Atlas or not to Atlas?

[PNGwynne]

Anything "Walmart exclusive " is frustrating at best.

Warlock, thank you so much for the detail pix. Keep me in mind for sales, please. I think I can use the Phoenix head.

[palitoy]

I can't believe that WM is screwing up these orders this way. I mean, these characters are not popular, there isn't great demand, they should get them out the freaking door any way they can.

But it's so small, it gets ignored.

[shaunaconda]

It’s crazy…whether it’s Walmart, Target, Disney, NECA…ect…same sh*t!! That’s what’s part of being a collector!!

[Dan2Dan]

Checking walmart.com just now, it looks like 3 of the 4 figures have sold out, with only "5 left" of Devilina. (Hands of the Dragon was still in stock as recently as yesterday, I saw. )

After my pre-order for Grim Ghost was unilaterally canceled by Walmart a few months ago, I did manage to buy one because I was lucky enough to check walmart.com when the four figures were first in stock about a month ago. For me personally, the $30 retail price was barrier for Atlas characters that (other than Devilina, with which I had no familiarity), I had only very limited awareness/fondness, having read a bunch of Atlas comics that I bought on ebay about a decade ago. I was hoping to buy 1 or more of the other 3 Atlas/Mego figures if/when they were discounted, but it looks like Atlas/Mego/Walmart did not overproduce immediate demand. (Were both the demand and production runs fairly low?)

To me, on reflection, I feel like Atlas/Mego/Walmart were in a bit of a bind, because the Atlas characters that I think would've sold the most Mego figures in 2024-25 (like a Destructor with Ditko/Wood package art), likely wouldn't have much/any commercial appeal as a movie/streaming property to the broader general public in 2025. On the other hand, the character that apparently had the most immediate modern commercial appeal (at least to Paramount), a Devilina whose costume was redesigned to move away from the original Vampirella inspiration, was likely to perhaps have the least appeal to modern Mego collectors today.

My personal favorite 1975 Atlas character was Howard Chaykin's pulp-era 'The Scorpion.' But since I didn't see that character promoted when Atlas tried a reboot about 15 years ago, nor was it mentioned in this most recent reboot (as Grim Ghost and Pheonix each were, both times), I wonder whether there is a lingering 'rights issue' to that character. (Or maybe the failure of The Phantom and Shadow movies about 20 years ago, as well as the disappointing box office returns for The Rocketeer movie by Disney about 30 years ago, causes 'decision makers' today to still be leery of the modern commercial appeal of Pulp-era properties?)

[PNGwynne]

This crap is standard operating procedure with Walmart, and now Mego is sucked into it.

[Jorge Galvan]

PREVIOUSLY;

This crap is standard operating procedure with Walmart, and now Mego is sucked into it.

"Anything "Walmart exclusive " is frustrating at best."



"I can't believe that WM is screwing up these orders this way. I mean, these characters are not popular, there isn't great demand, they should get them out the freaking door any way they can.

But it's so small, it gets ignored."


"It’s crazy…whether it’s Walmart, Target, Disney, NECA…ect…same sh*t!! That’s what’s part of being a collector!!"






OR...




​When I worked at TOYS'R'US from 2003 to 2006, I learned that there is a "Mafia" of sorts that deals in ACTION FIGURES at the time, oh hell probably still, since their is NO more TRU.

Whenever a nw truck came in, we would get the MANIFEST, check it out to see what was on their, UNLOAD the truck as we would and STASH the ACTION FIGURE CASES that came in and OPEN those boxes up later and take what we wanted, then we would either consolidate the remaining figures into the opened boxes or get already on the rack figures on the shelves and put them into the boxes so NIGHT CREW would not be any wiser to what was going on.

AND... As clock work as the doors opened EACH DAY, the COLLECTORS would come in and BRISKLY make their way to the action figures section and see what they could buy. ​ Their was a husband and wife team that made me sick! They would OPEN the END CAP STORAGE panels to see if there was ANY Overstock, if there was it was all repeat lame characters no one wanted, "Can i help YOU?" I would ask, they would say no and walk away in shame.


BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!


MARVEL LEGENDS were the GO TO Items back then, the RED & GREEN PHOENIX's were sought out and so was the clear-VISION.


Did we get rich, FK NO! Did a lot of employees make a buck, I am sure of it, but so did the workers in the ELECTRONIC ZONE who hoarded the newest games and systems that came out in that time period.


I ONLY collected what I WANTED and I STILL HAVE my Marvel Legends from them and I have NO REGRETS.


I am sure this type of behavior is going on in yer TARGETS AND WALMARTS And whatever conglomeration is hawking figures and if they know how to make a buck off of ATLAS-SEABOARD or collect them for themselves, it IS gonna happen.

So if you check out EBAY and see them at a premium, then you know the deal.


OR... The ATLAS-SEABOARD CURSE is working its way into the action figures??


Truth is stranger then fiction.


JG!

[darkbros]

My personal favorite 1975 Atlas character was Howard Chaykin's pulp-era 'The Scorpion.' But since I didn't see that character promoted when Atlas tried a reboot about 15 years ago, nor was it mentioned in this most recent reboot (as Grim Ghost and Pheonix each were, both times), I wonder whether there is a lingering 'rights issue' to that character. (Or maybe the failure of The Phantom and Shadow movies about 20 years ago, as well as the disappointing box office returns for The Rocketeer movie by Disney about 30 years ago, causes 'decision makers' today to still be leery of the modern commercial appeal of Pulp-era properties?)

From Chakyin himself, by way of his book, the Art OF Howard Chaykin:
"After looking at the first issues of his new line of comics, EIC Martin Goodman demanded wholesale changes without waiting on sales reports. Editor Jeff Rovin stated " Sales on our first books were damned strong. However Martin, because Marvel was stealing market share by pumping out lots of reprinted material, dictated that we had to make the books look more like Marvel to compete." After two issues, a new Daredevil like Scorpion was introduced in the third issue, sporting a blue and orange union suit. Chaykin walked. He brought the concepts he had conceived for the Scorpion over to Marvel. " I think Len Wein was the managing editor at the time, I walked in right up to him and said "I'd like to do the Scorpion for Marvel under a different name. He said 'Sure.' and so I did. The Scorpion was reborn as Dominic Fortune in Marvel Premier #2."

From CBA ( Comic Book Artist #16) [two morrows publishing]: Mediascene magazine reported in 1974 that Martin Goodman's strategy was to " offer higher page rates, artwork returned to the artist, rights to the creation of an original character, and a certain amount of professional courtesy".--

Looking at it from the failed revival of the 2001 Atlas Comics line, only the Phoenix and The Grim Ghost and Wulf the Barbarian were launched. Jeff Rovin editor of Atlas in the 70s co-created Wulf and the Phoenix. if the creator rights were upheld, that would mean that most of the characters would have some rights issues when the IPS are turned into movies, animation, etc.
----

[Dan2Dan]

These direct quotes are great! Thank you!

I have, I think, all of those Dominic Fortune stories published by Marvel, including a story published as recently as about 15 years ago written and drawn by Chaykin himself, even as late as then, for, from memory, Marvel's "MAX" line of comic books. (That last story was pretty much in the same Rated R, sexualized spirit as Chaykin's late 1980s revival of The Shadow.)

It's odd. If the creators were supposed to retain rights to their creations for Atlas, why did Chaykin change the name when he moved it to Marvel? Rick Buckler did the same thing when he moved Demon-Hunter from Atlas to Marvel as well, and re-named him Devil-Slayer. I'm tempted to think that maybe it was Marvel who insisted on the name changes back in the 1970s, so as to avoid any further bad blood and/or litigation with Martin Goodman. But if it were Marvel who wanted those name changes 50 years ago, why persist in the new name decades later when Goodman was dead and Atlas was long gone? And when Buckler moved Devil-Slayer to his own self-published B&W comic book, Galaxia #1, in the early 1980s, he re-named the character yet again to Bloodwing. This makes me suspect that maybe the original agreements between Atlas and its creators back in 1975 were either entirely 'handshake' deals, or maybe very short, 1-2 page contracts that didn't contain 'every term' and/or maybe were a little vague/summary on this key point of creator ownership. Or maybe the creators retained ownership of the characters, but Atlas retained copyrights to the titles of their comic books (and therefore to the characters' names)?

As an aside, to bring this back to action figures, last week I was in a local Target and I happened to see the brand new Nightmaster figure by Mcfarlane Toys for their DC Multiverse line of 7" action figures. I wasn't familiar with this character at all. But I had seen online that it was going to be some kind of rare, 'chase' figure. But what really caught my eye about it was that it looked almost identical to Demon-Hunter/Devil-Slayer/Bloodwing, once Buckler changed his outfit coloring to a blue uniform and red cape, including, even, the sword. Since I had resolved not to pay $30 for another Atlas/Mego figure after I bought the Grim Ghost, but since I had bought a Grim Ghost figure and liked the original Demon-Hunter comic book even more than Grim Ghost, I bought this Nightmaster 'chase' figure (on sale that day fortuitously, like all DC Multiverse figures by McFarlane Toys, for $16) to pair with Grim Ghost as my personal mini collection of Atlas super hero action figures. It's only 7" tall, not 8", and not in the same style as the new Mego Grim Ghost, but I feel like it's as close as I am ever going to get in my lifetime to a Demon-Hunter action figure!

[Dan2Dan]

FYI: Checking walmart.com this morning, the Devilina figure has now sold out as well. So all four Atlas Mego figures are now out of stock.

[warlock664]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/135652997866

Insanity.

[shaunaconda]

Wow…that is insane!

[Jorge Galvan]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/135652997866

Insanity.

HAHAHAHAHA!

I wonder which Target or Walmart she/he works for?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/226687032293?_skw=atlas+action+gigures&epid=17066084778&itmmeta=01JR6VKXWQ6NFJ6H68JZ16MAAG&hash=item34c7999be5:g:LfoAAeSwtEhn6YyL&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA8FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1cmpjpqsndNy857VxSYLzn4QGoNvEXoxdzw1QCqKTEAPZgqEBz0mxEJvD2VF%2FEzbgveNNqyvwUrA%2FZGtDZZ%2B5f7lSa4PUZ%2FRh8BNkSkjOp%2F%2B4KobOGUuGGDKif7lbdGH7vAaQQzPyuuQe81zvJP9Tj2Z5IHphSGZ49qcbNj8pUzd6NVAvgiRABD8iYGTX7ol8rYSuHCtU%2FLKEbGxnY1zdBeoliGxRGBG55FAo59hvV6GVSYsAR%2BhTg0E2B%2FJosp3dAu2Dw360LTiffaC9P%2FBoe2OPBAwD17n%2B1%2BkFgD%2FCvjQw%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR7Dfz9vBZQ

https://www.ebay.com/itm/226687032991?_skw=atlas+action+gigures&epid=20072689585&itmmeta=01JR6VKXWQ1S7AHF335SX4ETFP&hash=item34c7999e9f:g:mjUAAeSwJGZn6VXG&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA0FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1fd4EIXt%2BK2TkS7OHkOqKvRqQHaWE7pR%2BfoJgcMLpcuNfLkfm6hEurQm0HyC69ybPgEAeoLWt5xbozfTItPOMICpXFJt3F2w%2FtxXZGbbqH9Hd35fRQqP1sx56zzYqFGAYGHY17Z%2BQp7%2F7lxBkgYjwgCQw7TFAjJS%2F5G13GGuBUf5zX01AcFAuC4HuV5DocfEPD0XKnUYrxnH3Ws0pNNJO74iSkQpkCtQ5QLm01IHnPmv%2B%2Fgp%2FW2b8i%2FL%2Bz%2BsSv5jtU%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR7Dfz9vBZQ

https://www.ebay.com/itm/286419856668?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D283795%26meid%3D19a685d4da0f45e6b264805794be26a6%26pid%3D101875%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D226687032991%26itm%3D286419856668%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2332490%26algv%3DSimVIDwebV3WithCPCExpansionEmbeddingSearchQuerySemanticBroadMatchSingularityRecallReplaceKnnV4WithVectorDbNsOptHotPlRecall%26brand%3DMego&_trksid=p2332490.c101875.m1851&itmprp=cksum%3A28641985666819a685d4da0f45e6b264805794be26a6%7Cenc%3AAQAKAAABcHKEKKNMUePryBh1zZl0qrjonWK6%252Bbjh8v6%252FxTRbw1Loxqx736BoO2V7ozv6W4xuOBJjwGhPLWk9lnRB2teM6PFgOrZGVcTwpTth7MW79p066SWQrB1VasW1Di58xl1RMBXsH%252BaNxpzil0t8bdqbPkgJlZgvtHVYNSkxo5xG%252Bq21SXTAHJRq7W%252FCXV5px5AE9Wqe8KLQ47i4AvkI4TK6YL%252FujJFWBdlZ3rKagoA8X8iL4xARTd5gHMWf9mVu9TGnYG4THTWDFr6DX2VDJiQzpzLubyteiRJBTMl9S%252BU%252BsUp%252Fe6Uvps7GCZe1iLRppEmW0dU3naSqqbj3tvZcCG4o1r16ErGr6QfH5OHigqWS%252BYGtaY2D%252FJ%252FN3WvroNekQcrr6fsr%252BFnXFm0eVnts4jCcgBC9lueWqwT606fowjhtv8%252BiJGH0w0BgIUbmws8P8v84pG%252Bwh3us5vf2AWQth%252FEGGDYc6sP3%252FPgtjQrlORqpXxCX%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A2332490&epid=20072689585&itmmeta=01JR6VPS9FEY7AV58VAWRV1AM7

Ditto for the people above or they must have a Gaffer they are doing business with!

[warlock664]

Umm…oh-kaayyy.

[PNGwynne]

I did find an Atlas Phoenix at a reasonable price on ebay. Some QC issues on the unitard, but the figure seems sturdy and it's for a custom.

Regarding the head, it's nice enough but, as some have noted, pedestrian in style. It's not an original sculpt--it's a resized and repainted copy of a vintage head (Tong, I think). A bit of careful sanding/buffing to the chin/jawline helps balance the sculpt IMO.

I don't mind Mego recycling, but for Phoenix a much more heroic head would would be a copy of vintage Will Scarlet/Galahad--again, IMO.

[thatblockoguy]

The Grim Ghost just popped up
out of nowhere on Amazon.ca Not in stock at the moment but I figured I’d share regardless
Legends Wave 8 - Billy Idol https://a.co/d/5nkFP7c
its listed as Billy idol. The link that gets copied is for one that is in stock. You can select the cheaper option that’s sold directly from Amazon