NECA '87 Toon TMNT

Damien said:
It's almost like America is constantly fucking everything up for everyone else.
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I can't fault the buyers, but I really do tick when I see people buying from CMD or Toy Snowman or others because it came in first or whatever. That was our shot. We don't have five targets in a radius, or wellstocked super Walmarts, etc.

Even when people balk at shipping Piles of Loot or picking something up at the $4 flat rate BBTS, I internally scream because it's like 16 bucks to get something from Ottawa to Toronto.

But that's not their fault. It's the man.
 
I wound up buying 3 out of 4 original Turtle Bros/Villains 2-Packs from a shop in Germany I found on like page 6 of a Google search because my Targets never had anything, so I came to the line late and eBay was crazy with those guys. But this site had them on sale for some reason, and with shipping they were about $60.

My apologies to German collectors for eating your breakfast, but TBH it looked like you guys just weren't as into them as I was.
 
I mean, I expect this hobby in general is in decline — at lease relative to late 2010s/early 2020s. Once the MCU movies and comic movies in general lost their luster and started having declining box office revenue combined with tightening economic conditions, I assumed there’d be massive contraction in collecting.

I’m honestly a little surprised companies like Hasbro, McFarlane, Funko, Mondo, and Mafex continue to crank out the same or even more output as like 2021/2022.

I could be wrong, but I suspect output will drop off a cliff in the next few years with the coming recession.


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The industry will definitely change, at least, as young Gen X/Elder Millenial properties have been bled dry. There are still a few untapped IPs, but I mean Nacelle is doing Cowboys of Moo Mesa so we're even getting figures of things that never really took off in the same way as He-Man or TMNT. I can't imagine that market will be there forever.

But Marvel/DC sort of represent eternal IPs that have longer legs than even TMNT. New generations are still rolling into them, they are living in a way that goes beyond nostalgia. Bandai opened up a Tamashii store not long ago in Times Square NYC, and every time I've stopped by it's had a lot of people there.

I think the future of figures might be less looking back, or more "kidults" (ugh i hate that term) buying figures of IPs they currently enjoy. While I love TMNT, I don't have much interest in actually watching the original cartoon again, beyond maybe the first episode block, and a couple choice ones here or there.
 
AgentHemlock said:
The industry will definitely change, at least, as young Gen X/Elder Millenial properties have been bled dry. There are still a few untapped IPs, but I mean Nacelle is doing Cowboys of Moo Mesa so we're even getting figures of things that never really took off in the same way as He-Man or TMNT. I can't imagine that market will be there forever.

But Marvel/DC sort of represent eternal IPs that have longer legs than even TMNT. New generations are still rolling into them, they are living in a way that goes beyond nostalgia. Bandai opened up a Tamashii store not long ago in Times Square NYC, and every time I've stopped by it's had a lot of people there.

I think the future of figures might be less looking back, or more "kidults" (ugh i hate that term) buying figures of IPs they currently enjoy. While I love TMNT, I don't have much interest in actually watching the original cartoon again, beyond maybe the first episode block, and a couple choice ones here or there.
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That's what fascinates me about toy collecting. I'm not sure if other hobbies equate.

There are people that are in it just for the nostalgia. I've been there. But then there are those who just pick up whatever is cool whether it's unlicensed, unfamiliar, maybe something generic. They appreciate the sculpt. The paint. Army building. Articulation.

And I think a lot of us have gone through that growth where maybe you were in it to collect Marvel, but now you're just fascinated with cool engineering, or the artistry of a lizard man or cool robot demon. Look at the people that are not happy if you don't have a particular articulation point, and then there are other people who are content to vanilla pose because that's the dude on the comic cover they grew up with.

There's just so many directions you can go with it if the market changes or if you yourself change and grow. I know you can pick up other genres with other consumable media, but it really does feel unique to toys for me.

So for me, I see this point and I agree with it. But I'm also in a space where I am content just to get a few high-priced overseas or third party efforts and I'm still content. As opposed to video games where I just get these existential crises about how much there is I'm never going to consume and just want to quit.
 
altcunningham said:
But then there are those who just pick up whatever is cool whether it's unlicensed, unfamiliar, maybe something generic. They appreciate the sculpt. The paint. Army building. Articulation.
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Might I submit to you that these people are ALSO -mostly- motivated by nostalgia? But it's a more nebulous nostalgia. It's nostalgia for buying action figures, playing with toys, even a careless childhood that you mentally or emotionally equate with action figures. All things newer generations have less and less nostalgia for/connection to.
 
Probably. They brought back those snap bracelets for a short time. I’m still shocked they tried to bring back Tiger Handhelds. That was the product that thankfully confirmed my nostalgia has limits.
 
I have a feeling the BIG nostalgia grab in 15 years will be retro gaming. It's already a big thing now, but I have a feeling it will be absolutely dominant. They'll be doing revival servers for Fortnite and offering 'Classic Call of Duty' and shit like that. Again, retro gaming is already big, but I don't think it's even close to what it will be when adulthood and middle age come to a generation almost exclusively raised on video games who barely even owned physical toys.
 
I’m always fascinated by what drives other people to collect things.

For me, it’s primarily nostalgia for specific fandoms I’ve really been into at various points in my life. My own fan journey started with the Real Ghostbusters, the TMNT ‘87 toon, and Gremlins pretty much simultaneously, and then went to Batman, then Swamp Thing (1990 cartoon and toy line), then (Death of) Superman, then X-Men, then Spider-Man, then Power Rangers, then Goosebumps, then Star Wars (original trilogy and POTF figures from Kenner), and Avengers and like the general Marvel Universe before I became a teenager and got more into music and girls. There were some minor forays into other lines like Crash Test Dummies, Ultra Force, Mighty Max, and Transformers Beast Wars, too.

I got back into comics and toys in like 2005 and read weekly comics until like 2013. I’ll still read the odd new comic series via the digital apps but the collected editions I buy are all retro.

And of course I’ve been a dedicated MCU and DC movie fan.

I historically limited my adult collecting to basically Marvel and DC (and now TMNT as of late), with other stuff that doesn’t get a ton of releases like Ghostbusters. I stay away from Star Wars even though I really only like the original trilogy enough to collect things but that would be a massive collection given the amount of product that comes out.

I would buy the shit out of a Crash Test Dummies line, though!


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Misfit said:
It’s a small snapshot, but the collector sections of my local Targets and Walmarts have been pretty stagnant of late. We’re in the middle of the Christmas season and I’m talking about stores on the NH border where there’s no sales tax and stuff just isn’t moving. The regular toy aisles are getting rocked, the video game section is sold out of all the big games, but the collector spot is jammed with stuff that’s been there for months along with some new stuff. It’s not a NECA specific issue, but I do worry Target and/or Walmart could pull the plug on the whole thing, especially if Funko goes under. Working in their favor is I can’t think of anything looking to take the place of the section. They’ve already dropped physical media like DVD and Blu Ray.
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Walmart's always bad, but the Targets around here have been moving really well. When they get new shipments in. All the new Michael Myers, the 2012 Turtles, the new Samurai Predator and those KISS Ben Coopers all hit and sold out within the week.
 
I was in my local store today and was surprised to see the Bugman two-pack re-stocked. They had 3 sets and I don't know if they were sent or something that had been hanging around out back for a long time. I have no idea if anyone was looking for that set, but it's back out there.
 
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