Re: Absence of supporting castpics...

From: Ed Rudnicki <erudnick_at_pica.army.mil>
Date: Fri, 21 Jun 96 22:10:00 EDT

Chance:
>Ed wrote:
>>In addition to showing what the characters should look like, a style
>>guide also gives suggestions on the sort of merchandise that could
>>be produced. It doesn't necessarily mean that such merchandise will
>>be produced; that's up to a potential licensee. If no company
>>believes that they can produce the items and sell at a profit, the
>>items don't get made. Sad but true.
>
>True to an extent, but just as with most carnival hucksterism, the sale
>is *entirely* due to the effort put into promotion. I believe that some of the
>toycos approached to do Katsuff by Tedco passed up the opportunity
>because it *was* Tedco; not because of the Kats themselves. The
>sale and manufacture of kid-TV related toys is very much a partnership
>affair between the Toyco, the syndicator, and the cartoon's producer.
>There was considerable (and understandable) trepidation on the part of
>the toy companies because none of them believed that Tedco would
>hold up their half of the promotional bargain. Looks like they were proven
>correct.

This is really about that much-maligned "Disney synergy", wherein
the entertainment helps to sell the toys, and the toys help to sell
the entertainment. Disney is derided for this, but it's likely a lot
of jealousy, as they're _consistently_ good with it, and it pays off
in profits for them.

TedCo, OTOH, is a case study in how not to do it. They dropped the
ball with a superior propery, SK, and have grossly overcompensated
by literally lavishing promo money on the inferior JQ.


>All the conceptual stuff in the "Style Guide" that *did* end up making it to
>the shelves was of the ultra-low-budget Gordy Toy Taiwanese-trinket
>variety, leaving all the up-market stuff unrealized aside from a few items
>available in the H-B Employee Store. Oddly, no concept work for
>action-figures appears within the 'Guide - only colour models and some
>line drawings of the principal characters and accessories.

Well, this is to be expected. The toy producer has the expertise to
translate the line art into a producible figure, which the licensor
has to bless off on. Maybe not - look at the absurd Kenner Gargoyles
line :(

Methinks I will visit H-B at Licensing 96 next week, and see if SK
is still considered a viable property.


>(Oh yeah, BTW - if you take a look at the art on the Home Video covers,
> I think it becomes readily apparent what they were trying for with the
> Remco ac-figs. The only problem is that the realities of the assembly line
> don't readily lend themselves to that kind of rendering, and most of the
> potential ac/adv figurine market wouldn't even be *aware* of the
> Tremblay's comic-book style of artwork - let alone recognize the ac-figs
> to be a compromise of two styles. They still collectively all broke Rule One:
> "if they don't look like the Show, they don't sell")

Well, Remco is not a major player in action figures, so their
mistakes are I suppose understandable.

There is a caveat to your Rule One: if the figures are well-made and
attractive they will sell, even if they don't look like the show.
Unfortunately this was not the case :(


>>Out of curiosity, how many here have style guides for SK? No, I
>>don't want one myself, but am just curious, as the style guide I
>>want, for a different property from a different company, is proving
>>very hard to get, as that company considers it their property even
>>when given to a licensee.
>
>A friend has one for "Care Bears", I've got one that's more along the lines
>of a character "bible" for "Tale Spin", and of course there's the Kats one.
>There is only the one Kats one, and even Christian Tremblay was amazed
>that I was able to get one (well okay, a *copy* of one, but it's the thought
>that counts). It evidently cost Hanna-Barbera something like $20Kilobucks
>to come up with a limited number of copies of this thing (I've heard
>there are only something like eight), and if the same holds true for
>your e-add namesake, then good luck. You'll need it. Diz (and now even
>Warners) are printing dire warnings on even storyboard panels nowadays, so
>the chances of something as interesting as a "Style Guide" making it out of the
>House of Mouse diminish accordingly. I've heard of bootleg copies of same
>showing up for sale at cons (something I *won't* be doing with the Kats one),
>and ex-employees have been known to keep stuff like that for posterity
>when they move on to browner pastures.

Well, I've encountered someone selling Mouse style guides, albeit
not the one I want. I did get a supplementary style guide, for a
"New Wave" of merchandise that largely fell by the wayside (like the
SK stuff), and also a licensing plan. I recently sent letters to 84
licensees. Most responses have said that the style guide was already
returned to Diz, some said that it's a breach of contract to sell
it, but one pragmatic company is considering "losing" theirs to me
for a price greater than Disney charges for lost style guides. There
were over a hundred printed for this property, btw.

I have model sheets for this property, very clearly stamped
"Property of...." :), so I'm not giving up hope. Patience and
relentlessness have held me in good stead before, so I'll keep
hunting.


>Maybe post it as an open question on either furry or rec.arts.animation? Some
>very, er..."resourceful" individuals have been known to lurk about such places.

This is a thought. I have gotten some rather interesting E-mail in
the past, including some from within the Company :)




Ed
"I hunt, therefore I am" - Metallica, with apologies to Descartes
:)

Received on Fri Jun 21 1996 - 22:48:17 PDT