10Dohead: One hundred thousand Ectos? Are you serious?
Should we demand Mattel give up the license so that some other company grabs it and finally start making some good GB products?
No, I don't think this is a good idea, here's why:
I saw the movie in 1984 and I bought the very first Stantz, Spengler and Venkman figures in around 2009. I had to wait 25 years for GB figures. During these 25 years not one company was able to grab the license and make something good/reasonable out of it until Matty did.
Yes, there were good promises but they stalled along the way:
- there was a proton pack replica project in the works. It stalled.
- there was a terror dog and a gozer but they're now orphans of that line.
Not very promising, is it? Can we believe it will be better in the future?
Well, it *could* be better in the future, but you must agree that the odds aren't in our favour. And now even less, with this ecto-1 pre-sale failing. Toy raw material prices - plastic, made out of oil, aren't getting cheaper and there's a world economic crisis going. And we must not forget, we're talking a movie 30 years old.
But so are BTTF and He-Man, aren't they? And still they sold...
So I think we actually were *very lucky* to have Matty's GB line and have them bet on a 1/12 scale Ecto-1 to go with our 6" figures...
Me, I am so pleased with my 6" and 12" figures and with my PKE and Trap, which I display next to my proton pack (now 95% finished) and suit. And the Goggles are on their way.
Has it been perfect? Shurely not! But everytime I look at my GB display I can't, for a minute, consider that it has all just been a mistake.
I preordered the Ecto-1, divided its cost by the time available and started saving for it, I really wished to add it to my display.
But then lots of people complained against matty for there not being a prototype. True, but a certain Castle Grayskull was presented too with a foam mock-up, representing just the IDEA of it - and still it sold. (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GpAEhXAmDs)
People complained against Matty, as I did too, that the preorder window was too short. But that certain castle had, too, only 1 month window to hit the goal and in spite of complaints it sold (the goal was hit 4 days before the time was up).
People complained that after the Hoverboard "fiasco" Matty was crazy to expect the GB fans to preorder the Ecto-1. But MOTU fans preordered their castle *after* the hoverboard "fiasco".
People complained about the Ecto-1 being too expensive for what it was - a car that should sell for about 50$. Well the ecto-1 was an all plastic toy, with lots of details by definition (roof rack, interior details) and design (feature list, including lights and sounds and real rolling wheels
), selling for 215$. But that certain Castle was going for 250$ of only plastic detailings, no sounds, no lights, still it sold.
Comparisons between the ecto-1's price and other much cheaper cars aren't very reasonable too, IMO. The Ecto is not comparable to the 60$ batman car in details and features and not comparable to the elite 1:18 (selling for over 170$) in size and in raw material used - plastic is getting more and more expensive these days - oil price has doubled in 10 years. And transporting it from China to the US is not getting cheaper by the day, either...
(read this article, written in 2005:
http://online.wsj.com/article/1,,SB1111 ... 15,00.html if it doesn't show you the complete article, google for "Toy Makers Feel Pinch as Rise In Oil Prices Lifts Cost of Plastic")
and:
"Toy makers are especially susceptible to oil prices. Their products not only use large amounts of petroleum-derived plastics, but must be shipped by sea or air from far off Asian factories, so any drop in the cost of oil should ease pressure on their margins and boost their profits."
Dan Burrows, reporter for MarketWatch in New York, 2006. (
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/plungi ... -next-year)
So the Ecto-1 didn't sell. It's an opportunity lost.
If I was "another company" would I want to grab the license? No, because I'd think there's just not enough market. MOTU fans complained too. But the castle sold, so there was a market for it.