Why are Wavs retired?

Lisa Lionheart

Big Heart
Joined
Oct 17, 2001
Messages
246
Location
New York, NY
This may sound like a dumb question, but I've never collected figures before (I buy the WOS line because I love the show), anyway...

Why do manufactures stop making one Wav when the next one comes out? I've seen people looking at Wav 6 or 7 in the store and saying that they'd love to collect the line, but once they find out that Marge and Lisa etc. are no longer sold, they give up on the whole thing. Now I know that by releasing a limited number of figures, they make them collectors items, but how does the manufacture profit from that? It would seem that the only people making money off the "limited edition" aspect of the line would be scalpers on Ebay? Wouldn't the manufacture make a lot more money if they re-released some of the earlier waves??

Also, the first releases would still be worth more money (the same way a first press of a book is worth more), so the "hard core" collectors' original figures would still be special.

Am I missing something? Please explain. Thanks! :lisa:
 
Saying that they are retired is misleading. I know this is how they are meant to be according to Tino's site, but to say something is 'retired' means it will never be made again. So far, Playmates haven't retired anything in the WoS line.

Now, the reason Playmates stop making a wave is simple: after a while, sales will drop down. By the time wave 8 comes out, there will be enough of wave 7 stockpiled to satisfy demand, which by then will have died down consierably. It isn't cost effective to continue producing all the figures all the time.

As for why they don't release the older figures again now for new collectors, here's what Jeff Trojan, VP of Boys Toys at Playmates, had to say when the Simpsons Collector Sector interviewed him at Toy Fair 2002:

* Are there any plans to re-issue some of the early or hard-to-get figures to attract new collectors to the line?

Straight out: No. The bottom line of many of these questions is that Playmates is happy right now. They are selling all of their product, they don’t have items dusting up shelves, and they are making money. I honestly don’t believe they feel they want to bring in “new collectors” in that fashion. He also said, "We want to keep the secondary market where it's at now." Then he mentioned the Star Trek “1701” fiasco and we both had a good laugh. I told him I wasn't familiar with that line, but I had heard the story many times and he said, "Everyone has heard that story!" He said that instead of releasing wave 1 figures again, the focus might instead be aimed at issuing variants of hard-to-obtain figures. You will notice the Sunday Best Lisa and Resort Smithers in the upcoming waves.

Sucks I know, but there isn't much we can do about it

Hope I cleared up a few things for you :).
 
Last edited:
Hi,

If you were really looking for the first waves of the Simpsons figures, you could always import them from the UK if you don't ind them not talking, we only have wave one just now , but i hope the others will be made soon

Scott :uhh:
 
they aren't those dumb beanie babies...they don't get retired.
 
I still can't believe that Playmates doesn't want to make more money off this line (what company throws away profits?). I can understand having limited runs of Wavs 4 and on.. but Wavs 1-3 contain core characters that everybody loves. Even people who would never in a million years collect the whole line, might buy a Lisa or Grandpa. I still think they are being short sighted on this one. :uhh:
 
Look at it this way we will be getting variants of every main character sooner or later in the later waves like sb grandpa and lisa, or busted krusty, pjs burns, prison bob,and so on and so forth
 
Skoot... I refer to them as RETIRED simply because that version of the figure will NEVER be mass produced again unless it is released .... I am almost positive that the molds used for Series 1 figures are now being used for the U.K.'s run. I highly doubt any figures will be made again. It is one and done for Playmates.
 
Lisa Lionheart said:
I still can't believe that Playmates doesn't want to make more money off this line (what company throws away profits?). I can understand having limited runs of Wavs 4 and on.. but Wavs 1-3 contain core characters that everybody loves. Even people who would never in a million years collect the whole line, might buy a Lisa or Grandpa. I still think they are being short sighted on this one. :uhh:

I think for the number they would expect to sell, they wouldn't plan on making a profit. Say they make 25,000 new Homers...1,000 new collectors jump at the chance to buy them, but that still leaves 24,000 lying around collecting dust...and being that the re-release has lessened the value of the original wave 1, they can't even dump these on the secondary market somehow. Plus, promising them to be limited to their initial run boosts their collectability, so releasing more would hurt any future new release, as collectors would not believe these to be limited, and therefore not scratch & claw to pick them up. Also, re-releasing a wave after promising it to be limited would likely hurt the company's reputation, thereby damaging profitability from this and possibly other collectable lines.

Also, I think the fact that they are harder to come by makes them more special. If I could go to my local 7-11 and pick up dozen THOH1's, it just wouldn't be as cool.
 
Datoupee said:
Skoot... I refer to them as RETIRED simply because that version of the figure will NEVER be mass produced again unless it is released .... I am almost positive that the molds used for Series 1 figures are now being used for the U.K.'s run. I highly doubt any figures will be made again. It is one and done for Playmates.

That's not for certain though. For all we know, Playmates could turn around tomorrow and decide to rerelease wave 1. Sure, it isn't likely, but it could happen. No WoS figures have been retired, so saying that they have been is misleading.

BTW, I'm not sure what you mean by 'the figure will NEVER be mass produced again unless it is released'... they have been released.
 
leave grampa rare just create a different one

leave the first simpsons rare but do another grandpa
in wave 12 or a special set so new collectors can get one.
But that would still add value to the first one
 
Skoot.... From what I am told, there are only a number of molds made for each series. (Ex...head, arms, legs, etc.) Once the series is mass produced to Playmates product numbers expected then the molds are either scrapped or recycled. In this case, they were given to a U.K. company to use.
 
From what I know, Playmates Toys intentionally short-packed figures in that series. Of course, that became a disaster for Star Trek collectors.
 
i payed lots of money trying to catch up to all the waves. I payed 50 dollars on a smithers! and i had a 5 dollar allowance when i stated (it's now 7) anyway i have a loose collection so even a card diffrence wouldn't matter to me and by rerelasing playmates would be pissing off people like me who bought the first 2 or 3 waves of thee secendary market.
 
Expansion . . .

Just to sort of expand on the 1701 thing . . .

About 6 years ago, Playmates made 1701 of three figures: a Picard, a Yar, and a Barclay, if I remember correctly. ;) Why I know those, I have no idea, I never collected Star Trek figures. Anyway, this small amount pissed off a LOT of collectors. There were already a whole slew of figures released prior to the 1701's, and now only 1701 people could possibly have a complete set (out of the TONS that bought figures).
Then, in an attempt to placate all those who were pissed off at first, Playmates came out with a three-pack of the exact same figures so everyone would be happy. Except now, STILL only 1701 people could have a complete set, and Playmates had somewhat devalued the originals by reducing demand. So both the haves and have-nots were all up in arms and Playmates ended up looking really stupid and being generally disliked for quite awhile. Or something. :lol: If you want any more info . . . you need help. :)

E

Thankfully we haven't had any fiascos quite that bad with the Simpsons stuff . . . I think they've learned their lesson. :cool:
 
Last edited:
Re: Expansion . . .

ebjohnso said:
:lol: If you want any more info . . . you need help. :)

Yes give me more info , i still dont get it, arrgghhhhhhh























:lol: I'm only kidding :lol: , thanks for the info, i do remember that now, I used to collect those figures too but just the first few series of TNG and the first DS9 ones. (along with all the other different action figures collections out then) and the collection got too big and i got rid most of it, I'm :( now that i got rid of them, but i have whole collection of Simpsons ones to cheer me up. ;)
 
Back
Top