I NEED to vent somewhere...kim @ www.spawntoys.com

[Andyman]

Sad but true. I haven't bought a Spawn toy since Todd knows when.

Maybe you need to have a little chat with your business partner, Kim. [img]wink.gif[/img]

[Genetic Disposition]

I really appreciate this thread. It speaks the truth for me.

Bottom line is that business & loyalty don't mix.

Best of luck Kim!

[Quikman]

I have never dealth with Kim but from what I heard hes a good guy so best of luck to you.

myself I collect tow big lines that is vintage SW and vintage TFs and they cost money but I rather spend money on vintage pieces thewn on new toys, there is just something about vintage stuff. and if u wanan have value in the future now is the time to get the vintage stuff cause belive me its gonna get expensiv FAST. but Im with some of what the others have said Kim ..go into the high end market..there is the money to be making these days.

[thatchetguy]

Kim really is one of the good guys, and it's a shame the way Todd is "doing business" now. But Todd has always wanted to go his own way, and if it leads off a cliff, well, there's the problem with going off the beaten track.

I'm still planning on ordering my new dragon line from Kim, because the brick and mortar stores have dried up around here and I refuse to buy from Todd on any new merchandise. The club was started to only sell old stock and exclusive stuff, and "old" meant a couple lines past, not stuff still shipping. At least, that's what it was SUPPOSED to be, when we started it up. Things have changed.

[kimk]

thanks for all the posts (and advice) everyone.....Chet I appreciate, particularily, what you said...having been with the company Im sure youve seen the online store transform from a quirky exclusive cash cash to what it is now...a direct slap in the face to mcfarlane wholesale accounts. Maybe YOU know who makes the final decisions on the toy store...is it Todd (or Larry, Sherri....or god forbid Dave)

kim

[thatchetguy]

Ultimately, Todd has say in everything, he has a *slight* tendency to micro-manage. So he's the one who would have had to go along with anyone else's proposal to sell "newer" stock. I'm sure his logic was that it allows people to get his product since the stores have stopped ordering, but this is one of the reasons WHY the stores have stopped ordering. He probably doesn't see it as being bad for business, but then he never really took a long view of things.

From Todd's viewpoint, it's his company and he can do whatever he wants. There is no argument to that logic, but you'd think he'd listen to some advice now and then. But he doesn't have to, and you of all people should know how hard it is to talk him into anything. He'll continue doing what he thinks is right for him and his immediate family, and that, after all, is what we're ALL trying to do.

In other words, I'm not pro-Todd in any way, but I'm not "against" him. I do what I do (choosing not to buy from him) for my own reasons (I don't agree with his policies), and he does what he does for HIS own reasons. I respect his choices, even if I think they're wrong. You will decide to do what YOU think is right for you and YOUR family.

Kim, you're a good man, and have done well by Todd for years. But sometimes you gotta know when to abandon a sinking ship. Only you can tell how badly it's sinking, and what the liferafts are like.

[thatchetguy]

Oh, a side note on the "turning his back on the specialty market". When Todd Toys started up, the specialty market was all he had, and yes, it got him going. But within a year or two the mass market was 80% or more of the sales, so of course he had to cater to them. Now that has probably switched around again, since WalMart has tiny orders, KayBee is all but gone, TRU orders very little, etc. He lost the "big" market, stopped dealing much with the specialty one, and has little left but the direct-to-consumer market left.

AT least, that's my call on it.

[kimk]

The reason, in my opinion, that the mass market eventually comprised 80% of the mcfarlane orders is the company turned their backs to the ones who made them in the first place....the specialty market...without us mcfarlane toys would never have gotten off the ground in the first place. By turning their backs on us all the ORIGINAL big players (specialty) are long gone....and they have a long memory......mcfarlane toys will never get them back...im the last of the dinosaurs.......and Im close to the glue factory as well.

Its a real shame. I told my rep two years ago when they start giving the mass market all the blow jobs they could handle that this would mark the beginning of the end for mcfarlane toys. It would only be a matter of time before the mass market dumped on them. It wasnt a question of if....it was a question of when....the when is now....

[sculpey]

I've basically quit collecting for a variety of reasons. But I still pick up the occasional toy, ususally not a McFarlane product. What I find saddest is, that as my friends and I were talking about at The Con, the buzz is vanishing about McFarlane Toys. They are no longer on the cutting edge. They have Hanna Barbera, someone else has Looney Tunes. They make cartoony looking Spawn, other companies have already done that with their figs. The company seems to have become entranced with Hollywood, but can't seem to sell Hollywood a movie. Then they don't get exciting movie figure licenses and other ompanies do. Maybe Todd is now surrounded by yes men and suck ups.

I have no idea where any of this is going, but you're one of the great guys out there, Kim, and I wish you all the best.

[classic]

this is a good thread. clearly mcfarlane isnt what it used to be. today they are so mainstream with the licenses like lost, sports, military, corpse bride, simpsons, and wallace and gromit. even spawn is being pushed mainstream now, and kim i hope you didnt order alot of those, cause there guaranteed to warm shelves. lets face it, lines like this will kill guys like kim. theses lines arent for collectors, there for little kids who stumble across them with their parents. these same people who buy the product dont even know what the spiders web is so there not going to ever place an order online. meanwhile guys like me who do order online are the same types who dont buy all that garbage, we want the specialty lines like the horror figures. but if mcfarlane doesnt make them we cant order.

theres no doubt mcfarlane selling directly hurts, but i think its more of a product selection killing the online guys. the market is close to dead and thats why alot of retailers stopped ordering. if tortured soul type lines still sold like hot cakes the stores would never have stopped ordering. but that market really shrank. so todd had to adapt or become a much smaller company again which you know he would never do. so they have to make kid and parent friendly items now. and i think mcfarlane is doing the right thing for the company, and that is to sell stuff toyrsus and walmart would want since there the only ones left. for the collectors and online guys it sucks, but for todd it equals money.

as for sports, its too much product to quick, they fell into the same error as starting lineup. if they would have kept it two 2 lines per sport a year, total of 8 lines, you would still see very high sales. this enabled collectors to pick up figures they didnt necessarily want because they still had money left for them. but the second they stared making 9 players per line, 3 sets per year, 2 packs, 12", 3", 3 packs, deluxe, exclusives, etc. it got to much to handle. so collectors are forced to pick and choose between lines, while kim is still forced to carry the same amount of product per line. that just doesnt add up.

my advice, carry some of the better mcfarlane lines and start carrying high end stuff and neca. neca is a big online seller for alot of sites. and i know i would place all my nonmcfarlane orders through you if i could, it sucks going elsewhere.

<font color="#cd6600"><font size="1">[ August 04, 2006 06:51 PM: Message edited by: classic ]</font></font>

<font color="#cd6600" size="1">[ August 04, 2006 06:55 PM: Message edited by: classic ]</font>