J.J. Abrams tried to shut down all Star Trek: TOS merch

[thunderbolt]

No, but I don't think a remake should have been done at all. (I know that's just my opinion, and not many share it, but that's OK). But if someone really must do a remake, than do what they did on Star Trek Continues. At least that was staying true to the classic Trek. But I saw enough previews from that last fiasco, (I wasn't gonna waste time of money seeing the film), to see that you basically could have called that movie anything but Trek, and it wouldn't have mattered. Just a space adventure. But not Trek, not to me, not ever.

Continues is ok, but it would go over like a lead balloon with audiences. Trek needed to move on and evolve a bit to get the attention of the public. You are missing a well done movie that was true to the characters and really(even tho its a altered time line) fleshed out the early days of the crew. The timeline altering twist was well thought out and the Nimoy Spock and his role helped bridge the gap between realities, not to mention his hand in causing the changes. You are really missing out on a good movie with the bias towards the old show.

[JediJaida]

Exactly. I think if Art Asylum or NECA made the figures instead of Playmates, they would have done much better. And why is it so hard to get a 1/6 company interested in this franchise? Joy and Tom Studios already have awesome TOS head sculpts--someone needs to get with them and get busy. They would do a great job with the new actors.

HOLY MACKEREL!!!! THOSE are what I call sculpts!!!

Just get rid of the bulky fleece fabric for the uniform tunic, and I'd buy them!

[Red Hulk]

What has JJ Abrahms been smoking as if CBS is just gonna give up that money comming in.

[JediJaida]

He's high on his own delusions? I mean really: the Star Trek franchise brings in so much money for CBS it ain't funny! They aren't ABOUT to give up that cash cow for anyone.

It kinda boggles the mind that he actually had the chutzpah to ask them to do so.

[B-Lister]

We want Merch for the new films. The figures did not sell because they were terrible. But the role play toys were all very good.

If a toy is good, people will buy it, whether it is Shatner or Pine. But when a toy is bad, like the Playmates ones (seriously they ALL looked like they were wearing thick knit sweaters, because they attempted to sculpt the printed parts of the uniform.)

[Werewolf]

All to attract the younger folks who really don't care all that much about the toys.

If it wasn't for kids, toy companies, like Mattel and Hasbro, would go out of business. Children are the primary market for toys. Adult collectors are teeny, tiny, sliver of the overall toy buying market.

Creating your own adventures in the backyard with dirt mounds just isn't the same as in climate controlled room with the virtual universe at your finger tips.

The average age of a gamer is mid 30s.

[jimsmegos]

If it wasn't for kids, toy companies, like Mattel and Hasbro, would go out of business. Children are the primary market for toys. Adult collectors are teeny, tiny, sliver of the overall toy buying market.

I understand that but my point is more in line with the movie tie is stuffs. Kids will always love toys for sure, but the connection with a property like "Star Trek" or even the coming "Superman" I don't believe has a real draw for kids today like they once did. Revamp 'em all you want but in the end they're "old" to today's kids. Case and point, this article about how Barbie and Hot Wheels are seeing a decline (slight) while NEW lines and properties are thriving (Monster High) http://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambro...gs-that-shine/, That is where I think they are getting it right in creating something that is NOW and for today's kids. I still stand beside my belief that toy companies today owe a huge debt of grattude to we Mom's and Dad's ( and some of us Grandparents ) introduce our kids to the 'traditional' lines better than anything their marketing departments could develop.



[/QUOTE]The average age of a gamer is mid 30s.[/QUOTE]

Maybe so, but how many kids today do not have a gaming system of some kind?

[Werewolf]

Maybe so, but how many kids today do not have a gaming system of some kind?

Video games have been a huge part of childhood since the Atari 2600. Game characters like Pac-Man were so popular they got a slew of tie-in merchandise from toys to cartoons. 80s and 90s kids grew up with the NES, SNES and Sega Genesis. But it's adults spending hours after hours after hours playing Call of Duty in air conditioned rooms.

Toy companies, like Mattel and Hasbro, make billions selling Fisher Price, Barbies, Ponies, Transformers, Turtles and Legos to children. On average, Mattel sells three Barbie dolls a second.

[Gorn Captain]

When I look at toy shelves here, it seems that young kids are no longer interested in action figures. They go from toy trucks and balls to video games and Ipads. Girls still love Barbies, but few boys till seem to love soldiers and pirates and astronauts.

The only place where I see action figures sold is at conventions, to people in the 30-40 age range.
So when trying to sell action figures, JJ might have to look to his main target group. Which means us.
I don't think many young kids these days share our love of Star Trek and buy merchandise.

[boynightwing]

I work at the movies. I see some kids go to Star Trek, but it's mostly adults. Iron Man on the other hand is bringing in the kids even now. When I was a kid I didn't like Star Trek. Next Gen was just coming out. I had seen a few of the movies, but mostly it was boring and I didn't really care about it. By the time I got to Grade 11 my tune had changed. I was watching Next Gen all the time and I sought out VHS copies of the movies and Original Series. My tastes had to mature for Star Trek. I don't know if I'm the norm or not. I do know that as a kid I wouldn't have wanted Trek toys. As an adult, I'm happy they exist. I have the Mego's and EMCE to make a complete bridge crew. I have models of most the ships. Some of them talk and light up. I have a few Playmates figures from Next Gen and Voyager. I don't have the new movie ones because they were so darned ugly. Had they been amazing, I would have them too.

[Bionicfanboy66]

When I go to the local Wal-Mart, I very seldom see kids in the action figure isle. They're usually in the electronics section checking out the video games and ipods. When I saw a Saturday matinee of Iron Man recently, I didn't see any kids in the theater. There were only a few of us adults in there. When Star Trek TOS premiered on NBC in 1966, it seemed like the original target audience were adults, not children. I don't recall seeing any merchandise for ST prior to 1974. I could be wrong though since I'm 46 going on 47 and wasn't introduced to Trek until the animated series premiered on NBC in the early 1970's.

[ctc]

>Children are the primary market for toys. Adult collectors are teeny, tiny, sliver of the overall toy buying market.

Yeah. I thionk the problem for a lot of companies is that the adult collectors were such a big part of the action figure tie-in market back in the 90's, and they're still not sure what to do with that. So you get a lot of toys designed AS toys that sort of pass under the nerdly radar; and you get weird variant, pseudo-posable figures that get more hype but aren't as big a chunk of sales as the previous products.

>I don't recall seeing any merchandise for ST prior to 1974.

I think once the cartoon came out the marketing followed 'cos it was seen as more kid friendly. Hence why so much of the merchandaising bears more of a resemblance to the cartoon than the original show.

Don C.

[Mikey]

For the Enterprise itself I can't imagine anyone wanting the new movie Enterprise over the Classic one.

[MIB41]

The computer and gaming age has pretty much removed a child's impulse to use their own imagination. That above anything else hurts the toy market.

[palitoy]

The computer and gaming age has pretty much removed a child's impulse to use their own imagination. That above anything else hurts the toy market.

Yeah, don't take this wrong way but pfffffffffffttt! I live with two kids who have wonderful, active imaginations and play with toys all the time. So do their friends. Sure, they play video games but I spent hours glued to an atari as a kid as well.

They're more drawn to Lego and building set characters but I don't blame them, Lego is the new Mego.

As for not wanting new trek toys, I actually liked the 3 inch Playmates line. I wish there was a classic trek line in that scale.
I bought some of the merch because i like the designs.