Wrestling Toys (Mattel WWE, Jazwares AEW, etc.)

Padawer is a cancer in the toy industry and I'm happy when anything he's involved in fails, even if I personally like it. I completely agree that his approach to collecting is poison to actually selling toys. He literally has a target demographic of 50-year-old scalpers. That's it. He is, himself, the worst kind of collector and he's allowed that attitude to infect the way he handles the AEW license. It's sad to watch legitimately nice action figures get buried under the "1 of 1000" kind of nonsense Jeremy has a hard-on for.
There's never a good AEW figure available in an actual physical store, either. For a variety of reasons.

It would be absolutely wild if Hasbro decided this was the time to directly compete with Mattel's WWE product. Especially with Mattel getting the DC license back next year to start competing again with Marvel Legends. It had to have crossed their minds. I just don't know if AEW itself is big enough for Hasbro to take notice.
That being said, it's well-publicized that AEW has a big TV/streaming deal hitting, so maybe Hasbro did take note. I'd be surprised, but it could be really cool.
 
CTV said:
Tell them to rush release Kyle Fletcher, Supreme Ospreay, and the ring gear Mercedes they showed at SDCC!
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Supreme Ospreay is for sure coming out. I think the fact that there aren't really any active preorders going into the new year on Ringside is very telling. Sadly.
 
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And just as we had a women's title change. Not that Jazwares was ever current.

I'd love to see anyone take a shot. I prefer AEW talent to WWE. That I have to imagine that the toy line was just never successful to the actual AEW people. Distribution was terrible. Over reliance on Chase and exclusives. The technology was streets behind. They were never current with the trends.
 
The chases were the worst part, but as a casual buyer, the Supreme releases were puzzling. You have a figure and a half for the price of two figures....just put a second torso in there! Who honestly is going to buy these and be like, "I'll just keep these other pants handy for when I'm feeling like putting his purple pants on." They should have just dropped the price to $35, ditched the second "outfit" and focused on making one good deluxe figure.

Anyways, they weren't terrible. Nice torso articulation, some cool unique sculpts. Personally I thought the proportions were usually bad: tiny crotches, "thin" arms and legs. I really like my "pirate" eyepatch Pac figure, the first Chris Jericho with the scarf, and Supreme Kenny Omega with his jacket. I do think a lot of the issue with these at retail is just with AEW in general, I saw so many Young Bucks figures at Target and Walmart and no casual wrestling fan knows who they are, and no kid wants their figures.
 
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vicious said:
The chases were the worst part, but as a casual buyer, the Supreme releases were puzzling. You have a figure and a half for the price of two figures....just put a second torso in there! Who honestly is going to buy these and be like, "I'll just keep these other pants handy for when I'm feeling like putting his purple pants on." They should have just dropped the price to $35, ditched the second "outfit" and focused on making one good deluxe figure.
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Agree.

It was trying too hard to not be an Ultimate but missing the appeal.
 
A long time ago I got the Britt Baker Supreme figure (for a heavily discounted price - would not buy at full price at all). It was such a fucking weird thing to own. I liked the figure for sure. But I'm just messing around with it and it was like... if you had just put a 3-dollar torso in here, I'd have two complete Britt Baker figures. Who looked at that layout and design and said 'yes, charge a lot for this and people will love it.' It felt more like a defective two-pack than the best possible version of a given character.

I'm guessing that was another Jeremy decision because he's a dipshit.
 
I know a guy that just info dumps happenings on you, and acts like he's in the locker room with them as besties. I cannot even enjoy watching something and talking to him because he is privy to plans months out, or whatever politics are in play that mean so and so loses a belt or so and so is benched.

My relationship is I like certain wrestlers. Not the brand. And I like seeing cool things happen. I did not need to know Jill was always meant to lose the belt since December to Anne because Jill has cancer and her husband is dying and she needs time off, and Anne is sleeping with Ted, and Ted has clout so dictates who gets belts because Ted is the real life half brother of Bill, the promoter.

And the conversations switch so seamlessly from work to shoot to kayfabe I just can't even keep up. It becomes a who's on first skit.

"And then he drove a car into him at the venue."
"That's a funny gimmick.'
"No, it's real, he was high and a former convict, he used to beat his wife."
"Oh."
"And then his wife ended up married to a sheik."
"That's a good come up, I guess."
"What, no, I mean in NXT to put the other guy over."
"Oh."
 
altcunningham said:
My relationship is I like certain wrestlers. Not the brand. And I like seeing cool things happen. I did not need to know Jill was always meant to lose the belt since December to Anne because Jill has cancer and her husband is dying and she needs time off, and Anne is sleeping with Ted, and Ted has clout so dictates who gets belts because Ted is the real life half brother of Bill, the promoter.
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I actually really like all this stuff. My wife as well. I don't know that I'd, unasked, dump this on someone at random that just is like 'I dunno, I always liked Macho Man.' That is super weird behaviour. But with people that actually like the backstage nonsense, it can be fun to talk about. If they're not into it, though, and you're just infodumping at them about stuff they don't care about? I don't see the value in it.
But yeah, I do find it super interesting how it all works. I love the nuts and bolts of this stuff.



altcunningham said:
I really hate talking wrestling with wrestling fans.
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Yeah. I think I've only ever really engaged in wrestling talk basically here/Fwoosh because I cannot tolerate most wrestling fans. I will spend all day talking about who is good, who isn't, what storylines worked and which ones didn't, and all the 'whys' surrounding those things. I enjoy that stuff. Breaking down a good match, or why a performer hasn't quite found themselves, or what someone can do better, or even why someone just shouldn't be booked.
What I can't handle is the virulent racism, misogyny, and tribalism. None of that is worthwhile. I'd rather someone explain to me in clear sentences good reasons why they hate my favorite wrestler, than tell me some wrestler I don't even care about shouldn't be booked because her ass isn't juicy enough. I've got NO patience for that, and that is like 80% of the wrestling bubble, it seems like.
 
I think it's interesting. I just don't need it to cross over with my pretend part? I like to compartmentalize it. Statlander the Wrestler vs the Person?

Same way I will devour everything behind the scenes about comic books, but I'm not going to let it affect the actual story or art. Unless those events do.

But it also turns out most people I like growing up sucked then or suck now as people, so maybe I just like a little distance
 
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