Six Million Dollar Man Aciton Figures Wave 2 Images!

[megonaught]

Any sales going on your loose smdm? (:

[ZICA]

Any sales going on your loose smdm? (:

The series 1 figures are almost sold out.

[TRDouble]

I got a good deal on a Red Suit Steve Austin and Bigfoot.

I have to say, I am sorry now that I did not jump on these sooner and that there will be no more made. They came out very good. The SMDM likeness is better than the BBP 8" figure!

And the bodies are great. Not meant to disparage the ReAction figures, of which I own three, but these are (were) better figures.

Oh well. Waiting on Captain Action and Eagle Force now.

[starsky]

this line was a dream come true for me. very sad to see the end of it.

[tmthor]

I am not a fan of pre-orders either, but it is the way of life for small companies to not put themselves into out-of-business debt by manufacturing merchandise that no one may want. I think Media Play may have been the last champion for the small toy/collectibles company. I could walk in that store and see new stuff from Palisades Toys, Mezco, NECA, Diamond Select, Sideshow Collectibles, DC Direct and more. It was great! If Media Play still existed, ZICA probably would have had an order placed by them and Series 2 would have gone through easily. But when Media Play went away, it killed the closest thing that the small companies had to feeling like one of the big boys, being able to manufacture to fill a order without trying to chase them here & there. For the companies that survived the closing of Media Play, Borders, the loss of toy sales at EBGames and GameStop, and the continued transformation of Toys R Us, it's mostly internet sales, minor placement in Barnes & Nobles, spotty purchases by TRU and the specialty stores or comic shops still surviving that are willing to order for you (or a set for the store) the stuff available through the Diamond Preview catalog.

I think the hardcore fans of a property will pre-order with little hesitation, main characters and supporting characters alike. The problem is the "casual" fan who just wants Steve Austin. When the casual fan gets what they want, they move on and it is up to the pull of the line (in this case, Retro Figures) and license to have enough hardcore fans, with the hope of some casual repeats, to support and sustain the line. I don't think the failure of this line is because people don't want to pre-order, although I do recognize the power of "In-Stock" sales compared to "Pre-Order" sales, particularly for the casual fan. I think the failure of this line instead shows there is just not enough hardcore fans of "The Six Million Dollar Man" and/or of this license as Retro Kenner-style figures.

And I think that kind of supports Craig's argument that having a Steve Austin in Series 2 would have made no difference because he needs to hit a certain number of pre-orders to go to manufacturing. The casual fan who might want a Khakis Steve Austin was probably going to wait until he was in-stock to buy him anyway, singularly if possible.

I agree this is part of having so few stores to choose from to shop at that they control what gets made and what does not. Now adays we only have Walmart TRU and target (and a few others but back in the day we had those and Ames, Bradlees, Caldor, hills, Child world and many others so smaller companies had more of a chance then they do now