HOT TOYS - DX15 - Batman Returns KEATON BATMAN

[Motuxmen]

You forgot about how Spider-Man used to be on The Electric Company!

There's probably more on each side, both dc and marvel. All I've been trying to point out is hot toys has way more marvel because there is way more marvel currently being produced. Hot toys has made effort to at least find older and non standard ways to make dc. But stuff that's that old is always going to be a slower mover in sales then the new product that is exposed to more people. **** half the people on here and that collect where not alive when burtons bats was out, let alone wests. So of course a modern Cap is going to sell better. But hot toys still made the other batman. And for trying they get folks complaining they didn't take bigger risks with their own money and time when other figures are faster sales. How many 25 and 30 year old Marvel characters are they making? Not many.

The DC figures will even out, and maybe exceed marbles(edit-marvels stupid phone) yearly if the current announce movie slate holds up. Then new characters will be around. Those will push older characters from marvel to second tier. A sixth Evans cap with be well short of a first Ben A Batman. A Gal Gadot Wonder Woman will destroy a black widow. But right now those things are not out yet.

 

[TheMayor]

Hot Toys will most certainly make future DC offerings as long as they do a bit better in the box office than, say, Steel.

lulz

However, Hot toys has undoubtedly ignored DC in favor of Marvel...

 

[DiFabio]

I get people, you in this case, being upset about things. But my point when I started this conversation is that calling cap stupid and people that buy him bandwagon jumpers, and the character is dumb and so on, is silly. I wasn't saying is rather see Cap then a returns batman. I was saying that you can make the argument. And pissing on someone else's enjoyment because you don't have the figure you want is silly as well. It wasn't directed at you, I don't think. I would have to go back and be sure who I responded to. I have said repeatedly that I hope everyone gets every single figure they like or want. If it's one I don't want I won't buy it. But I don't see how being upset someone else gets one they want hurts me in anyway.

You brought up boba fett. We know that hot toys has been trying to get that license since they started. Long before a returns batman was announced. The movie is from before returns. So by most people's reasoning on here it should get made first. Everyone that has a holy grail figure can come up with a reason why their figure should be first. Why they are being neglected.

You also mentioned Hot toys has total control over announcing a license, except when they may be required to hold that back. That's simply not the case. At best it's a joint call. I get it, no one believes me. But I'm sure you can verify that info online somewhere. Or have the question asked in one of those q & a. There are many reasons why a license would be announced. And there are hundreds of reasons why a figure may get pushed back. A large percentage of which hot toys has no control over.

Everyone complains about the lack of communication on one hand, and then gets upset when what they do say doesn't happen exactly like they answered in a q&a or when an announced figure doesn't make production. So you want them to talk more, but hate what they say. Not trying to pick a fight, but look back at what happens. People are mad all these marvel figures are coming. Even though marvel is outpacing DC at the box office 20-1. So hot toys aquires older dc licenses, and even goes into media they normally don't (66 batman TV show) or normally don't do with super heros (arkham game) and even get the license for returns batman. They announce it, not the figure specific but the licenses to show the dc fans they want to do it, they say they plan to make figures in response to questions, and some where and for some reason the figure of batman gets pushed. For what reason we don't know. Having seen all to upset people over a figure they said they would have made they then in an interview say right now now firm plans for a penguin/catwoman and they get blasted for that too. So they say nothing, they lose. They say something they lose. They miss a date, the license holder won't approve the figure, a thousand other things that can hold a figure up and suddenly they are out to get the DC fans. You see my points right? They can't win. It's not just with DC this happens.

Everyone thinks everything they think is most important. As for their sitting on licenses..even if they did, so what. If someone else wanted them they could have bought them. If they want to make a female predator, a unique creation with a known property, good for them. What artist wouldn't enjoy being able to sculpt a character for a property they like. It ain't my money. They paid for the rights to do it. That figure is not holding someone else's dreams down. Yes, there is limited tooling and time and space. But it's their company. So let them enjoy their work.


Edit-

Also, showing a proto at a toy show isn't announcing a figure. Maybe it's the disconnect between how a company works and what fans think, but that's not an announcement of a figure. It's like a sketch book. It's a prototype. It's no different then cars at a car show. Some will get made, some are just their to show off talent, show the studios and actors what type of work they are capable of, to attract new talent. And to reward fans for waiting.

I'm willing to bet that if hot toys and other companies stopped doing toy shows, and shut down the websites and stopped answering q&a and only showed off finish product people would like it a lot less then they do now.

As for the ichabod crane figure taking 3 years, and why it was delayed, ect. That stuff happens. It could be that the license holder wanted it delayed until that show. We don't know.

I'm with you on Cap, trust me. And I know this wasn't originally a "which figure/character is more worthy as the next release", nor a DC vs. Marvel thing but that will always be the heart of the discussion in here. The bottom line is, they have a dozen things that they've "promised" (using that lightly of course) that has spanned for more than a couple of years. YET they have these barely month old reveals going right up for order. Some of these licenses were being worked on (if their QnAs, backstage photos, etc. are true), before some of the things even existed on paper, let alone screen!

As far as the announcement and QnA's go for Returns, nah, that's all on them. I could see if the Returns license was announced last year and we just saw the proto as we did in July (following the pattern we saw for their '89 line), but no, it's been three years. Considering the plethora of Keaton Batman product that has hit in the past couple of years, I guarantee DC or Warner Bros. wasn't like, "no, you've got to hold them back". The only power at work here is Hot Toys. Nobody forced Howard and Co. to say "1/4 and 1/6 coming in late 2012", nobody forced him to say "Batman is ready for deployment for December of 2012" or "Batman and Penguin will be this December". That's all him. The past three years have flown by for me personally (gets worse as I get older), but three years for ONE figure so far is ridiculous. The info they have given is crap too. You're right, some times it's a matter of being "damned if you do, damned if you don't" for them and we do occasionally rip them for nothing. I thought it was cool how they came out and said that Green Lantern was cancelled with a nice little announcement. Yeah, people bitched and moaned, but atleast they were straight with the consumer base. Not this time though. Think about it, a lot of product licenses have, what, a three year contract? It's been three years and they don't have jack to show for it.

I'll give them leeway with the Charles Xavier/Fox/Marvel and Smooth Criminal MJ debacle (though, I really think MJ was an issue because they waited so long), but not Batman Returns, not Platoon Elias or Bunny, or Arkham Joker, Cannibal Jack Sparrow or Shaw and the Engineer. They're weird in what they pursue and how they go about it. It just isn't the inconsisty of announcements/teaser vs. show display vs. reveal time but some of their choices. The Hellicarrier and The Bat "compact scale"? Get the hell out of here with that.

 

[jye4ever]

I wouldn't even want a non compact Bat.

 

[DiFabio]

All of the R and D that went into that. All of the money they must have blown from transporting the 1/6 version from show to show. What a waste.

There's always a risk involved when pursuing one of these licenses because you don't know what will sell or what will be popular (is Green Lantern a turd? Will people like a talking Raccoon and tree?). The Bat is ridiculous though. The sheer size of it should have told them it was impractical, to make a 1/12 version AND have it be available 4 years after the movie? Insane.

I could see if maybe they had a 1/12 version during 2012 movie hype, but not now. $800 for a big, "wrong scale" vehicle that's from a 3 year old (4 year old movie when it comes out) is their biggest did yet. I don't even know what they're thinking with that Hellicarrier.

 

[jye4ever]

I would still buy an 89 Wing, as I will the 66 car.

They can keep The Lobster.

 

[DiFabio]

The Batwing wouldn't even be 1/6. At this point it'd be $900-$1000. If their 1/12 Batman and Catwoman are any indication, their little boi Keaton would be awful. Doubt it's be as nice as NECA's.

Yes on the '66 Batmobile, though. I really want to see the feature on that thing. If it gets canned in the future, it'll be a crime that the 1/12 Bat actually got to see the light of day instead of it.

 

[YankeesFanboy]

Not like it matters anyway, but the wingspan on a 1/6 Batwing would be six feet.

1/6 Batmobiles are doable. Whether or not more get made?

 

[Motuxmen]

I'm with you on Cap, trust me. And I know this wasn't originally a "which figure/character is more worthy as the next release", nor a DC vs. Marvel thing but that will always be the heart of the discussion in here. The bottom line is, they have a dozen things that they've "promised" (using that lightly of course) that has spanned for more than a couple of years. YET they have these barely month old reveals going right up for order. Some of these licenses were being worked on (if their QnAs, backstage photos, etc. are true), before some of the things even existed on paper, let alone screen!

As far as the announcement and QnA's go for Returns, nah, that's all on them. I could see if the Returns license was announced last year and we just saw the proto as we did in July (following the pattern we saw for their '89 line), but no, it's been three years. Considering the plethora of Keaton Batman product that has hit in the past couple of years, I guarantee DC or Warner Bros. wasn't like, "no, you've got to hold them back". The only power at work here is Hot Toys. Nobody forced Howard and Co. to say "1/4 and 1/6 coming in late 2012", nobody forced him to say "Batman is ready for deployment for December of 2012" or "Batman and Penguin will be this December". That's all him. The past three years have flown by for me personally (gets worse as I get older), but three years for ONE figure so far is ridiculous. The info they have given is crap too. You're right, some times it's a matter of being "damned if you do, damned if you don't" for them and we do occasionally rip them for nothing. I thought it was cool how they came out and said that Green Lantern was cancelled with a nice little announcement. Yeah, people bitched and moaned, but atleast they were straight with the consumer base. Not this time though. Think about it, a lot of product licenses have, what, a three year contract? It's been three years and they don't have jack to show for it.

I'll give them leeway with the Charles Xavier/Fox/Marvel and Smooth Criminal MJ debacle (though, I really think MJ was an issue because they waited so long), but not Batman Returns, not Platoon Elias or Bunny, or Arkham Joker, Cannibal Jack Sparrow or Shaw and the Engineer. They're weird in what they pursue and how they go about it. It just isn't the inconsisty of announcements/teaser vs. show display vs. reveal time but some of their choices. The Hellicarrier and The Bat "compact scale"? Get the hell out of here with that.

You are saying they are 100% at fault with the batman returns being pushed. But that may not be the case. As i stated that first announcement may have been because of legal issues and licensing issues. To maintain a licenses and a copyright and a registered trademark there has to be a public effort to retain that legal right. There are tons of legal things associated with this whole process. It's a ****e ton of work and info. Also do to multiple regions and copyright laws and business laws and fair trade they may have been required to announce. You may not think so but this stuff gets crazy. It could also be that Warner or dc had some timetable that made the announcement then. Either way and for whatever reason that announcement was done, as is all of them, with both companies approval and timetable. They very well may have wanted to get those figures done by 2012, or 2013. But if the sculptor takes extra time, and then the costumer takes extra time, and then the guy doing the promo box takes time (even if it's just a week or a day each) and then the approval takes extra time then it could miss the production window. If it misses that planned production window then all bets are off. It may get a 6-8 month bump, becuase of other production requirements. Which at that point seeing as there's a special 75th anniversary coming (looking back) Warner and/or hot toys may have said that it had to wait. Or when it went to the approval at DC/Warner (which is more complicated then the modern marvel approvals becuase with the new marvel it's just them. No secondary license holder like with dc and Warner) that the figure needed a redesign or even a tweak. So maybe that puts it back at the start of the line. Then it it goes through all that again. And then let's say it's approved, but it gets to the engineers and they find that the way it's designed won't work, for whatever reason. So it has to get redesigned. Again the whole process has to be redone. Then back to approvals. That's pretty typical when there are this many entities involved. So three small issues could easily result in a 3-4 year delay. And all three where the result of a company other then hot toys requiring changes.

I am not saying I know this is what happened. I am saying it's as likely, probably more so then most, as any explanation anyone else came up with. An in house no license and no outside input required 6 inch limited articulation high took reuse takes 9-15 months for motuc if all goes perfect. That is a fact Mattel has stated publicly. There are no likeness rights to worry about, or likeness to match. There are no clothing of real materials. All states publicly. A figure like hot toys can take easily three times as long.

Yes I agree I would like to see more dc. Yes I wish the returns batman would go up for PO already. Do I think this is all because hot toys is incompetent or ignorant or arrogant or any of the other things they are often called? No. Do I think they could do a better job, yes. But I also think fans should not be so angry and hateful to a company that gives us toys that no on, NO ONE, else had even attempted in the past. If it not for hot toys we would have mego and dragon soldiers and maybe one nba enterbay every five years.

If you want to debate the DC v Marvel then you need to look at all the stuff. I see people just ***** about there being no dc and saying its on hot toys. Without ever considering that if you where to compare what marvel figure they actually produce and the timeline of the movies, you would see if it was done like hot toys is claimed to be doing, there would be maybe five dc movies that would cover the same timeframe as the marvel ones. There would be basically MOS and Nolan batman. But since DC had not made the films hot toys went out and got licenses from older films. TV shows. Games. None of which they do for marvel. You can say well that's becuase there's no good marvel games or shows..and that's just opinion. I'm sure there are plenty of folks that think campy 66 batman and arkham games are not the cream of the crop. Add to that older licenses are generally a lot harder to obtain and from what I can tell Hot Toys has actually put a lot more effort into filling out the DC fan figures (I don't mean the work on the figures themselves, but in getting content) then they do with marvel. But they get ten times as much criticism for their efforts. If it where you, you spend your money your time and more of it, for one fan base, to get lower sales and unhappy customers would you really keep trying? I sure as heck wouldn't. If I was Howard and I did more for DC from a logistic standpoint then I did for marvel, but marvel did way more sales, and the fans of DC where mad and hateful(you can't tell me people don't act hateful in hear. Calling hot toys SCUM, and calling Howard a ****) I know i sure wouldn't work any harder for this people.


As for me being a hot toys/Howard apologist...it's not that simple. Just because I don't happen to hate them doesn't mean I'm some kind of lackey. My opinion is based on my thoughts and beliefs and experiences. It's funny how half the time I'm to positive, the other half to negative. I am to serious, but if I joke I'm mean. Write more then three words and that's an issue, but someone else does it and it's like he is the dragon slayer. Haters gonna hate I supppose.

 

[DiFabio]

I just don't believe that there is some force that has thrown a wrench into their Returns line, other than their incompetence. I personally think they put it on the back burner because they've been sidetracked. Production, sculptor or license issues? Three years? Maybe with Michelle Pfeiffer Catwoman, possibly with Penguin, but not Batman. How many Batman figures have they done? How dissimilar is he to the DX 09? I'd bet money they intended him to go up around the time Mime Joker did in 2013, but pushed it back. They had no problem with the '89 line, how difficult could Returns be?

2011

- Dec/January, Batman 1989 announcement (image of Batman and Joker) "We got the elusive licensing to Jack Nicholson that no one else can get! Products coming soon at the end of the year!

- July, DX 08 Joker and . . . the surprise 1/6 Batmobile! Batman wasn't there but they said that he'd be showing up shortly
- late July, Batman plaque card and pic of Batman prototype w/ teasers

- August, BAM, back to back Batman and Joker specs/preorders


2012

- January, Batman ships. Only took a mere 5 months from preorder to in hand pics. Joker follows in Spring, Batmobile preorders go up and ships the following year.


They were able to advertise, market, and produce two deluxe figures and their biggest vehicle in about a year. It's a good bet that they were working on them well before 2011, especially Nicholson and the complex Batmobile. They didn't tease things like the initial mock up of the wood cut Batmobile or anything until specs/pics were up (anyone remember that crazy MILK ad with all those Joker pictures they did to promote the figure, we've never seen that much effort go into layouts for figures since Tech Noir and Joker).

That's just Hot Toys. How about NECA.

2013

- February, 1/4 quarter scale Batman. Big, surprise figure. No "we have the license", (nobody knew they could make these), no teasers, just, BAM, here's our Keaton Batman. It'll be available for the holidays.

- November, their Batman was available for the holidays. No BS. I guarantee that the cost, time and tooling that went into the sculpt on that figure alone was enormous, but they did it with flying colors

2014

NECA is repeatedly asked if a 7" version is possible, they say no because of Mattel and the license.

- July, 1/4 Batman Returns Devito Penguin (coming Q2 2015). Another no nonsense release. They just put it out for the show, no games. So far they've kept their word.

- July, 7" Video Game Batman. First ever 1/12 Keaton Batman. Cool video game loop hole. They release it super fast.

- November, BAM, 7" Keaton Batman in normal movie deco. They were clearly working on this deal with WB for about a year just to tie it in to the holidays and the Blu Ray. Taking that 18" version and shrinking it down to 7" is no easy task.




You mention Mattel? Even they were able to make good on '89 Batman, Devito Penguin and Catwoman, no problems. Their Penguin is fantastic. Sideshow? From that teaser in late 2013, to the orders going up in January, Sideshow was able to get their Keaton PF out in exactly a year.

Hot Toys couldn't even get us Returns Batman in 2014 (after saying it would be revealed December 2012). A Batman that isn't any more complex or more difficult to make than their '89 DX 09. Could Penguin or Catwoman be a problem? Who knows? We can only speculate production problems. I don't see what problems they could have possibly encountered considering they didn't have a problem with '89 for 2011/2012, nor did NECA or Mattel (other than the obstacle of each other). I'm more inclined to believe that Hot Toys pushed them aside. Hell, for all we know, the spec pics for ATLEAST Batman are done and ready to go and they're just sitting on them. Anyone else notice the cheap-o way they've gone about spec pics with the heavily photoshopped pics with the cheap looking design layout instead of those HD studio photography set ups they used to do?

 

[batfan08]

It absolutely isn't their fault. Warner Bros. clearly had plans involving the license for a twenty year old movie, and they refused to approve the likeness of a Keaton Batman figure, because the quota had already been met by Hot Toys one year prior.

 

[DiFabio]

It absolutely isn't their fault. Warner Bros. clearly had plans involving the license for a twenty year old movie, and they refused to approve the likeness of a Keaton Batman figure, because the quota had already been met by Hot Toys one year prior.

Warner Bros. let NECA, Sideshow, and Mattel produce a Keaton Batman (and even a Penguin!), for every year, in three different scales and formats, but not Hot Toys. Poor Hot Toys.

Sarcasm aside, you know what would suck? If WB and DC act like they did in 2004/2005 (and even back in 1988) and put a sanction against previous Batmen to make way for 2016 with Affleck. I remember DC was giving Art Asylum/Minimates a hard time in 2004 because they wanted the focus to be on the Bale Batman for marketing purposes. They pushed aside the 60s back in '89 too. Obviously times are different and everything seems to be welcomed and celebrated (especially after the 75th anniversary), but they were hardcore about how they wanted the public and general audiences to view Batman back in the day.

Highly doubt this is a license or WB/DC problem for Hot Toys though. NECA had the hardest obstacles to overcome and did it extremely well. I really think this is just them dicking around because, "woah, hey this!", "woah, hey, that!" for what's currently relevant to the licenses they have, case in point, funky ass Alien Chick teaser. They probably had that lying around since 2008 (along with their produced She Predator doll) and caught wind of that Alien 5 project.

 

[YankeesFanboy]

I was going to say something along the lines of, "If only Keaton had **** and a ******, we'd be getting this figure," but I'm all outta snark.

Go **** yourself, Howard. Go **** yourself.

 

[batfan08]

Warner Bros. let NECA, Sideshow, and Mattel produce a Keaton Batman (and even a Penguin!), for every year, in three different scales and formats, but not Hot Toys. Poor Hot Toys.

Sarcasm aside, you know what would suck? If WB and DC act like they did in 2004/2005 (and even back in 1988) and put a sanction against previous Batmen to make way for 2016 with Affleck. I remember DC was giving Art Asylum/Minimates a hard time in 2004 because they wanted the focus to be on the Bale Batman for marketing purposes. They pushed aside the 60s back in '89 too. Obviously times are different and everything seems to be welcomed and celebrated (especially after the 75th anniversary), but they were hardcore about how they wanted the public and general audiences to view Batman back in the day.

Highly doubt this is a license or WB/DC problem for Hot Toys though. NECA had the hardest obstacles to overcome and did it extremely well. I really think this is just them dicking around because, "woah, hey this!", "woah, hey, that!" for what's currently relevant to the licenses they have, case in point, funky ass Alien Chick teaser. They probably had that lying around since 2008 (along with their produced She Predator doll) and caught wind of that Alien 5 project.

They still are with some things, only now it seems like they've got a hard-on for TV instead of merchandise. "No big three on TV...EVAR!"

As far as HT goes, though, I couldn't have said it better myself. "Howard was dicking around" is the absolutely perfect way to put it.

 

[Motuxmen]

I just don't believe that there is some force that has thrown a wrench into their Returns line, other than their incompetence. I personally think they put it on the back burner because they've been sidetracked. Production, sculptor or license issues? Three years? Maybe with Michelle Pfeiffer Catwoman, possibly with Penguin, but not Batman. How many Batman figures have they done? How dissimilar is he to the DX 09? I'd bet money they intended him to go up around the time Mime Joker did in 2013, but pushed it back. They had no problem with the '89 line, how difficult could Returns be?

2011

- Dec/January, Batman 1989 announcement (image of Batman and Joker) "We got the elusive licensing to Jack Nicholson that no one else can get! Products coming soon at the end of the year!

- July, DX 08 Joker and . . . the surprise 1/6 Batmobile! Batman wasn't there but they said that he'd be showing up shortly
- late July, Batman plaque card and pic of Batman prototype w/ teasers

- August, BAM, back to back Batman and Joker specs/preorders


2012

- January, Batman ships. Only took a mere 5 months from preorder to in hand pics. Joker follows in Spring, Batmobile preorders go up and ships the following year.


They were able to advertise, market, and produce two deluxe figures and their biggest vehicle in about a year. It's a good bet that they were working on them well before 2011, especially Nicholson and the complex Batmobile. They didn't tease things like the initial mock up of the wood cut Batmobile or anything until specs/pics were up (anyone remember that crazy MILK ad with all those Joker pictures they did to promote the figure, we've never seen that much effort go into layouts for figures since Tech Noir and Joker).

That's just Hot Toys. How about NECA.

2013

- February, 1/4 quarter scale Batman. Big, surprise figure. No "we have the license", (nobody knew they could make these), no teasers, just, BAM, here's our Keaton Batman. It'll be available for the holidays.

- November, their Batman was available for the holidays. No BS. I guarantee that the cost, time and tooling that went into the sculpt on that figure alone was enormous, but they did it with flying colors

2014

NECA is repeatedly asked if a 7" version is possible, they say no because of Mattel and the license.

- July, 1/4 Batman Returns Devito Penguin (coming Q2 2015). Another no nonsense release. They just put it out for the show, no games. So far they've kept their word.

- July, 7" Video Game Batman. First ever 1/12 Keaton Batman. Cool video game loop hole. They release it super fast.

- November, BAM, 7" Keaton Batman in normal movie deco. They were clearly working on this deal with WB for about a year just to tie it in to the holidays and the Blu Ray. Taking that 18" version and shrinking it down to 7" is no easy task.




You mention Mattel? Even they were able to make good on '89 Batman, Devito Penguin and Catwoman, no problems. Their Penguin is fantastic. Sideshow? From that teaser in late 2013, to the orders going up in January, Sideshow was able to get their Keaton PF out in exactly a year.

Hot Toys couldn't even get us Returns Batman in 2014 (after saying it would be revealed December 2012). A Batman that isn't any more complex or more difficult to make than their '89 DX 09. Could Penguin or Catwoman be a problem? Who knows? We can only speculate production problems. I don't see what problems they could have possibly encountered considering they didn't have a problem with '89 for 2011/2012, nor did NECA or Mattel (other than the obstacle of each other). I'm more inclined to believe that Hot Toys pushed them aside. Hell, for all we know, the spec pics for ATLEAST Batman are done and ready to go and they're just sitting on them. Anyone else notice the cheap-o way they've gone about spec pics with the heavily photoshopped pics with the cheap looking design layout instead of those HD studio photography set ups they used to do?

You seem to be stuck on the, I don't think they had any problems.

First, your approval theory-it doesn't matter that neca or Mattel got a figure approved. Or that an 89 batman was done..or that they did 1/4 scale. First, each company has a different rep to deal with. What I mean is that there is a person at DC that deals exclusively with Hot toys. And a seperate person that deals with Neca, and so on. There is also a brand manager at both dc and hot toys, and WB. Depending on the actor, company and license they may also need to deal with actors or managers. There is also a unique person and approval for each film. They don't just get the batman license and can make any figure. Nor can they get the just Nolan or Burton license. Each film is a unique license. So you have the overall marketing person/product approval person/merchandise. Then the brand manager(as in batman, or flash or whatever. Then the individual license manager. Who coordinates with the company rep. That's just at DC. WB. Will have a similar setup. Then at hot toys there's a line of approvals. Each person in that chain has to sign off, and each person has a different job. The brand manager at DC could give a ****e less if hot toys gets the figure approval back in a day or a year. It's that persons job to make sure the overall marketability of the license is not hurt by one product, or a glut of product. He may hate the returns batman and prefer the Nolan. Or the 89. Each person has their own set of preferences. And if you notice you can't get five people on here to agree if a likeness is good enough or sucks..how you expect thirty people from three companies on two continents to do so?

I don't know what it is that is held this up. Not saying I do. You are choosing to believe it's incompetence. Like it fell behind a desk or something. I don't see how incompetence makes any more sense then anything else. You keep bringing up three years. So you think its more logical that the most successful 1/6 figure company on the planet has incompetently messed up an entire licenses for at least three years? Is it possible, sure. But I do not think they would have announced a date or intentions on the figure and missed by three years if there was not some reason.

And when I gave that example of missed dates and that causing the delay...I didn't say a missed deadline alone caused a three year hold. I said when it hose dates are missed there may not have been an opening in the schedule for 6-8 months for the next step. Which would require a new set of approvals and work and a schedule. And there's ten steps like that. If it missed two deadlines that may have caused the figure to be shelved because of the other products that where scheduled. Like say a 66 batman, a Nolan batman, a arkham batman at hot toys, plus all the neca and sideshow figures on top of a new movie reboot (which was originally planned for this year) At that point hot toys, or DC, or WB may have said it needs to wait.

That seems like a lot more plausible then most the stuff I hear.

 

[batfan08]

Still say that Howard's just a ****.

 

[HeubertMichael]

MMS will soon mean Marvel Masterpiece Series.

Next, DX would mean Disney X-clusives.

 

[cmiller99]

Anyone else notice the cheap-o way they've gone about spec pics with the heavily photoshopped pics with the cheap looking design layout instead of those HD studio photography set ups they used to do?

Man oh man do I miss those. It used to be so easy to see all the stuff a figure came with, now it's like a jigsaw puzzle.

MMS will soon mean Marvel Masterpiece Series.

Next, DX would mean Disney X-clusives.

Oh please no

 

[HeubertMichael]

Oh please no

Well, at least half of the DXs released to date are from Batman movies

 

[jye4ever]

Hot Toys production meeting:

Production Worker: "Sir, we have a letter from a US customer asking about Batman Returns status"

Leader: "How dare you bring that capitalist garbage in here, you now lose 3 months pay!"

Production Manager: "Productive meeting everyone, now back to work"