DST Spider-Man Limited Edition Collector Set

[pmwasson]

Congratulations Paul and Joe! The set looks beautiful and I can't wait to get it into my grubby hands!

Thank-you!

[EMCEtoys]

As much as I'd rather Paul speak for my side or Zach for DST, for some reason Paul's been unreachable all day (of all days), so I'll jump in for a minute and hit some points. Initially, this was supposed to be unveiled at C2E2 and Paul was going to be there when it happened, but Marvel made the announcement, so the proverbial cat, etc., etc.

- There will only be a couple per year; that price point is meant to be a premium collectible, not a wallet-gouging monthly subscription.
- The only way to get an action figure dispensation from Hasbro/Marvel was to produce at this price point
- Due to that, of course, there will be no separate "Mego only" options
- Yes, there are only a handful of characters that justify this treatment. For this year, I believe we're talking about Spider-Man, Captain America, Thor and Wolverine. Wolverine will be fun because we get to imagine how he would have been Mego-ized in the 70s to begin with. Our model for next year will be 3 characters Mego did and 1 they didn't.
- Besides the costumes and accessories in the photos, each kit comes with a "mini-magazine" produced by Cinefantastique, the classic scifi/pop-culture magazine, with content about Spidey's costume evolution, Mego's Spidey toys, a bit on Spidey and Mego customizing (courteously contributed by this esteemed forum's own "Palitoy", Scott Heiler), and a behind-the-scenes piece on how we made this kit.

As many of you know, I originally got into this to help realize some of Paul's dreams, and this was the big one. We have already done DC and tried to improve on those characters (tons of threads here document the issues we had there) instead of just cranking out copies of the old ones -- I can say that so far the experience with Marvel is the POLAR OPPOSITE of that experience in terms of creative input and approval process. And since we're working with Diamond Select, you're already familiar with the quality of the final product. We threw the kitchen sink at this one.

Though all Marvel characters are awesome (GOD I wish we could do Deathlok), there is a short list of those who warrant this treatment. We want to avoid what we jokingly refer to here as "getting to the 'Mirror, Mirror' stage". Each entry will be carefully thought out, have lots of stuff, packaged nicely and have a new mini-magazine in each. But we're not gonna stretch this out unless the line is so white hot that they continue to fly off the shelves 20, 30 characters from now.

As for bodies, there's always drmego.com, but I recall something about an 8" no-strings body that DST acquired that was SUPPOSED to be released individually. Will have to look into that.

Thanx to Chuck Terciera at DST who gave us the start back in 2006 when we launched the 8" trend with Star Trek, Chris Schaff at DST who managed the project and coordinated Marvel approvals, Zach Oat for crafting all the PR. And congrats to my partner Paul, who - I kid you not - swings between giddy laughter and teary eyes with each new milestone hit on this thing.

Hopefully you'll all enjoy these as much as we enjoyed working on them. OK, back to work...I've got a shield to finish. :-)

Joe Sena

[Chris]

I'm so excited about this!

Please, PLEASE bring on the classic AND updated Lizard with Doc Conners alter ego!

Oh, and PLEASE make Wolverine's original "whisker" mask one of the options for him!

All great ideas.

Luv that packaging. Nothing drives me crazier than those plastic "Collector Friendly" cases.

[Hedji]

Zach, welcome to the Museum. Can you tell us approximately how many we can expect per year, or the frequency of the releases. It's lovely, but the price is a bit of an ouch. A few per year, okay, but $80 per month is another major bill.

[Krypt0nite]

I'm so excited about this!

Please, PLEASE bring on the classic AND updated Lizard with Doc Conners alter ego!

Oh, and PLEASE make Wolverine's original "whisker" mask one of the options for him!

[madmarva]

Every Marvel offering will be in this format, it was the only way we could do it. We wanted to celebrate the originals but also bring them into the present day, and this is what we and EMCE came up with. There were also some licensing restrictions to consider.

Hopefully they find an audience, obviously they're very well done. Kudos to Doc. I understand the appeal of getting them in new packaging, but if all you want is one vintage-style figure, the originals are out there, as people have pointed out.

DSTZach, is there a possibility of mego-like figures based on the film versions of the characters?

[pmwasson]

I like the approach of being true to the original but also fixing the problems of the past. Its the best of both worlds and I'm willing to pay a little more to get them.

[Teemu]

Every Marvel offering will be in this format, it was the only way we could do it. We wanted to celebrate the originals but also bring them into the present day, and this is what we and EMCE came up with. There were also some licensing restrictions to consider.

Hopefully they find an audience, obviously they're very well done. Kudos to Doc. I understand the appeal of getting them in new packaging, but if all you want is one vintage-style figure, the originals are out there, as people have pointed out.

Me personally,I like this set-up....you get the option to go 70's retro or put on the classic modern version that has more detail or even sport the alter-ego

I mean,you're still getting the replicated original but with lots of extra stuff

[Teemu]

the hard part now is the wait....I really hope they show Cap and Iron Man proto's at SDCC

[DSTZach]

Every Marvel offering will be in this format, it was the only way we could do it. We wanted to celebrate the originals but also bring them into the present day, and this is what we and EMCE came up with. There were also some licensing restrictions to consider.

Hopefully they find an audience, obviously they're very well done. Kudos to Doc. I understand the appeal of getting them in new packaging, but if all you want is one vintage-style figure, the originals are out there, as people have pointed out.

[JediJaida]

I was never that much into Spider-Man, but DANG, I really WANT one of these!

I wonder what female characters are going to be made. With Doc's new female body coming out, hopefully with this line, they would be nice to see.

I'm hoping for:

Spider-Woman.

Invisible Woman.

Storm.

Rogue.

Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat.

Shanna the She Devil.

and a WHOLE lot of others!

[ScottA]

I like it. This will be fun. I am really liking that Peter.

[jimsmegos]

Initially I gasped a little with the sticker price BUT when doing the math I believe it's a fair price. I know I need 2 (one for me and the other for my Jr. Mego head in training, Kaitlynn.)

One thing that I feel very confident in with this line is that quality will not be an issue right out of the box. Body options are plentiful as well so I don't see that being any kind of issue. And most importantly I am more than thrilled to see that Dr. Mego is back in the Mego game where he belongs.

[SciFiGuyLA]

Each set will be $80, but we plan to do more than four sets. Those were just examples of popular characters. The price is what we had to charge to pack in all that stuff; I think it's fair considering what you'd pay for a single, relatively fragile body with one threadbare suit and (often) no accessories. Not sure we'll offer blank bodies, but I'm sure someone around here does.

I agree. $80 for a repro figure and all that stuff seems to be a mostly fair price. Unfortunately, I only want the repro figure without all that stuff. Just give me Marvel Megos in window boxes (without all the accessories) for $25 each and I'd be pleased as punch! But 80 bucks a pop? I really hate to say it, but this news is deflating all the excitement I had about this impending announcement.

It's simple economics for me and my limited budget for collecting, which is already spread thin with all the reMego options that are out there and upcoming. 80 bucks for one figure and some accessories still sounds less appealing than 100 bucks for 4 DC Comics figures from FTC. Also consider that this perspective is coming from a hard core Marvel fan. I have no doubt that these figures will be of superior quality as compared to FTC, but YIKES!, that price point is super scary!!!

Perhaps I'm in the minority here, but that's just the way I see it.

I would have been happy just buying the super-hero at around $25-30.

^This! Multiplied by 1000!!!

[jayraytee]

I will buy as many of these as I can, but I sure hope the entire line of figures isn't $80 a pop. I can't follow that price for long, I hope there are some reissues of just the classic figure alone.