Six Million Dollar Man Aciton Figures Wave 2 Images!

[Jeff Cope]

Hopefully Captain Action can escape the curse!

[huedell]

You know, I'm actually starting to think that myself.

Honestly though I'm not worried about it and I still stand by my character selection. I seriously doubt that adding another Steve Austin to the mix would have made that big of a difference, if any. People would have just wanted that one figure and let the rest be peg warmers, which still would have resulted in the line being canceled.

The suggestion was to add an Austin variant to each new wave. That doesn't dictate what the OTHER characters would be.

But an implied suggestion (I thought) was to stagger the wave release of the plainer characters. Keep Rudy for Wave 3, or thereabouts.

Another move might have been packaging a plainer (non-Oscar character) like Rudy exclusively with a deluxe accessory (like a bionic repair station table). Then each of the 2 items (plainer character & accessory) kind of "justify the other".

enyawd brought up STAR WARS wave choices---and, even acknowledging the fact that this is STAR WARS we're talking about (quite the exception to the rule)---even a character like Tarkin (arguably his film's main antagonist) was never released during during the whole vintage run, apparently due to his age...and being lightsaberless (Kenner opting instead to make an amalgam of Tarkin and Death Star Troopers with their ageless DST figure).

Just some food for thought. It's all a learning experience.

[Corellian Corvette]

Craig - hope it works out. I had preorders for two sets.

My only suggestion for this and the future - you need to introduce hero variants in each of your subsequent waves. There's a reason successful mainstream lines do this - if there is no primary character, the new waves will always be a subset of purchasers of the first, and so-on. Had this wave had another Steve Austin figure variant (say with the Kenner-style logo), or another suit version (astronaut, khaki's) and maybe an "exposed" Bigfoot, then I bet you would have seen stronger pre-orders. I see this happen frequently, and while some collectors may claim to dislike this, there is a reason every wave of SW figures comes with a Luke, Vader, or Han Solo, and every Batman wave comes with a new Batman.

[MIB41]

So sorry to hear this news Craig. That first offering was a nice set. I have all three proudly on display. You have all my hopes.

[MysteryWho]

I hope they aren't cancelled as they look spectacular. Meanwhile, I hope this isn't discouraging for you and that you keep at it. The two Buck Rogers figures that were made are some of the finest Mego scale figures I've ever seen. Right up there with Emce's Universal Monsters. You definitely have the right abilities to make quality figures happen.

[ThePlayerOnTheOtherSide]

Honestly I think there not being a Steve Austin figure in the 2nd wave likely hurt sales. Others have mentioned this, but just look at the 3 Batman waves so far: Each wave so far has had a Batman and Robin figure. Wave 4 will have a 'new' Batman and Wave 5 will likely have a 'new' Robin.

For SMDM, Steve is the anchor figure. I think any variation of a Steve figure would have probably helped sales in the 2nd wave. The figures themselves were gorgeous as was the art, but....I also think all the competing offerings from FTC and DST around Mego probably hurt collectors with their funds as well.

[ZICA]

Honestly I think there not being a Steve Austin figure in the 2nd wave likely hurt sales. Others have mentioned this, but just look at the 3 Batman waves so far: Each wave so far has had a Batman and Robin figure. Wave 4 will have a 'new' Batman and Wave 5 will likely have a 'new' Robin.

For SMDM, Steve is the anchor figure. I think any variation of a Steve figure would have probably helped sales in the 2nd wave. The figures themselves were gorgeous as was the art, but....I also think all the competing offerings from FTC and DST around Mego probably hurt collectors with their funds as well.

Sorry but you'll never convince me that adding another Steve Austin to the second wave would have improved preorders significantly enough to move forward with production. Adding another figure to the assortment isn't going to make people purchase the other five. Why did people only want Buck Rogers and not Tiger Man when I made the 8" figures? The first assortment had Buck so doesn't that mean Tiger Man should have sold too? This is a classic example of how collectors can be fickle, pure and simple.

Craig

[TRDouble]

Eh. Lots of ways to look at it, really. I think the reason FTC's Batman Retro Series 3 and Teen Titans have been harder to buy separately outside of a set is because websites have watched Batman and Robin from Series 1 sell through (or sell quicker), leaving behind Jokers and Riddlers. That's because it has been proven time and time again that heroes out sell villains and supporting characters, with some exceptions for female figures (which is helped by the scalper mentality). Buck Rogers sold better than Tiger Man most likely for that same reason, Heroes Vs Villain. It's why the big companies pack Batman two per case and everyone else one per case, even the lesser heroes like Martian Manhunter. But I know you know all of that

But at the same time, having the hero or anchor character in a series can sometimes entice the buyer to buy others in a series. Maybe it's the, "well, I am buying this figure, so..." mentality. Maybe it's the, "I need to spend x amount of dollars to get free shipping, so I guess I will order the other figure(s) too," thing. I have done both, if the overall series is generally appealing in the first place.

All that does come back to collectors being fickle, obviously. I think having Khakis Steve Austin in Series 2, in place of a figure already in the series, not in addition to, would have improved sales of the series, but I agree that it might not have, "improved preorders significantly enough to move forward with production." Especially if you could order Steve singularly and not in a set.

[ThePlayerOnTheOtherSide]

Sorry but you'll never convince me that adding another Steve Austin to the second wave would have improved preorders significantly enough to move forward with production. Adding another figure to the assortment isn't going to make people purchase the other five. Why did people only want Buck Rogers and not Tiger Man when I made the 8" figures? The first assortment had Buck so doesn't that mean Tiger Man should have sold too? This is a classic example of how collectors can be fickle, pure and simple.

Craig

Just guessing, but I would have gone with 3-4 figures in the 2nd wave, one of them a new Steve and one of them Oscar. Barney Hiller and Mr X seem to be 3rd tier characters at best, would have split them up into two different waves.

Also it's tough to use just this site as an accurate barometer of what will and will not sell. Hope it ends up working out for you, though.

[Spyweb007]

I just read today that a Six Million Dollar Man movie is in the works with Mark Wahlburg and the director that did Sole Survivor with him. Not sure how long you have the license for, but it seems ready for a come back.

[Mikey]

I think a new bionic movie would be kinda passé considering regular people have some pretty neat artificial limbs nowadays

[figureaddicted]

Can anyone confirm that these have been cancelled? I got my preorder in on these and it looks as though preorders are still being taken. I just dont want to get my hopes up on these. But its hard not to. Those figures for Alan Oppenheimer (Wells) and John Saxon (MrX) are absolutely spot on likenesses in this scale.

[ZICA]

Can anyone confirm that these have been cancelled? I got my preorder in on these and it looks as though preorders are still being taken. I just dont want to get my hopes up on these. But its hard not to. Those figures for Alan Oppenheimer (Wells) and John Saxon (MrX) are absolutely spot on likenesses in this scale.

The figures haven't been officially canceled yet but probably will be at the end of this month. Unfortunately the preorder numbers haven't increased enough to warrant moving forward with production.

Craig

[figureaddicted]

Thats terrible. These are absolutely perfect figures in any format to judge them by. Its hard to believe they didnt meet the required pre sell allotment. Character selection certainly didnt play a part in my decision to order. I dont even have wave 1 yet and i ordered these based on how good they look. Of course i plan on getting the first three still, but its going to be a bittersweet triumph when i do. Knowing these slipped through our fingers for whatever reason others held back on ordering.

[ThePlayerOnTheOtherSide]

Thats terrible. These are absolutely perfect figures in any format to judge them by. Its hard to believe they didnt meet the required pre sell allotment. Character selection certainly didnt play a part in my decision to order. I dont even have wave 1 yet and i ordered these based on how good they look. Of course i plan on getting the first three still, but its going to be a bittersweet triumph when i do. Knowing these slipped through our fingers for whatever reason others held back on ordering.

I think the small format wasn't the best for the figures. The artwork is incredible and so are the figures themselves. But with the original SMDM, there was always a bit of 'magic' in being able to roll up that 'skin' on Steve's arm and see that computer chip.

There are probably some licensing restrictions that kept it from happening, but I think a straight replica of the original figures would have sold much better. Hopefully the line can continue on.