NECA isn't Nickelodeon, Leo. They license the franchise and both get a cut from the toys. With Playmates, the Turtles are proprietary. Also, you're not taking volume into account. If I sell 500,000 $3 units and you sell 10,000 $50 units, I'm still making 3 times the profit you are. And that's before production costs and licensing fees and all the other legal matters play into it.
Second, if they're being sold on eBay for a 200% mark up, that mark up goes to the retailer, not the companies themselves.
Also, I just checked and the figures I'm seeing are about $50 a pop. At a 200% mark up, I should be able to trot down to a specialty store and pick some up for a quarter of the price.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Andrew
That's true... of the cartoons. It always surprises me when grown adults are upset that the latest TMNT cartoon isn't attuned to them.
Now, conversely, I'm perpetually surprised and saddened that there isn't any content out there more in line with Mirage or even the 1990 movie. It's been proven to work. You can still have cartoons out there for the kiddies... but adult content can work as well, simultaneously. And as I've been saying for years, TMNT works best when you give kids something to outgrow TMNT into. Like how when I was a kid and got tired of the Fred Wolf stuff, I walked into a bookstore and discovered Mirage TMNT and I'm still into them 20 years later.
They just don't care anymore. And there isn't a Peter Laird or Kevin Eastman to quality control stuff anymore. I'm sure Viacom's general idea is that if they go too far adult, maybe it alienates the 5 year olds (or specifically, the parents of said 5 year olds from letting them) watching the cartoons, which is their real bread and butter (toys, TMNT underwear, etc.). Like, even the IDW stuff, which is supposedly for "an older crowd" -- what does Viacom do? Forbid them from having the Turtles kill and other red tape.
I don't suspect that will change anytime soon.
|
Now THIS I understand the frustration of. I gripe about this, too.