No mention of Retro Rayner in 7/15 Matty Press

[Werewolf]

[B]ToyGuru: "Retro is turning out to be a lot like JLU in the sense that the fan base is incredibly passionate and loud online but when it comes to actual sales they just are not there.

And yet they kept JLU on life support for years.

It's not really accurate or fair, in my opinion, to judge support of Retro-Action based on unpopular exclusives on Matty or retail figures no one can actually find at retail. Put in demand characters like Joker or Batgirl on Matty collector and then judge if the line is popular or not.

My TRU only has 2 Colds and 2 Sinestros. Not exactly surprising they are not selling when people can't find Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, etc.

[MIB41]

I imagine Robin will be the surprise retro figure to get released.

[Sandman9580]

Put in demand characters like Joker or Batgirl on Matty collector and then judge if the line is popular or not.

^^^ Exactly.

I wonder to what extent the retail fiasco mucked things up for this line. If those popular characters were made Matty exclusives, no one would "hold out" on them because they only want to buy them in stores -- in practice, wasting their time looking for figures at TRU that aren't there, and making the sales look lower from Mattel's perspective (I'm guessing?).

If online was the only way to get them, Mattel would have a crystal clear sales number to work with.

[stabilio]

You can only read so far into what these Mattel people post. But my gut tells me that what he says is basically that the public didn't buy enough of the Luthors and Sinestros or enough of the Green Lanterns on Matty (there is no chance *any* of those sold out). So whether he is saying to support by buying more (clearly there are none in stores other than a few straggling Colds and Sinestros), that's just what he has to say because he knows its not going to happen. This way the response later can be well we said to show your support and you didn't. Because delay or no delay, Kyle is not going to sell well. And certainly not enough to save anything.

Whatever figure he was talking about for SDCC is doubtful to be DC, otherwise he would not have qualified it by saying he wouldn't reveal which brand.

[Type Two]

Here's the line of info that scared me:

"What could be a more fitting final figure in the JLU lineup... ."

Hey, there's supposed to be at least TWO more 3-packs and a boxed set left! What?????

[rlkrefft]

I think Mattel is being unrealistic. People couldn't find these figures which was one problem. Another problem was characters like Captain Cold,Sinestro and Lex Luthor should have been short packed.

[drogge]

Retro Action

I am mystified about the sales of Retro Action. I go to my Toys R Us and see a handful of figures on the rack, one Aquaman, a few Captain Colds, some Sinestros, and a couple of Lex Luthers. So this tells me the majority of the figures have sold out. Surely Mattel does not think every figure will sell out completely - I see other Mattel( different lines) figures sitting on the shelves for months. There is a margin of figures expected not to sell. I mean come on. From my prespective the line is doing well and I live in the middle of nowhere - Wichita, KS. Does anyone else see a bunch of figures sitting on the shelves at their local Toys R Us. Not to mention I have not even seen Wave 4 and very few of Waves 2 and 3 available to buy. What gives?

[trekman101]

All the TRU's I have been to in the last year only have 1 or 2 figures on the pegs...the only multiples I ever see is Lex and Sinestro...all the other waves sold out 1 2 3

[Mego-Amigo]

Here in Chattanooga, TN I have only ever seen wave 1 at Toys R Us with the exception of Cheeta and Cold once. Never saw wave 2 or 4 there and never Flash or Wonder Woman. I strongly agree that we can not buy what we can not find. I also strongly agree that it is unfair of Mattel to pull the plug on the line based on poor sales of the Green Lantern exclusives.

When the Retro Action line was first announced it was said that the character selection would stay within the time line of what existed while Mego was in business. The Sinestro exclusive is not retro and Kyle is a more modern character. I could have lived with John Stewart since he really is a retro character and even Guy if we must but it should not surprise Mattel at all that us retro guys are not interested in these figures. Try Joker, Catwoman, Batgirl, Supergirl, Spectre, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Orion, Mr. Miracle, The Creeper or Swamp Thing as exclusives and I am sure they would sell out. No offense to you Green Lantern fans here. Only trying to make a point.

It is very obvious to everyone here that Mattel forced the Green Lanterns upon us just like DC and WB have for the past several months trying to get us " Green Lantern minded " to promote thier movie. Well, as it was stated when these prototypes were first shown and as many of us are still saying now it was a bad idea with this line.

I would be willing to pay more for these figures if they would continue the line but I am not willing to pay for characters that do not fit. I have the characters that I do not even care for just to have a complete set but I will never buy the Green Lanters that are not truely retro. They do not fit in with this line and it is very obvious.

[ScottA]

When the Retro Action line was first announced it was said that the character selection would stay within the time line of what existed while Mego was in business.

I disagree with the statement. To me "Retro" meant 8" action figures with cloth outfits and plastic accessories. So I had no problem with yellow Sinestro and Kyle, especially since they were at Matty, GL-themed and not taking spots away in other waves. But like you said not being able to find all 4 waves just made my head hurt. I was happy with the character selections and they were improving on each wave. But I never saw Wave 2 or 4 in TRU. And I can't support what I can't find.

[Mego-Amigo]

I agree that " retro " means 8" figures with cloth outfits and plastic accessories but I did read somewhere when the Retro-Action line was first announced that the character selection for this particular retro line would be kept within the era of what existed while Mego was in business. I am sure they could have changed thier minds about this. I believe though that most collectors of these would prefer that they kept the character selection in the Mego era.

Though I am not a big fan of Green Lantern I am very happy for you guys that are. I know many of you love the Green Lantern figures. The fact still remains though that Mattel made a bad decision to gauge the continuation of the line on these four Green Lanterns that are going to have a limited fan base. As many of us have already stated time and time again this combined with not being able to find the figures at Toys R Us is responsible for poor sales.

[jayraytee]

You may have read that somewhere, but EMCE said from the start the line would be as if mego never stopped. Meaning they wouldn't be stuck in the 70s.