Tracking toy tariffs

Super7 does a lot more than Ultimates. They probably have bigger profit margins on ReAction since they're so cheap to make but cost $20 a pop.

I do still feel for the many people who are needlessly losing their jobs thanks to the idiocy and carelessness of this country's administration. That letter from Flynn seemed at some points genuine, but also full of baloney at other points.
 
It's too bad I can't pull Phineas' post from the fwoosh predicting what will happen during Funko's foray into action figures because it pretty much applies here. He did it much more eloquently, but essentially a company used to making cheap, easily reproduceable knick knacks realizes action figures are hard work and eventually quits because they don't have the wherewithal to make quality products or won't invest the money into producing them.

I have to pay for my first Chinese preorder under Trump part II.

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EnigmaticClarity said:
A line called Street Humans where it was civilians with alien alternate heads.

www.streethumans.net

Street Humans™️

www.streethumans.net www.streethumans.net
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Thanks for the link! Totally missed this whole thing. The prototypes look good!

Funko's foray into action figures was really exciting - they gave me BEAUTIFUL Firefly figures and some great Game of Thrones figures - and then just f'ing stopped! One more wave of Firefly would have finished the cast and one more wave of GoT would have filled out the main players up to S4 - Cersei, Joffrey, Sansa, Oberon, better Jon and Catelyn/Tywin.

I'm still bitter they just... stopped. Yes, the figures were brittle and should have been better - but I'll take brittle over nothing.
 
I liked Funko's Disney Afternoon offerings. They were like like a better version of ReAction. Simple, fully-painted, just enough articulation - too bad it didn't go beyond two waves.
 
Misfit said:
I liked Funko's Disney Afternoon offerings. They were like like a better version of ReAction. Simple, fully-painted, just enough articulation - too bad it didn't go beyond two waves.
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I was just looking at mine last night, lamenting the fact that I didn't at least get a Monterrey Jack to finish the Rescue Rangers.
 
I never had a hate-on for Brian Flynn. I actually found him somewhat willing to talk about the reality of producing toys and how things don't cost out. Or how items that don't get enough preorders won't go into production. He certainly gave more details to the process than other toy company reps. That said, I did hear a few misleading things from him over the years. This statement from him regarding the tariffs is full of a lot of hooey for instance. Super7 was certainly not having their best year yet. Not unless they signed a bunch of deals which the public isn't aware. They laid off a bunch of people before the tariffs, so something isn't adding up. Granted some people they laid off may be due to them canceling certain lines or types of product and those positions aren't needed anymore. But something stinks a bit and the tariffs are being used to excuse other actions by the company.

Dave Vonner could be good for Super7, if they're starting to realize they need to up their game on articulation. With the 2K3 TMNT figures increasing articulation, maybe S7 is going to step up their game. I don't really see it becoming a mandate across the Ultimates lines, as frankly, I can see Ultimates fading away within a year or so. I don't really know what Vonner's been doing, since he's obviously working on stuff but isn't in the public eye anymore. He very well could have worked on product I've bought, but I wasn't aware he was involved.

Street Humans was a terrible line name. Civilian figures are something some fans request, but it's kind of obvious they won't sell enough to sustain a whole line. The swappable alien parts was a half-interesting idea to spruce up the potential for a line of civilians, but it also felt a bit lame/restrained in how it was implemented. I'm not sure how you make a line of civilian figures appealing to the enough people, but Street Humans couldn't crack that code.
 
Schizm said:
Thanks for the link! Totally missed this whole thing. The prototypes look good!

Funko's foray into action figures was really exciting - they gave me BEAUTIFUL Firefly figures and some great Game of Thrones figures - and then just f'ing stopped! One more wave of Firefly would have finished the cast and one more wave of GoT would have filled out the main players up to S4 - Cersei, Joffrey, Sansa, Oberon, better Jon and Catelyn/Tywin.

I'm still bitter they just... stopped. Yes, the figures were brittle and should have been better - but I'll take brittle over nothing.
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Oh.

You have no idea. There was a Joffrey planned for the next wave of GoT.

They were also apparently looking to do X-Files, Mad Max: Fury Road, a bunch of classic TV shows and movies in the Legacy line. So pissed that they stopped.
 
I'd be happy to have a better idea if you care to share! :)

Took a picture of how I "finished" my Firefly display.

IMG-6601.jpg


It's good enough for my brain to let it go - but UGH. Almost re-purchased the Inara and River statues, but then only Simon and Book would be out of scale and then it just starts spinning.
 
Wait, they did an Inara figure?!

I sold my set when I figured out they wouldn't finish the cast but I wasn't even aware they'd done her.
 
I drove to three Barnes & Nobles to complete the first wave of GoT, one over 25 miles away and ended up with a Daenerys with two of the same feet and another with a broken arm. I thought GoT wave 2 shown some nice improvement over wave 1. Then wave three was a little dip in quality, after that they shifted to simple 4" figures, iirc.
 
In regards to Brian's statement, the primary driver being the tariffs is probably true. I don't think they would lay off someone like Kyle unless it was a crisis. There could certainly be other factors behind it (I don't think their sales have been stellar), but the main force was likely the tariff situation. Even if they were reduced and negotiations are on pause, there's still uncertainty.
 
mrboshek said:
It's too bad I can't pull Phineas' post from the fwoosh predicting what will happen during Funko's foray into action figures because it pretty much applies here. He did it much more eloquently, but essentially a company used to making cheap, easily reproduceable knick knacks realizes action figures are hard work and eventually quits because they don't have the wherewithal to make quality products or won't invest the money into producing them.

I have to pay for my first Chinese preorder under Trump part II.

VWGtXc1.png
Click to expand...
Hold up, you can't just show me Cammy and not give details.
 
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