We will find out in the next few days when they put the product page online. (Maybe tomorrow).
The problem is. Ghostbusters fans REALLY don’t buy merchandise. When was the last time you saw a set of Ghostbusters plates for example. All the other large fandoms (which to be fair, have had more movie, tv, video game, comic, and book releases) have an INSANE amount of merchandise… and the fans just eat it up.
I think Ghostbusters fans are cheaper and are more reserved to when it comes to merchandise. I guess everyone is just saving their money to buy Proton Pack parts.
I for one bought everything they threw at me since day 1. This is a huge slap to the fans faces. One of the big reasons why a lot of people didn’t renew their subscriptions is because of that terrible company they sub-contracted to handle their orders, DIgital River. They made the subs more trouble than they were worth. It’s also obvious to the fact that Mattel also made way too many mistakes in the first place regarding the line. I’ve said it once before and i’ll say it again, but what’s a Ghostbusters toy line without an Ecto-1??
I’m just going to reiterate what I just said over on PC; get a grip, guys.
They raised the cost of toys by two bucks a pop and removed a convenience because not enough people opted in to the program. We’ll have to refresh our browsers to buy them, not stand outside in the rain waiting on a queue. On the scale of hardships, griping about online transactions ranks as rather petty.
And they haven’t discontinued the line. Not yet, anyway. If anything, the moves they made were done so they could keep producing it — including releasing figures that are minor retoolings of the existing line. Yes, that means stacks of books and marshmallow/pigeon ■■■. Those modifications make them rare as collectibles. But it also means they get a couple more bucks out of the existing molds so they can try creating new figures with the proceeds. It’s business. If they lose money, we lose the line.
My five-year old head would have exploded if Mattel made only the basic four ‘Busters and released them back in 1984.
Stop looking that gift horse in the mouth, folks. The way some people are carrying on, you’d think Mattel ordered every copy of Ghostbusters destroyed and sodomized Bill Murray with a He-Man figurine. I mean, by the power of Grayskull…
this is ■■■■, I happy to pay it just for the convenience, whether they put the prices up or not!
they do mention a thankyou to those who purchased a subscribtion in their statement which was on ‘proton charging’
‘Like you, we’re disappointed that the subscription will be going away for 2012, but to show our appreciation for you fans who stepped up and bought a 2012 subscription, we’re working on a “thank you” just for you. Stay tuned as we’ll have something special coming for you in appreciation for your support.’
no doubt this will just be for the usa knowing matty!!!
Well, groschopf. They also went from making 7 figures a year to only 4. Reason being is that they already invested the money in those 4 sculpts. 3 of which they have been announced and 1 of which hasn’t. Mattel is ditching the line. They may have not announced it, but read between the lines and your answer is there.
What mistakes? Well, where to start. 12" Venkman was a disaster. He didn’t look anything like he was originally shown and when we finally got him, we had to blow dry his head to fix it. He looked like Sloths long lost retarded brother. Another big one was slime blower Winston. We demanded that they fix the figure. He looked terrible and everything about that figure was wrong. It took a lot of complaining to convince Mattel that the figure needed dire revision. In the end, we ended up with one awesome final figure.
hopefully after the Mattel GB line dies, some company will buy up the license who can actually do the figures justice, detailed ghosts and figures (who look like the actors) with the correct accessories, maybe NECA or someone. cancelling the 2012 sub is just another nail in the coffin of this line, imo. not sure what the “thank you” is going to be to the people who have been supporting this line from the very beginning, I hope it’s something actually worthwhile.
Well, at least my wallet wont be hurting as much, so I guess that’s good. Plus I’m running out of room for these buggers. I know its not the only reason but, really? Over a matter of 2 dollars? MATTY WANTS 2 DOLLARS !
I would like to know how much it costs Mattel to do the subscriptions…if the line is dying a slow death, it seems they’d want to make all the money they can and keep the subs going!
Even if it’s only 4 figures a year, they are still guaranteed that money from someone who subscribes. Now, someone like me, who had originally signed up for the 2012 sub, may think twice and only buy 2 or 3 figures out of the possible 4 or 5…
I am sad to see that this may be the end…hopefully it’s only scaling back, and not ending completely. With the announcement of the Rookie figure, I got excited thinking about the different accessories from the game they could come out with…the proton pack variations etc.
If they released standard figures without permanently attached proton packs, they then could make a killing on accessory packs (a la He-Man). I feel more people would be apt to buy those, rather than ANOTHER variant…which, I do agree, has become ridiculous.
4 figures? I’m one of those that can do without the rookie if the 4 figures will be Labcoat Venkman, Zuul, Courtroom Ray and Egon, would be a HUGE let down not to even complete that set…
well I guess a lot of money probably would go to tooling him…and Dana. Well I guess they could complete them into next year and still do the rookie? just not go the whole year…
I wonder… is there a REAL way we can campaign Mattel into making and releasing a scaled Ecto-1 for the figures? I mean he IS the 5th Ghostbuster as far as I’m concerned. That car is a beauty all by itself and having it in scale for the figures would be a HUGE plus to any GB figures collector.
I know I would buy at least 2, one for display and one for playing around! hahahaha (yeah so I still play with my toys… so what? LOL)
a Mattel Ecto-1 will never happen. havent you been reading the news? they can barely get the figures out to us. I’d be very surprised if we see anything new other then what was shown at SDCC.
Mine was perfectly fine out of the box. Now the Ray sculpt on the 6" was wierd looking.
Boy old Matty is missing out, I bought my 2012 sub drunk and still kicking myself over Rookie. The figure is just a sucky choice. Now if they had placed say Dana as the exclusive they would have sold out.
You know, it never bothered me in the slightest that the 6 inch line weren’t a collection of digitally-scanned copies of the actors in their prime, they’re still recognisable… so that’s good enough for me. Other lines have done far worse, remember the 6 inch John Connor Terminator figure, he didn’t even have a visible face, it was hidden away behind a helmet and some goggles.
Sorry to see that the likely outcome is the line ending… wish we could’ve gotten one Janine to go with the Ghostbusters.
I’m sorry but I really don’t see how you can legitimately ask that question after they just basically cancelled the line.
They’re not putting more money into this line than they have to. An Ecto-1, which they’ve basically been saying all along wouldn’t be feasible, would cost them A TON to tool. They’re not going to do it.
You’re not being very realistic though if you seriously think that’s a legitimate question to ask right after they cancel the subscriptions and narrow the number of figures for the next year almost in half. Wake up and smell the marshmallows dude.
recognizable yes - but with each release, it seemed the sculpts were getting softer. when I saw the “12 up” versions on the cover of ToyFare 3 years ago I was blown away. I thought that was what we were going to be getting with each figure. they looked amazing, like NECA had sculpted them. the very first (Slimed Egon) was pretty much spot on as far as facial details etc. but then Ray came out and it was like “wtf?!” his head looked like an evil pixie, and it was the same body as Egon! Ray is slightly shorter and chubbier then the rest of them, and that detail should’ve been reflected in the toys. dont get me wrong, Im thankful that we have what we have, but while the line was pretty good, it had the potential to be great. and now, we likely wont even see several main characters produced. Heman works well for Mattel because the characters from the cartoon all had similar body types - same with the DC characters, they are based on characters from comic books (though even that argument in their favor can be shot down as Kenner managed to give us different shaped GB cartoon figures. if Mattel knew they were going to handle the GB license the same way as MOTUC and DC (reused sculpts) then they should not have taken on the GB license.
