Plus, I think he's very close to 1701'ing his own line. That's when near the height, or just after the height of 90s Playmates Trek they released only 1701 versions of three specific characters which pretty much pissed off everyone and a lot of people quit the line in frustration and because they couldn't get them. Platinum Label, Gold Label, etc, etc - the gimmick feels like it's backfiring into frustration.
I think this is a good and reasonable observation. Chase variants drive sales in the very short term but tend to backfire over time as more and more collectors simply give up. Especially when the variant is a costume (Hawkman) or character (Jason Firestorm) desired by a significant section of the base. Todd's initial approach to chase variants - making them different but unnecessary to a collection - like the artist proofs, or all gold paint - things that are silly, but can be attractive for their rarity is the best way to go. But comic accurate characters or costumes that many fans want is a terrible idea for chase figures because it creates anger, frustration and resentment in your customer base.
in hand pics of the B&R mr freeze wave
The thing I feared is that Freeze would come out looking on the cheap side, and that appears to be the case. I'm not letting it get me down. It's $100 for five figures which is as low as it gets these days and no one else is going to be doing these figures any time soon. I'm hitting him hard with the Molotow chrome paint pen. I think he will end up looking pretty good. The rest of the figures look good, Ivy especially. Still looking forward to this set. Bring on Batman Forever.
Shame about Mr. Freeze. The sculpt is there, but the paint is not. If we get a re-release with some shiny paint, maybe I'll pick it up.
The sculpt is there, but the paint is not.
That's becoming the norm for just about anything not NECA, I'm afraid.
I received the entire wave of Aquaman movie figures today from Target including the Mega figure and Stealth variant with Topo. Storm is on backorder for some odd reason. However to be safe I put in a pre-order for Storm from Amazon. I'm looking forward to the Freeze BAF wave. I kind of want the variant costumes that Batman, Robin, and Batgirl wore when fighting Freeze.
There’s distribution and character selection and reuse complaints that seem to be the main reasons some folks here are giving for a downturn in their interest, but for me it’s body construction/articulation. They’ve definitely made some improvements (no ball wrists or ankles anymore for example), but i find the torso and hip range pretty consistently disappointing. Made more so when Jada come along and take the best aspects of my likes of McFarlane stuff (nice solid in hand feel, compared to MLs, say, the soft plastic uses for ‘clothing’) but actually make great use of the joint set up in terms of range. They’ve this taken the ‘currently excited about’ spotlight for me, putting Mcf (and others, tbf) on the backburner.
Still looking forward to one of two bits though - hoping the Kilmer bats gets a single release for example.
all this is from the perspective of someone who largely isn’t fussed about shelf displays and just wants fun toys to play with, mind.
Batman and Robin Mr. Freeze BAF wave is live everywhere.
Target has them on sale for $21.19, free shipping, and eligible for Redcard and targeted coupons. I got all 4 for just under $77.
I've decided that I'm gonna skip all of these, might only grab Clooney at some point as custom fodder. As nice as these figures look, I don't need any of them on my shelf.
Doing a swerve & pass on this Clooney wave. Just not into that film. My main interest is for next week, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday releases. Wonder what they could be?! 😉
more pics of the B&R wave vioa JW_show
these look amazing! have them ordered and not to wait.
The B & R wave is so stunning. Even though the movie is...uh...what it is - these are the figures of my childhood dreams. A bit larger than I'd prefer (7" will never be my preferred figure scale) but wow...just gorgeous. I have them ordered.
Are we SOL on Bane for B&R? I know he's mostly irrelevant outside of being an Ivy henchman in the flick but it still would be cool to have his cinemaverse counterpart immortalized in plastic.
Are there are rumors on the street if we will see similar waves for Batman 89, Batman Returns & Batman Forever?
Are we SOL on Bane for B&R?
I wouldn't rule him out. It would be an add-on Gold Label release like Todd did with bank robber Joker, if anything. I give it a 50/50 chance. Remember, it's Batman related so it's not off the table.
I'm in the camp that's excited for this. I'm normally against taking a figure out of the package and bringing it immediately to the customizing table, but I'm actually looking forward to making that Freeze pop. I have plans.
Freeze looking a little cheap doesn't bother me. It's an easy enough fix with some paint (not that I'm the least bit talented enough to do it myself, but still). The fact we're getting him (and this wave) at all still feels surreal. And who knows- maybe in hand it'll look a little better. Some figures just don't photograph well.
On the flip side, I think Ivy looks terrific. Could easily have just done all the leaves in one shade, but there's some good paint and detail there. The hair really pops too.
I wish we could've gotten the Clooney suit from the end of the film with the silver; it's just a little more visually interesting than all black. But that's an easy custom on our part, or repaint/re-release on Todd's.
I wouldn't rule out Bane either. I know he's not in the movie, but I still wouldn't be surprised to see him as the BAF for a potential Forever wave. Batman, Robin, Two-Face, Riddler, with Bane BAF. He's certainly colorful enough to not feel too out of place with them. The real question is if we'll ever see an 89/Returns wave. Nicholson, DeVito, and Pfeiffer have always been a bit notoriously expensive with likeness rights (especially Nicholson). We did get a DeVito Penguin towards the end of the Mattel Multiverse line, and I think a Catwoman was planned, but cancelled. It would be crazy, but if it could be a loophole, I guess they could always make 89 Joker the BAF. Batman, Penguin, Catwoman, and either Bob the Goon or Max Shreck, with Joker as the BAF. I'm sure it wouldn't turn out that way, but if it's what it takes to get us the figure, I'd go for it.
@kassle The rumors I heard were for a Batman Forever wave with Kilmer, O'Donnell, Two-Face, and Riddler.
From what I've heard, the 89 Batmobile has another run coming and it sounds like McFarlane wants to milk 90s Batman, delaying Keaton and working his way backwards while building up a following for the whole collection.
I'd be surprised if we didn't also get Kilmer and Clooney's alternate costumes (which would heavily reuse one another) and Bane. Possibly a second Ivy, alternate Riddler, etc.
This is all heavily hearsay on my end but the impression I got is that Nicholson is so expensive that McFarlane wants to build up the whole "universe" before he has to pay him, so the Joker figure can be delayed until McFarlane has grown a following for 90s movie Batman toys. And that, when and if he does Joker, it will be every look from the movie to cover the licensing agreement. So probably like 6 Nicholson figures or so.
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