Gotham’s Most Wanted: Dark Knight Joker Action Figure
It isn’t often that mainstream media picks up on toy collector news, but various news sources couldn’t help notice a mania for Dark Knight action figures based on Heath Ledger’s Joker.
The New York Post reported that people lined up the day they went on sale. Within minutes, the stock was sold out. The craze for the figure isn’t isolated to this side of the pond, either, with similar reports coming in from the U.K.
Collectors are believed to be buying up stock, convinced the figure is a collector’s item, since Ledger passed away before the film was released. The $9.99 toy is ranging from $15-50 on eBay now. As hype builds up for the movie and the buzz builds, it’s anybody’s guess as to how the value of the figure will be affected.
Two facts – 1) People love the dead. The Crow became a hit (and a franchise) for no other reason than Brandon Lee died. James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Ted Kord, they all became much bigger stars after they died. They'll never admit it, but when Heath died, at least one person at Warner Brothers and one at Mattel punched the air and said "YESSSS!!!" The fact that it turned out not to be a truly scandalous death was just icing on the cake.2) I will guarantee you that not ONE of the people who "lined up" for those figures doesn't have at least one of the ones they bought up on eBay. I'll bet you could find almost every one of the people who lined up at the next comic convention, selling the figures at 20 bucks a throw, minimum.Nowadays, the sellouts of things (be they action figures, video games consoles or Miley Cyrus tickets) are completely artifical. People are buying them solely to re-sell them, leaving the people who actually want them out in the cold. If the only people who bought PS3s or Wiim (Wii? Wiis?) were the people who actually wanted them, they'd be stacked up like cordwood. And the marketers know this – create a shortage for something and people who'd ordinarily not care about it will want one.In an odd way, this is paralleling much of what I said in JO's post about oil.
Yeah, I agree. "Scalpers" are the worst part of the collecting world. They only care about ripping off collectors. I say, wait awhile before making a purchase because always, always, the scalpers will end up "eating their product" & you can get it cheap.BATMAN FAN? Visit The Bat-Blog!http://www.bat-blog.comThanks, Tommy