Tuesday 24 February 2009

The complete line-up to #140...

Welcome back to another update.

This week I've got two pieces of news, the first of which is that we've finally picked all the figures for the latest extension (121-140).

The final eight figures were chosen on the superherofigurineforum and are:

Annihilus
Crimson Dynamo
Drax the Destroyer
Gladiator (Daredevil Foe)
Gorgon
Prowler
Pyro
Sunfire

They join:
Ant-Man
Black Heart
Chameleon
Grim Reaper
Jack of Hearts
Jocasta
Jubilee
Nomad
Son of Satan
Titania
Wasp
X-Man



So with those chosen, I just want to say a big thanks to the admins and mods on the message board for running the polls and making sure they are cheat free, and of course thanks to everyone who voted.


So with the extension now decided, I can begin work on the costume/pose choices and I promise to keep everyone updated as the figures go through development.


On to my second piece of 'news': with the overwhelmingly positive response to the Warlock image I put up, I thought I'd show you how we put together some of our front covers.

The cover in question is Nighthawk (Issue 96), which surprisingly caused us a little bit of trouble. As I've shown in the past, we do occasionally commission original pieces of artwork for covers, if suitable artwork is not easily available. However, sometimes we come across a character that has a lot of images that look great but none that really hit the mark when it comes to a cover. Sometimes the images don't fit the space well and sometimes we just can't get large enough copies of the images to use on the cover. With Nighthawk the magazine's designer (Dan) decided to make a cover using a number of different images for the background, logo and figure; here's how he did it...


First up we cutout an image of Nighthawk from the Last Defenders #1 cover.



We weren't keen on the background from Last Defenders cover (it highlighted too many other characters) so Dan chose an old Defenders issue for the background. This was knocked back to black and white and then rescaled for the magazine's front cover. A purple overlay was added to the cover to help the main Nighthawk image standout.



The logo we used was taken from a third comic (Nighthawk's miniseries) and placed on the cover to finish the artwork.



And that's really it, when no one image works for a character we tend to search the comic archive to find a few different pieces of artwork that can come together and make a good cover.




Hope you enjoyed the update, more figurine news/previews at the end of the week, and I'll answer some of the questions kicked up in the comments section.

76 comments:

Jacadoo said...

Really great insight into the generation of the Night Hawk edition - can't wait for much needed images for latest extension - roll on 200 and counting!!!!!!!

Sasquatch / Stingray and Tigershark please.......

Anonymous said...

Great news on the expansion.

Some of my choices didn't make it this time, so hopefully we'll see the expansions bring us to 200. :)

Hoping for Modern Drax by the way. Cause I'd love to have the Guardians of the Galaxy on my shelf. Speaking of GotG, I demand Rocket Raccoon! :D

Anonymous said...

Hi Rich,

Thanks for the particularly interesting insight into how the covers are produced, I can imagine that when you're dealing with a character that has many many appearances, costumes and separate miniseries the cover variation possibilities really could be endless!

With regards to the polls, first of all I'd like to express a big thank you to yourself for allowing us to have them on the SHFF, and I'd like to also say a big thanks to my fellow mods and admins who put in a lot of time and work into ensuring everything ran smoothly and fairly. I think it's fair to say we're now having severe tally and spreadsheet withdrawl symptoms!

Obviously while the polls created 8 very nice answers, inevitably it created many more questions. The big question on my lips is now I know you've got the full poll results to mull over, how good a chance will the close runners up get when it comes to deciding any future possible extensions? I am of course going to sneak in one final plug for Snowbird who as you can see came 2nd in the highly competitive X-Men category! :-)

We collectors now trust you to make the very tough decision of which version of Drax to comission for his sculpt. I can't decide between the two personally, so am looking forward to you making that choice instead!

Thanks again

Holy Wolf

Saturn Lad said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Please extended to 200 or almost 160-180 figurine, please.

Thanks,
Fabio

Anonymous said...

Well Lux what you must realise is your opinion is only one out of the hundreds who voted. As for characters like Firestar, Typhoid Mary, Cannonball etc well they all did very well coming in 2nd and 3rd places in their respective polls so I'd expect to see them make any future extension so there's no need to get to upset by it all.

As for X-men v Alpha Flight what you have to realise is that there's 3-4 X-men characters in this extension, whereas there's only one Alpha Flight member in the first 140 of the collection so maybe, just amye, they're due another one soon?

Freakazoid37 said...

I know its a bit late in the series to come up with a fresh idea BUT... have you ever considered releasing a Trading Card series that follows this?

Trading Cards especially marvel trading cards were massive in the early to late 90's - i used to love getting a foil back ripping them open only to find i had those ones already. the good old days.

But ive been reading your recent blogs which showing the amount of work you put into the magazine to make it great, along with the figurine... so i thought how great would it be that each fortnight with the magazine you get a free trading card?

90 odd issues in how would that work, well i dont see this series ending anytime soon... and with the addition specials, megaspecials and twin parks im guessing your pretty solid right about now. So how about this, issue 1 to whatever it is now those trading cards become available on the website. you could sell them in sets of ten so those who have been collecting the series so far can catch up. But for the issues going out beyond they would be included with the magazine and figurine...

So let me know what you think, i think there would be thousands of people who would like a trading card additionally added to the magazine...

now that i have that out my system. My questions from last week i know your pushed for time but could you please report on them next time. Judging by people who posted after myself there seems to be an interest those questions

Thor8 said...

Okay,I'll ask one more time. Who or whom make the selections on the characters that will compete in the polls and based on what criteria are they chosen?
If a future extension is approved(which is most likely)will the same 8 catagories be used or will there be new catagories? I think the competitors should be better classified this time around so that they fall into a group or class that best fits them. I also believe that characters that are "special" material should not be inclueded in these "regular" polls,like The Crimson Dynamo whose size places him in the "special" catagory.
Finally,I respect everyone else's opinion and preferences, but I must say I agree in part with Lux about placing more attention to more important and better known characters and leave the lesser known third raters for a later date.

Anonymous said...

Those 8 categories were chosen specifically to fill those 8 places. If there was a further extension then those wouldn't just be the categories considered.

As for mixing the 'better known' and 'third' rate characters as you put it, it's good business sense. Why release all the big names in one go when people might get them all and give up collecting the collection. If you mix them up together a bit, the big names and the more suprise pics then not also do you get a more diverse collection but you also get characters to look forward to in the future ad a reason to keep collecting.

As for 'special characters' should be omitted from the polls for regular figurines, that's exactly what happened. All the characters that EM believed were better suited to a special were removed from the poll listings. As such those 8 characters selected have been confirmed as regular issues for now.

The Grim Reaper said...

Hi LUX, just one question....did you vote?

Reason I ask is almost 7000 votes were cast across 8 categories and the winning 8 were chosen by majority vote - so whatever your personal preferences, there are a lot of collectors out there that maybe disagree.

The extention would have included FIRESTAR, TYPHIOD MARY, CANNONBALL and VULCAN had enough people chosen them ;-)

The Grim Reaper said...

@Thor8

sorry mate I missed your comments.

The categories were chosen by Richard after the initial polls he had run on here were swamped by cheat votes and spammers. Some characters had already been chosen for the extension so to give a fair balance the categories as used were selected. Next we were asked to put together a "potential" list of wanted figurines for each category, these were collated by mods and admins on SHFF but taken from message boards around the bazaars. In essense the lists forwarded to Rich were made up of the wants of the collecting comunity and not just SHFF. Finally Rich had the unenviable task of narrowing down the massive lists to 25 or so characters which we then published for the vote. As there were only 8 categories it was necessary to group some together, that decision was made by Rich as he would have the final say. And that, as they say is it in a nutshell.

Although there are characters in this extension that I personally would not have chosen, I do not begrudge those collectors who will finally see their favourite made into lead ;-)

Unknown said...

Very interesting about how the covers are created. Two questions: Are the scanned images de-screened to remove moire, or do Marvel send high quality masters, and are the logos recreated in Illustrator so they're high enough quality? Keep up the great work!
Chris

Saturn Lad said...

"The extention would have included FIRESTAR, TYPHIOD MARY, CANNONBALL and VULCAN had enough people chosen them"

People did vote for those characters in vast numbers and Firestar & Typhoid Mary were winning there respective polls for weeks and Cannonball was in second place untill you decided some of there votes were suspect and wiped some of there votes away. There was no concrete proof there votes were not genuine you just suspected as people were joining simply to vote as was stated people could on this blog. But you wanted Prolwer, Melvin & Snowbird as did most of your moderators so congrats on the first two ;)

Anthony Stark said...

Alright, alright that is it... I`ve kept quiet for long enough. I have waited two years for Scarlet Spider to come into this collection, and finally he was up for selection in the #120-140 line-up. But no... No matter how much I plugged the obvious choice, every D-List fan had to go and throw away their vote on so called "classics" such as Prowler?! What a load of s**t.

Thor8 said...

Hi Grim; Thanks for taking the time out to answer my inquiries, I now have a much clearer view on how these things come about,and boy does it look like a lot of work and headaches. I really appreciate all the trouble all of those envolved went to just to give us the oppurtunity to vote and choose our favs.Not many companies our days care enough or go to so much trouble just to oblige there fans and customers,so once again I'd like to say many thanks to Richard,Grim,the people at SHFF and anyone else who had a hand in putting this together.
TAKE A BOW PEOPLE YOU DESERVE IT!

The Grim Reaper said...

@LUX
There was more than adequate proof that attempts were made to sway the polls as they had been when held on the blog, it was not an easy decision to make but we mods/admins/forum members were under no doubt what was occuring....How would you feel now if your favourite character had not made the cut because one individual voted more than once to get HIS favourite in. I can assure you the polls were as fair as practicably possible, we knew there would be an attempt to bolster some results, we have tools available to check vote sources, timings and other factors that all indicated a problem which we decisively and openly resolved.

@Anthony Stark - a bit harsh there AS, considering that out of the 8 voted through, you actually voted for half of them, 50% hit rate is not bad considering the number of figures on offer. rather than going off on one i'd be quietly happy with the result. ;-)

Like I said before, I personally would not have chosen some of the winners but I'm not going to spit my dummy out of the cot just because they were chosen.

Thor8 said...

Oboy here I go again. Three times in just one day! Lux and Anthony Stark; I really don't care much for some of the winners in this poll as I really don't care much for Typhoid Mary or The Scrlet Spider,but that really doesn't give me the right to throw a tantrum and start making accusations for which you have as much proof as you say SHFF had when they removed some votes for suspected cheating. I too have asked myself on what basis did they plant thier suspicions,but instead of accusing without proof,why not simply ask them how this was done. I'm sure they would be glad to answer your inquiry and ease your mind.
Let's be grown up about this and not start a war of the worlds each time one of our favorites is left hanging! SHeeesh

Anonymous said...

Lux I don't appreciate you trying to question our integrity like that when we've given up a month of our time to keep track of 7000 votes so that the collectors of the CMFC can vote in the characters that the majority of people want.

As for the votes removed, there was strong significant evidence and we would be more than happy to present it to Rich should he ever want it.

Similarly a large amount of votes came from people who read this blog and joined the forum purely to vote and this was perfectly acceptable to us, the more the merrier and ensures we got a more relative view on which characters were popular.

As for the characters that had their votes deducted, well in the end Firestar still would have come in second had the 'suspect votes' not been removed. Similarly Cannonball, Marvel Girl and Typhoid Mary have a lot of support among the staff of SHFF and we were saddened to see their votes influenced by cheaters.

That's all I'm going to say on the matter for now.

HW

Oh and for the record I only voted for 2 of the 8 eventual winners, yet I've got no problem with this extension line up. The majority has spoken after all.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the cover info there. Good stuff to know. :) keep those mag updates coming.

As for the poll results, i'm disapointed most of the characters arn't what i wanted but still some interesting choices that might be good to see/read about.

Shame i don't get Wisdom yet but i can wait a little longer. Patience is a virtue of the wise after all ;)

Anonymous said...

Hi Rich.
From this extension, only Pyro, Sunfire, Jack of Hearts and Jubilee I like...
I'm really disapointed for the poll results, but ok....

I guess we must wait for the 141-160 extension.

AND WE NEED MORE WOMEN!

Anonymous said...

Most of the winners weren't who I picked either. But I'm pretty darn happy with the list as a whole. Were their figures I wanted more? Sure. And most of them did well enough to possibly see inclusion in the next expansion.

Dark Beast didn't win like I hoped, but I'm not gonna throw a wobbler over it. 6th Place with 54 votes is damn good, considering that he wasn't one of the characters that got talked about a lot.

Anthony Stark said...

Okay just to clear something up there, I was not throwing a tantrum, just merely pointing out how frustrating it can be when people choose D-List characters who are pretty dull in the comics, nevermind as figurines. But whatever, I am taking consolation in Crimson Dynamo being added (And hoping for Scarlet Spider to be recognised eventually). So to reiterate, don`t freak out, I am not some nutcase who frequently enjoys "going off on one". Also Thor8 would be best off not telling people to grow up when they voice a valid opinion. :P

Anonymous said...

Scarlet Spider's more of a D-List character to me than most of the people who won. It's just yet another Spidey figurine. If I wanted to buy the same character over and over again.... I'd collect the DC Figurines. ;)

The Grim Reaper said...

If anyone wants to e-mail me then please do so rather than put our methods in open view or use this blog etc.... HOWEVER

My money is on Lux having a googlemail e-mail account with an IP starting 80.249.xx.xxx

;-)ain't technology great eh? LOL

mtravis390 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mtravis390 said...

I wasn't too thrilled with some of the choices made either. X-Man, X-23 Impossible Man, Valkyrie and Son of Satan are very strange choices.
But if you don't buy them, Lux, then it would show the powers to be that they've might have made some poor choices if the sales are not as high as other figures in the collection.
Sales are the driving factor to any collection. And maybe there is a market out there fot the choices on the current list. I guess we will find out.
Also you got to accept the fact that EM is not going to be able to make every character. I really want the Beyonder, but realize that is never going to happen. Not unless the collection goes to 2000+
I think Grim and the rest of the board did a great job with the vote. And yes it sucks that Firestar is not going to be made, but hopefully EM will see that another extension is the way to go and we will get her then. I don't see why this collection couldn't go to 200. I hoping it will.

PS Any word on the quest to start putting the cardboard backing in the mags again.

Anonymous said...

I thought the figurine forum was cheat proof? So how did people manage to cheat? Also Anthony Stark if you want a Scarlet Spider then I'd be happy to custom one for ya. I sorted one quite recently. He's 1 post down on my blog: acecustoms.blogspot.com

I'm very happy to see Blackheart/Jubilee in there. I thought Omega Red/Maverick would have popped up by now though?

The Grim Reaper said...

@James

I thought the figurine forum was cheat proof? So how did people manage to cheat?

Quite simply James, they didn't manage to cheat.

They TRIED to cheat but the measures we put in place prevented it from affecting the results. Some were so blatant it was unreal!!

What we have is a set of results for figurines that the majority of collectors wanted. Who could ask for anything more than that?

any more questions to

tgr@marvelcustoms.co.uk

cheers

TGR

Saturn Lad said...

@ Grim Reaper
"If anyone wants to e-mail me then please do so rather than put our methods in open view or use this blog etc.... HOWEVER"

You do not run this Blog and if people want to voice there views they will, who are you to tell people they cant voice there thoughts on here!
The bottom line is the 20 extension is done and over half the list is of second rate no mark characters and for people like me who have spent alot of money on the collection that aint good enough!
Here's hoping we get an Omega Red special or Blob or an Aurora & Northstar double pack to try and make up for it.
I hope there is another extension after this one with more "A-lIST" characters because if this is the final 20 its a lame way to end the collection.

Jacadoo said...

Guys why the in-fighting, the poll is what it is and anybody left smarting the results need to ask themselves two questions:

1. DID I VOTE?

2. WHO AM I TO TRY AND DICTATE, WHAT EVERYBODY ELSE SHOULD RECEIVE?

I feel sorry for myself as none of my votes won through - does not mean I'm going to sit in a darkened room and sulk, just means I start begging again for my own favourites.

Grim pay not attention to the dissenters and if you ever come up with a solution to satisfying all the people all the time – let me know.

Nuff said the poll was the way to go – or perhaps all the complainers would like no voice at all – but the blog should respect everybody’s views.

To be clear I don’t rate a lot of the final 20 – doesn’t mean I will stop collecting, but it does mean I look forward to getting my favourites in the near future.

Let’s start the campaign for the next poll (with extension):

Omega Red
Stingray and Tigershark
All of Alpha Flight

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Grim Reaper said...

LUX, you have missed the point completely. You are quite correct I do not run this blog and I have never suggested I do ! but I do run the SHFF forum. It is the SHFF methods that I will not discuss on here so as I said my offer stands...contact me by e-mail and i'll happily run through what we discovered about the cheats and how we did it.

As for the latest extension being weak "over half the list is of second rate no mark character" this is in your opinion however I suggest that as these were chosen by many many collectors, your view as to what is good or bad differs from the views of the majority. To you it may seem unfair but that is life i'm afraid...get used to disappointment. ;-)

may I be so bold as to make a suggestion:---

Why don't you list the 20 characters and say which ones you feel are good or bad, maybe include who you voted for, and why. Having a rant serves no purpose, voicing a balanced, concise and clear reason for your thoughts may increase the chance of you swaying someone else to your way of thinking.

Not TELLING you what to do but making a sensible SUGGESTION.

oh..

Since you have not answered my earlier posted question i'll politely ask again....Did you vote?

rgds TGR

tgr@marvelcustoms.co.uk

Anonymous said...

Face it. Most of the so-called A-List is done. But pretty much everyone who won are characters who have been around for a long time. Sure a lot of them haven't made the A-List, but then if you really want to consider who's A-List aka, anyone who can carry an ongoing solo book.... we're already done with all the A-Listers.

"X-Man, X-23 Impossible Man, Valkyrie and Son of Satan are very strange choices."

How so? I'll maybe give you X-Man, but then he was chosen by Eaglemoss... and someone who's a fan of the character wanted to get him in the collection. Besides, not only did the character support a 75 issue ongoing, he's also one down of the 4 Age of Apocalypse refugees.


As for complaints about Valkyrie and Son of Satan, someone clearly never read the Defenders. Both those characters were fairly major characters not only there but also elsewhere. Now hopefully we can get Gargoyle and Moondragon at some point to round out the team. Only wish we had an Ape Beast for the team.

Anonymous said...

Lux I think you've grabbed the wrong end of the stick again mate.

Pretty sure what Grim meant was that you should email him directly if you have any comments you'd like to make about the forum or the way the polls were carried out. Don't think he meant about your general opinion on the extension or the collection as a whole.

With regards to the magazine images do you just scan in the pics directly from the copies or do Marvel send you over high quality/resolution picture files?

jarvis69 said...

Maybe I'm the only one to be happy of this choice ! lol. Who cares

Anonymous said...

Who cares?

Apperantly people who are crying cause their C-List character didn't win over someone elses B and C-List characters.

People need to get over themselves and realize that the collection is for everyone. So whining that a more popular character won... why? Clearly the fanbase wanted that character really badly.

Sure, I would have loved Firestar myself. Hell, I voted for her. I don't know Prowler all that well. But I'm not going to throw a wobbler cause my favorite didn't win this time. In the end, we got a pretty diverse expansion. More so than if Eaglemoss likely would have picked the entire line-up themselves.

Anonymous said...

By the way... Richard,

Is there any way that you guys can hold off on releasing Ka-Zar. It would be a shame if he wasn't a double pack with Zabu. They just go together.... like Peanut Butter and Jelly and Milk and Cookies.

Jacadoo said...

This has got to be the best thread of comments on this blogger to date. How about we use some of our energies on getting the main site updated with some meaningful images?

pirate adam said...

all you babies should stop cryin about who made the collection and who didnt, the guys at EM are doin a fantastic job. i personaly dont think some of the characters that made it should have when people like omega red and forge and even gladiator of the shiar guard havent, however i have complete confidence in the guys and will collect every issue regardless. keep up the good work!

ODIN for a special edition!!
THOR RULES!!
200 Extension please!!

thanks
pirate adam

Thor8 said...

Gee Anthony Stark,I didn't mean to step on your toes. I was just voicing a valid opinion. You see It's not so much a matter of having the right to voice an opinion,but rather "HOW" you do so,
and making unfounded accusations and using foul language to express a point of view just doesn't make the mark in my book. There's nothing wrong with wanting to see "D" rate characters in this collection,there are a few "D" raters I like alot that many collectors don't give a whit about and who may never make it to this collection,but I still wish they would be inclueded. That doesn't mean everybody who prefers someone else is a jerk or has poor taste,they just feel or think differently than I do.

Anonymous said...

"i personaly dont think some of the characters that made it should have when people like omega red and forge and even gladiator of the shiar guard havent."

Gladiator is coming. We've already seen the final painted sculpt.

Omega Red would require a Special, and honestly... I think Blob is more important a this stage. Considering he's a classic villain who's also appearing in the Wolverine movie. A Blob Special tying into Wolverine would be wise.

As for Forge. He finished high enough in the polls. But a few people wanted Sunfire, Cannonball, and that one Alpha Flight chick more than him. Maybe next time.

ghost said...

blah... blah... blah....

I've never read so many useless comments in my life...

Would everyone just stop throwing their toys out the pram and respect Richards blog. I like to see what people think of EM and what the future has in store, but for cryin' out loud...

I glad this ain't my blog.

I'd never read it again! I certainly wouldn't feel like updating it on a regular basis... Which I'm pretty sure we all want!

Richard,
Great Blog, love all the inside info stuff, would love to know more about the process of creating the figures themselves though, like what they use, how they are moulded etc.

And by the way - I can't wait for the next 50 issues!!!

Anonymous said...

I think some of these characters in this extension could turn out to be some of the most interesting figs yet.

There's lots of chocie to be made yet such as which versions of Crimson Dynamo, Annihilus and as mentioned before, Drax to choose to sculpt.

I'm also interested to see how EM go about sculpting/painting Wasp and her transparent wings.

Prowler, Pyro and Sunfire could really be great looking figs, and I'm still looking forward to seeing Jubilee!

X-Man and Nomad are also intriguing choices and one of the reasons I love this collections so much, because we're getting such a diverse range of characters from all over the MU. This collection certainly is one of a kind and EM really do spoil us!

In future I'm not sure I'd want to choose the whole extension each time, I'm personally happy to let EM choose the majority and suprise us, but picking 2-3 each extension or so wouldn't hurt :-)

Iain said...

I for one can't believe the figures that have been made so far. I mean there was that one, what was he called? He can things like spider, but he's actually a man? Wears red and blue, sticks to walls, gets stuck in the bath. Fights bad guys like Prof Squid and the Puce Gnome or something like that. What a lame character! I mean how many comics has he been in?
But you ask or the bearded bystander who appeared in panel 6 on page 15 of Iron Man issue 274, and they don't want to know, even though he is so cool and loads of people want him (I know because I made them up). It's just one law for some and another law for the rest of us. I think we should bring in the Electoral Reform Society or something.

Well done on the polls GR. I didn't get the all characters I wanted up either, but that's democracy. You do a sterling job on stuff like this and on the SHFF

Fantastic blog, Rich. I think if a lot of people stopped whingeing about things and took notice they would realise what a fantastic job you and the rest of EM are doing. Things like the blog and sneak previews which are over and above merely making a range of figurines

ozzie said...

@ Lux
Have you ever thought that there are people buying te collection from the beginning, posting on various forums who are really happy with that line up?
Even if some characters i voted for don't get in, i RESPECT votes from everybody.

Unknown said...

The sad thing about this and that we don't have three amazing figurines of amazing characters:
Lockjaw, the Inhuman's dog;
a special pack of Power Pack;
a Howard the Duck figurine.

Extended please!

Killer Frost said...

I too am not thrilled by the majority of the extension choices. I really think the polls should not be a regular thing unless its for just one or two characters as those 8 choices with the exception of Pyro are all out of the 1960's and 1970's. Some newer characters would be nice.
The only figures im looking forward too are Jubilee, Gorgon and Pyro. I agree that there are an awful lot of Z-List characters in this 20.
I dislike that there are only four girls one of which (Jocasta) is a fairly unremarkable character. I think girls like Arachne, Rachel Grey, Sage, Moondragon, Typhoid Mary, Magik and Domino would of been cooler choices.
I think that were all welcome to comment and people should accept that not everyone is exactly thrilled by these particular extension choices. ;)

Ryan Maxwell said...

Thanks to Richard for maintaining the blog and to Grim and the fantastic group of admins and mods on the figurine forum. You guys put a lot of work into the polls, and I really appreciate it.

While I only voted for a couple of the winners, I certainly can't complain that the fans of the collection want different pieces than me. I just hope that getting so many X-Men and Avengers in this extension is good news for groups like Alpha Flight and the Masters of Evil/Thunderbolts down the road.

jimbob said...

Exciting blog.there is a bit on the shff where you can let off steam,i think you can say whatever you want on that i think?

The polls is a good guide on what we want.some categories had more votes than others.

I like 4 out of the 8 of the final choices,but will still buy all 8 tho.Its fair that people have had a chance on picking the final eight,ive really enjoyed the poll its been fun!

Excellent job Grim on the polls.Hope eaglmoss has got you on the pay roll.You seem to know what we want.Id be happy if eaglemoss would let you and your team pick all futre figs.we would have a good palance with the teams.

I hope that eaglemoss see on this blog on how passionate we are about this colection.And maybe can grow this business on a longer term
bases.

Also how is the double pack sales going,it would be good to have Ka-Zar and Zabu as a double pack.

Keep up the hard work Grim and Richard!

buffduffdan said...

Well I was quite happy with those results :D The more obscure characters weren't the poll choices but more the EM staff ones as some characters would never get in otherwise and to spice it up a bit.

Also quite interesting about the mag covers, never knew there was so much work involved so makes you appreciate them that bit more :)

Anonymous said...

Killer Frost, with regards to there only being 4 females in the 121-140 extension you do realise there's only 3 females in the current 81-100 that we're currently in?

As for all of the chosen 8 coming form the 60s and 70s, that may be so, but the majroity are still involved in the MU today.

Seeing how talk has once again gone back to double packs I'd like to quickly lend my support once again to Cloak&Dagger and Aurora&Northstar doublepacks which have been mentioned quite a bit before.

Mr J said...

There are clearly people who aint happy with the extension list as a whole but im sure most of us have atleast 1 or maybe 2 characters were happy about been there. Im really happy about 2 choices and ok about 1 more so ill be buying about 3 of the figurines from this extension.
I have in the past brought the D-List characters but if i did that this extension id end up buying the majority of them :(
I dunno its almost ashame that another 5 characters cannot be added i mean with the current 20 expansion list if you added in KARNAK, FIRESTAR, TYPHOID MARY, CANNONBALL and VULCAN im sure lots of people new and old would be very happy.
Alot of collectors like to have "newer characters (Vulcan)" along with female and current upto date characters.

Anonymous said...

You said you'd answer any questions about stuff in your next blog, so i thought i'd ask one :P What sort of image sizes and resolutions do you use when creating the magazine. Do you use standard print size (300dpi) all the way through or do you scan the images at a higher resolution then scale them down for printing?

Thanks in advance :)

Anonymous said...

Whats the big thing with Vulcan? The guy has a grand total of 31 appearances, not even sure you could make a magazine with that.

As for the others well I'm pretty sure they'll all get their chance soon enough.

Mr J said...

Hi King Chris,
There's enough good info on Vulcan to get a magazine out for sure! Richard also included him in the X-Men villains list for voting. Vulcan is a very new character but he's really something special. Marvel have been building this guy up big time hes the big new X-Men villain and also the big new Cosmic villain.
The upcoming war between Vulcan and Blackbolt is gonna be huge. Hes a really interesting character and been the 3rd Summers brother only help his lineage. The fact that hes so current and becoming so important in the Marvel Universe makes me believe he would be a great addition.

Anonymous said...

Vulcan is just a terrible character. And that's coming from someone who loves the X-Men and modern Marvel/X-Men comics. His retcon intro was awful, and really tarnished the great story that introduced the "All-New, All-Different" team. And along with Danger began the bastardification of Professor X.

Thankfully the results of the 2-Pack poll for Xavier and the recent poll show that there's really very little huge support for him. Seriously, 11th place.

If I they were to offer him, it would hopefully be in a 2-Pack with Deathbird. Since then at least there would be one character that would be worth owning.

Anonymous said...

Basically....

Vulcan is Marvel's equivelent to Crybaby Super-Emoboy Prime.

Cornish_Damo said...

Many thanks Richard for letting the SHFF host a great poll and I'm pleased to see such a fantastic lineup. kudos to you fella!

However, I cannot hide my shock and dismay at the disgraceful comments left by some people on this blog - its a great lineup, whats not to love??

So you didn't get your choice made, it just wasn't the most popular. I've been campaigning for Sauron for what seems like an age and he fell short at the end by 4 votes - am I worried?? Not at all (Now that he made runner up, You can stick him on the specials list right Rich :D).

So you feel that there are too many third string characters through?? This is a good thing! It means there are plenty of top flight characters to be done in future extensions! I'm certain there will be more because there is still so much passion for this collection and I truly hope it continues and proves to be EM's greatest success story to date!

It is a shame that people felt the need to cheat, on a positive spin this is indicative of the aforementioned passion, but obviously cannot be permitted and I'd also like to thank the clever bunch at SHFF for running it so well and working so hard - you deserve medals guys, but I'm tight so you'll have to put up with a thankyou :D

What everyone here I believe needs to bear in mind is that we are extremely lucky to be allowed to have a say in these things. Richard doesn't have to, he's not obligated to us and he actually puts in a lot of his own time and effort providing us with exclusive updates etc. Letting us choose characters to go in is virtually unheard of, so please, negative comments don't serve a purpose. If you don't like something there are better ways of putting it across - politely and with good reasoning at least.

Again, many thanks Richard for a wonderful opportunity and long may the collection continue.

jimbob said...

Can you update us on Double packs and any more confirmed specials on the next blog pleas.

Nightstar1441 said...

The magazine work is much more intense than I imagined - what are some of the problems you encounter when putting together a magazine - is it only getting the right images or are their issues with content?

Nightstar1441 said...

Also want to thank you for all the efforts EM puts into this collection.

It's not every publisher that allows their fans to have a say.

The passion expressed is genuine and the fans have been ravenous for such a deep collection for some time now.

I want to personally thank you for some of the choices in the extension.

I am a huge Nomad fan. When I saw that he was being included, I was esctatic.

He is such a deep and interesting character with so many different ties to the Marvel Universe.

I know it must be difficult reading how some fans may not be all that enthusiastic about the choices of the extension.

Truth be told - I think the choices are fantastic. It covers great depth and all aspects of the Marvel Universe.

The key to this collection is patience. The longer it goes - the more fantastic characters will be made and I really do want them all.

From Alpha Flight to Firestar to Rocket Racoon to Sauron.

Thank you from this die hard marvel fan for giving us a collection like this.

Covenant said...

I also want to thank Richards and the rest of the EM crew for making such a fantastic collection and the effort you put in this blog with the very interesting insider information. Poll was great for me - come on if you love comics and the Marvel universe you must at least respect and accept ALL the characters.

So again a big thanks from Germany and I hope the collection will last until 300+.

Webs said...

Richard and EM work very hard to produce a great collection and one not so great extension list does not take away from there hard work.
Lets hope there is another extension as id love to have:

Stingray
Karnak
Triton
Ronan
Cannonball
Marvel Girl
Forge
Spiral
Toad
Grey Gargoyle
Destiny
Tigershark
Hydroman
Moondragon
Magik
Deathbird
Scarlet Spider
Jackal
Northstar
Longshot

I personally would take that list over the 20 extension we got any day! theres lots of great characters left lets just hope they get made. More popular characters over the no-bodies for sure. I know there has to be a mix for well known characters and lesser know characters but this extension has to many no-mark characters.

Jacadoo said...

Richard all the power to you and the team at EM - I think the blog shows the passion in which the subscribers hold each and every extension. Now we have the extension list how about selecting one of the figurines and providing a running commentry on the development?

From concept drawing - approval - first skulpt through approval and paint, I think many of the guys would appriciate.

Any sign of an update to the main sight as the collection has surpassed the images on display?

Anyway can't wait for the next poll.

The Grim Reaper said...

Another great list there WEBS, and YES I would buy those in the collection without a doubt....granted there are some i'm not overly familiar with but that is part of the fun - learning about them. Just looking at the poll results again, a lot of those you mention did pretty well, others (Destiny for example picked up 8 votes) didn't fare so good.

Is this because only 8 collectors wanted her or because only 8 felt they wanted her ahead of some of the other characters in the list?

I honestly can't answer that, but what I can say is the next 20 (chosen by the majority vote and Eaglemoss Staff) are going to make for a great addition to my collection and I look forward to getting more in the collection in the future; including those in your list.

Anonymous said...

We don't need a next poll. We have already the 2th and 3th choices of the people.

Anonymous said...

And sorry for my english....

pirate adam said...

ok so does no one else think the ALL FATHER ODIN deserves to be in a special or even a mega special. lets face it he is a major marvel charcter and father of the mighty one, and when you look at some of the other characters i believe he must be included. im not moanin but come on Rich please
please lets have an Odin edition.
oh and is the Gladiator thats included the Shiar Gaurd or the daredevil villain.
thanks
Piarate Adam

Thor8 said...

Hey pirate adam,I'm with you! I definetly believe and agree that old daddy Odin indeed deserves a "special" figurine. And while we're on the subject of "specials" How about a Destroyer an Excecutioner and a Battle Armour Thor figurine. I think A warriors three triple pack would be nice,or you can break it down to a couple of double packs.(Fandral and Hogun) and (Balder and Volstag) "FOR ASGAAAAAARD"

Anonymous said...

Re: Odin...

I'd say wait for the Thor movie, he can be offered as a tie-in. Like hopefully Blob will surprise us and be offered as a tie-in for X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Mr J said...

Id like to ask Richard if there's any chance we will see a special of The Blob during 2009?
Blob would be such a great character to have I think alot of collectors would really love to have him. :)

Vote Blob! ;)

Anthony Stark said...

Hey guys, when the collection is officially extended through to #141-160 (Probably just a matter of time), it would be really great to just take the 2nd & 3rd place characters from the poll and just run with them instead of creating a new bunch of polls. Everybody has already voted for their favourites anyway. Someone mentioned this idea before on the blog and I think it`s a great idea that should be given serious consideration.

jimbob said...

I agree with Stark,we dont need another poll.The 2nd and 3rd choices should be included in the futre extension.

Or let Grim and his team choose futre figs.

We can make 200 easy!

The Grim Reaper said...

agree totally with first part of your post AS, and agree to some extent with the second part. only snag is that not all categories were represented in the polls as some branches (for want of a better word) were already catered for by the EM staff choices.

SPIDEY (VILLAINS) and AVENGERS(ALLIES) are two branches that were not polled.

If / when a further extension happens, i'm pretty sure plenty of the poll runners-up should feature.....I can't see EM passing the chance to get figs out that they know for a fact will sell well ;-)


jimbob - we'd be more than happy to run polls again and it may be a wise move (if we did do it) to start afresh, omitting those that made it through and throwing a couple of fresh characters into the fray....reason I say this is something I briefly mentioned earlier....some voters may now have a different slant on things knowing what is confirmed and perhaps amend their choices. Maybe some are happy with just one inhuman (gorgon) so would cast their votes elsewhere rather than at triton and/or karnak....if that makes sense....or maybe Destiny who only got 8 votes may well have been the majorities 4th choice???; not many votes this time but could potentially pull in a 100+ votes if we ran it again....who knows without checking?

jimbob said...

Cheers Grim!

I can understand the outcome could be diffrent for the lower voted characters if we have the poll again.

Nice to have more names added in to the poll.

I would like a MARVEL WOMEN poll going,and mix it up a bit.Take ALPHA FLIGHT out of X-MEN poll and put them into another category and same with the others maybe?

Marvelbeast said...

Although I didn't get my favourites in the next extension I'm still very happy with the list. I did have a sulk that Power Pack and The Runaways didn't get far in the polls but if the CMFC continues for as long as I hope it does then one day , who knows? Maybe they will get the place they deserve.

I'm happy that the votes were fair and cheaters were weeded out. Although I really wanted The Runaways I wouldn't go as far as cheating to get them made. I'd rather convince people to read them and realise what they're missing. Maybe by the next time we're allowed another vote they'll be more fans.

As far as the list we got goes I'm happy that it was the majority votes that won through. It was sad that cheats on Richard's blog made it necessary for another site to have to put so much hard work into running the polls but at least it ended with the characters that people wanted most.

The hard work and all the time that the mods and admin staff at the Superherofigurine forum is appreciated by me. They don't get paid for what they did, they did it because they love the CMFC as much as the rest of us. It is due to the fans of the CMFC that we have as many characters as we have and I think that without that support we could've have easily ended with only 60 issues.

There are MANY other characters that still deserve to be made and with the support of the collectors and voters we can aim to get many more included.

Thanks for the extension and the work that went into creating the list.

I'm a subscriber so I will get all of them but even if I wasn't a subbie, I'd still be happy to buy all of them anyway. Sure I'd have loved all 20 to be characters that I chose personally but it's called "The Classic Marvel Figurine Collection", not "Marvelbeast's Classic Marvel Figurine Collection".

It would be great to be able to pick who I wanted, I'm sure that most of us would like to have complete control over what is made but there are thousands of us and because of that there has to be a fair way that characters are picked. Richard and EM were gracious enough to let customers pick who they wanted, we shouldn't ruin it by complaining because we didn't get everyone we wanted.

I have been very happy with all the figurines that RIchard and EM picked for us up to now but it was really nice to have a chance to get involved. If EM let us pick some more in future I'd be happy with that too.

Power Pack and the Runaways still have a chance of being made. Either by EM. Marvel or RIchard choosing to make them or by me convincing more people if we get another vote.

Oh but next time, please don't list Power Pack as individual characters. They don't stand a chance that way. They would be best as a team pack all on one base as they are little kids, they'd fit well on a special sized base. Also the magazine would be better if they shared it.

As for teh Runaways, well they'd be great as individual sculpts and they still look individual enough not to be mistaken as civilians.

Sorry just had to add that bit. Every vote counts. Plus for anyone who hasn't read them yet, you're missing a great read. Joss Whedon is currently writing them.

SOrry for the long post but I wanted to add my support for the votes and to thank RIchard.

I loved the magazine creation info too by the way. Nice to know what work goes into the series.