LOL! That's the first thing I saw and thought the same thing.
All I will add to this thread is that the retail landscape and the collector's mentality has changed a lot over the years, so it's not really far to compare to the Playmates Seven of Nine fiasco. There was a time when we had specialty toy stores like Toys R Us and Kay Bee Toys. Then there were stores that carried many items that also catered to the collector, like Media Play, GameStop, Electronic Boutique and to a degree, Borders Bookstore. The toy aisles at Walmart and Target were robust, and K-Mart and Ames still had enough of a market to get the latest toys.
Now? FYE still exists from the ashes of Media Play, and there is a decent selection of collector items. Same with GameStop, but with a much smaller and shrinking footprint of collector items. And both stores have more Funko POP! than anything else.
Toys R Us? Gone. Kay Bee Toys? Gone. Borders? Gone, and Barnes & Noble is mostly Funko and junk, so they did not fill the void. K-Mart? Basically gone. And even before the pandemic, the toy aisles at Walmart and Target weren't what they used to be, even though they try to have their little collector areas. Now they can be bare for months.
Toy manufacturers had to find a way to get items into customers hands because the retail outlets were shrinking, The loss of Media Play helped kill a lot of small niche companies. Sideshow Toys went from selling figures for well under $100 at Media Play to selling direct and through online e-tailers for $150 and much more. Funko is EVERYWHERE, even 7-Eleven, yet you can buy some of their items from their website. Even a giant like Hasbro sells directly to the consumer items that you can find at Target and Walmart, and independent stores like BBTS and Mego Museum-sponsor Entertainment Earth. But Hasbro also sells exclusives that you can only get from THEIR website. Same with Funko, who also has many retailer and e-tailer exclusives; good luck getting the all.
I suspect Mego could do the same, except it has been said that they don't want to sell direct. So instead, they have partnered up with another e-tailer to create online exclusives, like a lot of other toy and collectible companies. It's not perfect. The shipping to Canada is an issue. Topps could probably do better with shipping costs in the USA too. Topps Mego figures are available every Monday for a week, with a limit moved from 2 to 5 per person. Hasbro and Funko have exclusives that are available until they are sold out... except, sometimes they sell out within seconds of going live. If you are lucky enough to nab one, you nab it and pay shipping, then go back in to grab lesser items... and pay shipping again. Anyone here who has collected over the years has heard, if not experienced, the fun of MattyCollector.
So it's not just Mego "screwing over the collectors". All the companies do it. Some better, some worse. Someone is going to get ticked off. I was ticked off when I got the Mattel DCUC Wonder Twins, but Gleek was only offered to attendees at SDCC. I was ticked off last year when Funko offered a Black Lightning POP! on their website only and it sold out in seconds. I stomped my feet, ranted online (about the Gleek), then moved on. Funny thing was, someone started selling Gleeks online; they were bootlegs from China, but I didn't care, and I got one. Earlier this week, Funko re-released the POP! Black Lightning, but with powered up eyes. The box will be different too, but that's fine with me, as I just want what's inside. It doesn't always work out that way -- if the Topps uniformed Worf never sees the light of day again, I get why people would dump their existing Mego TNG figures, seeing them as always incomplete.
I don't think anyone is totally "fine" with these things. But the toy collecting landscape has changed and everyone is doing these things, albeit a little differently. I still question the selection of Worf (and I don't work for Mego; maybe sales and pre-sales of TNG figures are soft), but we might not have a Mego Kor or Ra's Al Ghul if not for the Topps deal. I might not have Marvel's Hellfire Club, if not for Hasbro Pulse. And until recently, I wouldn't have had the coolest Halloween display at my job without MatteyCollector and their Ghostbusters line.
All I will add to this thread is that the retail landscape and the collector's mentality has changed a lot over the years, so it's not really far to compare to the Playmates Seven of Nine fiasco. There was a time when we had specialty toy stores like Toys R Us and Kay Bee Toys. Then there were stores that carried many items that also catered to the collector, like Media Play, GameStop, Electronic Boutique and to a degree, Borders Bookstore. The toy aisles at Walmart and Target were robust, and K-Mart and Ames still had enough of a market to get the latest toys.
Now? FYE still exists from the ashes of Media Play, and there is a decent selection of collector items. Same with GameStop, but with a much smaller and shrinking footprint of collector items. And both stores have more Funko POP! than anything else.
Toys R Us? Gone. Kay Bee Toys? Gone. Borders? Gone, and Barnes & Noble is mostly Funko and junk, so they did not fill the void. K-Mart? Basically gone. And even before the pandemic, the toy aisles at Walmart and Target weren't what they used to be, even though they try to have their little collector areas. Now they can be bare for months.
Toy manufacturers had to find a way to get items into customers hands because the retail outlets were shrinking, The loss of Media Play helped kill a lot of small niche companies. Sideshow Toys went from selling figures for well under $100 at Media Play to selling direct and through online e-tailers for $150 and much more. Funko is EVERYWHERE, even 7-Eleven, yet you can buy some of their items from their website. Even a giant like Hasbro sells directly to the consumer items that you can find at Target and Walmart, and independent stores like BBTS and Mego Museum-sponsor Entertainment Earth. But Hasbro also sells exclusives that you can only get from THEIR website. Same with Funko, who also has many retailer and e-tailer exclusives; good luck getting the all.
I suspect Mego could do the same, except it has been said that they don't want to sell direct. So instead, they have partnered up with another e-tailer to create online exclusives, like a lot of other toy and collectible companies. It's not perfect. The shipping to Canada is an issue. Topps could probably do better with shipping costs in the USA too. Topps Mego figures are available every Monday for a week, with a limit moved from 2 to 5 per person. Hasbro and Funko have exclusives that are available until they are sold out... except, sometimes they sell out within seconds of going live. If you are lucky enough to nab one, you nab it and pay shipping, then go back in to grab lesser items... and pay shipping again. Anyone here who has collected over the years has heard, if not experienced, the fun of MattyCollector.
So it's not just Mego "screwing over the collectors". All the companies do it. Some better, some worse. Someone is going to get ticked off. I was ticked off when I got the Mattel DCUC Wonder Twins, but Gleek was only offered to attendees at SDCC. I was ticked off last year when Funko offered a Black Lightning POP! on their website only and it sold out in seconds. I stomped my feet, ranted online (about the Gleek), then moved on. Funny thing was, someone started selling Gleeks online; they were bootlegs from China, but I didn't care, and I got one. Earlier this week, Funko re-released the POP! Black Lightning, but with powered up eyes. The box will be different too, but that's fine with me, as I just want what's inside. It doesn't always work out that way -- if the Topps uniformed Worf never sees the light of day again, I get why people would dump their existing Mego TNG figures, seeing them as always incomplete.
I don't think anyone is totally "fine" with these things. But the toy collecting landscape has changed and everyone is doing these things, albeit a little differently. I still question the selection of Worf (and I don't work for Mego; maybe sales and pre-sales of TNG figures are soft), but we might not have a Mego Kor or Ra's Al Ghul if not for the Topps deal. I might not have Marvel's Hellfire Club, if not for Hasbro Pulse. And until recently, I wouldn't have had the coolest Halloween display at my job without MatteyCollector and their Ghostbusters line.
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