I'd say it's just as likely the reason we got variants and nothing new last year is BECAUSE the sales didn't hold up. A lot of places had them on clearance, and NECA themselves are dumping them in the blind box bundles they've been selling on their site, which most assume are comprised of leftover/returned Target stock.
Aw well, I'm happy with what we got. This was my dream line and, like I've said, it could have ended before Lexington came out and I'm glad it didn't. I was collecting Bandai's Lupin III line and I'm still annoyed they stopped before releasing Goemon. And where's my Faye Valentine, Bandai?!
I'm still stunned their D&D line didn't get more than three or four figures out.
Hey, I would've bought any and every character they made, but there was way too much "I just want the main clan" and complaining about the wings going around for me to expect much depth. There are things I wanted figures of from this show since I was a kid that are still not made, and may never be.
It's tough to strategize something like this. Hold out on main characters to flesh out the line and you lose people who don't care about the side stuff. Do all the main characters first and you run the risk of people jumping off because they've already got everything they cared about, or not finishing the main cast at all.
Hey, I would've bought any and every character they made, but there was way too much "I just want the main clan" and complaining about the wings going around for me to expect much depth. There are things I wanted figures of from this show since I was a kid that are still not made, and may never be.
It's tough to strategize something like this. Hold out on main characters to flesh out the line and you lose people who don't care about the side stuff. Do all the main characters first and you run the risk of people jumping off because they've already got everything they cared about, or not finishing the main cast at all.
Agreed... and hey, sometimes it's not about the popularity of the source material. "Cowboy Bebop" is very popular, Bandai's Spike and Vicious figures were terrific... but they never went beyond that, we never got the Faye Valentine they showed off. That could have been the NECA Gargoyles line after Goliath and Demona. And Bandai's Lupin III line... Lupin is very popular, the line died with one more main character to be released, Goemon. That could have been NECA's Gargoyles line with Lexington, he was the last one to be released and months after the previous releases.
I think they did the ones they absolutely needed to do. For a cast call sheet, the regulars were: Goliath, Elisa Maza, David Xanatos, Demona, Hudson, Angela, Brooklyn, Lexington, Broadway, and Bronx. We got them. We got Xanatos in two of his looks (they could have stopped with one), his Steel Clan to fill out our shelves. And Thailog as an easy repaint (and maybe their third main villain after Xanatos and Demona... the comics definitely support that thinking).
But yeah, you're right... they made the right decision for their release choices. Did they make the right decisions with everything? No. But still, grateful for what we got.
Meanwhile, there's an alternate universe where the line went deeper, they crowdfunded that Clock Tower set... some buyers got extras, some got none of what they ordered, and months after the fact NECA threatened people to send back their extras. 😉
And, who knows what the future holds. The comics are doing well. If Mondo's figures do well, or Iron Factory's statues do well, or if Disney decides to greenlight "Gargoyles '97" or something with Weisman running the show, NECA might choose to re-visit things.
In the mean time. It was fun.
but there was way too much complaining about the wings going around for me to expect much depth.
Sorry, since I was definitely one complaining about the damned wing choice.
I wanted to love this line of figures, and I ended up buying all of the non-humans anyway, but I can't display them as a group with their wings on because the wing choice was always a stupid idea if you want people to build a collection. Collections need to be displayed together and gigantic splayed wings render that impossible. Sigh.
but there was way too much complaining about the wings going around for me to expect much depth.
Sorry, since I was definitely one complaining about the damned wing choice.
I wanted to love this line of figures, and I ended up buying all of the non-humans anyway, but I can't display them as a group with their wings on because the wing choice was always a stupid idea if you want people to build a collection. Collections need to be displayed together and gigantic splayed wings render that impossible. Sigh.
You weren't wrong. I think I did a decent job setting up a display with the wings. But it was tough. And it was a baffling choice.
I keep saying, ideally three sets of wings.
1. Open by kind of draped.
2. Cloaked.
3. Gliding... the ones we got.
Then go nuts with your display options.
Revealed in the comments thread for that video:
Damn! I just knew BlankSlate was RNL1212! (blank slate… Blanka… but the fwoosh had been wiped clean. BLANKa with a clean SLATE.)
knew the writing was on the wall when he said WalMart dropped the line but just couldn’t give up hope. If you’re still lurking, Rick, in our faces indeed! Keep fighting the good fight even though we never want to believe you!
Revealed in the comments thread for that video:
Damn! I just knew BlankSlate was RNL1212! (blank slate… Blanka… but the fwoosh had been wiped clean. BLANKa with a clean SLATE.)
knew the writing was on the wall when he said WalMart dropped the line but just couldn’t give up hope. If you’re still lurking, Rick, in our faces indeed! Keep fighting the good fight even though we never want to believe you!
Well... anyone can post anything on the internet. We didn't know who he was, what his sources were, or anything. I don't think anyone did anything wrong by not believing him.
@whitehawk345 I knew it was him, he used to post here and on twitter as Blanka. I didn’t say anything at the time because I didn’t know if he wanted to be outed, he doesn’t drop rumors for clout which is why he changes names, but his posting style (truth bombs followed by fighting withe the haters) was dead on.
anyone can post anything, but Rick’s Nerd Life is never wrong.
What a shame. Was really hoping for Coldstone and Macbeth...
I'll have to adjust my display to balance things out, since there will be no new figures to add 😔
@whitehawk345 I knew it was him, he used to post here and on twitter as Blanka. I didn’t say anything at the time because I didn’t know if he wanted to be outed, he doesn’t drop rumors for clout which is why he changes names, but his posting style (truth bombs followed by fighting withe the haters) was dead on.
anyone can post anything, but Rick’s Nerd Life is never wrong.
In retrospect, yes, he was right. But in practice, I don't think we should believe everything people randomly post on the internet without evidence to back it up. And getting into fights with people who were skeptical was a bad look.
It wasn't what he presented, it was how he presented it. And he used a different name that had no credibility when if he presented himself openly, he would have had that credibility.
It's not about clout, it's about knowing the source.
The wings were almost a universal complaint so no one should feel bad about voicing that concern.
The line is dead because it didn't sell and everyone will have a theory about why. Things can be popular, but not translate well to toys. And in reality, it's probably a combination of a lot of things: poor choices by NECA, niche property, high licensing costs, high tooling costs, or people just plain not liking the product. It's disappointing only because it seemed to get off to a good start and there was a lot of excitement and enthusiasm within the fanbase and from NECA. I do wonder if it was perhaps a kiss of death and retailers over-ordered future figures based on that initial response leading to the glut of product we saw and still see now. And what's interesting to me is that it isn't the human characters who are clogging shelves in all of the Targets I enter. It's Demona, Brooklyn, Bronx, Angela, and Steel Clan. I still see some Goliaths and an occasional Lexington, but I rarely see Elisa and either version of Xanatos. There may have been a lot of one and done collectors with Goliath, perhaps a lot of those initial preorders got cancelled, who knows? NECA isn't public so we probably won't know and if they even comment on it they'll probably put it on the consumer or something. Per Blake, retailers didn't want it and I assume that to be big box. These things take up a lot of room and sit around awhile so, yeah, I get it.
I got all of the main figures. I didn't get the video game Goliath, detective Broadway, and I actually passed on the Steel Clan, but did get armored Xanatos. For me, this was a line of diminishing returns. I was encouraged by Goliath, but the issues I had with the figure were never addressed and became harder to ignore with each release. These figures look pretty good in a neutral pose, but they can't hit any of their signature poses. I don't expect a lot of articulation out of NECA, but I wasn't seeing really any attempts to meet us halfway. I was still buying the figures and down for more, but it was turning into a little bit of an obligation for me. These figures aren't fun to mess around with. It's kind of a set it and forget line.
Still, in terms of lines that ended prematurely, Gargoyles isn't much of an offender because we got the main cast. We even got two versions of the main villain, and even the late addition Angela. Every other character is secondary and while it sucks not to get them, it's hard to feel like we didn't get a pretty comprehensive line. This isn't my precious Bucky O'Hare getting cancelled, twice, before getting out the full team. And it's probably better than having a more boutique outfit put out $100 figures that look impressive, but only go 3 or 4 characters deep before fizzling out (which is my expectation for the Mondo sixth scale stuff).
We even got two versions of the main villain, and even the late addition Angela.
Tempted to put on the Nerd Glasses and say "Akshully, Demona is the main villain", but we got two releases of her. Albeit the second was a variant with some cool, new accessories. But yeah, Xanatos had two unique figures. I would have loved a figure of Demona in her human form, though.
Greg Weisman said back in the 90s, he begged Kenner to make an Angela figure and they didn't because of the belief back then that female figures don't sell. So it was cool to get her this time, she was a late addition but still a main character. Hmm, funny how television shows do that ALL THE TIME now, but back then adding a new character to the regulars was unique. But Angela was a great character and still is in the comics. Brigitte Bako was ecstatic to finally get a figure of her character. So glad we got her.
For fun, here's Weisman sharing the list of concerns that Kenner had about Gargoyles back in the day. Some of these being ridiculous such as too many female characters and the "monsters being the good guys and the normal human being a bad guy", etc. But ultimately, it wasn't a toy driven show. They put the motorcycle Kenner wanted in one episode and then blew it up before the first commercial. They inserted the helicopter Kenner wanted (under protest) into one episode and then never used it again - and then Kenner never even made the thing. Just about everything else came from the creative side of things.
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