Monday, September 26, 2011

AmyRose-Rage - Averted?

Well this post was going to be a bit of a rant...
But JW may have saved them self from that. In all of this figure release turmoil, many fans were asking "well, where is Amy Rose"? After all, she has both classic & modern looks and belongs on the character roster just as much as anyone else. These same fans, meanwhile, were snapping up the figures produced left and right. After all, you don't want it to sell out, right?

So then what happens?
Classic Amy finally makes her first appearance. Yay? No. She's part of a "classic figures 4 pack" which you just KNOW will be 19.99. Who's in there with her? Classic Sonic, who you bought to finally get your hands on fun/cute motobug toy. Classic Tails...who no one could resist because he came with Grabber Spider...Super Sonic...who was worse because you could get him IF you got a somewhat irrelevant tin for 14.95...which most people did because it was the first time 3.75 SS classic did appear.

Result: Spend 19.95 for ONE classic 3.75 inch figure
Conclusion: Girl's Curse is real, everyone hates Amy, girl figures never sell well waaah waah derp

WELL GEE.
What do they want anyone to do? NEVER buy ANY figure when it comes out because you MUST assume that some better way to buy it is right around the corner waiting to burn you if you buy it now? That makes no sense. It's unrealistic. I think it's also kind of mean to force rebuys, especially during a flood like this.

What COULD they have done better?
Change the release order to solve it all! Put out the classic figure 4-pack FIRST, then release that SS & his random tin menace later on. I get it, some people love tins...but not everyone loves tins. Give the spatially & money challenged a chance. At least that way you get 2 new figures in the 4box...(and super Sonic actually builds excitement/works FOR them not against) nothing can be done about S&T, because they had to come with badniks anyway.

Small saving grace:
They are ALSO releasing her with a classic Sonic in a comic pack. Sure sure, you're STILL paying 14.95 for JUST AMY ROSE but maybe it's a little better than a tin AND 3 dupes?
Better:
Single card classic Amy & single card Modern Amy! Put a badnik in there with 'em, or don't! People will buy Amy if you can find a way to not charge a billion dollars for her or pack her in with a zillion crazy things people already own or don't want.

Unanswered question: Where is Classic Knuckles?

Wanted still: Super Sonics 3.75 size 2 pack. The Super Hedgehogs pack had a huge amount of defective Sonics, mine included. Let us at least re-buy poor headless modern SS due to faulty original.

Crazy Stool- This is the type of bootleg that everyone loves to hate. I find the 'crazier' bootlegs to be the funnier & more amusing items. That "Harry Potter Obama Sonic" backpack was a riot. This sparkle leaf baby + Green Sonic is just so nonsense that it's funny to see.
You'll also notice that the 'nerd doll Sonic' took its leave of the bootlegs section...that's because it turned out to be (unsurprisingly) a Toy Network dumbness. While moronic, it's not fake so checkered suspenders bizzarro Sonic moves to Mutant Gear. I kind of suspected this from the start, but was on the fence because there's no holiday related to tacky clothes or poor disguises. I can't explain it still.

Generalized update stuff:
Mail is getting better! LOTS better! As stuff winds down with JW, things look to be getting back under control. This will restore variety and also sanity to the updates. Older mail won't be gotten into this week, or next, but DO expect a "Gear Store" update to fix broken links & add more stuff. Very, very glad to see this improvement in being able to keep up with things.