Super7: Disney ULTIMATES!

[fac]

I would love to see RH continue after this. Or, my dream of dreams - a four figure wave of Mr. Toad, Rat, Mole, and Badger. I would love Black Cauldron, too.

I 100% would support Wind in the Willows figures, and if they did a "build a car" that would be awesome - and as you note you just need those 4.

Kind of how a four figure wave of 1) Ichabod, 2) his horse, 3) The Headless Horseman, and 4) his horse may have limited fans but those fans would be all in, I think.

I liked the interview, I understand their frustration with the consumers not getting their thing with the mixed waves, but they have announced 3 waves since the last Robin Hood figure, and the lack of Little John kind of supports the concern people had that things weren't going to be completed - so it is not like four waves, four turtles - because I don't know where they will draw the line as core characters to fill out a film. I understand they can't commit to say a dozen RH figures (although I feel like that could work to be honest), but they are not instilling confidence that they will get to more from RH, which also does not instill confidence that they will for other things they started.

And, I'll just add that going to Nightmare Before Christmas stop-motion figures when you start a line based on the classic, hand-drawn animation made little sense to me. (Probably is their best seller, so what do I know).

[Misfit]

Yeah, I definitely don’t agree with Brian’s thoughts on the Disney enthusiast. Disney fans, and I consider my wife and I to be “super” fans, love buying merch, there just isn’t necessarily a huge demand for action figures. Many buy kitschy stuff, and honestly, stuff that comes across as being of a higher value than what Super7 is doing. They’ve also focused somewhat on less popular IP and the more popular stuff they’ve tackled has been done to death. I think Brian didn’t realize how much stuff is out there fighting for the same dollar when it comes to Disney. I think if they focused on park icons they might do better, but then again, maybe not. Disney Renaissance era figures would probably perform better as well, but if that’s not where Super7’s nostalgia is then so be it. It’s possible there isn’t a huge demand for action figures and the vast majority of Disney fan would rather buy statues and figurines.

[thefamousnicknaro]

People aren’t interested in Disney action figures because they won’t buy our random selection at $55 each is an interesting take.

I would genuinely be interested in a Legends style Disney line at a similar price point that covered everything and anything in a 1/12 scale. Kind of a bummer that there’s just not a great, standard Mickey Mouse figure to be bought.

Mattel’s Pixar stuff is 8” and mostly for kids. McFarlane made the game stuff that no one asked for. And the rest is basically for toddlers. I wish someone would, or could, step up and see the value in an affordable collectors offering.

[ChrisLyne]

Themed waves definitely work better I think given how vast Disney is. But it also means you get people skipping full waves whilst they wait on the stuff they want and Super 7’s selections have been pretty niche.

I respect their whole “we make the stuff we’d like to see”, and no one else was going to do stuff like Fantasia or The Rescuers, but I have to wonder if the line would be doing better than “just ok” if they’d gone with some more mainstream choices like characters from the 90s renaissance, or focused on the heroes, villains and princesses.

[fatsal]

Themed waves definitely work better I think given how vast Disney is. But it also means you get people skipping full waves whilst they wait on the stuff they want and Super 7’s selections have been pretty niche.

I respect their whole “we make the stuff we’d like to see”, and no one else was going to do stuff like Fantasia or The Rescuers, but I have to wonder if the line would be doing better than “just ok” if they’d gone with some more mainstream choices like characters from the 90s renaissance, or focused on the heroes, villains and princesses.

I've wondered about this myself. Everything I've ever heard from toy companies in all my years of collecting says that figure waves need to be anchored by main characters. I get that Disney Ultimates aren't at big box retail and thus might behave a bit differently (and I'm loving getting figures of some very underrepresented properties so I'm not arguing for yet another line packed with Fab Five, Pixar and Princesses), but perhaps there's a better balance that can be struck? The very niche character selection is a big draw for me (and I suspect, many others), but are we enough to sustain the line long term?

I'm torn on whether I prefer the themed waves or the mixed ones. It's definitely nice to get a batch of characters from one property all at once, but as you say, it has the unintended drawback of folks skipping entire waves in between. But as a collector, I found myself much more excited about each new reveal to see if they were going to add another character from established subsets, provided of course, the line manages to have a long and prolific lifespan.

I don't know if anyone else feels the same, but I am much more likely to grab an extra figure or two per wave (even at $55) that I'm not necessarily as excited about just for completion's sake than I am to order an entire wave I don't want. I couldn't care less about Stitch, but will still grab him, but I'm passing on the NBC wave entirely. However, in a hypothetical wave with, say, Little John, Madame Medusa, Mr. Toad and Jack Skellington, I'd almost certainly pick up Jack just because.

[fatsal]

I would love to see RH continue after this. Or, my dream of dreams - a four figure wave of Mr. Toad, Rat, Mole, and Badger.

Agree wholeheartedly with both of these! I adore Robin Hood, and have been obsessed with all things Toad ever since they got rid of my favorite ride at WDW, the bastards!

We need, at minimum, Maid Marian and Little John, but the Sheriff, Friar Tuck and some Rhino Guards would really round out the collection.

As for Toad, I'd consider the main four a "complete" collection, but it would be really, really awesome if J. Thaddeus could have his motorcar. And I personally would love a Winkie and some weasels as well. Bonus points if they could somehow throw in the little red demons from the ride!

[Misfit]

I've wondered about this myself. Everything I've ever heard from toy companies in all my years of collecting says that figure waves need to be anchored by main characters. I get that Disney Ultimates aren't at big box retail and thus might behave a bit differently (and I'm loving getting figures of some very underrepresented properties so I'm not arguing for yet another line packed with Fab Five, Pixar and Princesses), but perhaps there's a better balance that can be struck? The very niche character selection is a big draw for me (and I suspect, many others), but are we enough to sustain the line long term?

I'm torn on whether I prefer the themed waves or the mixed ones. It's definitely nice to get a batch of characters from one property all at once, but as you say, it has the unintended drawback of folks skipping entire waves in between. But as a collector, I found myself much more excited about each new reveal to see if they were going to add another character from established subsets, provided of course, the line manages to have a long and prolific lifespan.

I don't know if anyone else feels the same, but I am much more likely to grab an extra figure or two per wave (even at $55) that I'm not necessarily as excited about just for completion's sake than I am to order an entire wave I don't want. I couldn't care less about Stitch, but will still grab him, but I'm passing on the NBC wave entirely. However, in a hypothetical wave with, say, Little John, Madame Medusa, Mr. Toad and Jack Skellington, I'd almost certainly pick up Jack just because.

He did say the line was performing okay, so I take that to mean that it's been profitable, but not as profitable as other lines. Long term, we're probably okay for now unless the latest Rescuers wave tanks hard. The real danger probably lies with other lines doing better as Super7 keeps acquiring licenses. If the others are all doing much better then why would they spend their time on Disney if the return is poor? Wave Three is expected to arrive in May or June so I guess our first tell will be if that wave comes and goes without a follow-up wave announcement then it might be time to push the panic button.

[S.W.O.R.D. Agent]

I can't remember exactly what he said, in the interview, but it was akin to we'll see how the rescuers do and go from there. I want to say he said I hope they get support or something like that. I thought it was telling, because it almost seemed like there was a chance they'd can these if they didn't get enough pre-orders.

I think we're seeing the toy industry as a whole start to cannibalize it's own customer base between price increases and just sheer volume of available product.

[Misfit]

He very literally said the line was doing "okay," but then expressed a little trepidation about The Rescuers which I chalked it up to being The Rescuers. It's not one of Disney's most popular IPs, might not even crack the top 20, so I think I get where that's coming from. And he conceded that they opted not to do Madam Medusa because of cost so they clearly don't think the Disney buyer would accept more of a deluxe release or a figure and a stand-alone "base" in the form of the alligators which could probably be done similar to the thrones they've made. I did not personally get a sense that the entire fate of the line is riding on The Rescuers, but I think if it were to fail on the level that they had to cancel the figures then it would cause them to reevaluate what they want to do with this IP. And when something like that happens, there's also a possibility of the line going away completely.

[PantherCult]

I thought it was telling, because it almost seemed like there was a chance they'd can these if they didn't get enough pre-orders.

Make no mistake - if they don't get enough pre-orders for the Rescuers the Rescuers won't get made. Super7's threshold for not going to press seems fairly low - but it has happened. One of their wrestling pre-orders didn't hit the mark and got canceled.

So if the Rescuers don't light enough people's candle and orders are too soft they will not make the figures. That doesn't mean they won't solicit more Disney figures from other properties - they've paid for the license, gotta keep going - but we'd likely see them turn back to properties they've already had some success with and concentrate there before doing things that are riskier or more niche. Much more likely to see Peter Pan than Oliver and Company, is what I'm saying.

Frankly - I'm shocked he hasn't just busted out Snow White, the Evil Queen and Doc w/ a bunch of accessories and 3 2-packs with the rest of the dwarfs - that's two waves there that I'm sure would do pretty well.

[Deckard]

Kind of how a four figure wave of 1) Ichabod, 2) his horse, 3) The Headless Horseman, and 4) his horse may have limited fans but those fans would be all in, I think.

It never occurred to me that the Headless Horseman was something they could do. I would be in for a Horseman / Horse set. I always loved that short.

[Misfit]

I think a headless horseman would be a great idea for this line, but maybe not right now since the Four Horsemen version is out there for anyone who wants it and probably not that much more expensive. That is one impressive figure and if I were Super7 I'd be worried about my take getting overshadowed.

[captaincracker]

I don't know if the Four Horsemen one makes a difference. I think that it looks great, but I have no desire to buy it. If there were a Legend of Sleepy Hollow Disney version, unless it came out looking like garbage, there's very little chance that I wouldn't buy it. Besides more Alice and Robin Hood figures, The Sword in the Stone and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow are easily my most wanted toys.

[wildmaiden]

I have the Four Horsemen one from last year, it's amazing. Not sure if I have room in my collection for multiple headless horseman characters, they are huge and I'm not like a headless horseman aficionado or something.

So at least for me personally, I am much less inclined to buy another one from this line.

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[Boy Wonder]

If they could just make a decent Maleficent, anything else they do would be gravy for me