Robin and Joker now showing Sold Out, Product Retired on FTC & CTVT sites

[ThePlayerOnTheOtherSide]

The set of 4 is gone as well. Glad they are selling well.

[Brown Bear]

That's awesome news. Soo happy these are selling well. That means one thing......MORE MEGO'S!

[BATMAN89]

I'm sure they will be available on other sites for awhile,
and Robin and Joker are still available in the two-packs.

[Teemu]

I wonder how many Robin's fell apart

[Nostalgiabuff]

why would they retire something that is still selling well? that makes no business sense at all

[Spyweb007]

They will both be available as fist fighters I believe.

[enyawd72]

why would they retire something that is still selling well? that makes no business sense at all

If I had to guess, I'd say it's because they can only have so many different figures in production at the same time. They could stockpile a bunch of every figure, but then they're tying up money on inventory that just sits there. Wave one was readily available for six months. That's pretty good IMO.

[ThePlayerOnTheOtherSide]

Robin and Jokers were the two figures from Wave 1 that came closest to the original Mego versions. Other than a slightly baggy costume, they nailed Riddler as well. Batman is the one that had the subtle changes, darker blue and belt riding high. Plus there are several versions of Batman coming.

It will help FTC because now we'll be quicker to buy the following Waves, especially once the other sites sellout as well and your only option to get the figures is paying secondary market prices on eBay. Plus as more figures sellout FTC can justify higher production runs on future waves.

As well as more figures! I would not be surprised to see Penguin and Catwoman sellout in a few weeks as well, they nailed those figures too.

[huedell]

Whereas I had more confidence in speculating beter business for character choices/what would constitute a wave in the WGSH of FTC, I would believe that it'd be significantly more difficult for me or anyone to speculate on what this "retired" or "sold out" thing translates to, thus making it hard to judge if it bodes well for the line.

In the spirit of spitball hypothesizing, I'm guessing it means that they are taking a gamble in the vein of them preferring to temporarily take a loss in potential sales, rather than having too much stock surplus if they would've over-ordered/manufactured.

If this is the case, of course this prudency (and the actual sell out) would be looked at as a good sign for the line, and their commitment to the long haul--but who knows?

This is a scenario where a press release or some kind interaction with their customer base (Q&A, visiting w/boards like this, etc.) would be helpful.

[thunderbolt]

maybe when Bats and Riddler run out they will do another run of the wave. Or it is what it is. A limited run for each figure so they don't get stuck with leftovers.

[enyawd72]

Wave one was available for six months. More than enough time for anybody who wanted them.
Not sitting on dead stock can only be a good thing. The limited edition two-packs were probably a clever means of clearing out the last of their inventory.

[madmarva]

They could do another run on a different card if there continues to be a demand. There are also the fist-fighting versions on the way and a 7" Teen Titans and removable mask Robin have been mentioned, too, if I remember correctly.

[megonaught]

Dang.
I did want to pick up another Robin to keep carded but thats ok.
We still have the wave three coming and ya know what that means.
Removable Masks!

[noelani72]

I don't get this either.
I mean, sure, they are sitting on those made in India Western Heroes and Knights for over a decade....but the Bats stuff...c'mon. They had to of paid dearly for that license.
Why kill off a line which is just over 6 months old?

It's probably a term of the license agreement.

But what this old fart sees is supply and demand.
FTC owns the goldmine right now, they do. Like or hate their bodies, paintjobs, baggy clothes, cardart...they are doing some neat stuff.
There's folks who were slow to the game of buying Wave 1...now that this announcement has came out, people are going to jump faster on Wave 2, Wave 3, etc...
I know there were people sitting out there in that same group who were hoping a year or two from now, we'd be seeing these clearanced out (hoping for lower prices) - we've seen it with BSG, SMDM, etc..
Now, oops - there IS no clearance sale coming, so because supply was stopped...we're gonna have that flinch of fear that we better act fast or end up paying scalper prices on eBay.

Again, that's just the old fart in me...but I fully believe it was not FTC's call - I bet it was something with the license.

[melkorjunior]

I'm just starting out in my Mego collecting and I had no original figures at all, so I got in on these the moment I became aware of them (which was only a couple of weeks ago, so I'm lucky I pulled the trigger quickly.) I bought Batman, two Penguins, two Jokers,and two Riddlers, because I wanted to keep one of each of the villains as is (they are all really perfect replicas to my eye) and use the Batman 66 costumes to spiff up the backups. The only Batman 66 character I'm really interested in for anything besides the costume is Catwoman in the Julie Newmar likeness, which I'm praying they manage to nail. I might pick up some of the secondary villains if I feel they fit in with the comic based characters on my shelf, but I tend to prefer the comic design costumes over the ones the TV show came up with. I'd much rather, for example, have a comic accurate Mad Hatter than a TV show version. Same with Mr. Freeze. But Mego Riddler, Joker and Penguin headsculpts with the 66 costumes? Those should look neat.