The DC reboot is killing our retro toys

[Bones]

It's a darn shame about DCUC. It was really fun to collect there for a while. The past year has been no fun at all, though, and the new waves had very few characters I really wanted. The price point was rather high, which I feel didn't help either; but then, I see Star Wars figures priced at $10 at TRU, so I know it's not just Mattel.

I sold off my entire collection of DCUC recently, to free up some cash for Megos. I was a little sad to see it go, but am enjoying my vintage and Retro-Action heroes much more than I ever did DCUC.

[Cosmicman]

The DC reboot is total dog****. I just saw the Hawkman "reboot" outfit. He looks like what if Wolverine was crossed with Nighthawk. Really, really bad crap out there and total disregard to the generation that actually buys the comic books.

[Figuremod73]

ive decided not to buy kyle. its ashame they couldnt have released a character like hawkman that i personally would have really wanted....

[Bones]

ive decided not to buy kyle. its ashame they couldnt have released a character like hawkman that i personally would have really wanted....

Ditto here. I would've loved a Hawkman, and a Doctor Fate as well. I hope some company can pick up the license and keep it going... my guess is it probably won't happen, though.

[Mego-Amigo]

I have yet to hear Mattel say anything other than sales were not enough to continue the line. I doubt they will ever take responsibility for poor distribution and for producing poor choice characters ( the Green Lanterns ) for exclusives. We all know that if characters like Hawkman had been produced instead sales would have been much better. As for the " buy Kyle or you won't get more " attitude, it only adds insult to injury.

[Cosmicman]

I third that. Hawkman would have been a great choice! Kids would have seen the winged warrior holding his mace and they would have went ape bonkers wanting it. Who the heck wants more Green Lanterns? Only two I really care to own in a collection anyway.

[hedrap]

This is a decent overall article on Marvel/Disney, but the end gives some good insight into brand uniformity, which is what WB is trying to resolve with DC.

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/...er-convention/

One key difference between Marvel and Disney is the degree of consistency of their characters’ stories across multiple platforms, from films to TV and books.

Jeff Gomez, chief executive of Starlight Runner Entertainment Inc., a company that has worked with Disney and other firms on such issues, said Marvel has reinterpreted some of its most popular characters in multiple ways, making it hard, say, for a child who loves Hugh Jackman’s film portrayal of the Wolverine character to get the identical experience in comics books, on TV or online.

“There are five or six different Wolverine characters: the comic book version, the cartoon version, the movie version, the alternate universe comic book version,” Gomez said. “That’s the challenge Disney’s going to face.”

[samurainoir]

On the one hand, These multiple interpretations allows them to split the license for different demographics... Batman The Dark Knight Rises is obviously aimed at an adult audience, Brave and Bold for a kids audience.

You don't want superhero squad Wolverine to correspond with Hugh Jackman is you can sell a license twice for a different demographic. Otherwise you're consigning the character to the lowest common denominator, which is kids... So how do you sell $200 statues to an adult collector demographic if the level of detail needs to be higher than that of your Saturday morning cartoon aimed at kids?

On the other, I understand how they brought Winnie the Pooh back to basics for example (they shouldn't necessarily be out solving mysteries), but Pooh is an entirely kid centric property for the most part.

[MIB41]

Dr. Mego has been quiet recently. And when he's quiet, that 's typically a sign he is very busy. My hope is he is in the midst of working out a premise to keep this line alive. I never doubt his drive and ingenuity to make his dreams a reality.

[drmego]

Sorry - I had a family wedding last weekend. I try to keep up on reading
the posts, but like everyone else, I can't spend too much time posting.

Besides, my son Eddie keeps wanting to watch ice cream truck videos
on YouTube, so my computer time is limited.

[rche]

Dr. Mego has been quiet recently. And when he's quiet, that 's typically a sign he is very busy. My hope is he is in the midst of working out a premise to keep this line alive. I never doubt his drive and ingenuity to make his dreams a reality.

nor his ability to watch ice cream truck videos with his son.

[hedrap]

On the one hand, These multiple interpretations allows them to split the license for different demographics... Batman The Dark Knight Rises is obviously aimed at an adult audience, Brave and Bold for a kids audience.

You don't want superhero squad Wolverine to correspond with Hugh Jackman is you can sell a license twice for a different demographic. Otherwise you're consigning the character to the lowest common denominator, which is kids... So how do you sell $200 statues to an adult collector demographic if the level of detail needs to be higher than that of your Saturday morning cartoon aimed at kids?

I understand how they brought Winnie the Pooh back to basics for example (they shouldn't necessarily be out solving mysteries), but Pooh is an entirely kid centric property for the most part.

I think what we're seeing is the beginning of the end of the fracture. On one end, B&B was canceled. I can't remember the last time I saw a new Superhero Squad, which IIRC, Disney wasn't keen on keeping alive anyway since it's on CN.

On the other side, when both companies openly talk about the sad state of comic sales, it's a reference to how much older the monthly buying demo has gotten, more than likely closer to 40 than 20.

If that's the case, how much steam is left in the collector's market? If you don't grow up reading comics, you're not going to buy anything from Bowen because it has no meaning. With Boomers entering retirement and Gen X being half the size of the Boomer generation, it becomes a smaller niche market.

[Figuremod73]

for the record i put no blame for any of it on anybody but mattle (not that anyones saying i am) it just gets frustrating when a good thing gets screwed up by what seems like the company not really caring....

[samurainoir]

With Boomers entering retirement and Gen X being half the size of the Boomer generation, it becomes a smaller niche market.

that is the argument FOR multiple demographic split though... Since the 1990's there has almost constantly been a Batman, and less consistently an X-men cartoon for the Boomer's kids (aka Boom Echo Gen). While teen/young adult Gen X was enjoying Keaton/Batman in the theaters... Which appealed to us Super Friend kids, as well as the Boomer Adam West Batman kids.

The kids who grew up on Batman TAS are now in turn teens and adults who are running out to see Dark knight rises when it comes out.

I have no doubt that twenty years from now, the Brave and Bold kids will in turn have a Batman movie to watch... Even if it's a refreshing throwback Adam West style action comedy starring whichever stoner icon or rubber faced physical comedian is in vogue twenty years hence.


And making comics ridiculously accessible to the digital download/smart phone/iPad kids who also play the Arkham City video games is one way of insuring comics do find a new generation of readers in the age where print is only going to continue to decline.

[Tothiro]

And making comics ridiculously accessible to the digital download/smart phone/iPad kids who also play the Arkham City video games is one way of insuring comics do find a new generation of readers in the age where print is only going to continue to decline.

Not to derail, but this reminds me that the digital marketing models are broken. With regard to traditional print (Random House, etc), so many publishers are either charging higher prices for e-books than traditional print, or making it so hard to purchase and use e-books that they're actually driving the pirate trade of their own titles.

With respect to digital comics, my sister has always been a die-had batman fan, but after 20+ years of a regular Batman comic pull, she hadn't purchased a title in about four years. She got interested in the Thomas Wayne as Batman concept, and was set to jump back in with those issues when they were announced as available digital (for her ipad).
DC decided to only make issues 1,3, etc. available digitally - and put out a message that if anyone was interested in 2,4, etc they should seek out their local comic shop.
As cross-marketing intentions go it was so backwards that she decided it wasn't worth her time and money, so DC lost that sale.

I haven't met a digital publisher that seems to have it right yet.