a similar issue where the tights just aren't long enough, and they are uneven. This causes the crotch to stretch too low and the shirt is stretched unevenly so the detailing makes it look like he has one saggy boob.

I ordered a second costume yesterday. If the new costume is better, I'll just use it. If the new costume is also too short in the legs, I'll cut the toe out of the tights and make a small cuff. Then make socks out of the tights from the other costume so it looks like the legs are longer. There will be a seam, but the chest and crotch will look better. A lot of work when all they needed to do was add an extra half inch to the tights to make them look right. Maybe because I sew I am less forgiving of things like this that people would never put up with on their own clothes.

So, that is 4 figures in a row that just ended up being disappointments. 2 of them I sent back. On Aquaman, I'm afraid all of them would look better with longer tights, so I didn't bother to send him back.

At this point, it will take something really awesome for me to order another figure. Tired of paying double to fix figures that should have been right to begin with.

JeffBearCO

Wow! I'm really surprised to read this. You were one of the guys I thought would be in it til the end. I guess you've just finally had enough?

If that comes of as me being sarcastic, it's not.

I admit I haven't really bought many of the figures, but I intend to buy the new KISS figures. I hope they're ok.

[jeffbearco]

I was really ready to like the new Batman figure. But the extended neck and the silky undies as well as the really bright blue threw me off. The shorts have also come up as being a big negative on him as well. So I didn't even buy him. Still hoping they will do a black and grey variant in less shiny material and even better if they included the black neck ruff from the 66 Batman. That whole set of figures is pretty much a false start for me until they fix Batman.

I ordered a couple of Harry Potter figures. Harry himself was great. Spot on all the way around. Then I ordered Draco. His head was so huge I didn't even take it out of the packaging. Exchanged him for Ron who was OK, but his jacket was WAY too small. Decided to keep him and just be annoyed every time I see him. I'm pretty sure that line is dead now. I was enthusiastic for it in the beginning but I doubt they made enough money from it because of the issues to justify anyone wanting more. Dead line, just like Dr Who and the Universal Monsters. I know those aren't FTC, but the incompleteness still burns. We'll see.

I ordered the Batman in Black figure. The tights were too short and pulled everything down unevenly, just like the Aquaman figure above. I had to cut the toe off both legs to get the fit right. He had boots at least so they don't show. Plus when I tried to adjust it, it was strung so tight I ended up having both arms pop off at the shoulder. Had to fix that with pliers.

Wonder Woman was a plus except I had to sacrifice a Cheetah to give her a decent body. Both legs were glued so they would not bend at the knee or move in the hip sockets. That was expected at this point.

Aquaman looked good from all pictures but because of the tights, he looked awful. The head sculpt is good enough that I'm willing to work to fix him. Still very annoying though. The character doesn't have boots to cover the obvious issues like Batman did. So he will just end up with seams.

Picked up the 66 Batgirl. Gave her a hair cut and a new body. Head still looks huge but I kept her. She is in her packaging on a shelf and still annoys me every time I see her.

Oh, and somewhere in there I got a 66 Joker in the bag. A lot of the green paint on his head had rubbed off inside the bag and the jacket was pretty much trashed out. I ended up sending him back for one that was marginally better and switched his jacket out for the dark blue/purple trench coat. I still want to rub some grey paint on his face to see if I can make him look more ... evil.

It is just all building up to a shelf in my office that just generally ****es me off every time I see it. It just isn't feeling like the fun hobby it was when I started.

JeffBearCO

[PNGwynne]

I know what you mean, Jeff. I'm in for most Batman '66, but otherwise it's all cherry-picking and kit-bashing to avoid the aggravation. This Batman situation is especially sad because, aside from the poor costume design choices, FTC could have simply shrunk down the 12" Parkdale/Mego Batman head for a perfectly serviceable head sculpt.

I'm still gobsmacked by Batgirl '66.