The Impossibility of Gentleman Ghost
 

I originally posted this on Hiss Tank but I think here it may be more relevant

The Impossibility of Gentleman Ghost and Mattel
Its very possible you found this Snipe of a figure at your local retailer, sadly most of us collectors of DCUC never even saw Wave 8 at retail much less this single elusive figure.

I have a Theory as to why this is.

Mattels Quality control on this line historically has been crap.
Bad or sticky joints, terrible paint apps, scale issues, cheap plastic , you name it its ran the Gambit of toy QC issues

the Gentleman ghost , while to the unaware at first seems like a very very simple fig is in fact very complicated, White paint apps are extremely difficult, add in the clear parts, the phasing effects, the floating hat and monocle, and this fig is a potential nightmare for a company paying pennies for tiny little asian women to manufacture. add in the aforementioned QC issues from above and you have a reeking pile of plastic doody.

Now lets add some add fuel to this theory, around the same time we were supposedly going to get wave 8, we received the Worlds Greatest Superhero wave, which was kinda out of left field. Add that to the seemingly endless amounts of wave 7 , a substantial price increase and the other figures from this wave showing up now in case assortments. It would seem to me to point at Mattel having to trash the greater part of this line.

Every time I mention anything disparaging about the availability of these figures on Matty's Face book there is always some Dbag suckup Like a trained monkey screaming "Its the retailers! complain to them!" well ladies and gents I claim shenanigans.
I posted this theory on matty's face book.. and wow! it was removed!

hmm. thats a tad suspect to me!

anyway just needed to vent, I'm still looking for the ever elusive giganta pieces for the BAF, and refuse to pay the ridiculous prices for it on ebay (upwards of 40 bucks!!!)

Happy Hunting , and use your head look through the lies

J

It is entirely possible that Mattel is no longer including Gentleman Ghost in future case assortments, but that in no way would explain why the retailers in my area don't have anything since wave 6-7 on the shelves for the last several months.

Whether you like it or not, the retailers are in complete control over what they sell and what appears on their shelves/pegs. That is fact and no amount of conspiracy theory will change it. Sure, Mattel can stop making the figure and that would keep it from appearing on the shelves in the future, but every toy manufacturer will stop production on a given toy eventually. Again, a fact of life.

Long story short: do what I'm doing and hope for a re-release some time in the future unless you willing to suck it up and go the online route.

I agree, what I'm saying is that I don't believe they ever made it out at all, or in so small a number it was ridiculous. The retailers just see product, they don't differentiate between this character and that character. I have also just recently been told they broke him and Hawkgirl up into different case variations, which adds even more fuel to this theory. Yes walmart TRU etc. Have to order the product , but if Mattel is deliberately making a figure in a low number because of QC issues or whatever I think we as customers need to know this.
Half the time the answers Matty gives on his face book are spurious at best and often just wrong. Ergo. stating that the DCUC line is Mainline Dc characters only, when Capt. Atom had a Kingdom Come Variant, and none of the super power figs are "Main line" Dc characters.
Its not to much of a stretch of the Imagination to see a QC guy looking at a batch of terrible GG figs and panicking and Mattel punting with weird case assortments WGSH figs and then to cover loss a massive price hike. (10.99 to 14.99 in less than 2 years )

And as stated when I posted my theory on Matty's face book it was removed...

I hear you dude, the Walmart and Targets around here were choked with Wave six and sevens and still are then mysteriously, the regional chain of Meijers stores started getting Wave 8 in very ninja like, then one of the Targets I frequeneted had the green parademon and never saw him again. To top it all off while the Walmarts still squat on Wave 7 to this day, they never (to my knowledge, they could have put them out while I was asleep and some CBG/TBP living in their command center probably scored 'em for ebay before doing unspeakable things to themselves they were so happy, b.i.d.) put out Wave 10, however both TRU and Targets have caught up and Wave 9 is starting to make a prescence, but I still got my fingers crossed Ill stumble upon my Gentleman Ghost so I can finally, FINALLY complete my Giganta figure.

I would cross my fingers for a re-release however they would probably do the same with other re-releases and include the nifty stand instead of the BAF piece I NEED. LOL. Nitwits.

I think OttoDestruct hit it right on the nose as to why this line is so unevenly distributed. I lost it over the way Mattel has handled this line starting with wave 8 and I am hoping that when the DC toy license runs out with Mattel, they decide to give it to a different company who can not only turn out a great looking product, but also a product that is not as shoddily made and unevenly distributed. In regards wave 10, my local WM employees swallowed most of them up before they ever hit the shelf, I know that for a fact, and I am sure that the problem was not contained to my area. Aside from that the employees who did tell me they grabbed them off the truck told me 2 cases of wave 10 at a time came in over 3 trucks and then there was no more even though Mattel swore up and down that more were coming. I did manage to get my hands on 2 Joker figures at retail. I opened one of them and the quality was poor and I suspect QC issues as well.

How's this for irony: right after I posted that no retailers around me had anything beyond series 7, I go to WM for lunch and mixed in with the shelfwarmers sat about half of series 11.

Oh, well. Looks like I'll still be holding out for GG re-release.

Cavbeast: If I could ever find a GG with the Giganta piece, dude, I'd give it to you. I've no desire to do the BAF - I only ever wanted GG from that wave.

Ya thats the thing. IF Mattel ever re-releases Gentleman Ghost.....it'll only come with the stand....and NOT the Giganta piece we all need. Heck...you can buy the GG figure for like $8 loose on ebay. Its the piece thats costly.

And I dont think stores order certain waves....they just get whatever wave the distributor sends them.

NSP

Hmmm, $8 you say....

Retailers order by the case, which will usually contain one full wave plus extras to fill out the case. Rarely will a single wave be enough to fill the box up, unless it's a larger-scale figure (and thus a much smaller wave size).

But retailers are also aware of what waves are in a given case - it's the extra figures that vary from assortment to assortment. The assortment ratio is really what the retailers generally don't control (especially with large chain stores such as WM).

I found one of these at my LCS but I'm in the UK, and the package is a bit battered.

Willing to pick it up for cost (£14) + shipping from the UK + paypal fees if anyone wants it!!! (Got extensive feedback on TFW2005 if you want to check me out :))

tell me how much shipping is and you have a deal, do you accept paypal?