Night of the Living Dead - Karen Cooper and Barbra

[bgrimm77]

Now I regret selling my Ben and Zombie

[LovethoseMegos]

Too bad, was looking foreward to more figures.

[jacoblb]

The costs for material and labor in China are way lower. I don't mean like $5.50 / hr, I mean like $0.14 / hr (in US dollars). Because of the exchange rate, that $0.14 buys a lot more in China that it will buy in the USA, so we're not comparing apples to apples. When the value of the US dollar drops, even if the prices for everything in China stay the same, it costs more US dollars to pay that same price. That's part of what EMCEtoys is talking about. The other part, minimum manufacturing quantities, are also a big factor. When you're talking about molded plastic parts, those aren't something that can be put together on a small scale with the same quality / quantity of a machined piece. But if your minimum quantity goes from 1,000 to 10,000, often you just know that you won't be able to sell enough of a specific product to break even. Still, you can't realistically afford to pay someone in the US to make 1,000 of them by hand and even if you could, they wouldn't be the same quality.

Regardless, there are people who do this kind of work for no money out of pure passion for the hobby. So getting folks involved--even at a low rate--is icing on the cake. And obviously I don't think folks could get paid by the hour.
It may not be easy from a task master POV, but getting the right people involved with proper skills might meet the demand of NOTLD.

[AAAAA]

A true fan you are , I hope for the best for you guys.

considered doing it in parts with some in china and some here, but not looking good.

i picked up the trademark after trying to get a legitimate merch line going for notld after it had been bootlegged to death for 40 years. took about three years (two of which were wasted as someone who claimed to have the rights strung me along), but i discovered that, although the film was public domain, the title was still open as a merchandising trademark.

the funny thing was, it only took a simple filing and a little legal oversight and it was mine. even the original producers had tried to register the trademark but they got screwed by incompetent lawyers.

so, it was a loophole we exploited. however, we consider ourselves custodians of the trademark, preventing bootleggers and moving all the money to the original actors and producers. in fact, we just sold a t-shirt license to a major manufacturer and i divided the money among the actors whose likenesses were being used and the producers. i didn't keep a dime.

sadly, the time to have done this was 20 years ago. the mark has been bled to death and there's little new. i'd love to do karen and barbra and give money to judy and kyra, but i can't justify doing it at a loss to my company.

should circumstances change ( and we have some r&d stuff going on, but nothing that can be relied on yet), i'd jump on it. but given current chinese production situations, not gonna happen.

and to answer the other question, i thought it was common knowledge that emce toys was one of my brands, along with fearwerx, klickwerx and the old magazine cinefantastique. we're really busy here :-)

[zeedox]

Box Art

I really always felt since I was a kid that any boxart that shows more toys in a line has a responsibility to fill. I didn't expect Night of the Living Dead megos in the first place, and I purchased them, and the box promised me the other two. If profit was an issue, I would honestly avoid movies that were rated X during their initial release. In this case we would have been better off with Plan 9 figures or something.

[Captain]

Have you thought of finding a retail partner Joe? Doing these as an exclusive with somebody.

I know the usual suspects for this type of thing arent as numerous as they once were, but this is an unusual license, and might be attractive to some untapped retail outlet?

[jemboy2004]

In an article Toyfare of May 2009, it was announced that the Series 2 of the Night of the Living Dead come out late 2009. But there was more news. Is there a chance to see Karen Cooper and Barbra?

I didn't pick up the first 2 but would have bought Karen and Barbara and then I would have got the first 2. I did like the first 2 too but these 2 would have prompted me to get the first 2.

[johnmiic]

I think the problem in manufacturing toys is the companies that make toys and plastic factories have unrealistic expectations. They need to cater more towards the cottage industry and small businesses/smaller item runs. The whole toy industry is structured to only take on mass quantity production. Every toy line that gets produced is expected to be a blockbuster when not every toy line is. You want to keep people employed? You want to make a profit? Structure your business to take smaller quantities. The product will sell and you do the next wave and the next wave. In a case like this the bodies will always be mass produced-large item runs and you make new heads and new accessories to go with them-smaller item runs. More small businesses will flourish and we will have a variety of products on the market which thrive instead of a ton of peg-warming toys, ( Avatar, Prince of Perisa, BSG, Airbender, Star Trek 2009, Speed Racer, Secret Saturdays). People have answered me in the past with, "But that's not how the toy industry works." That just isn't a valid answer. I say they need to change and meet the demand. The people who do this and change their business structure can make out because that avenue is empty and no one else is filling the niche`.

[Meule]

I think the problem in manufacturing toys is the companies that make toys and plastic factories have unrealistic expectations. They need to cater more towards the cottage industry and small businesses/smaller item runs. The whole toy industry is structured to only take on mass quantity production. Every toy line that gets produced is expected to be a blockbuster when not every toy line is. You want to keep people employed? You want to make a profit? Structure your business to take smaller quantities. The product will sell and you do the next wave and the next wave. In a case like this the bodies will always be mass produced-large item runs and you make new heads and new accessories to go with them-smaller item runs. More small businesses will flourish and we will have a variety of products on the market which thrive instead of a ton of peg-warming toys, ( Avatar, Prince of Perisa, BSG, Airbender, Star Trek 2009, Speed Racer, Secret Saturdays). People have answered me in the past with, "But that's not how the toy industry works." That just isn't a valid answer. I say they need to change and meet the demand. The people who do this and change their business structure can make out because that avenue is empty and no one else is filling the niche`.

Well said

[ctc]

>Structure your business to take smaller quantities.

It's an interesting idea, and I can see it happening. Eventually. We have print on demand book stores now, where product is produced when ordered. I can see that happening for things like toys: smaller shops producing smaller runs. We have the technology and a lot of skilled people who're unemployed or semi-employed.

Once one person does it and makes it work, we'll see more.

Don C.

[johnmiic]

>Structure your business to take smaller quantities.

It's an interesting idea, and I can see it happening. Eventually. We have print on demand book stores now, where product is produced when ordered. I can see that happening for things like toys: smaller shops producing smaller runs. We have the technology and a lot of skilled people who're unemployed or semi-employed.

Once one person does it and makes it work, we'll see more.

Don C.

Thanks. Perhaps it will grow out of the rapid prototyping sector eventually.

[ctc]

>Perhaps it will grow out of the rapid prototyping sector eventually.

That'd be the obvious source, but there's all sorts of ways it could happen. Emce is pretty much the result of ONE customizer/repro maker; same with Castaway.... If you start seeing micro-molders like the print on demand places ANYBODY could have figures done.

Don C.