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]

Originally Posted by Cyber-Kun

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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...