NECA 7" Michael Keaton Batman (Movie Version) Figure!!!!

[Captain Britain]

Geez...

NECA has stated multiple times that they are looking for international outlets for theses... but they can't force retailers to buy them ya know? And they aren't set up to create an overseas store just to sell one exclusive figure/ blu-ray combo. They need a retailer willing to partner up and carry it overseas.

Do you honestly think they would like to leave money sitting on a table and they are doing this just to mess with people? No, of course not. That is silly. But they are at the mercy of whatever deals WB sets up for distribution on these (with them being region encoded) and which retailers buy in.

Sallah

But... they're selling it on ebay for ****'s sake. They don't need a distributor, they just need a bunch of padded envelopes.

If only Neca was based in Hong Kong, or some other country that's good at capitalism.

 

[sallah]

But... they're selling it on ebay for ****'s sake. They don't need a distributor, they just need a bunch of padded envelopes.

If only Neca was based in Hong Kong, or some other country that's good at capitalism.

But that isn't NECA... that's Warner Bros Home Entertainment's eBay store. Again- Not NECA's fault that they chose not to sell internationally (most likely due to region encoding on the disc).

Yeah, it sucks that there isn't an international outlet (yet). But it really isn't NECA's fault here...

Sallah

 

[Captain Britain]

But that isn't NECA... that's Warner Bros Home Entertainment's eBay store. Again- Not NECA's fault that they chose not to sell internationally (most likely due to region encoding on the disc).

Yeah, it sucks that there isn't an international outlet (yet). But it really isn't NECA's fault here...

Sallah

How hard can it be? I don't feel inclined to make excuses for a company that can't do what some guy in his home office could do - bag up a load and ship them, having binned the blu-ray to save on the shipping costs.

If they can't sell these overseas via ebay they're not trying hard enough.

 

[trans8010]

NECA isnt selling these. Legally they cannot. They made a deal with WB to sell these for them thats how the loophole works. They manufactured the toy and shipped them to WBCP for distribution. With that said all NECA is doing is producing the figure and spreading the word around. Your beef is with WB not NECA.

 

[sallah]

How hard can it be? I don't feel inclined to make excuses for a company that can't do what some guy in his home office could do - bag up a load and ship them, having binned the blu-ray to save on the shipping costs.

If they can't sell these overseas via ebay they're not trying hard enough.

Again- The ebay store is NOT run by NECA. They made a deal with WB to get the figure made... The only way around the licensing deal in place with Mattel was to make it a bonus add-on for WB's Blu-Ray release. NECA doesn't really have any say on how that is distributed, marketed, carried, etc. That is WB's decision.

So while it may sound as simple as boxing something up... NECA doesn't have the rights to do an end-run around WB on their own product. This isn't like one of their standard figures... This is a WB Blu-Ray release that happens to include a NECA figure.

Look at it like this- If Post cereal made a deal with Mattel to make a Hot Wheels car for them to put in boxes of cereal... Mattel wouldn't really have a say in what stores carried that cereal, nor would they be going out finding ways & places to sell the cereal themselves. They would just make the car and send it over to Post. That is the same sort of deal here... Except NECA actually really does care about its customers, so they are doing everything they can to get more outlets in on it.

Sallah

 

[franpincho]

Again- The ebay store is NOT run by NECA. They made a deal with WB to get the figure made... The only way around the licensing deal in place with Mattel was to make it a bonus add-on for WB's Blu-Ray release. NECA doesn't really have any say on how that is distributed, marketed, carried, etc. That is WB's decision.

So while it may sound as simple as boxing something up... NECA doesn't have the rights to do an end-run around WB on their own product. This isn't like one of their standard figures... This is a WB Blu-Ray release that happens to include a NECA figure.

Look at it like this- If Post cereal made a deal with Mattel to make a Hot Wheels car for them to put in boxes of cereal... Mattel wouldn't really have a say in what stores carried that cereal, nor would they be going out finding ways & places to sell the cereal themselves. They would just make the car and send it over to Post. That is the same sort of deal here... Except NECA actually really does care about its customers, so they are doing everything they can to get more outlets in on it.

Sallah

Thanks for explaining this a million times Sallah. But I think people will still blame NECA, regardless of facts and reason.

Can't wait to watch your contributions on the BD, btw!

 

[sallah]

Can't wait to watch your contributions on the BD, btw!

Thanks man! Don't get your hopes up too high though... I was actually surprised that they didn't ask me for copies of more interesting stuff (like the video press kit or the preview video). I wish they would have given me free reign instead of asking for certain specific items... but what can you do. I haven't even seen it myself in the finalized version yet, so I am pretty stoked as well.

Sallah

 

[The-Dark-Knight]

While I understand its not neca at fault. I do think its terrible wb seem to think theres no market for this outside the USA. The company makes each of their blu rays in multiple formats, I don't see why this should be any different.

If they don't release this worldwide its going to find its way over here, yet at inflated scalper prices, money that wb could gave had.

 

[trans8010]

While I understand its not neca at fault. I do think its terrible wb seem to think theres no market for this outside the USA. The company makes each of their blu rays in multiple formats, I don't see why this should be any different.

If they don't release this worldwide its going to find its way over here, yet at inflated scalper prices, money that wb could gave had.

It's obvious that Warner Bros. was only attached to marketing this figure to gain a profit off a disc that before now wasn't in demand. This was not looked upon as a normal action figure. WB had no idea or was just blind to the demand outside the states. Whoever thought of a premium crossing continents before now?

 

[Bustajesse]

But that isn't NECA... that's Warner Bros Home Entertainment's eBay store. Again- Not NECA's fault that they chose not to sell internationally (most likely due to region encoding on the disc).

Yeah, it sucks that there isn't an international outlet (yet). But it really isn't NECA's fault here...

Sallah

While it sucks for international folks, there are work arounds.

I am in Canada so I couldn't purchase this directly with my regular Ebay account. I use a middle man shipping company (Shipito) that gives me a USA address (They are legit, I have ordered a bunch of stuff from the WB Shop).

I then created an American Ebay account and an American Paypal account so I could buy this and have it shipped to my US mailbox. Sure I will have to pay for shipping to Canada and a small fee (like $2) but I will still have this cheaper than secondary prices and I have piece of mind knowing I will be getting one. Is it fair? No, but crying about it isn't going to change anything. I took matters into my own hands and got me a Goddamn Batman.

 

[Otomofan]

Yeah I'm in Japan and almost crapped my pants when I saw it. Ordered it immediately and had it sent to a friend in Seattle.

If you're on this board, you're part of the figure collecting community. If you haven't made friends with at least ONE person that could have helped you out, is that NECA's fault?

 

[Captain Britain]

While I understand its not neca at fault. I do think its terrible wb seem to think theres no market for this outside the USA. The company makes each of their blu rays in multiple formats, I don't see why this should be any different.

If they don't release this worldwide its going to find its way over here, yet at inflated scalper prices, money that wb could gave had.

I agree, and i didn't like the tone of Neca's statement. Addressing US fans without saying anything to international fans feels dismissive. If there are other statements I've missed then fair enough, if anyone has them please post a link.

Ebay is a global organisation, that's why I don't get the inability to sell these abroad, no matter what the deal is with WB and Mattel. It would take a little bit of work to offer international shipping but it's doable and there's no contractual issues that say they can't sell these abroad.

Funnily enough, there might be an issue with a cereal premium like the one Sallah described to do with shipping foodstuffs abroad! However, nothing stops them from sending a blu-ray from one country to another. It's just a question of the will being there. As a buyer I could then take a chance on that figure being available here later on at a lower price.

 

[Otomofan]

I think the issue here is that there IS something stopping them from sending Blu rays to other countries. They are region coded for a reason. To maximize the profits of the studio by selling them at different prices in different countries. If this were someone like bbts that's no problem, but these are supposedly coming directly from WB. They aren't gonna ship their American coded products to other countries. They want you to buy the properly region locked discs. The figure is an afterthought.

 

[Captain Britain]

I think the issue here is that there IS something stopping them from sending Blu rays to other countries. They are region coded for a reason. To maximize the profits of the studio by selling them at different prices in different countries. If this were someone like bbts that's no problem, but these are supposedly coming directly from WB. They aren't gonna ship their American coded products to other countries. They want you to buy the properly region locked discs. The figure is an afterthought.

I take your point... but still, its ebay, there's no reason not to ship them abroad, and anyway, many people have players that can play foreign discs. Anyone abroad who doesn't want the discs can just bin them, but at least overseas fans would have the chance to buy them. I'd rather buy them that way if they're not going to be able to do any kind of deal abroad with properly coded discs.

 

[sallah]

I take your point... but still, its ebay, there's no reason not to ship them abroad, and anyway, many people have players that can play foreign discs. Anyone abroad who doesn't want the discs can just bin them, but at least overseas fans would have the chance to buy them. I'd rather buy them that way if they're not going to be able to do any kind of deal abroad with properly coded discs.

The region encoding is the exact reason for them not to ship abroad. Region encoding isn't something they do just for fun. It is a system established by studios/ film distributors to manage multiple aspects of a film's release, including pricing, ratings, content, advertisements, release date, etc. If this auction were being run by an individual, yes, conceivably they could just ignore it and ship it anywhere... but this is being handled (at least in part) by WB itself... So to expect to them to just ignore the system that they themselves are a part of and rely on in an effort to make sure people get a bonus action figure is unrealistic. They aren't going to just make exceptions on the system, regardless of which means they use to distribute.

But if for some reason they did decide to ignore the encoding system that they themselves strictly enforce... They would be asking for trouble. Sure, you know it is encoded and won't play there unless you get a region-free player- But I would say the majority of the general public is not aware of that. Shipping something they know will not play for most customers in a certain region would be a customer service nightmare. Talk about getting slammed by negative feedback (I mean look at the ridiculous negs they already received). It just wouldn't be worth the time and effort to handle all those situations.

Sallah

 

[shanghei]

They are listing a bunch of batman merchandise now

 

[The-Dark-Knight]

You know, if anyone wants to help me out and order this then post it to me I'll love you forever.


Worth a try right?

 

[Captain Britain]

The region encoding is the exact reason for them not to ship abroad. Region encoding isn't something they do just for fun. It is a system established by studios/ film distributors to manage multiple aspects of a film's release, including pricing, ratings, content, advertisements, release date, etc. If this auction were being run by an individual, yes, conceivably they could just ignore it and ship it anywhere... but this is being handled (at least in part) by WB itself... So to expect to them to just ignore the system that they themselves are a part of and rely on in an effort to make sure people get a bonus action figure is unrealistic. They aren't going to just make exceptions on the system, regardless of which means they use to distribute.

But if for some reason they did decide to ignore the encoding system that they themselves strictly enforce... They would be asking for trouble. Sure, you know it is encoded and won't play there unless you get a region-free player- But I would say the majority of the general public is not aware of that. Shipping something they know will not play for most customers in a certain region would be a customer service nightmare. Talk about getting slammed by negative feedback (I mean look at the ridiculous negs they already received). It just wouldn't be worth the time and effort to handle all those situations.

Sallah

Let's just agree to disagree. I still think the informal way they've chosen to sell this - through ebay - gives them the wiggle room to sell this overseas despite it being region specific. But... enough from me on this subject.

BTW have you read Blockbuster by Tom Shone? A great chapter or two on Batman '89.

 

[nesar1980]

While it sucks for international folks, there are work arounds.

I am in Canada so I couldn't purchase this directly with my regular Ebay account. I use a middle man shipping company (Shipito) that gives me a USA address (They are legit, I have ordered a bunch of stuff from the WB Shop).

I then created an American Ebay account and an American Paypal account so I could buy this and have it shipped to my US mailbox. Sure I will have to pay for shipping to Canada and a small fee (like $2) but I will still have this cheaper than secondary prices and I have piece of mind knowing I will be getting one. Is it fair? No, but crying about it isn't going to change anything. I took matters into my own hands and got me a Goddamn Batman.

I live in Dhaka, Bangladesh and got a friend in the U.S. to buy it off eBay (he's going to Fedex it to me). The Kenner Keaton Batman was the first Batman figure I ever owned. Since 2007 I've been waiting for a 6-7 inch Keaton Batman, and bought two sixth scale customs (now sold; later they made the Hot Toys one). I once paid a guy $250 to make a custom DCUC Keaton Batman but he messed me around for months (luckily I got my money back). A week ago I got the video game figure (a friend is repainting it at the moment to movie colors). But there was no way on Earth I was not going to buy this Blu-ray figure. It's a dream come true.

 

[sallah]

Just confirmed by NECA... Toys R Us will have a limited quantity of the figure/ blu-ray combo pack in stores next week.

Sallah