[DannyBoy7783]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlanThCollector

I agree with most of what you said, but you can’t ignore the fact that this year’s online sale had the broken checkout button issue which persisted all three days and really messed a lot of people up. And NECA never really addressed it any of the days after

Sure I can. Read my post again. NECA isn't going to invest in their website for 2-3 acute sale events a year when the products are guaranteed to sell out, regardless of who buys them. if you miss out you can also get it at retail, wait for a possible second sale (which has occured with their exclusives on many occasions) or get it on eBay/secondary. That's just how it is.

NECA would be more than happy to take everyone's money. They can only make so many sets and it doesn't meet the demand. Accept that fact and recognize you just might not get lucky.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlanThCollector

And while it’s all a matter of opinion, I’d say Hasbro and Diamond Select Toys work just as hard to give “the fans” what they want. They’re just less vocal about it. Which is sometimes better than being too vocal. And while McFarlane still has a long way to go, in the past couple of years they’ve made leaps and bounds in their quality even going as far to finally load their figure out with gobs of articulation.l, so I’d say they are really putting in the work as of late for the collectors especially on the heels of their DC licensce.

Diamond Select has subpar articulation on almost everything. With the rise of figure displays and ACBA it's a no-brainer to add articlation. The paint on the The Real Ghostbusters figures was mediocre. Some of the Marvel Selects are good but the articulation still stinks. You are correct that Hasbro is actually doing a decent job of fan service but they are so opaque you would hardly know unless you follow their convention panels. Randy (and Brian from Super7) are front and center for folks like PixelDan to answer direct questions, provide as much news as possible, and show their love for their products. Hasbro, Playmates, Mattel, and Diamond don't really do that. Zach Oat kind of does that for Diamond, I guess, but to a lesser extent.

McFarlane isn't doing anything for fans. His toy empire crumbled and the license holders abandoned him or he simply let them expire. He did it his way and the hobby and collectors moved on in another direction and he failed to adapt. Now he's playing catch up but, frankly, I haven't seen anything especially noteworthy come out of them so far. Fortnite and GoT? Fortnite is old news and largely appeals to kids and teens. GoT is over. They are YEARS behind on those figures being relevant (not blaming them for that but releasing GoT figures as the show ends is bad timing). They have Mortal Kombat but those aren't especially noteworthy either. I was an old school McFarlane collector but they have really failed to pivot as things changed.