I’ve been selling off my Mattel DC Comics collection. Sure, there’s a handful of characters I’ll be keeping, but for the most part I’m dumping the lot. Heresy, I know.
Trust me. This is a good thing — figures I took great pains to acquire and take care of are now helping other people complete their collections, while I make back some of my heavily invested cash. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed my time with these toys and am happy to pass them on while I focus my attention on other things. That said, every time I walk past the pegs at my local toy store I stop and consider the sudden abundance of Mattel DC figures. There’s the Batman V Superman stuff, alongside the DC Multiverse line, as well as stragglers from the Batman ’66 series. The total saturation of product is startling, but not nearly as startling as how slowly it seems to be moving. In short, Batman and Superman sell, but who is buying?
The Core
And by that, I mean you, the serious collector. When it comes to new figures, you are right there on top of the game — you beat retail to the streets by months thanks to online ordering or friends overseas. Instead of waiting, you simply order an entire wave and are done with it before the first brick-and-mortar slits open a box. You are the core collector, but as with any property, there are only so many collectors that make up this group. Once you’ve purchased what you want from a line you move on — after all, new toys come out every day and it’s just not possible buy everything. Once you are done, you are gone, which leaves a lot of toys behind.
Fan of (fill in the blank)
So you dig Batman. No matter what the era or incarnation, you’re going to collect it — even if you hated the movie, you probably can’t resist buying a version of Bats in his BvS armor. But one is enough; two if you’re more than anal about keeping one on the card. For all that, there are a lot of Batman figures left over, alongside multiple versions of movie counterparts Superman and Wonder Woman. Once the core and character-specific audiences get their fill, that leaves a lot of plastic to process. Jessie Eisenberg fans, raise your hands.
Moms ‘n Kidz
While you and I might disregard the demographic, toy companies still consider “moms and kids” a thing. It’s a built-in concern for how a toy product is expected to perform at retail. That said, these days a kid has to do a lot of heavy lifting to con Mom — it’s one thing to convince her to buy a $20 action figure, but when it looks like this?
Good luck, junior. The price-point is just too damn high to appeal to the pre-teen demographic that these “bat-men” stimulate. Those kids would rather spend their money on music downloads and Rap Snacks. Hey, who here remembers Rap Snacks?
Well, those were a case quarter — these Mattel figures are a solid Jackson and change. In short, it’s only spoiled kids and man-children who are getting these from their Moms. That’s a small slice of pie, retail-wise.
Everybody Else
And that leaves everybody else. That’s well-intentioned relatives, kindly co-workers who know you collect “toys,” and Joe Average, who spontaneously decides he needs some totemic representation of the idealized heroism he witnessed while eating Jujubes in a climate-controlled movie theater. And that is it: there is no audience beyond our stated groups for this product. Sure, unsold merchandise will be sold through discount retailers, but this will be at the expense of profit. The volume of product produced for 2016 alone is staggering, and the under-performance of media tie-ins like Batman V Superman means there’s a lot of plastic to move.
The Answer
Deep discounts. I know, it’s anathema to brick-and-mortar, but part of profiting from today’s retail model is adapting to the idiosyncrasies of individual lines. New toys come down the pike every day, and there’s no sense in outstaying your welcome — once a line has dropped, fans and collectors are on to the new thing. This means profits should be minimized in the short term to ensure rapid turnover and a constant supply of up-to-date product, with the idea of a consistent revenue stream based on regular releases. Overloaded pegs of old product are unappealing to consumers, and foster a sense of undesirability in the overall property. The answer is periodic clearance — heck, even a buy-two-get-one-free deal. Something needs to be done to stop the severe bottlenecking we see at retail today.
In the End
Part of me wishes I still collected DCUC figures, if just to “clear the decks” for upcoming product. Seriously, it’s scary how much Batman V Superman stuff seems to be lingering after the home Blu-ray/DVD release. It’s clear that these toys will still be on the shelves come Christmastime and perhaps after. One can only hope Warner Bros. has some product cooked up in the interim to help move old stock so the DC Universe can actually enjoy a future at retail. These next few months depend on it. And if you need me, I’ll be online trying to sell my Chemo Collect &Connect figure so I can buy a bag of Mister P’s Platinum Bar-B-Que Flavored Chips. Those things have gotten expensive.
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