Genghis and Triceraton are the only ones I still have preordered, and it will remain that way. Wingnut/Screwloose and Scumbug are wait for sale figures.

After seeing some videos of the booth, I've warmed to the color choice on Wingnut. I like that they leaned heavy into the Batman parody with him. Also interesting to see that they did his wings in two pieces, hopefully that doesn't make them really annoying to keep together. I'm still not preordering the figure, but it has moved into the "maybe at a discount" range. I am a bit more nervous about Space Cadet Raph looking too plain if there's barely any paint on the spacesuit. It's my main gripe with Deep Space Homer from The Simpsons line, but at least with The Simpsons there's less need for a more varied color palette. I guess we'll know soon enough. 

Super7's TMNT Ultimates is definitely like.. THE line for me when it comes to stuff where I want almost everything based on press photos and convention shots, and then almost nothing based on in-hand photos and reviews.

And since vintage TMNT is one of my favorite things ever... that's just a really depressing place to be. I look at that Wingnut - a character I don't really care a lot about, and go 'OH MAN, that looks so cool.'  And my very next thought is 'I bet those hips/ankles won't be able to hold the figure up... or the final figure is going to be drastically different colors, or the figure is going to have all kinds of breakage problems.'

Like.. this is what S7 has created. Every bit of positivity I can muster circles back around to completely earned and reasonable negativity. I just don't -believe- that any of their figures are going to turn out to be good, no matter how badly I'd like them to.

And Brian is such an absolute fucking shmuck about the issues with his Ultimates figures that I can't even be confident that they're 'working on' the many QC issues because he doesn't even acknowledge that they exist. Like a shmuck. A smarmy, self-congratulatory shmuck.

Haha, here I was thinking about how it was exciting seeing all those figures and prototypes and then reminding myself that this is it. This is where the vintage part of the line ends and then it's on to weird repaints and in house attempts I guess.

Looks like Ultimates! Wave 8 is arriving in warehouses here soon according to the status page.  I wonder if Super7 will get theirs first or BBTS and EE. 

I just want my Triceraton Super 7.

@blankslate From what I'm hearing, the deal worked out with Viacom is about proportions.

Less than 50% of Super7's designs can be vintage toy based.

So here's how that works in practice:

- Wave 11: 75% vintage toy, 25% new design inspired by vintage toys

- Wave 12: 100% 2003 Animated

- Wave 13: 75% vintage toy, 25% new design inspired by vintage toys

- Wave 14: 100% 2003 Animated

The 2003 plus one original keeps the total under 50%. If 2003 doesn't work, they'll need a new "filler theme" for alternating waves.

I believe wave 12 is all 4 2003 Turtles and wave 14 is 2003 Shredder, Hun, April, and Casey.

Interesting. 

Thank you for filling in additional information. Hadn't heard that part. 

Posted by: @theknightdamien

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And Brian is such an absolute fucking shmuck about the issues with his Ultimates figures that I can't even be confident that they're 'working on' the many QC issues because he doesn't even acknowledge that they exist. Like a shmuck. A smarmy, self-congratulatory shmuck.

Agreed 100% and what really grinds my gears is not a single person will ever call him out on it. Everyone knows it, but all of the toy influencers who interview him refuse to ask him about anything negative.

Brian blames the factory and assumes no responsibility for picking the factory, validating the factory's work, and ensuring the final product meets specs. It's as though he feels his responsibility to deliver a quality figure ends after he takes the customers money and gives the design to the factory. 

Irrationally hoping that we might get a fill-in wave for Disney (Little John, Geppetto, 3 Little Pigs. Lilo) to maybe reinstate some goodwill and then start over with more themed waves. 

The rational part of me wonders if I will ever get Ben Ali Gator and how a company can mess up a Disney Animated Classics license.

@fac If you ask Brian, it's because Disney collectors don't collect to team build like us hard-core figure collectors do. 

I personally believe it might be because he pays pennies on the dollar for his figures that he's charging us 60 dollars for.

Or that he pretends to be a small, boutique company that has licenses like TMNT, Thundercats, Disney, etc. AND just received a 37 million dollar outside investment.

That he gives you bullshit lines like "the cost of glow in the dark powder" being up (that is suuuuuch horseshit) for the reasons why certain figures cost more.

That he tries to spend time on these interviews prepping everyone for the excuses as to why his figures cost what they do when they don't need to. I promise you: the state of the toy world is NOT as bad as he makes it out to be. 

COVID (at least the restrictions) as we know it has been over for a while, and there is no shipping back-up at the ports, so...why do his figures that USED to cost 35 dollars still cost 55 to 60? It's not inflation. You don't double your costs in 2 years. 

He does this shit because he can. The sooner people stop feeding it, the sooner he HAS to begin being reasonable. Until then, people are buying it, so he has no incentive to do what's best for us, the consumer. 

There are some real truths. 

I understand that he comes across as an affable, likeable guy. And the stuff he says sounds good, even reasonable, from an outsiders perspective. And I don't blame VeeBee at all for these interviews. He's just getting the scoops. But let's be perfectly clear: Brian is a huckster, through and through. He will say the things that sound good, never accept responsibility for the negatives unless forced, and do what he can to save himself a few shekels, and give us the bare minimum. 

@blankslate I know they have said that about the Disney collectors but based on the discussion in the old forum, many of us would have been thrilled to collect a well-done action figure line built around the "action" Disney films like Robin Hood, Sword in the Stone, Peter Pan, Jungle Book and things like Ichabod Crane. The strength of nostalgia got me to get the Robin Hood and Fantasia figures, and I alternate between "it is a sunk cost" and I should move on and "give me a couple more Robin Hood figures" and I'll give you more of my money.

For things no one else is making like the non-princess Disney, I can live with a premium price once in a while, especially where I might be just 3-5 figures for a film. At that point even if it costs me an extra $50 to $75 compared to what it should, I'll live with it. $220 for Robin Hood, Little John, Prince John and Maid Marion - I couldn't pass that up even if it should be $160, because I've wanted those figures since I was 5. 

I only care about the Disney here. I did buy the 2001 when they were clearanced, thought they were pretty good to be honest.

@fac I don't think anyone except Brian is arguing that we wouldn't all love to collect full lines of characters. It's literally ONLY Flynn saying 'that's not how Disney people collect' - as if his overpriced, fragile Ultimates figures are selling to these illusive 'Disney collectors.'  They're not. I know Disney collectors. They have no interest in these figures. They collect dolls, statues, art pieces, etc. They don't really want 'action figures' - so far as I've been able to ascertain.
Which means Flynn is really only selling Disney Ultimates to.... action figure collectors. Fucking SHOCKING. And action figure collectors like to build teams, crews, casts, whatever.

In my opinion, this whole 'that's not how 'Disney people' collect toys' doesn't have very much to do with what Brian actually thinks people want to buy, and a lot more to do with what Brian wants to make. Which is totally his prerogative - it only bugs me when he lies and manipulates the truth to justify doing what he wants when he could just be honest and say 'I make what I want to make.' I could get behind that, even if I don't like what he's making.

That being said.. man.. if he tightened up the QC even just a LITTLE bit... I would -still- swallow my pride and ethics and buy an entire line of Robin Hood figures. I'd even buy Prince John all over again if he released a better version with proper extra parts and good joints. It kills me that there's a 7"-scaled Robin Hood figure out there that I don't own, because I can't bring myself to buy it. He managed to fuck that figure up so bad that I, a person that has loved that exact character dearly for almost 40 years, just cannot bring myself to pay any amount of money for it. Not even clearance prices or 'a good trade.' Can't do it. And that sucks.

@ben Agreed. Brian has operated that way for a long time now. Nothing is his fault. It's always 'the sculptor made that decision' or 'the factory did this.'
The example I LOVE to go back to is that we actually watched Brian get the factory samples of Wave 5 ON AIR. I forget which toy show it happened at, but it was during the booth tour. He opened the sleeve and showed the packaged figure. And that was it.
For a factory sample. So first of all, he DEFINITELY didn't have the fucking balls to open that figure live on camera to show everyone how great his products are (probably moreso because he doesn't actually care about it out of the package than because he knew it would be loose, brittle junk). BUT, BUT.... we know he had it before the figures shipped from China. Which means he either never bothered to check the figures for defects before the production run left the factory, or he DID check the figures and didn't care about their defects.

I don't believe for a single solitary second that Brian's factory sample of Samurai Leo was perfect and it just so happened that EVERY OTHER production piece was garbage. No fuckin' way. No one will ever convince me of that until Brian his very self sends that figure to me and proves that HIS is perfect. But let's be real.. I doubt he ever took it out of the box.

I would love to see him do a comparison on camera of the finalized sample they approved and what the factory supplied. Errors do occur, but they sure seem to happen to Super7 more often than anyone else. Even smaller shops, like Lone Coconut, have errors with their product and they still get the factory to correct them. Surely, Super7 has more pull than them. Or maybe Super7's approach to factory shopping is akin to dumpster diving and they're hiring the worst of the worst. The stuff with the Disney line, yeah, that might be their own conclusion they're selling themselves, but I think that line's poor performance comes down to poor quality and a niche market. Those first two waves were garbage considering the price. The sculpts were fine, but the paint, articulation, accessories - all mostly lacking. Well, I'd actually argue the Robin Hood sculpt is too off model to be considered fine, but in the interest of not derailing this one, I'll just say that figure is bad and there are many contributing factors.

That said, if you're telling me there's still a chance at Monty Moose in Ultimates then I'm going to be unreasonably excited.

@pg-superfan Where is this from?  If it's true I'd be a happy boy.  As much crap as I give Super7/Brian they've got their hooks in me pretty good for the vintage line and there are still at least 20-30 more figures I'd absolutely buy if they stick to the Playmates designs.