Funko!!! 4 inch figs!!!!

1966 TV show type Bat-Items found on eBay, Collectibles, etc.

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John Mack
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Re: Funko!!! 4 inch figs!!!!

Post by John Mack »

Bittness is bittness. No company is going to continue a line that isn't making money.
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Keith Mayo
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Re: Funko!!! 4 inch figs!!!!

Post by Keith Mayo »

In Alabama we say "bidnez". 😁
Maybe if Funko released the Joker and Penguin instead of Bookworm and Tut the sales would have been better.
"It's the very essence of our democracy". - Batman, S1 Ep 11
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LizardKing
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Re: Funko!!! 4 inch figs!!!!

Post by LizardKing »

tenderheart bear wrote: Wed Jun 06, 2018 11:14 pm I still don't get the whole Satanism comments.

Isn't it just likely that wave 2 was planned but poor sales of wave 1 put an end to that idea? We can argue about why wave 1 didn't perform as well as hoped. Poor character selection, retail distribution, '66 Batman being a niche market or whatever.

There may even have been plans to release wave 2 anyway, and use the profits from another line to offset the losses. Ultimately someone somewhere has decided to quietly cancel the collection without making any kind of announcement. No company likes to admit failures and it's not the first time a toyline has come to a halt when you thought it might last forever.

We shouldn't take it personally.
If nothing else that seems to be the unsatisfactory conclusion to the line.
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tenderheart bear
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Re: Funko!!! 4 inch figs!!!!

Post by tenderheart bear »

Unsatisfactory it may well be, but probably true.

We live in an age where we expect information about everything, and are used to getting it too. If this was 10, or certainly 20 years ago the range would have just ended and no one would be any the wiser as to why.

I was born in the 70's, so started my toy collections with Star Wars figures, Secret Wars and Super Powers toys. The only way to get them was by either going to a toy shop or seeing them in one of those catalogues which sold everything. You only knew what others were available because of the cardbacks, and chances were the shops didn't have them all.

One day they'd be gone. No news. No info. And shop staff with no idea what you were talking about. Those were the days.
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John Mack
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Re: Funko!!! 4 inch figs!!!!

Post by John Mack »

I used to buy my 1966 toys from a newspaper type thing called, Toy Shop. You could pay extra to receive the publication earlier than others, and when it arrived, you found what you wanted, then called the seller on the phone to make arrangements lol
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LizardKing
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Re: Funko!!! 4 inch figs!!!!

Post by LizardKing »

I would like the website 13th Dimension to try and get a final answer if they can or at least some sort of update on their efforts. Seems like they have a relationship with Reis and Funko.
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AndyFish
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Re: Funko!!! 4 inch figs!!!!

Post by AndyFish »

LizardKing wrote: Fri Jun 08, 2018 5:31 pm I would like the website 13th Dimension to try and get a final answer if they can or at least some sort of update on their efforts. Seems like they have a relationship with Reis and Funko.
I don't think Dan is likely to launch a Senate Sub Committee hearing, nor would he get any further information. This isn't a case of no one asking, this is a case of they either don't have or don't want to answer at the present time. Licenses are funny. You have them for a certain time, running a business you have to estimate at what % you will make money and act on it. I've seen a lot of these in comic stores as peg warmers, and not just the Bookworm and Tut figures, ALL of them. My guess is they didn't sell as well as hoped, but the big wigs at Funko are fans and wanted to do the line. If they're losing money the line ends. Simple as that.

I really don't understand the mindset that if X figure isn't released the whole line is worthless. They are great little figures, I think the best of the action figures released, trumping Mattel and FTC because they can actually stand and don't feel like they're going to fall apart when you touch them.

I echo the sentiment of the olden days when as kids you had no idea something was coming out. I remember seeing the Mego Original Four (Batman, Robin, Superman and Aquaman) at my local department store in the solid boxes and absolutely flipping out over them.

Then over the next few years the added excitement of finding new figures in the line-- then Planet of the Apes, then Star Trek, there was something magical about having NO idea these things were coming out.
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Keith Mayo
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Re: Funko!!! 4 inch figs!!!!

Post by Keith Mayo »

Andy Fish said:" I've seen a lot of these in comic stores as peg warmers, and not just the Bookworm and Tut figures, ALL of them".

Only two stores in my town carried them - BAM and FYE and they didn't last long at either store. Did Funko distribute them in other stores? Never saw them at Walmart or Target. Seems they should have had a wider distribution.
"It's the very essence of our democracy". - Batman, S1 Ep 11
Blue Meanie
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Re: Funko!!! 4 inch figs!!!!

Post by Blue Meanie »

Keith Mayo wrote: Sat Jun 09, 2018 12:30 pm Andy Fish said:" I've seen a lot of these in comic stores as peg warmers, and not just the Bookworm and Tut figures, ALL of them".

Only two stores in my town carried them - BAM and FYE and they didn't last long at either store. Did Funko distribute them in other stores? Never saw them at Walmart or Target. Seems they should have had a wider distribution.
Keith,

Like you, I only saw them at BAM, FYE, and TRU. However, their selections amounted to one of each figure. Had they been in Walmart and Target, I suppose they may have sold better. I bought mine from Amazon and only bought the Chase Batman in a store.

I don’t believe Funko did this series without considering a wave two otherwise we would have gotten all the main villains in one big release. I believe it was their intention to have a second wave, but apparently economics is dictating otherwise.

What I do find odd is why did they go to all the expense and trouble of creating a huge store display and release fruity looking Batmobile and then give up on the line.

If we get wave 2 then great, if not, so be it. I’m happy with the ones I do have and my Mattel and NJ Croces and the Batmobiles (and not those weird colored ones) :D
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John Mack
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Re: Funko!!! 4 inch figs!!!!

Post by John Mack »

I kinda liked the different color Batmobiles. They remind me of the tin battery operated Batmobiles made by Aoshin in the 60's and 70s.

Btw, found this on line

https://m.gamestop.com/product/collecti ... cadevice=m

Apparently Gamestop has the screen test figure? I just can't seem to figure it out. Looks like CA stores has them?
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BATWINGED HORNET
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Re: Funko!!! 4 inch figs!!!!

Post by BATWINGED HORNET »

AndyFish wrote: Sat Jun 09, 2018 10:39 am I echo the sentiment of the olden days when as kids you had no idea something was coming out. I remember seeing the Mego Original Four (Batman, Robin, Superman and Aquaman) at my local department store in the solid boxes and absolutely flipping out over them.
Same here. My family had no idea the figures existed, but picking up the boxes was quite the surprise.
Then over the next few years the added excitement of finding new figures in the line-- then Planet of the Apes, then Star Trek, there was something magical about having NO idea these things were coming out.
Simlar experience, only I knew the Apes line was coming from newspaper articles on the mass merchadising of Apes products sometime in 1974. Still, exiting beyond belief.

About Funko's Batman '66 line. I never understood the generational bias of those making figures from a late 60s TV series in the form of a figure line popularized by Kenner's Star Wars line (1978-85). So many people who were either kids in the 60s or say, in the early 70s watching the series in syndication were probably not playing with toys by the time Star Wars was released in 1977. Its understandable when 3 3/4 retro figures were based on the first Alien or Back to the Future, as they were released in that Star Wars/Kenner era and would appeal to that toy-playing generation. But the whole Kenner 3 3/4 aura does not have universal appeal to the degree that the format can be applied to anything / appeal to anyone--presumably older fans of a much older production.

At least with Hot Toys' 12-inch figures, or Moebius Models, both kinds of products had been around to the generations of kids and adults of the 60s when Batman was first run (e.g. Captain Action and Aurora models), so kits and 12-inch figures seemed like a natural. With Batman '66 in the 3 3/4 scale, how many fans of that scale also happen to be Batman '66 fans and wanted to see toys?

If the Funko line is gone, its not a shock at all. Frankly, there were too many action figure lines released from this series.
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Keith Mayo
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Re: Funko!!! 4 inch figs!!!!

Post by Keith Mayo »

Batwinged Hornet, I think there's a ton of 1966 Batman fans who played with the 3 3/4 GIjOES out there who have an attachment to that scale.
"It's the very essence of our democracy". - Batman, S1 Ep 11
rickkrefft
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Re: Funko!!! 4 inch figs!!!!

Post by rickkrefft »

Funko guy said in a tweet wave was sculpted and done, but something in the license held things up. It still sounded as I’d wave 2 was coming just on hold. Maybe with TRU going out of business they instead may release them the way they did Teen Titan figures or as exclusive comic con sets? I’m still holding out hope we get Joker, Penguin, Riddler and Egghead.
jimpagett
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Re: Funko!!! 4 inch figs!!!!

Post by jimpagett »

Really?! When was this tweet? Either alternate form of release would be great. As an aside I did not see these at any retailers until recently. I did see them at FYI in Jersey last year but by that point I had gotten multipals.

BTW looks like the Batcopter is going to be at NJ state fair.
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ChAnOoD
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Re: Funko!!! 4 inch figs!!!!

Post by ChAnOoD »

rickkrefft wrote: Sun Jun 10, 2018 8:43 am Funko guy said in a tweet wave was sculpted and done.
He also said that we should wait for Summer, if I´m not mistaken. Not sure if it´s the same tweet or if the one you say came after, but I hope they won´t shut down the line. At least give us the big ones and a few surprises to make the collection grow. ;)
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