Re: Hot Toys-MMS: X-Men 1st Class
I dunno if new goblin outsells Aldo I'll be shocked...
Already did. We have more pre-orders for the New Goblin than Aldo ever did.
It's like this guys. In Asia, not a lot of people knows English very well. Most still communicate in their native tongue. Movies like Spiderman is easy for them to understand because of the visual and action. Characters like the New Goblin will sell easy because it fits the current Asian perception of what is cool.
Inglourious Basterds is a great movie. In fact it's one of the best Tarantino has ever done. But it's not an easy movie to understand if your English is lacking (his movies are dialogue heavy afterall). It's still not an easy movie to understand even if your English is good because of all the western pop culture reference and informal English used.
In this part of the world, it's more likely that someone will understand a Korean and a Japanese movie more than an English one (even if they don't really understand Korean or Japanese) because it is easier to relate to those two culture (Eastern cultures have a lot of similarities) and also because of this generation exposure to K-pop, j-pop, and anime invasion.
People like me (Asian but heavily western influence) is kinda a weird breed today. I had the privilege of a private education and my father is an American action movie nut. I grew up watching more Western movies than Chinese movies. I grew up loving Spiderman and Batman and not Monkey King or Son Goku.
Years of exposures to American violent movies
helped me with my understanding of English. In college I had this Yankee lecturer that I was really closed with. I was one of his best student mainly because I was the only who could understand his New Yorker accent (I watched a lot of Seinfield
).
But like I said, I am a weird breed. Majority of the younger generation here today do not have the benefit of such exposure.
This whole growing up experience of being continuously exposed to Western culture has transformed me into some really weird mutant. The pure Chinese won't quite accept me because I am not quite Chinese enough for them. Westerners won't accept me well, because I am still a Chinese.
That said, Howard Chan is probably a similar breed to me and he understands the need of both sides. He knows most people in Asia will like the New Goblin because he is cool to them even if they don't know who he is.
In the Western market, he is probably betting on the fact that anyone who PO
Spider-man (the correct way to write Spider-man) will probably get the Goblin too. It's a win win situation for HT for two markets.