>>6183742>1: Why do companies still use Mcfarlane to make toys for the IP's? >>2: How does Mcfarlane stay in business? They only place I ever see their toy is in the clearance end cap.These both have the same answer.
McFarlane is shitty at making toys but they are good at getting their toys in stores. Back in the peak of the collectible toy market they were even in Walmart(with Sports Picks).
They have accounts with all the major retailers, which is a pretty enticing incentive to the corporations that hold most of the high-value IPs. Most toy companies outside the big names like Hasbro etc cannot even get an account with major retailers - it's very hard to break in.
Once you've broken in it becomes a matter of the toy buyer for the chain making an order. This is a much smaller hurdle than getting the account.
Also people on this board and in the hobby in general don't understand how selling to retailers generally works. If you go into a store and see a bunch of figures unsold and on clearance the average /toy/er will say "wow look at all the figures [toy company] couldn't sell!" and assume the toy company lost money.
But that isn't their actual unit of sale. The toy companies sell cases of toys, not the individual figures. The retailers bought the case, then break them out and sell them singly. Once the store has them on their shelves the toy company has already made their money(there are exceptions to this but response is already long enough).
So you'd think "well, why do the retailers keep buying these flop lines" and it goes back to the accounts thing. If you have to buy X number of toys to fill your shelves and your corporation only lets you buy from companies they have accounts with, your options are limited. So it's a repeating cycle that eventually leads to both sides doing badly. But it takes a while.
tl;dr something something Trump
