TOY NEWS FOR 3/12/2016 - McFARLANE TOYS - RED TOPS - 7" WALKING DEAD FIGURES (AND IMPORTANT INFO ON HOW TOY COMPANIES WORK AND WHY THEY MAKE WHAT THEY MAKE)

The first Walking Dead figures headed our way from McFarlane Toys new 7" Red Tops line will be Rick Grimes, Michonne and Travis from Fear the Walking Dead.

It's still unknown if this new line will be replacing the 5" figure series, but there has been a very vocal group of collectors who have come out asking McFarlane not to abandon the original 5" line.

These are slated to be released in July for 19.99 each.

**********I think what people need to realize about toy companies that sell in big box stores is that those stores set the price range and the kind of merchandise that they want to purchase from these companies. This new 7" line was specifically requested by retailers (presumedly Toys R Us, McFarlane Toys' biggest seller) and if they are no longer interested in the 5" line, there is little McFarlane can do about it.

Believe me when I tell you that there are so many kinds of figures-- better figures, bigger figures, more articulated and painted figures-- that all the people who work at McFarlane Toys and Hasbro and Mattel and so on, want to do, but their hands are tied by how much Walmart and Toys R Us and Target are willing to pay for these figures based on the price they feel they can sell in their stores.

Could Hasbro do figures close to what SH Figuarts does? I'm sure they could. But if Walmart says "we want $20 figures" and Hasbro has to then sell them to Walmart for $12-13 each, that gives Hasbro a budget to work within that tells them how much they can invest creating a wave of Marvel Legends figures.

This equation binds Hasbro's hands and does not allow them to give certain figures the kind of paint apps they'd like to give them. Or as many accessories. Or as much articulation.

Also, the US is bound by modern day "toy standards" as to the kinds of plastics that can be used. So, gone are the tougher, sturdier plastics of the 80's (which can break, splinter and cut a child, or be especially hazardous if swallowed) and now we get the softer, rubbery kind of plastics we see today. And, again, budgets also play a factor in the quality of plastic that is used, as well.

So, we can ask for more of this and more of that, and we can complain about how this "sucks" and that "sucks", but all of these toy companies and bound by the big box store's restrictions and requests as to what they can actually bring to retail and us, the collectors.**********