Better late than never...

Ok first sorry for lack of update yesterday, as Dan said I was a little busy and then we were lucky enough to see Iron Man 2 – which by the way is really good, if you liked the first one I recommend the sequel.

Anyway, there's a lot going down in the comments section and I thought I'd start with some answers.

This Year's Special order:

Fin Fang Foom – out
Cloak and Dagger – out on 20th May
Ronan the Accuser – 29th July
Sasquatch and Puck – Sept
Blob – Nov

Subscriber Specials

Definitely an interesting idea but at this stage it's nothing more. I do agree that it's good to reward the subscribers for their loyalty but I also understand that it would be slightly unfair to collectors who can not subscribe directly from us (some foreign markets) and collectors who've been with us from day one but gone through their newsagent. At the moment I believe that subscribers get a little bit of money off each special but it would be nice to reward them in other ways that don't mean non-collectors miss out and ebay sellers rub there hands. Perhaps additional gifts of plinths or binders could be done but this is something we'll have to discuss in detail here at Eaglemoss.

Frequency of Specials

I've noticed that a number of people have asked that we increase the frequency of specials. At the moment we're going to be keeping to 5-6 a year.

The reason for this can best be summed up by a phone call I received yesterday. I spoke to a collector who was considering/in the process of canceling his subscription because it was costing him too much each month. He collected Marvel and DC and basically pointed out that every month his package arrives with 4 normal figures and at least one special. With everyone tightening their belts, he simply couldn't afford this anymore. Now I know that he could cut down on specials or drop just one collection but (and I think the response to green Quicksilver backs this up) many collectors want all figures and are not happy to miss out.

The collector in question even suggested that if we kept to just 3 specials a year he'd probably keep collecting. Now I'm not suggesting we're going to drop the number of specials, but we certainly don't want to increase their numbers so that they are no longer 'special'. There's definitely arguments on both sides for specials so it's important we balance this well.

Multi-Packs

As I've said before we're still uncertain about double and multi packs. It's not entirely correct to say that Prof X. & Lilandra or Ka-Zar & Zabu were failures and that's the reason we're not doing more. One of the main problems is the increase in the cost of manufacturing since the project began. The DC collection costs £6.99 per issue compared to Marvel's £5.99, so when looking at double packs, it's not just as simple as doubling the standard price, it may need to be double the DC price. Would you be happy to pay £13.99?

The other thing is the type of double pack. A lot of great ideas have been posted in the comments section for double packs. Some people have suggested that Prof. X and Ka-Zar did poorly because of the character choice. The problem is that one of the most requested double packs is Pyro and Avalanche and personally I wouldn't consider these anymore appealing to the casual buyer. I'm not saying they are a bad choice but as one commenter was suggesting that double packs (and specials in general) need to wow people walking into Forbidden Planet, then are Pyro and Avalanche or Northstar and Aurora going to do that? Not saying they won't but maybe a Young Avengers or modern double pack would do a better job. If I announced that the next double pack was Iron Lad and Patriot I think there would be a huge uproar amongst a lot of collectors – I'd love to see the comments ;)

We need to keep a good balance to the entire collection to try and get casual buyers involved but also give the long term collectors what they want.

Over the course of this collection we've tried a number of different types of special. We've had the classic Hulk/Kingpin/Juggernaut type special, the mega specials, a movie special and the Abomination special. Each special seems to appeal to a different part of the community more and we really need to keep a good balance.

If we have a look at the DC collection we can see they've tried a few other specials such as the Batman on Bike and Superman Statue. These two specials have split the collectors right down the middle.

In short, I think it's important to try new things with the specials but not go too far away from how the collection started. Double packs are certainly a prospect for this collection and we're looking at putting more in.


New vs Old Characters

The debate on including the popular characters again in different poses or costumes is an interesting one. Of course, releasing a new Spider-Man figure and mag would ensure more sales in comic shops but from previous comments I think a lot of current subscribers would feel cheated. At the moment it's a very mixed message on this subject. It seems to me that a lot of current collectors are more interested in adding new characters than redoing old (but more popular) ones. Maybe I'm wrong (and that's what the comment section and forum is for) but it seems the majority are against repeating characters with the exception of some figures that people want redone – original Beast.

From our point of view it's important to keep a good mix of modern and old characters to ensure we get the best out of the Marvel Universe and don't alienate any collector. Just remember that the guys on the forum get to choose at least 3 characters for each extension. Last time the top four were: Spiral, Moondragon, Toad and Tigershark, so no really modern characters.

Anyway, I think that's enough ranting from my point of view, let me know what you think on the subjects, a friendly debate is always healthy.

Before I do go I'd like to leave you with the work in progress shots of Siryn (the comp winner's pick). I'll let the images do the talking.










P.S. Games workshop paints are best for the figures.

It is official

The Blob has made the collection.



And here's a better image of Sasquath and Puck, not yet final I'm thinking of two bases, we'll see what people prefer.



Bigger, better update due by Monday lunchtime.

Have a good one.

Mock me at your peril...

Hello again…

First up this week I have the duty to announce the next figure in the extension – Mockingbird.

An interesting character, Bobbi first appeared in Ka-Zar’s comics (in 1971) before joining SHIELD and later becoming the hero Mockingbird. To say she’s had an interesting history would be an understatement. After supposedly sacrificing her life to save Hawkeye and being sent to Mephisto’s realm, Bobbi resurfaced in the events of Secret Invasion. She’s a classic Avenger and helps build up the West Coast Avengers team.



PREVIEW
Our sneak peek for this update is a look at a Sasquatch figure. The image is from an early stage model of the character, focusing on the upper body. We’re working on Puck but have yet to decide if he’ll be included as a double pack (on a separate base or on the same base), or as a separate figurine.



The pose for Sasquatch was chosen after looking through virtually all Alpha Flight Vol.1 comics. We wanted to keep John Byrne’s original feel for the character and capture him in action. The character needs to show his animal side but not look too savage (after all Walter Langkowsk is a scientist). Obviously you can’t see the whole thing but I’ll aim to update again next week.

MINOR CHARACTERS...
I noticed a few mentions of Jameson and civilians in the comments section as well as the discussion on characters having enough history to fill a mag. First I’d like to say that Jonah Jameson has not been ruled out of the collection and is actually one of the characters that I think would be good for this extension. He’s not confirmed however, as there are just so many characters that deserve to be in this collection. As a huge Marvel Comics fan I want every character to get a spot. Of course, there are a few characters that I like more than others but when choosing who makes the extension I look to your comments as much or more than the team’s personal choices.

As far as filling the magazine goes, yes some of you are right that a mag can fit around a character and that the figurines are clearly the focal point of this collection. However, we do need to make sure a magazine is viable and that we don’t drastically change the format every issue. As a Marvel licensee, it is our duty to maintain the magazine and not stray too far from our original series concept. Of course this doesn’t mean we can’t adapt, we just need to make sure we don’t go too far off message.

Anyway, what this all means is that no character is truly impossible, but we need to make sure you and Marvel (they can veto a character) are happy with our choices. The general rule has been that a character needs about 30 decent comic appearances to definitely make the collection but as the collection has continued to grow we’ve made this about 20 comics. It really comes down to whether the character will make a good figure and is popular. Just bare with us, there are 1000s of Marvel characters to go through and every collector has slightly different tastes.

Keeping on this theme and playing a purely hypothetical game, which would you prefer in the collection at this point, a Runaways Character or a Guardians of the Galaxy character?

I’m not guaranteeing either but just how popular are the two groups?

Have a good weekend.

It's Magik you know, never believe it's not so...

I'm back again this week with another update. The combination of Easter bank holidays and a short break to Berlin means that although we missed an update last week, this one is going to be a little brief.

First up we have one new character for the extension – Magik.

She's a great character who has found herself at the center of some great moments in the history of the X-Men. I was so close to including her in the last extension but decided against her at the last moment. I'm sure there's going to be huge debate on the costume choice but for me it should be similar to the one shown in the image below (but without the battle damage).



On to a sneak peek and we have Klaw.



He's only really had one costume worth talking about so that was a no-brainer and the pose seems to be a classic one of his used in many handbooks.

Have a good weekend, longer update promised for next week.

Two New Figures

Hey guys I’m back with another update this week and as I missed last Friday I thought it only fair to announce two characters.

Into the extension:
First we have The Puppet Master. Classic Fantastic Four villain and alongside his step-daughter Alicia has contributed hugely to the FF Universe.



Right our second entry today is Shanna The She-Devil.



Figurine Preview:
This week’s figurine preview is Omega Red. We’ve worked hard on this figure trying to catch the energy he has and make sure the tendrils look good. We’ve missed our cut-off point for the character as the next special so that goes to Ronan, but it does mean that Omega Red will feature at some point in the not too distant future.




A few points:
Multi and double packs: I personally love the idea of getting as many figurines out as possible as I would love to get every member of the Marvel Universe. The problem we have with multi packs is finding an ideal price point and making sure we’re not flooding the market with too many figurines. A lot of people are looking at their budgets now and making cuts, I’d hate to lose collectors due to them not being able to afford all the multi-packs and so stopping their collection – there are a lot of collectors who want to collect the whole series but at an affordable price. I am still talking to my marketing department about double packs and at the moment the conclusion seems to be that two normal sized figures may not be as successful as one normal and one special sized character. What do you guys think?

I also wanted to address the issue of Fin Fang Foom breakages. First off, I can only apologise if you’ve received a broken figurine. When we first start the sculpting process we do consider if a figurine is going to have problems later down the line. We often check with the sculptor to make sure we can package the figure effectively, while retaining the pose and detail we want. Obviously some figures are going to be more problematic than others, but once we’ve sent the figure to the factory we do get it back in the packaging. Often we’ll throw the box around and put pressure on it, if we think it can be better or needs ties to hold the figure in place we make the changes.

There’s always the chance that something will get broken in the mail, but I am dismayed that after all we go through some figures end up with a high breakage rate. I’ve passed comments on to our production team and I’m hopeful that we can limit the numbers of broken figures you guys get. At the very least I will be testing the boxes more vigorously in the future.

Complete the Inhuman line-up...

Just a quick update this week to let you know that the next character in the extension is Karnak.



This probably shouldn't come as a surprise as he's pretty much the last Inhuman we need to complete the Royal Family (excluding Lockjaw).

Also just wanted to clarify the Northstar situation. If we don't get a double pack of the Alpha Flight twins, then Northstar will definitely be in this extension. So I guess that's two confirmed this week. Well at the moment...

More news next week.

Next up is...

Another Friday, another update – welcome back.

I really like the idea of announcing one character a week for the extension, so here’s this week’s inclusion – Hydroman.

And as far as I’m concerned there is really only one costume for this guy – check out below.



I know a lot of people are waiting for news on the double pack specials and especially the Northstar and Aurora pack. Unfortunately, all I can say is that at the moment this double pack is struggling to get off the starting line. We’re having difficulty sorting out certain elements, which I can’t really discuss. I haven’t given up hope but I want to make sure we get the best Beaubier twin-pack we can. I know it’s a bit vague and not the best news but be assured that the characters are not being overlooked. By the time the full list (up to 180) is announced we’ll have made a decision.

To answer some of the enquiries from French collectors, I’d just like to say that as far as I’m aware the collection is doing very well in France and should be following the UK all the way to 180 – including specials. I’ve asked my French counterparts to confirm this and I’m waiting for a definitive response. It’s true that the Specials are a little behind the English releases, but Kingpin should be out soon and I expect Fin Fang Foom to follow. Obviously I’ll update this blog if I hear different.

So on to this week’s figurine preview. I present the Scarlet Spider for your consideration.



Despite being a product of the Clone Saga (which had its critics) he was technically introduced to the Spidey-verse back in Amazing Spider-Man #149 (1975). I think he adds an interesting element to the Spidey mythos, and is one of only a few costumed allies of Peter Parker’s that are exclusive to his universe and well recognized. As far as the sculpt goes, we quickly decided that it was important to make sure he matched our original Spider-Man in terms of size (well duh! He is his clone, I hear you say) so we got the sculptor who produced the original to make Scarlet Spider as well.

We also decided that as a clone of Spidey, Scarlet’s pose needed to reflect the first Spider-Man sculpt but be a little different as well. It’s always hard to sculpt Spider-Man standing-up – in comics he’s always jumping around, clinging to walls or web-swinging. Our first Spider-Man sculpt was supposed to emphasise the power and responsibility of Spidey. I like to think that the subtle differences in the Scarlet Spider’s sculpt show the character differences between Ben Reilly and Peter Parker. Ben was more reckless (at least at first) and lacked Peter’s experience, he also has a less-polished fighting style and enjoyed brawling more than Peter (hence the raised fist).

Right, have a good weekend everyone.