Topps Thoughts

[PNGwynne]

Very clever, that's really nice.

[PNGwynne]

I still don't have Shazam & Black Adam.

Received them today in good condition. Nice heads and fabric choices. The t-bolt screening was a bit squiffy compared to Mattel, which was disappointing. But overall, pleasing figures.

Considering Andy's talent, I'd like to see Mego do Dr. Sivana.

[apes3978]

Those Topps stickers are fantastic---what a great idea for those who keep them in package!

The stickers *do* look very cool.

However, as far as (potential) resale values go, I wonder if some of the hardcore collectors might not see that as a 'defect' to the packaging?

Again, I think they look great, but thinking about the pickiness of some of the more 'investor' types...

[LonnieFisher]

Got a few figures in finally. I did discover that the blisters on the new bandless figures packages are deeper than the old ones. Tried to put them in the cases from other figures I've gotten and only four figures fit, instead of six.

[apes3978]

Oh, one last thing… Topps packing is some of the worst I've seen… like a bootleg package coming out of El Salvador in a used cereal box with tissues. Shipped in two different sized boxes, each containing the same number of figures, with some crumpled paper that didn't fill the space or provide buffer. Half of the cards were damaged in some way; fortunately the half I wanted to open. <bullets dodged!>

I will say that mine were packed rather well.

One box contained four figures and was size appropriate, and the other, containing six figures, was just as well sized: The different amount of figures corresponded well with the box's size. And the packing paper was real, heavy duty type packing paper. It's too bad they used flimsy stuff for yours. I'm *not* happy to hear that you had a bad experience with the packing, but hopefully not too many others' packages suffered the same fate.

I know others have received bent/dented cards or whatever, so I guess I was lucky that mine arrived undamaged and intact.

[Nostalgiabuff]

all of mine arrived safe and sound. no issues

[SpaceAgent]

I haven't wanted to comment until I received them all, but now I did, so... I think these look great. They are truly some of the best figures Mego has yet produced. One exception is the Borg Queen -- I feel this one could have been better. Maybe the non-Topps reissue will improve it. That said, I am looking forward to the non-Topps versions of this wave, and I often do not pursue variants.
It sucks that the Topps thing wasn't successful enough to maintain, because we got some really nice work out of this. But if they keep this level of craftsmanship up in the next wave, things will be looking good. And for the record, I don't think Topps handled this well. Yes, we all know there are significant supply chain issues in the world, but delivering your product so many months late? That's on them to a large degree. Also, there's no reason they couldn't have shipped everything together instead of in 5 or 6 or 7 packages. More packages = more chances for something to get lost or damaged.

All things considered though, this is some of the best work Mego has done in their 50 years of making these products.

[Liu Bei]

I haven't wanted to comment until I received them all, but now I did, so... I think these look great. They are truly some of the best figures Mego has yet produced. One exception is the Borg Queen -- I feel this one could have been better. Maybe the non-Topps reissue will improve it. That said, I am looking forward to the non-Topps versions of this wave, and I often do not pursue variants.
It sucks that the Topps thing wasn't successful enough to maintain, because we got some really nice work out of this. But if they keep this level of craftsmanship up in the next wave, things will be looking good. And for the record, I don't think Topps handled this well. Yes, we all know there are significant supply chain issues in the world, but delivering your product so many months late? That's on them to a large degree. Also, there's no reason they couldn't have shipped everything together instead of in 5 or 6 or 7 packages. More packages = more chances for something to get lost or damaged.

All things considered though, this is some of the best work Mego has done in their 50 years of making these products.

They couldn’t ship everything together because they charged out the butt on shipping for each order, and customers (rightly) would’ve jumped down their throat about overpaying by $50-$100 in shipping costs.

[apes3978]

They couldn’t ship everything together because they charged out the butt on shipping for each order, and customers (rightly) would’ve jumped down their throat about overpaying by $50-$100 in shipping costs.

There's that, and imagine if a box containing *everything* a person ordered went missing. As much as it would suck, I'd rather lose, let's say a two figure order, and have everything else I ordered get to me rather than one huge order, containing let's say, 24 figures going missing...

[darkmonkeygod]

Also, there's no reason they couldn't have shipped everything together instead of in 5 or 6 or 7 packages.

This is so tired. The reason is cost. Anyone who figures out an economically feasible way to batch ship cross orders will become very rich. The logistics of it are simply massive.

[powersthatbe]

Got everything but Taylor and Zira. checked my tracking and they haven't budged since June 2nd? :/

[palitoy]

This is so tired. The reason is cost. Anyone who figures out an economically feasible way to batch ship cross orders will become very rich. The logistics of it are simply massive.

Yeah, as someone who has 25 years of experience with this, it's a nightmare to try and group 5,000 orders. You paid separate shipping because that's how it must be done.

[Retro76]

I haven't wanted to comment until I received them all, but now I did, so... I think these look great. They are truly some of the best figures Mego has yet produced. One exception is the Borg Queen -- I feel this one could have been better. Maybe the non-Topps reissue will improve it. That said, I am looking forward to the non-Topps versions of this wave, and I often do not pursue variants.
It sucks that the Topps thing wasn't successful enough to maintain, because we got some really nice work out of this. But if they keep this level of craftsmanship up in the next wave, things will be looking good. And for the record, I don't think Topps handled this well. Yes, we all know there are significant supply chain issues in the world, but delivering your product so many months late? That's on them to a large degree. Also, there's no reason they couldn't have shipped everything together instead of in 5 or 6 or 7 packages. More packages = more chances for something to get lost or damaged.

All things considered though, this is some of the best work Mego has done in their 50 years of making these products.

I think the larger question regarding delivery timeframes is why were the 9 week offerings of Topps figures produced in China factories and shipped to Topps distribution in one single batch? If the initial justification of the limited 7 day purchase window was because the figures would be rushed into production then shouldn't have the figures been produced immediately after the purchase windows completed and shipped to Topps in waves? For instance folks who ordered figures from weeks 1-4 would have received them earlier than folks who ordered figures weeks 5-9. Instead the 9 weeks of figures appear to have been collectively manufactured in one single production cycle and then shipped to Topps all together. This leads me to believe that the 7 day purchase window was artificial, primarily to motivate pressure buying. I also think Topps' main profit from this partnership was from the shipping and handling fees and another reason for the limited purchase window. I know this is a dead horse at this point but imagine if the buying terms would have been more flexible, I believe they would have been more sales and the offerings would have continued much longer.