World's Greatest Heroes! New "Series 2" Full-Page Ad

[Corellian Corvette]

I'm not sure. I don't think they have disclosed if they have retail partners. I'm sure some of the online specialty shops will carry them.

But if each figure is available individually at any time, the "waves" really only become release timing, and the concept of the peg-warmer is gone. Just order what you want online.

FTC does have a good history of keeping lines in-stock, and they do allow individual figure purchases. That's already a plus vs. the other lines we've seen in the past.

So that really just means speed is the only issue. Get the waves out fast, they'll be in good shape.

[imp]

So again, if they are smart, Wave 2 of figures also ships with a restock of JUST the main characters. They keep doing that - they'll be fine.

Wait. Are FTC World's Greatest Heroes! toys going to be in mass market toy stores? I was under the impression they were destined for Direct Market comic books stores only (mostly special orders, in that case). Given the higher price point, not to mention their poor handling of Mattel's Retro Action, I would be stunned if a retailer like Toys 'R Us picked these up. But if it's true, that's fantastic news.

[Corellian Corvette]

The biggest problem is speed. You need to keep things going, keep the momentum up. You get the waves out quickly, then ship assortments as figures sell out to keep popular characters in stock. Big companies screw this up all the time. (see: Matty and Hasbro)

What like about FTC ALREADY - that's SMARTER then what Matty did - you can already buy a CASE of just Batman or a CASE of just Robin.

This is super smart. You ship your wave assortments, then keep a stock of the key guys being refreshed so you don't have "pegwarmers" - I'm not going to buy Penguin if I can NEVER find Batman.

With Star Wars - you can't get a CASE of Luke Skywaker. You need to wait for assortment 12.5 which adds two per case of Luke. That's dumb. Ship more Lukes!

So again, if they are smart, Wave 2 of figures also ships with a restock of JUST the main characters. They keep doing that - they'll be fine.

[imp]

If they get these out fast, then I don't think the roll-out plan is all that big of a problem. If we have to wait 3-4 months between waves, then I agree I would move Wave 3 up (get RM Robin, Batman, and Batgirl out next), save this lame wave for later, and have other DC characters lined up so and announced right away. If they have a wave every month or two, that gives a LOT more flexibility in how they mix and match the assortments.

YEAH. That's BRILLIANT. My thinking has been aligned with what Random Axe stated above, but what you just brought up -- the timing -- is really critical. Well said!

I'm excited to see how this all plays out.

[Corellian Corvette]

Well I think it depends on a couple things, and some information I don't have access to.

First, based on the information we have, it appears these character decisions were made prior to them getting the rest of the DC license. Based on that, and the likelihood they were trying to get things to market quickly, and minimize the upfront tooling costs by using parts they'd already made - I think ON THE WHOLE, they totally made the right call. They have a great mix of characters, popular name characters, heroes and villains, men and women. They mixed in some fan-favorites. So again, with the above constraints (speed and parts recycling) I think their character choices were perfect.

Now, how they distributed the characters you could debate. But it looks like they have a "Batman and Robin" in each wave. I'm not sure how I would have mixed them differently. You don't want two girls in a wave. You don't want all heroes in a wave. You don't want all baddies in a wave. So the spacing seems logical.

Lastly - and I think most importantly - is how LONG between each wave? We're used to the MattyCollector or EMCE "Waves" where character sets come MONTHS apart. People get bored, they forget, the excitement wears off.

If FTC is putting out a WAVE per month, or every six weeks - you're going to get all three waves in about 3 months. That's pretty awesome. That would be all characters out in the time you'd only get one other wave from another company.

If they get these out fast, then I don't think the roll-out plan is all that big of a problem. If we have to wait 3-4 months between waves, then I agree I would move Wave 3 up (get RM Robin, Batman, and Batgirl out next), save this lame wave for later, and have other DC characters lined up so and announced right away.

If they have a wave every month or two, that gives a LOT more flexibility in how they mix and match the assortments.

[Random Axe]

Series one is appropriate, riding the momentum of the last decade of Batamn success. That's a no brainer. If I'm a toy company I put out the closest to a sure thing initially and then...BAM! I release the WOW factor with the second wave, maybe pairing Superman with Bizarro to capitalize on his anniverasy year and then a Green Lantern(doesn't matter which one) and Solomon Grundy(they have the bodies already). Then and only then should they consider secret identities, and it should be a very limited, online only exclusive without retailer or vendor risk warming pegs. Wave three would be solely new figs, no repros. I'm thinking Booster Gold, Black Lightning, Atom and Deathstroke.

Since I have no experience whatsoever with putting out toy lines, my vision above would probably fail. That's kinda how I see a successful first twelve months on this venture.

[Byrnes]

I'll be getting the Wayne and Grayson from this series for sure. I still need Catwoman, but I'm gonna go for an original Mego on that one.

[imp]

imp - Seems like FTC has a pretty good handle on demand based their time in market with these lines…

You make a lot of good points. If anyone can do this, FTC seems like the team.

I'm curious how YOU would manage this line, if you were in charge. Wave 1 is a Knockout. You disagree with Wave 2. Would you have brought new characters in earlier? Different assortment of retro heroes? We know that Wave 3 will be RM Batman, RM Robin, Batgirl because their picture is on the collector case. That leaves one other open. Seems like that's a pretty solid pre-planned 3-release wave?

I dunno how I would manage the line -- I'm Armchair Quarterbacking just like many others here. I stand by the first suggestion I posted: "…skip the Secret Identities for a while; release a few more Super-Heroes characters first… a few figures everyone could get excited about." Another point I've touched on several times: I just don't believe it should take 3 Waves of Batman-related characters to 'test the market'. Now, I'm going back to the days before DC granted FTC the rights to the entire DC universe. At one point in time, apparently, FTC had the rights ONLY to Batman characters, and I presume that's when these Series 1, 2 and 3 assortments were determined.

It seems that everyone is loving FTC's Series 1 Assortment, so that wave alone should provide insight as to the line's viability. Conversely, I don't think Bruce and Dick dolls are going to answer many questions for the decision-makers at DC/WB and FTC. (Except, perhaps, what low sales numbers look like.)

I'm not sure at what point in the production process it happened, but the moment FTC got access to all DC characters, I would have delayed this Series 2 assortment for a later date, injecting a wave of ALL HEROES first. Superman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, etc. All Heroes, no Villains. Just like Mego did with their 2nd Wave assortment: Captain America, Tarzan, Spider-Man and Shazam!

If this line is to work, popular Heroes will provide Proof of Concept, and there will be plenty of time to release Villains and Exclusives such as Secret Identities. That's my 2˘ FWIW, since you asked.

You seem pleased with Series 3, but how do you feel about Series 2? What if YOU were managing the line?

[dumbldor]

FTC survived Married with Children, multiple versions of Fonzie, I Love Lucy, and some other questionable choices. FTC is still here. I think they will survive a few peg warmers in this line.

And a friend and I pre-ordered (ate is more like it) 25 copies of "the book" to help make sure it was printed, and we were accused of trying to profit from it. So guys, you can't win here.

[Corellian Corvette]

imp -

Seems like FTC has a pretty good handle on demand based their time in market with these lines - in fact I think they may have actually been the FIRST (correct me if I'm wrong) to commercially re-release anything truly "Mego Like" when they did the original Mad Monsters series. How long ago was that? 8 years ago now? (this does not discount the long-standing support Dr. Mego has given, but he never had anything store released)

I think they don't get the credit deserve for kicking this craze back off. Monsters, then Western + Knights + Robin Hood before they went off the reservation with Lucy and Married with Children.

I do agree this community is much smaller then people think. If enthusiasm translated to sales, we'd be on Wave 5 of Buck Rogers by now and Castaway would be pumping out Phantoms as fast as they could make them. Alas, neither is true.

However, there must be something more to this. Even Mattel couldn't make this happen, so either the economics of this are so much better for FTC then we think (likely given the fact they have tooled a lot of this already), they believe the market is bigger then we think (possible based on their experience), or they have figured out how to endure on smaller volumes.

I'm curious how YOU would manage this line, if you were in charge. Wave 1 is a Knockout. You disagree with Wave 2. Would you have brought new characters in earlier? Different assortment of retro heroes? We know that Wave 3 will be RM Batman, RM Robin, Batgirl because their picture is on the collector case. That leaves one other open. Seems like that's a pretty solid pre-planned 3-release wave?

[garfoot]

It is strange that EE and BBTS have them, and the company that makes them doesn't have them on their website. Who knows?

[imp]

How is series 2 being pre-sold at multiple websites yet Figures doesnt have it on their own yet??

See, I told you it's a stinky assortment. Even FTC won't carry Series 2!

[rjm118]

How is series 2 being pre-sold at multiple websites yet Figures doesnt have it on their own yet??

[DocDrako]

If it's a ReMego, I want it.

[garfoot]

I wish I had the talent to customize Megos. I tried a few and they always come out looking like some bad science experiment gone wrong.