People still need to understand this is bad news. Be positive as much as you want this is gonna hurt the show/brand pretty hard if this spreads.I for one dont like this, espesiaclly that this is one more argument for TheVileOne (no offence really).
Best we can do is try to support the show best we can, spread it as much as we can.
LONG LIVE THUNDERCATS, HO!
I’m still somewhat skeptical about the whole toy line thing. I’m pretty much a reverse of TheVileOne.
I’m not understanding how one retailer like Target can hurt the show/brand overall, yes that’s one less store that will probably not carry ThunderCats toys no more. But to “Balgus82” point earlier, how can that Target manager know what toys Walmart/TRU future gameplan will be concerning the Tcats line?
Any who I brought two Claudus figures @ Walmart in Carroll County for $6.97 each. I had to travel to find good buys lol.
The Target by me doesn’t have them on clearance yet, but has a whole bunch of other stuff in the mark-down bin, and even current-year Lego sets (which rarely go on sale) are marked down. So not sure we can extrapolate the actions of one store to all stores. There is a lot of regional variation.
I thought prices for the figs on Amazon were actually kinda high, and climbing higher, especially for the Cheetara 8". That could be dropping supplies or increasing demand (or both), although I have noticed the sellers have magically resupplied after running out.
I also noticed the “Armor of Omens” figure for the first time, is this new? I haven’t seen or heard about it before.
That just showed up at my local Wal-Mart. Kids seem to really be buying there. I see someone back there looking at the action figures for ThunderCats almost every time I’m there.
I work for a national retail chain as well. Marking things down simply means its a seasonal change to make room for fall merchandise.
FYI I’m calling BS on the “Target manager” because any person with the actual role would not divulge company buy plans to the general public online. People lose their jobs for that. Retail market is confidential believe it or not, and you can trust and believe that the last thing Bandai wants is for their buy for any of their lines from Target to be divulged on the Internet from a so called Target employee.
Furthermore add-ons and late buys are common. Especially in children’s departments. Toys are “hot” for a season, and then not. It also goes the other way around and retailers often buy more when the demand is there, but without sufficient supply. Another thing to note is that it’s possible Bandai didn’t have Thundercats available for market when retailers went to place a buy, thus nothing was ordered. Retail is pretty simple.
A manager of a single department in a chain of hundreds of Target stores wouldn’t know anything beyond what they see on their shipping manifest. Even where I work, company buys are not shared, nor are future plans, until time of shipment. And that is a fact my friends.
Thank you! I knew the manager thing was a hoax!
No way will I let “ThunderCats” fade into the background. I’m gonna continue to watch it.
Thankyou!!! I come back from work to find all this BS spreading, and you save the day with a healthy dose of common sense.
I want to know however WHY there seem to be some people who are determined to do the franchise down? Do they not want it to succeed?
Merged Post:
Exactly hammy. Toy sales ARE an important consideration for networks to continue with the franchise, but they aren’t the be all and end all of it. Ratings for advertising revenue is just as if not a much larger consideration, but other merchandise, media such as computer games, etc etc etc. ALL of these play a part.
And the fact is, on the whole, the franchise is doing very well indeed. I mean compare it to other CN headline cartoons such as Ben 10 or Green Lantern for examples off the top of my head. Are the ratings just as good? Absolutely. Are the toys selling as much? Seems so without the evidence of any official statistics, they are the same price on clearance and have the same shelf space as Ben 10, much more so than many other shows. Is there more toys coming? Absolutely, wave 2 gets released here in Autumn. It is likely wave 3 will be announced at some point AFTER that. Is there as MUCH random merchandise? Ben 10 wins on that one, its everywhere, but it has had many more years to build up a fan base, Thundercats has barely had one. But it IS catching up. There seems to be TONS more Thundercats stuff than any other CN show. Is there a computer game? One coming. Is the comic doing as well as the Ben 10/transformers etc comics? Seems so, since I still see the latter sitting on the shelves now, but cannot find as many TC comics despite there being MORE TC comics than others on the shelves on the release date. I could carry on for a while, but you get the gist.
We have to look at the BIG picture, not one small aspect. The fact is Thundercats is doing at least as well as or even better than many of the other headline CN shows, and seems to be generating a fair revenue stream if they keep releasing more and more merchandise.
Stay positive everyone. Thundercats is an amazing cartoon, with top notch animation, skilled, fantastic writing, and a rich lore with fans of the OS and young kids new to the world able to enjoy it. FEW cartoons can boast that. It will be around for some time yet. We’ll just have to be patient for season 2!
The evidence is there. No new toys for the entire year were shown at Toy Fair. BUT BUT BUT THEY ALREADY SHOWED A BUNCH OF NEW TOYS ALREADY! So what? Bandai USA still showed new toys for Power Ranger Samurai and Ben 10 for later this year. Yet there were still lots of those toys on the shelves weeks before Toy Fair.
The show was not announced as returning at the upfronts. The upfronts are used to announce the new and returning shows coming up later this year and next year. No Thundercats.
Cartoon Network’s mum attitude. They are calling the episodes on right now the second season and saying the show will continue with new episodes NOW. After that they have no plans to make more.
Andrea Romano when I interviewed her in February had a pretty negative attitude toward the future of the show.
Not happening kids.
New merchandise? Amazon.com. I just looked on Amazon.com and all I see is old product from last year, some older toys, some T-shirts, and DVD’s. I don’t see any bedspreads. I don’t see any trainers or bicycles. The videogame isn’t even a console based game. It’s a DS game. Do you guys get that? They made a DS. They didn’t even spring for 3DS. That’s the newer Nintendo portable system, the 3DS. They didn’t even spring for that, just a regular DS release.
Hasbro and The Hub had the same attitude about GI JOE: Renegades which is cancelled by the way. They wouldn’t say it is cancelled. They say, “we will make more GI JOE animation.” Well yeah of course more GI JOE animation is going to get made, just not more of GI JOE: Renegades. Oh well.
I just bought some of the toys too. Sure, I gave them to my younger cousin (who is OBSESSED with the show), but it felt good to support the show. Also, I bought a shirt a few months back that is from the new series. I wear it all the time.
I have about 4 targets near me. The toys were on clearance for a while and then they sold some of them. Now they are back on regular price and have all been restocked. Not with any of the new figures but the shelves are full again. I know nothing about retail or how it works but this doesn’t look like the end of a line to me. And my order at bigbadtoystore with 6" tygra just came in last night! happy happy!
I went to the one near me and they werent on clearance all.
If I or anybody post a statement that is not logic to your liking then that’s considered BS? I thought I just share an update on ONE retailer that will no longer be carrying the line given that ONE manager’s order (true or false)…take it with a grain of salt,please don’t take it personal! The vileone I am not (in my yoda voice) lol
@JackLMan : That’s very good news to hear a young one obsessed with ThunderCats! Now if I could only force my 10 yr old niece to like ThunderCats instead of Monster High lol
The ‘BS’ was directed at the obvious falseness of the retailer statement, not aimed at you personally in any way shape or form. I seriously doubt it is true. Its just that I know how one negative statement, wether right or wrong, can set off a whole ‘its cancelled’ brigade.
+1. I see where you’re coming from now.
I’ve only seen one retailer put any T-Cats merchandise on clearance, and that was at the Wal-Mart Supercenter near me and Ocelli. And even then, it was only for the lesser toys: i.e. the Thunder Racers and the Lizard Cannon. The Tower of Omens was on clearance too. Everything else, though, like the figures and the Thundertank were regular price. I can only guess those particular toys were put on clearance because, quite simply, they were crap. That having been said, I still haven’t seen much of Wave 2 other than one Tygus, a couple of robot arms Panthros and the 6" Cheetara. I’ve yet to see a Storm Charger anywhere.
There really should be more ThunderCats™ merchandise based on the new cartoon, especially toys.
I have a shirt. It’s epic.
I have three shirts and a jacket.