I went to Macys and got lucky and they had the Plastic Man wave, Red Superman, but I prefer Blue. And the Platinum Edition Dark Knight Batman with the Unmasked Batman and Selina Kyle.
I went to Macy’s today and found three Blue Beetle movie figures covered in dust.
I hate retail distribution.
@ditko yeah, a big list was thrown up by someone that read too good to be true, get to the bottom and it lists "April Fools", if it wasn't obvious by that point.
Also, there is no rumoured N52 Bats; it came and its the Phygital release, sucks but that's the one. Nothing on N52 coming the rest of the year unfortunately.
I'm with you and the rest on PP though, but I actually prefer the wilder stuff, least with Batman. The FTF Bats is one of my favourite releases yet tbh, just a big solid brute of a fig
@yojoebro82 Bought the extra Blues to be used for better scaled customized Captain Atom and Booster Gold x2, the next two were to display Plastic man normal and stretched out and the last one was to trade even for a Red. I was going to grab more Blues but waited too long.
@yojoebro82 Bought the extra Blues to be used for better scaled customized Captain Atom and Booster Gold x2, the next two were to display Plastic man normal and stretched out and the last one was to trade even for a Red. I was going to grab more Blues but waited too long.
That's cool. If you happen to have an extra PM torso out of all that, I'd be interested. If not no big deal.
Overall, I’m pretty conflicted about the state of this line (and its sister lines) now.
On one hand, I’m very excited about many of the releases, which are hitting my personal sweet spots. The 2024 waves have character selections straight out of a mid-‘90s Kenner catalog — I mean, the “Batman Forever” wave, the JLA wave that’s basically the Total Justice line, a bunch of Batman figures straight from the Legends of the Dark Knight line, and, of course, the B:TAS figures. And the Super Powers love for both the DC Multiverse line and, of course, the Super Powers line itself.
On the other, the proliferation of platinum edition chases is getting WAY out of hand. We’re now having waves where every figure has a platinum chase — and it’s one wave after another like that.
It’s a terrible experience for the consumer and doesn’t seem like something a healthy business that aims to run long term does. I very much associate platinum chases with the failure of the ‘90s comics direct market, the bankruptcy of Marvel, and the implosion of the sports cards market where they were trying to juice sales by having rare variant releases.
Another thing that concerns me is the sheer volume of figures between all the lines. The number of releases is getting out of control for a market segment that’s shrinking. Even Marvel Legends is slowing down its number of releases year over year after showing declining sales.
And many of the releases are nonsense stuff like the Jokerized figures or Pantina editions. Sure, I don’t have to buy those, but it doesn’t look like other folks either.
I don’t know, just feeling like Todd is over-extending himself here and it’s going to shorten the life of the line when it comes crashing down.
Overall, I’m pretty conflicted about the state of this line (and its sister lines) now.
On one hand, I’m very excited about many of the releases, which are hitting my personal sweet spots. The 2024 waves have character selections straight out of a mid-‘90s Kenner catalog — I mean, the “Batman Forever” wave, the JLA wave that’s basically the Total Justice line, a bunch of Batman figures straight from the Legends of the Dark Knight line, and, of course, the B:TAS figures. And the Super Powers love for both the DC Multiverse line and, of course, the Super Powers line itself.
On the other, the proliferation of platinum edition chases is getting WAY out of hand. We’re now having waves where every figure has a platinum chase — and it’s one wave after another like that.
It’s a terrible experience for the consumer and doesn’t seem like something a healthy business that aims to run long term does. I very much associate platinum chases with the failure of the ‘90s comics direct market, the bankruptcy of Marvel, and the implosion of the sports cards market where they were trying to juice sales by having rare variant releases.
Another thing that concerns me is the sheer volume of figures between all the lines. The number of releases is getting out of control for a market segment that’s shrinking. Even Marvel Legends is slowing down its number of releases year over year after showing declining sales.
And many of the releases are nonsense stuff like the Jokerized figures or Pantina editions. Sure, I don’t have to buy those, but it doesn’t look like other folks either.
I don’t know, just feeling like Todd is over-extending himself here and it’s going to shorten the life of the line when it comes crashing down.
Agreed on all of those concerns. On top of all that, there's the technical issue of the figures themselves. There's a real overall lack of consistency with the whole line.
I mulled over dropping this line but I ended up making a deal with myself instead: No universe building, even if it means passing on some of the more iconic DC characters (I let the Darkseid mega fig ride last week when I saw him available for preorder on BBTS, there are other big names I've passed on too). Instead I'm focusing of finite sets of characters from specific stories. The Batman and Robin movie wave was right up my alley, as is the Batman Forever wave and the inevitable Burton movie figures. I'm also buying comic-related figures from my favorite 90's storylines. Knightfall--All I really need is Bane and one of the three versions of Az-Bat, but I'm throwing in bonus Tim Drake Robin, Catwoman, and Nightwing into that mix as well. Emerald Dawn--Kyle Rayner and Parallax, that's all I need. Morrison JLA-- If I hadn't gotten very lucky with Wonder Woman through a Best Buy preorder, I wouldn't have pursued this set, and I still don't know what my solution for Wally West Flash will be because I really don't like the look of the Walmart exclusive that just came out. Hopefully someday Death of Superman gets a story-specific Eradicator, Cyborg Supes, and Superboy. Small, contained sets of figures from stories I was into back in the day.....yeah, that's how I'm rolling with Todd's stuff from here on out. If Todd goes too bat-$#!t crazy, it's going to be easier to cut and run.
If they’re still going back to make stuff from the old DCEU despite the reboot, I sure would love a Vigilante.
Local buddy hooked me up with blue cape FA Batman and I couldn't be happier with him. What a great figure. He stumbled upon a fresh stock and got the chase Azrael too. Best of luck to anyone searching for these Platinum chases because it absolutely sucks to come up short time and time again. As much as I love the toy, I won't forget this, Todd!
@mysticmanjrf i preordered gitd Parallax from Amazon and it never came to my house.
I also preordered JLA Aquaman from Target the day it went up on the app, and it got delayed several times, arriving in August now.
Walked in and reserved Azrael at a Gamestop in person. Paid in full. It wasnt in the package it was supposed to arrive. They found me one a couple weeks later.
I dont think it’s an Amazon problem only
Ordered 4 Starfire from Best Buy in order to try and get the Platinum (aka Blackfire). They were all the regular version unfortunately.
Wish we could just order the Platinum without chasing or jumping through hoops. I have an Amazon order in place still. Hopefully I can get one there. Fingers crossed.
I’m also subscribing to the @yojoebro82 mantra of collecting - small, contained stories.
That being said, it’s mind boggling how McFarlane keeps finding ways to make things worse for their customer. I feel like the last 6 months have been the worst it’s ever been, with systematic placement of variants and blink-and-you-miss-it preorders for even the normal releases.
It’s just gotten totally out of hand. It was silly enough when it was random variants and EQL, but now they are purposefully sending them to retailers so they’ll keep the line, and ensure there’s a mad scramble to the toy aisle for something that can’t be bought anywhere else. My toy Facebook groups are filled with people looking to swap platinum for platinum, resell figures for 3x and 4x the price, etc. It feels like half of the people buying these figures don’t even want them.
When enough of your actual customer base can’t get your product and continuously need to fight with or pay resellers, they are going to eventually stop buying your product. Then your resellers will all of a sudden see the bottom drop out and they will no longer have a customer to sell their price hiked toys to.
I don’t have the self control to avoid pre-ordering that awesome Tumbler or a Batman Forever wave. I know I should speak less with my keyboard and more with my wallet. But I just…don’t feel great about spending my money on McFarlane right now. It was this feeling that ultimately lead me to reduce my Marvel Legends purchases to single digits of figures per year, but I guess my morals come second to Tommy Lee Jones as Two Face.
Man; getting a chase Penguin in the mail really makes me want to sell my few figures in this line and move on from it. It isn't that I don't know that in the end I can prob end up making $20 or so extra dollars by selling it and just tracking down the more comic based Penguin isn't all that hard. Just that I'm already in the state of eBaying so many replaced Marvel Legends, and BAF or characters with BAF pieces I don't want. Just seems insult on top of injury to ad to the eBay workload with another totally unnecessary figure to pass thru my action figure waylay station. Especially for a line I just casually collect. Doesn't help that my wife side eyes every package that comes to the house and now this 1 figure I end up with will get me 2 wife dings.
I don’t know how y’all do this hobby in general without support from a significant other. My wife is my biggest collecting cheerleader and helper. If I was getting side-eye every time I got a box of figures, we would definitely be divorced by now . . . mostly because support for my hobbies has always been a necessary component of any relationship, and lack thereof is a deal-breaker for me.
I’ve now got two McF store orders that have technically shipped but have not moved; the Platinum EQL wave and then today the Freeze/Ambush Bug/Booster wave. I honestly wish they would wait to tell me they’ve shipped until they are actually moving. That EQL wave has been at “label created” since, like, Thursday night.
Well its critical mass. I get a package or 2 a week its not that big a deal. Then that 5th package comes rolling in. I might do the same if she bought 5 pairs of shoes in one week. We aren't any better.
Latest Post: Marvel Legends MAXIMUM SERIES Our newest member: AngelWob Recent Posts Unread Posts
