Licensing Bias?

[nordox]

Can someone please explain why we sit here with dream lists while Sideshow toys seems to get every license on Earth even tho another company might even be making toys for it? Though I do casually collect Sideshow especially the Star Wars and Planet of the Apes stuff, I really don't get why it is so easy for them to get these licenses while we have unfullfilled wish lists. Perhaps Doc should make friends with Sideshow!?

Good example is their Taylor and Brent and even Mutant.
Meanwhile, we are begging for Ursus which is really should be a given
since I remember "The one with the hat" second only to the Soldier Ape.

[thunderbolt]

Maybe Sideshow is willing to pay the big bucks for the likenesses of the actors that EMCE or Diamond isn't? This explains at least part of the reason SS stuff is so expensive.

[SlipperyLilSuckers]

It all comes down to money in the end doesn't it. Sigh.

[Remco Monster]

They also have a long great reputation for producing high end collectibles, which is a major draw to some property holders.

[jasonmego1277]

I have to agree. Its all about reputation and willingness to pay extreme licensing fees.

[Captain]

They tend to sell their items in mom and pop collectible/hobby shops, and other such venues that dont really intrude into other big gun licensee's territories (ie: box stores) which may help them out as well. I know in some cases (like Star Wars) they have a licensing agreement much like EMCE's Star Trek deal with Diamond.

[The Bat]

The problem I see coming is...with retail taking the next hit from the "recession"...a lot of small Comic shops are going to go down. Thus there be fewer places to distribute these Figures. My Local Comic Shop is doing fine...but they don't carry EMCE Figures...and they plan to stop stocking Action Figures PERIOD!

[thunderbolt]

^^ The LCS is going down anyway. We had two here in town, now they are both gone. That was before the economy went in the crapper. Increasing prices and higher Diamond minimums are going to run a lot of the smaller shops into the ground.

[nordox]

Given the true nostalgia of Mego

I genuinely think that there is an entire population out there of Mego nostaligic folks that none of the replica companies have even hit.

Megos have stood the test of time. I have many of the early Sideshow figures and yes they are great, but they look more like they are saying "put me on a shelf" than "shoot me out of a cannon".

Maybe if EMCE made the sports players or something like McFarlane did it would improve the chance of seeing more projects.

And I have been buying toys a long time. I remember the first round of toys ever from sideshow they were much like the Art Asylum figures of the Universal Monsters. Looking back at that the company only seemed like it was a tad bigger than EMCE.

I would also say making something like the Star Wars battle packs mego style with characters only available in a 4 or 5 group set would be a fun way to boost sales.

[Mikey]

Where I live, there is not a comic shop or place the EMCE's would be sold for at least 50 miles away in all directions.

most rural and semi-rural areas just plain don't have comic book shops anymore.

[David Lee]

$$$$'s are almost always the driver... Not only up front cost for the license, but also what the Licensor will make in Royalties. In other words will it sell and make us money... In my limited experience, if the license is available and not tied up in other figures it's fair game, given you can show you can sell product. Smaller licenses are more willing to play fast and loose, the big boys have folks lining up to play so they can get real picky...

Sideshow sells product, and that in turn makes Lucas and others dough... I don't think there is a bias against 8 inch figures, it just takes buyers proving that it's a viable product.

-Dave

[drmego]

Sideshow is very limited edition - high end specialty collectibles. Works of art not
toys.

License holders want their characters made into Sideshows as much as Sideshow
wants to make them.

Megos are perceived as cheap simple toys with an appeal to 40 year old men.