For a rando on the internet who has a cool toy idea and needs crowdfunding to make it? Not at all! For a Fortune 500 company who SHOULD have their finger on the pulse of what their fans want? It totally is. Plus Mattel took an easy slam dunk like the Ghostbusters license and tripped over their own shoelaces as soon as the hit the court, then shat themselves as they lay on the ground.

When Mattel rolled out that Ecto-1 kickstarter in 2012 or 2013 their excuse at the time was that it was the only way we could get one since there was no new movie to support it at retail (or the 6" line itself). But they didn't put much effort in promoting it online, set the goal ridiculously high, and didn't run it long enough for it to draw attention and suceed. It's no wonder it failed. They seem to be repeating that with this ring too.

And yet a few years later when the 2016 film came out, they didn't bother putting out the Ecto-1 then when they had a new movie to "support it at retail". However, they DID put out repacks of their original film Ghostbusters at retail alongside the new female-GB line. Kind of a slap in the face to those of us who originally supported buying them online thru Mattycollector before that and tried to support the Ecto-1 kickstarter. So yeah, kind of hypocritical of Mattel.

And now with Hasbro holding the license and a new GB film coming this year, heavily playing on the nostalgia of the original film, it's surprising they won't put out a 1/12 scale Ecto-1 to go with all their 6" plasma line figures. It would surely sell well and could probably be offered at mass retail at a reasonable price. If they can re-release the Real Ghostbusters Ecto-1 as a Walmart exclusive AND put out a new cartoony Ecto-1 for their new 5" Ghostbusters line (which I've seen several times this week at Target stores), then it makes no sense why a movie accurate version can't be done too since it wouldn't be that much bigger than the Real GB or 5" Toon versions.

But why should the big expensive toy company have their finger on the pulse more than anyone else? And isn't this just a way to have these "I want a big fancy wrestling ring" or "I want vehicles for my 6 inch figures" fans to put up or shut up about what they really "want"? This is supposed to be a chance to give fans what they want without having to risk the entire toy line to do it. And if fans decide they don't want it, then so be it.

Also, how many times do people have to see Ghostbusters toys on dirt cheap clearance before we accept that it is not in anyway a "slam dunk" sure thing?

Well it WOULD be a slam dunk license if 1)Mattel hadn't burned collectors repeatedly with their website shenanigans and 2) Hasbro didn't do anything all that different than Mattel, and had actually offered some ghosts to be busted instead of reissuing a single terror dog twice haha

Yeah, Hasbro rehashing figures that seemed nearly identical to Mattel's didn't help encourage sales. A lot of us who already got the Mattel figures passed on these. If some cool new ghosts or diorama pieces had been offered, I would have double dipped. That said, I'll be getting the old GBs and kids when they come out.

Well the actual new Ghostbusters stuff Hasbro had in the pipeline is finally releasing, so we shall see.

I would imagine they're waiting to see how the new GB movie does, and we'll see the Ecto-1 as a Haslab.

For $100 less, I would be tempted to get the stage and early bird accessories and leave the figures out of it. Would love to have a "Celebrity Deathmatch" arena for my figs and swap out fighters and announcers.

Final Day for the Early Bird Macho Madness Announcers Pack for the WWE Ultimate Edition New Generation Arena - The Toyark - News

Those #s spiked in last couple days. I was watching a bit after my last post and it wasn't at half way yet last time I checked. Now over 75%.

If they add in fan channel orders, international partners (if any of either), might squeak it out.

Now up to 80% ... today's push will be telling. Fingers crossed it gets fully backed.

I would think it will hit 5,000 today. Randy is popular and “fomo” is real.

Yeah, that's hitting goal. It really exploded last day or two. Good for them.

It’s fully backed!!!

Holy shit that was a boost! I wonder if there was someone famous on social media that promoted it.

So glad to see it succeed. I was watching everyday. I didn’t order it but I really cared about this one. It’s very important for wrestling, which I watch a lot.

Wow, that Macho Man set really put it over the top big time. That “early bird” tactic (or whatever it was called) was BS but it worked. I wonder if that would’ve worked with Nova on the Haslab Galactus.

Honesty, with these things I wonder if they actually get back by fans or they have online retailers order more to back it or they just say "yeah..., it, uh, got a ton of people suddenly" and then made it happen.

Yup. And you better believe hasbro just took notes. I’m not a fan of this tactic, but it worked.

If you’re already going to get it why not get some extra swag for getting off the fence early?

Over 8k now!! Awesome ��

Little bit of both. I’m sure a lot of fans were more interested when Macho Man was added and spurred on by the deadline. And retailers know some were going to regret missing out.

I'm all for a limited time variant, extra accessory, or price reduction, but this particular time just stunk of desperation. Two weeks in the campaign was going nowhere and out of the blue Mattel/WWE said "oh, totally forgot, here's Macho Man and an announcer's table." A lot of us (myself included) were laughing at this but the joke's on us now.

That really, REALLY, exploded over the course of 24 hours. I was not expecting that at all.

I am curious if bulk orders got added in or if it was legit FOMO hype at a nuclear level.

Pretty sure it was at the ~1100 range at time of Macho announce on the 5th. On the 12th it was at 56%, or like 2500+.

On the 13th it went over 8k.

There is nothing wrong with that, Hasbro adds in bulk retail orders before ending the project too. I'm just curious because that last day Macho bump was way more than I was expecting.

I got in on the madness…I kind of regret it in hindsight. That Macho Man early bird situation was like psychological warfare on my wallet.

It was a really good tactic that I hadn't thought of. I wouldn't be surprised if we see more of that going forward.

Last days for the set if interested. Mock ups for the packaging released: