Where did Flattworld go wrong?

[samurainoir]

I'm really enjoying the discussions around where the 1/9th figure market should be going. That is kind of the beauty of an "open source" kind of community like the Mego Museum.

Perhaps it would be useful to look at another example of a company that had a quality product... the Bela Lugosi Dracula, yet did not succeed. I wasn't around when this came out... for those that were, where did the company fall, umm, Flatt?

It seemed to have such promise with the Phantom and Zorro prototypes I've seen on the web. It wasn't my cup of tea, but the Uncle Sam figure seems like a quality product as well. The reputation of Charlee Flatt within the custom and collector community seemed to be a great platform to build a boutique toy company around (from an outsider who only knew of Flatt from Toy Collecting magazines).

[GaryPlaysWithDolls]

Yeah, he had some cool Astro City prototypes. I would have bought those figures. I'd still like to get an Uncle Sam. My Dracula sits on my desk. I wonder where that company missed out.

[palitoy]

Somewhere I have the business plan for FW, it's lofty and had high overhead as I recall. That seemed to reflect in the $69.95 price point, which was in my opinion, the biggest problem.

I've heard some other things that suggest that the company got a raw deal but I can't speak to those because I heard them third hand.

[samurainoir]

^^^
Was that really the price point for the Flattworld Dracula?! a dozen years ago, that wasn't even the Sideshow 12" price range! I would have thought they could have sold Lugosi Draculas all day long at $20 comparable to $40 12" figures aimed at the collectors market.

[pmwasson]

Sounds like they suffered from the dreaded "screwed-over by China" again:
Mego Talk - View Single Post - flattworld Bela for xmas - aw yeah!!!

[ScottA]

Charlee had really bad business partners who as it turned out had no idea what they were doing.

[LonnieFisher]

The Dracula figure was too spendy, and was a younger version of Bela than when he played the part. The figure was awesome, but didn't reflect the movie well.

[SeattleEd]

^^Not to mention the sculpt was very inaccurate. I put a different version on mine.
However, I do love the bodies. Very well done and seemed more of the next evolution for Mego. Basically the body was a female Mego body with regards to articulation and build but with the added LJN swivel biceps. I'm surprised Mego never decided to do this to make T3 male bodies but I assume all the molds were in the place and re-tooling would be too expensive.

[MIB41]

I have to agree with the consensus. When Dracula first came out, he was very appealing. Especially since the rebirth of the Mego era was still in it's infancy at that point. But like so many, I passed on this figure because I simply couldn't understand why he was so expensive. It's worth noting this wasn't the first line to die out because of lofty price points back then. Samurainoir, if you start a thread on the demise of the Playing Mantis Captain Action line, I'll be writing a book about that. That was a process I followed so closely and bought everything they had. But boy did they put fans like me through the ringer waiting on product and changing price points. But I digress...

[BlackKnight]

I bought like 5 of em from Castaway for 17 Bucks a Piece, and ripped them apart.
.... I still got 1 MIB though.

[CrimsonGhost]

I was excited for the Bela figure, and I liked it for the most part but it didn't feel compatible with other Mego figures because his head seemed so small by comparison.
I tried to order the Phantom but it was delayed a few times before it was ultimately cancelled. That was disappointing.
I got the Uncle Sam at the last Mego Meet, and truth be told, the head sculpt is awful.

[boss]

The price point was high but not ridiculous at the time. Lack of business sense will get you every time.

[torgospizza]

Samurainoir, if you start a thread on the demise of the Playing Mantis Captain Action line, I'll be writing a book about that. That was a process I followed so closely and bought everything they had. But boy did they put fans like me through the ringer waiting on product and changing price points.

MIB41, if you ever want to start a thread on that topic, I'd love to read it. I don't want to derail the thread by discussing that here, but I find that a very interesting subject. I loved that line, and am still chapped I never got a blue Lone Ranger suit at normal retail. No way am I paying $100 for one now.

[BlackKnight]

The Flatt Bela's gotta be on the rebound soon as far as value goes ....
IMO ..., It is 1 of the best production figures out there . I dunno how many were made ...., But cases, upon cases, upon cases of these have been Torn apart ..., and thats just what I Know of.

How Many are really out there Left ? When will it matter ?

[Toy Talk]

I have 2 of the Bela's and both variations of the Uncle Sam. Personally I think both of them are extremely well done.