Wow where to begin, there is so much suck in so many things.
"Well, again it's a necessity because the troops in Vintage sell very well."
Uh really? I can take DDP to an even dozen stores that are clogged with White Vintage clones and sandtroopers (PS being that I live on the state line, I would be showing him stores in two states right there). If that isn't enough I could take him to another state (4 hours away) and show him the same thing. If that were not enough I could take him to Maryland (Where I was in May) and probably show the same thing. I am also betting in North Carolina has the same issues I saw there too, which are-the same thing. If it were one of those locations, ok, but come on.
"However, in the past we have developed exclusive programs just for this channel, to concentrate only on new figures. It was a disaster for us because we would commit to cases of only the new figures. We would design six figures at a time and pack the extra slots with troopers, and in 2008 we ended up holding a massive amount of inventory in our warehouse, built for this channel."
OK was I alseep or something, I never remember anything anywhere about this. I ain's saying he's lyng, but WTF?? Was this in legacy, Vintage (no he said it was over a year), clearly he implys it was after he took the line (after he ran GI Joe into the ground).
""The challenge with newly sculpted figures is we can't afford to build whole lines on newly sculpted figures so we have to have carry-forwards. "
He used to say the same thing about GI Joe, and while he was there it was repaint after repaint, sometimes the same figure 3 times in the same year (Zartan in Spy Troops) and even then my instant responce was "Why not slow it DOOOOWWWN! so that you can put your best foot forward. So far he hasn't invoked the "WM demands constant new waves" as he did in Joe, which is BS since lines like Coprs only change once a decade.
"Will there be a Darth Maul resculpt next year with more ball-jointed articulation?
"We're likely to use our Evolutions Darth Maul."
UH WHAT!? Does that mean the Maul we were shown is NOT SA? Nice investigative reporting.
"Is there a Classic Trilogy 'big vehicle' planned? Maybe a repainted Slave I from The Empire Strikes Back?
"No, not this year, but we're optimistic that a repainted Slave I might be coming as soon as next year. We revealed here at Comic Con all of our products that are coming out for the rest of the year."
I guess that settles that debate about the big vehicle this year.
