My last article definitely hit a nerve with some collectors—especially those of you that are hardcore Funko ReAction collectors. And you're ALL correct about me not getting it…and I still don't. I don't get buying something for the sake of it being ironic or the ability to justify something cheap looking and then be happy with the end result. Maybe it's a millennial thing, I dunno. But I think I know WHY I don't get it.
I'm frugal with my money and when you have a hobby that requires room for a lot of high dollar expenditures, you're a little particular about where that money goes. Fifteen years ago the 1/6 scale bug bit me and all other styles of figure collecting (vintage, 3 ¾-inch, vinyl, Japanese, or artist driven) have taken a back seat. The problem with 1/6 scale collecting is that for most collectors, it's the end-all be-all of styles. When done right, the result should be the most accurate representation of the character that exists. Every inch of the figure should be meticulously and painstakingly represented. The 1/6 scale Snake Plissken from Sideshow, though flawed, is still the sweetest version of Snake, so why does it make any sense to buy what is as interesting looking as the coil my dog left me in the backyard? Why downgrade? I'll save that $10 for something I find more interesting, but that's just me. And that's just it—beauty is in the eye of the beholder and part of that beauty is tied very succinctly to our own personal costs.
Look at the two most famous villains in American cinema: Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees. It seems crazy now, but we never had figures of those two characters until Todd McFarlane created the Movie Maniacs line. I loved the McFarlane Movie Maniacs when they debuted because I always wanted figures of my two favorite slashers. At the time McFarlane was on top of his game and it seemed that everything he did was gold, but fast forward 20 years and you can't count the number of licensed versions of Freddy and Jason that have been released—some of a higher quality, some not so much. I held onto the Movie Maniacs until I felt better quality versions were released, which turned out to be the 1/6 Sideshow versions. Once I had those, I sold the Movie Maniacs. The Sideshow versions aren't the most accurate in 1/6 scale, but to get a figure that is MORE accurate, I'd have to buy a custom version which would cost well over $300 OR step down a scale and at least replace the Movie Maniac with a more articulate NECA figure. With those two slasher characters being a licensing juggernaut, I'm fine with just waiting until some other company (or Sideshow again) goes back to the well (or furnace or lake in this example) and decides to produce a better 1/6 version of those characters. What I may feel is a quality toy, you may feel completely differently about. That's what makes all of us collectors unique. But my bigger point is that just because you can turn out a figure, doesn't necessarily mean you should and that's not good for the collector community as a whole.
These days the action figure aisles at Wal-Mart or Target contain different versions of the same licenses on a regular basis. Outside of which film or animated show or video game the action figure line is promoting, it's the same characters with new retooling and different packaging. You have Marvel, DC, Transformers, Star Wars, GI Joe, WWE, Disney/Pixar, Anime, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Sure there is and ebb and flow with which characters are highlighted and whether or not the media requires a toy line, but you can now walk into any store with a toy section and buy Darth Vader or Spider-Man or Batman at any given time. That wasn't always the case. Maybe it’s because these characters are more engrained in the pop culture subconscious or maybe it’s because the adults that were into those franchises now have kids and want to give them the same toys, but thanks to our consumerist society it is now a near requirement to stock those toys because at any given moment those properties can bring in dollars from a merchandise stream. When was the last time you saw a completely new action figure line that had no comic, video game, television or movie tie-in? You won't because there is no guarantee that they will sell because if the consumer is not being inundated with the lights and sounds and story that go with that static toy, they apparently will have no interest in that toy. And you can blame George Lucas for that.
We all know how crazy Uncle George retained the rights to the characters of his universe; therefore building the empire he has today—not only with the Star Wars mythos, but with ILM and Lucasfilm as well. Star Wars wasn’t the first movie to make licensed figures, but Lucas set a precedent that may or may not have done more harm than good. Every sci-fi film after wanted to be the next Star Wars, but more importantly, every blockbuster was supposed to be the next new franchise that could push not just toys, but Doritos and Diet Coke. Video games, McDonald’s tie-ins, cereal, cartoon spin-offs, lunch boxes, and apparel are hawked as well, but the effects are more than the stuff on the shelf or peg.
Take Batman & Robin for example...please. Tim Burton wanted Batman Returns to be darker than his original, but Warner Brothers wanted it to be light enough to sell toys. He declined to change the tone of his film and WB felt the movie was received less favorably because of it. Kenner was so slack in 1992 they just re-casted the Super Powers Penguin in black and red and tried to pawn it off as the Danny Devito version. Returns still had plenty of merch surrounding it. I actually still use the McDonalds/Coca-Cola Catwoman cup regularly—yeah I like driving from Michelle Pfeiffer. Fast-forward to “Batman 3” and Burton walked to do Superman Lives with Nic Cage. Enter Joel Schumacher who had no problem camping it up—and look at the results: a Batman Forever glassware set from McDonalds, which led us down the path to Batman & Robin, which then gave us Bat-nipples, so…that’s how big the pull for merch is by the movie studio—enough to put George Clooney in the Bat-suit and put nipples on Batman and ruin a franchise.
In the end what we buy as collectors comes down to our deep personal desire to own that item. We all collect different stuff and that is what makes the community diverse and fun, but as a collector I’m bothered by the amount of stuff that is produced that has no definable audience. The sheer amount of product lines stores like Hastings or BBTS.com stock on a regular basis blow me away and I worry that could contribute to their demise, simply because there’s not enough people buying it, which in turn hurts the industry. Remember Wall-E? The point of that movie is the overconsumption. The point is that we’ll all end up living on piles of garbage—piles of poorly done 3 ¾-inch Rocketeers by ReAction.
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