Done already? Damn, that Evelyn Wood course really paid off. There's no doubt about it - the last couple years have been mighty tough on the toy companies. Even the big boys, like Hasbro and Mattel have felt it, but it's got to be crushing the little guys.

I was reminded of this as I was putting together the ballot for the People's Pick Awards for 2005. What are those? That's an award given out by my site each year for the last 5 or 6 now, for the very best and worst in about two dozen action figure related categories. You want to vote, you know you do, and you might win a cool prize too.

As I was putting together the list of companies for best and worst categories, I had to drop several more from last year. Gone from my list is Mirage and Toycom, really the same entity. Gone too is Playing Mantis, a company swallowed up and spit out in the larger merger of RC2 and Johnny Lightning. BMA Toys used an egg timer as a time clock, and Dusty Trails hasn't made a peep in months, fueling rumors that they're gone as well. Other companies, like Play Along, Majestic, Toynami, and Equity, have been awfully quiet. Still others, like Plan-B or Art Asylum, are spending most of their time doing work for other companies, rather than their own products.

Sadly, there hasn't been a ton of new companies coming up to fill the void, which indicates there's no void to fill. The shrinking retailer scene has removed any void there might have been, and continues to pinch the companies still left standing. So when I heard the news about one of my favorite retailers closing, it prompted me to look at the current state of things once again.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, you can always reach me at mwc@mwctoys.com. If you enjoy this review, take a minute to check out my other site at Michael's Review of the Week, and let me know what you think. Now on to the review!

"Another One Bites the Dust"

As the great poet Freddy Mercury said, another one gone, another one gone, another one bites the dust. The Musicland family of stores announced last week that they are closing all 61 remaining Media Play outlets.

Media Play and its sisters, Suncoast and Sam Goody, have had a rough time over the last couple years. Bought up by Best Buy back in 2000, they sold them off again in 2003. All three chains have been on a decline for several years, and major change will be needed if any are expected to survive. Over the couple years under Best Buy, over 100 Sam Goody and Suncoast stores closed, dropping the total number of outlets to close to 1100 worldwide.

So if there's only 61 more stores closing, what's the big deal? Oh, it's a big deal. It indicates further trouble for the entire chain, obviously. But for the toy collector, it's another blow in an already one sided fight.

Specialty market retail isn't quite dead, but it is on life support, and it's just a matter of time before someone pulls the plug. Mass market is still limping along, and if you're looking for the newest Batman figures or Spider-man vehicles, you can still find what you need at Target, Toys R Us, Wal-mart or even K-mart in some areas. But specialty market has been the bread and butter of companies like NECA, SOTA, Mezco, Palisades, and even Mcfarlane for several years now, and it doesn't look good.

Collector's looking for the latest specialty market toys used to be able to shop all over town - the local comic shop, Gamestop, Electronics Boutique, Media Play, Suncoast, Sam Goody, Hot Topic, and Spencers. But those retailers are drying up, one after the other. Comic shops have been burned with stock that the average comic buyer isn't interested in, and have scaled way back. Gamestop and Electronics Boutique have completely dropped action figures. Sam Goody has scaled back as well, leaving most of the Musicland action figures to be found at Suncoast or Media Play, and now Media Play bites the big one. So what does that mean?

If you're a collector like me, that means you're now left with one store within a 25 mile radius of your home that sells specialty market figures - Hot Topic. It amazes me that a store I once only stopped at every couple months is now part of my constant schedule. Oh sure, I have a couple comic shops, but what they get in and how much is so hit or miss that it's not really worth bothering. Instead, the majority of my collecting dollar will go to online stores, with all the risks of bad paint and crushed packaging that comes with them.

But if you're a small company, the picture must be bleaker still. Lines like Cult Classics, Now Playing, Mcfarlane's more monstrous lines, and even stuff like Family Guy and South Park have gotten the majority of their retail presence through these smaller retailers. For folks like NECA, Palisades, SOTA and Mezco, either the online retailers are going to have to be enough to support their lines, or they'll have to find a new way to crack the nut that is the mass market guys. And while the loss of this type of retailer isn't huge to the overall health of a company like Mcfarlane, who has a solid presence in stores like Wal-mart and Toys R Us, it does mean that lines they might have produced that are more 'gruesome' (think Twisted Fairy Tales for example) are now unlikely to make it to production.

Of course, when one door shuts, another one opens. Either that, or the window starts looking pretty good. It can be a death spiral when this stuff starts to happen - as retailers dry up, collector's can't find product so they stop buying, causing retailers to dry up even more, causing more collector's to quit, etc. until the whole market is decimated. I don't think that death spiral has reached critical mass yet though, and there's still a healty contingent of collector's out there, looking to buy. Now could be the ideal time for online retailers to really boom, if they can react and afford to stock product. I'm betting manufacturers will be looking to deal right now as well, making this the perfect time for a savvy online specialty market retailer to make a big splash, and a lot of cash. The only question is whether any of them can put together a plan for expansion and growth that will allow them to take advantage of the situation, without breaking them in the process.

There are also some companies that this situation could actually help. Sideshow, Master Replicas and Gentle Giant are all good examples, because they already sell a large percentage - or the majority - of their product through online sources. Collectors trust the quality of the companies, so they have no reservations about ordering online, sight unseen. And as other lines and companies disappear, collectors will have more disposable income to swing their way.

And so goes that crazy circle of economic life. The winners will be the ones that could foretell the future (or just got lucky and guessed right) and reacted in time, and the losers will be the ones that couldn't find a way. The collectors will be the ones caught in the middle, and we can only hope that the companies we care about that produce the products we love find a way to weather the storm, or better yet, adapt to the situation and use it to take them to new heights.