What ever happened to Iron Man?

[DSTZach]

Hot with who though... they have to know their audience. The only people buying remego type figures is us 40-50 year old guys that had megos back in the day and want to revisit the era. That is their market, like it or not. I'd estimate most of their market would be less interested in newer characters. Very few kids beyond our own kids will get interested in anything in this format, no matter who the character is.

That's a pretty dim view of the Mego format. Saying that only original Mego owners and the kids they taught about it will ever like Megos? Wow. I never owned Megos as a kid, and my father had no Megos, and I'm 37 and I love 'em. I don't even read Deadpool anymore, but I still want one. I'm not sure anyone can predict what percentage of the VERY LARGE DP fan base will like Megos, but even a small percentage is a lot of people.

I may have been the guy who said early on we were making Iron Man, and I may have overestimated his rank on our list. I hope we get to him!

[jayraytee]

It's a realistic one. It's the same reason Famous Covers, Mattel's Retro Action, the Universal Monsters, the Trek figures, the Twilight Zone figures, FTC's DC figures, etc have not lasted long in the general market (toys-r-us, etc). Same reason Captain Action failed as well. These formats were it in the 70s and early 80s. Today's general market is just not the same. You might pick up a few customers in the comic collector market, but that might not counter the natural attrition. The toy market has changed just as the music market has, no record stores on every corner and no Children's Palace, KB Toys, etc. Around here even the Toy's R Us' are dwindling.

[DSTZach]

It's a realistic one. It's the same reason Famous Covers, Mattel's Retro Action, the Universal Monsters, the Trek figures, the Twilight Zone figures, FTC's DC figures, etc have not lasted long in the general market (toys-r-us, etc). Same reason Captain Action failed as well. These formats were it in the 70s and early 80s. Today's general market is just not the same. You might pick up a few customers in the comic collector market, but that might not counter the natural attrition. The toy market has changed just as the music market has, no record stores on every corner and no Children's Palace, KB Toys, etc. Around here even the Toy's R Us' are dwindling.

Nobody said the market was the same as the 1970s. With the rise of the Internet, and big box stores, yeah, specialty toy stores have taken a hit, but those sales have moved online. So we're happy to split sales between the online and specialty/comic markets, and are happy to have had any retro items in TRU. We had UM there for four years, and only stopped because we ran out of mass-market-friendly characters. I wasn't aware we had Star Trek at TRU, but we made it pretty far at specialty, and now we're bringing it back.

The rest of those lines you mentioned, I didn't even know some of them were at TRU. I'm sure that there's someone here who will criticize execution or distribution, but I'd mainly point at the properties -- Twilight Zone skews older, Classic Trek skews older, Batman Classic TV skews older, and I think both Mattel's and Figures' character selections (as well as Hasbro's DC Super Heroes) skewed to older costumes and looks.

The biggest success was probably the only true Marvel line, which was FC. I forget how many FC figures were made in all (I had at least 20), but it was a fair number, so I'd call it a success, even if they segued to specialty at the end. They also had cool packaging. Captain Action may have had a similar play pattern to us, but the Marvel costumes were made for a non-Marvel character, so it's hard to place us side-by-side.

I think NECA is in TRU now with their retro figures. No idea how they're selling, but there seems to be a market for them.

[wise guy]

I just found out about Daredevil and that is really cool . DD and Punisher are great choices that make me happy, and I hope Ironman and Dr. Strange will be in wave 3

[thunderbolt]

Nobody said the market was the same as the 1970s. With the rise of the Internet, and big box stores, yeah, specialty toy stores have taken a hit, but those sales have moved online. So we're happy to split sales between the online and specialty/comic markets, and are happy to have had any retro items in TRU. We had UM there for four years, and only stopped because we ran out of mass-market-friendly characters. I wasn't aware we had Star Trek at TRU, but we made it pretty far at specialty, and now we're bringing it back.

Seems like The Invisible Man, Werewolf of London and a Mole Person would have went over well. A Son Of Frankenstein variant of the monster would have been a neat way to rerelease him. A Rondo Hatton Creeper might have been a good one, too.

[The Bat]

It's a realistic one. It's the same reason Famous Covers, Mattel's Retro Action.

With all due respect...those lines failed because they were utter CRAP!

[Ninersphan1]

With all due respect...those lines failed because they were utter CRAP!

Failed??? Just doing the Marvel universe the Famous Covers proper line had 36 figure, 42 if you count the X-men Movie/comic two packs, 45 if you include the X-men Animated figures. Hardly a failure. Did it hit the mark with your tastes, no clearly not, but in it's time it was quite popular and sold very well.

[Teemu]

With all due respect...those lines failed because they were utter CRAP!

Nothing crappy about the famous covers at all...built strong for child play,great costumes and sculpts, and overall a FUN toy to play with...FC hardly failed!

Failed??? Just doing the Marvel universe the Famous Covers proper line had 36 figure, 42 if you count the X-men Movie/comic two packs, 45 if you include the X-men Animated figures. Hardly a failure. Did it hit the mark with your tastes, no clearly not, but in it's time it was quite popular and sold very well.

EXACTLY!

[ovenmitt]

I loved FC back in the 90s when Mego like figures were returning! Truly some great ones like Storm, Thor, Dr Doom, Black Widow, Falcon, iron Man, Vision, Jean Grey, sabretooth, magneto, Nightcrawler, Scarlet Witch! I wish DST could do sets of all of these! Yes there were inconsistencies like pinheads, yelling mouths, OVENMITTS! But a great attempt by Toy Biz to revive Mego Marvels! And they were $15 then $10!

[thunderbolt]

With all due respect...those lines failed because they were utter CRAP!

failed with you, FC was 45 figures or so and Retro action was 21, if you throw in Ghost Busters 27. Hardly failures.

[Ninersphan1]

With all due respect...those lines failed because they were utter CRAP!

Addtionally there were the Hasbro Signature line of DC and marvel figures which easily adds another 20-30 figures. I know, I have them all including a few customs. Are they as good as Mego's? maybe not, but they have their own charm.

I suggest you seek out the First appearance Batman that came in a deluxe boxed set with a book and a few other assorted goodies, it's a figure any true Batman fan can appreciate and is truly a high point of the 9"scale lines:

http://toyhaven.blogspot.com/2014/07...olden-age.html

[ovenmitt]

I have that 9" 1939 1st app. Batman I got at a bookstore like 75% off for my 31st birthday in 2001! It's a beauty FTC needs to take notes! Also that day I found the 4th and last wave of Hasbro 5" JLA figures at TRU got 5 Wonder Woman figures! There is also a Wonder Woman book set back then with a 9" vinyl Golden Age Wonder Woman figure cloth skirt! Looks good with the Batman figure!

[wise guy]

I sold my collection of FC figures years ago but saved a First Appearance Storm figure and I still think it's one of the best Mego like female figures ever made.
Black Widow , Scarlet Witch and Pheonix were also better female figures and I am not sure FTC, Diamond or anyone else can come close on these.
I also think that the Universal Monsters by Emce are way better than my original Mego Mad Monsters, certainly not a failure.

[jayraytee]

When I say failed.... I mean you don't still see 8" mego-ish figures in retail outlets do you? In the 70s the format was so strong you saw Planet of apes, the Waltons, Happy Days, etc. etc. etc. It was crazy. 12" Gi Joes were big back then, Barbie was huge. There was Big Jim and a world of Mego-ish knock offs. Of all of them, only Barbie still holds a place in general market stores and it's place is much smaller.
Hard plastic figures are there, but not Mego-like figures. They just don't sustain in the general market anymore. Companies have tried, the famous covers line did semi well... but I doubt they did well enough for Hasbro to want to revisit the style. Not only do you not see companies stumbling over each other to make similar figures like you had in the 70s, you see the major companies and retailers reluctant to give them a try.

Why is that? The market has changed. Mego style figures like 60s style 12" GI Joe-ish figures are a nostalgic collector market. Thats not to say that the occassional kid might not get interested, but these are predominantly collector figures based on nostalgia.

When it comes to EMCE Universal Monsters... I am not saying they failed in the area of quality or coolness. They failed by no fault of their own to sustain in the general market because the market has changed. You could make the coolest Mego-like figures and get them in every toy store in america and I believe they would fail to sustain simply because todays kid is not interested in that type of figure like we were.

[Ninersphan1]

When I say failed.... I mean you don't still see 8" mego-ish figures in retail outlets do you? In the 70s the format was so strong you saw Planet of apes, the Waltons, Happy Days, etc. etc. etc. It was crazy. 12" Gi Joes were big back then, Barbie was huge. There was Big Jim and a world of Mego-ish knock offs. Of all of them, only Barbie still holds a place in general market stores and it's place is much smaller.
Hard plastic figures are there, but not Mego-like figures. They just don't sustain in the general market anymore. Companies have tried, the famous covers line did semi well... but I doubt they did well enough for Hasbro to want to revisit the style. Not only do you not see companies stumbling over each other to make similar figures like you had in the 70s, you see the major companies and retailers reluctant to give them a try.

Why is that? The market has changed. Mego style figures like 60s style 12" GI Joe-ish figures are a nostalgic collector market. Thats not to say that the occassional kid might not get interested, but these are predominantly collector figures based on nostalgia.

When it comes to EMCE Universal Monsters... I am not saying they failed in the area of quality or coolness. They failed by no fault of their own to sustain in the general market because the market has changed. You could make the coolest Mego-like figures and get them in every toy store in america and I believe they would fail to sustain simply because todays kid is not interested in that type of figure like we were.

I don't disagree that the market has changed, but i think it has more to do with cost. Plastic is expensive, why do you think Hasbro has started a line of Marvel figures even smaller that 3 3/4", to keep price down. I really don't think mom and pop see a value in one figure at 25.99 or more. I think the cost of clothed figures and their profit margin has a much to do with why we don't see them in mass market retailers as anything.