McFarlane Toys: The Walking Dead

[VLAGAS]

Hey guys,

new to this thread, I actually came here looking for some new pictures of the walking dead comic series 5 figures and instead heard the sad news about the 5" line discontinuing. Although admittedly happy hearing that at least the comic line will continue, which is ironic as I thought that was not selling as well as the TV line.

Anyway since you guys don't seem to have seen the new comic figures yet I thought I'd post them here for you:

Looks like the line up is:

OLDER NEGAN, awesome



GLENN STANDARD OUTFIT, finally!!



SHANE, what's up with the zombie head???



LYDIA, strange choice



Guessing each one will also come with a severed head on spike asswell - only just got to that part in the comic pretty shocked to see you knows who head / dead and have to wait till the next volume, so no spoilers please.

Looks like a pretty solid wave apart from Lydia, like I said before not very good pictures that's why I came here to look but anyway what do you lot think.

 

[Buttmunch]

Shane is a horrible choice considering how little he was in the comic before he died. Glenn is a decent choice, but I'd like him to come with a "Negan" head too. Lydia is too soon IMO and odd her mother was an exclusive and she's a regular wave figure. Negan is nice as long as he has a cleaned up head. Love the included severed heads. Wish the comic waves were larger than 4 figures though.

 

[Buttmunch]

For what its worth, here is a petition to bring back the 5" TV line:

petition: McFarlane pleas bring back The Walking Dead action figures in 5inch scale!

 

[KingGrayskull]

Inwouldnt be worried too much. They will either continue after a year by "public demand" without losing their face or a knock off team like First Gokin will take over.

With all those 5" figures out there and even the comic line continuing, there is also alot of material for customs. I am going to figure out 3D modelling anyway. This might be a nice motivation to add mising parts/heads for cheap over there at Shapeways. This can be a fun project too.

And lets be honest, the 7" look extremly well done.

@ Butmunch: Sure, cancelling the 5" is crap. But if I were you and were that deep into the line, I would buy the rest too. With the comic line continuing, you can always add something to the 5" shelf and the figures are not that expensive in the US are they? Personally I would not pay 25€ Per figure for a line with no future. But I have only collected the comic line anyway. Also dont skip the 7" and 10" if you would regret later. No need to make a statement with not buying. If we did that with MOTU, we would never have gotten so many figures (anybody remember the 200X line?).

 

[Dyson]

Todd just doubled down on Facebook and isn't budging. So that's that folks. I expect the 5" comic line won't last much longer either.

 

[WWEJedi]

Todd is dumb. I think he is a complete liar. When this line started... 6-7" figures were all the rage. They still are. This line should have been 7" from the start and if it was.... no one would be upset.

He says in that video he would feel wrong charging $18 for the 5" figures when they were $12... ummmm..... he likes to imply we know nothing about the "retail" side of things when he doesn't even know what his own figures are being charged for. Around me they range from $14-16 depending on the store. He sure doesn't feel bad about ending the 5" line though.

I would be willing to pay $18 for the 5" figures to continue. It is only a few more dollars.

Reading the comments on facebook.... it seems a great chunk of people will be passing on these 7" figures. I hope to see them rotting on shelves for months.

 

[RPM716]

I agree with the top line, but I am not sure abandoning Series 9 is the best option. To me, by not buying Series 9, it is proving McFarlane right and that there choice to end the 5" line was a good one. I think we should buy the **** out of series 9 and give the final wave very strong sales numbers. Then come the 7" line, don't buy it. Leave those to rot. Then maybe when they compare sale numbers of the 5" to 7", they will see the 5" sold better and realize the mistake they made.

While I'm still gonna be buying Series 9, I don't necessarily agree. If the sales were bad for the 5" line, maybe, but as others have pointed out the 5" line was doing fine. This isn't a case of replacing a poorly performing line with something that will do better, this is just a poor decision likely made to rectify the idiotic decision of making the line 5" to begin with. I hate that this line was 5" rather than 7" scaled for the first 9 series, but I rather the line be in scale with itself than with other lines.
My biggest problem is how they're changing the line. They don't seem to be simply upscaling the line, it seems more like making the 10" line in a smaller scale. If the articulation (and way they're articulated) stayed the same, I wouldn't be bothered. The problem is that it seems like they're just gonna be pre-posed figures with some articulation carelessly thrown in like their older lines and that's just beyond frustrating. Aside from the main 4 (Rick, Michonne, Carl, and Daryl) and maybe a figure here or there, I'm out if what they showed at Toy Fair is actually how the line is gonna turn out, which absolutely sucks because I loved this line.

 

[Buttmunch]

Yeah, I suppose there isn't much sense it passing on things in protest if McFarlane is going to be pig-headed and refuse to listen to the fans.

I agree this line should have started in their classic 7" format. The Rick and Michonne shown at Toy Fair are EXACTLY what I pictured McFarlane doing from the begining. Thats classic McFarlane afterall. It just seems so heartless to just scrap the 5" line they started with for the new scale. You're going to get some new collectors that wouldn't touch the 5" line, but I think there is going to be a lot more alienated collectors that would have bought the 5" line and many of those would have ALSO bought the 7" line in addtion. I still can't wrap my head around this. I mean if they could only support 2 figure lines and the building sets, why not axe the slightly-larger-than-the-new-line-but-done-in-the-same-style 10" figures?

Lets just hope we get lots of exclusives now since they said there is still the chance for those. Maybe an even a retailer exclusive wave? I wonder if Gamestop would be up for that? They don't have a ton of figure room in their stores, so the 5" line would fair better for them than 7" figures. We've got to get Negan somehow at least! I'm just not sure I'd be willing to let Target's butterfingers handle the survival of this line though after how poorly handled their Hershel was.

 

[Chockles]

That video was a joke.

The figures should had started with 7inch scale from the start. That I could agree on. Fine, we were given 5inches instead and sold on the idea at the time.
NINE series in and now he tells us the retailers ASKED him to change so he went and changed.

Bend over once and now bend over again! Way to stick to his roots! Thats the BS hes selling us on now.

That video just tells me he has no backbone at all!

So the retailers also ASKED him to kill off other 5inch lines? I dont hear that from anywhere at all, just the TV line. Why is that then? Sticking to his roots. Yeah right!

 

[Dyson]

I don't know that it was as much the retailers as he's implying it is. He said they just wanted higher value items. They could have easily added a build a figure/diorama or done 2 packs to achieve that. Honestly, this is classic Todd though. Through the years he's made decisions like this before. That seem to make zero sense to anyone at the time. People exploded but he stuck to his guns anyway. Personally I think this is a way for him to get a greater variety of characters like Spawn out there again. By mixing them in lines like Walking Dead, Assassins Creed or Gears of War.

If he is able to keep the 5" comic line a float which seems to go mostly through online or comic shops. He could easily take that same approach to the TV line as well. Its pretty clear its just not on his radar anymore.

 

[Chockles]

Ultimately, whether the retailers have any part in this, its his final decision. Its his own company. He can say whatever he wants since we only ever hear from one side.

We as consumers can only make any difference by buying them or not. After a few months, I think this will die down and people will eventually give in and buy it once they see the 7inch figures. Just my opinion, he still gets his way and still cash in.

Im not starting another walking dead line. If he kept the 5inch as well, then I would support the 7inch. I'll just finish the remaining TV series and then move on.
I do however like their Naruto and Mass Effect license. I wont keep my hopes up how deep those series will go, but at least I'll be starting them off at 7inches.

 

[Sachiel]

Apparently McFarlane doesn't remember the last time he did a 'dynamically posed' 6-7" line (not counting sports). It was Halo 3 (Legendary Collection). Very nicely detailed and painted with good poses. But there wasn't a second series while the 5" series had a long life. I wonder why?

Most action figures collectors don't want preposed staction figures. They want fully articulated figures they can pose how they like.

 

[Voice Reborn]

The lootcrate has one of those big head things also it's like rubbing salt in the wounds.

 

[Dyson]

I wonder if it would help to lean on Kirkman about the 5" line. I wonder if any change in sales will effect how much $$$ he gets.

 

[NoodleChow]

The lootcrate has one of those big head things also it's like rubbing salt in the wounds.

Was that confirmed?

 

[RPM716]

Was that confirmed?

Someone got theirs already and it does indeed come with a mini big head. You can get Rick, Daryl, or a Walker (an obnoxious concept for an exclusive like this):

 

[WWEJedi]

They didn't happen to show a comparison pic with the big head and 5" head did they? I would like to know if those heads are 5" scale to make customs.

 

[Dyson]

Paint looks better on that than the Rick I have. Hopefully I get decently painted Daryl.

 

[NoodleChow]

Someone got theirs already and it does indeed come with a mini big head. You can get Rick, Daryl, or a Walker (an obnoxious concept for an exclusive like this):

Yeah just saw pics of the Daryl one on FB. While I did kinda figure it'd be the mini big head, did not expect them to further blind bag it and make it these ones. Kind of a bummer.

They didn't happen to show a comparison pic with the big head and 5" head did they? I would like to know if those heads are 5" scale to make customs.

Was confirmed with one of McF peeps that they should be.

 

[Buttmunch]

Seriously? Exclusive blind bags we didn't even know we were supposed to by three of just to have the chance to get them all? What a low blow to an already crappy week from McFarlane. Can't even try hunting down the ones I need until mine arrive. Bah!