Hot Toys–MMS142-TRON: Legacy:Sam Flynn Cycle Spec +pics

[Oscar_the_Gungan]

Tron was officially put on hold? I never heard that.

And what are they basing the "Tron didn't all that well" on? Kevin Flynn? Do they really think he or an expensive piece like this Sam/light cycle are indicative of demand for characters like Clu, Quorra or Rinzler? That's the part I don't really get.

Hot Toys did say they put the line on hold but cited scheduling issues. While they never said they were cancelling the line because of poor sales some here feel that is really what they are saying. The other interpretation is that Tron stuff is hard to make and they are taking their sweet time to perfect a complicated product. And another theory is they wanted to wait to release anything else until Sideshow released their stuff so the didn't get cancelled out by the competition. In the end no one but Hot Toys knows for sure. My guess is we got Kevin Flynn first because he was likely easier to make than a Rinzler or Quorra.

At this point I'm choosing to be cautiously optimistic. Now I'm really going to bed. lol

 

[darthviper107]

Didn't do well at what? The box office? The Kevin Flynn figure?

It made a mint at the box office, and I doubt HT thought they could judge the success of the line based on the Kevin Flynn figure...I mean, that was never going to be the big seller compared to the lightcycle.

At the box office, it didn't make nearly as much as it should have.

I guess its hard to say with any of this stuff. The Avatar licence was announced at the end of 2009 and only a single figure was announced a year and a half later. The film was super successful but the merchandise wasn't. The Mattel toys clogged clearance aisles for a long time. Its looking like the movie will be close to two and a half years old before the first figure is released.

The Superman figure was announced in August of 2010 and people have just recently received theirs. I don't think anyone saw a picture for a good six months after it was announced.

As far as the Iron Monger goes, the movie it appeared will be four years old by the time the figure comes out and for at least two of those years Hot Toys made comments that they were reluctant to do such a project. We got prototype pics almost a year ago and it will probably not be released for another five or six months from now.

With those kind of time spans its hard for me to say with any surety that we can put a fork in the line. Hot Toys announced they were working on Tron items in July 2010 and we've gotten one figure and the light cycle hopefully in the next four months. That's twice the items in a year's less time than it took to get a Jake Sully. Maybe we will get one release a year. Or maybe I have thought way too hard about this and I need to get to bed.

Avatar was a movie that made over $2 billion, and the figures were always going to be a challenge to develop, so it's no surprise it took that long to come out.

For Superman--since the movie wasn't recent, they could just release the figure at any point, so it wasn't in a hurry for them. It's possible they also wanted to focus on the things that were time sensitive.

As for Iron Monger--again, the movie it was from was successful, for a license that's one of their most successful lines ever. Of course they were considering all options to make more Iron Man stuff. In this case it was a challenge to develop as well. It probably wasn't started in development for a while until it was clear the the Iron Man line was doing well and they wanted to make sure it was worth it before doing something that difficult.

Tron was officially put on hold? I never heard that.

And what are they basing the "Tron didn't all that well" on? Kevin Flynn? Do they really think he or an expensive piece like this Sam/light cycle are indicative of demand for characters like Clu, Quorra or Rinzler? That's the part I don't really get.

Yes, in a past Q&A they said the line was on hold. It's also possible that the Kevin Flynn figure didn't do very well, but I don't know the facts about that. And again, the film did not make nearly as much as had been hoped for.

 

[Oscar_the_Gungan]

At the box office, it didn't make nearly as much as it should have.

It seems to me Tron: Legacy is in this weird in between place. It didn't do as well as was hoped, but it did well enough to not be considered a failure.
It wasn't a Green Lantern, but it also wasn't an Iron Man. I think if it had made 10 percent more at the box office people would be talking about the film differently.

As far as box office performance factoring into HT's decisions I'm not convinced that's always the case. Avatar was a box office smash but it wasn't a merchandising juggernaut. Especially, if compared to Star Wars or Marvel merchandise. If box office always factored in HT would have made 12 characters from Titanic. One example is some of the figures based off the Predator films, many of which were not huge box office hits, but they have die hard fan base that will buy anything they make.

I'm not sure how well Kevin Flynn sold. It seems, he isn't hard to track down. Recently Sideshow said they were still fully committed to their Tron: Legacy line but there were unforeseen technical challenges in producing the products. I do think its feasible that no other announcements from Hot Toys has happened because they bit off more than they could chew technically. This could have delayed announcements or made them decide it wasn't worth pursuing anymore.
I guess it depends on how fully committed they were to pursuing fully articulated figures with a flawless light up feature. I suppose it something they may never figure out how to do in a satisfactory way.

On one hand I've been discouraged by how much the light cycle has been delayed but in a round about way I've been trying to optimistic that they are committed to making it perfect before it ships and they can take a bit of time to make it right. If its a stinker, at that point I would think the line is dead. If the piece turns out to be worth the wait and is top notch I would think another release or two might happen.

 

[JonWes]

Yeah, people don't seem to realize that Tron made over $400m worldwide. By most measures that would be a definite success from a budget of $170. The problem is Disney seemed to be counting on it being a cultural phenomenon. It seems like the pressure put on it to perform was slightly ridiculous. So it didn't do as well as the rather ridiculous expectations, but I think it did well enough for Disney to see there was definitely life left in the property.

The way I've heard it, Disney is still developing Tron 3 but they are seeing how the animated series (Tron: Uprising) does as well. They don't just want it to be a successful movie series. They want a successful franchise.

I think if Sam and cycle do well there's a good chance for more figures. Hopefully during the development of the cycle they'll have learned a few things they can apply to the figures or they'll just abandon the light-up features for reflective.

We'll see. I'm happy we got Kevin Flynn and I'm still hopeful for the the Light Cycle. I'd love to get Clu, Rinzler, Sam and Quorra but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

 

[darthviper107]

It seems to me Tron: Legacy is in this weird in between place. It didn't do as well as was hoped, but it did well enough to not be considered a failure.
It wasn't a Green Lantern, but it also wasn't an Iron Man. I think if it had made 10 percent more at the box office people would be talking about the film differently.

As far as box office performance factoring into HT's decisions I'm not convinced that's always the case. Avatar was a box office smash but it wasn't a merchandising juggernaut. Especially, if compared to Star Wars or Marvel merchandise. If box office always factored in HT would have made 12 characters from Titanic. One example is some of the figures based off the Predator films, many of which were not huge box office hits, but they have die hard fan base that will buy anything they make.

I'm not sure how well Kevin Flynn sold. It seems, he isn't hard to track down. Recently Sideshow said they were still fully committed to their Tron: Legacy line but there were unforeseen technical challenges in producing the products. I do think its feasible that no other announcements from Hot Toys has happened because they bit off more than they could chew technically. This could have delayed announcements or made them decide it wasn't worth pursuing anymore.
I guess it depends on how fully committed they were to pursuing fully articulated figures with a flawless light up feature. I suppose it something they may never figure out how to do in a satisfactory way.

On one hand I've been discouraged by how much the light cycle has been delayed but in a round about way I've been trying to optimistic that they are committed to making it perfect before it ships and they can take a bit of time to make it right. If its a stinker, at that point I would think the line is dead. If the piece turns out to be worth the wait and is top notch I would think another release or two might happen.

I think the best example is to look at Watchmen, which would have had a big line of figures, but the movie did poorly and the first figures weren't the most popular. And they stopped after 2 figures.

 

[JonWes]

I think the best example is to look at Watchmen, which would have had a big line of figures, but the movie did poorly and the first figures weren't the most popular. And they stopped after 2 figures.

That's a terrible example. Watchmen did very poorly - $185m worldwide with a budget of 130m. Once you factor in marketing costs, it's very likely that the studios lost money on Watchmen. Tron Legacy didn't do poorly. It was just less successful than Disney hoped. I think at this point it's really down to whether people are wanting the product. If demand is there, they'll make more.

 

[Oscar_the_Gungan]

What was crazy about Watchmen was I felt like HT didn't understand the property, If Rorschach had been first out of the gate, I think that line would have had a bit more life in it. I also thought it was unfortunate they followed the Silk Spectre with the Comedian, which DC Direct had already done in 1:6 the scale. I bet a lot of people would have bought a Rorschach that never had any intention of purchasing any other character from the film.

I do think with Tron we got Kevin Flynn because he would be the easiest figure to produce and they could get him out the fastest, because of the simplicity of his outfit. Since they announced they had the license I've been very curious what their take on a Tron suit would be. It seems like they were trying to ease their way into doing it with the light cycle project. By making the Sam figure have limited articulation it gave them the opportunity to see what might work and wouldn't in regards to a fully articulated Tron suit without making the whole thing. I figured they'd take what they learned with that project and apply it to a Clu, Quorra or Rinzler. When they announced they were tackling this property I knew there would be special challenges in producing figures from it.
I feel one of the shames of not seeing another release, if that is what happens, is not getting to see how they got around the obstacles and see the process reach fruition.

 

[Uncanny Web-Slinger]

Hot Toys did say they put the line on hold but cited scheduling issues. While they never said they were cancelling the line because of poor sales some here feel that is really what they are saying...

Well they put the line on hold before the first of two figures were even released, so it can't be about poor sales.

What was crazy about Watchmen was I felt like HT didn't understand the property, If Rorschach had been first out of the gate, I think that line would have had a bit more life in it.

Hot Toys can really make some stupid character choices for figures, the most important or cool characters should cone first, if they make lousy or less important characters then they are asking for poor sales.

Rorschach or Nite Owl should've Replaced Silk Spectre
Doc Ock or Sandman should've replaced New Goblin
Sweat Pea should've been before Amber
Clu should've replaced kevin Flynn
Loki should've replaced Odin
Ra's Al Ghul should replace Joker 2.0
Sniper girl (issabela?) from Predators should've replaced Noland

I'm sure there are others

If they completed lines or at least covered the main players it'd be a moot point.

 

[JonWes]

Well, I decided to just go for it and put my pre-order in at AE. I hope this turns out really cool. With all the delays, it should! I also put in my order for the Monster Tron T1 headphones which are SUPPOSEDLY coming out next month.

It seems like most Tron stuff was on the expensive side.

 

[Hollywood]

Well, I decided to just go for it and put my pre-order in at AE. I hope this turns out really cool. With all the delays, it should! I also put in my order for the Monster Tron T1 headphones which are SUPPOSEDLY coming out next month.

It seems like most Tron stuff was on the expensive side.

When this figure is finally released you will be glad you ordered it.

 

[LV702Eldar]

Yes, I believe the wait will be worth the wait. I know I got my email stating my last 2 flex payments for Sam/Cycle would be starting soon. Will definately look good beside Kevin.

 

[Gipetto0812]

Well, I decided to just go for it and put my pre-order in at AE. I hope this turns out really cool. With all the delays, it should! I also put in my order for the Monster Tron T1 headphones which are SUPPOSEDLY coming out next month.

It seems like most Tron stuff was on the expensive side.

That's where I put my PO in at too! Totally can't wait for this figure. As you said, with the delays, it should work properly and if it does, man those lights are going to look nice when lit up.

And I would say that the reason most Tron stuff has been on the expensive side would have to be the light feature plus disney taking their chunk as well

 

[Hollywood]

Yes, I believe the wait will be worth the wait. I know I got my email stating my last 2 flex payments for Sam/Cycle would be starting soon. Will definately look good beside Kevin.

Really? That could mean that the email I received from Hot Toys could be right about a 2nd Qaurter release date. Man that would be awesome!

 

[stshammgod]

Really? That could mean that the email I received from Hot Toys could be right about a 2nd Qaurter release date. Man that would be awesome!

How about fourth quarter 2011? I'd like that better.

 

[Hollywood]

How about fourth quarter 2011? I'd like that better.

Yeah that would be preferable. I re-ordered mine via Sideshow, and cancelled my order with BBTS. When I was speaking with Sideshow they are still saying a 1st quarter release date in 2012. The email I got from Hot Toys says 2nd quarter. I am amazed by Hot toys lack of information not only to fans, but to distributors. I am new to the whole Hot Toys game so these "information black outs" are the something I am not accustomed too. I am learning.

This has been delayed coming up on a full year now, and not one single piece of information officially has been released pertaining to the delays. If I did buisness that way with my company, I would be out of buisness fast! It just doesn't make sense to not release some information as to what is holding up the product. This way you can establish a reasonable expectaion for the consumer. Add the the sub text......."this is information is subject to change," with that they are not held to an "exact" delivery date. At least there would be reasonable interaction between people who have already paid for the item, and the company themselves. Those of is who have paid, are entitled to some information on the product.

 

[stshammgod]

Yep, fully paid for since January..... Frustrating.

 

[Oscar_the_Gungan]

Has anyone seen this piece in person at any shows in the last six months. Just curious if anyone has any first hand impressions at this point. Has anyone seen it lit up?

As far as the delay goes, I would think there would be more information than there is right now.

 

[Rorywan]

Yep, fully paid for since January..... Frustrating.

Me too!

 

[moose]

We deserve an offical date announcment instead of us speculating late Q1 early Q2 all these months are packed with their own releases so I am not sure how they can release it unless they push one of those back.

 

[Hollywood]

Has anyone seen this piece in person at any shows in the last six months. Just curious if anyone has any first hand impressions at this point. Has anyone seen it lit up?

As far as the delay goes, I would think there would be more information than there is right now.

A few members here said they saw it at some show in Japan not long ago and that it looked great. I don't think it was at Comic Con this year, at least from what I could see from those that filmed the booths on YouTube.