McFarlane Sucks?

[PointofArticulation]

Would it be mean or fair perhaps to start a thread to discuss the fact that McFarlane is doing what he previously did in comics? At first he dominates and then he becomes almost completely irrelevant and a joke?

let's see... aside from Halo and the sports collectors (which very often only collect sports toys) what does he offer? He's lost all of his cool licenses to NECA (horror icons, aliens, predators etc...) his sculpts and paint jobs which previously could be considered some of the best in the industry have now devolved into cheap and sloppy excuses for fan-favorite re-issues (Manga Spawn, Pirate Spawn, That Elephant guy), all of his non-franchised lines (Fantasy, Dragons, Zodiac) were canceled because everyone forgot to give a rat's ass. Let's not forget that his new franchise is a pretty weak cash in on Guitar Hero! Plus his case assortments are weak and seem designed to breed shelf warmers!

Now I want all McFarlane fans to know that I'm not some hater. I own the first two Tortured Souls waves, the Alien Queen and several other great toys that were issued during his peak, but I'm just sick to death of hearing people talking about NECA toys and how great they are and then referring to them as McFarlanes! He dropped the ball, and everyone has moved on.

Of course anyone feeling different about it is welcome to share their feelings...

[Robimus]

I think he shot himself in the foot abit with licences a few years back with the Little Nicky stuff moving forward to Corpse Bride and several I'm forgetting. MaFarlane just can't have done well on those.

Certainly at its inception McFarlane Toys was a bit more cutting edge. Spawn was on top of the world and the Spawn line was pretty cool. I still have The Freak myself though I don't collect the figures and really never did.

The Sports figures filled a need in the industry and still do. It's probably his big cash cow at this point although I've got to wonder how much he makes on a Sportspick figure when compared to his own lines. He own's the rights to Spawn of course, but has to pay out millions of dollars for those sports licences.

Other than the Sports line the only other one I took too a bit is the McFarlane Dragons line. I think its great and fills a need for highly articlulated Dragons for D&D fans from back in the day.

I never liked his Tortured Souls stuff, or Twisted Fairy Tale stuff or the more recent Spawn lines. So while I don't think that "McFarlane Sucks", I do think we are seeing him scale back his licencing a bit after those above failures I mentioned.

Honestly NECA has always made awesome figures and I'm surprised to hear some people are comparing them to Todd's stuff. Stuff like the Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon figures stand out for me as some of the best action figures ever made.

Frankly I don't know if Mcfarlane was ever on NECA's level in terms of producing "Action Figures" though I think he excels at the statue type pieces we see from his sports lines and Dragons line.

[Cemetary Man]

I loved the old Movie Maniacs line. I'm still kicking myself for not picking up Snake Plisken or Jason X, or even Shaft!

That said, Neca seems to be really good at picking up the ball dropped by Mcfarlane.

[Robimus]

Yeah, I got the Shaft figure. Sam Jackson rules!

[Cyber-Kun]

I loved the Dragon's line, I quite a few of them, but never really cared for anything else he did. I'm appriciative for what he did for the Industry, but meh. Who makes the WoW figures? I thought that was Mcfarlane

[bambam]

Who makes the WoW figures? I thought that was Mcfarlane

DC Direct under their DC Unlimited brand.

[PointofArticulation]

I agree that he did set a certain standard for sculpts in the industry, and I suppose that some of the credit for DC Direct's awsome sculpts probably should go to him, but you can't deny his last waves of toys, minus Halo were pretty stinky.

[PointofArticulation]

I loved the old Movie Maniacs line. I'm still kicking myself for not picking up Snake Plisken or Jason X, or even Shaft!

That said, Neca seems to be really good at picking up the ball dropped by Mcfarlane.

Yeah they freaking rule! I got my Snake, but I'm missing Ash and Jason X.

[Super_Megatron]

I don't actually remember the last time I bought a McFarlane toy.

[PointofArticulation]

The new 10 inch Slash looks okay I guess. But I hate the Guitar Hero line on principal. It's such a lame cash in on some new trend, decided by old suits who watch their kids and think of ways of making money on their love of video games.

Now Gears of War is a great toy line for a video game...

[Aernaroth]

I think McFarlane toys needs to focus more on the idea that they're making mini-statues, rather than even bothering with the limited posability they already have.

I think that the McFarlane toys were a lot more relevant when there weren't companies like NECA doing the exact same thing with hyper-detailed action figures.

[PointofArticulation]

I completely agree, but without any real licenses I don't know what they can really do. I mean even their home brand Spawn has gone down the crapper in many people's eyes. I hear that the company has downsized severely.

[Robimus]

I think it all depends on how far the Sports Licenses can carry them right now.

[PointofArticulation]

Yeah, it seems like a pretty flawed sales strategy though. I mean in Vancouver you only sell Luongo really. So what good is the rest of the line? I know many stores that just won't touch the stuff based on this.

Maybe it would be smart if McF would sell with a weighted assortment based on regions or at least sell individual figures like DC Direct does. That way the Vancouverites can load up on Luongos and make it worth carrying the line. But he never seems to care about the assortment he sends out. That's why the last run of Halo figures had all of the cool guys as exclusives and stuck stores with mostly crap.

[Robimus]

They already do the weighted assortments to an extent. We had full cases of the Jets Khabibulin coming into Manitoba Walmarts during its release.

I'll keep an eye on what happens with the up coming Doan and Selanne figures.

[TFtoys]

Halo series bring my attention to McFarlane that they actually can make joints and range of motion figures. On the price range, it could be tough since GI Joe is detailed and cheaper while the Gear of Wars has way bigger size within the price range.

[Prowl_2009]

I think it all depends on how far the Sports Licenses can carry them right now.

Agreed.