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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 17, 2018 13:14:10 GMT -5
@mrp. I'd be all over any of those. In particular the American West.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2018 13:16:27 GMT -5
@mrp. I'd be all over any of those. In particular the American West. Classic TV Toys (CTVT) has done replicas of many of those as seen here though it's beena few years and some are no longer available. -M |
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Post by rom on Sept 17, 2018 15:08:50 GMT -5
Good posts, everyone. I appreciate the information, and also the fact that there are others on here who have fond memories of the original Mego figures back in the day.
Good point about the non-Trek Mego figures being aimed at a broader audience. I.e., even if I don't want to get Norm or Peg from MWC, some may want them. By the same token, Mego wouldn't have made TV characters from popular sitcoms/action shows back in the '70's if they didn't sell.
Going along with this, I also wanted to address what I consider a brilliant marketing move by Target re: where they're displaying these figures (at least in the store near me): They're on an endcap at the end of a toy aisle, but it's one that anyone would pass while walking through the store - even if they're not looking for toys. In fact, in my case - this past Summer I coincidentally saw these while walking past the toy aisle - without even knowing about the release of these figures ahead of time. And, I'm an action figure fan. So, for those "casual collectors" who may just want 1-2 figures (as novelties, for example), this is the perfect location in the store to get the maximum amount of people to see them - whether they're looking for them or not. Conversely, if they were just inside the toy aisles on the interior shelves/pegs (i.e., with the Star Wars & Superhero figures) only those looking for action figures specifically would see them.
Again, brilliant move.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 17, 2018 15:57:23 GMT -5
Good posts, everyone. I appreciate the information, and also the fact that there are others on here who have fond memories of the original Mego figures back in the day. Good point about the non-Trek Mego figures being aimed at a broader audience. I.e., even if I don't want to get Norm or Peg from MWC, some may want them. By the same token, Mego wouldn't have made TV characters from popular sitcoms/action shows back in the '70's if they didn't sell. Going along with this, I also wanted to address what I consider a brilliant marketing move by Target re: where they're displaying these figures (at least in the store near me): They're on an endcap at the end of a toy aisle, but it's one that anyone would pass while walking through the store - even if they're not looking for toys. In fact, in my case - this past Summer I coincidentally saw these while walking past the toy aisle - without even knowing about the release of these figures ahead of time. And, I'm an action figure fan. So, for those "casual collectors" who may just want 1-2 figures (as novelties, for example), this is the perfect location in the store to get the maximum amount of people to see them - whether they're looking for them or not. Conversely, if they were just inside the toy aisles on the interior shelves/pegs (i.e., with the Star Wars & Superhero figures) only those looking for action figures specifically would see them. Again, brilliant move. The ones at the Target nearest me are on an endcap on the main back aisle right at the start of the electronics. So it's definitely a high traffic area even if you don't have kids wanted to peruse the toy aisles. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2018 23:29:18 GMT -5
Good posts, everyone. I appreciate the information, and also the fact that there are others on here who have fond memories of the original Mego figures back in the day. Good point about the non-Trek Mego figures being aimed at a broader audience. I.e., even if I don't want to get Norm or Peg from MWC, some may want them. By the same token, Mego wouldn't have made TV characters from popular sitcoms/action shows back in the '70's if they didn't sell. Going along with this, I also wanted to address what I consider a brilliant marketing move by Target re: where they're displaying these figures (at least in the store near me): They're on an endcap at the end of a toy aisle, but it's one that anyone would pass while walking through the store - even if they're not looking for toys. In fact, in my case - this past Summer I coincidentally saw these while walking past the toy aisle - without even knowing about the release of these figures ahead of time. And, I'm an action figure fan. So, for those "casual collectors" who may just want 1-2 figures (as novelties, for example), this is the perfect location in the store to get the maximum amount of people to see them - whether they're looking for them or not. Conversely, if they were just inside the toy aisles on the interior shelves/pegs (i.e., with the Star Wars & Superhero figures) only those looking for action figures specifically would see them. Again, brilliant move. The ones at the Target nearest me are on an endcap on the main back aisle right at the start of the electronics. So it's definitely a high traffic area even if you don't have kids wanted to peruse the toy aisles. The endcap placement was part of the agreement Marty Abrams negotiated with Target as part of the exclusivity. It was for a set period, not the whole time Target has the exclusive, and eventually Target will move them into the toy aisle as the holiday season rush crowds the toy section with more product. The question will be how does Target place them on the aisles. Will all of the Megos be in the same place? If so where? With "boys toys" or with the "dolls" or will they split them up by property putting the 14 inch DC with the DC action figures, the Trek and monsters with boys toys and the rest elsewhere? Right now only Target and possibly Mego know for sure and they're not saying. -M |
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Post by rom on Sept 21, 2018 14:41:37 GMT -5
The endcap placement was part of the agreement Marty Abrams negotiated with Target as part of the exclusivity. It was for a set period, not the whole time Target has the exclusive, and eventually Target will move them into the toy aisle as the holiday season rush crowds the toy section with more product. The question will be how does Target place them on the aisles. Will all of the Megos be in the same place? If so where? With "boys toys" or with the "dolls" or will they split them up by property putting the 14 inch DC with the DC action figures, the Trek and monsters with boys toys and the rest elsewhere? Right now only Target and possibly Mego know for sure and they're not saying. -M Agree completely. Product placement is critical in stores, especially for a niche toy product like these Mego figures. Having them all in one place on the endcap is smart. However, if they're later placed on interior pegs/shelving that may work as well, but they should probably all be in one place there also. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 26, 2018 22:42:57 GMT -5
Interview with Marty Abrams on Mego's return and what the future might hold...
-M
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Post by tarkintino on Sept 27, 2018 16:00:23 GMT -5
Good posts, everyone. I appreciate the information, and also the fact that there are others on here who have fond memories of the original Mego figures back in the day. Good point about the non-Trek Mego figures being aimed at a broader audience. I.e., even if I don't want to get Norm or Peg from MWC, some may want them. By the same token, Mego wouldn't have made TV characters from popular sitcoms/action shows back in the '70's if they didn't sell.Mego made figures based on sitcoms and/or action TV series that actually appealed to children, like Happy Days, or Chips, respectively. Norm from Cheers? Cheers was not a series produced for, or had crossover appeal to children, so it seems like making a Norm figure is some sort of odd (or misguided) grabbing on to a property that (if anything) appeals to some behind the scenes (who were the demographic Cheers targeted), but are trying to turn it into one of those Generation X properties like that of TV series or movies from the 1960s or 1970s that were popular with kids as well as adults, such as Star Trek, Planet of the Apes, The Waltons or Happy Days. Honestly, was there a high demand for a George Wendt figure from any part of the so-called "Mego generation?" |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2018 17:33:54 GMT -5
Good posts, everyone. I appreciate the information, and also the fact that there are others on here who have fond memories of the original Mego figures back in the day. Good point about the non-Trek Mego figures being aimed at a broader audience. I.e., even if I don't want to get Norm or Peg from MWC, some may want them. By the same token, Mego wouldn't have made TV characters from popular sitcoms/action shows back in the '70's if they didn't sell.Mego made figures based on sitcoms and/or action TV series that actually appealed to children, like Happy Days, or Chips, respectively. Norm from Cheers? Cheers was not a series produced for, or had crossover appeal to children, so it seems like making a Norm figure is some sort of odd (or misguided) grabbing on to a property that (if anything) appeals to some behind the scenes (who were the demographic Cheers targeted), but are trying to turn it into one of those Generation X properties like that of TV series or movies from the 1960s or 1970s that were popular with kids as well as adults, such as Star Trek, Planet of the Apes, The Waltons or Happy Days. Honestly, was there a high demand for a George Wendt figure from any part of the so-called "Mego generation?" Many of the licenses for the first three waves of figures that are exclusive to Target were determined by Target. Target had properties they wanted to spotlight because merch from those series did well with their customer base. Married w/Children, Cheers, etc. were done at the behest of Target not because Mego was thought they would appeal to Megoheads. Both target and Mego wanted to reach a general audience, not just genre and toy collectors because the only way the market model worked at the price point both wanted to sell these at was if they were a mass market product not a collector niche product. FTC does the collector niche, they sell nowhere near the number of units Mego produced for each figure and they are twice the price and the bodies used are of inferior quality to the Mego bodies. Mego wasn't going to come back if it was a niche product only selling to the small body of existing collectors and having to charge niche product prices. People had been after Marty Abrams for years to do that and he flatly refused. He was only going to revive Mego if it could be a mass market product and Target provided a path to do that, but the cost of taking that path was producing figures Target chose for some of the initial waves. If you have questions why there is a Norm figure, ask the execs at Target who wanted those and paid the license fees so Mego could produce the figures. -M |
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Post by rom on Sept 27, 2018 21:34:19 GMT -5
Here's the interesting thing about these new Cheers Mego figures & my theory as to why Mego may have produced these. This is following up with what mrp said in an earlier post:
While I have 0 interest in getting any of them, seeing them on the Mego Target endcap this past summer got me re-interested in the show itself. So, while I haven't been buying the Cheers DVD's, I have been getting them out of my local library. I'm currently on the third season; though I had seen some of the show back in the day, I hadn't watched it comprehensively/chronologically - before now. I plan on watching the whole series at this point, in order.
So, I wonder if that was the idea of these releases of the Mego figures of old TV shows, i.e. Cheers, Married with Children, etc. I know Target sells DVD sets of these TV shows (either in the store, or possibly online on their site). So, were one of the reasons they requested these TV character choices because they wanted people to get re-interested in these shows & buy the DVD's from Target?! Sure, the show is also available streaming, but the streams I've seen of Cheers aren't as good as the DVD's, which have remastered Picture Quality (PQ).
I.e., I can see someone seeing a "Norm" or "Peggy" figure on the shelves @ Target & then being reminded of the show; they they walk past the home video section & see a boxed DVD set of "Cheers" or "Married with Children", and are then tempted to buy the set(s) due to the nostalgic memories that were elicited from seeing the figures (even if they don't want the figures). Or, the opposite happens - people buy a DVD set of these shows, and then see the Mego figures on the shelf, which further reminds them of the show - and, they're tempted to buy the figures because of the nostalgic memories they evoke.
It's all about marketing.
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Post by tarkintino on Sept 28, 2018 11:01:47 GMT -5
Here's the interesting thing about these new Cheers Mego figures & my theory as to why Mego may have produced these. This is following up with what mrp said in an earlier post: While I have 0 interest in getting any of them, seeing them on the Mego Target endcap this past summer got me re-interested in the show itself. So, while I haven't been buying the Cheers DVD's, I have been getting them out of my local library. I'm currently on the third season; though I had seen some of the show back in the day, I hadn't watched it comprehensively/chronologically - before now. I plan on watching the whole series at this point, in order. So, I wonder if that was the idea of these releases of the Mego figures of old TV shows, i.e. Cheers, Married with Children, etc. I know Target sells DVD sets of these TV shows (either in the store, or possibly online on their site). So, were one of the reasons they requested these TV character choices because they wanted people to get re-interested in these shows & buy the DVD's from Target?! Sure, the show is also available streaming, but the streams I've seen of Cheers aren't as good as the DVD's, which have remastered Picture Quality (PQ). I.e., I can see someone seeing a "Norm" or "Peggy" figure on the shelves @ Target & then being reminded of the show; they they walk past the home video section & see a boxed DVD set of "Cheers" or "Married with Children", and are then tempted to buy the set(s) due to the nostalgic memories that were elicited from seeing the figures (even if they don't want the figures). Or, the opposite happens - people buy a DVD set of these shows, and then see the Mego figures on the shelf, which further reminds them of the show - and, they're tempted to buy the figures because of the nostalgic memories they evoke. It's all about marketing. I'm wondering what market research said a Norm figure had the customer interest warranting production for a national retailer? Toy manufacturers have made this kind of mistake before; in the 1990s, Exclusive Premiere released Munsters 9-inch figures, but the line was here and gone before you knew it, and I think its beyond debate that The Munsters actually had appeal for that Baby Boom market (the generation most familiar with / fans of the sitcom), yet from what I read and recall, the line fizzled, and this was a time when cloth costumed, 8 or 9-inch, "Mego tribute" figures were popping up from Trendmasters (e.g. Lost in Space), Toy Biz (Marvel's Famous Covers) and Hasbro (DC's Silver Age). The point being that for anyone targeting the late Boomer / early Generation X buyers who grew up on Mego, there's no evidence suggesting a figure based on a non-kid friendly, very adult sitcom was ever in demand from fans who had Mego wish lists. I would be shocked to learn that Nor figures were the most in-demand or best selling of the line. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 28, 2018 11:52:22 GMT -5
Here's the interesting thing about these new Cheers Mego figures & my theory as to why Mego may have produced these. This is following up with what mrp said in an earlier post: While I have 0 interest in getting any of them, seeing them on the Mego Target endcap this past summer got me re-interested in the show itself. So, while I haven't been buying the Cheers DVD's, I have been getting them out of my local library. I'm currently on the third season; though I had seen some of the show back in the day, I hadn't watched it comprehensively/chronologically - before now. I plan on watching the whole series at this point, in order. So, I wonder if that was the idea of these releases of the Mego figures of old TV shows, i.e. Cheers, Married with Children, etc. I know Target sells DVD sets of these TV shows (either in the store, or possibly online on their site). So, were one of the reasons they requested these TV character choices because they wanted people to get re-interested in these shows & buy the DVD's from Target?! Sure, the show is also available streaming, but the streams I've seen of Cheers aren't as good as the DVD's, which have remastered Picture Quality (PQ). I.e., I can see someone seeing a "Norm" or "Peggy" figure on the shelves @ Target & then being reminded of the show; they they walk past the home video section & see a boxed DVD set of "Cheers" or "Married with Children", and are then tempted to buy the set(s) due to the nostalgic memories that were elicited from seeing the figures (even if they don't want the figures). Or, the opposite happens - people buy a DVD set of these shows, and then see the Mego figures on the shelf, which further reminds them of the show - and, they're tempted to buy the figures because of the nostalgic memories they evoke. It's all about marketing. I'm wondering what market research said a Norm figure had the customer interest warranting production for a national retailer? Toy manufacturers have made this kind of mistake before; in the 1990s, Exclusive Premiere released Munsters 9-inch figures, but the line was here and gone before you knew it, and I think its beyond debate that The Munsters actually had appeal for that Baby Boom market (the generation most familiar with / fans of the sitcom), yet from what I read and recall, the line fizzled, and this was a time when cloth costumed, 8 or 9-inch, "Mego tribute" figures were popping up from Trendmasters (e.g. Lost in Space), Toy Biz (Marvel's Famous Covers) and Hasbro (DC's Silver Age). The point being that for anyone targeting the late Boomer / early Generation X buyers who grew up on Mego, there's no evidence suggesting a figure based on a non-kid friendly, very adult sitcom was ever in demand from fans who had Mego wish lists. I would be shocked to learn that Nor figures were the most in-demand or best selling of the line. So you're assuming that Target, who almost unquestionably requested the Cheers line, doesn't know what Target wants. Norm doesn't have to be the "most in-demand or best selling of the line." It simply has to sell the amount that Target wants it to sell. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2018 15:02:07 GMT -5
Here's the interesting thing about these new Cheers Mego figures & my theory as to why Mego may have produced these. This is following up with what mrp said in an earlier post: While I have 0 interest in getting any of them, seeing them on the Mego Target endcap this past summer got me re-interested in the show itself. So, while I haven't been buying the Cheers DVD's, I have been getting them out of my local library. I'm currently on the third season; though I had seen some of the show back in the day, I hadn't watched it comprehensively/chronologically - before now. I plan on watching the whole series at this point, in order. So, I wonder if that was the idea of these releases of the Mego figures of old TV shows, i.e. Cheers, Married with Children, etc. I know Target sells DVD sets of these TV shows (either in the store, or possibly online on their site). So, were one of the reasons they requested these TV character choices because they wanted people to get re-interested in these shows & buy the DVD's from Target?! Sure, the show is also available streaming, but the streams I've seen of Cheers aren't as good as the DVD's, which have remastered Picture Quality (PQ). I.e., I can see someone seeing a "Norm" or "Peggy" figure on the shelves @ Target & then being reminded of the show; they they walk past the home video section & see a boxed DVD set of "Cheers" or "Married with Children", and are then tempted to buy the set(s) due to the nostalgic memories that were elicited from seeing the figures (even if they don't want the figures). Or, the opposite happens - people buy a DVD set of these shows, and then see the Mego figures on the shelf, which further reminds them of the show - and, they're tempted to buy the figures because of the nostalgic memories they evoke. It's all about marketing. I'm wondering what market research said a Norm figure had the customer interest warranting production for a national retailer? Toy manufacturers have made this kind of mistake before; in the 1990s, Exclusive Premiere released Munsters 9-inch figures, but the line was here and gone before you knew it, and I think its beyond debate that The Munsters actually had appeal for that Baby Boom market (the generation most familiar with / fans of the sitcom), yet from what I read and recall, the line fizzled, and this was a time when cloth costumed, 8 or 9-inch, "Mego tribute" figures were popping up from Trendmasters (e.g. Lost in Space), Toy Biz (Marvel's Famous Covers) and Hasbro (DC's Silver Age). The point being that for anyone targeting the late Boomer / early Generation X buyers who grew up on Mego, there's no evidence suggesting a figure based on a non-kid friendly, very adult sitcom was ever in demand from fans who had Mego wish lists. I would be shocked to learn that Nor figures were the most in-demand or best selling of the line. There's actually a lot of in the wild pics of guys who picke dup Norm and hav ethem set up drinking his beer in their mancave in selfies with them drinking beer and watching football games. None of them are what you would call toy collectors, but they bought the beer guzzling everyman figure on a lark because of an impulse buy of an item on an endcap that they then used to decorate their non-genre themed hang out place. Were these guys who had Megos as a kid? MAybe, but probably not. Were these guys who bought Norm on a lark because they identified with the beer guzzling everyman couch potato aspect of the figure-we'll who knows, but they bought it for some reason. From what's been said,t he best selling figure of the line is Bela Lugosi as Dracula and the second best seller has been Jimi Hendrix. Those two were Mego choices, not Target choices, but Target overall has been pleased with sales levels on all the figures. -M |
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Post by rom on Sept 28, 2018 18:05:01 GMT -5
Good discussion. A couple of points:
I definitely believe it would have been a mistake if Mego had produced an entire line of Cheers figures in addition to Cliff & Norm (i.e. Sam Malone, Carla, Coach, Diane Chambers, etc.) & decided that these figures would be the cornerstone of the new Mego line. I.e., yes - I don't believe these figures would collectively sell that well.
However, producing a Norm & Cliff Claven figure(s) - arguably two of the most iconic characters on the show?! I don't see that much of an issue here. You may get some buyers (as has already been said), but even if they don't sell well - it probably won't be much skin of Mego/Target's collective noses. I.e., there are still the Classic Trek figures, the 14" DC comics characters, etc. Without knowing too much about these things (other than being an avid toy collector), my opinion is that when a toy company produces a line/wave of toys there is probably an understanding that some of them will be "peg-warmers", i.e. certain characters just won't sell that well. So, if Cliff & Norm don't sell as much as Mego/Target expects/wants - they may just not make many (if any) other Mego Cheers figures in the future. No biggie. It definitely wouldn't jeopardize the future of the line by any means, especially given that this line is comprised of many figures from many different licenses. That all being said, there appears to be a Cheers Woody figure on the horizon, given the picture on the front of the Norm package.
Now, if none of the figures sell - that's a different story. But, based on what I've seen at the one Target I go to, this line is doing moderately well - as a whole. I.e., some of the figures are HTF at this point (notably the Trek Sulu figure).
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2018 23:01:46 GMT -5
Each license will get 1 or 2 figures per release wave of the 8 inch figures (though Trek might get more). Right now the plan is 3 waves this year (wave 2 is officially due out Sept. 30th/Oct. 1 and Wave three will be end of October/beginning of November) which will be 60 figures total all Target exclusive. The plan for 2019 is 6 waves of 20 figures each (essentially one every 2 months) for a total of 120 figures, and these will not be Target exclusives. The only hint about what will come in the future is that Marty has said he has all the Trek licenses except the new series (Discovery?) and will be doing a lot with Trek, and he wants to do a lot more with the DC figures. Brickseek and other online toy collecting apps have given a pretty educated guess as to what will be in Waves 2 and 3 based on Target DCPI numbers, but something is off with their wave 3 projects as it has 22 figures in it and Marty has firmly said only 20 will be in the third wave. All 2 waves will be four 14 inch DC figures, 2 8 inch 2 packs, and 12 individual 8 inch figures. The Birckseek has three 2-packs listed for Wave 3, so 1 is probably wrong (and one of those is an all new license not seen in Wave 1 or 2 which makes me think that is the error, but who knows.
We also know Marvel and Star Wars will not happen with Mego as Hasbro has the master toy license for all scales of those figures and will not let Mego have any part of it. What is not known is whether we will see more of the lines Target wanted as part of the package once the Target exclusivity ends. Marty has said he does not want to do licenses that do not also include likeness rights moving forward, as those do not do as well, so that may come into play as to the future of some of the lines.
We will have to wait and see.
-M
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