Savage World: ThunderCats

Mark M · Sep 24, 2019

Cobrala said: ↑

I think licensing plays a role in that.
They probably have noncompetes with Playmates, Mattel, etc. and not exactly a “full license”.
The retro style stuff is under a license similar to Funko Pops or Loyal Subjects and they get the license to retail that because it doesn’t compete.
I bet Mattel still has the retail license for 7 inch TCats. They don’t produce them because they have a hard enough time getting shelf space for their good selling figures. Walmart seems content with empty shelves or restricting shelf space to reliable sellers so they can devote more space to cheap products that may have a slower turn.
And I bet Super7 (and to some extent NECA and Funko) don’t pursue retail licenses because of limited shelf space they’d have to compete for AND because it would be expensive.
My hunch with Super7 is that they probably seldom even get master licenses but license figures individually and pay only upon preorder. I doubt they ever plunk down tens of millions upfront for a master license, which means you don’t have overstock or reorders for retailers.
Click to expand...

I don't think Super 7 go after master toy licences because they can't be relied upon to deliver a product on time to capitalize on demand. They can't even get a small number of niche products on time to customers just selling them via pre-orders.
One of Mattel's biggest recent mistakes was not producing action figures for the new She-Ra cartoon.. Instead Super 7 made 2x action figures and didn't even release them at retail.
I wouldn't be surprised if Mattel still had some retail licence for Thundercats. I think they may still have some involvement since Super 7 are using the moulds etc for Thundercats.
NECA do have retail presence though with their various Aliien, horror and video game licences.
NECA made some awesome Conan figures several years ago...but they were basically statues. Just imagine what they would be like now with their more articulated Ultimate toys.
At least Nickelodeon are smart and let more than on company produce merchandise to keep fresh interedt in the TMNT brand.

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Savage World: ThunderCats

Mark M Thunderian Legend

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