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I am not liking these at all. I did think the Aliens were good, but again, that was a pre-existing mold. I am interested in the Universal Monsters, Slasher era (Myers, Jason, Freddy, Hellraiser) and Firefly, but they just look wonky. Maybe they will reveal some at Toyfair and they will look better.
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The Universal Monsters are must haves for me...I do wonder why the Dracula cardback is different from all the others though with that small poster inset. Hope they ditch that so it matches the others.Comment
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An observation: all of these figures are sculpted with duck-walk feet. Their toes all point outward in a "V" shape. Every one of them. This was not a characteristic of vintage Kenner sculpts. When I think of retro style, I think of both feet parallel to each other. ZICA got that. Look at Mego's Star Trek TMP figures or Mattel's vintage Starbuck or Kenner's Han Solo. None of them had this casual foot stance.
Subtle, yes. But if you're going for a certain look, it's all about subtleties. I wonder if these are all sculpted by the same person.Comment
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And yes, Rocketeer's helmet could use some shrinking, but then they'd have to shrink the Cliff Secord head, like Stormtrooper Luke.Comment
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For resellers, these are only available in single pack cases. At least, for now. I think that may whittle down the items offered if certain figures don't get as many pre-orders as others.
Small retailers, and hobby resellers are also going to have to make some choices with preordering these as there is an awful lot of product to purchase in single packed cases.Comment
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I'm still not sure Generation Y and Z (I don't know what they like to be referred to... Nintendo and Playstation Gen? Net Gen?) whom are the bulk of Whedon fans are going to "get" the retro thing for Buffy and Firefly.
peak over at comments from Whedonesque, it might be the sculpts they are reacting to, but it might be the format in general? They seem to want Pop Vinyls as a cursory glance around the 'net.
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comments at Whedonesque BEFORE the reveal...
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The more I look at some, the more I like them. I also think that with some of the figures, the angle at which the figures are photographed makes them look bad, and the straight on shots used for the backer cards look better.
I am just not very excited for the Universal Monsters. Remco's were FAR better and I have them all. On the fence with most, and will wait to see the production figures.
Really don't like most of the card backs. They just don't look very vintage. With the exception of The Goonies, those are pretty nice.
I just pre-ordered the following from Big Bad Toy Store...
Firefly (set)
The Goonies (set)
The Invisible Man
Jason Voorhees
Freddy Krueger
Michael Myers
Predator (masked)
Predator (open mouth)Last edited by Remco Monster; Feb 15, '14, 12:43 PM.Comment
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Goonies does have the best card art, yes.
Question: why preorder? Wouldn't waiting for in-stock items qualify for the free shipping over $75?Comment
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Yeah, but I like BBTS's Pile of Loot feature, and these won't all be coming out the same month.Comment
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Remember, these are Wheadon fans, not toy fans. "The concensus" on tha internets is a very small sample of the total fan population. Tha internets have not been an accurate gauge of the success of whatever it is that they are upset about. Two Examples:
Transformers fans were outraged when the new Bay Transformers were reveled. The movies have been blockbusters that have made Transformers more popular than they were in the 80s.
When Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure was announced fans of the original Spyro games were so mad that the game developers were resetting the continuity that they sent death threats to the developers. DEATH THREATS! And Skylanders is a huge hit.
I had a lot of fun making my little critique of the Rocketeer and Back to the Future figures a few post ago. Do I think it means anything to the larger world. No.
The marketers at the toy company can worry about what tha internets thinks. I can gripe, complain, praise and buy what I want.
Oh, one more example. A lot of not-toy-fans hated the Alien ReAction figures on tha internets before it came out. Jus' sayin'.
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If you are making Buffy and Firefly figures, aren't you specifically aiming for Whedon fans when you produce for that license? or are you saying that a toy collector in general will have the "collect 'em all" mentality when it comes to reAction, whether they are Buffy/Firefly fans or not?
Unless there is also a hipster youth "Sucklord" component that I'm missing here? Funko's bread and butter is the Pop Vinyls. That seems to be a very young demographic. I have a few, but does anyone else here in the 40+ range collect Pop Vinyls?
The Toy Fans for these specific licenses in ReAction format, would seem to be pretty specifically those that are old enough to feel nostalgic about Star Wars figures (mostly 40+ years old at this point), who also like Buffy and Angel. Aliens seems like a slam dunk in that format for the 40+ crowd, particularly for collectors who want the unproduced "prototypes". Even Goonies seems to be in the ballpark of era. Ditto Back to the Future.
The twenty and thirty-something Buffy/Firefly fans I know, who are also toy collectors seem obsessed with either killer sculpt and articulation, or "chibi/anime" style of Pop Vinyls as folks who grew up on manga. They all see my Megos and inarticulated Star Wars (and even RAH GI Joe oddly enough) as "Dad stuff" which is kinda uncool unless viewed with some maddening hipster irony.
I really think the Museum forums might give us some small indication, given that we grew up on Star Wars figures and "get it"... and even this crowd seems to be bucking at the sculpts. I'm too lazy to dig into the old threads, but weren't most of us hugely excited by the ReAction aliens? I can't remember much in the way of naysayers.
Although inversely, there seems to be zero interest in SH Figure Arts' hugely anime influenced figures... despite the fact that they are 1/9th scale and have heads we can stick on Mego style figures. Yet twenty and thirty year olds are happily plunking down $50-$100 bucks for these figures, something the folks here would absolutely go berserk over when faced with that kind of price point (mostly because we remember when candy bars were a nickel).
Again, I'm not claiming this as any kind of "consensus"... as I described my observations as a "cursory glance". And my own anecdotal opinion is only formed around a younger brother ten years my junior, and studio-mates who have stocked their rooms and our studio full of Anime, Art-Toys and NECA product. To me, they are the core of the Whedon fans this SHOULD be aimed at, but don't seem to have the interest in the ReAction format.Last edited by samurainoir; Feb 15, '14, 5:09 PM.Comment
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We all know that Funko's bread and butter these days is those Pop Vinyls right? And since they already have the range of existing licenses, this is probably a good way for them to dip their toes into another range of ten dollar impulse product.Comment
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This. Funko have excellent distribution and wholesale partners, and ReAction and Legacy may be a new category that their wholesale partners can push. B&N has gone heavy on the Legacy figures, gaining an exclusive window on the Game of Thrones line. That may seem like a no-brainer, but it a huge deal to have such retail presence, particularly for a relatively small and nimble company like Funko.Comment
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