Well, thanks to the Topps partnership, I'm officially out.

[TRDouble]

I doubt there’s 10,000 collectors.

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.

[enyawd72]

This will be the last I will post about this. I think this video is well done and it isn't whining at all. This is just a really frustrated passionate collector that Mego has just basically alienated and LOST AS A CUSTOMER. Don't know if he is a member here on the forum...but I have to congratulate him on how well he conducted himself in the video and how he basically laid it out there for Mego to see that it's not going to be just him that has basically said "See Ya" You tick people off like these exclusive deals have done this will be what makes the whole thing implode. And right now there is no way of fixing it with out screwing someone : The collector that thought they were getting a figure that was super limited or the passionate collector that will give up completely because they won't be able to get the figure without paying scalper prices. Only way to do it is what Playmates eventually did with boxes that were numbered and then the excess figures of the same figures with no numbering that ended up in "Dump Bins" for $5 each. Watch the video, it's only 15 Minutes long:

This is spot on. I cannot wrap my head around the fact they made TMP Spock an exclusive. Good luck selling the rest of the bridge crew in stores. Same with making Worf and exclusive and Geordi a regular release? WHO is making these decisions?

[Mego-Amigo]

Personally I don't think we would see some of these figures produced at all if not for the Topps deal. I do feel for our fellow collectors in Canada about the high shipping prices though.

[enyawd72]

Personally I don't think we would see some of these figures produced at all if not for the Topps deal. I do feel for our fellow collectors in Canada about the high shipping prices though.

I agree with you on some, but not heavy hitters like Shazam, Spock, etc.

[sprytel]

The 9" Playmates line never made Worf in his yellow uniform. They made one in his Klingon armor and one in his DS9 uniform. If Mego wants to release a retail version of Worf, it is not hard to imagine them doing one of those.

Alternately, I have no idea how well the TNG line has been selling. I suppose it is entirely possible that Mego has looked at the sales for Picard, Riker, Data, Q, Borg, pre-sales for Geordi... and determined the sales aren't strong enough to support a retail release. If so, given the choice between releasing Worf as a Topps Exclusive and just letting the line die, I'd choose the exclusive.

Either way, this whole "if I can't have all of them, what's the point" debate doesn't make sense to me. I'm sure we all suspect the TNG line will skip Troi and Crusher (not to mention characters like Yar or Wesley). The original Mego line didn't have Sulu or Chekov and we somehow lived.

I find the whole theory that Mego could sell 10k of these at retail, but is intentionally choosing to sell 2k of them via Topps, pretty ridiculous. I may miss out on a few that I would have liked to own, but I'm just happy these figures are getting made at all.

[PNGwynne]

Ten thousand? Hasn't the Mego benchmark usually been 4-5 thousand collectors? Has the resurgent Mego Corp doubled the community?

[LonnieFisher]

This will be the last I will post about this. I think this video is well done and it isn't whining at all. This is just a really frustrated passionate collector that Mego has just basically alienated and LOST AS A CUSTOMER. Don't know if he is a member here on the forum...but I have to congratulate him on how well he conducted himself in the video and how he basically laid it out there for Mego to see that it's not going to be just him that has basically said "See Ya" You tick people off like these exclusive deals have done this will be what makes the whole thing implode. And right now there is no way of fixing it with out screwing someone : The collector that thought they were getting a figure that was super limited or the passionate collector that will give up completely because they won't be able to get the figure without paying scalper prices. Only way to do it is what Playmates eventually did with boxes that were numbered and then the excess figures of the same figures with no numbering that ended up in "Dump Bins" for $5 each. Watch the video, it's only 15 Minutes long:

That guy has no clue if there will be variants of the Topps figures released. He states himself that there are other possibilities for these figures to be released as. Maybe Worf will have a different uniform and be a wide release. He is just speculating, and could be very wrong in his speculation. I do see his video as a great big rant and whining. He does whine throughout the video. We don't know Mego's plans for the characters that Topps is releasing. They could make ten variants of Worf. He complained about Sisco. Sisco wore more than one uniform on the show. Maybe they will release another Sisco in wave 15. He has no clue...

[Liu Bei]

That guy has no clue if there will be variants of the Topps figures released. He states himself that there are other possibilities for these figures to be released as. Maybe Worf will have a different uniform and be a wide release. He is just speculating, and could be very wrong in his speculation. I do see his video as a great big rant and whining. He does whine throughout the video. We don't know Mego's plans for the characters that Topps is releasing. They could make ten variants of Worf. He complained about Sisco. Sisco wore more than one uniform on the show. Maybe they will release another Sisco in wave 15. He has no clue...

That’s my problem with the video as well. He’s making arguments that have already been addressed. His argument is predicated on the assumption that characters like Taylor and Worf will never be offered to the public, when they almost certainly will.

If they aren’t, then the argument made previously is obviously correct, i.e. the TNG line hasn’t been doing well enough at retail to warrant a mass release.

Marty and the Mego crew are good people, and obviously want to make as much money and be as successful as possible while pleasing as much of the fan base as possible.

The only legitimate gripe I’ve heard is the high shipping prices to Canada and other places. Heck, even the US shopping prices are too high. But that’s not Mego’s fault, it’s Topps’s. I’m sure that is something being looked at, or that will be looked at as we move forward.

[Mikey]

My local Target never has anything Mego related

Is that a NE Pennsylvania thing ?

[Blue Meanie]

My local Target never has anything Mego related

Is that a NE Pennsylvania thing ?

Don't know Mike...but there has been NOTHING new on the pegs here on Long Island since Gene and Paul Kiss Wave. Have no idea what wave number that is...but about 2+ years. It's just poor marketing. Nothing more and nothing less.

[Mego Milk]

I like buying online.

[The Batman Professor]

^ as long as the product is delivered in 4-6 weeks. 5 months? GTFOH

[CrimsonGhost]

^ as long as the product is delivered in 4-6 weeks. 5 months? GTFOH

The product isn’t produced until the preorders end. Producing a figure in 4-6 weeks is impossible.

[LonnieFisher]

^ as long as the product is delivered in 4-6 weeks. 5 months? GTFOH

I don't think you understand how the Topps deal works. They offer them, and when the offer is over, the figures get ordered to be produced. These things aren't sitting in a warehouse waiting to be distributed.

[TrekStar]

I don't think you understand how the Topps deal works. They offer them, and when the offer is over, the figures get ordered to be produced. These things aren't sitting in a warehouse waiting to be distributed.

I think it would be a good idea to make a few more extra than preordered and say after the holidays, they can come out with a second chance offer for those who missed the chance to get what they wanted first time around, just a thought.