"Eight ringy-dingies…."
In response to a few comments from yesterday:
Just Some Guy opines
“I think the ring set looks pretty cheap. That picture makes it look like a plastic toy. A cute desk doo-dad but not worth anything close to $250 ($50 would be pushing it).”
Fair enough. I think my initial positive reaction to it is primarily due to the rings themselves…I’d love to have a replica set of all these Lantern rings. I keep hoping (though I’m reasonably certain it’s not going to happen now) that DC would put out more promo rings to help us poor, needy fanboys fill out the collection. I know there’ve been a number of Green rings given out over the years (the one with the glow-in-the-dark bit in the center, another smaller ring, and a couple of different pack-ins with the action figures, both Golden and Silver age if I recall), and if I remember correctly there was a Yellow ring included with a Sinestro figure.
Mike Walker sez
“I’ve never been into the statues, but I do pick up a random vinyl figure from time to time. You know, the type where you don’t know which one you’re going to get?
“I’ve never tried to ‘catch ’em all,’ but I do like the random menagerie that I’ve built up of vinyl figures. I always wonder how those things sell. Do people try to get a full set? Dose the Wednesday crowd pick them up, or is it a different group?
“Do you stock them at the store, Mike?”
We’ve carried those figures, to differing levels of success. Apparently there were enough complaints about the random nature of these figures that the “random” element was removed and they started marking on the outside of the box which figure was contained therein. Missing the point, obviously, but this kind of marketing of figurines probably isn’t going to catch on in the U.S.
Once in a while we’d have someone trying for a full set, but not very often. I myself went for a full set of the Bone figures that were released this way, but I had an advantage in that I was at the shop and was able to trade with customers who ended up with doubles.
Usually, though, folks would buy one or two as a whim, and that was pretty much it.
Super-rob wonders
“Question though: why did they put labels on the colors of the rings display? I mean, I can see labeling FEAR and HOPE, but does DC assume that if you’re stupid enough to pay $250 for copies of rings that you do not know the difference between your colors?”
My guess is that the labels are there simply as a design element to fill space, to give the item more color and make it more visually interesting, and more worthy of your two hundred fifty bones.
Seriously, just give us a pack of plastic replica rings for all the colors. That’s all we want. We don’t need the fancy-schmancy display thingie. “DC DIRECT: LANTERN CORPS RING ASSORTMENT – Features 8 plastic rings, representing the colors of all the different Corps! Packaged in a clear baggie. $9.99.” Would totally buy it. Could sell TONS of them.
Speaking of the plastic rings, the Black Lantern rings were a big hit at the store. Right now we’re giving them away with each purchase of the Blackest Night comic, and I posted a sign to that effect by the comic on the rack. I had a few folks buy the comic just to get the ring, which I thought was interesting.
I thought the comic itself was a strong start for this new crossover brouhaha…I mean, it’s essentially DC Zombies, and thus was as gruesome and icky as I was hoping. The difference, though, is where Marvel Zombies is basically an extended dark joke, which softens the horror a bit, Blackest Night is playing it straight and, so far, humorless, which could drag a bit. But, it’s got me reading right now, and it’s nice that the series proper has finally started after the approximately thirty years’ worth of prelude stories.
At the very least, we’ve had some lively discussions at the shop about which dead characters should come back as Black Lanterns. As I dropped on the Twitter a while back (and has been picked up by other bloggers here and there), I’m pushing for the Red Bee and his pet trained bee. THE RED ZOMBEE.
Also, I’m reasonably certain the event’s going to end with resurrections for several of the dead characters. Except, you know, the ones that need to stay dead. Sorry, Thomas and Martha Wayne.
In other news:
- A big congrats to Jog on his five year anniversary!
- Help comics writer John Ostrander in his battle with glaucoma at Comix4sight.com.
- The wise and mighty Neilalien posted a couple of swank Steve Ditko fanzine covers. Man, I do love old fanzines.
- Also, via Neilalien, as good an explanation as you’re going to get for Al Jaffee’s predilection for featuring full fish skeletons embedded into his depictions of vomit. Yeah, that’s right, my weblog is all class.
- Have a link to Nerdsayswhat.com. I may have helped a bit with this site. I may have also said a few of things presented there. Except “Meh.” I loathe “Meh.”
- This Let’s Be Friends Again has been getting a lot of linking love lately, and for good reason. It’s nerd humor, but it’s good nerd humor. And I’m a big ol’ nerd, so it all works out. Plus, Mystery Science Theatre 3000 humor! (And, tying in to recent Green Lantern events, Lantern humor!)
- Rich has photographic evidence of some anonymous con-attendee not being very happy with having to wait to see Brian Michael Bendis. Creepiness ahoy!
