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Post by Girl Power on Oct 10, 2005 12:09:12 GMT -5
My comments about the Anya/Tara line are based on how many of them are still at the main retailers. Anyas have been heavily discounted. Time and Space has been selling them for $7 for almost six months. Taras are everywhere and people can't seem to get rid of them.
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Post by NewtonDKC on Oct 17, 2005 18:47:04 GMT -5
I wonder though how DST figures sales figures? For example, some companies consider items "sold" once a retailer buys them (I guess depending on if they have a return clause for non-sales, etc). Some companies will gauge sales from stores, but also check to see how product is selling. I, too, was both happy and sort of worried that my local (well, local as in 40 miles away, but in the mountains, that's not necessarily too far to drive to find a particular store) Suncoast Video or whatever it's called this week had Willow/Tara 24Ever's discounted to like $18! I got two sets, one to have and one for customs (plus having 2 Kitty Fantastico's and Spike's kitty are symbolic of my spoiled pusses). :-) But when I went to buy a 3rd, they were sold out. So apparently the price just had to be right to move them. Similarly, I didn't get the Darla line until they were discounted...I just wasn't really interested in the character, having missed the whole Darla pregnancy episodes of Angel - which have just aired on TNT and I am hooked! But back then I didn't really remember her, except from Buffy, which I bought early on even though that figure was not even close to the quality of the S2 Darla and Vamp Darla (which a friend grabbed an extra of for $4.25 - seriously - somewhere in DC and thus my Gift Buffy is being made!).
So yeah, it all depends on how DST tallies sales - sales to vendors, or sale-throughs to the public. I also agree that the buying public is VERY picky, and although a figure may be cheap to do with repaints, that's pretty obvious to anyone who actually sees these up close, so you basically have completists or fans of that character to sell them all too, or some way to make the figure "worth" paying full figure price for essentially the paint job (or that's kind of how I see it, depending on when I think about it). Kit bashed figures would be just as cheap but far more popular sales-wise (Kit Bashed being defined as re0using parts not only between figures of the same character, but also of *different* characters. Combined with a cool paint job and some nifty accessories, kit bashing can make all the difference between a figure being desirable - and yet the price could not be anymore, or not significantly more, than DST's current philosophy. This is done often in the Star Wars world. Andit's basically the philosophy that the customizers use - though more work often goes into these to get something "just right" where DST - with all the planning and review they do of figures to see what's reasonable to make - could spread this across *characters* for greater results. Witness the number of excellent customs where Willow's body was used for Buffy and Anya for Tara and so forth. Also, I've come to the conclusion that heads are relatively cheap to *produce*. And with DST's soft, pliable rubber hair, heads would be even cheaper since the hair do could be varied with this cheaper material. Look at Cheerleader Cordelia (I know that was originally intended but it worked) and even The whole Deluxe line (3 heads, 1 main body style with slight torso variations). My point is a body part swap and a paint job can equal a truly unique figure, and it's from existing molds, possibly existing parts, etc. Add to this some actual unique part (hair sculpt or at the most, a new head) and you've got a must-have figure and possibly an entirely different character (perhaps the only way many characters might get made).
I hope DST trys this philosophy before retiring the line as it could give us substantial variations but also remain within their requirements for making a figure. And obviously not every character body is shared with other characters - but heck, if Giant Fred can be slipped through, then some obscure character could be a little bit off and still be acceptable. On that topic, I'm sure Fred will sell horribly since she looks so out of scale. And then that will be used to justify a "No More Freds" policy when its not the character's fault, but the execution of the figure.
Okay, sorry for another long post...
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Post by buffyfannumerouno on Oct 31, 2005 19:42:01 GMT -5
I always thought that DST had said that there was to be a 2 pack or boxset with the Spike/Darla line, I wonder why they changed thier mind. I also remember when DST where saying that since Fred and Illyria were 2 different characters that they would be in different lines, if this would've happened we would have 1 more Illyria, hopefully from "Not Fade Away" and 4 more Freds, if she had the lead in a future line. I really want to see a boxset based on the ANGEL show. I want more Fred figures, and wouldn't mind seeing a boxset of Angel in the future. I'd love to see Drusilla remade and then include her in a Victorian boxset with the other Victorian Vamps. I always wanted figures of Fred from these episodes: "The House Always Wins", "Waiting in the Wings", "Conviction" and "There's No Place Like PLRTZ GLRB"
I wanted figures of Angel from these episodes: "Waiting in the Wings", "Shiny Happy People", "Destiny"(Angelus), "Smile Time", and "The Girl in Question"
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Post by DanMan on Nov 1, 2005 12:43:22 GMT -5
I always thought that DST had said that there was to be a 2 pack or boxset with the Spike/Darla line, I wonder why they changed thier mind. I also remember when DST where saying that since Fred and Illyria were 2 different characters that they would be in different lines, if this would've happened we would have 1 more Illyria, hopefully from "Not Fade Away" and 4 more Freds, if she had the lead in a future line I don't recall anything about a Spike/Darla boxset... Do you remember where you saw that? At the time they stated that about Fred/Illyria, they also had a very negative view about Fred's chances of EVER being made. I think we're lucky to have gotten what we did!
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Post by buffyfannumerouno on Nov 1, 2005 14:26:10 GMT -5
They said it before in an Ask Diamond about the Spike/Darla based boxset. I don't remember which Ask Diamond it was.
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