Six Million Dollar Man Aciton Figures Wave 2 Images!

[enyawd72]

Thanks big time for this response and showing that you have a full understanding of the situation, because you hit the nail directly on the head. Now for those of you who have chosen to take issue with how I'm handling wave 2, let me put things in a little better perspective for you.

When I did the Buck Rogers line I went full speed ahead and had the tooling made needed to produce all 5 figures, because I thought for sure that the line would be a hit. That gamble cost me $50,000 and it didn't even come close to paying off. As a matter of fact, it nearly took me completely out of the action figure making business. Needless to say I wasn't about to make the same mistake twice so I decided to play it safe and go the preorder route. Wave 1 of the SMDM figures had great preorder numbers and reached the level needed to make it financially feasible for me start production. Unfortunately the same can't be said for wave 2, so the only money I'm out is what I paid for the digital sculpts, which isn't small change either.

The amount it would take for me to break even on the production for the wave 2 figures is approximately $30,000. The preorder numbers are nowhere near that amount, but apparently some people think I should go ahead and gamble with $30,000 and hope that I make it back. I'm curious, are the people who are busting my balls and rubbing salt in the wound over the preorder issue willing to gamble with $30,000? My guess is that they're not.

For small companies like mine preorders are necessary to help us stay in business, and that isn't going to change.

Craig

Craig, I'm not trying to bust your balls. You've put out some amazing product. Whatever happens in the future, I still wish you best of luck. You deserve success. My preorder for two sets of SMDM wave 2 still stands. Hopefully some miracle will happen and you'll reach your goal.

[Remco Monster]

I completely understand why pre-orders are done. I was not coming down on you Craig for doing it. I was talking more in a general sense. It's not like you are the only company that does it, and I realize that if you don't, it would be a gamble. I just prefer not to pre-order, and know a lot of other people feel the same.

I pre-ordered three freakin' sets of these, can't afford to order more.

[noelani72]

holy cow Craig, it's too bad to hear wave 2 is coming up short. I thought the new price point would have been the game changer.
Thanks for sharing that tooling info - I always heard it was crazy high, but wow - you really took it in the rear on Buck and you had figures that were dynamite lined-up.
At those prices, tooling, license, digital sculpts, etc...it seems like you'd need to sell at least 10,000 figures to make it worth your while.

I have dual interest in your efforts - not only diggin your figures, but I designed a car part not readily available. I'd looked into a patent ($3000-$4000) and can only assume it'd take $5000 - $10000 to get tooling made..then I'd have to buy a minimum order...sheez...the part would have to be in every parts store in America to make my money back. I've sold about 50 on eBay in the past three months, so I know people need it.

So, what about Kickstarter? If preorders fall thru on wave 2, would it be worth a shot to put up a funding goal and do it that way to get big projects like this done?

[megonaught]

I am 100% behind you Craig.
I would love to see the line continue but if it doesnt then we got three really cool
Figures.
Thank you for that.

[ZICA]

So, what about Kickstarter? If preorders fall thru on wave 2, would it be worth a shot to put up a funding goal and do it that way to get big projects like this done?

Kickstarter typically isn't an option for licensed properties, especially ones that are owned by the larger companies.

[Remco Monster]

I am 100% behind you Craig.
I would love to see the line continue but if it doesnt then we got three really cool
Figures.
Thank you for that.

THIS! The Bigfoot and Steve are my favorite figures since the 70's/early 80's. Beyond happy they exist.

[starsky]

i'm happy with my buck rogers and tigerman as well as the the steve austin and big foot figures. they are all a dream come true thanks to craig/ zica. i wish zica got the 8 inch license for six million dollar man.

[ob1]

Craig and all, first time I've posted here but followed the thread and sorry to see that pre-orders have been so slow for Wave 2. The risk on investment makes complete sense and want you to not only break even, but to make some money so you can keep making cool figures. I pre-ordered 3 sets from Amok Time a few weeks ago and would be willing to get a few more, or invest more, to help get these guys over the line for production. The figures are fantastic and it would be a shame to see them cancelled.

I get why Kickstarter is not an option, but wonder if we couldn't get clever to help Craig get to a solution, or put our money where our mouth is. $30k is a big investment, but looking at campaigns like Legends of Cthulhu which turned out $130k of investment from over 1,100 people, there must be a way to get there for Oscar and the crew.

$50 for 5 figures is a great price, and with simple math, this would mean a minimum of 600 sets need to sell to get back the initial investment. I'm sure the math is not that simple with e-tailer profit and other costs that aren't apparent, not to mention all the hours Craig already has and would continue to spend to deliver the figures. That said, surely there are more than 600 people who would buy these guys, just not that many who are both 1) aware of them and 2) willing to take the pre-order plunge through EE, BBTS and Amok Time.

Put me in the camp that says lack of a Steve Austin variant probably impacted sales, but hard to say how much, with Craig's points on Buck Rogers taken. Super 7 did great with their Alien Reaction sales (and I saw the long lines firsthand at SDCC last year), but a second wave would likely struggle if, say, they had only human characters and no Aliens. I suspect a marketing push could make a difference for Oscar and Rudy and all, and most of the news I've seen has been on this thread (and AFI thanks to Mr. Cope), but I realize that's easier said than done, particularly with time running short.

Just speaking for wave 1, I saw the pre-orders last year at Amok Time and got 3 sets. I kept one set for myself and sold the other 2 at a local toy show to people who knew nothing about them but thought they were awesome, plus a few enthusiastic comments on "Oh yeah, I heard about these guys." I suspect a marketing push could make a difference, and most of the news I've seen has been on this thread, but I realize that's easier said than done.

So, I don't have any easy answers, but curious what Craig and others think. Is there anything we can do other than the obvious "pre-order more sets?" If the numbers were close to making it viable and ordering a few more sets makes a difference, that works too, but seems like we still have a long way to go in a couple of weeks. Can we pull off a grass-roots kickstart without Kickstarter? For example, I'd gladly pay $100 for a set of these guys for myself, and $20 per figure is on par with others from Kickstarter, etc. Or, if enough of us were willing to kick in $300 or $500, for ... well, something (ideas?) .... could we get clever with that?

Last point, hope none of this comes off as complaining. I know it's a tricky market, and fickle to use Craig's term, but I have the utmost respect for him for taking on the investment, time and effort to pull off Steve and Bigfoot, and still hoping we'll see the same for Wave 2.

[ZICA]

Craig and all, first time I've posted here but followed the thread and sorry to see that pre-orders have been so slow for Wave 2. The risk on investment makes complete sense and want you to not only break even, but to make some money so you can keep making cool figures. I pre-ordered 3 sets from Amok Time a few weeks ago and would be willing to get a few more, or invest more, to help get these guys over the line for production. The figures are fantastic and it would be a shame to see them cancelled.

I get why Kickstarter is not an option, but wonder if we couldn't get clever to help Craig get to a solution, or put our money where our mouth is. $30k is a big investment, but looking at campaigns like Legends of Cthulhu which turned out $130k of investment from over 1,100 people, there must be a way to get there for Oscar and the crew.

$50 for 5 figures is a great price, and with simple math, this would mean a minimum of 600 sets need to sell to get back the initial investment. I'm sure the math is not that simple with e-tailer profit and other costs that aren't apparent, not to mention all the hours Craig already has and would continue to spend to deliver the figures. That said, surely there are more than 600 people who would buy these guys, just not that many who are both 1) aware of them and 2) willing to take the pre-order plunge through EE, BBTS and Amok Time.

Put me in the camp that says lack of a Steve Austin variant probably impacted sales, but hard to say how much, with Craig's points on Buck Rogers taken. Super 7 did great with their Alien Reaction sales (and I saw the long lines firsthand at SDCC last year), but a second wave would likely struggle if, say, they had only human characters and no Aliens. I suspect a marketing push could make a difference for Oscar and Rudy and all, and most of the news I've seen has been on this thread (and AFI thanks to Mr. Cope), but I realize that's easier said than done, particularly with time running short.

Just speaking for wave 1, I saw the pre-orders last year at Amok Time and got 3 sets. I kept one set for myself and sold the other 2 at a local toy show to people who knew nothing about them but thought they were awesome, plus a few enthusiastic comments on "Oh yeah, I heard about these guys." I suspect a marketing push could make a difference, and most of the news I've seen has been on this thread, but I realize that's easier said than done.

So, I don't have any easy answers, but curious what Craig and others think. Is there anything we can do other than the obvious "pre-order more sets?" If the numbers were close to making it viable and ordering a few more sets makes a difference, that works too, but seems like we still have a long way to go in a couple of weeks. Can we pull off a grass-roots kickstart without Kickstarter? For example, I'd gladly pay $100 for a set of these guys for myself, and $20 per figure is on par with others from Kickstarter, etc. Or, if enough of us were willing to kick in $300 or $500, for ... well, something (ideas?) .... could we get clever with that?

Last point, hope none of this comes off as complaining. I know it's a tricky market, and fickle to use Craig's term, but I have the utmost respect for him for taking on the investment, time and effort to pull off Steve and Bigfoot, and still hoping we'll see the same for Wave 2.

Thanks for trying to rally the troops in an effort to make Wave 2 happen but I think the writing is on the wall at this point. I had a lot of fun developing the figures but it's time to move on and focus my energy on other projects. I've got the 4" Captain Action line in the works along with a few other things. Life in the toy world goes on.

Craig

[Remco Monster]

Makes me sad these aren't going to happen.

I really hope you continue to do the retro 3 3/4" thing, or at the very least keep working with BBP on their retro 3 3/4" figures, because as far as I am concerned, you are the current king of retro 3 3/4".

[Tigger]

Aw man Such a shame to hear wave 2 most likely won't go into production. I put in a second preorder in hopes of helping but it just seems that the interest from others wasn't there. They looked like beautiful sculpts and the quality of the first wave was so incredibly good that I was eager to get the second wave in my hands. Your dedication to the toy making process and rallying the troops in a shrinking market is admirable and I wish all companies could interact and be as open with fans as you are Craig. Major kudos to you and I really hope you don't have as many more instances like this where preorder numbers prevent us from getting more awesome product!

[Jeff Cope]

I've got the 4" Captain Action line in the works along with a few other things.

Craig

Yes you do! :-)

I'm very bummed SMDM will likely not continue, but boy am I looking forward to CA!

[Jeff Cope]

Interesting development on the Kickstarter/licensed property side of things. Capo Toys just launched a Kickstarter for Ryu from Street Fighter. I'll be surprised if it meets it's funding goal of $85K offering essentially a single figure and variants.

With precedent being set by this and even CA in Fresh Monkey's Amazing Heroes line maybe it's worth approaching NBC/Universal to see if it's something they'd consider.

[Tigger]

Interesting development on the Kickstarter/licensed property side of things. Capo Toys just launched a Kickstarter for Ryu from Street Fighter. I'll be surprised if it meets it's funding goal of $85K offering essentially a single figure and variants.

With precedent being set by this and even CA in Fresh Monkey's Amazing Heroes line maybe it's worth approaching NBC/Universal to see if it's something they'd consider.

I was wondering the same thing... I've heard by many people that using KS with someone else's IP is a no-no. More interesting is why in the world Capcom would license Street fighter to Capo Toys if they had no money to produce these figures. And why would Capo Toys show off an entire wave at Toy Fair months ago with a prospective release date if they don't even have the funds to get ONE of the figures from the wave produced?

[Bionic Chris]

Craig,

Entertainment Earth's description of Wave 2 says it "contains 5 individually packaged action figures (subject to change)", so would you consider releasing just 3 action figures to cut costs: Oscar Goldman, Dr. Rudy Wells, and Evil Robot Mr. X? You could update the advertising pics of the Mr. X action figure showing he has removable face mask, a big selling point to draw the Maskatron fans. And do you recall all the compliments on the artwork of Wave 1? Go back to that cardback style for this "final 3" to attract all the buyers of Wave 1. I understand why some like the photo cards, but with all due respect, I think breaking the look of the line was a bad idea. Bif Bang Pow updated their prototype pics of Astronaut Steve and Barney Hiller months later on Entertainment Earth, so you can do the same. But if you still don't want to make any changes to Wave 2, at least update the pics of the Mr. X action figure on Entertainment Earth and other seller sites showing he has a removable face mask to reveal his scary robot face, that alone would boost preorder sales I bet! You also said the alternate Rudy Wells action figure will have different paint apps, so update the prototype pic of him too.

In the end, I preordered Wave 2 and hope you don't cancel the line. If you have the license a while longer still, please consider our ideas on here to save Wave 2, even if it's the last wave you do. At least do a final 3 for us SMDM collectors that love what you did with the first 3.

Thanks!
Chris

P.S. If your heart is set on the photo cards, you could do Wave 1 again to fix the look of the line, as there are episodes of Steve in his blue track suit and blue sneakers, watch "Wine, Women and War" and "Day of the Robot". But I still think you should do Wave 2 with the cool artwork, Wave 1 has great graphics, and the pics of the actors are still featured on the back...you had the right idea then, just do 3 at a time like those, keep the look of the line consistent.