Am I the only one?

[sprytel]

I was curious the market value for heroes vs. villains, so I searched Amazon for the going rates for the Mattel Retro Action figures. I excluded the Green Arrow figure and the Green Lantern wave, because it didn't follow the hero/villain pairing of the rest of the waves.

Heroes

Wonder Woman $84.98
Flash $49.99
Green Lantern (Hal) $43.98
Batman $33.99
Aquaman $29.99
Superman $27.99
Captain Marvel $14.81
Martian Manhunter $9.99

Total: $267.73

Villains

Two Face $55.29
Black Manta $24.99
Lex Luthor $19.99
Cheetah $19.95
Captain Cold $17.95
Sinestro $11.95
Darkseid $8.07
Black Adam $6.47

Total: $164.66

Assuming these prices have some relation to supply & demand, then... yes, the heroes sell significantly better than the villains.

The only villain worth more now than when it first went on sale is Two Face. Which may be the best in terms of quality, but it is also from the Batman rogue's gallery. So that may explain some of the Batman focus with FTC.

Also, just anecdotally, these prices seem to be drifting a little higher than they have in the past. I wonder if that is the influence of the FTC repros drawing folks into discovering and collecting these.

[PNGwynne]

Helpful comparison, Sprytel--thank you.

I think most of us want to see the Legion of Doom lineup of villains from the Super Friends completed, and a handful of others that Mego never made like Deathstroke...So FTC is going to make more heroes which means that in order to get a healthy roster of villains, FTC has to continue to see sales that are strong enough to justify continuing to introduce new waves of figures. So far it seems sales are very good, but we have to remember that we'll need to see over a dozen or more waves to put a serious dent in the villain lineup that most of us want to see.

I completely agree with this--in fact, I'd break down the remaining vintage reissues even more to accommodate new characters: Two Superman waves, one each for WW, Aquaman, Green Arrow, & Shazam! In fact, Capt Marvel could likely support two waves easily. (But maybe I only feel that way because I think the Big Red Cheese is awesome .)

[jwyblejr]

Oh yes, I understand they are in it to make money. I guess I don't comprehend the whole thing about heros selling better. Especially in a market like this, where people are buying the thigns for themselves, due to a love for the characters, as well as a love for Megos as opposed to buying a kid a Christmas present. Seems like there are enough completists out there that villains would sel las well as heros.

I guess now yo usee why I don't own a toy company. LOL

Because the hero model is something companies have been using for decades. It's why you'll see 20 different versions of Batman. It's depends on who both kids and parents know. Nowadays with adult collectors,it really doesn't mean as much.

[ThePlayerOnTheOtherSide]

Helpful comparison, Sprytel--thank you.



I completely agree with this--in fact, I'd break down the remaining vintage reissues even more to accommodate new characters: Two Superman waves, one each for WW, Aquaman, Green Arrow, & Shazam! In fact, Capt Marvel could likely support two waves easily. (But maybe I only feel that way because I think the Big Red Cheese is awesome .)

What are you thinking, the Marvel family then a wave of villains? Always been a fan of Shazam, and I'd always felt that if was BS that DC won their lawsuit against Fawcett and the Marvel universe, which they IMO buried over the years.

[thunderbolt]

I'd beak up the Marvel family into two waves Cap and Mary in one and Jr. and Uncle? in the other. With villains to round out the waves.

[PNGwynne]

*Capt. Marvel (reissue), Billy Batson (child), Dr. Sivana (teen) w/ Mr. Mind accessory, Ibac
*Mary Marvel, Cap Jr. (teen), Black Adam, Kull the Beast-Man (or Mr. Atom)

Regarding foes, I can't see FTC being able to do Capt. Nazi properly unless the emblem is a detached, sealed accessory, so I opted for Kull/Atom. Kull could use a repro OMBC Grok head, barbarian accessories, with the horned helmet being re-marketable; Atom would need an original head & screened suit.

[monitor_ep]

On the Mattel, if you shop you can find them all cheap. I have gotten Aquaman, Batman, and Wonder Woman off of Ebay for under $20 each. You just have to shop and wait. I love buy it now!

[ovenmitt]

Cannot leave out Shazam the Wizard himself and Mr Tawky Tawny the tiger!

And I prefer Mary Marvel as she looked on 1981 Filmation Shazam cartoon part of Kid Super Power Hour on Saturday morning!

[Hulk]

I like that you posted this thread, because it would be nice to see more villians, but besides the "you should take what you can get" contingent, open dialogue and suggestions are always a good thing.

Let's be honest, FTC has a history here as CTVT. They seem to be doing a better job of reaching out to the community and asking what we want. Not that they will always listen, but they have in the past, although sometimes with a thin skin. Its hard to listen when you are making things with a passion and all you hear are the complaints (poor quality, terrible selection choices, etc), but even in CTVT's initial run up, they did things we recommended, like marking repros (up to a point), making different color accessories, boots, bodies, etc, that were almost all suggested by museum members, often through me.

Without threads like these, and suggestions to help round out the lines mentioned, then they might just assume a satisfaction with the selections that precludes them from making villians, or playsets, or vehicles, etc.

Its easy to see the potential for possible villians in the bottom half of your list where none are listed. And as others have pointed out, villians don't sell as well, but that is something toy companies handle by making less and having heavier hero to villian ratios in their case pack.

So I will play the home game with you and have thrown my comments into your list with villians I think they should make. Not always the villians I want, but the ones that make the most sense from a sales perspective without giving Superman and Batman's Rogue galleries the exclusive.

So, I must say, I am somewhat annoyed by the line up for the FTC retro DC figures. It's no big surprise, figure companies always do this, and frankly I KNOW that it may improve more in the future, but, they have 42 figures announced or pictured. I have seperated them into three categories.

Heros Villains Civilians
Batman 3 Joker Bruce Wayne
Robin 4 (counting Nightwing) Penguin Dick Grayson
Batgirl Riddler Alfred Pennyworth
Superman 2 (counting super boy) Catwoman James Gordon
SuperGirl Rhas Al Ghul Lois Lane
Captain Marvel Scarecrow Jimmy Olson
Maptain Marvel JR Dr Sivana - BLACK ADAM seems like a no brainer to me here
Mary Marvel Bizarro
Green Lantern Mr Mxyzptlk - SINESTRO would be hard to pass up, and an Alternative Hal Jordan PARALLAX would be a nice reuse of the head mold
Green Arrow - I would say he doesn't really have a marketable enough arch enemy, although MERLYN would be my suggestion if they go this route (TV show and Archer vs Archer rational)
Wonder Woman - CHEETAH would be the obvious choice again (notice the similarity to Mattel's choices, as with BLACK ADAM and SINESTRO), although I would argue that she might not warrant making initially sales wise, and might be an opportunity to make a general villian pair up...
Flash - REVERSE FLASH/PROFESSOR ZOOM, using the recognition factor, and repurposing arguements. CAPTAIN COLD would be nice too down the line
Hawkman - Again, not enough known enemies, like Green Arrow and Wonder Woman, so another opportunity for a general villian, or I'd be happier with HAWKGIRL and screw this whole Hero to villian model
Aquaman - BLACK MANTA is the only choice I see as viable (again, Mattel got this right)
Speedy
Aqualad
Kid Flash
Wonder Girl
Starfire
Raven
Cyborg - The Teen Titans present a lot of challenges and opportunities here. DEATHSTROKE is the only obvious one to me, but adding some general DC bad guys to the mix would be nice. DOCTOR LIGHT, DEADSHOT, GORILLA GRODD, SOLOMON GRUNDY, etc. Mixing some of these general or lesser bad guys gives FTC the chance to remarket some of them with the others planned into variant LEGION OF DOOM packages, a technique they are clearly using to boost sales of characters.

Does anybody else see a problem with the ratio? 21 villains and only 9 villains, 7 of whom are non super powered. I hate it when toy companies do this. it's great to have the heros, but who are they supposed to fight? I can see Nightwing, but do we really need Superboy, two more Robins and two more Batmans plus six civilians when we could have 11 more villains?

sorry. I may be the only one who feels thsi way but needed to vent.

Oh, and if I don't buy them, it won't be because of this, LOL. It'll be because I am broke.