Wave one of the Batman Retros are up for Pre-Order at Figures Toy

[madmarva]

I wouldn't gamble on mass produced items as an investment. Many folks who buy these won't take them out of the package. They won't truly be scarce.

If you are patient and diligent, all the retro Mattel's can be found at or near retail on amazon or eBay, with the possible exception of Wonder Woman, but most of the others can be had for less than retail.

[actjac01]

I haven't been this excited since the EMCE/Diamond Select Star Trek retro release a few years ago (has it been that long ago already?)
Go FIGURES TOY COMPANY!

[lilbrosj66]

I placed my pre-order for the first set of 4 figures and that got me to thinking. What will these figures do to pricing across the lines? Will vintage figures go up in value? Stay the same? Go down? And what about these new figures? I'm curious what will happen to their price? Based on what I see in the Mattel retro series, where they all seem to have gone up in value to some degree, I'm guessing these will inch upwards as well? Hmmm.....

[tllgn]

i just pre ordered a couple sets,i love these things,i hope to get them all,and that they are good quality.i plan on getting all their "8" figures
from Batman Classic,Batman 66,Conan,tarzan,gilligans island,Well its easy to say what i aint getting -Obama & Dallas .and of course i want all the EMCE/BIF BANG POW
figures.Damn i am just working for retros.but they may cancel some stuff,so its best to just wait and buy what is actually made.still bummed about Vina & Chaple.

[rlkrefft]

I don't think the cost is really that bad. 6" figures are about 15.00 so for 10.00 more I get a great looking 8" figure. All 4 for 100.00. Ok my partner complained a bit about the cost too, I told him if we go one month seeing one less movie at the theater and skipped a meal out just once in that same month we would have saved the 100.00 we can spend on these figures now. I mean I spent 20.00 on Retro Action which had very bad bodies that could not even stand, and chest emblems that would come off or were just put on very sloppy. Not blaming anyone but Mattel for this, but I can't believe the toys coming from Figures Co will be as broken and badly put together as those we got in Retro Action. I have waited 40+ years for these toys and I am sure not gonna complain about them.

[jayraytee]

Don't want to derail though, I preordered my set the first day.

[jayraytee]

Which is exactly why a kickstarter campain would be the most viable option. Come up with an estimate as to what creating the figures would cost including the license and set that as the goal.

http://www.kickstarter.com/hello?ref=nav

When we did it for a band we knew, they had a goal budget of $10,000... they raised over $30,000. The pledges were tiered so that if you pledged $20, you get a copy of the album, $40 and you get an autographed copy, $60 and you get the autographed copy plus a button and sticker, $100 and you get all that plus a T-shirt, $200 and you get all that plus a thank you in the credits, $500 and you get all that plus execitive producer credit, etc.

You could tier it with trading cards, extra figure parts and accessories, stickers, maybe different artwork on a backer card only for kickstarter backers, or multiple figures, etc. In this way, some fans might actually essentially preorder for $1,000 instead of just the individual figure cost. They get some extra bonus stuff and the ability to fund the project.

I have seen movies funded, even a graphic novel artist raised over $100,000 to print a book of art.

[megocrazy]

He already stated in another thread he couldn't afford the license for it. It all comes down to timing and who has the deeper pockets.
Lynn

Well next time. Please let the members of the board know this is on the table is you're interested in partnering. I would've gladly invested some $$$ on a project like this. I know there is money to be made in ventures like this. but, one has to know about it first ; )

You have to realize that at limited distribution the cost of the license is a huge portion of the cost of the figure production. The cost of the license is divided, not by the number of figures produced but the number of figures sold. The chance of a loss is far greater than the chance of great success.

Just for fun, since we're a forum that directly relates to this release. Start a running list of the number of people that preorder and see how deep it goes. I've seen 5 or 6 so far but let's see where the totals run to. You would think this would be a major outlet for the type of distribution they're using, but short of the rotocast Batman, Joker and Riddler heads there's nothing in this initial release that hasn't been readily available in the past 5 years from multiple outlets. They are simply Mego remakes, just on a card. I do personally believe the 66 line will get some support but there's still a heavy cost burden and you need to sell a bunch of figures to make that initial investment back. I'm interested in seeing how well these go. As a collector I see a lot I want if they go deep enough on that 66 line, and the sculpts that they released look incredible, but from a business side, knowing what I know about the production and distribution side of retail, I see a lot of stuff that would frighten me if it were my money. It's a gamble for sure.

[Jetjungle75]

Me too!!

[Lynn TXP 0369]

Pre ordered the set of 4.
Lynn

[Jason73]

I paid yesterday with a credit card and had no problem. Got lucky I guess.

[Bronxboykev]

I paid thru pay pal and didn't have an issue.

[BATMAN89]

Ya, the normal checkout is messed up!
Can you do credit card through PayPal?

[BATMAN89]

I don't want to pay with paypal. I want to use a credit card

Oh! Sorry, I didn't try that.

[JimCem99]

Says:

Server Error

We are unable to process your transaction at this time. Please wait a few minutes and try again.