G.I. Kre-O, Kre-O, MegaBloks CoD and LEGO discussions

pcsguy88

Deuce Deuce
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Finally finished Gayskull after taking a break Monday and most of Tuesday night. It’s a real beast when fully assembled and opened up, I feel that I got my money worth thankfully.

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nacho

"Big Guns"
Founder
So... the boy is a wizard. He started thursday morning and finished this beast on friday afternoon, watching the 200x MOTU cartoon the whole time. That's with his mom making him stop to do math workbooks and summer-reading. And I made him go to bed on time. He has a knack for these things.

And now the kids are arguing over who gets to play with it first. About damn time they started appreciating MOTU!
 

pcsguy88

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I definitely tried to stretch it out a bit by never doing more than 2hrs per sitting. I mean, $270 needs to last a weekend for us adults.

This castle is really something to behold in person, something pictures will never capture. My daughter saw it built for the first time last night and her jaw dropped.
 

ThunderDan19

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Congrats you guys! It’s like you both got the MOTU equivalent of the Joe HQ back in the early ‘80’s (with a bit more assembly required). I wish the Joe line of these would have been popular enough to where more would have been available. Then we could have had a good ol’ He-Man vs. GI Joe competition like back in the day.
 

pcsguy88

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Congrats you guys! It’s like you both got the MOTU equivalent of the Joe HQ back in the early ‘80’s (with a bit more assembly required). I wish the Joe line of these would have been popular enough to where more would have been available. Then we could have had a good ol’ He-Man vs. GI Joe competition like back in the day.
Had Mega had the Joe license it would have been a slam dunk. Just take a look at Nacho’s to die for customs.
 

ThunderDan19

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And where might one be able to have a look at the above referenced? (Looked back through the thread but didn’t see anything).
 

pcsguy88

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This is why building blocks are winning the toy wars and why Mega and Friends figs should be trouncing minifigs. Love the girl up top clubbing the zombie with a MA6A assault rifle. 🤓
 

ThunderDan19

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K-Tiger

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Apparently Mega has wrest control of the building toys portion of the Game of Thrones license from McFortnitewasafluke, and is doing sets. They are also going whole-hog on MoTU.








Not sure how well they'll do, seeing as the show augured-in for the final season.
 

pcsguy88

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Impressive display.

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Mattel is going balls deep on HeMan also. I still do not know why this hated childhood line has me all nostalgic. I love that it’s mostly $5 figures, but since I do not shop at Walmart and Amazon sells them for $20, it just becomes a huge headache getting them.

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K-Tiger

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The distribution is so spotty that you might not even find the fuckers at Walmart in the first place.
 

nacho

"Big Guns"
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Aside from Greyskull (which retails for $250), I have seen every Mega MOTU SKU in the wild no less than a dozen times. Finding them has been one of the easiest lines to collect so far, IMO.

I don't know where I'll put all of it, but I'll buy it. We've been beating this drum forever. It's popular enough to sustain a full line, and they don't have to pay license fees to anyone. It should be the easiest decision they ever made.

I don't know why it took Mattel this long, and I don't know why Hasbro isn't doing the same thing with Joe.
 

K-Tiger

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I kind of think Mattel doesn't have a choice. They've got to plumb their IPs. I'm kind of interested in seeing if the new "retro" MoTU figures come to retail. I don't know what Hasbro could do to make Joe viable. Do a limited 6", Black Series-style run, and maybe some kind of Khetanna-style crowd funded item (USS FLAGG, Headquarters Command Center, Terror Drome) and call it a night. The Snake Eyes film's line, if it happens at all, is going to be half trash anyway.
 

pcsguy88

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I've seen every figure at Walmart so far, but I have to make special trips since Target is across the street from me and earns all of my daily shopping dollars. My best bet has been to preorder them on Amazon when they hit and take away most of the frustration unless I miss it (like this latest wave of Stratos and Scareglow).
 

nacho

"Big Guns"
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I kind of think Mattel doesn't have a choice. They've got to plumb their IPs.
True. While their figures were shit, losing the DC license is a big blow. Their presence in the boy isle is down to WWE and Hotwheels. Compared to Hasbro having SW, Marvel, and TF.... even when those franchises are in a lull, they're still drinking Mattel's milkshake.
 

K-Tiger

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Fall 2020 is a long time, especially when your parent company is on the rocks.
 

nacho

"Big Guns"
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I think you're in trouble then. I think only the SDCC version is flocked.

Personally, I don't care enough to pony up for a con exclusive Battle Bones just to get him. But knowing Mattel and just looking at these pics from the con with every variation of He-Man, Adam, Skeletor, Evil Lyn, & Beastman you can imagine, they'll rerelease Mossy in seventeen shades of green for each cartoon, toy, and comic appearance.
 

Dropshipbob

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I don't suppose they showed anything related to ALIENS? Yes yes, I know, I'm a broken record.
 

K-Tiger

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Anyone's Walmart still have this available on clearance? I was gonna grab it for the mammoth, but someone bought it while I was hemming and hawing around the store.



I'll give you $20 just for that hairy fucking elephant! You can give your kids the rest of it! :pirate:
 

K-Tiger

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Everywhere around here had it priced at $59, which isn't bad for the set, but I might just be better off hitting up BrickLink.
 

pcsguy88

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My Walmarts have officially rid themselves of all Mega Construx figures during the latest reset. The line might as well be dead to me at this point since even if I manage to get an Amazon preorder at retail price, it doesn’t ship and gets cancelled. It’s becoming obvious they hand whatever Heroes stock they get directly to the 3rd party sellers and I refuse to spend over $25 for $5 figs.
 

K-Tiger

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My Walmarts have officially rid themselves of all Mega Construx figures during the latest reset. The line might as well be dead to me at this point since even if I manage to get an Amazon preorder at retail price, it doesn’t ship and gets cancelled. It’s becoming obvious they hand whatever Heroes stock they get directly to the 3rd party sellers and I refuse to spend over $25 for $5 figs.
Yup. I think the only place I'll have to look for them now is Five Below. I get mostly caught-up on the MOTU line (Don't have Moss Man, natch), and then Wally World pulls the fucking line.
"Best Toy Store in America" my motherfucking ass. I was gonna say that Mega should start doing Thundercats figures, but if you aren't in the two biggest b&m toy retailers in the country, there's really no fucking point of doing anything.

In good toy news, Super 7 is doing retro TMNT and '82 Conan the Barbarian figures.
 
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nacho

"Big Guns"
Founder
My Walmarts have officially rid themselves of all Mega Construx figures during the latest reset....
...if you aren't in the two biggest b&m toy retailers in the country, there's really no fucking point of doing anything.
Yeah, I think it's the same everywhere. Just three years ago, I could find a full range of CoD blocks at WM, Target, TRU, and Kroger. Three of them stopped carrying them, and one went tits-up. Mattel can no longer use the same old crutch of blaming distribution. It can't be distribution's fault if none of your products are carried by major retail chains. It's like they genuinely don't understand that we can't buy their products if nobody offers them for sale. It's a fundamentally important piece of the "selling products" puzzle.

It's like blind chimps are running the show. WTF Mattel indeed.
 

nacho

"Big Guns"
Founder
Per MCX team on their forums:

Jul-18th:
As I teased in the other thread, I'm currently investigating and hoping to share some information about The Distribution Problem soon. Met with our Senior Director yesterday and we had a really good discussion about it. I should have something to share next week.

On the topic of direct to consumers (DTC), I know this is something many people have suggested as a possible solution, and we are always investigating how we can make that work for us, but it's so much more complicated than it seems. Building a website that people can buy from is not the hard part. It's the logistics around it - managing inventory, shipping domestically and internationally, etc. Our infrastructure is not set up for that right now. We'd have to open another warehouse to handle that, or deal with a third-party fulfilment company. There are costs associated with all those things, which means you need a certain volume in order to make it profitable.

Currently, we're focusing on regaining lost shelf space in brick-and-mortar stores globally, and relying on online partners (like Amazon, Walmart, etc.) to handle online sales. Does this mean we'll never do a DTC online store? No. But it's not our #1 priority right now.

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It seems they are aware of the problem, but I don't get the vibe that a major solution is imminent. How the f#$% do you let yourself get edged out of Walmart? Who is the numbnuts that fell asleep at that wheel? Are they drunk? We really need Hasbro to buy Mattel and get it over with. Unless Disney decides to integrate vertically (typically not their style, they prefer to license out), it's going to happen eventually... might as well be now.
 

Dropshipbob

Turtlenap, Hanger Alpha
Mar 29, 2011
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The only place I've seen CoD figures is Dollar General....and somehow I doubt they are new releases.