Update today showing some updates they've done to the sculpt, largely detail refinement and the like:
Per the new update, a couple of news ones as well as names for some other designs:
Pixel Dan's got a hands-on comparison video for these:
So, something that needs to be addressed about this Kickstarter:
Kids do not have $60 to spend on a single toy, let alone $120 to spend on two toys to use the intended swapping feature.
I was kinda letting it slide how in live stream interviews David Igo is calling the swapping feature “play value” and going on about how he wants a cartoon, that might just be years of the industry stuck in his brain like how we all call a cloth fabric cape “soft goods” like a pile of tarantulas piloting a skin suit trying to blend in….
but the “donation” option to donate a set of two FORTY AT COST DOLLAR FIGURES to Toys For Tots?!?!
my brother in Christ, these are not Children’s toys. Especially not poor children’s toys, some poor kid gonna get Sham-Moo-Moo and Sting Cobra, love them, look at the back of the box and then want Hammer-Claw more than anything only to find out it cost more than their parent makes in an entire day of work (America! This is a true fact about the national minimum wage!!!) and that’s how you get a Joker! That’s the one bad day that turns that kid on society forever.
I’m getting real “Street Humans” and “Alter-Nation” vibes from this project
(Remember Alter-Nation?! I barely do, took forever to find them but since I did the work you can type that into Amazon and see them.)
I fell like there’s a lot of choices being made because it’s what the creator personally likes or thinks would have been cool when they were a kid, but not a lot of “but what do collectors of today want?”
Like the size… I appreciate they scale with retro lines, and I’m backing for at least three versions of the Snake guy who I don’t mind being a grubby little dude on my shelf, but at the current size Sham-Moo-Moo is too damn small unless your collection is only Playmates Ninja Turtles. HE IS A WHALE! Why is he 4ft 10 in MotU scale?! He’s shorter than every NECA Toon/Comic mutant except Usagi (maybe? I’m using Greyskull Splinter as a height gage and ShamMooMoo may just be Usagi’s height)
I feel like these might be doing a little better if they were 6.5inch/7inch scale so they could pair with AWoK, Mythic Legions, Brutal Realms, modern TMNT and MotU, and they still work with retro toys because it’s not the “well Sham-Moo-Moo is 10 feet tall on the show, but the toy is only a little bigger than Donatello because Playmates wasn’t going to make 12 inch tall figure” we would have got but the giant monster we wanted…
And I know that would make them cost more, but at $60 a piece you’re already pricing so many people that $90 isn’t that much of a difference and maybe then you could convince Sofubi fans they want them.
Also why are these $60?! Much more complex figures have cost $40; Legions, AWoK, Creative Beast. Mighty Maniax and Glyos have the same “play value” but cost $20… I don’t know, I know David Igo has 20 years experience in the toy industry doing something, but I think the factories are taking him for a ride if these are $40 at cost…
anyway, I’m still buying my three grubby little snake guys and hope they get made, I’m just concerned the line is still a little too “Blue Sky” in what it wants to be it’s lacking focus on what it is.
It's because of production quantities. They're too small an outfit to produce these things at the quantities that would get them the volume discounts to allow them to sell them for cheaper. I'm sure they'd like for these things to get super popular so that they could, but this is niche stuff, and they gotta at least break even if they're gonna produce them in the first place.
I fell like there’s a lot of choices being made because it’s what the creator personally likes or thinks would have been cool when they were a kid, but not a lot of “but what do collectors of today want?”
I think that gets at why this is a Kickstarter and not a more direct-to-market thing. It's just some guy's passion project and if there are enough like-minded people out there it will happen, and if not then it won't. I don't really see an issue there. It's a calculated risk to make what you want to make without much consideration for what the market wants. And I think the scale thing is also part of that as most of the old toy lines featured characters that were all about the same size regardless of their presentation in companion media. It looks to me like he tried to find a generic size to work with several retro lines. I did expect them to be bigger, more in-line with Street Sharks, but I don't know if it would have changed much.
They are indeed expensive. Too rich for me, personally, but I see the appeal and wish the guy luck. The donation set just seems like a way to get a few extra orders in for those who may want to support the Kickstarter, but don't really want the actual product. It's a good idea to help boost the order numbers even if it might not be super practical as a toy for modern day kids.
It's because of production quantities. They're too small an outfit to produce these things at the quantities that would get them the volume discounts to allow them to sell them for cheaper. I'm sure they'd like for these things to get super popular so that they could, but this is niche stuff, and they gotta at least break even if they're gonna produce them in the first place.
David replied to a comment on Dan's video complaining about the price stating that exact reason. If he could make many thousands, it would bring the cost down, but that's not where this is with a new, unknown IP.
So, I know I may just be super cynical - but there's something about the "toys for tots" donation option that I just find suspiciious... first of all, this is a kickstarter, so the developer can't actually be held liable for not coming through on anything they lay out, right? But, like, even if they make their goal and actually make the figures I feel like it would be super easy - and maybe super tempting a year or whatever later - just to try and sell those extra figures and not donate them to charity and pocket the extra money... or donate the factory rejects or test shots or whatever... I don't know. I feel like I'd just way rather donate my money or goods directly to Toys for Tots
@panthercult definitely a fair concern. David seems like a cool guy and I don't have any reason to think he'd lie about something like that, but I also don't know him at all. I'm curious if there is any way to prove that the donation actually took place? They could send you a receipt for your taxes, but it's not like that really does anything unless some massive audit were to take place. If it's entirely reliant on faith then that might be a tough thing to sell to some folks. There is a benefit for the company to go through with it since they take in money for the cost of the units and then get to write-off the value of the product as a non-taxable donation. It's not as profitable as just re-selling the units for full price, but there is at least a benefit for the company to follow-through that isn't just the good vibes that come from making a donation.
Looks like this is funded as of now, and they've announced some stretch goals.
If it unlocked I’ll gladly pick up a Bull Shark colored VenomNomNom and it would be nice if the $140k goal was hit, how slow it’s ticking minus angel investors I’m not sure that’s a guarantee (before the mysterious $10k drop last night it was on track to barely fund, now with no new product it needs to at least maintain that pace to hit $130k and needs to double that reach $140k) but less likely Kickstarters have done it!
can’t wait to get some weird little snake guys on my shelf!
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