Mcfarlane is at it again!

[Silent December]

First Babe Ruth and now:

NFL Legends action figures are coming to retailers this July, and McFarlane Toys has included a surprise for fans and collectors. An extremely rare figure (only 20 made) of the Barry Sanders is being randomly inserted into cases as they are shipped to retailers nationwide.

After the overwhelming response to the Babe Ruth "super chase" figure McFarlane had to offer a new "golden ticket" for NFL fans. Barry Sanders has been and will always be a fan favorite. Most fans remember Barry wearing the number "20" which has lead us to create 20 "super chase" figures.

These figures will feature blue pants worn by the Detriot Lions for only one season. The packaging is sealed with the blue McFarlane logo tape. In order to ensure authenticity, the number on the NFL hologram sticker has been recorded. Once these rare figures have been found, McFarlane Toys will be able to verify the authentic pieces.

At least there's 15 more Barry's than Babe's lol

 

[Buttmunch]

But I think McFarlane kept 2 or 3 of the Babe Ruth's for the archive so there was only actually 2 or 3 available to the public. So more like 17 or 18 more of these than Ruth.

 

[Darth Madden]

There are 3 Ruths for the public. And this is a big sign of desperation on their part. People on their boards seem to think the end of TMP is near.

 

[Batman29]

I collect some of the NHL goalies from McFralane.

The availability of the chase variant is way to many for most of them, never mind the regular.

And then they go to another extreme by making 20 or so.

To boot, many of their poses are repeat, at least with the goalies.

I was hoping they would change the above to make them more of a collectable.

I was also hoping they would create a packaging which would allow a) an easy opening to pull the figure in and out, and b) a packaging where the figure was assembled and could be seen through the plastic.

 

[Batman29]

There are 3 Ruths for the public. And this is a big sign of desperation on their part. People on their boards seem to think the end of TMP is near.

I am not sure if the end of TMP is near, but there sales will sure be down IMO.

 

[gdb]

20 lucky toy aisle workers will get the opportunity to buy this figure!? Well, ain't that a gift for the fans...

 

[Darth Madden]

Sounds like they layed off a lot of people and nothing is really selling other than Halo and sort of the SP's. Who knows though.

I wonder where the other 2 Ruths are by the way. Its nice there are more of these but still they will never see the shelves.

 

[Silent December]

There are 3 Ruths for the public. And this is a big sign of desperation on their part. People on their boards seem to think the end of TMP is near.

McFarlane Toys, the company owned by comic creator Todd McFarlane, has had a long history and reputation for increasing the quality of design of action figure dolls. However, of late, the company have had a few problems. And has internally announced a third round of redundancies far more severe than the previous two.

The company is split into two, design studios in New Jersey and administration in Arizona offices. Ed Frank, President of the NJ group and founder of the original company before it was bought and renamed by Todd fifteen years ago read a letter out to the New Jersey staff.

The studios will see forty staff drop to thirteen. Major operations will be shut down, including the mold, paint, sculpting, and model departments.

The only department to survive will be the digital department, and only two of its members will be held on, and a couple of traditional sculptors are being trained up to handle digital sculpting.

The plan as it currently stands is that most new sculpts will be scans of actual people, cleaned up digitally, armour and accessories assembled and added digitally mixing and matching from other sculpts, and then the files sent to China for 3D printing, cleaning, touching up, sculpting, articulation and the rest. New Jersey will only generate digital output from now on.

The New Jersey complex will be reduced from four buildings to one, with the equipment either being sold of shipped to China. As for Arizona, they will shrink from seventy people to around thirty-five.

The phasing out of staff will occur sometime between now and June, though no specific dates of personnel of departments have been given.

Source: Comic Book Resources > Lying In The Gutter

-- McFarlane Toys has not made any statement to these changes but the general feeling from their Staff is that these arrangements will only be temporary. More information as it becomes available.

 

[Batman29]

Thanks for the info Incurable Collector.

 

[ActionFigureLegend]

I don't see how Mcfarlane only having 20 of these available is going to be making them any money. It will only make money for the people who find them and "flip" these figures for tons of money. Bad business decisions.

 

[Silent December]

I think TMP is banking on retailers possibly ordering a few extra cases in hopes of finding the elusive figure

 

[siquisiri]

I still dont believe the amount paid for the ruth.. The quality of MCF has always been mediocre to me

 

[cr4cx3r]

McFarlane? More like McFailing. TMP is the suck.

 

[Darth_Pain]

I like the 1st figure better. They picked the ugliest uniform for this one. I'm glad too! Now I don't have to worry about finding one.

 

[galactiboy]

Sad they are moving more towards digital scanning... but no biggie for me as I haven't bought a McFarlane product in years.

 

[barleymow64]

Hi All,

I, for one, don't think we are seeing the end of TMP but rather a company being pro-active in a downward spiraling economy.

TMP have often led the way in the industry with new innovations and business models and I think that this will improve the companies ability to weather the current financial storm without the toy lines suffering to great in quality.

To go digital it an obvious decision.

As for Super Chase figures, remember all the FREE publicity the Babe Ruth figure sold on eBay created?

Money can't buy that sort of PR and it also creates an interest in the hobby which hopefully will stimulate sales and keep the manufacturers in business.

Personally I hate the idea of these Super Chase figures because of the "feeding frenzy" they create, the inflated prices and the impossible task of completing the series.

That said I realize that from a business point of few its a "must have" and if I was Todd I would create ONE Super Chase figure per line, per series on par with the Babe Ruth figure.

Maybe we'll see action figure manufacturers following the same model as Trading Card companies such as Upper Deck and created "Signature Series" figures randomly inserted etc.

So, no I don't think this is the beginning of the end for TMP, just a new beginning (I hope) and I think we'll be seeing a lot more of these super chase figures IMHO.

 

[Darth Madden]

As for Super Chase figures, remember all the FREE publicity the Babe Ruth figure sold on eBay created?

Money can't buy that sort of PR and it also creates an interest in the hobby which hopefully will stimulate sales and keep the manufacturers in business.

But how many extra cases did that Ruth actually sell? If nobody in the hobby thinks they even have a snowballs chance in hell of finding it does it really help? Is somebody going to now buy those crap Guitar Hero figs because they saw the Ruth? I am 99% sure that TMP knows exactly where those 3 Ruths are becasue they will not risk it ending up in a dollar store in Hope New Mexico where it will never be found. And that makes it even less of a shot that any joe blow who orders a case will get it.

 

[barleymow64]

Hi Darth,

I agree with your sentiments to a point as it's highly unlikely the average collector will buy a full case, therefore it is more than like that these will fall into the hands of dealers and big account dealers at that.

This is one of my main reasons against this trend. Maybe we'll see a move towards the trend of "trading figures" such as sold in Japan, i.e. blind boxed figures, which I believe is the best solution to this problem...

But then we open up a whole new can of worms.

Do I think adding these "super chase" figures drives up the sales of cases, or individual figures?

Yes, I do. Certainly among dealers but what concerns me is that it may also lead to more "dumping" of excess figures onto the market therefore undermining the whole hobby (in the collectors mind).

I would prefer it if TMP released these types of "super chase" figures as separate lines, maybe as a collectors edition, as limited runs sold on pre-order thereby giving the true collectors a chance to purchase one at a fair price.

But again you will probably still find them being hawked on eBay for excessive prices but that's part of the nature of the business.