Exactly! At least the last two coneheads please

 

That's exactly what I've been saying. As much as I'd hate to see them go, it seems MT (and even some in the fandom--see the 'Is Maketoys Dead' thread) hasn't accepted is what appears to be the obvious truth. Last fall, they stopped taking orders on their official website. On April 1st they put out a "we aren't dead, we'll do better with communication" message. Since then, all they've done is reveal and green-lit preorders for a "toon" repaint of Downbeat, a mold that already exists. Offering a repaint of an already existing mold doesn't truly mean "they're back". I believe the April 1 message and the toon Downbeat were done mostly to calm fans down. That Downbeat toon repaint is the version of Downbeat we should have gotten in the first place. At this point who knows truly when or even if toon Downbeat preorders will be filled? As you logically stated...."Assume MT is dead and don't believe anyone who tells you they're not unless you physically see production from them."

 

the date of that message was a bit on the nose.

 

Of all the days they decide to publish that message.

 

Oh behaaave

 

Agreed.

 

It's a shame that Cupola and Ironwill didn't seem to sell very well at first and I think that's why we never saw Brainstorm, Sureshot, or Crosshairs. Maketoys then just fell back on their Seekers and stopped innovating. Cupola, Ironwill and Contactshot are all great figures, and as unlikely as it is, they need to stand behind their awesome work and keep it going with the Tragetmaster and Headmasters.

 

As plausible as that story sounds and makes sense the truth moreso points to their financial and market problems/mistakes. They pivoted away from Cupola and Ironwill that were expensive AT THE TIME to get involved in the Inferno/Grapple wars and support their other CHUG lines. This caused them to delay their Despotron and Seekers that should have been priority #1. They frantically sped up production of Despotron once they realized Takara and DX9 versions were launching. From the now discredited Spence, who had a relationship with Maketoys, they produced 5K Despotron figures that splashed at the same time as the Takara and DX9 versions and went on clearance for years at $100 discount. It might still be for sale during Black Friday this year at $60. That debacle crippled the company and instead of moving forward quickly to own the Seeker market they waited and Takara did more runs of Seekers and then Yes Model put out KO runs while Maketoys kept delaying the Seekers and even released Galaxy Meteor before Meteor. If Maketoys had focused on Despotron and Seekers early the company would have a far different history and I believe the Headmaster/Targetmaster line would have been completed long ago funded by Seekers.

Early on the Headmasters were expensive and did not sell out but I feel the disconnect with the fan base from Maketoys really doomed that line because they had no focus on finishing it and were all over the place with CHUG. I think Maketoys may have felt they launched that line too early in the collecting process trying to avoid competition but literally every other offering they chose had direct competition. Hound, Inferno/Grapple, Reflector, Seekers, Megs were all launched directly into competition either very late or with superior competition. I think this jaded and disheartened Maketoys greatly while they still had the majority of their focus in CHUG that was dying off. They never got that clear win in MP with reissues that built up a war chest to fund these other projects and were spread thin with a shotgun marketing focus that drained their resources. After enough setbacks it became nearly impossible to fund or justify funding projects. Seekers sold well but by then it was difficult to even fund production runs and they resorted to crowdfunding that was a clear failure. They are hobbling and back now because they knew they had a winner in the Seekers but it is a tenth of the win it should have been for them and it would have set them up for years. If Despotron would have popped much earlier it also would have been a huge win at the time. DX9 would have been the odd man out and some of that Takara and KO market would have been dampened a bit.

I would argue the big mistake that WE make on this forum is that we consider the information we have now in real time when in actuality we are probably 18 to 24 months behind reality. I would also argue that almost in real time the companies KNOW what the other companies are working on for the most part but they don't know what stage of development is coming. For example, XTB Zeusaurus designed by Zyros from this board Spring 2016 still not out and likely redesigned. XTB Abaddon designed 2015 and still not out. I believe Fans Toys has a 2 year cycle with multiple production teams where at any time you have 8 figures in design, 8 development, 8 production. Like clockwork for the last few years Fans Toys begins showing us these COMPLETED figures the year before and then keeps the release schedule they offer reliably. We have already seen painted test shots of the figures for release next year at least with Recorder, Tapes, Parkour, and Warthog. We know Dead End is complete and have seen the prototypes for Slingshot and Fireflight. From that standpoint, FT is providing a level of predictability/consistency.

I loved Maketoys but just have zero faith in them at this point in coming back from the dead with the Coneheads being the exception. Although, I believe they are going to get rocked again by Takara Coneheads 2.0. For me it truly is believe it when I see it. I am all in on the FT Headmasters and I believe they will announce their entire line before we see movement on the Maketoys versions and at that point I think they are a dead stick. I will replace all of my MT versions even though I love them. As someone that loved MT, I will likely replace EVERY figure I have from them except for the Coneheads and Despotron because it is my favorite character. You can come back and start again but you cannot erase being dead for essentially 5 years. Maketoys literally destroyed their brand. It sounds to me that they just got wise and realized they need to liquidate some of their last development to recoup some money so they don't lose everything on these molds and designs even if they have to limp through it with massive outside help.

 

Why is this thread still open?

 

MakeToys is reported to be coming back from the dead with the help of MMC designer Chogoking. This figure is on the shortlist of new figures from them that will be released.

 

I'm not sure if this is a good idea.

Yes Model RF-01 (Chromedome) and RF-02 (Hardhead) re-appeared on TaoBao recently, selling for US$70 for both (not each). They are still not sold out after five years...

They probably heard about MakeToys revival.  

 

Where's QuickMix?

 

@luckyman76

Agreed. Maketoys made very obvious mistakes. Although you've painted a more detailed picture than I could have, even with just the seekers it was obvious Maketoys screwed up. They had a clear winner there...and they just let it slide.

Though I must say that despite some unfortunate timing with several of Maketoys MP's, I bought almost all. Gundog is still my MP Hound (I like the toy look), Wrestly my MP Grapple (because he reminds me of many construction workers I had to work with: chubby), Downbeat is my Jazz and Despotron my Megatron.

 

It hurts to see this thread pop up. I love their late g1 MP aesthetic so much more than their competitors.

Sad that this thing likely won’t see the light of day.

 

Reissue of the first 2x headmasters under Yes Model is happening...if only another KO or Third Party would be able to pick up the designs and/or moulds for the other headmasters and get them released. I'm not getting any younger and this is one of my grail sets of characters at MP scale  

 

There does seem to be a groundswell of hype surrounding this supposed comeback. That being said, the first page of this thread celebrates this figure as Maketoys' comeback.

This thread was started in 2017.

 

Oh, Ye of little faith…

 

It would be nice if they were. They were pretty awesome.

 

I don't know if a new designer is going to help. First of all, they'll have to figure out why the market abandoned them even when they were cranking out pretty good (IMHO) MP stuff. Was it because the QC wasn't up to par or was it because people didn't like the aesthetics of their figures or was it just bad luck with Despotron coming out right before MP-36?